Literary characters as player characters

Misfit KotLD · Sun May 24, 2009 12:47 am

Where are you wanting to go with it? Or have you a specific theme you want?

Killer Cyborg · Sun May 24, 2009 1:29 am

Macgraith wrote:I want to run a campaign where everyone is a character from a famous book. The only problem is I can't come up with very many good characters to pick from. My idea is that for one reason or another, an old archaic library is found, and due to some magic or sorcery, characters from books spring to life.
I'm thinking Don Quijote and Sancho will be there. I'd like Cyrano de Bergerac to be present, but I can't think of many more. Perhaps Gandalf or some other character from LotRs.
Any suggestions would be fantastic.

Edmund Dantes
Captain Nemo
Queequeg
Dr. Frankenstein
Dorian Grey
Sherlock Holmes
Ichabod Crane
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn
Hank Morgan
Rhett Butler
Magwitch
Heathcliff
C. Auguste Dupin
Mowgli
The Time Traveller
Dr._Moreau
Nathaniel "Hawk-Eye" Bunpo
Henry Fleming
Jeeves
Robinson Crusoe
"Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe
Sinbad
Aladdin
Ali Baba
Mycroft Holmes
Candide
Samuel Gulliver
Punch (Granted, no novels that I know of... still, a popular character)
Elizabeth Bennett
Conan
Red Sonja
Elric
Skeeve
Karl Cullinane
Oskar Matzerath
Jonathan Harker

Just for example.

Killer Cyborg · Sun May 24, 2009 1:33 am

Macgraith wrote:Thank you so much! I especially like the Samuel Gulliver suggestion. I can imagine the next chapter of Gulliver's Travels now!

Any that you're not immediately familiar with, google.

Heck, even if you think you know them, look them up.

Mowgli was an unsurpassed jungle bad-ass.
He'd eat Tarzan for breakfast, then pick his teeth with the bones.

jedi078 · Unread post by **jedi078** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:47 am

Jack Ryan
Dirk Pitt
James Bond

The Beast · Unread post by **The Beast** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:43 pm

Karl Prosek. He's from a book, right?

Vrykolas2k · Unread post by **Vrykolas2k** » Tue May 26, 2009 12:47 pm

Dracula
Solomon Kane
Tarzan
Huma (and Gwyneth)
Kaz the Minotaur
Drizzt Do'Urden
Zaknafein
Raistlin Majere
Gotrek and Felix.
Malus Darkblade.
Ragnar Blackmane.

Overlord Rikonius · Wed May 27, 2009 4:12 pm

Falconi wrote:The only warning I would give about using literary characters is that their dispositions, strengths and weaknesses are all common knowledge.

Not in a world that's mostly illiterate

Also, from KC's list (which is a good one), I'd say the Scarlet Pimpernel is a must have. The guy is one of the first superheroes, after all.

drewkitty ~..~ · Wed May 27, 2009 10:32 pm

CS Special Forces wrote:Poe would make one heck of a (mad) Rogue Scientist

Honor Harrington
Othello

the Doctor

drewkitty ~..~ · Fri May 29, 2009 12:21 am

Captain John Carter
Dejah Thoris
Glenda the Good

dark brandon · Unread post by **dark brandon** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:11 pm

Jeckly and Hyde

Phantom of the Opera.

King Aurther and any of the knights of round

Overlord Rikonius · Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:19 am

If you wanna toss in a lesser known, but awesome, character, Serge Storms from Tim Dorsey's Miami-based crime novels would be good.
He's like a crazy but without the knobs, and with a rogue scholar's grasp of history (as long as it pertains to Florida)

Vrykolas2k · Unread post by **Vrykolas2k** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:07 pm

Also, Gath of Baal (Death Dealer).
Haakon.
Ryan Cawdor and Crew (from Deathlands).
Marka Ragnos.
Vampire Hunter D.

Overlord Rikonius · Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:54 pm

How about the Destroyer and Chuin?

Beatmeclever · Unread post by **Beatmeclever** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:07 pm

Jack "Huntsman" West Jr.
Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield
John Clark (Rainbow Six)
Jason Bourne
Batman
Snake-Eyes
Issac Dan der Grimnebulin
Paul Atreides
Tasslehoff Burrfoot
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin
Bean
Sal Paradise
Dean Moriarty
Odysseus
Aeneas
Jesus of Nazareth
Job
Arjuna
Beowulf
The Wife of Bath
Prospero
Rick Deckard

Others to come as they come to mind.

Northern Ranger · Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:10 pm

Anita Blake
Strahd von Zarovich
Al Geordino (Can't have Dirk Pitt without Al!)
Abraham Van Helsing (Come on, after Hugh Jackman he became a completely different character!)
Any Comic Book hero (This post wouldn't be long enough for me to list all the ones I can think of!)
Red Riding Hood
Alice (From Wonderland)
The Tin Woodsman (That axe is bad-ass!)
The Wolfman
Lestat
Voldemort (Why just stick with Harry?)
Holmes, Watson or Moriarty
Captain Picard and or Crew
Captain Kirk and or Crew
Captain Sisko and or Crew
Captain Janeway and or Crew
Q (Duh)

That list being done, I suggest you watch the classic movie the Pagemaster. It would give you some good ideas for that storyline your working on!

Reagren Wright · Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:55 pm

At the Open House, Julius ran this adventure with Beyond the Supernatural. Some of the
characters where...

Fanny Hill
Ichabod Crane
Samuel Gulliver with his Flying Derigible
Sir Percey Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel) mine.
An 18th century Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

I wish I could remember some of the others. It was a blast and a lot of fun.

Oh and we had to save an 18th century James Bond and met Thomas Jefferson.

Xar · Unread post by **Xar** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:22 am

Reagren Wright wrote:At the Open House, Julius ran this adventure with Beyond the Supernatural. Some of the
characters where...

Fanny Hill
Ichabod Crane
Samuel Gulliver with his Flying Derigible
Sir Percey Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel) mine.
An 18th century Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

I wish I could remember some of the others. It was a blast and a lot of fun.

Oh and we had to save an 18th century James Bond and met Thomas Jefferson.

He told me about that game on Sunday afternoon. It sounded awesome!

Dolcet · Unread post by **Dolcet** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:37 pm

I would have loved to run Clark "Doc" Savage Jr.

Dog_O_War · Unread post by **Dog_O_War** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:11 pm

How's about Jesus?

:lol:

okay, bad joke (no major offense meant to any of you Bible-goers out there).
EDIT: Looks like Beatmeclever beat me to it

More seriously though, I have a question for the OP; are you and your friends well-read?

The reason I ask is that if you are the one creating the list, and they are forced to pick someone they don't really know anything about, how do you expect things to turn out? For myself, most of the suggestions offered would put me in a tight spot. With the exception of a very short list from that provided, I don't really know any of the classics. I'm not in your game, sure; but of your players - are you sure they can pull off these characters?

Just a thought.

Natasha · Unread post by **Natasha** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:02 pm

I greatly enjoy characters inspired by Baron Münchhausen.

Cyrano de Maniac · Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:08 am

I'll second the Jack Shaftoe idea. Might as well throw in Enoch Root.

Perhaps not in quite as much of a serious vein (or maybe very serious would make some of these more fun?)

Ralph (from The Mouse and The Motorcycle)
Encyclopedia Brown
The Hardy Boys
Nancy Drew
Charles and/or Laura Ingalls
The Pevensie children from The Chronicles of Narnia
Comic book characters (Archie, Peanuts, Ziggy...)
Homer/Helen of Troy/Achilles
Ender/Peter/Valentine Wiggins
Scarlett and Rhett

BillionSix · Unread post by **BillionSix** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:10 pm

Not to nitpick, but I thought his name was Lemuel Gulliver, not Samuel.

Brian

Beatmeclever · Unread post by **Beatmeclever** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:40 pm

BillionSix wrote:Not to nitpick, but I thought his name was Lemuel Gulliver, not Samuel.

Brian

You're right. Bad memory on my part.

Killer Cyborg · Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:39 am

George Milton and Lennie Small.

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:35 am

Hows about Mack Bolan?

or:

Chief Martin Brody - Jaws

what if htey aren;t literary at all bit they spring from a biography of a real historic person?

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:00 pm

Also this being a library of our future, it could be that they could in fact have jump from video media as well.......so that could give any number of characters like say Ethan Hunt from Mission Imopssible or as someone said earlier, Dirty Harry, or even better the the man with no name also played by Clint Eastwood.

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:43 pm

Darkorinth wrote:Bond, James Bond

I think he was said above along with Jack Ryan......what about THE TOXIC AVENGER!!!

I think it could be even more intriguing ti use real peopel from history, Cleopatra, Alexander teh Great, Ghengis Khan....

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:59 pm

I think he was alread said as well......

How about ....... He-Man or She-Ra or Lion-o from Thundercats?

Or..... The Seven Samurai?

Gazirra · Unread post by **Gazirra** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:03 pm

Jack Torrence
Randall Flagg
Jake Chambers
Bink of the North Village

Overlord Rikonius · Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:56 pm

jaymz wrote:Also this being a library of our future, it could be that they could in fact have jump from video media as well.......so that could give any number of characters like say Ethan Hunt from Mission Imopssible or as someone said earlier, Dirty Harry, or even better the the man with no name also played by Clint Eastwood.

Hmm, I wonder if the library of the future would have any Internet figures in it.
Hmm, if it had the Cracked.com crew, then the CS would have to nuke the site from orbit (as would the Prometheans, the Forge, the CCW, the Kreeghor, most of your major pantheons, the TMG, the Atorians, the Nightlords, the Gene Splicers, ARCHIE, and the Ferkelbergers). :lol:

Lord Z · Unread post by **Lord Z** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:01 am

Sigh, this could have been a good thread. Too many people are wildly posting without reading what was written before.

Augur · Unread post by **Augur** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:47 am

I would suggest: Faust

Nothing like a conflicted character who's made the proverbial "deal with the Devil" to spice up a campaign.

johnkretzer · Unread post by **johnkretzer** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:30 am

From Eddings works...(yeah I am a big fan)
Sparhawk
Silk
Stragen
Queen Ehlana
Poledra
Polgara
acrualy any of those characters would be cool

Also...pretty sure nobody mentioned these
Any of the three Musketeers
Rob Roy
Any greek mythological heroes

Though you know the easiest way to do this might be to simply just ask your players what literary characters they want to play. I mean they are the ones who will have to make it work...

Nomadic · Unread post by **Nomadic** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:49 pm

Think LXG! Google it.

Enders Game for a non-combat Setting.

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:53 pm

Enders Game was awesome though not a true non combat setting so to speak

Nomadic · Unread post by **Nomadic** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:59 pm

Non-comabt for me means little combat... not Zero

Always, Never, Always mean 90% for me

Khanibal · Unread post by **Khanibal** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:18 am

Dirk Gently (already knows how to dimension shift).
Travis McGee
Donald Lam

gaby · Unread post by **gaby** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:26 pm

The Characters from Alice in Wonderland

What type of Power Category do you think fits each character?

Khanibal · Unread post by **Khanibal** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:14 pm

Chesire Cat = Faerie Bot vehicle
Card Guards = Chipwell

sHaka · Unread post by **sHaka** » Wed May 19, 2010 6:07 pm

All good suggestions. I'd add:

-Thomas Covenant
-Ramses II
-King Edward III of England
-Lady MacBeth
-Angus Thermopyle
-Gully Foyle
-Jernau Morat Gurgeh
-Adul Al'Hazred
-Flashman