in-game-cultures
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Storyboard: In praise of in-game stereotypes
Unicorns are very rare. Every one you meet will be the last of its kind. Odds are decent that you've heard that joke before. It's especially funny from a roleplaying perspective because you can substitute all sorts of things for "unicorn" in that sentence. Vampires, for example. Or werewolves. Defectors from another faction. Magical offspring of major storyline characters. The rarest of all breeds is the character that seems to fit perfectly with the setting steretypes. Roleplayers tend to view stereotypes as one of the seven deadly sins, up there with naming your character after a major lore character and ERPing in public. (It's not the usual list.) This is unfortunate in the extreme because there's a lot to recommend stereotypes beyond the usual. So before you sit down and make a character directly playing against a stereotype, please, stop and keep a few things in mind. Not only are stereotypes not bad, but they actively verge on being good.
