Thread: Why I Killed Mary Sure & Gary Stu

Why I Killed Mary Sue & Gary Stu

So they had to go. That witch! What with her flouncy hair and straight as hell smile, boobs that defy gravity… and he with those rock hard abs and smile that sparkles white in the sun. GAH! Neither of them could ever do anything wrong, even when things go badly for them they NEVER look like failures just people who are better for the troubles they endured. Unchanging they were … PERFECT! So, they had to die and by god I was the one to do it.

Mary Sue and Gary Stu … you know them, I know them, anyone who has ever wrote a creative piece of writing or taken part in role playing has likely been or interacted with someone who thinks the best way to achieve character greatness is to be as unchangeable as the Barbie and Ken wannabes in my picture above. Two parts Brangelina, a little Russell and Jen to spice it up … good at everything they ever try and *ALL* annoying.

Their player/writer freaks out on you when they are forced to owe your character, they hate it when the ST sends any plot their way that they didn’t specifically outline in their history as being acceptable (and it had better be JUST as they wrote it or there will be hell to pay!) These players fail to understand a basic part of character development which I’m going to share with you now.

Good Story (the best stories, even) comes from true drama. Drama comes from challenges, loss, and failures. If you’re not failing … if you’re not getting knocked down then your story probably isn’t what it could be. Now granted, it shouldn’t rain all the time (we’ll talk about the whipping boy in another article) but – if your character is at a point in their existence where everything is going pretty much as a good life can for a supernatural creature in the World of Darkness: nice car, home, security in their position, romance… everything being peachy except the for a final victory over the wyrm or humanity regained – then you might be starting to ask yourself: What Now?

Some Mary Sues and Gary Stus wait for storytellers to come along and dot their otherwise peaceful lives with something horrific (with the understanding that they should always triumph over bad guys designed by storytellers) and otherwise spend their days/nights flaunting their perfect nature to others. However, this is only entertaining for so long and then… something has to be done.

The average role player eventually learns that they need to kill Gary Stu or Mary Sue and become more realistic for the game to be enjoyable. The day to day lives of people are filled with small dramas, conflicts, questions, insecurities and problems to be solved. If you’re having trouble finding things to do in a social scene then perhaps your character is edging on a place of Mary Sue or Gary Stu-dom.

HOW DO I KILL MARY SUE OR GARY STU?
First things first, don’t think this means you need to self-destruct, instead take a look at your own life on an average day. Ask yourself questions about your life… what do I do when I’m bored? What things make my day complicated and annoying? What things have I done that weren’t perfect that I wish I had a chance to do over? A lot of those same things are things you might add to your character’s life by either writing it into a blog or going to another player and asking them to help you tell the story.

Second – accept that not every story is the end of the world or leads to Gehenna/Apocalypse. There are a million mini battles that each character fights nightly/daily that are important to their world and most of them go unseen and don’t require an ST on hand to help you tell. If you want to add a mortal love interest to your character’s life… go for it. Want to examine how someone really goes through learning a discipline? Want to show how hard it is to learn a new skill? Ever have road rage? Ever get lost? Ever witness a crime large or small? You don’t need to examine the logistics of your existence or fight demons to make good story. Stories are all around you, just grab one and start writing!

Third – when sitting down to make a new character avoid cliché names, avoid looking like a super model or movie star, embrace an age other than your own (people rarely play older characters or younger and instead stick to the age they are or that perfect sorta 20-something look.) And lastly, when you put something large into the character’s history as a weakness (say like having grown up an orphan or having been effected by abuse) consider that in every choice the character makes and not just when a tear jerker moment seems to be called for. Our pasts make us who we are and sometimes influence us for positive or negative reasons.

A FINAL NOTE
Strictly speaking there is no rule that says you can’t play Mary Sue or Gary Stu… but you should consider that the World of Darkness is meant to be a place that is very similar to our own and in it there should be a sense of realism embraced in our mix of gothic/supernatural horror. In such a world Mary Sue and Gary Stu would be eaten for a late night snack by a vampire or ripped apart by Femori in a horrible graphic way. For those looking to have a little more UMPH in their game… I strongly suggest feeding Mary Sue and Gary Stu to the nearest Femori as soon as possible. You’ll be happy you did… I sure was. 

-DeAnna
webmaster@myworldofdarkness.com