History Main / TheRealMan

* Mary in ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' (a CampaignComic about the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon). When playing ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', 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 ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', she plays ActionGirl Calhoun.

** 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.

* ''VideoGame/MobiusFinalFantasy'''s ''D&D''-esque setting leads to it doing something of a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of this style of play.
** 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.
** 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.
** 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.
* Also written by Creator/KazushigeNojima, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' touches on a subtler deconstruction with Cloud's persona being a murderhobo with extreme 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.

* ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D's]]'' 4th edition seems to be built to easily accommodate this kind of player. Mechanics favor the "awesomeness" in moves present above, with very little squishy or loner character traits. Near to a middle ground between the other archetypes.
** However, it also regulates it by more carefully standardizing the damage each class can do at each level. The class descriptions even give advice for min/maxing since they've taken steps to (in theory) ensure you can't take it too far.
** The Monk class was basically made with the Real Man in mind. For instance, one of his powers is punching so hard that his fist ''[[RocketPunch flies across the room with the rest of him still attached to it.]]''

Despite the name, these players can easily be female. Not related to TheMan.

* Khelgar Ironfist of VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2

* 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 [[{{Understatement}} 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'.

* Gourry Gabriev from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', the only non-mage in the core cast, and something of a LeeroyJenkins, as 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.
* Most of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann 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.]]

* Vriska from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is one of these, playing a [[HerCodenameWasMarySue pirate character]] based metatextually on [[PeterPan Captain Hook]] who has 'gained all the levels. All of them.' This leads her to [[{{Understatement}} 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'.

Despite the name, these players can easily be female.

* 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]], [[WorldOfWarcraft Leeroy Jenkins]].

* The Meta Game Hunter- Eventually, a Real Man may begin to want something more from the game. Sometimes they learn to appreciate the roleplay aspects, and grow out of their combat obsession. Others find satisfaction in {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s and not-entirely-murder-centered action as TheLoonie. But then there are those who turn to TheDarkSide, and realize that they have been ignoring several extremely challenging foes. [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame Foes sitting around the same game table.]] This form takes TheLordBritishPostulate to an entirely new realm: they've moved on from monsters to hunting the rest of the party, and sometimes even target [[OffTheRails the plot itself]] as a way to take on the GM directly. Unlike munchkins who do this, it isn't about "winning"- its about the challenge of creating as much chaos as they can without the rest of the party resorting to murder...or just killing off their character. While some hunters can pull off a {{Magnificent Bastard}}'s balanced ratio of "LovableRogue" to "ChronicBackstabbingDisorder", most simply become ThatOneGuy who plays a Dwarf Lumberjack when the rest of the party consists of elves and druids.

Despite the name, these characters can easily be female.

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"]] [[AwesomeButImpractical alone]].

** The setting of Sealed Ruins, the first exploration region, is the aftermath of an incident where a supposed legendary hero had decided to murder everyone in a whole city for treasure.

* ''VideoGame/MobiusFinalFantasy'''s ''D&D''-esque setting leads to it playing with this interestingly.
** 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.
** 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.

* Echo in ''VideoGame/MobiusFinalFantasy'', a fairie infamous for following adventurers around to lead them into dangerous situations by promising them treasure, demands this of 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?").

* Most of [[GurrenLagann 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.]]

* Any RPG that uses Wuxia-type mechanics, such as TabletopGame/FengShui or Wushu.
** To elaborate on ''TabletopGame/{{Wushu}}'': while it's not entirely clear from the above statement what "wuxia-type mechanics" would actually be, the system does at its very core reward 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.

* [[LeeroyJenkins The Leeroy]]: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]], [[WorldOfWarcraft Leeroy Jenkins]].

*** For some people, the mechanics of [=DnD=] 4e make it hard to enjoy oneself while "Real Manning". Instant gibs have been pretty much restricted to minions, and there's nothing awesome in killing a OneHitPointWonder in one hit. It would be much more fun if everyone was easier to kill.
*** There are some classes and builds that can dish out so much pain in such a short time that even Boss enemies can fall or at least become serioulsy crippled within one turn. A two-weapon Ranger using Blade Cascade (even the errataed version) with a few build-ups beforehand can easily instagib most lieutenant level mobs, and with a bit of luck rolling the dice sometimes even bosses. The major disadvantage is that this only works once a day, so it'd best be saved for that one big enemy.

->'''''Mary:''' "I'm throwing a snowball at his meanie face!"\\
'''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."\\
'''Mary:''' "Yes. The perfect flaw for a true warrior!"''

* VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}:

* [[LeeroyJenkins The Leeroy]]: 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]], [[WorldOfWarcraft Leeroy Jenkins]].
* [[{{Munchkin}} The Munchkin]]: Maligned as he is, the {{Munchkin}} may simply be a form of 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 [[NotSoDifferent the fine line between them]] (some [[FanDumb especially extreme]] [[TheRoleplayer Roleplayers]] may see little difference between the two, equating any love of combat [[StopHavingFunGuys with munchkinism]]).

* Mary in ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' (a CampaignComic about the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon). When playing ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', she insists on playing Anna as a [[InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja 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.

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]] [[TheStoic stoic]], for example), rather than the more original characters of the typical [[TheRoleplayer Roleplayer]].

* Belkar from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''.
** Vaarsuvius is the wizard variety. [[AmbiguousGender S/he]] 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; s/he 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.

->'''Mary:''' "I'm throwing a snowball at his meanie face!"\\

'''Mary:''' "Yes. The perfect flaw for a true warrior!"