Imma ask this one again in the hopes that I get a bit more of a response.
How do you get your group to let you play oddballs?
What oddballs have you liked in the past?
Do you follow the at least 1 wookie/1 human rule?
>>44917391
Convince everyone to do it. Throw around slang like 'YOLO' and 'for the lulz'. Get them slowly warmed up to the idea of doing something really different. If they're powergamers, try approaching it as a new kind of challenge. If all else fails, bring along a huge bag of weed when the group gets together for character creation for a new campaign.
>>44917461
>>44917391
I think a better solution would just be to play savage worlds.
Get a group that doesn't play D&D and the oddballs will flow.
>>44917391
>How do you get your group to let you play oddballs?
Nowadays, I start games playing as completely plain and normal characters that become wacky and deranged over time.
>What oddballs have you liked in the past?
Gregor the Fighter, a warrior with more muscle and personality than grey matter. I tried to play him as a simple fighter when the game started, but he slowly evolved into Gaston.
>Do you follow the at least 1 wookie/1 human rule?
You're going to have to explain this one.
>>44918092
the one wookie/one human rule basically is like this:
In a group of all human plain janes, you should consider one oddjob "wookie".
In a group of all off the wall aliens and supersoldiers, you should consider one down to earth "human".
You know, for star wars and farscape respectively.
>>44917391
>Ask politely, maybe?
>None that stick out so far.
>I don't give a shit.
>>44917391
Have a reason to be an oddball
Don't disturb the game's flow.
>>44917391
An oddball has to make sense in the context of the game world. It has to fit the world's cultural understanding of the fool or trickster archetype. An oddball who just makes dumb references and breaks the fourth wall a lot is only funny to people pretty deep on the autism spectrum.
>>44918149
Ah, that makes sense.
>>44918250
Jesus Christ, my eyes.
>>44918250
I've honestly grown to be tired and baffled by /tg/'s insistance on rating everything on a scale of autism.
It's really fucking weird. Like living your entire life rating things by how mature, or cool they are instead of how much you like them.
>>44918291
Rating things by how well they relate to other people in the real world instead of ingrained internal habits is a pretty good scale.
>>44918332
I just feels really unauthentic and fake is all.
Like things or don't like things. Don't like or not like a thing depending on how it's trending this week with autists on twitter.
>>44918284
>that makes sense
You'd be surprised how often the rule holds true.
Orks stealing the show in groups of humans. That one guy named bob stealing the show in a group of multi-dimensional Ai gods.
>>44917391
As a GM, I shut down that shit fast. Oddball characters are basically one-note jokes, and are just an excuse to be fucking random all the time.
See, you are NOT FUNNY. You just think you are. And boy, does it get old really, really fast.
>>44918562
Sounds like you had a bad experience. Care to share?
>>44918562
anon, if you are going to start saying "you are not (blank), you just think you are", then what's to say you are actually a good GM? You might just think you are, and your players barely tolerate you.
Besides, peacock aint funny. Peacock's the zoning character. That's... a different emotion.
>>44917391
>Do you follow the at least 1 wookie/1 human rule?
Never heard of it; could you elaborate?
>>44918350
Authenticity is overrated. Before deciding to cultivate a taste in something, it's legit to check the existing fanbase and make sure you're okay being associated with that. This is why I will never read a Homestuck or play a Sanic.
>>44918624
see
>>44918149
I guess?
>>44918591
More than you could count, man. It's not one particular incidents, just a steady erosion of my sanity over a decade of DM'ing. It's the same reason why I don't really allow long and elaborate backstories any more, and shut down special snowflakes whenever possible.
I mean, like...There's always one fucking guy who wants to be a contrarian. If everyone's a wizard, he wants to be not-a-wizard. Well, TOUGH TITTIES. YOU'RE ALL WIZARDS, FUCK OFF. Sure, he's a wizard wizard and you're a ninja wizard, but YOU'RE ALL WIZARDS.
Again, though, oddballs fall into two kinds:
1.) Assholes who want to be the Joker.
2.) Attention-whores.
Look, I have an average of four to five players each game. I have four drama-queens I have to nursemaid. I can't spend all my goddamn time pretending that you're really funny.
It's like why in every game, I implore you: Have a character who can fight. If your character is the diplomancer and the other three players go "Fuck that RACIAL EPITHET, we want to punch his face in." I am not going to stop the game so you can delicately motorboat the Princess's tits, or "I tell the King to fuck off, but diplomatically."
>>44918633
I highly value authenticity. And I would expect many people do, since everyone hates hipsters apparently.
And you are robbing yourself of an experience by not playing sanic. Good and bad.
>>44918648
I actively encourage one player to be the odd man out in campaigns to encourage interesting interaction, and I've never had this policy go awry. I think you just need to flow a bit more like water.
>>44918664
I'm just so, so tired. It's like Shadowrun: Three Shadowrunners and Bob the Office Worker. Sorry, Bob, you're going to fucking die. I'm not going to make any allowances for you, so your cowering office-drone can become the underdog hero you've always dreamed of becoming. The villain is going to get up close and personal so he can savor your last breath as he dies, and your last thought will be "Don't remember eatin' that."
>>44918654
He's missing out on, like, three decent but overrated games followed by two decades of disappointment. So the good and bad aren't really comparable.
>>44918696
I welcome bob the office worker, and will use him as a contact for various corporate intrigues and force him to pilot a helicopter at least once.
>>44918648
While I agree with >>44918664 that you should always be flexible, your players are being shitheads if they show up to the game with a character that runs completely contrary to everyone else and expect it to go smoothly.
>>44918696
Make sure Bob's player knows what he's getting into. THEN you can laugh at him when he dies.
Also, what the hell would Bob the Office Worker be doing with Shadowrunners? Unless he has a good reason, I'd tell him to pick something else.
>>44918705
The games themselves are middling to bad, but sanic has developed into a strange beast that I am glad to have kept track of.
>>44918740
I assume bob the office worker was forced to go along with the shadowrunners during the run.
Possibly after half a kidnapping.
Hijinks ensue.
>>44918743
Googling "[your first name] The Hedgehog" is kind of a harrowing experience.
>>44918757
Yeah, except with the thudding sound of probability reasserting itself, Bob just gets a head-shot.
>>44918766
Unless you're Dongus.
>>44918291
>>44918350
You seem to be triggered by this. I'm guessing you were recently rated 2.764 spergs on the autism scale.
But seriously, you're not getting anywhere here bitching about an established custom. This isn't some hipster phase; autistic/spergs do have shitty behaviors which are only amplified by their condition.
There's an asspie I know, goes off into speaking in TV Tropes and insulting everyone who doesn't get the references, feeling he's the only one to "get" an incorrect idea which everyone else (all the norms) knows by heart is wrong. With by-the-book nice-guy, white knight behavior and autismic obsession with specific characters/games. Also a huge narcissist that thinks everyone that opposes his opinion isn't on the spectrum is at 40 IQ and is there to oppress him.
>>44918771
anon, if we are going to assume probability re-asserts itself, all the shadowrunners die due to being in a high lethality scenario.
If we're assuming a game, bob burns some edge or something, no biggie. These campaigns never go very long anyway.
>>44918785
Sorry anon, it just feels really weird how you rate everything by autisms.
It feels like I'm still in high school, but replace "adult" with "autistic".
It rang fake then, and it rings fake now.
>>44918785
>Also a huge narcissist that thinks everyone that opposes his opinion isn't on the spectrum is at 40 IQ and is there to oppress him.
>You seem to be triggered by this. I'm guessing you were recently rated 2.764 spergs on the autism scale.
Oh the ironings
>>44918775
Dongus was great.
>>44918648
Which kind of joker? Batman/Superman Adventures/Batman Beyond joker? Comic <insert series> Joker? Lip-smacking why so serious joker?
>>44918823
>>44918648
I would love it if some of my players tried to be batman the animated series joker.
Though that would only work in a highly narrative system.
Or at least one that lets someone have whatever the resource equivalent of leadership is.
In ours I picked what I thought was valid and have been allowed to keep it because I've played and RPd well, but if I lose this one I have to stick with core from here on out, my GM's policy is "everybody gets one" so when this lizardman dies it's back to core
>>44918865
It's kind of lame that even if you prove you can handle explanded stuff, you have to play core only for the rest of your career.
>>44918910
He didn't have as good a sense of what he was doing at first and is trying to park some things back, also for lore reasons elves and half elves are off limits, basically he's trying to make a more consistent setting and avoid player abuse, and doesn't want to dole out special treatment, he's the kind of GM who doesn't lay out a pre existing solution but has faith in our ability to make a solution
>>44918969
That second half of what you said didn't have a lot to do with the first half.
But, the first half stands alone. Not being comfortable with your setting yet is a valid reason to ask the players to be more plain jane-y.
>>44917391
You play it straight and only every now and then you have your character mention something about their kooky life. Thay way you keep it rare enough so that it's always special and effective when it happens. Also during "down time" you can have them do something odd.
In my character's case she kept bringing up tidbits about her incestuous relationship with her father. I had lots of fun with her. The roleplaying came easy becauseI wish I had that kind of thing with my dadso she was good for some harmless wish fulfillment
It depends on the setting and group, like all things. It's the /tg/paradox:
Most tg players are rules minded people who want a method or ruling on everything. Tg is a social hobby where the rules are always flexible.
>>44917391
As GM, I embrace them, but also punish. You see, everything special is valuable... Otherworldly headhunters and such.
As a player, I do both oddballs and normies. Mostly with some respect to the general rule.
>>44917391
Fortune is best girl
>>44918696
Jesus, man. There's weeding out troll characters, and then there's just flat-out forcing people to only play concepts you like, and it sounds a LOT like you're doing the latter. Loosen up on the reins or else you're probably going to end up as That GM.
>>44917391
I either usually am the oddball, or in the case of my games, the few PCs already there are oddballs.
Favorite is still probably Lizardman Alchemist Dad.
Personally I think it depends on who is playing the odd ball. If they know what their doing and their not trying to screw us all over it adds good flavor, they become that guy who would be a fan favorite if the game was a tv show.
On the other hand even if you play a "normal" character, you can ruin everything.
>>44924810
Odd balls always seem to become group favorites with me.
>>44921109
Peacock is way better.
Fortune is a bit gross.squiggly true best grill
>>44926501
That's cause everyone else is boring.
>>44927010
I dunno, they are usually vital for the oddball to play off of.
I think it's just a byproduct of group dynamics that if you include an oddball, it allows for multiplication of appreciation.
>>44917391
The best oddballs ate the ones that are just fucking wacky in character. Your build can be the most vanilla thing, but then you play the character like they're not even seeing the same reality as everyone else. Just jomp to the most improbable conclusions and see where it takes you while being a decent sort to the rest of your party members. Just watch and see how often the DM jsut runs with your batshit if possible explanation. Also, have a few good insane speeches to pull out when necessary.
>>44928280
>>44917461
I notice a lot of people think oddballs are specifically some kind of comedy or wacky type thing.
I mean, a guy being all noir as shit in a fantasy party would ALSO be an oddball.
>>44917709
>DM was running game in 3.PF before being deployed, is remaking his world in Savage Worlds for when he gets back
>I'm going to be running a SW module for three new-to-TTRPG players
Well at least I have exciting times to look forward to.
>>44919857
You're that crazy chick that has been making the rounds on /co/, aren't you?
>>44918486
Or a clown in your standard party setup.
>>44928518
I have mixed feelings about funzo.
Mostly because of tarnishing the purity of performance with murders.
