2003-04-13 - 8:47 p.m.

Gaming Quiz

The Bear Who Is Mer filled this out a while back, and I've been meaning to do the same myself. Does this make me her peer pressure bitch? Perhaps, but since I invented the phrase, that may still be OK, right?

Years Roleplaying: Coming up on 22 years now, I believe.

Least Favorite Character: Sort of a tough call; so many of the ones I've played at least had something going for them. It's a toss-up, I guess. In high school I made a Champions character named Stonefish who just absolutely sucked. I was so into the number-crunching part of the game that I created a very tough game piece without any personality to speak of and called it a character. If that counts, he was my least favorite. If that doesn't count, I'd pick Ragnar from Mer's Ghosts and Shadows game. He did some interesting stuff, but never quite fit in with the party or the game.

Favorite Characters: Ahab still means something to me, and Fletcher had more fun than anyone should ever have allowed, but at the end of the day, Symael may be my favorite. I think he had the greatest capacity to enjoy himself of anyone I ever played.

Male or Female Characters: Male. I don't feel sure that I could play a convincing woman, and I'd rather err on the safe side considering the large female contingent in my gaming crew.

Oldest Character: The oldest one I can remember would be Photar, a Champions character who specialized in innovative uses for laser technology. My first character was a halfling in D&D Basic Edition, but I can't remember his name.

Newest Character: Not counting NPCs we're working on for Industrial Evolution, it would be Fletcher.

Most Popular Character: Probably Ahab, based on the fact that I got one or two email messages about the Ahab diaries that were on the web.

Character You've Never Played: I've never played an outright thief. I would never be able to identify enough with such a creature.

Which Character Of Yours Would Be Most Likely To...

Jump Off A Bridge? Probably Symael, assuming it looked like fun.

Get Drunk And Pass Out? Absolutely Symael.

Kill Somebody In A Very Unorthodox Way? Fletcher. He's always looking for ways to kill people that either won't get traced back to him, or will definitely be traced back to him with enhanced intimidation value.

Get Married? Ahab. He was the last character I played with any true romantic inclination. Later characters have mostly been horny or desperate.

Be Far Too Hyper For His Own Good? Probably Symael, but possibly Charlatan from Marc's Shadowrun game. Charlatan liked to fight, but he was in his forties and had very limited physical ability, which meant he could get in over his head pretty quickly.

Rape Somebody? Fletcher. He explicitly did so in some of the backstory stuff I was working on.

Be Raped? Symael. He had a charisma score above the theoretical human maximum, and no self-defense skills of consequence, and on top of that he came from a medieval campaign where people could have done it and gotten away with it.

Get Lost And Refuse To Ask For Directions? None of my characters would have quite that level of stupid pride.

Get Lung Cancer? Probably Charlatan. In his backstory he did just about every drug that wouldn't have killed him outright, which would certainly include tobacco. He was off that nonsense in the campaign, though.

Star In A Horror Movie? Fletcher, as the villain.

Star In A Whore Movie? Symael, of course, and he'd be very glad to be asked.

Star In A Video Game? Arbiter, from Marc's Shadowrun game. He'd be a fun protagonist for a first-person tactical shooter.

Make The World A Better Place? Ahab, who had high ambitions in those directions.

Have A Torrid Gay Love Affair? In the right setting, I could see Symael doing this. In Harn he probably could have been burned alive for doing so, though, so I doubt it would ever actually occur.

Relate Each Word To A Character Of Yours:

Love? Symael.

Hate: Fletcher

Money: Burn, from Trevor and Paul's Shadowrun game. As a physical adept he had no expenses for weapons or implants, so most of what he earned went into living the high life. He drove a heavily customized BMW and drank only the best vodka.

Seduction: Symael loved the ladies, and they loved him back.

Lies: Fletcher.

Tragedy: Ahab went out rather tragically, although the tragedy was more at the player level than the character.

Manipulation: Symael tried hard, with spactacular success once or twice.

Violence: Fletcher, all my Shadowrun characters.

Politics: Symael practiced politics most vigorously, but Ahab actually became King.

Fire: Burn (duh)

Ice: Arbiter. Despite his capacity and affection for violence, he never lost sight of the fact that violence was his business.

Would You Ever...

Play A Prostitute? Probably not, because I'd be afraid the character would become a caricature.

Play A Musician? Symael was one.

Play A Pilot? Ahab flew ground attack missions for the Israeli Air Force.

Play A Homosexual? I wouldn't object on principal, but I've never has the impulse to do so either.

Play A Pedophile? Hell no. That's just too damn ooogy.

Play A Politician? Absolutely, although not in a current-day game.

Create A Character For The Sole Purpose Of Smut? I think I've already gone beyond the level of smut I want in my games, so no.

Play A Character Who Commits Incest? In Amber, it's hard to avoid. In other games, nope, there would be no point.

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