I'm sorry, your character idea is too awful.

[Rechan]

I mean, can you think of a way to put that idea into the horror genre?

You mean, besides the movie "Psycho"?

I could see that the second personality is trying to "Take Over" the other one, completely snuffing out the brother. This being bad, because the sister was a more abusive and power-hungry personality (one that was responsible for the accident, an accident where she was trying to create something very bad). So it becomes an "Oh god, My very identity might be erased and I could become the villain here" type situation.

 

[howandwhy99]

I run Mage: the Awakening, so yes, personality is covered under game rules for PCs. And I've let him play a character with MPD before--he's currently playing one in another game, in fact, and that's a major reason why I don't want this new character for my Mage game. The character in that game single-handedly changed the tone of the game from "Victorian horror full of dread and intrigue" to "I try to charm the squirrel, because this personality is so random!" I adapted, and so the game has more light-hearted, goofy moments he engages in while the rest of the group goes about the business of being monster hunters in Victorian London.

Really, it's a matter of tone. Specifically, he wants his character to be the result of a magical accident in which a brother and sister were fused together in one body, and the guy becomes his sister at night. Yeah, it's a new take on MPD, and it would be pretty good for a Beer and Pretzels D&D game, but Mage just isn't that game. It's a game of modern horror, in which fairly normal human beings learn that there is an invisible world around them and become corrupted by their own hubris. I mean, can you think of a way to put that idea into the horror genre?

To me, it's like coming to a game of Call of Cthulhu with a character who wants to dual-wield katanas and wear a trench coat. Yeah, you can make the rules do that--but it's completely missing the point of Call of Cthulhu. In any game, there are some ideas that are just too far outside the tone of the game.

IMHO, I think you may be making two mistakes. 1. That the game is yours and not the group's. And 2. that tone is something you control and not the group.

You can make the world, but you can't force players to behave certain ways within it. You can also design places and people full of mood, but you cannot force players to hold to that mood. You are not in control. The group of you are.

You can ask this player (and all the others) to accept the mood you would like to see held to. They don't have to accept. But to move forward the group will need some acceptance on what kind of play they jointly want in game. Especially one so tightly defined as I hear you expressing to me. Personally, I find games are better when they have no prior acceptance. It just gets in the way.

Also, "personality" may be a trait with rules in World of Darkness games, but that's a design error. There are no personality traits for PCs in role-playing games. What they are doing is adding acting rules and assuming players will allow themselves to be called out for not acting "correctly". These are two different things.

 

[The Ghost]

Really, it's a matter of tone. Specifically, he wants his character to be the result of a magical accident in which a brother and sister were fused together in one body, and the guy becomes his sister at night. Yeah, it's a new take on MPD, and it would be pretty good for a Beer and Pretzels D&D game, but Mage just isn't that game. It's a game of modern horror, in which fairly normal human beings learn that there is an invisible world around them and become corrupted by their own hubris. I mean, can you think of a way to put that idea into the horror genre?

Isn't this just a new take on Robert Lewis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? To me, that is one of the classics concepts of a modern horror style game. If the character is done right it should fit perfectly well into what you are describing your game as.

Maybe this - The sister character is the part that is becoming corrupted by the invisible world around her whereas the brother has no idea what is going on. Over the course of the game the brother could slowly come to learn what his "sister" already knows. Imagine the horror! If played right, this could be a very interesting character.

 

[Halivar]

and now believes that kobolds were created by Metallics

I initially read this as saying they were created by Metallica, which had me scratching my head for a bit. Then I started thinking this was actually the most awesomist idea ever. Then I saw I'd misread.

I mean, think about it: death-metal kobold paladins... on motorcycles.

 

[Ktulu]

I only have two that usually irriate me:

One is the penultimate loner - The guy who has almost no backstory, no relatives, no friends, nothing. I often see these guys play a character that is uninteresting to the point that they're don't even know what to do. I require some history to a character, and for some players, the bare minimum has been delivered.

The evil-evil guy. You can be evil unless my specific game calls for only good/etc.. However, there's that one type of evil I can't stand. The guy who's so immoral that just about everything he's done/will do is a horrid act. I've only seen this type of character crop up once or twice and was nullified quickly.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

……the guy becomes his sister at night. Yeah, it's a new take on MPD……

Actually something like this happens in an animé series called Maze: the main character switches from a rather timid girl during the day to a gung-ho guy at night.

II mean, think about it: death-metal kobold paladins... on motorcycles.

Me like.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

IMHO, I think you may be making two mistakes. 1. That the game is yours and not the group's. And 2. that tone is something you control and not the group.

You can make the world, but you can't force players to behave certain ways within it. You can also design places and people full of mood, but you cannot force players to hold to that mood. You are not in control. The group of you are.

You can ask this player (and all the others) to accept the mood you would like to see held to. They don't have to accept. But to move forward the group will need some acceptance on what kind of play they jointly want in game. Especially one so tightly defined as I hear you expressing to me. Personally, I find games are better when they have no prior acceptance. It just gets in the way.

Let me restate the "tone" problem, then. In the current game, the rest of the group said they wanted "monster hunters in the dark and grimy streets of Victorian London." This was among a few other proposals, including a wackier, 4-color superheroes game. The other players are trying to hew to fairly realistic characters and keep the tone dark and gritty. MPD-lad, having signed up for the same game, under the same understanding, made a character that intentionally disrupts that tone. The "charm the squirrel" thing is not an exaggeration--this is how he amused himself while the rest of the group tried to investigate why Werewolves masquerading as a group of Irish priests were taking carriage rides into the forest once a month.

Now, when as we're moving to a new game, he's come up with an even wackier character concept. I'm saying no, not so much because I don't want to run a wacky game--I've run them by the dozens--but because all of the other players are taking it seriously, and I don't want them to have their game derailed. Moreover, their characters will probably not want to associate with this character, anyway, so steering him away from that idea will keep tensions at the table a little lighter. Five out of six people at the table want a serious tone; I'm certainly past the stage as a GM where I think I am the god of the table, so it's not just my edict on this one.

Also, "personality" may be trait with rules in World of Darkness games, but that's a design error. There are no personality traits for PCs in role-playing games. What they are doing is adding acting rules and assuming players will allow themselves to be called out for not acting "correctly". These are two different things.

Okay, so you don't like the Storytelling system. Don't play it, then. I like having rules that reward players for acting in-character, and I don't think a game is any less a roleplaying game for having rules that encourage in-character decision-making.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Actually something like this happens in an animé series called Maze: the main character switches from a rather timid girl during the day to a gung-ho guy at night.

I dunno, I liked it better in Le Chevalier D'Eon where the more timid guy becomes possessed by his badass, take no prisoners sister.

 

[Betote]

To me, it's like coming to a game of Call of Cthulhu with a character who wants to dual-wield katanas and wear a trench coat. Yeah, you can make the rules do that--but it's completely missing the point of Call of Cthulhu. In any game, there are some ideas that are just too far outside the tone of the game.

Hey! I ran a CoC where one of the characters did dual-wield katanas and wear a trench coat. It was a blast

 

[Hella_Tellah]

You mean, besides the movie "Psycho"?

Isn't this just a new take on Robert Lewis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

You know, I hadn't thought of it in that context, which is strange, because Jekyll/Hyde was a minor villain in the current campaign. I feel humbled.

Maybe there is some hope for this character, if I can get him to play along with the tone we're trying to achieve.