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Old 06-18-2018, 05:11 PM   #21
maximara
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
Give him quirk-level Stuttering. He was notoriously difficult to understand when he spoke quickly, which was most of the time.
Perhaps he had moderated it by the time he did his 1952 reading of the Hobbit as I find him completely understandable.
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Old 06-18-2018, 05:36 PM   #22
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Perhaps he had moderated it by the time he did his 1952 reading of the Hobbit as I find him completely understandable.
That was him using his Public Speaking skill, no doubt. I'd put "hyperspeech in normal conversation" as a Quirk or -5 point OPH.
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Old 06-18-2018, 09:10 PM   #23
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Perhaps he had moderated it by the time he did his 1952 reading of the Hobbit as I find him completely understandable.
He didn't do it when he was reading aloud. But listen to him in interviews. Here's the first one that came up: interview
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Old 06-18-2018, 11:40 PM   #24
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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That may be a quirk level addiction. It does not seem to have affected him much other then that he put Pipeweed into his stories.
Man, I wish I could bring my nicotine habit down to quirk level.

Actually, Tolkien was thoroughly addicted to tobacco. In a 1966 interview he said, "Every morning I wake up thinking, 'Good, another 24 hours of smoking'".
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Old 06-18-2018, 11:42 PM   #25
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Private eyes, WW II fighter pilots, police detectives, mercenaries for hire, superheroes, criminals turned good... why, any number of action-adventure heroes might benefit from being able to whip out a sheet a paper from a typewriter at the end of every episode.
Haha! New quirk!
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Old 06-19-2018, 01:27 PM   #26
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Ally Group: Inklings
More like a Contact Group, given that they we're likely to go off adventuring with him. (Insomuch as Tolkien ever went adventuring. I think that his opinions on the subject mirrored Bilbo Baggins'.)
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Old 06-19-2018, 02:10 PM   #27
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Re: Tolkein's military service, a WWI British volunteer junior officer would be likely to have:

Environmental Suit/TL6 (NBC Suit) (A) IQ [2] - This WAS WWI after all, the use of chemical weapons was ubiquitous. Any surviving soldier after 1915 will have this skill at a decent level.

First Aid/TL6 (E) IQ [1] - Minimal First Aid Training

Guns/TL6 (Pistol) (E) DX [1] - Not a whole lot of realistic pistol training.

Hiking (A) HT [2] - They got a lot of that, in training and in the field.

Leadership (A) IQ [2] - They got a bit of leadership training, mostly they were expected to provide a good example until they got shot.

Navigation/TL6 (Land) (A) IQ-1 [1] - "There is nothing so dangerous as a 2nd Lieutenant with a map."

Running (E) HT+1 [2] - Calesthenics

SF (Military) (E) IQ+1 [2] - possibly defaults from SF (High Society). Officers were expected to know the rules of how the military service worked. Since many of the informal rules came from public school rules, many junior officers had been living it for their entire academic careers. Additionally, recruits got a lot of drill training.

Soldier/TL6 (A) IQ [2] - Not a whole lot of training in using various weapons and specialized equipment, but a fair bit of training on living in the field.

Possibly: Administration, Animal Handling (Dogs, Equines, or Pigeons), Area Knowledge (Areas of Deployment), Armoury/TL (Small Arms or Heavy Weapons), Artillery/TL6 (Cannons, Machine Gun, or Mortar), Axe/Mace, Boxing, Brawling, Camouflage, Cartography/TL6, Climbing, Cryptography/TL6, Driving/TL6 (Automobile or Heavy Equipment), Electronics Operation/TL (Communications), Engineer/TL6 (Combat or Mining), Explosives/TL6 (Demolitions), Forward Observer/TL6, Garrote, Gunner/TL6 (Cannon or Machine Gun), Guns/TL6 (Shotgun or Rifle), Hazardous Materials/TL (Chemical), Intelligence Analysis, Intimidation, Knife, Mathematics/TL (Cryptananlysis or Surveying), Mechanic/TL6 (Automobiles or Heavy Equipment), Meteorology/TL, Observation, Professional Skill/TL6 (Miner or Semaphore Operator), Riding (Horse), Scrounging, Shortsword, Spear (Bayonet), Stealth, Survival (Woods), Tactics, Teaching, Teamster (Horses), Throwing, Two-Handed Axe/Mace (Clubbed Rifle), Wrestling.

Status 0 or 1 (middle to upper middle class)

Since Tolkien was a signals officer, he might have had a tiny bit of Cryptography, Electronics Operation/TL6 (Communications), or Professional Skill/TL (Semaphore Operator).

For an officer with a public school education, maybe some or all of: Artist/TL (Drawing or Painting), Combat Sport (Bow, Boxing, Guns (Rifle or Shotgun), Rapier, Sabre, Smallsword, or Wrestling), Games (Sports rules and others), Geography/TL, History (English), Jumping, Mathematics/TL (Applied), Running, Savoir-Faire (High Society), Sport (Cricket, Crew, Rugby, Soccer, various Athletics/Track & Field sports), Writing.
Informally, maybe: Area Knowledge (School and surrounding areas), Brawling, Boxing, Carousing, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Gambling, Intimidation, Politics, Scrounging, Stealth.

Languages: One or more of French, German, Classical Greek, or Latin, usually at less than fluent written/spoken levels.

Advantages: Increased Will [5/lvl]; Fit or Very Fit [5 or 15]; Allies [Varies]; Charisma [5/lvl]; Contact [Varies]; Combat Reflexes [15]; Contact Group [Varies]; Danger Sense [15]; Favor [1 each]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Intuition [15]; Patron [Varies]; Temperature Tolerance 1 (Cold) [1].

Disadvantages: Addiction (Tobacco) [-5]; Bad Temper [-10*], Bully [-10*], Code of Honor (Gentleman's, Officer's or Professional) [Varies]; Compulsive Behavior (Carousing), Easy to Read [-10]; Honesty [-10]; Intolerance [-10*] (Amost required for any officer or gentleman of the period), Jealousy [-10]; Laziness [-10]; Lecherousness [-15*]; Odious Personal Habit (Snobbery, etc.) [Varies]; Secret [Varies]; Sense of Duty [Varies]; Selfish [-5*]; Selfless [-5*]; Truthfulness [-5*]

For Tolkien as a Don, don't forget Teaching (his day job, after all)!

Also, maybe a bit of Area Knowledge (Birmingham Area, Oxford University and surroundings, Somme Front Area), Artist (Drawing), Naturalist, and Theology (Catholic). These skills reflect his upbringing he was a reasonably good artist, his mother taught him general botany, and after her death he was raised by a Catholic priest.

Possibly Administrative Rank 1 or 2 (As a senior Don and Endowed Professor), Language Talent, and Susceptibility (Disease) at quirk level (Tolkein's health was shattered by his bout with trench fever and he was discharged as unfit for military service. While he regained much of his health later on, he might remain susceptible to certain diseases.)

Maybe Guilt Complex. Most of Tolkein's regiment was wiped out and he lost many good friends during WW I. Tolkein only avoided their fate by getting badly ill with trench fever. His WW I experiences weighed on him for the rest of his life.

For languages, add Esperanto, plus his invented languages (useful if he ever gets transported to Middle Earth!)

Last edited by Pursuivant; 06-21-2018 at 01:30 PM.
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Old 06-19-2018, 02:53 PM   #28
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Some points I'd like to have discussed.

A) Does Tolkien rate Atractive? To my eyes, he was always pleasant looking if no matinee idol. But Atractive simply means pleasant to look at.


B) Tolkien was born an outsider to English and especially Oxford society. An orphan from South Africa. He married a woman well above his social standing and successfully competed for the job of an Oxford Don. These facts suggest both high IQ and solid social skills.

So far I've seen little in the way of social skills discussed and the only figure for IQ offered was 12. I can see 12 for the average College Professor, however, Oxford is an elite school. More importantly, Tolkien was an outsider in early 20th century Britain who earned the job of Oxford Don. He'd have to be well beyond a merely average professor in his field.

Also, the stereotype of the social skills free academic could never have for Tolkien. Did he have a level of Charisma? Could he have had Politics(academic)? I'd like some details.
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Old 06-19-2018, 03:50 PM   #29
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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I would give him attributes of ST 12, DX 12, IQ 12, and HT 12, making him physically and mentally capable. I would further give him Fit, Language Talent, Language (N/N) in Latin, French, German, Middle English, Old English, Finnish, Greek, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse, Welsh, and Medieval Welsh, Language (A/A) in a Danish, Dutch, Lombardic, Nowrwegian, Russian, Serbian, and Swedish, Status 1, Tenure, and Wealth (Wealthy). Finally, his skills of note would be Linguistics-16, Literature-16, Research-16, and Writing-16. I think that would make him between 200 and 250 points, depending on disadvantages and secondary skills.
Wouldn´t 16 be too low?
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Old 06-19-2018, 04:12 PM   #30
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

In fairness, after WW I there was a lot more potential for Social Climbing, and openings as professionals. The battle of the Somme killed a lot of British societies potential scions.
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