I am working on making my own little board game with my friends. The game revolves around movie cliches (particularly of the horror/sci fi genre). The players are the ‘cast’ and each game is like its own little ‘movie’. The object of the game is to make it through a gauntlet of horror/sci fi baddies (homicidal maniacs, vampires, robot overlords, pod people, etc).
I’m trying to think of some cliched archetypes present in a lot of sci-fi movies. I want to lump together certain movie characters into ‘groups’ so I can take their on-film traits and find something common about them to make an archetype. The problem is, I’m having trouble thinking of enough of them. I want the archetypes to have a lot of examples behind each one, but also there should be enough different archetypes. Of course, I was thinking of an ‘Ash’-like character from the start, but is Ash a really archetypal character? Is the nobody-turned-badass really that cliched? Because Ripley is the only film character I can think of off-hand that is similar to Ash in origins (both were lowly nobodies, with realistic levels of fear/panic and a surprising amount of common sense compared to their counterparts).
Can anybody think of any other archetypes for the Horror/sci fi genre that would make interesting characters in a pseudo-rpg game?
There’s often the wisecracking comic-relief sidekick/buddy who in science fiction movies often also takes on the role of pilot or mechanic. See Andromeda, Firefly, The Matrix, etc.
The Sacrificial Negro. The minor black character that’s usually portrayed by a B-list actor or lower who has absolutely no chance of surviving the movie alive. Very prominent in the Horror, Sci-fi and Thriller genres, particularly when the threat is unleashed (examples: recombined dinosaurs, teenaged serial killers, John Carpenter movies, vampires, etc.) Occassionally called upon by the script to stick around long enough to sacrifice himself so that the other, more prominent (read: white) characters may survive. (Examples: Ernie Hudson’s character in LEVIATHAN, Charles Dutton’s character in ALIENS3, Joe Morton’s character in TERMINATOR 2, etc.) Exceptions: Sanaa Lathan’s character in ALIENS VERSUS PREDATOR. The Fake Out: Samuel L. Jackson’s character and LL Cool J’s character defy the obvious in DEEP BLUE SEA.
Unless the board piece looks like Samuel L. Jackson or Will Smith, I’m afraid the game piece is toast, BTW.
That’s PERFECT! Of course, wouldn’t it be impossible to win as that guy?
That’s okay, because part of this game works off a scoring system. Obviously surviving the game is ideal, but you can get ‘points’ by helping other players survive. So having a ‘sacrificial’ character might be rather effective
The scientist who interferes with the efforts of the hero(s) to kill the monster/alien either for the sake of science, or because he wants to communicate with it. The interferance can be anything from “getting in the way at an inopportune time” to “letting humans get killed so that the monster may live.”*
We’ve all seen characters like this—most notably, Dr. Carrington from The Thing from Another World. If you want to modernize it, you might make the scientist try to get all the humans killed, so that the monster/alien can’t have a chance to escape. (You’ll find plenty of characters like him, nowadays. Such as Dr. Blair from The Thing)
The stupid teens who drive to makeout point, only to get slaughtered. Or the stupid teens who go skinny dipping at the lake where the hook-handed insane alien was lynched as a witch 100 years ago this very night.
Make sure to throw in smaller elements or challanges, like female characters falling and breaking their ankles, or car engines failing to start.
A few cues from Jabootu, the god of bad movies. You’ll not go wrong with that list, trust me.
*For a funny, clever play on this cliche, check out the mediocre movie Moontrap.
**Incubus. ** Don’t throw words like ‘perfect’ around. It’s like a lapdance to my ego.
Okay. One more, then bed.
The Quirky Expert. Every horror movie has some odd duck who’s steeped in community lore, who knows all about the local secret deadly legend no one else believes in. Whether its the rules of horror movies, polergeists, the Cabrini Green Serial Killer, what’s hiding in the sewers beneath Derry, what happened at Crystal Lake, or what exactly happened with that pretty girl and those maniacs at the asylum down from Elm Street, the Quirky Expert can answer all your questions… or at least give unsettling, cryptic hints. Conversely if you’re trapped inside a giant killer cube – or trapped underwater investigating a mysterious sphere – or trapped inside a pyramid with two warring alien species (why do horror movie writers think geometric shapes are scary?) she’s the genius who quickly figures out what’s really going on. The Quirky Expert’s knowledge can prove invaluable in surviving the challenges that lay ahead, but don’t be complacent. Sometimes the Local Deadly Secret Legend No One Believes In lets no one out alive!
Defrocked/doubting priest (meets heroic end after rediscovering faith)
Former piilot who had to give up flying due to an accident that wasn’t his fault. (heroically saves party, often gets the girl)
You have to have a heavily pregnant woman in the mix somewhere - who else is there to get stuck in an elevator?
Upright, straight as an arrow military officer - who’s really a coward (grisly end in Act 2)
Spunky teen aged girl whose grandfather was Van Helsing (or similar) -always saves the day
Virginal teen aged girl - killed in Act 3
In the eighties, in the magazine Different Worlds, issue # 45, Brian J. Underhill published the Scary Monster Horror Picture Show Role-Playing Game, which is a RPG game based on horror movie clichés. The rules are available on the Internet, but unfortunately, only in French.
Well, there’s always the nameless Redshirt or geologist who is the first to be killed when a survey party goes to investigate the deserted mining colony which stopped transmitting 6 months ago, in order to alert the big-name cast members that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT…
The movie Galaxy Quest contains some great gags on these and other SF archetypes, when a character is obsessed that he will be killed because he doesn’t have a surname: “Maybe you’re the plucky comic relief…”
Slight nitpick, Askia: Samuel L. Jackson’s character didn’t survive the sharks in Deep Blue Sea, although LL Cool J’s did: I seem to remember him muttering constantly about how the black guy never makes it alive out of these situations, which may be what saved him…
Middlecase. I remember that, I just explained it poorly. By “defy the obvious”, I meant that I thought that LL Cool J’s lowly chef character would have ended up as Sacrificial Negro shark bait and Samuel L. Jackson’s character would survive, not the other way around. That’s why I posted Deep Blue Sea to the “Exceptions” Rule.
See, the overriding corollary to the “black guy never makes it out alive” rule is the “Blockbuster stars don’t get killed unless they’re villains” clause, which is the only reason why Usher survived The Faculty and Brandy Norwood survived I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Yeah, Deep Blue Sea did a pretty good job subverting a couple of these cliches-- Sam’s death was one I cheerfully admit I didn’t see coming until juuuust before it happened – he started getting really shrill and the camera did that fishbowl close-up on his upper body right in front of the shark tank. I didn’t believe he was dead until the sharks did the “wishbone” thing.
Somebody’s going to get mad at me for not putting that last part in a spoiler box. Oh, well. Hmmm. I still have time to fix it… all I have to do to show I give a damn is NOT hit the ‘submit reply’ bu
The character that everyone think is useless dead weight, to the point of openly debating whether or not to ditch him and leave him to die, until he suddenly reveals a secret talent that saves everyone.
To be fair, the reason for this cliche is that they wanted to bring more blacks into the film, but the main hero was written for a white leading man and the villian wouldn’t sit well, so let’s cast him as good-guy-who-gets-killed.
The Damsel: The innocent and beautiful young woman who does her best to put on a brave face for whatever horrifying situation comes along. Screams well. Is a virgin. Generally not graceful, and unable to effectively wield any weapon.
The Sexpot: The sassy/bitchy and beautiful young woman who deals with the horrifying situation by being snarky. Screams well. Is not a virgin. Usually a smoker, as well.
