From:	abortion_engine abortion_engine@*******.com
Subject:	[BackOnT][OT] Re: Harrowing of Focus (sic)
Date:	Fri, 27 Aug 1999 01:18:02 -0400

> > > Anyway, talking about Hitler (massively charismatic, nasty mundane
> > > type) has anyone managed to run a campaign with a similar head honcho
> > > bad guy - i.e. Not an IE (sic) or mage or dracoform etc. - just a
> > > clever, evil
> > > Joe?
> >
> > Not me, but it seems to me that there should be plenty of chief villains
> > like this. As long as you're charismatic enough, you can get a _lot_
done
> > from other people -- Hitler, as you said, is a prime example, but so are
> > many movie stars.
>
> As an example,...Jason Wynn from the Spawn Comic. Kind of an X-Files
"Cancer
> man".

Well, I've run into a few. [I mean, hey, let's think about it, most bad guys
in the real world--assuming, of course, anyone roleplays with some semblance
of reality--aren't huge, big, epic, evil villains. Milosevic was just a guy
whose parents killed themselves...sort of.] But normally my GM runs games
that scan like comic books, so, not very often.

But it does lead me to another point, that being the effect of charisma.
Now, a 6 in charisma is Hitler with table manners, Jesse Jackson, the Queen
of England only young and nice and pretty, that sort of thing. Actually,
around here, we say a charisma of six is Christ, but some people might not
buy that. [He is supposed to be more than human, after all.] But in
Shadowrun, we've got people lying around with cultured tailored phermones
level 2, leaving them with an effective charisma of 10. Add in some raise
attribute spells, and you've got a guy who's twice as likable as Jesus.

Now, in our games, with our [Marine corps veteran comic book fan] GM, if a
guy has a strength of 12, he can lift [at least] twice what the winner of
the international strongman competition can. But a guy with a charisma of 12
doesn't walk into rooms and have women literally swarm him, he doesn't make
enemies cower with just a look, and he sure as hell doesn't get twice the
money from the fixer that Jesse Jackson would have.

What gives?

I'm interested in hearing what other people have to say about this topic,
how others have dealt with it. Let me know. I like to play exactly the kind
of guy spoken about above, a normal guy [okay, okay, a normal guy with a
mage friend and some smelly cyberware] who can move empires with a single
spoken word.

[And before anyone mentions it, yes, I'm aware of the distance limitations
of tailored phermones. For things like telcom calls, etc., assume that the
character is using some other sort of charisma boosting method, i.e.
magical.]

[And yes, I moved the topic of the thread a lot, but it's something I've
been thinking about, and I saw a segue, so I took it.]

Thanks.