Odd Peeves [2002 Thread]

[Humanophile]

I'd like to see how long a history these half orc bards had of playing. It seems to me that taking an asterotypical race/class combination or a character centered entirely around one cute trick or another is the sign of a budding RP'er who wants something other than hack and slash stereotypes but doesn't know how. (Same idea with anti-power gamers, BTW.) Silly how all their "unique" characters seem pretty much the same, but ne, what can you do? Just hope some evolve past the state.

 

[Someguy]

Re: I have the trump card

I have decided that for the next con I should design the perfect 'pure roleplaying character' that no one has done before. He will be a quadrapalegic wizzard with a mule familiar. He will travel draped on the mule's back, and cast somatic spells (like he has a choice). Maybe a sorcerer might be better since handling a spell book might be tricky.

Buzzard

DAMN.... you took my idea, excpet he was also mute...

 

[SableWyvern]

Re: I have the trump card

I have decided that for the next con I should design the perfect 'pure roleplaying character' that no one has done before. He will be a quadrapalegic wizzard with a mule familiar. He will travel draped on the mule's back, and cast somatic spells (like he has a choice). Maybe a sorcerer might be better since handling a spell book might be tricky.

Buzzard

Does that mean that the character I played in a supers game (Marvel Superheroes IIRC), was innapropriate?

Blind old man with arthritis and a seeing-eye dog side-kick, who believed in supporting the public transport system so much that it was the only way he ever got to a crime scene.

(I should point out that he could usually use his super-powers to see).

 

[Andor]

Hey, I played that game too. Poor poor Slasher. Eaten by the Ankheg just because I rolled a lousy initiative. Oh well, we were thinking of using the dragon hoard to get her raised.

Thank god our GM saw the big flaw in that games design and covered for it or we would have had it wrapped up in 20 minutes.

-Andor

P.S. And we did decide to call the town 'Slasher's Rest'.

 

[Impeesa]

I'm guilty... I play a half-orc bard in a PBeM. However, I like to think I took him beyond 'gimmick' and into a little more 'fleshed out'. He doesn't really sing or play... but he is a wealth of history, stories, ballads, and poetry. I made him middle aged, so he'd come across as the gentle old guy type without being so old he can't adventure (flying in the face of yet another half-orc stereotype). I decided that he'd be this way because he grew up in a prejudiced human society, and that he loved children because they weren't judgemental and merely appreciated his stories. He also dislikes carrying weaponry, but knows a little of unarmed combat for self-defense.

Is there a moral to this? Not really, but I guess you could say turning one stereotype on its head is a gimmick, turning all of them around is roleplaying. I guess I could see how it could get old, quick, though. I played briefly in a campaign featuring a halfling monk as the DM's pet. That got old *really* fast.

--Impeesa--

 

[Akunin]

Heh - I was at a Con this weekend and MY peeves weren't with the games, but rather the rampant poor hyeine, the guys who wore the same clothing ALL WEEKEND LONG, and too many people in jester's caps...

 

[buzzard]

carried?

I'm guilty... I play a half-orc bard in a PBeM. However, I like to think I took him beyond 'gimmick' and into a little more 'fleshed out'. He doesn't really sing or play... but he is a wealth of history, stories, ballads, and poetry. I made him middle aged, so he'd come across as the gentle old guy type without being so old he can't adventure (flying in the face of yet another half-orc stereotype). I decided that he'd be this way because he grew up in a prejudiced human society, and that he loved children because they weren't judgemental and merely appreciated his stories. He also dislikes carrying weaponry, but knows a little of unarmed combat for self-defense.

Is there a moral to this? Not really, but I guess you could say turning one stereotype on its head is a gimmick, turning all of them around is roleplaying. I guess I could see how it could get old, quick, though. I played briefly in a campaign featuring a halfling monk as the DM's pet. That got old *really* fast.

--Impeesa--

Well let me ask you my question then- what does this guy actually contribute to the party? He's mostly likely a lackluster bard, and you've said he doesn't fight almost at all- so what does he do? Write bad poetry? Bore everyone with tedious stories? (OK maybe they're brilliant stories, but still, do they contribute anything?) Simply get carried around by the party sucking up experience?
He doesn't sound all that much more utilitarian than my quadrapalegic sorcerer. Just a matter of degree.

Maybe I'm too much of an engineer to appreciate the joys of carrying around a useless bard for color, but I will say that if I were in that campaign, the character would have gone the way of Sir Robins minstrels.

Buzzard

 

[Someguy]

stinky poo...

Heh - I was at a Con this weekend and MY peeves weren't with the games, but rather the rampant poor hyeine, the guys who wore the same clothing ALL WEEKEND LONG, and too many people in jester's caps...

Can't stand jesters caps either...and yes...Defiantly poor hygeine is also a problem.... ICK!!
Take a bath or something...and where a different shirt......and this applies to everybody, not just gamers...

 

[sotmh]

I was at the con in Denver, but I decided not to do Living Greyhawk (my brother did though). I was in the 24 hour marathon game instead. It was a blast! It had some darn good players combined with some very skilled GMs. A rare combination in my brief experiences at convention roleplaying, and it made the entire day not only bearable, but I was kinda sad that it ended so soon.

sotmh

 

[Oracular Vision]

In Living Greyhawk, I have seen some really good role-playing, for instance, one of the weasels of Pelor (what I call the clerics) tries to convert other player characters to Pelor throughout the game, in character, at taverns and so on. He won't ever get any experience for this (in a real campaign, I would give him some), but it makes his character seem more real.

I have also seen a bard played correctly, who tried to woo female characters (not always actually females IRL), and spent gold on them and flattered them, and vowed to protect them. It made the other players look flat. And nothing is odder than a man pretending to be flattered and trying to flirt back. Uh, on the other hand, maybe I don't want to think about that.

On the other hand, I have seen people play the dumbest things, for instance, one guy was in love with the warhorse he had bought, blah blah blah this and that about his horse all game long. It was then and there that I decided that my elf liked to eat horses, so I waited for my chance to cook it up...sadly, we had to go fight some bad guy before I could eat his horse...