Disturbing Character premises...

[AdamLeisemann]

Have you, as a GM, faced a character concept that has disturbed you? Or have you, as a player, ever disturbed your GM, the other players, or yourself with a creepy character concept? Or has the GM ever disturbed the group with a character idea?

This thread for for all the character ideas that have gotten shivers and quivers in your group (or just out of yourself). Have fun posting the ideas.

["V"]

One player in my group (many many years ago) came to me with a request to play a supervillain. He'd noticed the strange mystical sense that player characters in the campaign had to spot other player characters and treat them differently to NPCs- basically an amateur roleplaying blindspot.

So he made up a despicable character called Necromancer - a disfigured evil sorceror in effect with an array of Drains and similarly unpleasant magical spells. Out of character he talked to the other players about wanting to play an anti-hero type for a change. In character he just played the guy as... well, sinister. And sure enough the other players never really challenged him, despite the fact they'd give any similar NPC a pretty rough time.

Off camera, Necromancer was up to some pretty atrocious stuff, gathering components for a highly unpleasant ritual. In game time the character team came across the remnants of his activities and given Necromancer's openly stated occult background they relied upon his advice to "crack the case" - needless to say he was leading them a merry dance. In the meantime there were plenty of normal plots going on with the "Ritual" being a longer story arc.

I really enjoyed the session where, halfway through the evening after discovering yet another scene of occult carnage I could just tell from the expression on the face of one of the other players as he looked at Necromancer's player that the penny had finally dropped.

"It's been you all along!"
"Of course. And I couldn't have done it without your help."

Classic moment.

[Captain Obvious]

I made a character one time who was a stretchy guy whose body was a living chemical factory. He could make adhesive to stick to walls, and he could exude a quick-setting epoxy to entrap enemies. I didn't think it was creepy, but the other players were kind of grossed out by plastic from someone's body.

[jkwleisemann]

Man, I love it... that's the sort of thing that could be *really* touchy, depending on the group, but I adore the way it worked out.

Though... did they end the Player Blind Spot after that?

As for disturbing concepts... I'm a Tragedian at heart, so I've tended towards a number of them. It's not necessarily that they're disturbing, so much as disturbed... but when played right, they tend to *get* disturbing fairly quickly.

Just not necessarily in a bad way.

Probably my Top Five for disturbing char's are as follows:

1 - Magna Mater, AKA Mater: Played in Chad McMinis' "Knights of New LA" (dystopian future Champions), Mater is one of a line of 'Mole People,' (kinda like Morlocks; technically, underground dwellers of the sort encountered in C.H.U.D. or Reliquary) who survived the nuclear blast that devastated LA by virtue of being far enough below ground to live through it. Over the decades, they developed powers that let them defend the people who came to live in their territory in exchange for supplies.

Mater, in particular, has the ability to manifest things she imagines/wants. In practice, this works out to relatively meager Mind Control and Mental Attacks... except in one area. Her daughter was taken away by Child Protective Services from Hell during a raid on the underground, something that rather unhinged the poor woman. She has focused her pre-existing abilities to focus on being able to "create" children out of her psyche - children who can best be described as homicidal midgets from Hell. That's her primary ability, and so far her Children (which have been affectionately dubbed the Little Bastards) are proving fairly effective, at least against lower-scale threats.

For the record: Inspired by David Cronenberg's "The Brood."

2 - Razor: I've got a couple characters by this name, I'm afraid, so being more specific, it's the Razor who's featured in a few WWYCD's of mine (like most of my char's here). Her powers aren't that disturbing - telekinesis, other mental powers, things of that sort. But her *concept*... well, her main power is telekinesis as it affects knives for a reason. When her powers came in, she was in the clutches of a guy who'd have made BTK proud, and he'd just finished with her sister.

Thanks to the aftermath of that little fiasco, not only do her powers have an unsettling tendency to go off uncontrolled while she's asleep (everybody living in her wing of the dorms learned to keep anything sharp in a locked drawer at night *real* fast), she's also somewhat suicidal (perhaps predictably, a cutter) and has sleepwalking issues.

And she's out of a Teen Champions game....

3 - Outsider: He's Wilbur Whateley raised by the good guys. Destined to eventually unleash one of the Kings of Edom during a battle with Doctor Destroyer, after the bad Doctor finally pushes him too far and he unleashes his full power. In the meantime, he's part mentalist, part mage, and part tentacle demon. Yeah... that's usually read as being more than a smidge disturbing by folks.

4 - Huntress: Her concept disturbs some people more than others. Basically, she's your garden variety powered-armor designer... with an addiction to Desoxyn that's slowly breaking down her grip on reality and leading her to become increasingly paranoid about (1) her work and (2) making sure she's got enough of her prescription methamphetamines to keep her fix.

5 - Sparky the Wonder Dog: Not that he's all that disturbing, but ever since a supervillainess who was obsessed with conceiving a litter of puppies on national television showed up (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1048988&postcount=84), he's gotten that way pretty well. :p

[Weldun]

Done the "villain in a hero's cape" bit myself on occasion.

As for disturbing, most people who've played in games where I've played Whisper have found him to be disturbing. So he's a soul-eating demon who is only a "hero" because the 12yr old girl, called Bethany, tells him to.

Oh, and somepeople find the idea of a superhero who's body is composed of 500 living rats to be disturbing to for some reason.

Me, I've only been distrubed by the Care Bears, and the fact that they're considered suitable for children to watch.

[Badger]

Badger: CARE BEARS!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!


*sticks head in a deep fryer*


Umm, yeah they are pretty creepy:nonp:

[AdamLeisemann]

Badger: CARE BEARS!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!


*sticks head in a deep fryer*


Umm, yeah they are pretty creepy:nonp:

Just out of curiosity...

What makes the Care Bears creepy?

[AdamLeisemann]

Well, here's a super-team I came up with that creeped me out. I have yet to play these characters in any Champions game (primarily because I refuse to.)

Keep in mind that one of my friends is something of a studier on the subject of kinks and fetishes. He's got an interest in what turns people on. I have, admittedly, developed a more academic wondering of "why" myself.

So presenting, an as-yet-unnamed team of kinky supers.

Liberty Lash is a dominatrix with a patriotic bent. She used to be in the military, but when it was revealed that she liked her men tied up, she was discharged from the service. Her "powers" come from the various used for the whip (not just the bedroom uses)

Pet Rock is The Thing as Liberty's lover. 'Nuff said.

Latex is a stretching-type who formerly worked at a PVC factory until during a factory heist, he was thrown into the chemical mixture that then reacted with his own body-chemistry. He has all the powers you'd expect of a stretcher.

Golden Flame is an energy Projector, and that's more into than he's worth.

And as much as I dislike the branding of "Furry" as a fetish, I must admit some folks like to sexualize anthropomorphic animals (I will never stoop as low as to give material to zoophiles, though). Vix-N is a gynoid made to resemble an anthropomorphic fox, hailing from a distant planet (presumably where the natives are all like that). Her powers are mostly back-up for GF's Energy-blasts (from her hands) and Pet Rock's strength. She still does not understand the strangeness of the others, for her people "have seen many cultures and lifestyles, thus they do not judge."

[Weldun]

Just out of curiosity...

What makes the Care Bears creepy?Hmm, let's see.

We have a group of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to make the world a more "caring" place. To this end, they spy upon the earth seeking out anyone who they feel is "uncaring".
Creepy point #1 - They can spy into peoples homes.

When they identify a target, they assemble a strike team and decend to earth, seeking out the targeted individual to ascertain the cause of their unhappines and what led them to be uncaring. This is all well and good. But when that indicidual chooses of their own free will to remain uncaring, but basically keep to themselves, this doesn't jibe with the Care Bear ideal, so they whip out the "Care Bear Stare", which forcibly alters the subjects persona to one more in keeping with their world view.
Creepy point #2 - Brainwashing is perfectly okay.

Basically, we have self-appointed thought police that can and will rob you
of your free will if you step out of line.

This is what we subject children to? We're telling them that it's okay to forcibly reprogram somebody because their outlook doesn't conform to somebode elses worldview.

The Care Bears.
The Cute And Fuzy, Mind-raping Comformity Police.

You can't tell me that that isn't creepy.

[Blue]

Liberty Lash is a dominatrix with a patriotic bent. She used to be in the military, but when it was revealed that she liked her men tied up, she was discharged from the service. Her "powers" come from the various used for the whip (not just the bedroom uses)

In City of Heroes when you get to the high levels, you run across the Praetorians, which are basically the other-world equivalents of the big-named heroes of the game world. My character in game is/was Teen Anthem, who idolized Ms. Liberty. Imagine her disgust when she ran across the alternative universe equivalent of Ms. Liberty, who wore black leather and had an army of men and women who look like the Gimp from Pulp Fiction. I kid you not. It's a post level 40 mission.

As for my game, I think a lot of my own NPCs have had some creepy powers though I haven't used them in that way. The Black Pope's pool for baptisms would convert heroes in to the flipside of their nature, corrupting them. Didn't get to use it on a PC, but it made some funky NPC heroes. Muse became the slutty and disturbing Magdalene.

In my oversexed teenage years I didn't need to have disturbing characters with disturbing powers to run a bizarre game.

[Vestnik]

3 - Outsider: He's Wilbur Whateley raised by the good guys. Destined to eventually unleash one of the Kings of Edom during a battle with Doctor Destroyer, after the bad Doctor finally pushes him too far and he unleashes his full power. In the meantime, he's part mentalist, part mage, and part tentacle demon. Yeah... that's usually read as being more than a smidge disturbing by folks.



I really, really like this idea. I may steal it, ahem, it may heavily influence my next character. ;)

[AdamLeisemann]

Hmm, let's see.

We have a group of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to make the world a more "caring" place. To this end, they spy upon the earth seeking out anyone who they feel is "uncaring".
Creepy point #1 - They can spy into peoples homes.

When they identify a target, they assemble a strike team and decend to earth, seeking out the targeted individual to ascertain the cause of their unhappines and what led them to be uncaring. This is all well and good. But when that indicidual chooses of their own free will to remain uncaring, but basically keep to themselves, this doesn't jibe with the Care Bear ideal, so they whip out the "Care Bear Stare", which forcibly alters the subjects persona to one more in keeping with their world view.
Creepy point #2 - Brainwashing is perfectly okay.

Basically, we have self-appointed thought police that can and will rob you
of your free will if you step out of line.

This is what we subject children to? We're telling them that it's okay to forcibly reprogram somebody because their outlook doesn't conform to somebode elses worldview.

The Care Bears.
The Cute And Fuzy, Mind-raping Comformity Police.

You can't tell me that that isn't creepy.

Understood now.

[Hugh Neilson]

Disturbing?

What aboout a guy whose whole life is wrapped around an obsession with revenge for a wrong done to him in early childhood. He dresses like a flying rodent. Oh, and he takes in young boys in similar circumstances, dresses them in colourful circus tights and takes them crimefighting with him.

But a character like that could never last, right?

[OddHat]

Disturbing?

What aboout a guy whose whole life is wrapped around an obsession with revenge for a wrong done to him in early childhood. He dresses like a flying rodent. Oh, and he takes in young boys in similar circumstances, dresses them in colourful circus tights and takes them crimefighting with him.

But a character like that could never last, right?

Orphan raised by his Aunt and Uncle, smart kid whose low self esteem leaves him a target for vicious bullying. Gains super powers, briefly tries to make a life for himself, then the death of his uncle adds overwhelming shame and self hatred onto his problems. He ends up submitting to more systematic bullying at school despite having the physical power to stop it, keeping company with his high school tormentors even in his college days, turning away from potentially great careers his intelligence or physical abilities could have led him to, and lives hand to mouth while spending his free time wandering the city looking for violence.

[Pariah]

My character ColdFire's story:

Sometime in her 2nd or 3rd year of college, Abby went to a seance with a friend who thought it'd be 'a lot of fun'. During the ceremony, the medium, who actually had some kind of mystical power (unbeknownst to either herself or anyone else), accidentally opened a door to another dimension. Fomri, an Ice Spirit Demon, snuck through for just a moment, took Abby, and snuck back.

On the other side, Fomri rendered Abby unconscious, then transformed her into something that would be genetically compatible with his physical manifestation. His plan was to mate with her, take the resulting child, and use it to open a permanent Gate to Earth so that he could conquer the place.

As I had written it, Abby's captivity ended when she awoke and escaped before Fomri could consummate the deal. However, the GM complicated things when he started to let me know that Abby (now operating as the heroine ColdFire) could now begin to feel kicking in her womb.

Which, depending on exactly what happened, makes her one of two things:
A) The victim of demonic GHB, or
B) Some variety of Infernal Madonna.

Is that disturbing enough for ya?

[TheRealVector]

This is what we subject children to? We're telling them that it's okay to forcibly reprogram somebody because their outlook doesn't conform to somebode elses worldview.

Well, parents do it to their children while they're at home and their teachers do it while they're in school and thier peers do it while they're on the playground.

Aaaah!! The Care Bears are everywhere! :eek:



On topic: We had one player who wanted his next character to be a little old man mentalist in a mech.

[OddHat]

We had a player who wanted his character to be a giant slug that couldn't talk.

In an online game, one player wanted to be an autistic midget, but he may have just been taking the piss.

[Weldun]

Well, parents do it to their children while they're at home and their teachers do it while they're in school and thier peers do it while they're on the playground.

Aaaah!! The Care Bears are everywhere! :eek: It's one thing to apply social pressure, it's another to do so forcibly.

It's the matter of choice and free will, ne?

[TheRealVector]

It's one thing to apply social pressure, it's another to do so forcibly.

It's the matter of choice and free will, ne?

LOL! Stray too far outside accepted norms and social pressure will morph into the use of force in hardly no time at all.

[Weldun]

LOL! Stray too far outside accepted norms and social pressure will morph into the use of force in hardly no time at all.
This is the Disturbing Character premises thread, not the Distubing Reality thread. Not that I disagree with your assessment, mind.

[Susano]

I made a character one time who was a stretchy guy whose body was a living chemical factory. He could make adhesive to stick to walls, and he could exude a quick-setting epoxy to entrap enemies. I didn't think it was creepy, but the other players were kind of grossed out by plastic from someone's body.

Yeah, he bukkakes for justice....

[TheRealVector]

This is the Disturbing Character premises thread, not the Distubing Reality thread. Not that I disagree with your assessment, mind.


Sounds like I owe the thread another on topic post.

We had a player play a shape-shifting type character called Shyft. Not inherrently disturbing but he would too often use terms such as "tendrils" or "tentacles" where simple stretching or extra limbs were needed. We thought we were getting a Mr. Fantastic clone but instead got a frik'n H. P. Lovecraft reject.

We weren't disappointed when the player changed characters.

[DocSamson]

Yeah, he bukkakes for justice....

Wow...just, wow... :shock:

[Susano]

Wow...just, wow... :shock:

That's how we felt. :D

[AdamLeisemann]

Sounds like I owe the thread another on topic post.

We had a player play a shape-shifting type character called Shyft. Not inherrently disturbing but he would too often use terms such as "tendrils" or "tentacles" where simple stretching or extra limbs were needed. We thought we were getting a Mr. Fantastic clone but instead got a frik'n H. P. Lovecraft reject.

We weren't disappointed when the player changed characters.

Sounds like Mr. Fantastic got caught in a Hentai Flick whilst clad in a japanese girl's uniform there...

3...

2...

1...

*ducks any projectile vomit from the mental image.*

[Susano]

Sounds like Mr. Fantastic got caught in a Hentai Flick whilst clad in a japanese girl's uniform there...

I think I saw that movie... or parts of it....

(damn you 4-chan!!!)

[AdamLeisemann]

Probably not much creepier than a Japanese Radio Play/Manga, Transformers: Kissplayers.

To put it simply, America first created Transformers Hentai. This is what came of it in Japan.

[Balabanto]

Wait for Foxbat For President...

Heh...heh...heh...heh...heh...

[AdamLeisemann]

Wait for Foxbat For President...

Heh...heh...heh...heh...heh...

Headline: President declares War on Terriers

(Sorry. Something from an internet comic strip.)

[OzMike]

Not really disturbing, more disgusting but..

"Gunk is a large mass of green phlegm-like gunk that is vauguely humanoid in shape."

The players heard the words "green phlegm-like" and just didn't want to touch the guy :D

[saiyanslayer]

I've both Dm'ed some distrubing characters and had players play some really sadistic characters:

Valcraft, a villain who took Kagato (PC) in as his prodigy, was truely my most distrubing villains. He was meant to be everything I felt was evil, and it was a memorable character not only for kagato, but for the players who watched their story (it was online via IRC, and we still have the logs if you wanna see the whole thing yourself). Valcraft was a vampire wanna-be who had filed his own teeth into sharp spikes, and fed on the flesh and blood of others. His business practices include slavery and criminal organization, and Kagato fell into the role of being Valcraft's personal enforcer. Valcraft later turned into a psychic parasite, who dominated bodies until he was done with them, and Kagato was next on his list (and this was before I had even heard of Naruto).
Dracon Crovak was a friend's first character for Star Wars who was a force adept. He routinely harrassed old men by force grabing their canes from them, to give an example of his morals. He ended up causing a civilization to go into ruination after he detonated a large blast within a huge city, causing the world to shift slightly on it's axis and changing the face of that planet.
Telthier (same player who played Dracon, and is in my current Ebberon campaign) is a warlock who is neutral Evil. At first he wasn't that bad, but as their airship was falling from the sky, he eldrich blasted a old grandmother in front of her two grandchildren to take her life perserver. The children kicked him (leaving him with a single hit point) and he ran and leaped from the falling airship to safety. the other characters have no idea what happened, but the player knows his character's life hangs by a thread if they ever find out what he had done.

[Hugh Neilson]

Dracon Crovak was a friend's first character for Star Wars who was a force adept. He routinely harrassed old men by force grabing their canes from them, to give an example of his morals. He ended up causing a civilization to go into ruination after he detonated a large blast within a huge city, causing the world to shift slightly on it's axis and changing the face of that planet.

Sounds like "jerk for the sake of being a jerk". Any self-respecting group of PC's would toss him out.


Telthier (same player who played Dracon, and is in my current Ebberon campaign) is a warlock who is neutral Evil. At first he wasn't that bad, but as their airship was falling from the sky, he eldrich blasted a old grandmother in front of her two grandchildren to take her life perserver. The children kicked him (leaving him with a single hit point) and he ran and leaped from the falling airship to safety. the other characters have no idea what happened, but the player knows his character's life hangs by a thread if they ever find out what he had done.[/LIST]

Sounds NE to me. His life is more important than anyone else's, so he takes what he needs to survive. There's a reason many games recommend against evil PC's. Played properly, they are not heroes.

And my PC group would expel him from the group at a minimum if they were aware of that act. Players who want to play characters lacking in redeeming features should have it made very clear to them that the other PC's are not in any way required or encouraged to treat player characters differently from an NPC behaving the same way - you don't have a glowing aura that screams "PC - any behaviour is acceptable".

[saiyanslayer]

True, and the player is perfectly fine with having his character killed or backstabbed by the group. He knows that when you play an evil character in a group of good guys, it can end up ugly for the evil character.
The good news is that the character is reasonable and will help the group out, with the reason that what helps the group helps him. He likes the shifter barbarian flesh shield to protect him, not maim him.

[AdamLeisemann]

Not really disturbing, more disgusting but..

"Gunk is a large mass of green phlegm-like gunk that is vauguely humanoid in shape."

The players heard the words "green phlegm-like" and just didn't want to touch the guy :D

Ew. I suspect he'd be Billy's hero from Billy & Mandy (I personally cannot stand the show, but that's the image that comes to mind.)

[AdamLeisemann]

More disturbing premises from myself, based on a discussion with jkwleisemann.

Takofanes' Dominatrix. Since the only beings more vile and more powerful than Kal-Turak would be the interdimensional demons of cthulian nature, this would be breaking a number of taboos. My brother then added the image of Takofanes in a japanese girl's school uniform.

Ask jkwleisemann for more details if you are morbidly curious. If not, please take a bucket and take out your sickness away from me.

[Weldun]

Sounds NE to me. His life is more important than anyone else's, so he takes what he needs to survive. There's a reason many games recommend against evil PC's. Played properly, they are not heroes.

And my PC group would expel him from the group at a minimum if they were aware of that act. Players who want to play characters lacking in redeeming features should have it made very clear to them that the other PC's are not in any way required or encouraged to treat player characters differently from an NPC behaving the same way - you don't have a glowing aura that screams "PC - any behaviour is acceptable".For the large part, I agree. The actions described are ones that would probably get the characters @$$ booted to the curb. To many people think that their character should be given more slack simply because they are PCs. However, the statement that an evil PC, if played properly, isn't a hero is not entirely correct. A classic example I like to use of an evil character who could very well work well with a group to "heroic" ends is Kerr Avon, from Blake's 7. Utterly Self-serving and Condescending of Blake's ideals, he still saves the crew of the Liberator on several occasions. In fact, the character, despite becoming increasingly paranoid after the death of Blake, show signs of a heroism that culminate in the cynical embezzler ending the martyred hero. The problem is that too many players see the alignments as being far more restricitve than they really are. Altogether, the nine alignments simply catagorise nine broad groups of philisophical leaning. These days, you simply ask yourself some questions about who your character is (which is why I still think that the Hero Builders Guidebook is the best supplement that WotC has ever released), and then place them accordingly.

[Balabanto]

Yeah. I'll agree with Hugh on Mr. Destroys a Planet.

That's a jerk for being a jerk guy. Boot him.

[garou]

Years ago, I ran an ogre in a Runequest game. In the Runequest game, Ogres appear just like normal people, albeit rather gifted ones, tending toward higher strength, more intelligent, better-looking, etc. The problem, however, is that the food source for Ogres is the flesh of intelligent humanoids. . .

As long as we kept hitting towns, the other players were safe. But they never did put two and two together and wonder why when we hit a new town, my character did some "errands" and some people disappeared.

He would have killed the other party members in their sleep, but reasoned that keeping them alive made sense, since (1) there is safety in numbers when adventuring; and (2) no sense in carrying his emergency rations when it so obligingly walked around on its own.

Here's another one - immortal man, living in an isolated fortress, enslaving an army of errily merry midgets, who spies on innocent children, and rewards those whose behavoir he deems "good" with gifts and sweets. What's worse, he visits their houses in the dead of night, and no lock nor door will bar his way.

[FenrisUlf]

Hmm, let's see.

We have a group of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to make the world a more "caring" place. To this end, they spy upon the earth seeking out anyone who they feel is "uncaring".
Creepy point #1 - They can spy into peoples homes.

When they identify a target, they assemble a strike team and decend to earth, seeking out the targeted individual to ascertain the cause of their unhappines and what led them to be uncaring. This is all well and good. But when that indicidual chooses of their own free will to remain uncaring, but basically keep to themselves, this doesn't jibe with the Care Bear ideal, so they whip out the "Care Bear Stare", which forcibly alters the subjects persona to one more in keeping with their world view.
Creepy point #2 - Brainwashing is perfectly okay.

Basically, we have self-appointed thought police that can and will rob you
of your free will if you step out of line.

This is what we subject children to? We're telling them that it's okay to forcibly reprogram somebody because their outlook doesn't conform to somebode elses worldview.

The Care Bears.
The Cute And Fuzy, Mind-raping Comformity Police.

You can't tell me that that isn't creepy.


Understood now.

Y'know, now that you mention it...

BTW, talking creepy Care Bears stuff, anyuone here see that one episode of Robot Chicken where the Care Bears "cleanse" their homeland of the other critters?

[FenrisUlf]

Probably not much creepier than a Japanese Radio Play/Manga, Transformers: Kissplayers.

Isn't that the one where the evil giant robot fondles young girls with his phallic-shaped tongue before eating them whole?

[OddHat]

Isn't that the one where the evil giant robot fondles young girls with his phallic-shaped tongue before eating them whole?

Well, now I have plans for Tuesday.

[Hugh Neilson]

However, the statement that an evil PC, if played properly, isn't a hero is not entirely correct. A classic example I like to use of an evil character who could very well work well with a group to "heroic" ends is Kerr Avon, from Blake's 7. Utterly Self-serving and Condescending of Blake's ideals, he still saves the crew of the Liberator on several occasions. In fact, the character, despite becoming increasingly paranoid after the death of Blake, show signs of a heroism that culminate in the cynical embezzler ending the martyred hero.

I see Avon gradually coming over to Blake's way of thinking, mainly after Blake disappears. "Utterly self-serving" seems a bit harsh. For all that portrayal, he doesn't sell out his shipmates (despite the relative ease with which he could likely have done so).


Here's another one - immortal man, living in an isolated fortress, enslaving an army of errily merry midgets, who spies on innocent children, and rewards those whose behavoir he deems "good" with gifts and sweets. What's worse, he visits their houses in the dead of night, and no lock nor door will bar his way.

Just look at him there, Your Honour, he doesn't shave or cut his hair. Why, he's grossly overweight and he only works ONE DAY a year. Now, we all know he smokes tobacco, and there's fur on that suit he wears... We MUST protect our kids from men like this!

[Weldun]

Y'know, now that you mention it...

BTW, talking creepy Care Bears stuff, anyuone here see that one episode of Robot Chicken where the Care Bears "cleanse" their homeland of the other critters?ROBOT CHICKEN!!!
Err, I mean, yes. And I held these views before I saw that episode.

[AdamLeisemann]

Isn't that the one where the evil giant robot fondles young girls with his phallic-shaped tongue before eating them whole?

From what I read about it, yes. Very disturbing.

[FenrisUlf]

From what I read about it, yes. Very disturbing.

If you go to user EWS on FA, you can find a picture satirising the whole 'Kiss Transformers' whatever in his archive. He manages to make it comical (in a freaky way) rather than just plain creepy.

[AdamLeisemann]

If you go to user EWS on FA, you can find a picture satirising the whole 'Kiss Transformers' whatever in his archive. He manages to make it comical (in a freaky way) rather than just plain creepy.

That's how I first learned about Kissplayers.

[Clonus]

Years ago, I ran an ogre in a Runequest game. In the Runequest game, Ogres appear just like normal people, albeit rather gifted ones, tending toward higher strength, more intelligent, better-looking, etc. The problem, however, is that the food source for Ogres is the flesh of intelligent humanoids. . .


Ah yes, I remember the idea I had for transporting my Runequest PCs to an alternate universe where humans were extinct, but ogres weren't... They didn't just make that up out of whole cloth incidentally. For example, in the earliest version of "Sleeping Beauty" to be recorded, the story doesn't end when she wakes up. Instead she marries the King, goes off with him to be his wife but has mother-in-law problems. Specifically, her mother-in-law is an ogre with an appetite for the two babies our narcoleptic heroine gave birth to while comatose. Her children are saved, the ogress is killed and Sleeping Beauty lives happily ever after...with her at least half-ogre husband who rapes comatose girls, speaking of "disturbing". :nonp:

["V"]

Ah yes, I remember the idea I had for transporting my Runequest PCs to an alternate universe where humans were extinct, but ogres weren't... They didn't just make that up out of whole cloth incidentally. For example, in the earliest version of "Sleeping Beauty" to be recorded, the story doesn't end when she wakes up. Instead she marries the King, goes off with him to be his wife but has mother-in-law problems. Specifically, her mother-in-law is an ogre with an appetite for the two babies our narcoleptic heroine gave birth to while comatose. Her children are saved, the ogress is killed and Sleeping Beauty lives happily ever after...with her at least half-ogre husband who rapes comatose girls, speaking of "disturbing". :nonp:

"...and that's the end of tonight's story. Sleep well darling."
"Daddy?"
"Yes sweety?"
"Can you brick the window up please in case Prince Charming is passing by?"

(and repped for mentioning the original fairy story, always a favourite of mine. I particularly like the fact that the Prince only returned to the Sleeping Beauty for another 'session' and that's how he found she'd borne his children and woken up. Sweet guy.)

[Lord Liaden]

Well, I have an article in the queue for Digital Hero bringing back Profesor Muerte, and I'm hoping people will find the whole thing to be rather creepy.

Let's just say his name is a lot more appropriate than it used to be. :eg:

[input.jack]

I may borrow some ideas from you guys, if that's OK.

A while back a friend wanted to run a "Mortal Combat" style campaign. Hit me with a Supers game and Ive got ideas for days. But for some reason "Street Fighter / Mortal Combat" style games...not so much. I happened to be listening to Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" at the time, so....

My character was basically a low-powered revenant. (I like the idea of the victim of horrible violence and evil coming back to give the perp as good as they got). She was more or less like The Crow in how she functioned overall; she could be hurt, but she healed. She could be knocked down, but not really "killed" as she was dead already.

She also had several "tricks" she could pull, such as removing one of her eyes, concealing it somewhere, and later seeing through it to spy on people. She began the game with only one eye, and ended up "trading" when the group was visiting a morgue. (Went in with one green eye, came out with two brown eyes). Her hands were capable of independant movement as well, and could "fly" on their own. She also had the capability to use her own internal organs as an entangle, but I never used that ability.

And yet, that wasnt what disturbed people the most about her.

Living Dead Girl had to "rest" periodically. Usually she did this during the day. When she was rested, she looked normal, like she was alive. She still didnt breathe and had no heart beat, but she otherwise looked like she was still alive. However, the longer she was awake, the more "dead" she looked. I had done some investigating into what happens to the appearance of a person after they die (which, I found out, depends a -lot- on local weather conditions). For about six hours, she was indistinguishable from a normal person. After that, she began to show her condition. By the time she had been "awake" for 24 hours, she could in no way pass for anything but Undead.

The other characters encouraged her to "rest" as much as possible!

No, I dont know what made me make that character. Why do you ask?

Epilogue: During a later adventure in the campaign, the PC's encountered a rather powerful wizardess, who performed a long and complicated ritual on the character, and brought her fully back to life. So, she got a happy ending :)

I have also perpetrated a couple of other weird, morbid NPC's on game groups, some of which make me think I may need help.

In a fantasy campaign, the PC's defeated and overthrew a powerful Necromancer who had been terrorizing the local area. (This was in D&D; the PC's were about 6-8th level at the time). They raided his fortress, and I had to come up with a list of things you might find in his basement. Among the things they found was a large glass jar, in which was floating a severed Human head. The head was that of a beautiful woman, and so long as her head remained in the jar she was "alive", and could hear and respond to the PC's. She couldnt speak, but they devised a system of blinking communication. (Originally it was very simple, along the lines of Chris Pike in the chair from the Star Trek TOS episode "Menagerie"). Eventually the PC's brought her back to life. Once restored, she ended up joining the PCs as an adventurer, herself.

I also ran a Zombie Apocalypse game fairly recently where the PCs encountered a very human-looking Zombie that couldnt talk, but reacted like a self-aware being and even helped them avoid a large horde of other Zombies while they were trying to salvage an APC. The Zombie ended up convincing them to take her along with them when they found out that she could actually exert a small degree of control over other Zombies. The PC's began to realize that there were several different "races" of Zombies, and labeled her a "Zombie Master".

As time went on, "Tuesday" became more and more animated (contact with Humans was stimulating, and being with them improved her own thought processes and re-opened synaptic pathways), and eventually was able to form words, although she could only speak slowly and with difficulty. She was never really a -trusted- member of the group, but she was able to make a couple of friends among the PC's, and saved their lives at least twice. Once was by encouraging them to leave an area because she felt the presence of a more powerful Zombie Lord coming.

[rdalton]

I made a hero called Genesis who seemed to creep people out.

He was a basic brick except he had a distributed intelligence and regeneration, always on. No, Always on. If he wasn't hurt, it would just pick something and grow a new one. He had to continually keep cutting himself to stop from growing a new arm or extra lungs.

He could also cut off chunks of flesh and animate them to heal/protect others. If you needed protecting, the lump of flesh would climb up to you and spread itself all over your body.

people prefered to live with the injury rather than have my little flesh golumns climb inside their wounds.

[jkwleisemann]

I have also perpetrated a couple of other weird, morbid NPC's on game groups, some of which make me think I may need help.

First off, I like Living Dead Girl....

Second, c'mon - if the players haven't all put the looney bin on speed dial, the GM isn't doing his job. :ugly:

Though I think the creator of this thread has neglected one of his more disturbing villains... or have you forgotten about the Rat with a penchant for making clothes out of his vanquished foes?

[DocSamson]

Here is a character I never got to play.
He was a mime, complete with creepy white clown makeup. His power was that anything he pantomimed was actually real (but invisible). If he mimed climbing a rope, he could climb it. If he mimed a wall, it was there and would block attacks. It was essentially a VPP with IPE and Gestures. The GM threw the character out when he got to the "Chainsaw" slot.

[Weldun]

Mimes are disturbing enough without superpowers. :p

[DocSamson]

Mimes are disturbing enough without superpowers. :p

Youe not kiddin. :hush:

[Kenn]

Here's another one - immortal man, living in an isolated fortress, enslaving an army of errily merry midgets, who spies on innocent children, and rewards those whose behavoir he deems "good" with gifts and sweets. What's worse, he visits their houses in the dead of night, and no lock nor door will bar his way.

Imagine Peter Lorre or Clint Eastwood reciting the words to "Santa Claus is coming to town."

He sees you when you're sleeping...
He knows if you're awake...
He knows if you've been bad or good..
So you better be good, for goodness sake!

[Balabanto]

You know, there's a guy who is so powerful, he can do anything. He is amazing in his abilities, he is incredible in his power, and no one in the universe is mightier than he.

However, he sits there and watches while people commit brutal torture, horrid rapes, eat each other in Africa, and butcher children, and does nothing.

He is....

God.

[Susano]

You know, there's a guy who is so powerful, he can do anything. He is amazing in his abilities, he is incredible in his power, and no one in the universe is mightier than he.

However, he sits there and watches while people commit brutal torture, horrid rapes, eat each other in Africa, and butcher children, and does nothing.

He is....

God.

Yeah, it's that pesky freewill thing you see.

[TheRealVector]

Yeah, it's that pesky freewill thing you see.

I thought with great power comes great responsibility? LOL

[Dreadnought]

I thought with great power comes great responsibility? LOL

With the greatest power comes the ability to deny responsibility.

[Clonus]

I once played a character inspired by the artwork of the artist of the New Mutants. I can't remember how to spell his last name, so let's just call him Bill S. The guy who invented Warlock. In his honour I came up with a shapeshifting stretcher who could never get his proportions quite right. His arms and legs were always different lengths, one eye was larger than the other and he'd do things like stretching one of his eyes out on an eyestalk to look around a corner for bad guys. I called him Phreak.

[Balabanto]

That's not disturbing. That just proves that Bill Sienkewicz (Pronounced Seen-key-vitch) is disturbing.

[Weldun]

I have been informed that I have made my friend's significant other cry. He related to her my view on the Care Bears and she suddenly saw them as I did. She was a big fan of them, apparently.


Oops.:sneaky:

[psychonaut_raz]

I had a character named Goo, whom I thought was quite innocent but according to my players, was actually kind of gross; she could produce a glowing sticky goop at will from her hands and fling it about. SOME people with overactive imaginations may have thought it wasn't coming from her HANDS........

Probably the most disturbing character I ever actually used though was Faustus Mandaeus; a sorceror back in the 1920's who seduced an Eternal (game was set in the Marvel Universe) so she could bear him a powerful child, then he turned the Eternal into a rose where she spent the next several decades going slowly insane. Meanwhile, the child grew up with immense mental powers as a result of his heritage, which was Faustus' plan all along....so of course Faustus then possessed the body of his adult son's lover for several months so he could go about stealing his son's power for himself...one of those things that didn't seem as wrong as it actually is until it was played out. :P

[Eavesdrop]

When I first started playing Champions back in college, we had some real screwballs making characters - some highlights

"Wombat Man" - multiform (human/wombat) that in wombat form was 3' tall, had claws (HKAs), and tunnelling - "Its Wombat Combat Time!"

"Blue Beetle" (is this one a rip off from somewhere?) - a paranoid delusional telekinetic who never left his blue volkswagon beetle (the car bought more or less as armor)

"Celophane Man" - transparent elastic guy with a susceptibility to fire (since celophane is cellulose and flammable)

"Turbo Snail" - high speed movethrough machine

"The Brick" - high strength, high speed brick (literally) that read "acme" - movethrough machine again

Obviously, the last two "characters" we deliberately made under the premise of "how to abuse the rulesbook" for the sake of a laugh.

[Susano]

"Blue Beetle" (is this one a rip off from somewhere?) - a paranoid delusional telekinetic who never left his blue volkswagon beetle (the car bought more or less as armor).

Well, "The Blue Beetle" is a DC Comics character. However, the character's description sounds a lot like The Great And Powerful Turtle from Wild Cards.

[CrosshairCollie]

Most of my characters tend to be pretty mainstream, power-wise. I believe I've vetoed every possibly disturbing character concept that's come down the pike.

The closest I've ever come to a disturbing character was an idea I had for a stretching character (seems to be a theme), but rather than be a mutant or altered human, the character was, functionally, a rubber golem; an animated humanoid construct made of rubber.

Trying to come up with a reason why anybody would create such a thing, however, led to only one hypothesis I could come up with ... which is probably not appropriate for PG-13 gaming. If I ever do this, the character will probably have 'Enraged at 'sex doll' jokes'.

[Weldun]

The closest I've ever come to a disturbing character was an idea I had for a stretching character (seems to be a theme), but rather than be a mutant or altered human, the character was, functionally, a rubber golem; an animated humanoid construct made of rubber.Somebody wanted to play a cross between Chucky and Stretch Armstrong?

[CrosshairCollie]

Somebody wanted to play a cross between Chucky and Stretch Armstrong?

I wouldn't put it like that, but actually the idea is mine. :) It was more a matter of a stretchy character who was a construct (I like robots and the like as characters).

[zaras]

Have you, as a GM, faced a character concept that has disturbed you? Or have you, as a player, ever disturbed your GM, the other players, or yourself with a creepy character concept? Or has the GM ever disturbed the group with a character idea?

This thread for for all the character ideas that have gotten shivers and quivers in your group (or just out of yourself). Have fun posting the ideas.

Clowns.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, I have an article in the queue for Digital Hero bringing back Profesor Muerte, and I'm hoping people will find the whole thing to be rather creepy.

Let's just say his name is a lot more appropriate than it used to be. :eg:

Since this article has been published in DH #44, I feel free to add a few more details.

As per his official mentions in Champions Universe and Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks, Profesor Muerte was killed by Scorpia and Feurmacher, now of Eurostar; but the article describes how Muerte was restored as an undead being. In the process, his armor (disfigured by Feurmacher's melting of it) was permanently merged with his unliving flesh, leaving him grotesque and partially crippled.

The Profesor is learning how to synthesize technology with sorcery. His specialty is the superpowered augmentation of undead beings under his control, through a combination of enchantment and radical scientific treatments. He can animate corpses to use as "raw material," including people he's killed. Some look much as they did in life but have additional abilities, while others are greatly altered. Some retain their intelligence, but others are Muerte's mindless thralls.

My avatar, and profile picture, are the new Profesor Muerte from the cover of DH #44. If you'd like to see more character artwork from the article, you can go here (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1352561).

[Tech]

Okay, I'm pulling out my two favorites to throw at people, plus more. One of them I'm mentioned before but hey, it bears repeating.

Disturbing Character #1: Amoeba Man!
Actually used? : Yes.
A taxicab driver who someone found he could take the form of a giant floating amoeba with psychic powers. At the time, the player took so many other powers, the only attack that could be squeezed into his total points was a 3d6 Ego Attack. Oh yes, he wanted to duplicate himself every time he was hit as well as his duplicates. Fortunately, the power Duplication had only recently come out the week before and I wasn't going to tell the player it existed now!

His entrance is:
The other heroes charge into a bank with a large plate-glass window to stop the villains from ransacking the bank. The taxicab driver, with a passenger in the back, sees the superfight as he's driving by. Suddenly, he swings the taxi around and crashes it through the window, changes into a giant amoeba, splurps out of the car and floats towards the fight. The poor passenger in the back runs screaming down the block and all the heroes AND villains stop in horror.

Disturbing Character #2: Photogen
Actually used : Yes but modified from original concept.
The original concept of Photogen is a cyborg that wanted to have every optical Enhanced Sense possible, sort of a superhero scout. Sounds like a cool concept until you realize he had no attack power and wanted to take snapshot pictures with his eyes and pull the photographs out of his stomach.

Disturbing Character #3: Razorback
Actually used : Yes.
This 'hero' has a huge flexible razor on his back which happens to be his only attack. He has to make an acrobatic flip to jump onto someone with his back razor. Oh yes, he also talks with heavy New York lingo combined with a southern drawl. Incredibly annoying to listen to!

Oh, I have more but I don't want to embarrass myself anymore. :)

[sinanju]

Prophylactus! was a character in a game I played in. He had a prehensile, superhumanly strong...penis. That stretched. He could do all the classic stretchy metamorph tricks...with his penis. And ONLY his penis.

Every guy at the table cringed when the Green Arrow-like supervillain pinned his prehensile appendage to the ground with several rapid fire arrows....

Another game (same group of guys) didn't have disturbing character concepts so much as disturbing character actions. We were playing the GURPS version of Vampire: the Masquerade. Only we played Sabbat. "Masquerade? We don't need no stinkin' masquerade!"

It started off with street racing, running gun battles with humans, other vampires and werewolves, and devolved into a set-piece battle ON LIVE TV between one PC and a much higher-level Vampire NPC. The PC didn't manage to diablerize the NPC--but he did decapitate him with a broadsword. From there we drifted into an unspoken competition to see who could come up with the most disturbingly violent and sadistic use of our powers--until it got to the point where we ALL sat back and thought, "Eeeeeeeewwwwwww." So we played something else after that.

My most recent disturbing PC creation is SLASHER!

No, not a knife (or razor or claw or sword) wielding serial killer. It's a teenage girl with mind control powers, who really gets off on seeing two attractive men (or two attractive women, or attractive men and women, in groups of two or more) having hot, sweaty, unhinged sex. So they do. Whenever she wants them to. And and they like it. They really, really like it, even if they're Not That Kind of Girl/Boy.

[Susano]

Prophylactus! was a character in a game I played in. He had a prehensile, superhumanly strong...penis. That stretched. He could do all the classic stretchy metamorph tricks...with his penis. And ONLY his penis.

Every guy at the table cringed when the Green Arrow-like supervillain pinned his prehensile appendage to the ground with several rapid fire arrows....

Another game (same group of guys) didn't have disturbing character concepts so much as disturbing character actions. We were playing the GURPS version of Vampire: the Masquerade. Only we played Sabbat. "Masquerade? We don't need no stinkin' masquerade!"

It started off with street racing, running gun battles with humans, other vampires and werewolves, and devolved into a set-piece battle ON LIVE TV between one PC and a much higher-level Vampire NPC. The PC didn't manage to diablerize the NPC--but he did decapitate him with a broadsword. From there we drifted into an unspoken competition to see who could come up with the most disturbingly violent and sadistic use of our powers--until it got to the point where we ALL sat back and thought, "Eeeeeeeewwwwwww." So we played something else after that.

My most recent disturbing PC creation is SLASHER!

No, not a knife (or razor or claw or sword) wielding serial killer. It's a teenage girl with mind control powers, who really gets off on seeing two attractive men (or two attractive women, or attractive men and women, in groups of two or more) having hot, sweaty, unhinged sex. So they do. Whenever she wants them to. And and they like it. They really, really like it, even if they're Not That Kind of Girl/Boy.

Ahhh... i take it she's not a hero?

[jkwleisemann]

The sad thing is... I know people who'd appreciate Slasher even if she wasn't.

And others who'd argue with her about the fact that she needs to actually put some *effort* into finding subtext, instead of acting like a 12 year old girl....

[sinanju]

Re: Slasher


Ahhh... i take it she's not a hero?

Not exactly. But she's not a villain either. She's a student at a Xavier Academy-like school for "talented" youngesters.

What? She has a talent. Okay, it's not a terribly versatile talent--at least at present--but it beats some of the other lame talents that various mutants have displayed over the years. And maybe she'll learn other ways to employ her abilities. Failing that, they hope to teach her that just because you can slash people doesn't mean you should.

All that slashy fanfic she reads doesn't help, though.

[Magmarock]

My most disturbing PC concept was for Champions. Her name was Speedfreak- I am sure I posted her somewhere on the boards here a few years ago, or at least talked about her.

Speedfreak was a speedster, obviously, and she was addicted to a drug that created her speedster-ness. Her own body created the drug in her sweat, so she wore a suit similar to the ones in Dune, that harvested her sweat and piped it through thin tubes that snaked down her nostrils and into her stomach.

Yes... gross.

And don't even ask how she got hooked on her own sweat in the first place.

Secondly, she could give vials of her sweat to others to temporarily boost their speed. Only problem was- the taste of her sweat was extremely vile and caused sickly side-effects (to which she was personally immune)... and was, sadly, was also addicting to others after a couple doses.

Yes.. still gross.

Additionally, Speedfreak had hunteds who wanted to capture her and exploit her drug-making capabilities.

I only played her once. :confused: The rest of the group did not like her at all.


Cheers,

Mags

[Remjin]

Less a premise and more a behavior... I was playing an exotic weapons specialist in D&D, with Spiked Chain as my specialty. He wore studded leather armor, and had a list of feats to take advantage, blah blah blah. Now, pretty boring, usual fare for that game. I had what I thought were fun abilities but no personality. That character died an uninspired death... but I had really liked his abilities. Thus came his replacement, with everything exactly the same (I just rewrote the name), except THIS time I had a concept to go with it....

His name was Tibold. His studded armor looked like fetish gear, and I had added spikes. Oh, and a sadomasochistic attitude that derived pleasure from pain... that part, I didn't really tell the GM until I took my first hit.

GM: "He stabs you with his spear for 4 hit points."
me: *moooooaaaaan* "Ooooh... penetrate me again, little monster!"
GM and other players: :eek: :idjit: .. :shock::fear: .. :sick:

From there on, my play was emphasized by a series of shudders, sick looks, and generally creeped out players... then came the Book of Vile Darkness, which I was not allowed to use.

[FenrisUlf]

GM: "He stabs you with his spear for 4 hit points."
me: *moooooaaaaan* "Ooooh... penetrate me again, little monster!"
GM and other players: :eek: :idjit: .. :shock::fear: .. :sick:

From there on, my play was emphasized by a series of shudders, sick looks, and generally creeped out players... then came the Book of Vile Darkness, which I was not allowed to use.

Oh, hell, I remember a con RPG experience (not mine, thankfully) that basically devolved into "how can you top your last inventively sadistic rape of the NPCs?"

The guy who actually played it told me that he left when they started in on snuff-raping teenaged girls, to a chorus of cheers from onlooking fanboys... :angst:

[GoldenAge]

We played in an amazingly funny 1-shot many years ago. Purely comedy, it had huge sexual overtones. The characters (that I remember) were:

Pocket Rocket (shrinking and flight)
The Flash (and I don't mean he was fast)
Der Helmut (German guy who had Growth dependent on sexual arousal)

There were others, but (luckily for me) they have escaped my memory. :)

[sinanju]

My most disturbing PC concept was for Champions. Her name was Speedfreak- I am sure I posted her somewhere on the boards here a few years ago, or at least talked about her.

Speedfreak was a speedster, obviously, and she was addicted to a drug that created her speedster-ness. Her own body created the drug in her sweat, so she wore a suit similar to the ones in Dune, that harvested her sweat and piped it through thin tubes that snaked down her nostrils and into her stomach.

Yes... gross.

And don't even ask how she got hooked on her own sweat in the first place.

Secondly, she could give vials of her sweat to others to temporarily boost their speed. Only problem was- the taste of her sweat was extremely vile and caused sickly side-effects (to which she was personally immune)... and was, sadly, was also addicting to others after a couple doses.

Yes.. still gross.

Additionally, Speedfreak had hunteds who wanted to capture her and exploit her drug-making capabilities.

I only played her once. :confused: The rest of the group did not like her at all.


Cheers,

Mags

You win. I had a character I created, also called Speakfreak. He was a mutant whose metabolism reacted with methamphetamine to give him superspeed. It wasn't pretty. But your concept is even more twisted, so I bow to the master.

[Magmarock]

You win. I had a character I created, also called Speakfreak. He was a mutant whose metabolism reacted with methamphetamine to give him superspeed. It wasn't pretty. But your concept is even more twisted, so I bow to the master.

Why, thank you!

:king: *does her victory dance* :celebrate

You are sweet.

Mags

[Magmarock]

Oh, hell, I remember a con RPG experience (not mine, thankfully) that basically devolved into "how can you top your last inventively sadistic rape of the NPCs?"

The guy who actually played it told me that he left when they started in on snuff-raping teenaged girls, to a chorus of cheers from onlooking fanboys... :angst:


Wow. I am surprised that GM didn't get banned from the con. :confused:

However, in the past we have used rape (implied and off camera) on the most rare occasion to exemplify the vileness of certain villains. Not 4-color, you say? Check out The Identity Crisis if you don't think its been done. Only on one occasion do I ever recall a PC getting raped. The DM asked the Player if she were ok with it first- and it was handled off-screen- and it made for some very dramatic roleplay. The heroes went out of their way to hunt this villain down. However, I don't recommend this plot unless ~everyone~ in the RP group is mature enough to handle it... and that it doesn't become an excuse to RP detailed disgusting behavior. A lot can be said for handling certain scenes off camera... and it leaves it all to your imagination (in some cases, that can be worse). Anywho. I digress.

Mags
-The Digresser

[FenrisUlf]

Wow. I am surprised that GM didn't get banned from the con. :confused:

Mags
-The Digresser

It was a furry con, not a gaming con. Sad to say, some rather twisted sh*t occasionally gets excused on the grounds of "If it's 'furry' (something related to the fandom, no matter how tangentially) then of course it's okay."

[zaras]

It was a furry con, not a gaming con. Sad to say, some rather twisted sh*t occasionally gets excused on the grounds of "If it's 'furry' (something related to the fandom, no matter how tangentially) then of course it's okay."

:eek:

I blame the Furry:thumbdown

[FenrisUlf]

:eek:

I blame the Furry:thumbdown

I blame the con organizers who do nothing even when complaints about this sort of public idiocy are brought to their attention.

[DusterBoy]

With the greatest power comes the ability to deny responsibility.

Talk about cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

Hoo, boy!

[gmurie]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

Critical Miss has covered my reservations about the situation pretty well. It's a funny and well written article called Men in Dresses (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue2/mid1.html)

NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.

[matrix3]

<snip>
NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.


I know my limits. I sometimes slip into first person when I portray male NPCs (or asexual, like AI's or aliens) while GM-ing, depending on my mood and how much of an actor I feel that day, but I've never portrayed a female NPC from first person.

[Susano]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

Critical Miss has covered my reservations about the situation pretty well. It's a funny and well written article called Men in Dresses (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue2/mid1.html)

NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.

You'd hate our current campaign, then. Four of the 6 PCs are female, and it's an all-male gaming group. On the other hand, one player has 4 daughters, and three are married, so they might have some ideas on how to think "female."

Curiously, I played the only female PC in the last incarnation of this campaign, and most people agreed I pulled it off fairly well, all things considered.

[nexus]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

Critical Miss has covered my reservations about the situation pretty well. It's a funny and well written article called Men in Dresses (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue2/mid1.html)

NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.

How do you feel about women portraying men?

[Zeropoint]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

When I play a female character, I get around this by assuming that a woman is simply a human being, motivated by much the same things that motivate any other human being, and play her accordingly.

In other words, I don't worry about playing a woman. I play a character . . . who happens to be a woman.

[nexus]

When I play a female character, I get around this by assuming that a woman is simply a human being, motivated by much the same things that motivate any other human being, and play her accordingly.

In other words, I don't worry about playing a woman. I play a character . . . who happens to be a woman.

Exactly.

[Weldun]

That's how I handle it. What I find disturbing is the number of genderbend-PCs that are lesbian nymphomaniacs. Played by overweight 40+ year olds!:angst::sick:

[Weldun]

Speaking of generbending. I once played a shadowrun mage who kept a shapeshift spell on him/her at all times. The party had managed to figure out that my club-hopping character was a bi-sexual with gender dysphoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identity_disorder), but they couldn't figure out if he/she was pre-op or post-op. They also took a while to find that the character had been born male (SINless and all that). When they found that the core of the characters dysphoria was from being locked into only one gender. I creeped the table out for about the next four sessions. His/Her sexual liasons were always played "behind the curtain".

You would think that the handle Succubus might have been a bit of a hint.

[garou]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender.
I've noticed that many people portray the opposite gender in a stereotypical fashion, but, in all honesty, almost everyone portrays aliens as essentially humans in rubber suits, which is no better.

It's a game, and acting is certainly part of it. But not everyone is a good actor - that doesn't mean that they aren't good players.

[sinanju]

That's how I handle it. What I find disturbing is the number of genderbend-PCs that are lesbian nymphomaniacs. Played by overweight 40+ year olds!:angst::sick:

On the other hand, you'd be shocked--shocked, I tells ya!--by how many canonically straight, heterosexual men in films and television series turn into homosexual sluts in the hands of (mostly female) fanfic writers.

Fair's fair. Guys tend to find two attractive women twice as hot as one attractive woman. Watching/imagining/writing two--or more--such women getting it on tends to amuse and entertain a lot of guys*. A lot of women get a similar charge from watching/imagining/writing two attractive men doing the very same thing. If the one happens at the gaming table far more often than the other, I think that has to do with the predominantly male demographic at such tables.

*Including me. I've written my share female slash fic, and played some nymphomaniacal characters in online games (with the enthusiastic cooperation of female writers/players, I might add). Doesn't mean I can't write (or play) women characters who don't act that way. But sometimes it's fun and as long as nobody else is being ignored or bored, no harm done.

[Weldun]

Yes, but I'm referring to players with whom 2 out of every three characters fit the lesbian nymphomaniac mold.

[input.jack]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

Critical Miss has covered my reservations about the situation pretty well. It's a funny and well written article called Men in Dresses (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue2/mid1.html)

NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.

As a long-time GM who includes both male and female NPCS, and a Player who plays male and female characters, I am going to assume I fall into the "exception" category (the one time out of ten, and the GM who understands people and can act). Otherwise your comments would strike me as both insulting and naive.

Some men can, in fact, conceive of women as complete people, and not just caricatures.

Amazing as that is to comprehend ;)

[Susano]

When I play a female character, I get around this by assuming that a woman is simply a human being, motivated by much the same things that motivate any other human being, and play her accordingly.

In other words, I don't worry about playing a woman. I play a character . . . who happens to be a woman.

That's how I played Jamadigni Renuka in Shadows Angelus. And got kudos for it.

[Hugh Neilson]

As a long-time GM who includes both male and female NPCS, and a Player who plays male and female characters, I am going to assume I fall into the "exception" category (the one time out of ten, and the GM who understands people and can act). Otherwise your comments would strike me as both insulting and naive.

Some men can, in fact, conceive of women as complete people, and not just caricatures.

Amazing as that is to comprehend ;)

And some players can't play anyone, male, female or genderless, as anything but a caricature. I agree the issue is player by player, not universal.

[nexus]

As a long-time GM who includes both male and female NPCS, and a Player who plays male and female characters, I am going to assume I fall into the "exception" category (the one time out of ten, and the GM who understands people and can act). Otherwise your comments would strike me as both insulting and naive.

Some men can, in fact, conceive of women as complete people, and not just caricatures.

Amazing as that is to comprehend ;)

Agreed. For me it's a player issue. I've gamed with men that can't play women but generally they couldn't play anything at all. It was a player issue not some inability based on gender.

[gmurie]

And some players can't play anyone, male, female or genderless, as anything but a caricature. I agree the issue is player by player, not universal.

Yes and yes to all of the replies, but people often fall into the "Illusion of competence" on that issue. I've found that the most effective way to screen annoying players out of my games is to ban the bender.

[nexus]

To get things back on track Here's one of the oddest character concepts I've had submitted

Celine Unidine Natalia Thomas (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=678921&postcount=1)

[gmurie]

To get things back on track Here's one of the oddest character concepts I've had submitted

Celine Unidine Natalia Thomas (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=678921&postcount=1)

Just odd?

That's charitable of you. I'd be handing the player business cards of local therapists and counselors.

[FenrisUlf]

That's how I handle it. What I find disturbing is the number of genderbend-PCs that are lesbian nymphomaniacs. Played by overweight 40+ year olds!:angst::sick:

Same here!

It gets worse when you start running into the genderbent lesbian nymphomaniacs who are also under 16 years old... :eek:

EDIT: I mean that the character is under 16, not the player. Though if one counts emotional age...

[Cygnia]

Speaking of gender-benders...I actually ran in a BESM game a character who was inspired by the aliens in "Left Hand of Darkness" and would shift genders in a 3 month cycle.

Sadly, the game died before the rest of the party found out...:rolleyes:

[Weldun]

Same here!

It gets worse when you start running into the genderbent lesbian nymphomaniacs who are also under 16 years old... :eek:

EDIT: I mean that the character is under 16, not the player. Though if one counts emotional age...Don't get me started on oversexed pre-teens!

[CoolerKing]

Worst one I ever had even try to get past me was in a convention game, at Castlecon, about five years ago. I was running a GURPS Traveller game (forgive me... the system wasn't my idea!), set in a mercenary company. The whole concept was right out of something like Hammer's Slammers, crossed with the Dirty Dozen. At different cons, I would advance the timeline and run different adventures, but at this one series of cons, there was a specific player who would always show up. He only played in one of my games, but he tried to edge in with his 'personal' character even though the game outline stated that pregens would be provided.

The player was in his forties, overweight (like I can talk!), and obviously out of breath, wearing REALLY tight, REALLY short shorts, a camouflage wifebeater about three sizes too small, and flip-flops. He always showed up to cons in this apparel; I assume it was an 'outfit' of sorts. Anyway, he brought the character to me, and I decided to pay him lip service by looking at it. Big mistake.

She was a thirteen (!!!!) year old lesbian nympomaniac assassin who specialized in striptease and sexual means of eliminating her targets. He even had a special plastic character sheet made up, complete with pictures of the character (not pornographic, thank god). It took me about a minute to pick my jaw up off the floor before I had to blurt out, "Um, no... this... this won't fit. This is a mercenary company." He actually tried to defend it by saying that she could have been a paid whore working with the company... he even said, "Well, it happened in history." At that point, I just said no. He finally relented, and played a simple soldier, for about an hour, constantly whining about how his 'favored' character would have been through the adventure in no time flat, before he got bored and wandered off. I still shudder when I think about that character, and that player.

[gmurie]

Worst one I ever had even try to get past me was in a convention game, at Castlecon, about five years ago. I was running a GURPS Traveller game (forgive me... the system wasn't my idea!), set in a mercenary company. The whole concept was right out of something like Hammer's Slammers, crossed with the Dirty Dozen. At different cons, I would advance the timeline and run different adventures, but at this one series of cons, there was a specific player who would always show up. He only played in one of my games, but he tried to edge in with his 'personal' character even though the game outline stated that pregens would be provided.

The player was in his forties, overweight (like I can talk!), and obviously out of breath, wearing REALLY tight, REALLY short shorts, a camouflage wifebeater about three sizes too small, and flip-flops. He always showed up to cons in this apparel; I assume it was an 'outfit' of sorts. Anyway, he brought the character to me, and I decided to pay him lip service by looking at it. Big mistake.

She was a thirteen (!!!!) year old lesbian nympomaniac assassin who specialized in striptease and sexual means of eliminating her targets. He even had a special plastic character sheet made up, complete with pictures of the character (not pornographic, thank god). It took me about a minute to pick my jaw up off the floor before I had to blurt out, "Um, no... this... this won't fit. This is a mercenary company." He actually tried to defend it by saying that she could have been a paid whore working with the company... he even said, "Well, it happened in history." At that point, I just said no. He finally relented, and played a simple soldier, for about an hour, constantly whining about how his 'favored' character would have been through the adventure in no time flat, before he got bored and wandered off. I still shudder when I think about that character, and that player.

You get a significant minority of players like that in any Midwestern con. At GenCon you get packs of them.

[The Weapon]

For the large part, I agree. The actions described are ones that would probably get the characters @$$ booted to the curb. To many people think that their character should be given more slack simply because they are PCs. However, the statement that an evil PC, if played properly, isn't a hero is not entirely correct. A classic example I like to use of an evil character who could very well work well with a group to "heroic" ends is Kerr Avon, from Blake's 7. Utterly Self-serving and Condescending of Blake's ideals, he still saves the crew of the Liberator on several occasions. In fact, the character, despite becoming increasingly paranoid after the death of Blake, show signs of a heroism that culminate in the cynical embezzler ending the martyred hero. The problem is that too many players see the alignments as being far more restricitve than they really are. Altogether, the nine alignments simply catagorise nine broad groups of philisophical leaning. These days, you simply ask yourself some questions about who your character is (which is why I still think that the Hero Builders Guidebook is the best supplement that WotC has ever released), and then place them accordingly.

Avon's not evil, and in fact deep down he supports Blake's fight, he just doesn't think good can win. And let's face it he's right. However it was about the third episode that he first heroically saves Blake's life. His excuse was "reflex action it won't happen again". If he was really evil he would have killed Blake and the rest of the crew and found some nice place to retire to with the massive wealth from the Liberator's technology. . He's certainly smart enough to do that. Now sure he talks about doing that with Genna, but that's the point, he talks about it. If he was really contemptuous of other people's lives that's the last thing he'd do. If you're going to stab someone in the back don't talk about it, do it and crush anyone who get's in your way.
Later when he finds out there's been a murder on another ship he stays on it as hostage despite knowing the murderer will kill anyone who gets close.

[Clonus]

Avon's not evil, and in fact deep down he supports Blake's fight, he just doesn't think good can win. And let's face it he's right. However it was about the third episode that he first heroically saves Blake's life. His excuse was "reflex action it won't happen again". If he was really evil he would have killed Blake and the rest of the crew and found some nice place to retire to with the massive wealth from the Liberator's technology. .

Yeah, evil not-so-much. Jayne from Firefly is a better example of an evil character fitting into a PC group. But it helps that Jayne is stupid enough not to be all that dangerous and the other characters are kind of lowlives.

[Weldun]

Avon's not evil, and in fact deep down he supports Blake's fight, he just doesn't think good can win. And let's face it he's right. However it was about the third episode that he first heroically saves Blake's life. His excuse was "reflex action it won't happen again". If he was really evil he would have killed Blake and the rest of the crew and found some nice place to retire to with the massive wealth from the Liberator's technology. . He's certainly smart enough to do that. Now sure he talks about doing that with Genna, but that's the point, he talks about it. If he was really contemptuous of other people's lives that's the last thing he'd do. If you're going to stab someone in the back don't talk about it, do it and crush anyone who get's in your way.
Later when he finds out there's been a murder on another ship he stays on it as hostage despite knowing the murderer will kill anyone who gets close.And once again we come back to people ascribing absolutes to an abstract concept. There are only nine alignments, but there are a LOT more variations within the population. For a character to have an evil alignment, they don't need to be all "Mwahahaha!". It comes down to motivation and methodology.

[Enforcer84]

I know I'm going to start a riot, but for me, nine times out of ten the most disturbing thing I see in any game is the gender bender. The average male gamer attempting to play a female character. It always makes me cringe if I even notice that the character is female at all. Most male gamers have no more conception about what motivates women than he does about brain surgery.

Critical Miss has covered my reservations about the situation pretty well. It's a funny and well written article called Men in Dresses (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue2/mid1.html)

NOTE: I think this is what distinguishes good GMs from bad GMs. The GM either plays it light on the female NPCs recognizing his inability to portray them correctly, or has some serious knowledge of the female psyche and an impressive acting talent to back it up.
I was wondering if there are any women on his world. I mean is he saying that he is the only male Gamer capable of presenting a woman believably?

Or is it all GMs have this innate gift?

[Enforcer84]

Don't get me started on oversexed pre-teens!
Why? Once you pop, you can't stop?

*rimshot*

[Enforcer84]

You get a significant minority of players like that in any Midwestern con. At GenCon you get packs of them.
Dude, I'm heavy but I hardly qualify as a pack - er, uhm yeah! I hate those guys!
*does the fat ninja shuffle stage left*

[Hugh Neilson]

And once again we come back to people ascribing absolutes to an abstract concept. There are only nine alignments, but there are a LOT more variations within the population. For a character to have an evil alignment, they don't need to be all "Mwahahaha!". It comes down to motivation and methodology.

This comes down, in my books, to "nice-ifying" evil so it's palatable for a player character. I like the definitions of:

- Good - places the welfare of others above their own. Real world example - a Good person will be happy for the other guy who gets the promotion, and will even highlight why he might be better for the job. That's not to say he won't want the promotion himself, nor that he will fail to point out the reasons he may be better for the job.

- Neutral - places his own welfare above others. Will lobby heavily for the promotion even if he knows the other guy is more deserving; is likely not above reminding the boss about the other guy's failings (or even rumoured but untrue failings) in the hopes of getting the promotion.

- Evil - places his own welfare above others with negligible restraint or limits. Will use the pictures from that vegas trip to balckmail his way into the promotion. If he had the connections, and the dollars at stake are enough, would hire a hit man to remove the rival. His goals are all-important.

Now, by the above definitions, the vast majority of the population would be Neutral (although clearly there will be shades of neutrality leaning closer to one edge or the other). But that's probably true - humans tend to a lawful neutrality. We have a genetic predisposition to want to survive and advance ourselves which is difficult to overcome. But some theorists suggest altruism is also built into our genetics - if my actions save two siblings or 8 cousins, this has the effect of passing on "my" DNA, just as effectively as surviving myself.

[Corven_Ren]

One of the characters I ever gm'd was way back in AD&D 2nd edition right after the Complete Humanoid Handbook came out. I had a bunch of 1st time players and one of them scanned through the books requested to play a minotaur. I though nothing of it and helped all the players roll up their characters. It wasn't until he named the character til I got the disturbing image. here is this 9' tall 450lb minotaur and he names him...Sexual Chocolate. Well I found it disturbing anyway.

[wrestlinggeek]

This one wasn't disturbing to me so much as irritating. In a Shadowrun game run by another GM, there was an NPC Troll. And his streetname was Trog. For those of you who have never played Shadowrun, Trog is a racial slur against Orcs and Trolls which is supposed to be on-par with "the N-word." It always irked me that the character would call himself that, and allow others (especially Humans and Elves) to do so as well.

[Enforcer84]

This one wasn't disturbing to me so much as irritating. In a Shadowrun game run by another GM, there was an NPC Troll. And his streetname was Trog. For those of you who have never played Shadowrun, Trog is a racial slur against Orcs and Trolls which is supposed to be on-par with "the N-word." It always irked me that the character would call himself that, and allow others (especially Humans and Elves) to do so as well.
Well, it's only bad when the elves call him that.

[garou]

This one wasn't disturbing to me so much as irritating. In a Shadowrun game run by another GM, there was an NPC Troll. And his streetname was Trog. For those of you who have never played Shadowrun, Trog is a racial slur against Orcs and Trolls which is supposed to be on-par with "the N-word." It always irked me that the character would call himself that, and allow others (especially Humans and Elves) to do so as well.
They call me "Mister Trog." ;)

[nexus]

This one wasn't disturbing to me so much as irritating. In a Shadowrun game run by another GM, there was an NPC Troll. And his streetname was Trog. For those of you who have never played Shadowrun, Trog is a racial slur against Orcs and Trolls which is supposed to be on-par with "the N-word." It always irked me that the character would call himself that, and allow others (especially Humans and Elves) to do so as well.

I see your point and I agree on some levels but it's not entirely unprecedented in the real world, like some "rap names" for instance.

[FenrisUlf]

I see your point and I agree on some levels but it's not entirely unprecedented in the real world, like some "rap names" for instance.

Shadowrun Troll rappers?

[nexus]

Shadowrun Troll rappers?

There's a character concept in there somewhere.

[FenrisUlf]

There's a character concept in there somewhere.

For someone else. I wouldn't know how to do troll rap.

I imagine it'd sound like Andre the Giant rapping his way through "Smack my B*tch Up!"