Playing Jerks in LARPs

[baron_saturday]

So, I've been ruminating on the old rule of thumb in LARP that says, If you play a grumpy loner, everyone will avoid your character. Its certainly true, that I avoid playing with people who aren't fun to play with, and I suspect that's true of everyone else, too. And most LARP (especially campaign style) are big enough that you can easily avoid a

Comments

[aries_walker]

I think it's the "loner" half of "grumpy loner" that causes a problem. I can see Archie Bunker, Statler and Waldorf, or Frank Burns characters being a lot of fun. One could even argue that Threads has a couple already.

Even the loner aspect can be overcome - sort of like Alison in the Breakfast Club, but LARPier - but it's way above my expertise level.

[rigel]

I have to disagree.

Case in point: I've seen clintlovesport play characters who are jerks more than once and be well-liked. I'd even say his Dark Summonings character was a jerk, for many definitions of jerk. He ended up having multiple friends, an SO, the works. (I think this is due, in part, to his own charisma. He can play selfish, manipulative or outright sociopathic characters and get away with it.)

Unrelated to that, it's possible for players to like a jerky character, but for characters to dislike them, but that's not what you're talking about, I think.

[the_smith_e]

I have seen a rather obnoxious ass of a character work once in a campaign. The player was already seen as one but enough people were his friends and the core PCs became an extended clan. He became "Our jerk".

However, is Sykes nice? He's not a loner but he can arguably be nasty. Perhaps if people can understand your agenda you are less of a jerk?

[flaviarassen]

& I know who you mean!! :-)

But one way to guarantee playing a "likable" jerk is to play an
over-the-top one so that people at least laugh at him, if only
behind his back.

[baron_saturday]

Oh, in tabletop its easy. There are too few of you in the room to avoid.

[jadasc]

If you play a grumpy loner, everyone will avoid your character.

Is this your experience? Mine is that all the spritely, happy-go-lucky characters flock to grumpy loners in an effort to "fix" them. It's the silent, Man-With-No-Name types that get ignored as they all rush to the shadowy corners and wait for people to approach them.

Can you play a "likable" jerk?

The question is slippery, because qualities that might otherwise be obnoxious can be charming in someone you're predisposed to like. What kind of character do you have in mind when you say "jerk"?