[UA] Poll: Sample Player Characters

[twilight at vbe.com]

Peter Hindman wrote

>  One of the
> salient features of the UA setting, as I see it, is that characters are
> usually *broken*--damaged or obsessive in interesting ways that drive
> plot.  Power level?  Enh. 


   This is one aspect that I myself, in the games I run, can not over 
emphasize.  And you're paragraph states it well, that the best pcs are 
the flawed ones.  The left handed, quirky, and irreparably damaged pcs.  
  
   Not that some good old DnD slaughterfesting isn't fun, but what I 
find more fun and what propels a campaign into niches of the story that 
I did not create are these types of characters.  In the last game I ran, 
which was a crossover campaign with UA elements, the character who was 
the most successful and that ended up being the "hero" of the tale was 
the forty-five year old single dad who had been the high school footfall 
QB and was now a lout with a management job at a grocery mart. 

This player didn't stroke his ego about how he had near god-like 
physical attributes, but rather ignored them and focused on how he was 
an alcoholic, missed his ex-wife, hated his life, etc.  The only time we 
understood that he was very strong was in physical descriptions and dice 
rolls. 

Essentially, the point is just that I agree and that this is _the_ way 
towards an excellent game but also that players ought to consider 
neglecting their perks and their nifty 75% skills and focus more on 
their obsessions, rage, fear, and noble stimulus.  In an obvious way, 
this way of gaming is built into the UA experience.

-Guy


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