Line #58 Main/TheRealMan


1	->'''Mary:''' I'm throwing a snowball at his meanie face!\
2	'''Dick:''' I think that will just piss him off. But Anna does have the impulsive... You just took that so she'd be more likely to get in a fight.\
3	'''Mary:''' Yes. The perfect flaw for a true warrior!
4	-->-- ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista''
5
6	The Real Man is the TabletopRPG player who plays the game for the visceral, action-packed experience. Any character played by this guy will invariably be a badass whirlwind of death -- rarely do they play any sort of sneaky or supporting character. If by chance they have to play a [[SquishyWizard wizard]], he'll either be [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill loaded to the gills]] with [[StuffBlowingUp fireballs]] or decidedly [[MagicKnight non-squishy]]. The real man may do some MinMaxing (though not to the insane heights of the {{Munchkin}}), but he's just as likely to select abilities based on [[RuleOfCool "cool factor" alone]].
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8	These players are most interested in the parts of the game that involve fighting. Their strategies tend to be simple; run up to the enemies and hack them to bits (or blast them with [[{{BFG}} the big guns]] in a modern setting). However, the more imaginative among them may employ some killer stunts, such as shield-surfing or swinging on chandeliers. Unlike TheLoonie (whose stunts are [[RuleOfFunny played for laughs]]), this guy is doing it purely for the RuleOfCool.
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10	The real man is handy to have around when a fight breaks out. He'll support his teammates when it counts (unlike the {{Munchkin}} who typically looks out for number one), and usually has a grasp on basic combat tactics. However, he's not as adept in situations where violence is not the answer. While some 'real men' are also skilled [[TheRoleplayer roleplayers]] (who just happen to enjoy a good brawl), others tend to stay silent when it's time for talking, relying mostly on well-worn archetypes (the [[BadassLongcoat trenchcoated stoic]], or the taciturn BarbarianHero, for example), rather than the more original characters of the typical [[TheRoleplayer Roleplayer]]. Player characters optimized for combat at the cost of having no distinct personality or connection to the game world are known as "murder hobos" in some circles.
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12	Then there are more problematic forms of the Real Man:
13	* The LeeroyJenkins: The guy with no patience for long-term strategy, deliberations, or diplomacy. He usually has one tried-and-true solution to every problem: the headlong charge. This may even work, on occasion, depending on how strong the Leeroy is. However, more often it leads to him getting in over his head (and even getting the [[TotalPartyKill entire party killed]] trying to bail him out) or getting mauled by a trap. Even worse is if he gets bored and starts a BarBrawl during delicate negotiations because it's been more than ten minutes since the last fight. Named after the [[TropeCodifier most famous example]], [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Leeroy Jenkins]].
14	* The Murderhobo: Similar to the Munchkin variant of the same name. This is a Real Man who puts so little effort into the irrelevant portions of his character (like parents, siblings, friends, education, childhood, ''home address'') that they exist in the game world only as some kind of viciously violent vagabond. Usually the mark of a more immature version of this archetype (hence its overlap in Munchkin), as the player doesn't yet realize that the FeaturelessProtagonist isn't quite as compelling in a tabletop RPG as it is in a video game, even if you're trying to PlayTheGameSkipTheStory. It probably goes without saying that this is the Real Man variant the Roleplayer likes the least, since they have ''no'' personality or backstory (even the minimal one other Real Men come up with is ''something''). Game Masters can find it difficult to work with this character as there's very little to compel them to participate in an adventure, and indeed some Murderhobo players may declare that their character is not interested in a particular adventure and sit out the session if it seems like it will offer insufficient opportunity for carnage. The Loonie may enjoy endlessly needling him about his homicidal homelessness, and the Murderhobo Munchkin is likely to be driven to outperform the Real Man Murderhobo. A frequent target of derision in most tabletop RPG circles, it tends to remedy itself as the player in question gets more comfortable with the more creative aspects of the game.
15	* [[{{Munchkin}} The Munchkin]] hybrid: Maligned as he is, sometimes the {{Munchkin}} may simply be a Real Man who stopped caring about the action alone and fixated on "winning" at any cost. This may be why most Real Men hate him so much; because of the fine line between them (some especially extreme [[TheRoleplayer Roleplayers]] may see little difference between the two, equating any love of combat [[StopHavingFunGuys with munchkinism]]).
16	* TheLoonie hybrid: When a Real Man fixated on badassery gains elements of a Loonie, namely their penchant for over-the-top antics. Well executed, it can create some incredibly bizarre and awesome scenarios. Poorly executed, it may veer into {{Munchkin}}ism as the Real Man-Loon ends up doing ridiculously overpowered stunts, or into the Leeroy Jenkins due to collaterally damaging the rest of the party as well. Perhaps the most difficult and dangerous is the Real Man Loonie whose "humor" almost exclusively takes form as an InsultComic, with the purpose of antagonizing [=NPCs=] until social encounters turn into combat encounters.
17	* The Real Man Roleplayer: After becoming more comfortable with the more creative aspects of tabletop [=RPGs=], the Real Man may "evolve" towards The Roleplayer. Positively, they retain their facility for action when it is called for while bringing to the table an interesting character who can be a wealth of story hooks in its own right (The ProudWarriorRaceGuy is a good launchpad for this type, though some might take a touch of Loonie and build an action-oriented character from [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch a race typically viewed as pacifist and weak]]). Done poorly, they bring the flaws of both: focusing everything on combat to the point of turning role-playing into combat "because that's what my character would do" and expecting their view of their character (in this case, as the badassiest badass to ever badass) to be a fundamental truth no matter what the ''rules'' might say.
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19	This is probably the most common player archetype to appear in a MMORPG, next to the outright {{Munchkin}} types. Possibly justified, since RPGsEqualCombat.
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21	A SubTrope of PlayerArchetypes.
22
23	A SisterTrope to TheRoleplayer, TheLoonie, {{Munchkin}}.
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25	Despite the name, these players can easily be female. No necessary relation to RatedMForManly, or to [[TestosteronePoisoning extremely manly characters]], though the Real Man's character might fit that bill.
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27	[[noreallife]]
28	----
29	!!Examples:
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31	[[foldercontrol]]
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33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* Gourry Gabriev from ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'' is the only non-mage in the core cast, and something of a LeeroyJenkins. His only available tactic when facing the assorted sorcerers, demon lords and {{humanoid abomination}}s that they're typically pitted against is a straightforward charge with his InfinityPlusOneSword.
35	* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Most of Team Dai Gurren is this to varying degrees, but none moreso than their originator, Kamina. [[spoiler: Except he's not really, it's just an act he puts on to inspire people. He's just as scared as anyone, but he has faith that Simon will pull him out of danger.]]
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Roleplaying Games]]
39	* ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D's]]'' 4th edition is an odd case. The mechanics are ''described'' as "awesomeness" in moves present above, except for those races and classes that explicitly cater to little squishy or loner character traits (e.g. tiefling, warlock). However, it regulates it by carefully standardizing the damage each class can do at each level. A good example is the Monk class: one of his powers is described as punching so hard that his fist ''[[RocketPunch flies across the room with the rest of him still attached to it]]'', but mechanically it does more-or-less the same as any other power of the same level.
40	* In large part the appeal of ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', an RPG that specializes in being over-the-top awesome, that will actually let you jump 100 feet in the air, while whirling two blades around you to parry a hail of incoming arrows, then land head-first on the bad guy to smash him literally into the ground.
41	** Exalted pioneered the Stunt Bonus concept ( cool actions work better when you describe them in detail) which ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' and ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' later used.
42	* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}'' also largely work on the RuleOfCool, in that awesome ideas, even if highly impractical, literally have a better chance of working than boring ideas. Of course, both are liable to get your character smashed into a pulp on a regular basis, but what isn't?
43	** It's an actual rule in Paranoia that characters are not allowed to change their actions after declaring them [[spoiler: unless the GM thinks it would be funny, as in "Oh, Moe-O-DJO is going to detonate his solar grenade? Shoot, forget about diving for cover, I'm going to strip off my armor so I get a tan!"]][[note]]That information was not available at your security clearance, citizen. Please report to your new duties as reactor shielding.[[/note]]
44	* Any RPG that uses stunt-based mechanics, such as TabletopGame/FengShui or Wushu.
45	** To elaborate on ''TabletopGame/{{Wushu}}'': the system at its very core rewards players for stunting (in that the more details they provide, the more dice they get to roll, at least up to a GM-determined "cap") and also throws in the "Principle of Narrative Truth", i.e. any statement by a player about what happens in the game that doesn't get vetoed by another player or the GM becomes ''fact'' (although by the rules this obviously can't be used to short-circuit an ongoing conflict before its "proper" ''mechanical'' resolution). Which allows the Real Men to directly mechanically benefit from providing blow-by-blow descriptions of their character's awesomeness.
46	* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' actively encourages this kind of play with the Stunting mechanic that gives bonus dice and refreshes Legend based on how cool it is from a scale of 1, nifty and adds depth to the action, to 3, leaves everyone around the table speechless at the [[RuleOfCool sheer amount of awesome involved in the action]].
47	* Similarly, ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' has Stunting in Dream-Fighting (similar to Scion's Stunting; +1 for cool idea, +2 for cool idea with lush description, +3 for idea that inspires applause and exultation from the table).
48	* Out of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'' roleplaying games ''TabletopGame/DeathWatch'' and (to a lesser degree) ''TabletopGame/OnlyWar'' are designed for Real Man gameplay and are very combat-centric in setting and rules, with rules for fighting large quantities of insta-killed {{mooks}}, impressive weapons, high focus on combat options and tactical gameplay, and generally less focus on story agency and non-combat encounters. This is opposed to the more low-key ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' and ''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'' where players tend to do most of their work out-of-combat without clear orders of where to go next and combat tends more towards the 'nasty, brutish and short' climax of an investigation.
49	* The legend of Fanfic/OldManHenderson from [[Website/FourChan /tg/]] -- a character from a ''TabletopGame/TrailOfCthulhu'' campaign that was created because his player was royally pissed off at his KillerGameMaster to the point that, instead of just walking out of his table, he proceeded to create a character specifically designed to piss the GM off until he [[FlippingTheTable Flipped The Table]] and called it quits -- can be best described as a Loonie-Real Man hybrid. Just one of his antics was blowing up an entire building with cultists by rigging a half-filled fuel truck with high explosives [[CrazyPrepared he packed just in case]] and rigging the detonator to the airbags, jamming the throttle with a knife, jumping out of the door with minimum damage because [[RollerbladeGood his boots were Heelies]], and [[UnflinchingWalk calmly walking away from the resulting explosion without looking at it]]; that was after killing some time while chaperoning a high school prom by [[LouisCypher smoking a cigar-sized blunt that was rolled with a page from the Necronomicon]].
50	[[/folder]]
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52	[[folder:Video Games]]
53	* Scrappers in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''. Behold the magic of [[UnstoppableRage Scrapperlock!]]
54	** And their EvilCounterpart, Brutes, whose innate power makes Scrapperlock MORE powerful!
55	* Khelgar Ironfist of VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2. It's to the point that the other BloodKnight ProudWarriorRaceGuy Dwarf Warriors want him to tone it down a notch.
56	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':
57	** A Big Guns optimized character has little choice but to be this. Not only do the stats required for Big Guns already provide the RequiredSecondaryPowers for Big Guns (damage resistance and carry weight for instance, due to them being, well, ''heavy''), also Big Guns are penalizing Sneak. This makes a Big Guns character primarily a charging character that relies on tough defense (and a healthy dose of Stimpaks hotkeyed) and the guns doing the killing before the character gets killed.
58	** A Small Arms optimized one can be too if a player prefers [[BoomHeadshot blowing the enemies heads easily]], and not to mention the Chinese Assault Rifle and [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter the Combat Shotgun]]
59	** Guns are for wimps! [[MultiMeleeMaster All melee]] with tons of Strength and Endurance is where it's at. Prepare to spend a lot of time sprinting towards your targets, laughing as you either soak the bullets or dash around cover, all for the glorious [[GoodBadBugs VATS teleport]] kills.
60	* In ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', Brick takes this role in the fourth DLC, ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep'', which focuses on the Vault Hunters playing a Tabletop RPG. His first, last, and only reaction to anything the group encounters is "I punch it!" (which also tends to be his only reaction to anything he encounters in real life too). Unfortunately, he also tends to be the one to initiate diplomacy, so this attitude causes problems, such as choosing to punch the Dwarven king, thus killing him and turning all dwarves hostile to the players.
61	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
62	** ''VideoGame/MobiusFinalFantasy'''s ''D&D''-esque setting leads to it doing something of a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of this style of play.
63	*** The hero, Wol, has been drawn to a fantasy world as a proving ground to test whether he is the hero of the prophecy. Through doing this he has become a BlankSlate with no backstory and ridiculous combat ability (and knowledge of ''Final Fantasy'' motifs like Fiends, Eidolons and Chocobos), making him the stereotypical "murder hobo". He also enjoys combat and loot-hunting for its own sake, and is [[GenreSavvy the first to point out the implausible world-building and strange behaviour around him]], showing plenty of enthusiasm for stabbing aliens in goofy sidequests but being disturbed by the fact that everyone expects him to be in love with the beautiful princess he's supposed to rescue. His main emotional conflict is his [[MetaGuy detachment]], and he states that he's worried this world will suck him into emotionally engaging with the world, and becoming TheRoleplayer.
64	*** Echo, a fairie infamous for following adventurers around to lead them into dangerous situations by promising them treasure, demands this of Wol, the legendary fantasy hero she's controlling. This involves things like taking him to areas with no people just to make him kill monsters for "loot" ("don't you like loot?"). It's suggested her reason for attaching herself to Wol is because he's a 'murder-hobo' who genuinely loves the thrill of combat and treasure-hunting.
65	*** The setting of Sealed Ruins, the first exploration region, is the aftermath of an incident where a supposed legendary hero purged a city of monsters, and then chased after them even once he'd driven them back from the ruins, powered only by bloodlust and desire for glory. Echo and Wol note that this is what the [[BlankSlate Blanks]] like him experience - having no identity other than heroism, they [[ChronicHeroSyndrome must fight monsters and perform heroic deeds]] to exist at all.
66	** Also written by Creator/KazushigeNojima like ''Mobius'' above, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' touches on a subtler deconstruction, with Cloud's persona being a murderhobo-with-emphasis-on-the-"hobo". He's a strong fighter with a badass and imposing appearance, but Tifa - who knew him from before he adopted the persona, and finds it disturbing - notes that he is homeless, has no possessions beyond things for killing people with, and appears to have no other interests or ability to negotiate situations beyond intimidating or killing people. [=NPCs=] contemplate his 'lack of wit' and mistake him for a junkie.
67	[[/folder]]
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69	[[folder:Webcomics]]
70	* Legolas from ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings''. When the players learn that the success of the entire campaign comes down to the die roll of a single NPC, Aragorn and Gimli are understandably upset, but Legolas thinks it's hardcore. He's also the player who comes up with all the crazy stunts and who never, ever grows tired of shooting orcs in the face.
71	* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': Pete is the {{Munchkin}} variation, although he tends more towards the "pilot a starfighter with big guns" rather than the "personally wield a laser sword" approach to combat.
72	%%* Bob and Dave of ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''.
73	%%** And biker turned gamer Crutch who's priest is named Friar Swayze.
74	%%* Fighter from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', though he's somewhat combined with TheLoonie (Swordchucks, anyone?). But thanks to the RuleOfCool they work very effectively.
75	%%* Ben from ''Webcomic/FuzzyKnights''.
76	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
77	** Belkar, who's only on the team for a socially acceptable reason to stab things. His lack of patience for stealth or diplomacy occasionally gets the group into trouble.
78	** Vaarsuvius is the wizard variety, convinced that enough raw magical power can solve any problem. [[AmbiguousGender V]] once used a spell called "Familicide" to ensure that none of the dragon's relations, no matter how distant, would ever come back seeking vengeance; they estimated that as a result the world's population of black dragons decreased by approximately 25%. V has since grown out of it (somewhat) and started looking for more constructive ways to use magic to aid the team, instead of going for maximum destructive potential at the first opportunity.
79	* Vriska from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is one of these, playing a [[HerCodenameWasMarySue pirate character]] based metatextually on [[Literature/PeterPan Captain Hook]] who has 'gained all the levels. All of them.' This leads her to butt heads with her RP partner, who is TheRoleplayer and plays a class that's useless but fits his personality best. The main thing keeping her from falling fully into {{Munchkin}} territory is that her character, while a GodModeSue, still represents her various interests and fannish obsessions. She's been known to roleplay as her character outside of mechanics-based games as well, although apparently she 'only does horrible things as her'.
80	* Cory of ''Webcomic/OnePieceGrandLine3Point5'' is both this and a {{Munchkin}}, who pimped out Zoro to an insane degree in order to maximize his killing ability. He's extremely frustrated when the GM bars him from playing his character at first, instead sticking him with the pre-made [[NonActionGuy Coby]].
81	* ''Webcomic/FriendshipIsDragons'' has Rainbow Dash, whose player repeatedly complains about the lack of ''awesome'' action and the setting in general.
82	* Riker in ''Webcomic/LarpTrek''. When he's not looking for some action with the ladies he wants to shoot stuff.
83	* Mary in ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' (a CampaignComic about the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon). When playing ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen\|2013}}'', she insists on playing Anna as a [[GratuitousNinja ninja class]], and when [[SubvertedTrope told the setting doesn't have those]], she goes for the closest thing. She makes sure that Anna's [[PimpedOutDress coronation dress]] has loads of pleats on the skirt, just so that she can do a RoundhouseKick with [[KickingAssInAllHerFinery no impediments]]. And Anna's even more willing to get in a fight than in the movie. When the next campaign is ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', she plays ActionGirl Calhoun.
84	* ''WebComic/HobbitsAndHoleDwellers'' Has Ted, who is desperate to just go and fight. Unfortunately, the GM and Bailey have other ideas...
85	[[/folder]]

Context Main / TheRealMan