Roleplaying personalities

[SunBoy]

The thread about Corwin's Pattern animal made me look up a particular sentence in one of the novels, and it was different of what I recalled. That's nothing new, of course, but seeing as how Zelazny often built characters more through action than description, usually with one or two phrases painting the personality of the character (Corwin punching the nurse below the belt... Random talking about Flora...), I'm left wondering just how much of the characters I've... deformed... when I roleplay them. I suppose it happens to everyone. Is this good or bad? Any thoughts or examples?

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I'll leave you this, from uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano:

"Lucia never read that book again. She wouldn't recognise it. It has grown so much inside her, that now it's different, now it's hers."

Eduardo Galeano, El Libro de los Abrazos, La funcion del lector/1.

[gabriel_ss4u]

A good observation.
I tend to develop the personality in roleplay too, whereas their actions speak to the players in the same way as you stated Sunboy.
As one reads the novels, their feelings are colored by how they read it, remember it, and re-enact it (to a certain degree) in the GM's playing of the NPCs from RZ's epic creation.
The new stories we create, as a group, try in their best to re-create that feeling of awe when we discovered the Amber of our lives.
I miss it, as I have no players and less time. I know my 'stuff' will eventually change, but 'come-on GM in the sky, it's been on my wish-list fer a while.
but I digress.
Perhaps our administrator will start a thread on each main character.
To re-discover nuances of an Amberite is another love of the game.

I remember when my GM played Caine so well, he caused me to seek out every place Caine was in the novels. Not alot there, but enough for me to feel I had actually met the Caine from the book.
Bring an NPC alive, and players will always come back for more.
If one does deform a character, let it be to further the growth of the character and the story you're creating.
The hero sometimes becomes a villain, as vice-verse.
There are infinite Ambers in Shadow. What's your 'Caine' like?

I suppose the most memorable switch of: 'recollection of what a character was like in the book' to 'roleplay of NPC' was, I never pegged Delwin as a country hick.
He was a rare NPC, but I remember hear tell of one's story Delwin being played as a Hick/Hillbilly in a friend's campaign. From what I remember, he played him as a hick so well, some of the players loved it. Delwin became sacrifice comedy relief.
Ya see, my GM was a comedian, so he pulled it off well.

Do you have a "go-to" comedy relief NPC from Canon?

[SunBoy]

What's your 'Caine' like?

Dead, mostly. I find him being the most useful when he's not around, so the players cannot confront him to ask about his many plots.

Do you have a "go-to" comedy relief NPC from Canon?

Mostly it was Martin, before the Cyberpunk thing. I played him a little awkward, specially around women, and one time he became the drinking buddy of a player.

Oh, and the "character by character thing it's been done here by the Pundit. Not sure if it was every one, though.  Maybe you can go back and bump them with something new. But... why don't you start a new one?

Back on-topic, I found, for example, that my Gerard was a lot quieter than the original, more of an understanding and fiercely protective father, whereas my Bleys was flamboyant and quick-witted, something that, though it can be inferred in the novels, it's not really shown. Of course, I think a lot of what we all "know" about the characters is influenced by Erick Wujcik's work as much as the original novels. After all, he described the characters personalities to a much larger degree.
Character by character would be great, yes. You're so right, Gabriel.

[jibbajibba]

As prevoiusly stated I never run the elder Amberites I tend to just give the players 200 ish points and they come up with their own elder Amberites.
This has been the case because I have tended to run long open campaigns and I don't want 15 uber powerful NPCs hanging about I want the players to be their own Caine, Gerrard, Benedict and I have yet to be disappointed.
I was thinking I might try and get to GenCon again this year and run an Amber game or try and make the UK ambercon. In any case running a smaller scale 3rd generation game with weaker characters, the elders etc based on a trade delegation to the Golden circle. But in that case I would run cannon and put it after Merlin comes to power in Chaos and so Caine would be dead...well... probably...

[RPGPundit]

I think that its hard to really "misinterpret", the variability is a feature, not a bug.  The way that Zelazny described the characters means that a reader (or a GM) can read into a character a very different interpretation than someone else do, just by emphasizing one thing over another.

That makes for a lot of original interpretations (even Erick often presented three very different kinds of the same elder, not just in terms of power but in terms of personality focus).

RPGPundit

[gabriel_ss4u]

The way that Zelazny described the characters means that a reader (or a GM) can read into a character a very different interpretation than someone else do, just by emphasizing one thing over another.

That makes for a lot of original interpretations (even Erick often presented three very different kinds of the same elder, not just in terms of power but in terms of personality focus).

RPGPundit

Yes, that was a good way Erick used to show different reads on a character, (in a game where players may judge renditions of novel written characters), and in a way say it's perfectly alright to go with your own perceptions of the NPC.

[gabriel_ss4u]

Dead, mostly. I find him being the most useful when he's not around, so the players cannot confront him to ask about his many plots.

BTW, that "Caine" was allegorical, I meant which NPC did you loved played best by your GM?
My character wanted to learn the in's & outs of Castle Amber, and my GM correctly guessed he would provide what my character needed, and went about roleplaying the best Caine ever.
I felt like I was reading/creating Amber's new chapters at times.
An awesomely played supporting cast can hypnotize your players into gaming-dependencies.
(and yes... of coarse, subplot!)

a saying used to be IMC when someone started saying something we didn't want other players to know; Shhhhhhhh! Caine's listening"