I may also be thinking of a different sort of RPG - the ones I'm more familiar with (and see more complaint of Sue/Stu characters in) are those that either set new characters in an established fictional universe (Hogwarts or Dune or Lovecraft or what-have-you) or actually working with canon characters themselves. I'm not particularly clear on tabletop gaming, as I have the attention span of a fruitfly and never got into it, so while I know it's possible to Sue-ify your character, I don't really know too much about how it's done. It wouldn't surprise me, though, were you to take an average author of Hermione-gets-a-makeover or Aragorn's-sister-joins-the-Fellowship and introduce her to these sorts of RPGs, if her Level 1 Half-Elf Ranger was given the backstory that she's the Dragon Highlord's former consort in a past life and that she has to, I don't know, heal his evil wickedness with the power of her love. (Just, you know, if the pattern of fanfiction Sues who encounter Melkor is any indication.)
It’s not a case of ‘what would I do in this situation’ but ‘what would character X do’.
Unfortunately I imagine that no matter what the milieu, if you're not asking this question on your own when writing a canon character, you're not likely to look at it in terms of NPCs and similar. Truth be told, it's not even the Evanescence-fangirling, Hot Topic-patronizing, oh-so-hardcore variations of canon characters or OCs that get to me (nor their fluffier, pinker cousins in glitter T-shirts and miniskirts) - from what I can see that sort of Sueage tends to come from a relatively young group of authors. I'm really getting more irked now by a different set of rules, often put in place by older authors, in which the canon character maintains the vestiges of his or her character (yes, still likes books, yes, still runs track, hasn't given it up in favor of listening to Linkin Park and smoking in the bathroom or similar), but in which even the flaws have been turned into graceful, saintly attributes of the perfect lady and/or gentleman, with nary a temper or a questionable moral to be seen. This is largely covered in that list, though, with the "flaws" that are no longer flaws but merely cute idiosyncracies, the impossible big-picture view, the need to be liked by everyone and so forth.
Presumably that idea is used to help romanticise the whole idea? It’s still rather odd though.
If it were in a fanfic that would be one thing, but unless my memory has gone severely faulty it was in answer to a question (reasonable enough, I suppose) about how old Oscar, with her confused upbringing, would be before she found/worked out that angle of things for herself, with the answer that she would be probably be a full-grown adult and certainly not inclined to investigate it or find out more since it would be oh-so-shocking to her. And I'm hardly saying that I want to read in a romantic story, should I be reading such a thing, about Versailles smelling more like a pissoir than a rose garden. I would just think you need some sort of perspective in which dramatic shoujo sparkles meet historical fact and go out for coffee.
no subject
It’s not a case of ‘what would I do in this situation’ but ‘what would character X do’.
Unfortunately I imagine that no matter what the milieu, if you're not asking this question on your own when writing a canon character, you're not likely to look at it in terms of NPCs and similar. Truth be told, it's not even the Evanescence-fangirling, Hot Topic-patronizing, oh-so-hardcore variations of canon characters or OCs that get to me (nor their fluffier, pinker cousins in glitter T-shirts and miniskirts) - from what I can see that sort of Sueage tends to come from a relatively young group of authors. I'm really getting more irked now by a different set of rules, often put in place by older authors, in which the canon character maintains the vestiges of his or her character (yes, still likes books, yes, still runs track, hasn't given it up in favor of listening to Linkin Park and smoking in the bathroom or similar), but in which even the flaws have been turned into graceful, saintly attributes of the perfect lady and/or gentleman, with nary a temper or a questionable moral to be seen. This is largely covered in that list, though, with the "flaws" that are no longer flaws but merely cute idiosyncracies, the impossible big-picture view, the need to be liked by everyone and so forth.
Presumably that idea is used to help romanticise the whole idea? It’s still rather odd though.
If it were in a fanfic that would be one thing, but unless my memory has gone severely faulty it was in answer to a question (reasonable enough, I suppose) about how old Oscar, with her confused upbringing, would be before she found/worked out that angle of things for herself, with the answer that she would be probably be a full-grown adult and certainly not inclined to investigate it or find out more since it would be oh-so-shocking to her. And I'm hardly saying that I want to read in a romantic story, should I be reading such a thing, about Versailles smelling more like a pissoir than a rose garden. I would just think you need some sort of perspective in which dramatic shoujo sparkles meet historical fact and go out for coffee.
Depends on what they are, doesn't it?