I think... playing an antagonist in a plotline is not the same as playing a morally reprehensible character, and both could qualify as villains in theory. Heck, the hero in a villain's story is the antagonist, a la Dungeon Keeper.
But to imply that any character that provides conflict must be played by the storyteller is a bit hard to believe. It's quite possible to antagonize without being a planned, manipulated cog in a storyteller-operated plot machine. It's also possible antagonize without power tripping, provided you know your co-writers/audience and communicate with them.
My "villains" would have their moments as plot devices, per se, but even then, I wasn't necessarily providing the story. I was simply interacting on that basic roleplaying level. Perhaps I provided an instigating action here or there, but sometimes there was no plan, or sometimes someone else had the plan, and I was simply providing interactions from that morally reprehensible perspective, you know, like a player character might. Then when they weren't playing that antagonist/antagonizing role for others, yes, they'd be anti-heroes in their own tales.
I think there's subtlety and detail being addressed here that's difficult to make any hard and fast statements about.
If PC law enforcement and PC lawbreakers get involved with each other, OOC communication and cooperation has to happen quickly and efficiently, or it's going to devolve into a power-tripping mess. There needs to be give and take in situations like that, and it's possible, someone needs to step into a storyteller role just to maintain civility. But I don't think that such situations occur particularly means that PCs cannot play either lawbreakers or law enforcement. It just means remembering we're all in this together, and cooperation means compromise.
But to imply that any character that provides conflict must be played by the storyteller is a bit hard to believe. It's quite possible to antagonize without being a planned, manipulated cog in a storyteller-operated plot machine. It's also possible antagonize without power tripping, provided you know your co-writers/audience and communicate with them.
My "villains" would have their moments as plot devices, per se, but even then, I wasn't necessarily providing the story. I was simply interacting on that basic roleplaying level. Perhaps I provided an instigating action here or there, but sometimes there was no plan, or sometimes someone else had the plan, and I was simply providing interactions from that morally reprehensible perspective, you know, like a player character might. Then when they weren't playing that antagonist/antagonizing role for others, yes, they'd be anti-heroes in their own tales.
I think there's subtlety and detail being addressed here that's difficult to make any hard and fast statements about.
If PC law enforcement and PC lawbreakers get involved with each other, OOC communication and cooperation has to happen quickly and efficiently, or it's going to devolve into a power-tripping mess. There needs to be give and take in situations like that, and it's possible, someone needs to step into a storyteller role just to maintain civility. But I don't think that such situations occur particularly means that PCs cannot play either lawbreakers or law enforcement. It just means remembering we're all in this together, and cooperation means compromise.
![[Image: g9ASfFg.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/g9ASfFg.jpg)
