I love tropes. They’re kind of misunderstood nowadays, though. A lot of people conflate “trope” and “cliche,” but they’re actually two very different things. Tropes are frameworks for plot beats and character arcs. Cliches are the overused versions of those beats and arcs. Cliches, generally, should be avoided, but tropes are useful AF.
Tropes, especially character tropes (like the ones we’ll be exploring in this series), work like signposts, guiding your decisions when it comes to story elements and, in turn, speeding up your session prep. I think of tropes like narrative GPS, helping me decide what sort of elements to introduce or emphasize when I come to a crossroads in the characters’ stories.
As an added bonus, even if they’re not hardcore story nerds like us, most of the people at the table will recognize (even if on the subconscious level) the beats of a well-worn trope. Not to get to neuroscience here, but introducing those beats triggers dopamine responses in your player’s brains, drastically increasing the chance they’ll vibe with your story. (This is why Hallmark movies are so comforting to a lot of people: the tropes are familiar, and familiarity releases dopamine.)
So, over the course of this series, we’ll look at common character tropes that we see at our tables, dive into the fantasy of these tropes (aka why people keep playing them), and examine ways we can challenge the tropes to create more engaging stories because the most interesting stories come from conflict.
First up…
The Loner
A lone hero stands against a horde of enemies
The Fantasy:
“I work alone,” says the man in the hat and (probably) a really cool-looking trench coat as he rides off to face down the horde of enemies with nothing but his wits and his trusty gun/sword/lasso/adamantine claws.
The Loner is a self-sufficient army of one. They’re the best they are at what they do, and they don’t need anyone or anything else except their own know-how, a little luck, and a grizzled one-liner.
Loners also tend to wander from place to place, free from all emotional baggage and responsibilities. This is the heart of the Loner trope: they’re not tied down to anyone or anything. If there’s a problem, they can figure out the answer and execute the solution all on their own, and they’re going to look really badass in that trench coat as they do it.
Examples:
- Jack Reacher
- Lara Croft
- John Wick
- Catwoman
- Certain iterations of The Doctor*
- Batman
- The Dread Pirate Roberts
*Modern regenerations have pointed out that when he’s alone, The Doctor gets dark and depressed and makes scary decisions. This will be relevant to our discussion later.
Why This Doesn’t Work in a TTRPG:
If you read through the list of examples above and said, “But So-and-So doesn’t work alone!” Then you already know the main problem with this trope at the table. Unless you’re playing a one-on-one or solo RPG, the story and the system are both likely built around an ensemble cast.
If you happen to be playing a system with any amount of crunch, those rules are also likely gonna be balanced around a party. Not one person. So, even building an army of one-style Loners is going to be tricky to do. (Unless you’re playing something like Pathfinder 1E, where you can tweak out a build to do everything under the sun.)
When it comes to role play, players taking on a Loner persona may feel obligated to avoid or reject RP in an attempt to stay in character. (Yes, sometimes this is by design, but we’ll get to that in just a moment.) So if you’ve got a Loner, it’s probably a good idea to have a conversation with the player about what they want to get out of the trope. What is their fantasy about playing this sort of character?
If they’re averse to, unsure of, or just generally gun-shy when it comes to RP, make a note of that and talk about ways you can earn their trust. Also, check out the GnomeStew Podcast number 193, GMing for Turtles. If, on the other hand, they want to live out that super proficient, self-sufficient character fantasy but aren’t scared of actual role play, work with them to establish goals for their character.
Maybe they’re on their own because they’re being hunted, and being around other people puts them in danger. Or maybe they’re hunting someone. Maybe they lost their memory, and they’re looking for their past. There are a lot of options for character-specific goals, and we’ll be leaning on them in just a bit.
Challenging the Arc:
Note: the following advice is written from the perspective of a table where the player has expressed interest in playing a Loner, and the GM and group have agreed to it. These are narrative suggestions for creating interesting stories. These are not ways to fix a problem player. Insert the usual advice to deal with out-of-game problems out of the game.
So, how do you challenge the Loner trope? Three words: relationships, relationships, relationships. The core of the Loner is their isolation (which is also the hardest aspect of the Loner when trying to incorporate their stories with the rest of the PCs), so if we’re going to create interesting conflicts by challenging the typical character beats, then we’re going to do that by leaning into their bonds (or lack-there-of) with other characters.
Great, how do we do that then? With those goals, we talked about earlier. First, you figure out what the character wants, and then you lock their ability to achieve those goals behind…DUNDUNDAAAAA…teamwork.
The Loner is searching for the cult leader who killed their partner? The party’s cleric happens to have intimate knowledge of the cult’s whereabouts and modus operandi.
The solitary wanderer is being hunted by an arcane hound that has their scent? The rogue knows about magically concealed bolt holes all over town, and the wizard knows how to disguise the wanderer’s aura.
Lay the groundwork for these scenes early on and reinforce it every time the characters are present. Really drive home the idea that working with the other characters is the best road to success.
The Loner is still welcome to grumble about how much they hate working with other people, but as long as they’re actually working together, it’s going to be a win for everyone.
You could try to give them a friend NPC — a Robin to their Batman, a Rose to their Doctor — but there’s a good chance the PC will reject them. Especially if they’re playing a loner because they’ve been burned by bad GMs in the past or if they’re hesitant to play out scenes where people they care about are in real danger (something you’ll already know about because it will have come out during your lines and veils discussion during Session 0…hint hint.)
Lastly, deal with a Loner trope the same way you would your introverted friends. Namely, give them time and space to actually be on their own. If your table time is limited, all of them give you a couple of bullet points about what they do when they take off on their own instead of playing out a full scene. Maybe they go spend time brooding in a seedy bar. Or maybe they go beat up some street-level criminals in a back alley to let off steam. If something happens that needs a roll, keep it short and sweet and then get back to the group action.
If, on the other hand, you’ve got the time to play out full scenes where the Loner is the spotlight, try sourcing the table for NPCs, situations, and obstacles to throw in the Loner’s path. And hand the role of the other NPCs off to other players. This keeps everyone involved in the scene while spotlighting the Loner’s alone time.
Also, keep in mind that Loner-types (and often the players who play them) tend to be in their heads a lot. There could be a whole treasure horde of stories happening in there that they don’t know how to relay to the other players. So, pull them out of their own heads by asking what their character is thinking as they walk that lonely road (the only one that they have ever known). Give them a chance to narrate their thoughts in Noir Detective Movie style.
Out of all of the tropes out there, the Loner is, honestly, one of the ones I’ve had the most trouble with in my many years running games. I used to have a session zero rule about “Only one Wolverine in the group” because otherwise, I’d end up running four or five separate games at once as all of my Loner players split up to go do their own things on completely different sides of town.
However, the trope can also be one of the most rewarding kinds of characters to have at your table if the player and the GM work together to bring out the best beats and features of the character. (If you ever see me at a con, ask me about the political assassin character I ran for in a Battlestar Galactica campaign.)
You Decide
So, what character tropes should I cover next? Drop your recommendations in the comments!
Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got to go listen to “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” again.
