Breaking Bad Season 3 Character Archetypes

Breaking Bad season three continues to build things from many angles and allows some characters that may not have had a chance to shine previously more showtime.

One of these characters is Mike. A former law enforcement agent, Mike is a 'cleaner', such as those in old assassin movies like The Professional or the original La Fem Nekita. He is the one they send in to get answers and eliminate issues. In many role playing games, the players will probably be characters like Mike. They will be the fist in the iron glove. In some though, especially those that might be role playing focused or heavy into allowing characters a great deal of custimization that doesn't rely on combat, it might be possible that the players will run into someone like Mike.

At times such a character can appear to be on the player's side, especially if both the 'cleaner' and the players have the same patron and employeers. At other times, especially if the cleaner is someone whose loyalties aren't to the players but to a patron, they may clash. In such isntances, it should be made clear that this is an individual whose skill set goes above and beyond the standard. If the players can witness it in action, they will have a good idea of what the character is capable of. If they go drinking with such a character, he should have horror stories for them.

One way of showcasing how skilled player character's are, is by showcasing another individual with a similiar but inferior talent. In this case, Walter works with Gale, a fellow chemist. Gale seems fairly standard in terms of his skill set, but he knows great work when he sees it. Gale, without knowing Walter, is impressed by the skill inherent in the 'cook' that Walter performs when Gale gets some of the drugs. This is not the first time Walt's skills are noted upon, but when there is a character that can do the same thing, but not as well, it allows the player character to have a little bit more of a stepping stone.

Another interesting use of characters here, is in moving the stars into action. Jessie initially starts off intenting to sell the meth to recovering addicts. His 'crew' find it difficult to do so. Jessie decides to show them how its done. The woman he approaches to do so has a child. This challenges Jessie's belief in what is right. His encounter earlier with children of drug addicts still weights on his mind.

When players or their characters showcase certain attributes, you can look at it like a flag saying "I want this" in the game. This may not always be true, but if the character does involve himself with orphans, their care and feeding, the Game Master can quickly use that as a hook by threatening the children. If one of the players is a weapon's collector, when he hears of a new ambassador from a far away land who uses a wide variety of exotic weapons, this should perk that character's interest.

NPC's should be there to expand the setting and fill the world with opportunities for the players to interact with it.

Breaking Bad Season 2 by AMC: NPC Archetypes

Breaking Bad Season 2 continues the exploration of Walter and his associate Jessie as they continue to run the drug game. Spoilers will follow as I discuss various characters from the show and how they might be incorporated into role playing games.

Saul: This season introduces Saul. When spoken of by Jessie, it's indicated that Saul isn't a real 'good' lawyer but he is a real good criminal lawyer. Not necessarily a lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but a lawyer's whose methodology makes him a little too suspect in anything that happens around him.

In many ways, Saul is the perfect NPC to assist players in almost any type of setting. His outlook is one motivated by the reality of the situation and a lack of morality. If it earns him funds, he can look into it. He is a man who knows others. He is a person who can connect people to the other right people. He can look death in the eye as an option for an associate if it's going to save a better associate from prison. He is able to create frame jobs for those who need a fall guy. He is able to break barriers between things that have happened and their root causes.

When creating an individual like Saul in a role playing game, it's all in the context. For example, when he first meets Walt, the good chemist is coughing. Later on, when Walt and Jessie kidnap Saul at gunpoint and threaten to kill him, when Walt coughs, Saul recognizes it and begins the negotiations in earnest. Observation is a key skill for Saul in this instance. His physical aspects may not be much and his actual charisma may not be much, but when it comes to getting people what they want and earning himself a nice profit, that aspect is not a problem.

Saul is also brutally honest. He remarks several times to the duo that their efforts thus far as made of fail. That they need to just handle working their own formula and allow others to handle the different aspects of things, like the marketing and selling because their own efforts at doing so far have landed them with very little cash.

Other characters may not play a huge role in the series in terms of longevity, but their utility in moving the characters is huge. Take for example Jane.

Jane is a former drug user who rents Jessie, a current drug user an apartment. You can already see where this one is going right? But how can you use someone like Jane in a RPG?

Such characters almost fall under the 'DNPC' or Dependant NPC (non-player character) where they're almost there to cause more problems then they are worth. But they have some hook or tie to the main character.

For example, if the group has an alchemist or magician or other type of individual that does some type of lab work, perhaps she used to be an alchemist herself but found the urge to mix certain types of chemicals too much? Perhaps she uses these same chemicals on others because she wants to share her joy and ecstasy in them?

But in and of herself, her ability to influence isn't that great until we come across her complications. In many instances, like Gwen Stacy from old Marvel Comics Spider Man fame, her ultimate role is to die in order to push the character she's attached to in a different direction. In this case, that would be her father, Donald. Turns out that this air-traffic controller has the property rights to where Jessie is living and even worse, has the dreaded cell phone and can call the police at any time if Jessie doesn't vacate and leave his daughter alone. This ability is because he has power over Jesssie.

In a role playing game, what type of power can a relative hold over the characters? This could range from trading rights if the players are land owners, to higher taxes, to calls to banish the characters because they are quite literally a threat to the city.  This type of character should be a contest that the players generally can't just walk up to and murder.

Another aspect of Donald's character though, is that when his daughter dies of an overdose, he is grief struck. Despite that, he still goes into work and manages to get a lot of people killed. Imagine that this alchemical assistantt dies and that her father, an archemage is one of a handful who can renew spells and rituals and locks on a dark and demonic presence and that in his current state of mind, he blows it and this winds up killing a lot of people.

While Jane and Saul are interesting character in their own way and right, it's when we get to individuals like Gus that make things potentially interesting. Gus, like Saul, is a businessman. Unlike Saul however, Gus is on a much higher level with a much deeper game. Running someone like Gus can be difficult because it requires the GM to almost cheat at what he does with the character. Someone like Gus needs to be something like a head of a guild or the head of a noble family. He needs to be someone who has a lot of influence and isn't afraid to use it.

In his real job, so to speak, he's the owner of a chain of restaurants. In his real illegal job, he's a distributor that has chains in many states. This could be problematic in a role playing game that isn't modern or futuristic in that transportation in the dark ages can be a bit problematic, relying on well worn road ways and sea ways. However, its not impossible. If the players go from town to town and keep finding the same Inn or the same Tavern run by people who actually have their own uniforms, code of conduct, and similar recipes, they should know that there is something different about the owner.

An individual like Gus would take full advantage of his setting. In a magic based setting, he might have magic items that protect him from divination magics. He might have potions or rings that are one shot items that allow him to make a hasty retreat or summon aid.

He's also someone that the players should have a very difficult time getting hold of and someone who has multiple groups of agents throughout the realm. If playing using the Pathfinder RPG and setting for example, he might run several lodges of Pathfinders, each group reporting to him, perhaps not even aware of the other groups.

Breaking Bad on AMC

"therefore it seems to be that our best course of action would be chemical disencorporation. Disolving in strong acid...."

"Ah man, that's messed up."

And that pretty much sums up Breaking Bad for me.

There are some great elements to the show that can be added to any role playing game. Below will be spoilers from at least the first season so if you are interested in the series, haven't watched it and hate spoilers, read no further.

In terms of player motivation, our main hero is thrust into the spotlight by a life changing alteration to his standard day to day ritual habit. In this case, a life threatening disease. Once the daily routine is shattered, things have to change one way or the other. In this case, Walter decides that best way to make money is through the creation of Crystal Meth for the purpose of selling it in order to have a nest egg for his growing family.

But its not just motivation. Its opportunity. Walter is in a situation where he is able to use his contacts with his brother in law in order to view an actual raid on a meth house. The idea might not be fully formed in his mind at this point, but when he sees an old student of his whose actually responsible for the drugs? Well, there's the opportunity.

To encourage certain types of behavior in players, if they already have the motivation, if they've come through to some ideas they'd like to pursue if only they have the means, its up to the GM to move those means into place. This doesn't necessarily have to be some easy push over thing, it can have complications that create tension and conflict in the game.

For diseases in role playing games, its important to look at whats actually happening here. At least in the first few season I've watched, Walter's disease is something that advances on its own pace. Its something that doesn't impact him in most situations.It's there to add depth. It's there to add pathos. It's there to be an excuse for Walter's actions.

In a combat situation? In a skill check situation?  For role playing purposes, this should probably be true here as well. If a character, in a short term campaign, shouldn't have any gaming effects of the disease as its a flavor element. In longer term campaigns that don't provide a solution or cure, then things may get a little... grimer.

In terms of character outlook, well, when you're a chemist, all things tend to follow that pattern. For example, while there are probably many ways of dispoing of a dead body, but who a chemist would think its time to disolve the body in acid? Well, many gamers would but their characters? Another instance involves his encounter with a drug czar named Tuco. After his partner is put in the hospital by Tuco, Walter decides to pay Tuco a little visit and brings in a crystaline substance that appears to be more meth. Surprise, in this case, it's actually an explosive. Another instance involves water creating a method to melt through a powerful metal lock. When all you have is a hammer, all problems start to look like nails.

But in RPG terms? Well, he's an effective character. Don't need to worry about a thief in terms of cutting through locks or doors. Don't need to worry about a wizard in terms of creating the explosions. Don't need to worry about bodies being animated into the undead because there will be no bodies left. In some ways, it paints a somewhat plausible reason for alchemists to have some level of surviability in gaming. Without the horrid side effects, the enchanced physical qualities those who take drugs might be another method of boosting such a concept.

The 'alchemist' as a player is an old one and I can remember the old purple 'the Compleat Alchemist' from Bard Games in line with their Compleat Adventurer and Compleat Spellcaster that were wink wink for use with any fantasy role playing game that just so happened to be Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Other companies have taken the concept and made it into something that works in the game. Others have used it in their fiction line such as Elaine Cunningham's latest  fantasy series where it partially takes the place of magic.
Lastly, let's not forget about misunderstandings. At the end of the first episode, Walter is ready to kill himself in order to avoid going to jail. He's ready to fire a gun unto what he thinks are oncoming police. Not only is he ready to kill himself, with gun under his chin, he pulls the trigger. But it doesn't work.

The fates are smiling though because its not the police but a fire department and they aren't even coming to put out a fire Walter started but something completely unrelated. It creates a sense of tension with things happening that the characters have no control over. With things that look like they're raining doom. With things that look to put the characters in a crucible that will break them. Only its none of those things.

This is something that happens a few times. Apparent opportunities arise and fall. Threats that spell absolute doom and entrapment, turn out to be red herrings. These elements build the suspense and the sense of danger.

Another potential use for a series like Breaking Bad is the family unit. Even the lowly former student turned mule for Walter, has a family. In that family, the parents love their oldest son very much despite his low life status. His younger brother is a prodigy who apparently masters everything he does. But he's also a drug user and from his persepctive, his parents love the oldest brother more because he's all they ever talk about and from the older brother's perspective, the yougest is best loved because of his vast potential.

Family is a great way to add role playing to a campiagn. When looking at Walter, he hides his disease from his family until essentially forced to give up the secret as a means of saving his status in the family or leaving the family. When he does so though, he doesn't let his own mother know. Or at least, not in the first season. This larger net allows the setting to be bigger, to have room to expand. It allows the viewer to ask questions.

Now mind you, these opportunites to push the role playing boundies have to be appropriate. If all the character do is dungeon crawl, they might not be concerned with one of the character's sisters being a master thief unless she's stealing either for the characters or from the characters. NPCs are not an essentially part of the game if the majority of the game consist of dungeon crawling. There is nothing wrong with either option. For every hour spent unraveling the rivalry between Walter and his brother in law, that's an hour not spent killing orcs. Every group will have their preference.

Another interesting thing about Breaking Bad, is the framing device. A normal season for many shows is twenty three. A normal season for an HBO show is usually eleven or twelve. The first season for Breaking Bad is seven episodes. These aren't even an hour long. By having such a tight focus though, it puts the entire operation under a microscope that has to be on all cylinders at a time. If there are several bad episodes or several where nothing happens to move the plot forward, then the whole season could be considered lost. When looking at your own games and planning them out, how long is that game going to last? Is it going to go past it's prime like the TV show Lost? Is it going to be derailed due to timing issues that continuously hamper it? The strength of shorter arc stories is that they can end in a way that feels organic.

Breaking Bad is an entertaining show but is probably not for the faint hearted.