Mary Sue- Not sure I understand

[roguerouge]

I just saw Alice's Restaurant and my girlfriend, unprompted, remarked on what a Mary Sue Arlo Guthrie's "character" is in that film. Of course, rather than confront people on their issues or fight for justice or demonstrate against the war... he just blows town. In repetition, it sort of undermines his Mary Sue qualities....

 

[Somebloke]

The post was in no seriousness at all. However, I think I will fire the NPC from a cannon for laughs.

Er....ah....that's preicsely what I intended all along.

 

[Banshee16]

That's basically accurate - the term refers to the author making a character that represents themselves in the novel, and said character being the star and better than everyone at everything... basically the author on a power trip.

Hmmmm....seems to me the definition of most PCs I've seen.

Banshee

 

[Psion]

Hmmmm....seems to me the definition of most PCs I've seen.

Absolutely. With the exception, the player is not the GM or author, and all of them have to abide by the limitations of the ruleset for making PCs.

In the realm of RPGs, the Mary Sue has the most overlap with the stereotypical GMPC or (when written into the setting) Canon-super-hero.

 

[MichaelK]

Now, what's wrong with details on the marriage ritual? He has details on all sorts of things, from Lliiran (Dancing) Assassins, the Dwarven language, rural Realmsian houses and the window tax in Suzail. The man has details on everything about the setting. Which includes, unsurprisingly, entirely normal human actions, such as sex. If that was the only thing he had in the Realms, then your point might have some merit. But it isn't. It's a tiny, tiny part of the published Realms and his own, unpublished Realmslore.

I don't really play Forgotten realms, aside from once being in a 2nd ed Undermountain campaign that barely left the dungeon. However I remember reading the 2nd ed campaign guide and being impressed to see the colours of the roofs in one town being described for each district. My first impression was that this was a very detailed world, which a lot of attention had gone into creating.

I'm not at all surprised that it discusses sex, love and marriage in the world as these are pretty crucial to politics and many motivations of heroes and villains alike (or just regular folk for that matter).

Originally Posted by Set
Around season 5 of Buffy, there was another perfect Mary Sue, only, unlike Jonathan in season 4, she wasn't played up as a joke. A former boyfriend, Riley Finn, shows up in town, and his new wife, Sam Finn, is a textbook case.

Just remember that Buffy is supposed to be an analogy to the real world experience of growing up set in a supernatural universe. People often find themselves jealous of their ex-partner's new partner and thinks they are better at everything, in the buffy world this just manifested literally.

Like many of the more comedic moments I don't think that it's meant to be taken as a serious aspect of the universe. That said, I hated that episode.