A Connecticut Narrativist in King Arthur's Simulation

Ah, those players seem familiar. I have a recurrent "Grim Veteran" and I know a recurrent "Intelligence Agent". I think these are ruts rather than the paladin thing (used to have one of those too) which is more emotional I think. In both the initial cases of recurrent characters I think that there are elements of the players background which give them a certain frame of reference for these sorts of activities, which they enjoy exploring in its own right; I suspect this implies part of the draw is the situation proper.

I agree with the theory that the player has not been able to actual tell the story they want to tell yet; one might get a bit pop-psy and say they have not had "closure" on the character. This is why I think its worth trying to treat characters as having individual stories and hence premises and whatnot. I want to take the Grim Veteran through a story that lets him flaunt it cos he's got it, and then maybe he'll start asking himself what he wants to do next.

I'd be interested to know if your magician player has tried Mage; I think the way it calls for players to author the magic might give him an opportunity to exorcise some demons, as it were. Or HeroWars might be as attractive as Feng Shui in terms of blurring the wizard/warrior dichotomy and may appeal on the basis of the depth it gives to mythology and social religion.