I feel the need to dance

[Johnny Angel]

I'm working on a somewhat comical character, and I'm unsure of the proper price for a disadvantage.


How would you price Compulsive Dancing?


To give some context: the basic idea behind the character is a caricature of dance movies such as Saturday Night Fever. At random times, he feels the need to dance, and, if possible, he has a compulsive need to incorporate dancing into most other activities.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

If you're building Ellen de Generes or Christopher Walken, it's no more than a quirk. If he's doing it more often, it might rise to the level of a small OPH and may prevent him from having Stealth, making it a 0-point taboo trait.

[lexington]

If he's into tap remember to give him a level of Noisy.

[aesir23]

If on the other hand, he simply has the need to go out dancing and hits the dance clubs every night, this is just a -0% special effect on Compulsive Carousing.

[Johnny Angel]

He'd have the need to dance even in normal situations and possibly in situations where it would be deemed inappropriate (i.e. while speaking at a funeral.)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

He'd have the need to dance even in normal situations and possibly in situations where it would be deemed inappropriate (i.e. while speaking at a funeral.)

OPH. What is love, baby don't hurt me...

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

OPH. What is love, baby don't hurt me...

Definitely, if the character is running in a world where people react realistically to somebody dancing on strange occasions.

If, as per fairly common genre convention, it's going to be shrugged off except in the most wildly inappropriate situations, it's probably a quirk.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

I'm working on a somewhat comical character, and I'm unsure of the proper price for a disadvantage.


How would you price Compulsive Dancing?


To give some context: the basic idea behind the character is a caricature of dance movies such as Saturday Night Fever. At random times, he feels the need to dance, and, if possible, he has a compulsive need to incorporate dancing into most other activities.

It can't be worth more than Compulsive Carousing, of course, since it's less inconvenient than that. So no more than -5 (adjusted for self-control).
It probably gives a -1 reaction penalty, which is also rated a -5, like an OPH or one level of negative Status. Given that the negative reaction will take place only when he dances at very inappropriate moments, that is probably worth a percentage reduction, and Accessibility should be a guideline.

it might be worth more in a very puritanical society where dancing is considered inappropriate at best, or maybe a sin and a temptation for others. But that's, again, in line with Carousing.

[Kromm]

I'd call it -5 points. It isn't quite Compulsive Carousing, because it leaves off the "drinking and snogging" part, which is what actually gets you in the most trouble. And it isn't quite Odious Personal Habit, because it has the potential to endear; indeed, if he's good at it, it might even be tolerated with amusement. But it has elements of both.

I'd go with something novel: Compulsive Behavior that gives a reaction penaly equal to half the margin of failure on the self-control roll, rounded against the dancer. Thus, someone with Compulsive Dancing (12) [-5] would mostly be fine; he might dance more often than the 25.9% of the time that (12) suggests, but a little Walken shuffle won't offend most people. But on a 13, he has -1 for being a doofus, and in the worst case, he rolls 18 and has -3. Some really annoying guy with Compulsive Dancing (6) [-10] will have -2 to reactions on even a roll of 10, a fairly modest failure, and on an 18 has -6 . . . probably because he jumped up on the coffin and boogied during the late queen's funeral, or started a strip-tease dance in court.