What's the Most Asinine Character Idea/Concept You've Dealt With?

[rowport]

Ot

OT...

...at work, mind you, in the budget office of a major American city...

Mallus-
Just curious, are you in the Philly Budget Office? I was in the Chicago OBM for several years before focusing on IT.

 

[Storm Raven]

When I say no penalties, I should clarify.

Because they came up with a the Drow Albino concept, the player figured being albino would

a)prevent them from being a social outcast
b)allow them to walk in the light like a normal elf
c)would allow them to eliminate the +2 ECL for being a drow

The whole concept of the Albino part was to be a drow, yet be immune to all negatives that go with being one. They figured being pale would eliminate all of the inherent negatives that drow have, while retaining the benefits.

Perhaps you should have pointed him to some actual information about albinism. It's more than "being pale".

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

Let me say that, after being gone for 7 months and finally being able to come back, this is a great thread to come back too. A lot of these ideas were absolutely hilarious and I was left crying at a few.

Wow...it is nice to know that Enworld has yet to lose it's touch.

 

[billd91]

-A super-genius potted plant. Which cannot speak. Or do much of anything else. On wheels.

-A flying cow. Not with wings, but with cybernetic rocket jets instead of hooves.

-A possessed rubber duck… With Satanic powers of mind-control.

-A pizza delivery guy with (inexplicably) more high-tech nifty gadgets than Batman. (This character’s primary goal was delivering pizzas; so he was very little aid in the actual adventure.)

These ones had me thinking that he belongs to "the Tick" school of superhero design. Totally off the wall and silly. He does understand that you're playing a relatively serious superhero game, right?
Now, of course, maybe you could think about running a Tick-based supers game with ridiculous character concepts like the Civic-Minded Five. Then he could get it out of his system...

 

[Nomad4life]

These ones had me thinking that he belongs to "the Tick" school of superhero design. Totally off the wall and silly. He does understand that you're playing a relatively serious superhero game, right?
Now, of course, maybe you could think about running a Tick-based supers game with ridiculous character concepts like the Civic-Minded Five. Then he could get it out of his system...

Good point!

The thing is, all of our M&M games have Tick-like elements of parody to some extent… But he takes his ideas well beyond “parody” and into… Something else entirely. Even when we run adventures that are supposed to be “goofy” he can’t fully participate in the enjoyment, because his characters just don’t lend themselves well to group dynamics, or goal-directed progress, if you can see what I mean. (Heck, half of his characters have no means of communication!!!)

This all being said… I wouldn’t classify this guy as a “problem” player. He keeps showing up, seems to enjoy himself, and so does everyone else. And really, that’s the whole point, right?

My personal theory is that he’s simply not very interested in M&M, but doesn’t want to spoil things for everyone else in our gaming group, so he’s found a way to “hang out” with us and still get about 10 minutes of game-time out of it. Luckily for him, I’m ok with that- but a lot of other GMs I know wouldn’t be!

 

[Warrior Poet]

-A super-genius potted plant. Which cannot speak. Or do much of anything else. On wheels.

Someone's been reading Vernor Vinge.

-A possessed rubber duck… With Satanic powers of mind-control.

This thread gets better by the post.

This guy has been legally drinking for a few years now, folks.

Long as he's not behind the wheel . . . .

Oddly, this same guy makes decent D&D characters, and fantastic, realistic Call Of Cthulhu characters. But when it comes to Mutants & Masterminds… His brain just short circuits or something?

He may be like me and somewhat unfamiliar with the genre. I have a hard time coming up with superheroes simply because I'm not as familiar with the standards, icons, and feel of a lot of comics, though I'm blessed with friends who do have tremendous knowledge and help out a lot.

Warrior Poet

 

[Nomad4life]

He may be like me and somewhat unfamiliar with the genre. I have a hard time coming up with superheroes simply because I'm not as familiar with the standards, icons, and feel of a lot of comics, though I'm blessed with friends who do have tremendous knowledge and help out a lot.

Warrior Poet

Yeah, that could be it too… Although it seems like almost anyone could at least make a cheap Superman knock-off, if nothing else?

 

[shadow]

I've seen a lot of interesting characters in my years of gaming:

1. A former porn star turned mercenary in a Fading Suns game. Apparently the character lost his job in the adult film industry after an accident that left him "unable to get hard", so he turned into a mercenary to make a living. The character had ranks in "Knowledge: pornography" which he surprisingly actually used during the game once (he used his porn knowledge to investigate the mob which he knew had ties to the local porn industry).

2. A wookie mechanic from a Star Wars game. Doesn't sound too weird? Well, since wookies can't speak Basic, the character declared that he was getting a translator droid to follow him around. Surprisingly, the translator droid sounded exactly like Hank Hill from King of the Hill!

3. A tough talkin' gangster druid. The game started out normal enough, but then Sin City came out on DVD and the player ended up watching it several times (along with all the Quentin Tarantino movies). Suddenly his druid became increasingly psychotic and started talkin' smack and pulling off brutal interrogation tactics straight out of Reservoir Dogs and Sin City! Afterwards, I decided to put my campaign on hiatus for awhile.

 

[DamionW]

These ones had me thinking that he belongs to "the Tick" school of superhero design. Totally off the wall and silly. He does understand that you're playing a relatively serious superhero game, right?
Now, of course, maybe you could think about running a Tick-based supers game with ridiculous character concepts like the Civic-Minded Five. Then he could get it out of his system...

My friends and I love the Tick and wanted to do a stupid superhero game. Mostly we just came up with general outlines for characters. My favorite? I always wanted to make a hero named "Government Cheese." Sort of a dairy-oriented James Bond meets Friday from Dragnet. He'd just have stupid gadgets like his Swisserizer Gun that riddles enemies with holes and Limburger Stink Bombs. Of course he'd slip ridiculous puns in whenever he could: "We have to raid the thieves' hideout! That Roquefort (instead of rogue fort) can't be left unchecked!" or "Jim, you have to pick a side in this fight, you're not Swiss!"

My best bud came up with Captain Cuisinart, the cyborg/kitchen utensil (He zaps bad guys, demolishes buildings, he even juliennes fries!) and Jumbo Hirohito, the midget mutant elephant samurai. We also pictured making a movie with a character named Guy Incognito (from the Simpsons), where a pair of arms would spring out from inanimate objects that the guy was hiding in/behind (like a lightpost, with two arms showing up out of nowhere, or another person looking in an oven from a profile view and a hand popping out from inside, etc.

I even came up with villains to match them against. There was The Big Apple, a huge mutant apple the size of Kingpin from the comics who HATED any reference to the city of New York. Then there was Asscheeks Akimbo, the huge-butted sumo wrestler that sits on his enemies. Also, i just liked the idea of a villain named Jazz Hands that just waved his hands around like a bad beatnik dancer.

We never actually roleplayed this, but it was fun to talk about.

 

[jerichothebard]

...and the stripper/hooker kung-fu ninja daredevil.

My players are all insane.

That seems a bit harsh - after all, haven't we ALL wanted to play a stripper/hooker kung-fu ninja daredevil?


Errr... okay, maybe it's just me.