Welcome back to Narrative Control in 2011. After a break for the holidays we’re back and talking about Social Antagonits. How to make them work and why the are so awesome.
Hosts: Sean Nittner and Eric Fattig
Length: 54:07
Inspired by Ryan Macklin’s article on Making Sypathetic Antagonists
Show Notes
[00:22] Intro to the show. Happy New Year!
[00:38] Topic: Social Antagonists
News of the Episode
[00:59] What just happened? Dead of Winter
[02:35] EndGame Minicon
[03:19] Pimping Duneville. Check out Smallville
[05:17] Big Bad Con Book Rooms here: Hilton Oakland Airport
[05:59] Gazebo Deathmatch
[06:56] RPG Crosstalk – A shared Podcasting Forum
[09:04] Finding Ryan Macklin’s post on sympathetic antagonists via twitter.
[11:14] A reading from Macklin’ post. His three reasons for sympathetic antagonists!
[12:39] Our discussion drifted to Social Antagonists. People you can’t punch in the face.
[13:20] The recurring villain you don’t have to sell. Conflicts bind the characters together rather than splitting them apart.
Examples of social antagonists
[14:57] Uther Lightbringer: The moral authority.
[15:79] Tsuruchi Nadu. Our lord and commander in L5R. A terrible leader.
Characteristics of good social antagonists
[24:25] The social antagonist is part of the same rigid organization that the players are (your boss, your lord, your co-worker, your schoolmate, your business partner, your family, etc).
[27:07] The social antagonist is not secretly EVIL.
[33:31] The social antagonists needs a sympathetic drive. A reason to exist that is legitimate.
[35:13] Social antagonists can do more interesting damage. Turning you friend against you, steal your money, demote you, attacking your other relationships, etc.
[38:09] Social healing is also more interesting. Repairing from a cut is pretty boring. Repairing a relationship is fun and makes for more exciting interactions. One persons’ gain is the others’ loss.
[39:44] The conflicts with social antagonists are ones we can relate to. We’ve all been in conflicts like these.
[42:59] Sometimes you work together. Social antagonist that are “on the same side” or have the same goal that is really important.
[49:56] Social antagonist can escalate conflicts and then de-escalate.
[52:24] PCs can fill these roles. The players can be each others’ social antagonists.
[53:26] Go discuss it… on RPG Crosstalk
Continue the conversation… Here
