Role=Playing Disabilities
- Thread starter Jame
- Start date
We played in a room with plenty of space and we made the the deaf in one, blind in the other eye cleric sit on the couch away from the table (about 6 feet).
(Note: the person playing the cleric was not deaf or blind
Another way we handled it, was to write down anything that a major NPC would be saying (like script from a module or GM) and leave out words of the script and let them read it in another room while the GM read the entire script to the other players.
It got really interesting when only the deaf character was present to hear things.
Lastly, we made the player wear earplugs and an eye patch.
Now for more game related nonphysical things we would double the penalty for hearing something, and the GM would keep a large note infront of them reminding them of the cleric deaf in one ear, blind in the other eye.
Also all players were required to repeat anything they said to the cleric min of twice or the cleric would have to roll d6x10% to determine how much they heard
In combat or other loud situations the cleric always had to roll d4x10% to see how much they heard. It was up the GM to determine what parts they heard in the beginning.
After about 4 game sessions, all the players started getting into it and having fun.
Last note: it depends on how much your players are willing to put up with.
In another game we had a thief who lost from the elbow down his off hand. His character went out and committed sucide because the player did not want to play the character anymore.
In another game we had a mage who lost complete eyesight due to a spell gone bad. The player requested that the party take him back to the academy and afterwards the player retired the character to the GM's control and started up a new one.
So, make sure that the players (especially the one with the disability) is going to be able to handle it and role play.
I don't know why (snicker) but it seems players get attached to their characters
Dave Chase
Another way we handled it, was to write down anything that a major NPC would be saying (like script from a module or GM) and leave out words of the script and let them read it in another room while the GM read the entire script to the other players.
It got really interesting when only the deaf character was present to hear things.
Lastly, we made the player wear earplugs and an eye patch.
Now for more game related nonphysical things we would double the penalty for hearing something, and the GM would keep a large note infront of them reminding them of the cleric deaf in one ear, blind in the other eye.
Also all players were required to repeat anything they said to the cleric min of twice or the cleric would have to roll d6x10% to determine how much they heard
After about 4 game sessions, all the players started getting into it and having fun.
Last note: it depends on how much your players are willing to put up with.
In another game we had a thief who lost from the elbow down his off hand. His character went out and committed sucide because the player did not want to play the character anymore.
In another game we had a mage who lost complete eyesight due to a spell gone bad. The player requested that the party take him back to the academy and afterwards the player retired the character to the GM's control and started up a new one.
So, make sure that the players (especially the one with the disability) is going to be able to handle it and role play.
I don't know why (snicker) but it seems players get attached to their characters
Dave Chase
Interesting....
I just started a varger. He was injured repairing his his ship after an accident. Minor injory, but he refused to have if compleatly healed as a remineder to keep his head down.
In modern terms not much, in Traveller terms, a major disability when whole limbs can be regrown to have a permenant limp. Ought to be real interesting.
Mr Tek
I just started a varger. He was injured repairing his his ship after an accident. Minor injory, but he refused to have if compleatly healed as a remineder to keep his head down.
In modern terms not much, in Traveller terms, a major disability when whole limbs can be regrown to have a permenant limp. Ought to be real interesting.
Mr Tek
I think imperfect characters make more interesting ones. In many circumstances, it can also be handing plot hooks to a referee.
Looking for the man who shot my paw...
Seeking out that Droyne-run lab that's working on implants to replace a damaged spinal cord...
Seeking out a monastery/psi institute to train oneself in surviving without one's sight, a la "Blind Fury".
Wearing a scar or a mutilation as a badge of honor, as wounds received while withstanding brutal interrogation...
Looking for the man who shot my paw...
Seeking out that Droyne-run lab that's working on implants to replace a damaged spinal cord...
Seeking out a monastery/psi institute to train oneself in surviving without one's sight, a la "Blind Fury".
Wearing a scar or a mutilation as a badge of honor, as wounds received while withstanding brutal interrogation...
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
Messrs Roboject, Mr tek agreed!
Disabilities in a PC make it more realistic, even in the TU. Yes, modern medecines that the Ship's brilliant doctor can bring to bear are great...But not everyone can withstand regen treatment, even as today with organ donation rejection.
Like Jump sickness, an inherited gene. yes, we could say that having such a gene could have been removed..ala some geneering like the Solomani practiced to an extent..but-disability might not always be visible as well!
Case in point,[from one of my campaigns] a young woman [npc of crew on a ship] loses her whole family in an accident, but the laws of her homeworld dictate only males inherit.
Suddenly faced with evil uncle about to take her father's hard earned company and assets, she undertakes drastic action and has a complete sex change operation. The planet being TL-D, this is done within the time limit of settling an estate going to probate court.
There is her handicap/ disability: She's been a woman for 22 years, and must now be a "man"! Okay, an extreme example, I'm sure.
Another case--infertility.
Well, regeneration and exvitro birthing techniques are also part and parcel with Traveller science. DNA identification much harder to forge at TL8+ societies. Proving someone is your heir, and having an heir can be difficult.
Likewise, in the MT advnture Arrival Vengeance shows Imperial ar veterans on Zukhimie protesting their treatment as machines/ property if more than 20% of their replacement limbs are cybernetic orgin!
The odd piratical eyepatch, and cybernetic limb have been sprinkled throughout various campaigns I've been in the past four or five years--they make those characters memorable, and a challenge to play for their players. Good question, Jame!
Disabilities in a PC make it more realistic, even in the TU. Yes, modern medecines that the Ship's brilliant doctor can bring to bear are great...But not everyone can withstand regen treatment, even as today with organ donation rejection.
Like Jump sickness, an inherited gene. yes, we could say that having such a gene could have been removed..ala some geneering like the Solomani practiced to an extent..but-disability might not always be visible as well!
Case in point,[from one of my campaigns] a young woman [npc of crew on a ship] loses her whole family in an accident, but the laws of her homeworld dictate only males inherit.
Suddenly faced with evil uncle about to take her father's hard earned company and assets, she undertakes drastic action and has a complete sex change operation. The planet being TL-D, this is done within the time limit of settling an estate going to probate court.
There is her handicap/ disability: She's been a woman for 22 years, and must now be a "man"! Okay, an extreme example, I'm sure.
Another case--infertility.
Well, regeneration and exvitro birthing techniques are also part and parcel with Traveller science. DNA identification much harder to forge at TL8+ societies. Proving someone is your heir, and having an heir can be difficult.
Likewise, in the MT advnture Arrival Vengeance shows Imperial ar veterans on Zukhimie protesting their treatment as machines/ property if more than 20% of their replacement limbs are cybernetic orgin!
The odd piratical eyepatch, and cybernetic limb have been sprinkled throughout various campaigns I've been in the past four or five years--they make those characters memorable, and a challenge to play for their players. Good question, Jame!
jame the response is here and if you want i can give you some http tg adress where the case is seriously messed in the head, it's sure in any case than the player must be ok with that.
i have played a wheeled character in a daredevil campaign, after i have got a grenade fragment in the spinal colonne and the master demand me before healing if i am ready to play a character like that.
btw, it was really fun to play that.
Y'know, all my characters are "a little touched in the head", because I am. I' ve got Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (hey, beernuts!) and it shows up in all my characters; go figure. Ritalin helps, but..
Mostly this shows up like this: I'm an acquired taste. Some people think I'm funnier than hell, some think I'm just an asshole. Guess which ones I play Traveller with?
On the idea of deafness? I was once a guest star/player in a RQ game, and I only had twenty percent of some obscure secondary language in common with one other player. I sat across the room from him, and rolled dice to get an idea of how far off my interpretation was. Once, when I fumbled I took off my shoe and tossed it him, "You vant smell my shoe? Hokay!?" Hey, if it isn't fun, why are we doing it?
Mostly this shows up like this: I'm an acquired taste. Some people think I'm funnier than hell, some think I'm just an asshole. Guess which ones I play Traveller with?
On the idea of deafness? I was once a guest star/player in a RQ game, and I only had twenty percent of some obscure secondary language in common with one other player. I sat across the room from him, and rolled dice to get an idea of how far off my interpretation was. Once, when I fumbled I took off my shoe and tossed it him, "You vant smell my shoe? Hokay!?" Hey, if it isn't fun, why are we doing it?
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
'tis but a flesh wound...
shar_leigh
SOC-9
As far as playing a character or allowing someone else to play a character who is slightly insane, it all depends. In my FTF group, there are some players I feel could handle it and others there is no way I'd allow them to play one.
Speaking for myself. I haven't played an insane character in Traveller. In another game I have a character who is fully convinced that she'll be safe as long as she isn't around pepperoni pizza. Everything pepperoni pizza arrives so does the bad guys. It's just not the light "oh oh, look out for bad guys here's the pizza" but a full "lock and load and have a tendency to shoot who is next at the door because there's the pizza." That happens on earth. Throw in space travel and it certainly can get worse.
I don't have a problem playing insane or quirky (whichever word or degree you like to use). For me, it's more of a matter of knowing your players.
shar_leigh
Speaking for myself. I haven't played an insane character in Traveller. In another game I have a character who is fully convinced that she'll be safe as long as she isn't around pepperoni pizza. Everything pepperoni pizza arrives so does the bad guys. It's just not the light "oh oh, look out for bad guys here's the pizza" but a full "lock and load and have a tendency to shoot who is next at the door because there's the pizza." That happens on earth. Throw in space travel and it certainly can get worse.
I don't have a problem playing insane or quirky (whichever word or degree you like to use). For me, it's more of a matter of knowing your players.
shar_leigh
phil644441
SOC-7
Hi Guys, first post in CotI forums....
My current character in another campaign is a ranger (guess what sort of campaign) with mild-medium agoraphobia - she stays in the forest a lot! - but the more fun and interesting roleplaying possibilities occur when we have to leave the safety of the trees.....
I must say it can be very dependent upon the player - I've seen players take the 'loony' label too far so that it turns silly - OK in a silly flavour campaign but most of the time not fun for everyone else.
Like other aspects of roleplaying I think it's great as long as it enhances the game, and not great if it's spoiling it for anyone - up to the group, ultimately.
AK
My current character in another campaign is a ranger (guess what sort of campaign) with mild-medium agoraphobia - she stays in the forest a lot! - but the more fun and interesting roleplaying possibilities occur when we have to leave the safety of the trees.....
I must say it can be very dependent upon the player - I've seen players take the 'loony' label too far so that it turns silly - OK in a silly flavour campaign but most of the time not fun for everyone else.
Like other aspects of roleplaying I think it's great as long as it enhances the game, and not great if it's spoiling it for anyone - up to the group, ultimately.
AK
jchurchill
SOC-12
"I think imperfect characters make more interesting ones. In many circumstances, it can also be handing plot hooks to a referee.
Looking for the man who shot my paw..."
But other than players with Vargr characters this can't be a very compelling quest...
Looking for the man who shot my paw..."
But other than players with Vargr characters this can't be a very compelling quest...
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