User blog comment:Smash The Echidna/A guide to Fan Characters and Roleplaying/@comment-32712012-20180123071054/@comment-32712012-20180123133730

Thanks for the input!

I will try to remember the thing about the canon characters, and try to avoid using them. I might, at some point, feel compelled to use them if a story just wouldn't work without them, but I'll try to avoid using them otherwise.

And yes, I know that "the villain that killed my father" isn't original. I probably first encountered it several years ago when I watched The Princess Bride, and have encountered it in multiple places since, so I've definitely seen it before. (It's slightly possible that I may have somewhat original reasoning for why the villain didn't kill the kid, but only slightly.) I will try to make sure that it doesn't play out badly. (I must warn you, though: I've realized recently that this villain is actually responsible for the deaths—or almost responsible for the deaths—of some of my other characters' parents, so this may complicate things.)

Anyway, thanks for the update!