#RPGaDay2018 15. Describe a tricky RPG experience you enjoyed
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Despite past experiences, people keep assigning me villains to play and then acting all surprised when I take their villainy to the logical extremity of possible evil, given their beliefs and talents. Really, if you don't want something horrible to happen, don't suggest I play a horrible character.
This reared its head in a game of Perfect at a small convention where, perhaps, the chap running the game hadn't quite conveyed the point particularly well. It's supposed to be a game where everything you do necessarily ends up being a thought crime, or worse (not unlike the real world today, perhaps). Myself and the other player who turned up for the game both decided to take this on full-bore in other ways however. I chose to play someone who was not incidentally a criminal or any of the other things that the depicted society was afraid of, but was them wholeheartedly. He was a foreign (gasp!), drug dealing (eek!) criminal kingpin (ooh crikey!). The other player, meanwhile, chose to play a Jack-the-Ripper style serial killer.
Needless to say, the game didn't go well, but intrigued by some of its mechanics, I bought it.
Another example would be Exalted: The Abyssals. In this game I played a tactical, scheming character based on a combination of Klytus from Flash Gordon and Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta from The First Law series of fantasy novels. This was a man who condemned thousands to death with the grim calculus he performed on his bone-and-iron abacus. The sheer fact of the matter was that, in the long term, you need live people to make undead minions, and with an eye on the long game he established breeding camps to ensure there would always be a fresh supply of living flesh to turn into undead flesh.
I think I shocked even myself with that.
Stepping into the shoes of other people is a key, interesting part of roleplaying. Some of the most challenging experiences are stepping into the shoes of villains – especially if they consider themselves to be right. This can be difficult, but it can be... well, enjoyable is perhaps not the right word. It can be edifying and interesting.
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