Current Concept Characters

[ComaBoy]

Here's an idea I've toyed with which falls under the "high concept" description: A female Ferengi, ostrecized (sp?) by her own culture, who winds up being a Security crewman. I figure she enlisted during the Dominion War.

[Robbert Raets]

What about a Fontaine-like hologram?

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'Who would have thought... A brave Ferengi!'
Gowron, to Quark, son of Keldar.

[Calcoran]

What exactly do you call a 'High-concept' characters ?

[Dan Gurden]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Gurden:

And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to play the character. The only drawbacks are real-life gaps in my knowledge, such as this weapons name.

But this is the sort of character that gets me to do extra research, fill in the gaps and devlop further. Besides, I always enjoy character creation.

I was wondering if anyone would care to share some of their 'high-concept' Trek characters that have either been a blast to create, or simply never materialised as the character became too complex to build correctly...

Ideas and Stats are fine. And once complete, I will be adding the stats of this egyptian character as they become completed (if anyone cares to see them).
</font>

This was what I meant by high-concept although those truely individual and one-off characters also count...

The sort of thing that the idea strikes you and you know that playing this character will be fun, educational, and everyone is jealous because they wished they had thought of it first...

That sort of thing.


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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"
http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

[First of Two]

Well, I and a solo player have been developing a Starfleet "Profiler" Character, essentially s SI officer with specialization in Forensics.

As a Half-Deltan, her empathic abilities, though sporadic, give her insight 'flashes' the same way Sam got them on TV, from objects and the 'fingerprint' that events leave behind.

We gave her a background as a Diplomatic 'brat,' a connection to the Vulcan ambassador as his former aide, and an intense fascination for 'universal myths' (such as the idea that versions of "Beauty and the Beast" exist in every known culture.)

My player is working on her 'history of life' biography, which I expect will go in to some great detail, thus hopefully giving me some seeds for adventure ideas that will appeal to her.

But I have to say, writing a Trek murder mystery isn't going to be easy. Finding people with SF tech is just too easy.

[Don Mappin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by calguard66:
You're talking as if having "multiple personalities" is an advantage. It's not... at least for humans. The personalities usually aren't compatable... one outgoing, the other reclusive, one good, the other evil, etc.</font>

No, I don’t consider it an Advantage, nor a Disadvantage. I consider it difficult to properly represent through mechanics and to maintain play balance considerations. Hence my asking for any assistance.

Your point is well taken on the division of skills and abilities, but my dilemma has been how to construct said skills in a logical fashion.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Read up on multiple personality disorder a bit, it isn't anything like you've described.</font>

Hey, back off – I never made any claims of being an expert nor to have researched the issue. In fact, if you bother to read above, I specifically said that I hadn’t.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Phantom]

I'm a little confused as to this character that has MPS. Would SF allow such an "unstable" element into its ranks?

[calguard66]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don:
Hey, back off – I never made any claims of being an expert nor to have researched the issue. In fact, if you bother to read above, I specifically said that I hadn’t.


</font>

Easy, easy... I wasn't criticizing, really. One of the first things I do when I try to do something like this is read up on it. It gives you a better "image" of the "picture" you're trying to imitate.

And I think that my point about "two 100pt Chars" rather than "one 200pt Char" is helpful. As long as the two personalities don't share memories, that's really what you are doing.

Another way of looking at it might be similar to a robot body, with different programming modules.

An adventure idea for this character might be if there was a transporter accident, and the person was split into their component personalities... they would all get to finally "meet" each other.

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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain

[Don Mappin]

Yea, I was wondering the same thing:

"My other problem has been rationalizing how the character made it through Starfleet training and past the various psychological tests and counselors. In the 24th century I imagine it is pretty difficult for any serious psychological ailments to get past medical screening. Oh sure, Captain Maxwell going renegade is one thing, but a person with multiple distinct personalities?"

I envision the character as a Starfleet officer that possibly recently developed the disorder, or was adept at hiding it.

I saw a thread on RPG.net a few months back where a character in another RPG had DPD. Two people played the character -- one for each personality.

Another track that I actually developed for a Spacemaster game years ago, was along the same lines as what mac desribed, was a deep undercover operative for the DK that another personality forcibly imprinted on top to aid in the undercover operation. As a reaction to certain stimuli the original personality surfaced. Of course the experiement went horribly wrong and the operative came out early and kept reverting back to the other personality at random intervals. Both personalities were pretty ticked off at being used in such a manner, hence the adventurers lifestyle "they" undertook. The clincher is that neither one, after awhile, really knew which one was the 'original' personality. (Game ended before much of this could be resolved.)

I'd like to see the same thing in Trek. Perhaps Section 31?

I’d like to underscore that these discussions should not be construed as making like of what is a <u>serious</u> disorder. It is the complexity and breadth of some such issues that makes them challenging and enjoyable to roleplay.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[CaptainGonzalez]

When I got to play in my own campaign for a special adventure created by one of the players, I created a character that may fit into this discussion.

She was a U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. who had trained as an astronaut but never got her ride. She met up with the PC when they ventured to 1999 to stop a renegade captain from crippling the space program. (which in this alternate universe had just recovered from the Eugenics Wars and had begun manned exploration of the solar system)

I chased the PCs back to transport site and ended up beaming onboard their ship. The PCs determined they couldn't risk a return trip so I was kept around and after roleplaying some culture shock ("We're really in space? Can I see Earth from here? What is warp travel? Who would could you possibily be at war with in the future?") I helped stop the bad guys from escaping with a well placed 9mm bullet to their warp core.

She was given a provisional commission and has undergone extensive training to bring her up to speed with the rest of the PCs. Lt. Monica Rodriguez is now a junior operations officer with specialization in diagnostic systems at Deep Space 11.

[calguard66]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don:
Nah. That screams “twink” to me.

I’m thinking more along the lines of a potentially “normal” person who developed multiple personalities either naturally or through a traumatic event.

The problem is generating the character with some degree of equitable distribution – you can’t have a 200 DP character at the table, just like creating playable Trill characters was difficult for play balance reasons. Dividing XP through play is easy – that’s not my concern.


</font>

You're talking as if having "multiple personalities" is an advantage. It's not... at least for humans. The personalities usually aren't compatable... one outgoing, the other reclusive, one good, the other evil, etc.

Having somebody else running around in your body while you're not aware of it is a definite disadvantage. Each personality would be a seperate individual, so you wouldn't have a 200 DP character, you would have two 100 DP characters, each of which is only active part of the time, and each of which has a signifigant disadvantage: "serious mental illness".

Switching between the two usually isn't voluntary, so you couldn't pick the "best" personality for the situation... and stress often triggers the change, so you could go from being the "karatemaster" to "the computermaster" in the middle of a fight.

Read up on multiple personality disorder a bit, it isn't anything like you've described.

An alien species with two conciouses in one head, or some other division would be possible... say a "hunter" lobe of the brain that takes over during danger, a "thinker" lobe for intellectual problems. The problem with this is that most problems require a multifaceted approach. If the hunter personality is smart enough to overcome tactical problems, it probably is smart enough that it doesn't need the intellectual... and if it CAN'T solve them, you would have to switch back and forth, and each lobe would need to know what the other was doing (having to re-orient itself each time would be deadly in a fight)... might as well be one personality.

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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain

[This message has been edited by calguard66 (edited 05-22-2001).]

[arndog]

here's how i'd do mpd, or did:
1) build a normal 125/8 pt character with no advantages/disadvantages
2) come up with a reason why this character exists (i. e. why did s/he pick the overlay)
3) come up with how the disorder came into being (we are not born with it, it is environmentally triggered)
4) now, using the character's psychology from numbers two and three, create the other personality by subtracting development points from the principal character. In other words, you will have two copies of character #1; take the copy and essentially move the points around until you like the game reflection of what you consider #2's psychology to be.
5) advantages and disadvantages must now be considered in different lights. first, something that relies on appearance will always be in effect. thus, if one has promotion, they both have to. same applies for medical problems with them, unless they are psychosomatic (which is common w/did).
finally, remember that Starfleet is all-inclusive. if your character is undergoing therapy or is on medication, they really have no problem as long as job performance is not affected. Hope this helps.

[AslanC]

In regards to high concept, I don't know if this qualifies, but back in the day when I first started playing Captain Zymmer, my buddy Seb played a vulcan named Sebok (don't laugh) who was a scientist and was fond of quoting Shakespeare based on our current situation. Now being an actor myself I was put to shame by the amount of research thuis guy did with the character and how he always had the right quote available for the right time. Never used the same one twice either.

He died in a fire fight with some Romulans on an away mission, but I will never forget him. Great character.

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Aslan Collas
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.