Hmm...

[the_gneech]

I've been pondering potential heroes for my fantasy fiction; I wonder if Bugbear is a strong enough character to pull it off, once he's had the D&Disms stripped off.

PROS:

* Strong personality
* Capable of convincingly taking on big, bad villains and winning
* Distinctive enough to stand out from other hero-types
* Likeable

CONS:

* Monster hero too cliché?
* Definitely gotta strip those D&Disms!
* No room for bugbears in Ethangea as written -- so either it has to change, or he gets his own setting

The idea's worth toying with, anyhow.

-The Gneech

Comments

[the-lizard-rat.livejournal.com]

Some ideas:

#1: I read Bugbear's description. He sounds as likable as Fawn from Fight Cast or Evade (http://fightcastorevade.net) :)

#2 --- Curse spells are wonderful. Maybe he got catapulted from his home world/universe into your setting via one, providing him with an enemy to hate? This way you don't have to change much.

#3. Not too cliche. A Minotaur trying to atone for misdeeds perhaps is, but honestly, how many bugbear heroes do you see wandering the land working on the side of *good*?

#4: Give him something more unusual than a simple Keen Greataxe +1. Something distinctive. Maybe a Flaming Broadsword of Wounding +3? The problem with distinctiveness is it makes him easily well known... and easily tracable though...

And why do I envision him talking like Dover and having Mikey's hyperactivity? *has SJ on the brain*

Lizard Rat out.
Brainstorming in Renesselaer

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Well, if I took him out of D&D, I'd throw away the magic items all together. That's one of those D&Disms I was referring to. :)

-The Gneech

[kesh.livejournal.com]

Why strip off the D&Disms? Being a bugbear is a pretty good clue where the idea came from. :) However, I'm not familiar with Ethangea...

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Mainly because I don't want to write D&D fiction. :)

-The Gneech

[jamesbarrett.livejournal.com]

Toy away. -Frisk

[punktiger.livejournal.com]

I've always had a warm spot in my heart for "Monster" characters on the side of good. I've even written a story or two on that subject. One was an orc (I was particularly pleased on how that one worked out) and another longer tale was going to be about a minotaur (it was started, fragmented into series of notes, and was never finished).

But, suffice to say, I think the Bugbear idea is very cool. Have him become friends with a Gnoll... Perhaps have something like a "League of Extraordinary Monsters."

Just a thought. Hmmm... (*gears start turning...*)