The Death Cookie

1. Archetype of the Week: The Holy Man
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... characters) Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnus Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (Newton Pulsifer) The Huntress sometimes fits the holy warrior aspect of this archetype. ...

2. Number Crunching
(Columns/QAGS Corner)

...  characters had fighting skills, most were making default rolls to fight, which meant that they missed the zombies a lot more often than they hit them, which isn't really the way zombie movies generally ...

3. Archetype of the Week: The Noble Savage
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

...  A variation on the noble savage theme is the "Magical Negro" archetype, which includes characters like Uncle Remus, Bagger Vance, and numerous Morgan Freeman characters. Although the Magical Negro ...

4. A Six Pack of Stagger Lee
(Features/Gaming Articles)

...  preyed on his own community (while Billy later became identified as a white man, in early versions both characters in the story are black) and was usually a cold-blooded killer (Stag refuses to let ...

5. Archetype of the Week: The Rookie
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... sufficiently tragic to spur the heroes on so they can avenge him. Likely Stories While the rookie is most common in action movies, similar characters appear in all kinds of stories: in Westerns, ...

6. The Rules: Robin Hood
(Features/Gaming Articles)

... but doesn't actually seem to be about Robin Hood. Don't get me wrong: I appreciate the fact that characters like Robin Hood change over time, but certain core aspects of the character need to remain. ...

7. Archetype of the Week: The Trickster
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... Mythological Characters Anansi Brer Rabbit Coyote Eris Loki Reynard the Fox Robin Hood Real People Banksy P.T. Barnum Jello Biafra Tony Clifton Stephen Colbert Salvador Dali Charles Fort Larry Flynt ...

8. Archetype of the Week: The Fool
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... Anchorman (Ron Burgundy, Brick Tamland, most of the other characters to some extent) The Andy Griffith Show (Barney Fife) The Big Lebowski (The Dude, Walter, Donnie) Burn After Reading (Chad Feldheimer) ...

9. The Rules: Sword & Sorcery
(Features/Gaming Articles)

... which made it hard to do the Hero's Journey thing. Therefore, the protagonists started out as Big Damn Action Heroes with more in common with Rambo than Luke Skywalker. GMing Suggestion: Characters ...

10. Archetype of the Week: The Spook
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... tales and super-hero stories, often as supporting characters.  The Name Game Spooks never use their real names and often make that fact glaringly obvious by using common names like John Doe or Jim ...

11. Archetype of the Week: The Mentor
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... in most stories, regardless of setting or genre. The Name Game Because mentors are usually older than the other characters in the group, they are likely to have "old people" names. They may also have ...

12. Con Report: Egypt Wars 1
(Features/Convention Reports)

... play. I was immediately glad that I'd gone overboard and made what I thought was way too many pre-generated characters for the game. Those of you who have played games in the Fratboys vs. series can ...

13. Wednesday WWPHITM?: Preacher
(Features/Random Stuff)

... a movie, I think this is best suited for an HBO style series. Since there are so many storylines and characters in the series, we'll just stick with the central characters and a few of the more interesting ...

14. The Rake
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

Often known as the ladies' man (or, in the case of female characters, femme fatale or vixen), the rake uses his charm, good looks, and sexuality to get what he wants, especially from members of the opposite ...

15. The Squint
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... squints do sometimes go out into the field, most of their time is spent in the lab. Because they're often far away from the action, squints usually work best as supporting GMCs or back-up characters, unless ...

16. The Everyman
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... the local bar, a truckstop--just about anywhere, really. Social Circle: Other regular folks appropriate to the characters background and social status. However, most everyman heroes have that one friend ...

17. The Grizzled Veteran
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... and Westerns. The Name Game The given names of grizzled veterans are typical for the setting in which they exist, but may be old-fashioned in the case of older characters. Because they've plenty of time ...

18. WB101 Part 5: The Big Picture
(Columns/World Building 101)

... I came up with in my initial brainstorming sessions seems like a good hook. In addition to giving the characters a good crisis to deal with and opening the door to horror-themed fantasy, the idea of a ...

19. The Swashbuckler
(Columns/Archetype of the Week)

... Bride Shreck series (Puss in Boots) The following characters have been the subjects of so many movies and TV shows (often with the same or similar titles), that picking just a few would be impossible: ...

20. The Company (Rules for Group Resources)
(Columns/QAGS Corner)

... has Words and Numbers similar to that of a player character. These stats, and tips on how to use them, are described below. Office Type: This Word describes what kind of office or organization the characters ...