A Sore Thumb: Ways for a Chinese girl to stand out?
- Thread starter Queen_Dopplepopolis
- Start date
RangerWickett
Legend
In my novel, I actually have a character who is basically the setting's equivalent of Chinese, and she's six and a half feet tall, which causes people to look down upon her (even as they look up at her) because they think she's a little freakish. Of course, she's the adoptive sister of a minotaur, and is dating a half-elf, so honestly being tall is one of her more mundane traits.
Emperor Valerian
First Post
Or she could just be freakishly acrobatic, beyond the capabilities of the other acrobats even. Or that she has a propensity to swear louldy in public. That might make her memorable too. The key thing is not just to find something that would make her memorable, but something that could also be fun to play off of for you, and maybe the other players too.
Gez
First Post
Emperor Valerian said:
The graceful, lithe acrobat tumbles around on the circus. Suddenly, she misses the handle ring after a jump, and falls flat on the sawdust. Massaging her elbow, she screams, holy sweet
That said, I'm going to propose something more serious and simpler: a tattoo. A big tattoo, like serpentine dragons running along her arms with their heads on the back of her ends, for example.
That, or you go with the 8-ft.-tall, bald, one-eyed, large-breasted, Portuguese-speaking option.
MonsterMash
First Post
Personally I think that the hair colour option could be the best way to go for simplicity - otherwise the large breasted, serpent tailed, glass eyed, seven foot tall option.
Pbartender
First Post
Alright... A female Chinese circus acrobat in the Old West.
First, it'd have to be something obviously noticable from a distance.
Second, a 'traditional' Chinese circus costume for the era would most likely cover all but the hands and head (especially for a woman).
Visually, that leaves you with the hair, the face, the hands and the costume itself.
Hair is easy... At the time, most all Chinese wore their hair very long. Perhaps hers was cut very short (to disguise her aas a boy perhaps?). Color would be another easy one, since black is by and large the most dominant hair color amongst Chinese. A distinctive hairdo might also work.
Face is a little bit trickier, unless you can get a very close look... Eye color is too subtle from a distance; the eye would have to be completely missing (an eye patch, due to an accident with a juggler maybe? loss of depth percetion would make her acrobatics all the more notable). The missing tooth isn't a bad idea, although a gold/silver/other tooth might work just as well. I'd avoid tattoos, myself... They're a little cliched, and quite over-used.
Costume is another easy one... Every circus acrbatic troupe is going to have it's own distinctive outfit. It doesn't even need to be the whole costume. A hat, scarf, shawl, bandanna, jacket or robe of a particular style, cut or color would work.
Also... Does the other player need to recognize you from a performance? What about advertising posters for the circus?
Or some such.
First, it'd have to be something obviously noticable from a distance.
Second, a 'traditional' Chinese circus costume for the era would most likely cover all but the hands and head (especially for a woman).
Visually, that leaves you with the hair, the face, the hands and the costume itself.
Hair is easy... At the time, most all Chinese wore their hair very long. Perhaps hers was cut very short (to disguise her aas a boy perhaps?). Color would be another easy one, since black is by and large the most dominant hair color amongst Chinese. A distinctive hairdo might also work.
Face is a little bit trickier, unless you can get a very close look... Eye color is too subtle from a distance; the eye would have to be completely missing (an eye patch, due to an accident with a juggler maybe? loss of depth percetion would make her acrobatics all the more notable). The missing tooth isn't a bad idea, although a gold/silver/other tooth might work just as well. I'd avoid tattoos, myself... They're a little cliched, and quite over-used.
Costume is another easy one... Every circus acrbatic troupe is going to have it's own distinctive outfit. It doesn't even need to be the whole costume. A hat, scarf, shawl, bandanna, jacket or robe of a particular style, cut or color would work.
Also... Does the other player need to recognize you from a performance? What about advertising posters for the circus?
Presenting
THE AMAZING CHOWS!
Masters of Acrobatics, the High Wire, and the Flying Trapeze
THE AMAZING CHOWS!
Masters of Acrobatics, the High Wire, and the Flying Trapeze
Or some such.
Inconsequenti-AL
Breaks Games
Could it be that she did something memorable at the performance the other character saw:
Perhaps an over eager member of the crowd got on stage and tried to interfere with the performance. The memorable bit is how she broke his jaw with a single well placed kick?
The missing tooth idea is very cool!
Wooden leg? Parrot?
Although I might be confusing Ninja's, Pirate's and China?
Perhaps an over eager member of the crowd got on stage and tried to interfere with the performance. The memorable bit is how she broke his jaw with a single well placed kick?
The missing tooth idea is very cool!
Wooden leg? Parrot?
Although I might be confusing Ninja's, Pirate's and China?
Mercule
Adventurer
Inconsequenti-AL said:
Hey, it's not like a wooden leg would be that much more of a hinderance to acrobatics than a missing eye or being 6' tall.
The parrot idea has some merit, though. What if she had a trained bird that flitted about while she did her act. Just an extra bit of color, but no one else does it -- and it's definitely her bird, not the troop's. A trained monkey could be substituted.
If you want to do something culturally challenging, have her wear some brightly colored feathers in her hair. Something she saw a Native American woman do, and thought it might add some flair to the show. Or, have her wear a cowboy hat and duster out to the "ring", and take them off right before performing. It's not exactly in the nature of the Chinese to bend to other cultures, but that's what'd make it stand out. Plus, she's Westernized.
Vraille Darkfang
First Post
While I'm still holding out for 'huge tracts of land'....
Lets see what you require.
Your a bard/rogue-type entertainer that has to pull off something so memorable, the party remembers you after 2 years.
You're young, chinese, and female in Gold Rush era California.
First, what is your Charisma score (or apperance if your using that).
If it's really low (6 or less), you might have been horribly burned as a child and your face and body is covered in grotesque butn marks. Severe facial burn marks ARE very noticable & very remeberable.
If it's really high (17+), you can go with the large, breasts, unusual hair color, tall, perfect skin, classical beauty. If you stand a head taller than all the oterh performers, you would stick into the audeince's mind that much more.
If you have an average Charisma, it's that much harder to stand out since, well, you are average. You need to combine both your made-up appearence with your game statistics.
1. Taller than average (anything over 5'5" should do). Different shade of hair. Small Tattoo on obvious part of body (back of hand, cheek, etc). Maybe a low tone of voice.
2. Combine it with your skill set. Lots of ranks in Escape Artist? Be a contortionist who puts her body through some very small openings.
Make your PERFORMANCE memorable, even if you aren't (average charsima).
Last,
Forget the glass eye. I'm legally blind in you eye. I know what I'm talking about. No depth perception sucks. An acrobat without depth perception is going to have a reallll short career.
Lets see what you require.
Your a bard/rogue-type entertainer that has to pull off something so memorable, the party remembers you after 2 years.
You're young, chinese, and female in Gold Rush era California.
First, what is your Charisma score (or apperance if your using that).
If it's really low (6 or less), you might have been horribly burned as a child and your face and body is covered in grotesque butn marks. Severe facial burn marks ARE very noticable & very remeberable.
If it's really high (17+), you can go with the large, breasts, unusual hair color, tall, perfect skin, classical beauty. If you stand a head taller than all the oterh performers, you would stick into the audeince's mind that much more.
If you have an average Charisma, it's that much harder to stand out since, well, you are average. You need to combine both your made-up appearence with your game statistics.
1. Taller than average (anything over 5'5" should do). Different shade of hair. Small Tattoo on obvious part of body (back of hand, cheek, etc). Maybe a low tone of voice.
2. Combine it with your skill set. Lots of ranks in Escape Artist? Be a contortionist who puts her body through some very small openings.
Make your PERFORMANCE memorable, even if you aren't (average charsima).
Last,
Forget the glass eye. I'm legally blind in you eye. I know what I'm talking about. No depth perception sucks. An acrobat without depth perception is going to have a reallll short career.
Queen_Dopplepopolis
First Post
Clarification!
Here's where I probably wasn't clear enough.
Though the game is SET in the late 1800's (1879, to be exact) and the first adventure is in the United States - she needs the something distinct for BEFORE she travels to the United States (she's actually sold to the circus by the Triad)... it's a backstory thing so that she has some sort of connection with one of the PCs in the game.
So - he will have seen her perform in the court in Khazakstan (Orenburg, to be exact)... (she's there b/c her tumblers are actually assassins and they're on a mission - but that's another can of worms).
As such, one of the characters (somewhat familiar with the Chinese) will have seen her perform and she needs to stand out so that - when they meet again a few years later in the United States - he will have a reason to remember her.
Vraille Darkfang said:
Here's where I probably wasn't clear enough.
Though the game is SET in the late 1800's (1879, to be exact) and the first adventure is in the United States - she needs the something distinct for BEFORE she travels to the United States (she's actually sold to the circus by the Triad)... it's a backstory thing so that she has some sort of connection with one of the PCs in the game.
So - he will have seen her perform in the court in Khazakstan (Orenburg, to be exact)... (she's there b/c her tumblers are actually assassins and they're on a mission - but that's another can of worms).
As such, one of the characters (somewhat familiar with the Chinese) will have seen her perform and she needs to stand out so that - when they meet again a few years later in the United States - he will have a reason to remember her.
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