Shemp Aids: 45 Master Characters

Once again, let’s look at a product not on the merits of its intended use, but as an unintentional game aid. 45 Master Characters (subtitled “Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters”) by Victoria Schmidt is a Writer’s Digest book designed to help writers struggling with characterization. It’s a list of common archetypes, and gives familiar examples of each from movies, television and novels. The book also details the villainous side of each archetype, and how it differs from the core archetype. Which makes it, for roleplaying purposes, a book of stock personality shemps.

Unlike the previously discussed Archetype Cards, which I use to create NPC personalities on the fly, I utilize this book when crafting major supporting characters and even my own player characters. Characters’ personalities can drive a story, so a good way to insure a plot will go in a certain direction (without railroading) is to have the right characters with the right traits driving the action.