Part 2
When designing your adventurer's background, it's important to make them in such a way that they will cooperate with the party. Actively working against the group, wandering away, or sitting out of an important quest or battle might be true to certain fictional characters or historical figures, but remember you're not reading Dragonlance at home by yourself. You're playing a game with your friends.
Staying true to your character is important, but being antagonistic means you're playing a different game - if you're playing at all. You don't want to put yourself in a position to miss out on content your DM took the time to prepare, and you don't want to put your friends in the position of babysitting you. Make sure your character is one that is willing to participate.
Roleplaying games are shared storytelling experiences. Not every character in the story is going to be heroic. However, if you play your character in a way that actively impugns your friends' fun, you've found the only real way to fail at tabletop RPGs. Throw your character sheet in the trash and roll one that isn't a jerk.
Some of you may now be feeling the urge to crank up Rage Against the Machine and not do what you're told. That's OK - good song, by the way. (Not OK? Never bringing snacks or eating all the Funyuns).
There is space for dark characters in any roleplaying party.
Not every character in the story is going to be heroic, and not every party member needs to be. The challenge is to make them fun, rather than frustrating. If played well, reluctant protagonists and antiheroes can be endearing and memorable; think Bilbo or Vegeta, who showed tremendous character growth throughout their tales and became fan favorites.
Your character doesn't have to like adventuring or working with the team from session 1, but they have to be willing to do it. If you're going to be Bilbo, consider working with another player who would like to be your Gandalf and drag you from your hobbit-hole. Growth for these types of characters is key; it doesn't matter so much why they're leaving on an adventure with the party, but it does matter that they tolerate it. If they start to form friendships along the way, even better. It's OK then, maybe even preferable, to go into the game with a light backstory that leaves a lot of space for the character to be shaped by their experiences.
This is where we circle back to our personality traits: the less you know about why your character is the way they are, the more important it is to commit the core details. You can figure out why your character is gruff or slow to trust later, but it's important to know that they are gruff or slow to trust. This also helps distance our otherworldly superpowered fantasy personas from our personal quirks and experiences. It's easy to insert ourselves into the game, it takes effort to shape that ball of clay into someone else.
No matter what kind of character you roll up with, remember that tabletop games are the most fun for everyone when the spotlight is shared. Your friends need space to shine, too. Making them convince Mr. Edgy McAngstypants to get over himself and get on with the story does not enable them to do that.
None of this is to discourage you from playing archetypes that differ from plucky, all-too-eager heroes of destiny.
How boring would a party composed entirely of Captain America's be? So go on and explore your brooding, stand-offish side - and do so with an awareness of some of the common pitfalls those characters suffer.
Just don't forget the snacks.
Picture from Axelle Bouet, CC-BY-SA-4.0