The Archetypes of Roleplaying – A Multi-Part Study
Part One: Heroes
By Anthony Frevele
“Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It’s harsh, cruel. But that’s why there’s us. Champions. Doesn’t matter where we come from, what we’ve done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be.”
--Angel, Angel: Season Four
This article is the first part in what I hope to make a three-part study on the archetypes, the essential elements of storytelling – in particular how they function in a roleplaying game. I know that sounds really complicated and you’re already thinking of skipping this article, but I promise it’ll be fun. Now just put that page down, and keep on reading just a little bit more… come on… good. In part one I’m going to be examining heroes – where the concept of heroes came from, what a hero is exactly, and how heroes fit into a roleplaying game. Bear in mind, when I say heroes, I’m not talking about any PC… I’m referring to the classical idea of heroes (which, granted, most PCs do fall under), a sort of idealized person who fights evil, rights wrongs, protects the helpless, ect. The quote from Angel I used above calls them “champions,” and that’s a pretty apt description.
Heroes have been part of the roleplaying tradition, in one form or another, since the beginning. In order to understand their place in roleplaying, however, we have to first examine the storytelling and literature from which roleplaying is descended. The original roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, was designed in the early seventies based in large part off of the newly-emerging modern fantasy tradition initiated by Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and its contemporaries. Lord of the Rings was a heroic quest fantasy, inspired in equal parts by the Nordic mythology and medieval romances (chivalrous adventure stories). With much of its source material based on medieval tales of chivalry and honor, D&D naturally took on a very strong quest-fantasy style which has not only shaped the nature of roleplaying games for decades but continued to promote the hero/quest dynamic.
Roleplaying has changed greatly in style and complexity since the inception of First Edition D&D, of course; the “heroes” of early modules and adventures were little more than treasure hunters, undertaking “dungeon crawls” to fight monsters and gain loot and experience. Later editions would improve the complexity of gameplay, allowing for more intricate storytelling in which heroes became more strongly defined in the course of the game. Taking a step closer to the ever-growing modern fantasy genre, PCs began to run the gamut from straight-laced paladin to more morally-challenged rogues, bringing them closer to being actual characters instead of caricatures. No longer could every PC be considered a “hero.”
As more games became available and roleplaying slowly began to be more about actual “roleplaying,” heroes began to more closely resemble their literary counterparts. In many modern roleplaying games, the story being told is at least as important in any given campaign than the combat and treasure-hunting aspects of the game (though these still remain in some forms in most games). The institution in many games of “alignments,” game terms which describe the characters’ moral and ethical attitudes, has gone even farther to define heroes and their antithesis in roleplaying. In some games, certain classes are even limited to specific alignments which describe the way characters of those classes are expected to behave.
No article concerning heroes in roleplaying can go without mentioning the Paladin, the Class in Dungeons & Dragons and other similar games which most closely resembles the classical heroic archetype. In D&D, Paladins are restricted to the Lawful Good alignment, and must follow a strict set of guidelines in how they may behave during the game. Paladins are meant to be champions, holy knights who protect the innocent and combat evil. The archetypes a Paladin is drawn from are based on classic medieval heroes such as Sir Galahad, Charlemagne, and other pious do-gooders.
Paladins are certainly not the only Class in D&D and other fantasy roleplaying games who can be heroic. Many Classes, even those like Rogues who are expected to be somewhat neutral and selfish, can be heroic in the course of the game’s storyline. In fact, it’s not uncommon for a well-crafted roleplaying campaign to include elements of characters changing and growing, including previously less-than-heroic characters finding themselves becoming true heroes.
This is one of the most classic story archetypes (I’ll cover this more in my third article), the redemption of a previously villainous character or the ascension of an antihero character into a full-fledged hero. It has been played out in numerous movies, television shows, novels and even video games and frequently makes its way into roleplaying as well. Darth Vader is perhaps the most famous example of this literary phenomenon, but other, less-well-known examples abound – Indiana Jones, Conan the Barbarian, Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow all begin as antiheroes and discover their capacity for heroism, as well as countless others (Spike of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to mind as another villain-turned-hero).
One of the essential characteristics of a hero, according to Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, is the changes he goes through and the struggles he must face – not only externally, but within himself – before the climax of the story. Many literary and mythological figures follow this pattern, including King Arthur and Odin, the Norse god and hero of the Volsung saga. Campbell called this universal sameness of mythology the monomyth, a universal mythology which plays on the subconscious hopes and fears of all mankind. These changes can be found in roleplaying games as well, even though the interactive nature of roleplaying makes such in-depth storytelling more difficult. Experienced gamemasters often set up situations in which player characters have opportunities to grow and change, often by rewarding players for doing “the right thing” or acting, as Jay would put it, “at the dramatically appropriate moment.”
Though I have chiefly used Dungeons & Dragons for examples this far, any roleplaying game using any type of setting can utilize the archetypal aspects of the hero for its characters. Games such as Star Wars and Middle-Earth Roleplaying are based on similar story archetypes to Dungeons & Dragons, but even games which have vastly different origins, such as Shadowrun or Spycraft can become a part of the hero archetype with little change to the game’s original aspect. Heroic characters can be much more subtle in these games than they typically are in high-fantasy games such as D&D, where the heroic aspects are often greatly exaggerated to better fit the fantasy setting.
Characters in Shadowrun, for example, can follow heroic archetypes in a very different way than in more traditional fantasy games, even though the game mechanic seems to be better styled to run-and-gun powergaming which completely overcomes story. Amid the chaos of Shadowrunning and working for or fighting powerful corporations and police forces, characters in the game can protect innocent witnesses, resist the urge to commit vicious crimes and even fight against the will of power-hungry megacorps. Heroic characters in games such as Shadowrun tend to be based on the heroes appearing in modern action and adventure movies, heroes who are connected to the heroic archetypes of old literature and mythology more indirectly than the heroes of modern fantasy stories but nevertheless have a connection.
In modern roleplaying, the heroic nature of a player character depends greatly on the style of play adopted by the group in question and the sort of character the player is interested in playing. I have personally played in groups which emphasized heroic action and storytelling, as well as groups whose game was a cutthroat free-for-all of players struggling for power. Depending on the inclination and abilities of the gamemaster, neither style of play is strictly good or bad, although some players seem definitely geared toward one style or the other.
Part of the appeal of playing heroic characters in roleplaying games for many players is the ability to act as people seldom do in real life, or to play characters who use abilities or powers which would be impossible in reality for heroic purposes. Sound familiar? Superheroes – the tights-clad super men and women who have graced the pages of many comic books for decades – are built around virtually the same principle. Superhero roleplaying games, in fact, are becoming increasingly more popular, bringing the heroic nature of roleplaying full circle to face its literary origins.
Heroes have been a part of the literary tradition since its inception, and continue to be through books, movies, comic books, and even roleplaying. Though roleplaying as a pastime has blossomed and changed greatly since its inception in the middle decades of the previous century, the heroic aspects of its roots have carried through well, finding their way into nearly every game and setting which is released. Though many roleplayers eschew heroic characters for power-hungry munchkins or more realistic characters who live in shades of grey, the heroic ideal will always appeal to some gamers and will always have a place in roleplaying games.
Sources:
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Bollingen Foundation Inc., 1949.
Eddings, David and Leigh. “Introduction.” The Rivan Codex. New York: Del Ray Books/The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998.
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