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Episode 1888: Strange Charm Quirks

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Of course there's enough time in the middle of a tense combat/escape sequence for characters to introduce themselves to one another. It's a trope seen in many films and TV shows. Two strangers find themselves working together in some fight that breaks out around them, and they find time to swap their life stories while standing back to back and dodging weapon blows.

If you're looking for a new way of introducing characters to one another at the start of a new campaign—something different to the clichéd "you all meet in a tavern"—then try this some time. The characters don't know each other, and maybe they're walking through a marketplace or something, and a fight breaks out and random people start attacking them. Or perhaps it could be an attempt at banditry on the high road, and two unrelated wagons arrive at the same time from different directions. Or the new PCs are all on the same plane/train/ship, when a hijacking or piracy attempt happens, and they need to band together to foil the villains.

So the heroes work together to fend off the assailants. Realistically, you'd fight and then once it's over you'd stop to say hello. But that's no fun. Have the characters introduce themselves in between the dice rolling for all the fighting!

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Oh dear, now we're going to see what Jim thinks a high Charisma character is going to be like. I can't tell if Annie thinks this is going to be incredibly hilarious or incredibly awkward. Han Solo rather struck me as an above average Charisma character in movies and the game, but in game that was probably one of the stats dumped. So good or bad, if Poe is meant to have better Charisma than Han, I bet we're going to see some metaphorical fireworks. He certainly has the confidence to pull off any schemes that are thought up.

Roleplaying a high Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma character feels a lot more difficult to me than one focused on the physical traits. It's easy to imagine being able to lift more or run further than you as the player can in real life, as examples for high Strength or Constitution. How exactly would high Charisma be shown though, if you don't feel exceptionally manipulative or diplomatic yourself? Or high Intelligence without resorting to taking copious notes like the character mentally could? It's probably unfair to separate the physical stats from the mental stats in terms of roleplaying however, as both end up rolling the same dice and the physical is already abstracted away by necessity. Perhaps it's because if the mental side is abstracted as well, it seems more like rollplaying at that point, so the urge to act out the mental traits feels important.

Hmm. You know, being good at deception is a Charismatic trait, and Jim has shown he can pull that off very well before. So let's look at Poe's claims. We know that he's actually an ace pilot from the GM at the start of the game, but the rest of the claims could be fabrications or creative interpretations of events in Poe's past. Crack shot? Maybe just a lucky shot that took down Gil. Sensual lover? High Charisma is a definite plus, so this is possible, but unlikely to come up in game. Pastry chef? Definitely not, though interestingly only we would notice the difference between saying "PIEs" and "pies". Generally unbeatable? Not a great track record so far.

So roleplaying high Charisma? I guess I can say that Jim's already doing that, and doing very well so far.

Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)

BOO. That's a Pinkie-level pun. BOO.

And, I have news for you. That does seem to be Jim's attempt to roleplay a high Charisma character. There's a reason it's called roleplaying, and you are trying to play someone that doesn't have your own abilities. I could not imitate someone with high strength, but I can pretend. I could not imitate someone with high social skills, but I can pretend.

My pretense with strength will make more sense. But someone that actually has muscles and knows how to use them will probably find flaws with it. My pretense with social skills will be "obviously lying" levels of wrong. Doesn't mean I can't roleplay such a character. Nor should I take penalties because my real skill can't do it.

"Sensual lover"? Is that an indication of something coming in the future with this character?

Transcript

Finn: My name’s Finn, by the way.
Poe: Cool.
Finn: And you are...?
Poe: Oh! Poe Dameron, devil-may-care ace pilot, crack shot, sensual lover, champion pastry chef, and generally unbeatable doer of awesome stuff.
{beat}
[SFX]: vreeeeooooowww...
Finn: Pastry chef?
Poe: I’m good at handling PIEs!
Rey: What is your Charisma?
Poe: 16.
Rey: Yeah. You should try to roleplay that.


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Published: Sunday, 06 September, 2020; 03:11:23 PDT.
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