Henchmen – What PCs Want

The next step in character creation for our DramaSystem Henchmen game was to determine what each character wants from the others. As the book says, this is where we bring dramatic poles into focus, defining them against other PCs.  This is where we find the best sources of dramatic conflict between characters.

Mr. Killjoy is our resident thug, and we find that he’s not-so-normal when compared to the likes of Lefty and other henchmen. He’s been ‘enhanced’ by Polly Anna, and is at times a heartless killing machine. This has left him cold and emotionally-impaired, setting up his dramatic poles (Humanity vs. Callousness). From Polly Anna, his desire is to have her “fix him”. She sees no need, as Killjoy is one of her greatest accomplishments. He’s already fixed.

The thug’s relationship with A.K.A. is a strained one. They’ve butted heads in the past (literally, it sounds like), and Mr. Killjoy feels that he has been wronged too many times. He wants some form of apology or resolution from the master of disguise. A.K.A. barely tolerates speaking to Killjoy, feeling that he’s a musclebound fool, someone there to trick or dominate.  The fun twist to this relationship is we determined that out of everyone, Mr. Killjoy seems immune to the various disguises used by A.K.A. . No matter how he tries, Killjoy can sense who he really is (even when A.K.A. has trouble with the distinction).

Polly Anna is the young female mad scientist, torn between her dramatic poles to create and destroy. This comes to the forefront with A.K.A. who she sees as an authority more than anyone else. In the past, the identity-challenged A.K.A. adopted the role of Polly Anna’s brother (whose true fate has yet to be determined). He’s responsible for bringing her into the super villain fold. Polly Anna wants someone like him to stop her from her violent acts, but when he fails to act, she acts out in worse ways. A.K.A. doesn’t see this as his responsibility; he’s already done her enough damage as is.

Lefty is one of the more mundane henchmen in the crew, but that’s the last thing he wants to be. He knows he’s destined for greatness. He just has to find a way to seize that opportunity. He knows that many in the crew see A.K.A. as a leader type, being the crew member with the longest tenure. They’re friends back from when Lefty was recruited. To that end, he wants to see A.K.A. recognize him as leadership material. If he can get some form of subservience from A.K.A., the rest should fall in line.

Lefty also seeks respect from Polly Anna, who seems damned if she’ll give it to him. He wants to engineer events in a way where she’ll idolize him. Sadly, Polly Anna sees him as just another one of the faceless minions in the crew.

A.K.A. is the consummate master of disguise who has begun to lose himself in a multitude of personalities. He keeps watch over Polly Anna, possibly bearing some guilt for pulling her into this lifestyle. What he really wants is for her to impress him. Perhaps once she proves herself capable of independence, he’ll truly let her go.

There are a few other needs and wants between characters, but these are the ones that have come to the forefront so far. As we’ve played, the players have done a good job of keeping these desires and conflicts in perspective and used them to create memorable scenes. We have yet to redefine any of the wants as the book suggested, but it could happen down the road as the relationships come more into focus.

I try not to overuse the term, but this really has been a paradigm shift for us. While we’ve had antagonistic moments in past games (I’m looking at A.K.A and Killjoy), we always have that common purpose pulling us together. Focusing on the interpersonal conflicts has been interesting. And fun.

Next up, I’ll go over a number of scenes from our first night of play.