[Basic] Disadvantage of the week: Bully

[johndallman]

Bully [-10] is a mundane mental disadvantage with a self-control roll (SCR). You like to degrade and dominate other people, via violence, harassment, icy politeness, or whatever's appropriate to your position and personality. You can avoid this by making an SCR, but you don't want to. People react to you at -2 because of your behaviour. The disadvantage appeared at GURPS 1e, and hasn't changed much since.

Bully is a common disadvantage option on templates, tending to be found on anti-social types and people who have a little power and want more. Discworld Dark Lord wannabes are a prime example and Aliens: Sparrials a counter-example, since they seem like bullies while negotiating their dominance structure, but then stop, in a way that's strange to humans. Banestorm orcs, however, have it as a basic cultural trait. Like so many disadvantages, Bio-Tech procedures can have it as a side-effect, and Madness Dossier has ways to impose it deliberately. The upper classes of Britanicca-6 treat it as a hobby, and Worlds of Horror's Frankenstein Treatment seems to bring it on. It's also a favourite in Hellgate, among the Martians of Mars Attacks and the cultists and monsters of Monster Hunters. There are several quirk-level versions in Power-Ups 6, and Social Engineering covers insult contests and mobs with Bully, while Back to School adds steroid abuse and bullying teachers. Bullying is too subtle for Zombies, but creepy assistants indulge.

I don't think I've ever seen this disadvantage in use. The circles I play RPGs in tend to consist of people who had a hard time with bullies as children, and don't want to be reminded about it. Coping with a berserker would actually be easier: that's definitely confined to the game world.

What troubles has Bully got you into?

[Flyndaran]

It's one of those evil disadvantages that nearly all of us have experienced in real life. That makes it more "real" even in game than most others, IMO.

[ajardoor]

The modern archetypical character with Bully is currently Dolores Umbridge of the Harry Potter series, I believe.

[Maz]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

The modern archetypical character with Bully is currently Dolores Umbridge of the Harry Potter series, I believe.

She suffered from more than just Bully. Sadism, Callous or a delusion about "inflicting pain and suffering is good for morale".

Draco is more of a classic bully-example IMO, although not a very successfull one.

[Otaku]

Hmm...

Not something I've ever tried, but reflecting one of the more muddled aspects of real life is the "charming" Bully, in particular, the one that isn't entirely aware he or she is being a bully, or else is aware but has some justification for it?

I was going to ask about Modifiers for Bully as well, as that goes pretty well with the above... but when I tried to come up with some examples, they seemed to bleed into things like Status, Intolerance, etc.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Hmm...

Not something I've ever tried, but reflecting one of the more muddled aspects of real life is the "charming" Bully, in particular, the one that isn't entirely aware he or she is being a bully, or else is aware but has some justification for it?

I was going to ask about Modifiers for Bully as well, as that goes pretty well with the above... but when I tried to come up with some examples, they seemed to bleed into things like Status, Intolerance, etc.

I don't think Bully (or, honestly, many Disadvantages) necessarily imply that the character has a clear appreciation of their own behavior.

Since Bully has a -2 reaction modifier on it, for a Bully to be effectively charming requires they have some favorable reaction modifiers to counterweight that. Almost anything is probably a potential candidate there.


Side note: Bully has a -2 reaction modifier on it...but it's a SCR disadvantage. You could easily have a character taking -2 reactions all the time from everyone, while only getting 5 points for it.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I don't think I've ever seen this disadvantage in use. The circles I play RPGs in tend to consist of people who had a hard time with bullies as children, and don't want to be reminded about it.

I think that's part of it, but also it seems like a peculiarly pointless disadvantage. Berserk gets you, well, Berserk. Absent-Minded lets you play up to that stereotype. Bad Back lets you tell stories about that time in the war. Bully is just, well, dull.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

I think that's part of it, but also it seems like a peculiarly pointless disadvantage. Berserk gets you, well, Berserk. Absent-Minded lets you play up to that stereotype. Bad Back lets you tell stories about that time in the war. Bully is just, well, dull.

Bully is good for the character that gets mean (but not violent or aggressive) when they don't get their way...

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Bully is good for the character that gets mean (but not violent or aggressive) when they don't get their way...

With Bully, they get mean before they've failed to get their way. Thwarting their initial push might even make them fold in some cases (the old 'bullies are cowards' claim) though it could just as well have them double down.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

I think that's part of it, but also it seems like a peculiarly pointless disadvantage. Berserk gets you, well, Berserk. Absent-Minded lets you play up to that stereotype. Bad Back lets you tell stories about that time in the war. Bully is just, well, dull.

Yeah. Well, not so much pointless as uninteresting. Yep, dull. I mean, most evil disads have a darkly stylish or entertainingly playable aspect. Most of us will admit to twinges of Greed, and take that as a motive for a character to get into interesting trouble, or can ham it up something rotten when roleplaying Bad Temper. But Bully just enforces the drudgery of low-level unpleasantness.