| From: | "S.F. Eley" <gt6877c@*****.GATECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Character Quirks |
| Date: | Wed, 13 Sep 1995 01:17:16 -0400 |
> character memorable. The hardest part is getting players to realize this
> and take a chance.<<
>
> But watch out. If you have a character with a fondness for swimming,
> and a sadistic GM, the next thing you know your character gets magically
> morphed into an Earthdawn T'skrang and faces going the rest of its life
> even more hunted and unable to walk the streets than a normal Shadowrunner.
Heh. This actually happened in your game? From the descriptions you've
posted here, and what I've seen off the Web pages, y'all play a truly
involved, truly WEIRD Shadowrun game. I'm highly jealous. >8->
> But I agree. Quirks are fun. All of mine are so full of quirks they
> can hardly walk straight....
Let me play Devil's Advocate for a moment here.. I like character quirks
too, but they have their ups and downs. They make life very interesting,
BUT if they get in the way too much, it can threaten the PCs' effectiveness
as a team.
The campaign I GM has a great deal of humor in it. Most of it comes from
the characters, not from the runs I set up. Dressing up a male Troll in a
Girl Scout uniform as part of a "serious" interception plan. The Tong
ganger character works at Mon Hing's Chinese restaurant. The decker is a
drunken, arrogant dwarf who continues to be the group's decker because he's
blackmailing the rest of them.
It's great stuff. But when it gets past the planning and onto the run
itself, they stumble. The ganger is picking up weapons, chips,
paperweights, everything he can _instead_ of providing covering fire like
he was supposed to. Because it's in character. The Troll has to constantly
make Intelligence rolls to keep from doing things totally wrong. Because
it's in character. Fire a shot at the Raven Shaman, and she'll put the rest
of the plan on hold to hunt you down. Because you threatened her, and
that's in character for her. I'm not saying any of these things are
_intrinsically_ bad, they do make life more entertaining, but it sometimes
gets in the way of the group operating as a TEAM, and that can be bad.
I'm not sure what should be done about this. Certainly not toning down
the quirks -- I like them, although they sometimes slow the game down or
screw up the run. What I'm trying to do is instill the idea of
"professionalism" on the players, but I'm not sure how to go about that.
Maybe I'll just have to Xerox the first twenty pages of _Fields of Fire_
and make everyone read it.
Has anyone else had this problem? How do you get people to STOP playing
"Look how goofy I can be in 2055" and get down to business when it's
necessary, without crushing the role-playing spirit? Or is it that I'm
seeing things wrong, and MY attitude is the problem? Any ideas or
experiences welcome.. It's far from ruining my game, but it does bother
me a bit.
Blessings,
_TNX._
--
Stephen F. Eley (-) gt6877c@*****.gatech.edu )-( Student Pagan Community
http://wc62.residence.gatech.edu| "There are two parties -- a right wing
My opinions are my opinions. | party, and a very right wing party."
Please don't blame anyone else. | - S. Arrowsmith
