Sean Waters Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Implimenting Quirks: Saw something similar somewhere, liked it, here it is.....You can have 5 or 10 points of your character disadvantages in quirks: likes and dislikes, favourite phrases, minor disadvantages and so on. Nothing thatyou'd get points for in actual disadvantages, but stuff that can really help define a character: Likes anime Dislikes pasta Would be 1 point quirks: you can do something about them: stop, whenever you want. Allergy to cats (mild sneezes) Small strawberry birthmark on inner thigh Would be 2 point quirks: you can't just stop at will but you can stop then with some minor effort: taking medicine, wearing makeup, or just trousers. Quirks have no effect other than giving you something to role-play with. That has to be a good thing. A disadvantage that isn't is no disadvantage. Does the reverse hold true? For instance being watched by a PI on 8 or less is NO POINTS of disadvantage, but it might (for the right character) be the disadvantage that is most troubling and occupies most of your time. Shouldn't that be worth something? I'm pretty sure that disadvantages are the least balanced area of Hero. Being a slave is worth the same as having a Code v Killing? Don't think so. Changing forms if stressed under a full moon is as bad as dying if you spend half an hour out of water? No. It isn't. Moreover the whole is often more than the sum of the parts: susceptibilty to green argonite is bad enough, but if you have a reputation for that susceptibility it is 10 times worse... No real idea how to address this one, other than completely re-jigging the disadvantages system: is it a problem? How would you deal with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksmoor Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages Personally I think that *true* disadvantages taken at Character Generation should have a rock bottom of 5 CP. No matter how infrequently you need to breathe Fluorine Gas to stay alive, a point will come when you need it or your PCs cells will start to corrode. Thus it is worth an amount of CP. That said, I also adore Quirks. They make the PC more alive and that is the point of the Disadvantage system. If your only Disads are CVK and Secret ID the options are limited. If you have 100 more points in Disads, a lot more is present to work with. Hawksmoor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanith Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages How can either of those be a disadvantage? Ex A)The Viper agent holds your Akira Limited Edition DVD in front of the barrel of his gun and yells, "Surrender or the video gets it!" Never, never, never! is a PC going to hesitate to paste that Viper agent. Ex B)Viper Agent 2 holds up a plate of lasagna, "Let my buddy go or I'll make you eat this!" Now we'll have 2 beaten bloody Viper agents. If you want to list your characters "quirks", make them 0-point disadvantages. Disadvantage 0pt. Thinks with brain, not behind. Now, not to sound entirely negative. I do agree with TRL on one thing, the disadvantages could use some work, but lets be honest. Powers get a million times more scrutiny for their "value per point" than disadvantages ever have. Most of my players use the same stock disads listed in FREd or BBB, and only ever enough to "fill their quota". (ie: all the available points they can) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages For me, it depends on the character. I have built characters who were supposed to have 150 disads but played 180(or more) on a couple of occasions because I had the character so fleshed out. Other times, I can think of lots of disads, but they don't add up to the requisite number of points and I have to scramble a bit to find a couple more so that I have enough points. It should be no surprise therefore that one thing I don't enforce very strictly as a GM is the "X points per category rule". I try not to let people have more 3 or 4 from a category, but I'm not going to tell them that they can't have 4 twenty point psych lims because the book says they can only have 50 or 75 points from one category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages we've played with quirks for some time, with the understanding that they are worth 1 pt each, and that you may have a maximum of 4 pts worth. Basically, they function to let characters fill in the odd extra points that sometimes (or often) crop up. I don't see any significant problem with them...I figure that a 1 pt disad is probably about as disadvantageous as a 1 point familiarity is useful. Who says a hero might not hesitate blasting an agent holding a next to impossible to replace beloved item? Does anyone remember the part in the Amber series when Brand decides not to murder Corwin because he doesn't want to get blood on a favorite rug? How about a "Loves Pasta" quirk? Well...it may narrow down the search if a hunted is looking for him. Of course, I'm biased... My old campaign used to allow a higher number of Psych Limits than the other disads to encourage players to take psyches, because they add to charatcer definition and roleplaying *EDIT* Ok...I misread that "Dislikes Pasta" lets see...roleplaying opportunity best bet...OK... so its not a combat disad...It's 1 freaking point...make his DNPC's mother serve linguini when she takes him home to meet the folks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages Agreed. 1 point "disads" defines as quirks would not be a big deal to me, though I've never had cause to use them. And there are certain parallels in the comics. After all, Dr. Doom once let the FF escape rather than damage his priceless art collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages Quirk: a 1 point psych lim or a 1 point phys lim. That's how I'd have them defined - they seem to be able to fit in the psych lim or phys lim categories. Laz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadmaster Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages I've used quirks typically we just took the idea right out of GURPS and allowed up to 5, 1 pt disads. I found they have a couple of advantages, the first is they cause players to put a little more thought into the character, they also are a nice way to balance character costs in those occasional cases where they just need a few points to finish the character, they are also a nice way to cause minor problems for characters, it may not be convenient to have a hunted show up but you can still have the characters invited to meet the king, unfortunately that one character is allergic to purple which of course is the kings favorite color... If you don't like the idea of having mini-disads, call it experience points for good roleplaying, give me 5 tid bits of character info and I'll give you 5 pts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages *EDIT* Ok...I misread that "Dislikes Pasta" lets see...roleplaying opportunity best bet...OK... so its not a combat disad...It's 1 freaking point...make his DNPC's mother serve linguini when she takes him home to meet the folks A little creativity here. Maybe we've discovered at a charity dinner that Mighty Man dislikes pasta. In secret ID, Kent Clarkson goes out fpor dinner with co-worker Penny Pain, and lets slip he dislikes pasta. "Hmmm" thinks Penny "more evidence that mild-mannered TV anchorman Kent Clarkson is secretly Mighty Man" Perhaps our super-team must negotiate with a lost underground civilization to prevent them destroying the surface world with their Earthquake Machines. Attending a ceremonial dinner, the heroes are served the traditional Feast of Glochhni which, it turns out, we surface dwellers call "macaroni". "Make an ego roll at -5 to force it down without offending the Burrowiung Folk with your expression of distaste." It's not a lot harder than shoehorning a lot of traditional 5 point disadvantages into a game. That said, we've never used them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages I'm a fan of quirks, though I'd keep them all at the 1 point level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jim Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages yeah......1 point.......that's what makes them quirks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Re: Quirks and disadvantages I require quirks on Characters that run in my Champions game. One point is a perfect level for them. It is one more step towards getting a better feel for the character. I also give a 5 xp bonus if the player turns in a 4 page character development forn within the first 3 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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