Handbook of Erotic Fantasy: Narcissism (Patreon)

At the gaming table, narcissism is a good thing. Probably not in the way that Fighter is demonstrating for us in today’s comic, but a little healthy self-love is the foundation of a good game.

As a player, you enter into the fiction of a TRPG first and foremost through your player character. Carefully woven plots are cool and evocative GM descriptions can be awesome, but everything you experience in the game comes filtered through the lens of your fictional alter-ego. If you’re not happy with them, chance are you’re not happy. 

I doubt I’m alone in saying that I have favorite PCs and not-so-favorite PCs. Remember that Exalted ranger character I talked about back in Bad Chemistry? Upstaged by his own familiar. Bloody tragic. The solution there was ultimately to retire the character, and I think that was the right call. It may sound a bit selfish to admit it, but after the session is over and I’m going through my personal highlight reel from the game, I don’t care about the cool monsters or the villains’ speeches or my buddies’ badass stunts in combat. (Or at least, those aren’t the first thing that I care about.) I’m more concerned with the stuff that my character did and said. If I’m not happy with my own performance, the rest of the session loses its luster. 

On the other hand, when I was rolling my Cajun combat troll in Shadowrun or chewing scenery as my shameless Rhett Butler rip-off in Firefly, every single session was a blast. I knew my dude inside and out. The one-liners came fast and easy, the accent never slipped, and every round of combat was another chance to show off an interesting aspect of the character. 

My point in all this is that there’s a big difference between running a slam-dunk character and a mediocre one. You owe it to yourself to play  a character that you love, because it instantly makes every other part of the game better. Your enthusiasm increases, your attachment to the storyline becomes stronger, and your relationships with other characters become more meaningful. So take a page from Fighter’s book and make sure you love yourself. Judging by her face, it is a pleasurable experience.