Hero Guide!

[c0rzilla]

The Hero

What is it?

her·o·ism
[her-oh-iz-uhm]
noun
1. the qualities or attributes of a hero or heroine: He showed great heroism in battle.
2. heroic conduct; courageous action: Pat's returning into the burning building was true heroism.

The protagonist, the hero, the savior, the messiah. What is the hero, and his or her heroism? Here I hope to break down a few tropes of the Hero, and suggest ways for you, the player, to better participate in the grand fight of Good versus Evil in our little RP corner of the internet.

At its most basic, heroism is doing good. Whether through the most grand of battles, or the most humble of offerings, the hero can span many types. They usually serve as examples of a culture's higher morals, someone a person wishes to be. Hey, at one point in history they were demigods! Talk about achievement.

Note: Do NOT make your character to be a hero from the start. I know it sounds weird, but making your character whose sole purpose is to be the savior will most likely end you in a rut. Let your character develop and blossom, and keep these notes below in mind while that happens.

What is Good?

Heroism and Goodness: one Act of Random Kindness at a Time

Good, and goodness. So subjective, yes? Here, I won't get too into meandering philosophical arguments about “good” just being what is most useful for a person's well-being.

That's for the villain articles!

Good is what drives a hero to action, though their methods may be less than golden. It is always at the center of what they do, who they are. Indeed, as mentioned at the start of this section, what is good may likely differ from hero to hero. Just look at the Scarlet Crusade! Or Batman compared to Superman! Whether they're torturing hapless wanderers, beating the Joker's face in, or rescuing Lois Lane for the millionth time, their belief in good is at the center of it all.

Remember, heroes. You do your thing, whatever it is, for the world, not just you. Remember the ramifications of the actions that drive you, so your divine self isn't just stomping mindlessly through the world.

Types of Heroes

There's More than the Golden Boy...?

There are as many heroes as there are stars in the sky. The wondrous TVTropes will help me out here, as I list a few well known ones, and a couple of my favorites off.

Anti-Hero: This guy is popular in our cynical, grimy, industrial modern day. He fights the good fight, but boy does he get dirty doing it. However, despite his dark appearance and outlook, there is usually at least one important moral or memory that keeps up from falling over the edge into the abyss he stares into daily. Or nightly.

Badass Bookworm: This one is your quiet little nerd. But hidden underneath those glasses, is a vast array of skill and smarts. Very fun to play to catch people off guard.

Barbarian Hero: Conan the Barbarian, and Guts from Berserk fit this type. Not the nicest guy, but he'll save the day in battle, and usually become king in the process.

The Cape: Aptly named, this summarizes the Superman type. An ideally good person, the classic (super)hero. Very hard to corrupt, these are the guys Little Timmy wants to be when he's running around the backyard with a towel on his shoulders. Can come across as very corny if overplayed.

The Cowl: The darker version of the cape, usually an anti-hero. Wit and mind play are this one's ally, whereas brute strength might be The Cape's tools.

The Gunslinger: The name speaks it all. This hero is all about the style with which they use their firearms. You'll see these in Westerns, Film Noir. They can get away with silly hand positions that won't work at all In Real Life.

Hero with an F in Good: These guys want to be heroes, so badly. They have redeeming qualities, but they just don't get how to act good in the day to day life. Or, their end goal is good, but their methods are way too extreme. Redeemed villains usually fall under this type.

Intrepid Reporter: Lois Lane, Vicki Vale, or Jade of Beyond Good and Evil. These ones (usually female) will go out of their way to investigate the bigger story, only armed with their camera and wit.

Knight in Shining Armor: An ideal hero. The hero lots of people love to hate. The golden boy, on his white steed. This is a very classic, outdated type, though it can fit in WoW's world. Just be wary of turning it into a dreaded Golden Boy. You know the type. Always trying to save everyone, but he just ends up irritatingly in everyone's business.

Lady of Adventure: A higher class lady that seeks out adventure for the sake of it. You'll see her in Film Noir, or stories out of the Jazz Age, or stories involving British colonialism. Mina Murray of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fits this type.

There are so many more, and so many subtypes, fitting either sex or gender despite what is listed. These here are just a few of my favorites. Peruse at your leisure, find your niche! And, please remember. Flaws are your friend.

Goals

As stated earlier, good is at the center of the hero. But, that's quite vague, yes? Let's see if I can break it down a bit into specifics:

Saving the World: This is well...the hero goal. The big bad is on the rise, and only you and your lance are the last hope. But is it worth it? Is this broken world worth saving? It is up to you and your hero to decide during your character's development.

Saving a Loved One: This might usually be connected with the rise of a Big Bad. The hero's love has been captured, and he must do all he can to save her! Good friends can be in this predicament as well.

A Calling: No matter what your hero tries, something always draws them back to heroism, no matter the suffering, no matter their own personal goals. This can provide good development as your hero wonders the great question of “Why?”. Will they drop it all? Will they keep trudging on?

Day to Day Good: This is often over looked in favor of shiny armor, lances, and fancy holy fire. Have a sit-down with the villain! Offer them tea! You never know what development might occur. And even better than the villain, the random passer by in Booty Bay. The common man often feels stepped on by the hero's big golden sabatons.

How to Deal With Your Villain

Heroes - You -can- RP Without Killing Every Villain in Sight

Indeed.

Heroes, your villains are people too. While the Monster of the Day might be fun to swat at with your hammer, there is no long term fun in trying to end your baddie in the quickest way possible. As stated before, a whole world of development can arise if you just talk to them. Find out their idiosyncrasies, their likes, dislikes, their past. Perhaps the goal of redemption will provide a good story, even if it fails utterly in the end.

As well, remember consent. You can do nothing to the villain character without its player's consent. This also ties in with the server's rule of Respect. While they may fall in the end, they are not your ego punching bag. They serve the story, not you, grand hero. In that same vein, know that you, shiny hero, will lose on the way to your grand goals. Just remember: this is character development!

OOCly work out a larger storyline with the Villain! This is a good way to avoid drama, and work out kinks.

-----

...And that's that! I believe this is my first guide, at least in a long while. I hope it provided a new view, and a bit of opportunity for polish on all that golden armor out there.

[Zarquon]

A problem with most RP servers that I had observed, CoTH unfortunately included, was the tendency to create idyllic Golden Boys on their white steeds that have no flaws on their character profiles, are rich, are very powerful paladins, very noble with knights under them, and come off as over-the-top idealistic good guys created to fulfill the fantasies of killing the dragon, rescuing the damsel and bedding her later at night only to get up the next morning to kill another dragon.

Boring.

And they almost never succeed; worse of all, they come off as strained or antagonistic (irony intended) when they insist of winning their engagements with 'the forces of evil', slay the bad guys or must save the victim. I once had an RP where the knight in shining armor spent three turns and three emotes trying to grab the poor, helpless slave, slinging her over his horse and riding off into the sunset. It's...amusing and well...yes.

Good good characters, good heroes, need flaws. They need somethings to make them less an avatar of the player's fantasies to play the perfect paladin or the badass Rambo, and more a character with his idiosyncrasis, flaws, quirks, failures and desires.

/endramble

[Grogloki]

Heroes smell.

[McKnighter]

Baidin would have a copy of this, if it was IC.

[Rigley]

I usually don't leave comments on these sorts of things!

But.

Heroes - You -can- RP Without Killing Every Villain in Sight

THIS.

While I don't really jab at anyone in particular, I have noticed that many heroes tend to be extremely... bloodthirsty. Almost more than the villains at times. I just think it is worth recalling that hardly any good story will run with the hero slaying the villain in his first encounter.

[flammos200]

I usually don't leave comments on these sorts of things!

But.

Heroes - You -can- RP Without Killing Every Villain in Sight

THIS.

While I don't really jab at anyone in particular, I have noticed that many heroes tend to be extremely... bloodthirsty. Almost more than the villains at times. I just think it is worth recalling that hardly any good story will run with the hero slaying the villain in his first encounter.

Similarly, you can make villains that can talk their way out of being killed. Or that can appeal to mercy, redemption-quests and whatnot. It's not just the Hero's job to end as few story-threads as possible, but also the Villain's job to put their brain to work and come up with a way to survive.

Also, if a storyline has, as intrigue(which is the second part of a storyline in every epic, coming right after the exposition), the death of the Villain, and the action that comes afterwards and the ramifications that come from that death build a cohesive, believable and interesting storyline, then, by all means, the Villain can die happy, because said death sparked something new and great, that builds upon the event of death.

I'll never tell villains to let the hero win, nor to prevent the hero from winning at all costs. Instead, just make an interesting storyline out of it, regardless of outcome. It's the journey that matters, not the destination.

Simply put, winning means ending the game. And I personally don't like it when people end the game prematurely.
...Unless a new game, at least as interesting as the previous one, sparks from it.

[DaveM]

I always felt antagonists should be 'rolled' as pre-concieved sets. Only makes sense if what we're doing is collaborative story-building and not PvP. It often isn't easy to otherwise build a plot that doesn't fast-forward to a kill.

Great guide - it could so use its Villain counterpart. (Though the counterpart could arguably state "Like the Hero guide, only the shizz you pull is objectionable by the standards of mainstream 'hero' morals.") Edit: Okay maybe there are a couple.

[ImagenAshyun]

A very nice guide! This almost makes playing a hero interesting for me.

Untagged spoilers: I still prefer plucky sidekicks and villains. XD

ANYWAY.

This is certainly helpful, especially for certain players in mind who really need to tone down the "golden boy" image of their own hero characters. Thank you for this.

[SachikoMaeda]

Oh how I love Anti-hero type heroes. Even though I silently root for the villain most of the time, a well played hero may actually win over my heart. And it is possible to play a hero that does more than simply goes around slaying whatever they deem to be evil.

There are qualities to the hero that people over look and that we probably do every day that makes us ordinary folks be heroes. While there may be the hero type that goes out there and "gets things done", I prefer the hero that sits back and listens t those around him/her, discuss things through, and gain character development rather than "EVILPURGE TROLOLOLOL" without a second thought. Heroes like that tend to remind me of the Golden Boy everyone dislikes (which might be considered Mary Sue / Gary Stu to some).

But I really do love this guide. It motivates me to work on the hero side of Doran and Leron more. Especially Doran. Not all warlocks are villains, guys. Keep that in mind.

[c0rzilla]

So, uh. People seem to like this. Might I be presumptuous enough to ask this to be moved to the guide section?

[Xigo]

I question why a guide wasn't posted there in the first place.

Still. Sure.

[c0rzilla]

I tried, and I kept getting a message saying I wasn't allowed. Thanks!

[Piroska]

I question why a guide wasn't posted there in the first place.

Still. Sure.

Guides must be moved there, not created. I assume that it's to prevent people from mindlessly creating what they hope are helpful guides but really just clutter up the forum. Plus the movement gives the guide a stamp of approval from the staff of Conquest of the Horde!

[CappnRob]

A good read, but I'd suggest you remove the bias from the golden boy "true hero" archetypes. In my experience, and trust me, it's a lot of experience, the anti-hero, the cowl, and what else have you, can come off as just as badly written or corny when done wrong, and it is -very- often.

I'd suggest redirecting your dislikes towards old school shining armor heroism by reading up on two more great TVtropes pages, Lawful Stupid and Stupid Good.

Chaotic Stupid should also prove useful for those who don't want to play a bad anti-hero.

[ImagenAshyun]

I just discovered this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ByronicHero

A good addition to our list of heroes, y/n?