Oblivious to own Sex Appeal stating and related Disadvantages/Quirks .

[Racer]

Okay after a long discussion last night , our group were wondering how you would stat this ? I haven't any of the books handy but am aware of the 'Sex Appeal' advantage : what happens when character in question has little or no idea of there own ?

We were thinking specifically about 'geeky' types like Sheldon or Leonard from the Big Bang Theory , where women have been flirting or down right hitting on them in a huge way & they just don't seem to pick up on it .
The ladies in our group who are fans have expressed that 'Geek can be the new sexy' & the amount of ladies - and gay guys - in my wider circle of friends who lust after Sheldon Cooper is staggering ! On Leonard Hoffsteader not so much , but he does have his fans . This maybe mainly a British thing - many somewhat geeky British male actors and celebrities are in relationships with incredibly good looking women at the moment . When asked how the got together , the answer is often 'he's totally different from any guy I ever met ...' etc . I've experienced this myself and often stunned by the responses I've had seemingly out of the blue , in past few years ! :-\ I guess it REALLY does pay to be one of the nice guys ... ;-)

Being on the wider Autism Spectrum myself , I too can be a little clueless - but having worked with a lot of women in the past & now having a huge group female friends , I've picked it up more or less ( he says in his mid '40's ... ) .

I can see scenarios like when Alex Sheldon's extremely attractive female assistant , turns up the flirting to 110% on Leonard in the cafeteria and he 'just doesn't see it' being hilarious in game play or as a background stories !

Doesn't have to be limited to humans of course : I seem to remember playing a computer game where a 'Happy Talking Spider' keeps coming onto the adventuring characters and this even made onto official game fiction ! Again this could be played for laughs or could be quite serious and a major plot thread .

What do you think ?

[Edit] This is not necessarily a recent thing , I've just been reminded of the 'Revenge of The Nerds' films and the odd character in Porky's ... or even Mr Bean !!! 8-\

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Racer

Okay after a long discussion last night , our group were wondering how you would stat this ? I haven't any of the books handy but am aware of the 'Sex Appeal' advantage : what happens when character in question has little or no idea of there own ?

Clueless for the extreme form. But really I think this is mostly role playing choice. This character wouldn't actually have RAW Sex Appeal (that's a skill, and you don't learn it if you don't pay attention to this stuff), but Appearance or some form of limited Charisma that he doesn't much care about would be fine.

[Anders]

Perk: Classic Features, Geek

[Phantasm]

From my Power-Downs 1: Quirks edoc:

Hollywood Homely
Prerequisite: Appearance of Attractive or better.
You are either completely unaware of how attractive you are or you don't really care about how you look. For all intents and purposes, you have a -1 to your Appearance bonus to your Reaction modifier, unless you take the time to dress in anything other than baggy or unflattering clothing, and hence revealing the inner hottie. (Even then, you may not realize how attractive you really are!)

Is this roughly what you're looking for? :)

[Bruno]

If the character can correctly evaluate their own appearance but can't recognize other people coming on to them correctly (to the extent that they also can't recognize when they're not coming on to them), that's Clueless. It includes being clueless about other stuff too, so double-check the disad.

If they're only Clueless about flirtation, and not anything else, I'd call that a limited form of Clueless, no more than -5 points. This can be looked at as a one-two combo of a very limited Odious Personal Habit, and a very limited Gullible.

If the character is attractive but thinks they're unattractive - and makes this obvious all the time, that's a positive Appearance plus a Minor Delusion, I'm Ugly [-5]. They get the Delusion reaction penalty not so much because they seem "crazy", but because the constant moping about being ugly when they're clearly not is annoying. This kind of person is also likely to be targeted by Jealous people particularly badly. It can also be regarded as "attention seeking" behavior - "fishing for compliments". If this person is better than just Attractive, they're more likely to be seen as insecure and narcissistic, trying to make themselves the center of attention by attracting constant reassurance. However, this can also be part of a body dysphoria disorder, like anorexia - the sufferer really does think they're highly unattractive.

If the character is attractive, thinks they're unattractive, but is quiet about it, this may be more like a "Doesn't Make An Effort" quirk, aka "Hollywood Homely".
They don't pick "nice clothes" because "there's no point" or "that's for pretty people" or "it looks better on the coat-hanger than on me". They dress and style functionally, which has a lot of practical benefits - but sex appeal usually isn't one of them unless you're dealing with someone with a bit of a fetish.

[Racer]

Thanks guys this is great ! And your descriptions open whole new roleplay/gameplay possiblities .

I'm definitely going to add a NPC or two with some of these traits to the Harry Potter Universe type game I've in the planning for next year :
' Malcolm Sprigg the handsome 4th year Ravenclaw was wandering past the entrance hall , eyes glued to a long roll of parchment in one hand and the large silvery rod in other . He was busy muttering measurements under his breath , oblivious to the giggles & amiring glances from the group of 3rd year Hufflepuff and Gryffindor girls who were watching him intently near by .. '
or similar stuff ;-)

[jason taylor]

Some possible quirks are Picky About Relationships; Fanatic(Pet Cause), Obsessed with(Whatever),

[Harald387]

This thread is kind of rapidly filling up with passive-aggressive Nice Guy posts and it'd be nice to see it get back on topic.

("I'm a great guy but I keep getting dumped, here are some stories about what a great guy I am and the times I was inexplicably dumped" is not the topic.)

That said: Clueless is the canonical disadvantage for 'doesn't understand other peoples' motivations'; I'd say that Sheldon's inability to comprehend that he's being hit on is a pretty much spot-on example of that, and that he exhibits enough of the other behaviors to be straight up 'an example of Clueless in action'.

Other applicable disads are Shyness, Oblivious (which doesn't make you better able to resist Sex Appeal, but certainly will leave a character unable to understand why the other person is coming on to them!), and possibly No Sense of Humor. Explicitly comedic campaigns might use a Divine Curse (Constantly Attracting The Opposite Sex) in combination with Clueless, but I don't see that ending well.

[Racer]

How about the Quirk : Always looking for the Perfect 10 ? Like when Howard Walowitz was dating Bernadette , but was STILL looking for his 'Ideal Fantasy Perfect Woman' .
I can't recall it's name/phrasing but recall a 'Grass is always Greener' disadvantage or quirk in one of the books/articles .
Not quite as bad as Wanton or Never Satisfied/Happy (?) disadvantages , but you get the idea .

[Edit] I may have mixed up my game systems with one of those ? Or possibly mixed up my British/American metaphors ...

[PK]

Originally Posted by Harald387

This thread is kind of rapidly filling up with passive-aggressive Nice Guy posts and it'd be nice to see it get back on topic.

No kidding -- I came here from "New Posts" and actually thought this was a GenChat thread until I looked up after responding!

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This thread should be about game mechanics only. I've moved all of the Nice Guy stuff into its own GenChat thread. Please go there for all your #NotAllMen needs. :)

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