Nice Characters & Tag Runs
Lately I’ve been caught in tag runs during a montage — where my character stays on while other players keeps tagging my partner out. It makes me a little uncomfortable taking up space in the spotlight for too long (wait, there are players who don’t want more stage time? Yes.) But rather than self-pity, consider it a compliment: you created a character whom teammates want to play with.
I ponder what makes a character inherently “tagrunnable”. Here’s two tips:
1. FUN.
First of all, your character has to be Fun. Quirky, innocent, maybe. We want to see them again! On the other side, nasty characters might move the scene, but we usually don’t want to see them again (except to watch their comeuppance). We don’t want nasty people to take center stage, we already see enough of them in real life! In real life, trolls are taking up space. In improv, you keep the fungi and tag out the trolls.
What’s funny is, when we started improv, we may be looking for the high status. The barking boss, the intimidating teacher, the one who whip out a gun to wrest control of the scene. It’s good for one scene, but that’s it: nobody wants to come into the next scene in order to get barked at or get pointed at by a gun.
2. SIMPLE.
When it comes down to compatibility, the simplest characters are the best. We might think that we need ultra-complex characters to demonstrate our acting chops, but that makes it hard for others to come in. In quick montages, you want a simple character that your teammates can lean on. For instance, if your character is “one who loves animals”, you can get tagrunned into many scenes. Meanwhile, a character who “one who waxes poetic about the difference of Pacific tortoises and Atlantic turtles”.. it’s fun, but not as universally playable. Your teammates need to contrive scenes. It’s a fun challenge but it may take them in their heads.
FUN. SIMPLE.