Challenging The Tropes: The Chaos Gremlin

This article is about the totally uncontrolled and seemingly uncontrollable force of nature known as the Button Pusher, the Instigator (if you’re a 4E aficionado), the one and only Chaos Gremlin.

As always, we’ll be talking about ways of incorporating the archetype into your play group, and as always, we’ll be talking about the archetype from a character angle. As with all of these articles, I’m talking about the character archetype, NOT the psychology of the actual player. A player whose only motivation is to push the buttons of the people at the table is a problem player and a potentially toxic addition to your table.

However, a character with the same goals in-game can add real depth to your game.

With that in mind, buckle up, buttercups. We’re in for a wild ride.

The One Who Wants to Watch it All Burn

The Chaos Gremlin archetype looks at the chaotic square on an alignment chart and says, “I’ll take two.” These are the people who read, “In a TTRPG, you can do anything you can imagine,” and just said, “Bet.”

The Fantasy:

The fantasy of a Chaos Gremlin is one of ultimate freedom. They embody the no gods, no kings, no masters mindset. They’re the epitome of “Doing it for the plot.” And they don’t see a reason to follow the rules because rules are all made up anyway.

They push boundaries and buttons with equal abandon, and they’re always ready to move the plot forward even if that means jumping off the side of the airship or insulting the meanest brick wall of a monster in the tavern.

Out of game, those chaos gremlins could be some of the quietest, most reserved people you’ve ever met. But in the game where all the consequences are fictional? Woo boy. Watch out when they cut loose. (Full disclosure: I know this from experience, as I’ve played more than one chaos gremlin in my life for exactly this reason.)

Examples:

• Puck, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Bugs Bunny, from Looney Tunes
• Gina Linetti, from Brooklyn 99
• Parker, from Leverage and Leverage: Redemption
• Loki, from Norse myth and Marvel comics
• Merry & Pippin, from The Lord of the Rings
• Deadpool, from Marvel Comics
  • The comics where Deadpool is on a team are actually great models for the kinds of ways Chaos Gremlins can be incredibly effective in a group.

Why This Doesn’t Work in a TTRPG:

This is another one of those archetypes that requires table buy-in. If you’ve got a group of three buy-the-book paladin types and one random mayhem monkey, it could throw a real wrench in group cohesion.

Chaos Gremlins are called “button pushers” because they’re the ones that are going to push the big red button before anyone deciphers the ancient script written above it, and that can be, frankly, really freakin’ anxiety-inducing for players who prefer to play cautious.

A button pusher (in-game or in real life) can be incredibly toxic in the wrong group of people, but in a lot of ways, so can any other archetype we’ve discussed in this series.

The solution is, of course, say it with me: a thorough session zero. Make sure everyone’s on the same page, get them on board, and (ironic as this might sound) put some boundaries around the pushing the gremlin can do.

Making it Work:

Have an open and honest conversation with your potential goblin about the kind of chaos they want to cause. Chaos Gremlins are tricksters, after all, and the role of a trickster is to challenge the status quo. To that end, figure out what status your gremlin wants to un-quo and make that part of your game.

The (game) System: These gremlins have a lot in common with min/maxers. They want to see how far they can push the stats, figure out how they can break the dice mechanics, and push the game system to the furthest ends (often with hilarious results).

The Setting: These gremlins cut loose and challenge social norms in a safe, fictional space. In real life, they could be straight-laced suit-wearing citizens, but in the game, they want to stand out, make a scene, and tell society at large to go sit on it and spin.

The Plot: These gremlins usually want to push the story into absurd extremes by “stealthing” their way past the guards with a brute force intimidation check or an off-the-wall Trojan Horse-style scheme. It’s extra important to make sure these gremlins align themselves with the tone of the game. (High absurdity shenanigans probably aren’t going to fit well into your dark and gritty Delta Green campaign.)

Alternatively, plot-focused gremlins might want to make sure the action is coming fast, furious, and often. They want to keep things moving, even if doing so means they strap a bomb to the bus and set it to blow if the speed drops below 50 MPH.

Turning the gremlin’s motivations into interesting plot hooks requires you to lasso their desire for action and momentum and turn that impulse into big, dramatic moments. Chaos gremlins, when left to their own devices, will stir up any pot they run across.

Plan. For. That.

The question at the heart of 99% of stories is “What is going to change?” So ask yourself (or your table) what you want to change in your game. Is your game about a revolution? A totalitarian evil empire? A magical threat that the college of wizards refuses to acknowledge?  Figure out the answer and then point your gremlin at it like a guided missile.

Additionally, you can try air-gapping portions of your campaign—set up personal sandboxes for your gremlins where they can completely cut loose, but where the consequences of their actions will have minimal blowback on the rest of the party.

• Maybe a corrupt governor needs to be taken down a notch.
• Maybe the overbearing principal of the local high school needs to be taught a lesson.
• Maybe there’s a bully — bullies are great targets for a chaos gremlin.

The trick is to have the consequences trickle over into the rest of the campaign just enough so that the air-gapped storylines are meaningful, but not so much that it ruins the fun of the rest of the group.

To help you navigate these challenges, I highly recommend checking out James D’Amato’s The Ultimate RPG Gameplay Guide. There’s a section in the book called “Looking For Trouble,” and it talks about ways to lean into scenes with trouble-seeking instigators without having the trouble come back onto the rest of the group.

In brief, the gremlin should:

• State their goal out loud to the table and the GM. This gives us a look into their motivations and creates a clear distinction between the player and the character (thus reducing bleed).
• Negotiate boundaries with the GM and the rest of the table. How much should their actions affect the rest of the group? How much collateral damage is the rest of the group okay with?
• And of course, check in with their fellow players early and often.

Your Decision

A chaos gremlin can keep everyone at the table on their toes and push your games into realms you never imagined, as long as the character trope is handled maturely. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

And let me know if there are any other character tropes I should cover next? Drop your recommendations below!