I haven't done of these in a while, and I really should get back to covering things other than comics. Older player profiles can be found at:Gamer Profile: The Jerk
Gamer Profile: Pout
As for Mitrael, he's one of my actual players like Pout (and since the very same day), but where Pout is anti-establishment, Mitrael represents the forces of order.
Archetype: The noble, self-sacrificing hero for whom hit points are not as important as the in-game romantic interest's life.
Explain: Though I've known curses, I've mostly been blessed with actual role-players. To Mitrael, rules are necessary abstractions required to play the game, but are not its ultimate object. The story comes first. Even his character's life can only ever come in second. Here's the player who'll throw himself in the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex rather than see a woman get chomped. No matter how crazy things get, or how ridiculous, you can always count on him to sublimate his own impulses to joke around and bring the entire table's attention back to the matter at hand. Duty and honor.
And though Mitrael is definitely a funny guy, that focus makes him a natural straight man in games, as his character suffers everyone else's lunacy. And when I, as GM, see a straight man, especially a noble one, it's my cue to pile humiliations on his head. And Mitrael always plays to that, the patient victim, the valiant scapegoat. There's great humor to be had in a character hard put upon, but also great elation when that character gets his revenge.
Psych Profile: I always find that the character choices a player makes are revealing of that player's nature. Lets looks at Mitrael's life: The guy is a trained fencer, has real issues with breaking his word in the tiniest ways, and an avid reader of Dumas and Tolkien. Is it any wonder that his power fantasies cast him as a later-day musketeer?
Best game: Mitrael was never so hard put upon than as the new sheriff of Paradise in our GURPS Old West game. The citizenry just didn't take to his Indian upbringing.
So to all his characters - Mitrael, Johnny Spade, Absolut, Agent Dice, Isander Raventree, Fallout, that Vulcan captain and others - I raise my dice glass. Here's to all games past and to come.
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