How do you live on the edge?

[omnitricks]

So a little context. My friends are playing Dark Heresy and I'm supposed to join them as a religious face (Shrine World Ministorum) as some inside joke being a fanatic which will eventually drive the party insane.

Because I have yet to join I still have the choice to choose how I'll play. The current idea was to shout "Heresy!" at everything the same way Groot always goes "I am Groot" until today I started reading about edgy characters (before this, I knew of the stereotype but not the label)

So came a conversation in the group chat which went somewhere the lines of:

Me: Man, I was going to be the edgiest edgelord ever.

GM: We're not edgelords. We're catholic spess nazis.

Bla bla bla with me admitting I never played edgy characters before so I just want the experience.

Me: I'm going to be edgy as !@#$ until I change the dimensions to suit my edginess (something about how all edgy characters sit in corners and brood if I'm not mistaken)

Other guy: There is a dice joke in there somewhere...

And then came the question brings this post. I asked about the viability of a face edgelord (since I'm supposed to be the face) Someone pointed out noir detective (interesting thought), GM said edgelords will never work in a 40k setting with a GM who plays the game, bla bla and the noir detective should stick to Shadowrun.

So take this as me being unimaginative and stupid to get some ideas. What is the edgiest character/concept you've ever thought up/seen/played? (setting doesn't matter. Hell go futuristic, fantasy, apocalyptic, etc) Personally my closest was gun toting vigilante who spoke in grunts unless he was degrading people, solves everything with bullets and explosions, did a kamikaze attack with a plane until the other PCs were scared of him.

A.k.a. The Punisher. Pretty sure that doesn't exactly fit the current idea edgy unless we live in the 80s :P

[TheThan]

So how to live on the edge?
Live for the moment.
Do things others would consider dangerous. Take unnecessary risks, especially if there’s a safer way; especially if the safer way will take longer. Don’t care what other characters say or do or what they think about your character. If they try to boss you around get in their face about it. Don’t take orders unless you have to and then be sure to let them know that they’re not bossing you around, you’re doing this because you want to.

Grow a perpetual 5 O’clock shadow; Smoke a cigar, wear black and long coats and generally don't follow the rules.

keep in mind that this is Dark Heresy, you might not live long doing this.

[dream]

"The 500 Faces of Frank". I love gritty, edgy PCs. Bronies are cool & everything, but it's fun having a PC that the other characters are afraid of. It's what makes Batman & Punisher icons; FEAR. :smallamused:

[goto124]

How to be edgy without being disruptive though?

[dream]

How to be edgy without being disruptive though?
Define "disruptive" as it relates to a game where people pretend to be supernatural beings who travel their magical world killing things? :smallconfused:

[AxeAlex]

Define "disruptive" as it relates to a game where people pretend to be supernatural beings who travel their magical world killing things? :smallconfused:

There is an unspoken rule where characters are part of the same "team", and that team tries to solve the story of the game.

A disruptive character slow down the flow of the story, removes some agency from the other players... Well, you know what disruptive means, whatever negative thing the character possibly could make happen!

Just as an example. edgy character handled badly CAN be disruptive if they are not motivated to help the rest of the players (Like evil characters... Like all other characters... really). So if the game is about slaying GREEN things in magicals world, but the edgy characters want to slay PINK things in magical worlds, but the rest of the group loves PINK things, then the rest of the group would never work with the pinkslayer, so the character becomes disruptive.

Edgy is not disruptive in itself, by some players take it as a justification to BE disruptive.

[dream]

I think the OP's def of edgy is "Punisher"-like. The grimdark, gritty, Frank Miller-verse. I love that place! Any player can be disruptive & that's why I refuse to play anything with ponies :smallyuk:

[JellyPooga]

"Edge" and Dark Heresy go hand in hand. It's a grimdark setting and "noir", a genre famed for its edgy characters, is practically a forerunner to grimdark.

As for playing an edgy "face" character, that's going to be a bit of a challenge, but not impossible. You can keep to your dark corners and stoic silences, so long as you make everything you say (in character, of course) poignant, relevant and/or downright cool. No idle chatter, no friendly banter...in fact, just make everything you say a witty and/or cliche one-liner. Pretend you're in an 80's action movie and you should get away with it! Perhaps not quite so OTT in practice (it is supposed to be grimdark, after all), but the format is the same.

If you're playing a Ministorum character, make sure to intersperse references to the Emperor at every opportunity; you don't have to cry "Heresy!" at everything, but referencing the Imperial Creed is a must; if you want to be "edgy" about it, a subtle reminder of the Creed or the will of the Emperor (or at least your interpretation of it) may be a more effective way to get people to fall in line than simply shouting your faith from the rooftops. That's your key; subtlety and understatement.

edit: I just had a thought; the character Sallo (played by Rutger Hauer), from Salute of the Jugger (or Blood of Heroes to those reading from across the pond) might make a good role-model for the kind of character you're looking for. If you haven't seen it, it's a cracking film and I recommend giving it a watch, regardless! Heck, take cues from pretty much any character Mr.Hauer plays. Him and Karl Urban. And Christian Bale, come to think of it...all good "edgy" actors that, whilst not necessarily "face" characters in their films, have the style you want to look at down pat.

[Knaight]

The term "edgy" is generally used pejoratively, and with good reason. It tends to be deployed to cover characters given superficially "dark" or "mature" tendencies as what is generally part of a blatant marketing ploy, with the additional implication that they're poorly developed. Don't go for it.

Instead, aim for bleak. Aim for a sense of hopelessness and desperation; the setting supports that quite well. If you're going to bring in stereotypical edgy things, do so in a more thoughtful and developed manner, rather than having something like a character which does a bunch of drugs, man, 'cause drugs are edgy.

[Hawkstar]

There is an unspoken rule where characters are part of the same "team", and that team tries to solve the story of the game.

A disruptive character slow down the flow of the story, removes some agency from the other players... Well, you know what disruptive means, whatever negative thing the character possibly could make happen!

Just as an example. edgy character handled badly CAN be disruptive if they are not motivated to help the rest of the players (Like evil characters... Like all other characters... really). So if the game is about slaying GREEN things in magicals world, but the edgy characters want to slay PINK things in magical worlds, but the rest of the group loves PINK things, then the rest of the group would never work with the pinkslayer, so the character becomes disruptive.

Edgy is not disruptive in itself, by some players take it as a justification to BE disruptive.
What about the Greenslayer who has no qualms about killing any number of Pink things in his bloody quest to slay the greens?

[omnitricks]

Well the suggestion doesn't have to stick to DH because worse come to worse I'll try to make an edgy in another game which is why I said any genre for examples will do.

I think the most disruptive edgy character I've played with (off the top of my head) was in D&D. Pretty much the stereotype. Rogue in dark a dark cloak, heads out on his own and screws up to bring a horde of enemies after us, doesn't exactly communicate with us so we never have an idea what is going on with him, etc. Hell he even killed an NPC we were interrogating once because, "I don't like the way he is talking to me."

The stupidest edgy character I've played with was in some modern vampire conspiracy game (not VtM) which name I can't remember. We were playing a printed adventure and planned things out but this guy went bang, zap, pow! I am the biggest badass so imma knock out people, glare menacingly at everyone, run guns blazing at the BBEG and stuff. The latter nearly got him killed but fortunately I was built blow up the BBEG with a grenade anally smuggled to the party.

As for Ministorum I would love to be able to do something like the suggested references as a normal person might be able to do but I don't play 40k every weekend like the rest of the group so my familiarity with the game is nearly non existent except things I may hear/read and memes (like "heresy!") hence why I was going to go with the "Heresy!" sthick. The only reason I'm allowed to play with them is because they were my usual group for a few months when we played Pathfinder and they are confident that I can have a survivable PC in DH.

Also saw the trailer for Jugger. Man that show is dated but that game looks...interesting? Interesting enough to check out a few minutes of the movie eventually.

Why kill pink things? I like pink things... Actually, does mass murderer qualify as edgy?

[Traab]

So how to live on the edge?
Live for the moment.
Do things others would consider dangerous. Take unnecessary risks, especially if there’s a safer way; especially if the safer way will take longer. Don’t care what other characters say or do or what they think about your character. If they try to boss you around get in their face about it. Don’t take orders unless you have to and then be sure to let them know that they’re not bossing you around, you’re doing this because you want to.

Grow a perpetual 5 O’clock shadow; Smoke a cigar, wear black and long coats and generally don't follow the rules.

keep in mind that this is Dark Heresy, you might not live long doing this.

This sounds a lot like playing a stereotypical "chaotic neutral" character that everyone hates outside of silly games played to be silly. So, while it could work fine, be careful to find the "edge" and not jump over it.

[Shadowsend]

I don't find "edgy" to be the same as "disruptive". "Edgy" according to the dictionary means tense, nervous, or irritable. So in the 40k universe, an inquisitor sort will definitely fit the bill. But so would a Commissar, a Imperial Guard grunt, a sniper, a tank driver, etc. Of course none of those characters fit the second definition of "edgy" meaning off-beat or fringe. By "drive everyone insane" I think they mean the constant questioning of motivations when looking for Chaos.

I don't know that the second definition of edgy is even present in 40k, as it is very trope-y.

[AxeAlex]

What about the Greenslayer who has no qualms about killing any number of Pink things in his bloody quest to slay the greens?

Lol, this seems fine but, supposing the rest of the group still loves the pinks, you probably won't get to slay many if your companions are always bitching about it and preventing you from laying out your best anti-green moves.

But this could be fun!

[Shadowsend]

trope-y (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheExtremistWasRight)

But it's your character, so have fun anyway!