The Trickster is the character than decieves most of the cast to achieve a goal unknown to the rest of the cast. While tricksters can be both women and men, I shall be referring to them as 'he' from now on.
Goals
What our trickster wants to achieve can be just about anything, however most common is just for fun. However crafty trickster will make it multiple goals seems plausible when just looking at their actions. Even craftier tricksters will make their actions not make sense considering their goals. Anyways, the trickster has a goal, but tries to make is as difficult to guess as possible.Difference with The Chessmaster
While The Chessmaster focuses on manipulating events, the Trickster explicitly focuses on manipulating people. Thus, Tricksters tend to be involved on a more personal level in their work while the Chessmaster works events from a higher level. For example, if a trickster wanted something, he would probably break into where it's kept and steal it, usually tricking people into letting him through and taking it. The Chessmaster, on the other hand, would probably make an elaborate plan to deteriorate the security measures there before hiring someone to steal it for him.Necessary Tropes
- Obfuscating Stupidity / Obfuscating Insanity : One of the first things a trickster must make people believe is that he is not capable of achieving the goal he is trying to achieve. This will allow him to move more freely. For a trickster to be most effective he must be smarter than the ones he intends to use, but appear dumber than them making use of Dumb is good
- Awesomeness by Analysis : In order to perform his tricks, the Trickster needs to know what he has to work with. For example, if he can tell that a man has a knife in his back pocket and is skilled with stabbing things, the Trickster would immediately know to pick the man's pocket. A good trickster can tell vulnerabilities in their victims and know what they need to do to exploit them, no matter how unorthodox they are.
- Master of Disguise : This can be useful for tricksters to have; if they're in the game for very long, people will learn to stop trusting them (unless they don't), ruining their plans. It also makes for some great reveals when the trickster's plan has come to fruition.
- Blatant Lies : If the audience doesn't know that the trickster is lying, they could get confused as to what's real and what's not real. Also, if the trickster can pull of Blatant Lies well, the audience will be impressed by how charismatic they are.
Supplementary Tropes
- Karmic Trickster : If your trickster has morals, they may fall into this category.
- The Plan : The trickster usually has one for the long run, but for the short term they ride by the seat of their pants.
Tropes to Avoid or Be Careful With
Story-Telling Hints
The Greats
- Loki:
- Bugs Bunny:
