Ready, Fire, Aim!

I was thinking about tonight’s Tenra Bansho Zero game, run by Andy for the Wednesday night group. I was thinking that my character, a bad-ass Buddhist fighter named Shining Pool, is undermotivated. He has Fates to avoid fighting and follow the Buddhist precepts of his order, oh and something about redeeming Travis’ character, Click Dai.

Blah.

Then I realized he doesn’t want anything. I mean, sure, he wants to see Travis’ character redeemed, but I’m not even sure what that means. But not deeply or desperately. The taboos are about not wanting something, which is lamesauce.

So I think about the character sheet again. See, the character sheet should give you a direction for your character. In Tenra, Emotional Reaction Matrix + Fates = awesome. I want to see Click redeemed, and I have a fate to that effect, but I also look up to Tim’s character, Kogarashi, who is Click’s brother. Why? I’m not even really sure. I’ll figure it out. But I expect my character to be squeezed between gaining approval from Tim’s character, which will probably involve breaking my taboo against fighting, and redeeming Click, which will probably involve showing him alternatives to fighting. I want Shining Pool to succeed, rather than go for the old awesome of watching him fail, but I don’t want it to be an easy thing. I want it to cost him.

Now I’m looking forward to tonight’s session. I want Shining Pool to demonstrate that he is a good man, a role model for Click. I want to see Shining Pool tempted to solve problems with his fists, rather than using his hands for healing. I want to see him gain Kogarashi’s approval, in spite of not resorting to violence.  I care about him, and I care about what I’m doing with him. Perhaps that is the ninth fold of the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism: Right Roleplay.