Today we’re going to discuss the ideation of Murder Hobos (and their creation). These are a bizarre phenomenon in the role playing game hobby but they come from an easily understandable place. We’ll look at the root causes of their existence and how to manage them during the game (and between sessions). Let’s start with the first question that comes to mind. What precisely is a Murder Hobo?
A Murder Hobo is a character without any con nos to the rest of the game world and roam from places to place. They have no connections with the rest of the setting, actively avoid making further connections, and have zero hesitations about killing non player cha-acters. This antisocial behavior, like all behavior, has a source, and I plan to explain how otherwise fun players can shift into Murder Hobos at the apparent drop of a hat.
Don’t mistake the Murder Hobo from the “Drifter with no name.” Drifters may have some superficial similarities to the Murderhobo, but the players are often willing to form attachments to npcs and buy into the setting. The Murderhobo has no such desire and they actively avoid entanglements with the setting. This key difference makes the Drifter a character (with an attached player) that you can work with, while the Murderhobo is a lot harder to integrate into a campaign.
Other characters not to confuse the Murder Hobo with:
- The Edgelord
- “For the Lulz”
- “It’s what my character would do!”
- The Contrarian
The players of these characters have other social maladaptations that make them an absolute “delight” at a game of your favorite role-playing game with several expressions. The Edgelord tries to push the sense of common decency and responsible, pro-social behaviors that society expects of everyone. They use the game as an excuse to be difficult to their fellow sentients.
“For the Lulz” is an attention seeking behavior pattern similar to a class clown. They’re going to do whatever they can to get the attention of the rest of the table focused on them. They’ll even take actions that are counter to the goals of the rest of the party because it
focuses their collective attention on them.
“It’s what my character would do!” is an absolute “delight” in a game of an RPG. They’ll use the excuse of “acting in character” and “Following their character’s beliefs” to be superbly difficult to the rest of the players at the table. Because their character’s role playing and personal fun are the only thing they find of worth in the game experience, they can justify doing any and everything, regardless of personal boundaries between players.
The Contrarian sees whatever position the rest of the group has taken on a topic or situation and takes the opposing position. These players love to play devil’s advocate, and push buttons with other players for a host of different reasons. It doesn’t matter how egregious the opposing position is, if it’s in direct counter to the rest of the group’s beliefs and decisions, the Contrarian proudly argues against the rest of the group.
Murder Hobos don’t just appear out of nowhere, they are a reaction to a pattern of behavior from the game master. This may be a jarring accusation, but it’s born out of the following pattern. See if this sounds familiar to any of you from your home games (or stories you’ve heard from around the tables).
“You need to have a one page backstory with at least X friends or family in your backstory that tie into the campaign setting.” (We can see this as a red strike by some players, because of what happens next).
“Okay, you’re about to get started with your next adventure, but you get a letter from home, family member X has been captured by goblins/orcs/villains of the day and you have to rush off to save them!” (This can also be seen as a red strike, because of what this start of a pattern represents.)
“Whew, you saved your family member, and now you’re about to start your next adventure, but the Wizard’s cousins have been kidnapped by his rival and now you hav to go save them!” (the pattern is established. Three red strikes, the player has had enough of this, and the switch from cooperative character to Murder Hobo is about to begin.)
The pattern as represented, is that the character’s backstory is going to prevent them from making forward progress. That means the characters are spinning their wheels trying to make some steps forward. What’s worse, is that with an entire party of backstories to threaten and put into danger, the DM can milk their backstories to keep them from doing anything productive for virtually ever.
Even the most good-natured player is going to shift their perceptions and reactions the third time their character’s best friends get themselves captured or carted off by monsters. The Dungeon Master is playing into their connections to extract tension and push them into doing things when other methods are available to spur adventurers forward. Eventually it hits a tipping point, and the character’s behavior changes as a response to the situation. This an example of learned behaviors, and these can be very hard to shift.
Given this situation staring at you, as a player, in the face, a Murder Hobo feels really freeing. You don’t have the burden of these NPCs on your back. The ties of the social order that have been an albatross around your neck since you started adventuring are gone. You even have the very rewarding roleplaying experience of a potential alignment change as your character severs their ties to the backstory that’s holding them down and keeping the story from advancing.
They have taught players who lean into Murder Hobos that’s the safest way to engage the game experience because of experiences with other DMs. Through that experience, (and you can hear them explain why they’re the way they are), it’s safer for their emotional and mental health to be someone who has no ties to the world at large, and can do whatever they please, whenever they want to do it.
It’s fun, and it’s liberating to not have to care about the rest of the world’s problems. It’s also a power fantasy to wreck the people in authority that keep telling you what you can and can’t do. The Murder Hobo kills as they like, takes what they want, and moves on. It’s the pattern of behavior that the player type derives its name from. They live in a world without connections, and that’s mostly fine for them.
The upside of having a Murder Hobo in your party is a manifold blessing. Foremost, a Murder Hobo will take a swing at anyone or anything, regardless of their political or social station, (They have absolutely no chill in this matter). Second, their lack of connections to the world means that they will not drag you and your friends into something from their backstory that you honestly have no place getting in the middle of. Third, they are wildcards, and their actions are unpredictable, and that can be a significant benefit in an RPG situation.
The downsides of having a Murder Hobo in your party are equally vast. Foremost, their behavior pattern means they’re likely on the run from the law, and that’s a wide brush that usually hits their traveling companions. Second, because they don’t have connections of their own, they rarely see the point in your character’s backstory coming back to bite you in the sensitive portions of your anatomy. Finally, being a wildcard can be just as bad as it can be good. Unpredictable behavior is uncontrollable behavior.
So, how do you handle Murder Hobos?
Well, the best and most effective way of dealing with a Murder Hobo is to keep the player from going full Murder Hobo from the jump. This means a very open conversation during a session 0 to establish some ground rules for both players and the Game Master so that everyone understands what role backstory is going to play in the story as it moves forward.
As a player, be straightforward up front if this is a behavior you have a vehement reaction to. Doing so means that you are less exposed to the situations that trigger your Murder Hobo behavior. It also means that you might have a lot more fun by making some connections with the other players at the table. It also requires you to trust your Game Master to not keep pushing these buttons repeatedly.
As the Game Master, be cognizant of the situations that create Murder Hobos, because once you teach a Murder Hobo to be a Murder Hobo, it’s not an easy behavior to unlearn. You have a responsibility (and an expectation) to rotate the spotlight on the characters in your game and to manage their player expectations. You also have a responsibility to use character backstories (if they exist) to propel the story forward. A character’s past is just that. It may have helped shape how the character got to where they are now, but it’s not a contract that defines what a character is always going to be.
Characters should change and grow. The experiences that they go through the course of a role-playing game should have a profound effect on them and should give them wonderful opportunities to stretch and develop themselves. It is a fair statement to say that a player expects their character to grow past their background, not be trapped by it.
Constantly threatening the player’s background elements (whether it’s their childhood home, friends, family) teaches the player two things. One, the player learns that having backgrounds with detailed elements makes them targets for the game master to exploit. Once in a while is a thing, and it can serve as something to tie a character closer to the setting. Do it too often, and you’re winding up the Murder Hobo and prepping them for the game.
The second thing to keep in mind as a Game Master who consistently abuses the character’s background is that you are focusing the story on their past at the expense of their present and future. If the party is constantly running off to chase down someone or something that has threatened an aspect of their background, then they aren’t pursuing whatever the primary plot or their own personal goals are.
So, how do you solve it ahead of time? You talk to each other. If things aren’t going the way you want them to, talk to the GM or the player in question. You probably shouldn’t air this question in public, because you probably don’t want to create a situation where a pile on occurs in either direction.
A pile on in this case is the rest of the group jumping into the conversation and taking sides. This can blow up in a lot of unexpected ways and that’s not healthy for the group. However, if you are having this same conversation with multiple players as the GM, or you and several players are seeing this same pattern, it may be time for a group discussion. The real secret to a healthy table is communication, honest, open communication.
Once the Murder Hobo is out of the Murder Hobo box, that’s a different story. As a GM, you’ve lost the trust of at least one player, and that’s difficult to get back. In an ongoing campaign, it’s a hard sell to walk a Murder Hobo back to the point of caring about the rest of the campaign setting. It may take that player exiting the campaign and either rejoining with a new character or waiting until the current campaign has concluded and starting over fresh.
As a player of a Murder Hobo, I absolutely get not trusting the GM, especially if it’s a GM that’s shown a propensity for pulling this pattern of behaviors in the past. It may take a conversation that goes like “You have X chances to successfully not screw with my backstory and once those chances are exhausted, it’s Murder Hobo O’clock.” Ideally, you can have a less confrontational conversation about this, but if you have to put your foot down as a player to establish your own space, take care of yourself.
A detail that a lot of us forget over time is that not every game, nor every group of players is universal. There are going to be people you don’t mesh well with, and that happens. Unlike school where they tell you that “have to learn to work with people you can’t get along with,” this is a recreational activity and you absolutely can remove negative influences from your life. If your game is not bringing you fun, find a different game, maybe a different group of people to play with.
Games (Of which, I am 84% sure that Role-Playing Games are actually games), are supposed to be fun activities that help you manage your stress and HAVE FUN. If your game is causing you stress, then it’s something that you need to make changes for. That’s a conversation for a different day.
In Conclusion:
Murder Hobo-ism is a learned behavior caused by the overuse of a character’s backstory at the expense of their present and future goals. A complete lack of a backstory and a refusal to make connections with the campaign setting typifies it. Also of concern is the propensity to kill NPCs and loot with reckless abandon at the expense of other story concerns.
The most effective treatment for a case of Murder Hobo is to prevent it from happening with an open and honest line of communication between player and GM. A character’s background is how their character got to where they’re ready to adventure and should be touch points to tie them to the world. It should not be used as a mechanism to threaten the character into performing acts regularly. Once in a while, as part of a larger plot, the use of a character’s background can be imperiled.
Like everything in the RPG scene, it’s a balancing act. The GM has to balance the expectations of their table of players and their engagement. Engaged players are more fun to play with, and one of the fastest ways to throw the disengagement switch is over using any one aspect of the game. Balance the game out, and keep Murder Hobos from cropping up in your home-grown game.
If you end up with a Murder Hobo as a transfer in, have an honest conversation and explain the situation to the player and your expectations for the game. It may be a situation where the player isn’t a good fit for the group, and finding that out before they get deep into the game is better for everyone. Remember, talk to your players, (or your GMs). The game will be better for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment