Post originally by Colin Chapman at 2004-08-06 03:57:40
Converted from Phorums BB System

Hey Dan,

Thought I'd share my thought processes and design notes behind the creation of the archetypes I contributed.

I wrote the Librarian, Lost Child, Mafia Hood, Street Fighter, and Voodoo Houngan for my own campaigns way back, because, well, as you picked up, they are Archetypes in the true sense of the word. Particularly identifiable character types that serve as well as NPCs as PCs, especially the Lost Child which I felt fit the genre very well.

Essentially I envisioned the Lost Child as the wide-eyed little kid in the nightgown, clutching a teddy bear. A character there as a non-combatant, an unusual PC, or (more commonly) an NPC (which archetypes are equally useful for) the PCs will want to save and protect. An archetype I've actually seen in horror films, which is why one complaint that it's somehow "quirky" puzzled me, and another point someone made about it not being very survivable made me chuckle (because, well, it's not supposed to be survivable; it's a Norm. It's a little kid. It's someone the adult PCs should want to care for and protect if they actually play according to the genre tropes). Similarly, one complaint saying it was redundant (because BoA1 already had the Tormented Grade School Student) has some merit, but in this case, I didn't personally feel that the former (while good) was as Archetypal as the Lost Child (one I envisioned as much younger, and certainly more pitiable).

The Librarian, Mafia Hood, and Street Fighter are all pretty obvious. The Librarian, especially an occult librarian, is a common horror archetype (exemplified more recently by Giles in BtVS), the Mafia Hood is uncommon in horror (although I do remember a vamp flick based around the Mafia), but it's a cool archetype and works equally well for modern or pulp adventures. The Street Fighter was partially inspired by Clint's Fido Bedo, but was largely created because I thought it was cool, and wanted an archetype that kicked ass, but wasn't a martial artist, wrestler, or boxer. The fun with improvised weapons was just an added benefit.

As for the Voodoo Houngan, that was created because of the very obvious tie-in with zombies; I was actually surprised the voodoo tie-in hadn't been exploited before. Obviously, some of the Metaphysical powers presented in other Unisystem books might've worked better, but I was following the precedent of the AFMBE Core Rulebook, and also working on the assumption that not everyone out there has more than AFMBE. I made it to work with AFMBE; not the entire Unisystem line.

cheers!
Colin