The 5 concepts of Doom

5 Concepts of Doom

Among Professional Wrestling critics there’s a term called the 5 moves of doom. In which a wrestler only wins due to having 5 moves which they use in tandem with each other in the same match and then as a result of using all of them wins. When a wrestler has 5 moves of doom they often get criticized for not being able to do anything else.  The Audience complains about this and the online critics complain about this as well.  As a role player one of the things I have run into among other gamers is something I like to call the 5 concepts of doom.

The reason I call it that is because like with the 5 moves of doom the 5 concepts of doom signifies that problem most role players run into in which they release the same 3 to 5 concepts over and over again, so they can always get good results. It doesn’t matter what race template you use if your always playing the guy with the big weapon who runs in and kills things your playing the same concept. A concept is the core of the character. 

        A characters core to me is what you get when you were to strip down all the abilities of the character all there allies and just examine them as an individual. A characters core is there motivation it is what drives them and what at the end of the day they are this.  All character cores can be wrapped up by one sentence. Now I want to challenge you that’s right you the reader.

         I want you to go and look back without the nostalgia goggles and see if you can get beyond 5 concepts of doom. Dig up your character sheet and test your own flexibility.  IF you can’t get past 3 you are the average role player. If you can get past 5 congratulations you have a lot of creativity and your probably going places.  If you can’t get past 1 Well, ask yourself this question. Is that because you can’t make more than 1 concept or is it because that’s the one concept you like to play. Part of being good at anything is challenging yourself so you can improve.  For me if, you want to get past always playing 1 concept than simply put don’t. 

          Go out of your comfort zone and play something that you normally don’t.   If you don’t know where to start I recommend talking to your game group to help come up with some more ideas on things you haven’t been exposed to that might inspire you.  If your still having issues after that then I recommend starting by trying to make small variations on a concept your comfortable with.  Like for example maybey the guy who charges in with the sword doesn’t like doing that and he’s actually a big softy at heart. That or maybey the reason he keeps charging in is because of some reaction they have. That every time conflict arises they have some sorta psychological break down and become a completely different person.  As you get further away from the core with these variations you can get to experience different angles that will allow your character to grow in different ways. 

            If you feel more comfortable trying a different concept than simply put do. Start by reversing your old concept completely if you want or playing a different angle entirely.  For example maybey your character doesn’t charge in maybey your characters a diplomat or a person who disarms traps and searches environments for things they can use to inflict pain upon there enemies.  Maybey they stay back and help out by healing people and making sure others stay up ala the healer archetype that mmos have made popular.  There’s a lot more, but I’m not going to fill this entire blog with examples.

                   Next game you play in challenge yourself and try to do a different core concept.  Design a new character concept that doesn’t work off of what you normally do.  Who knows you might enjoy it.