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Old 06-21-2018, 06:35 AM   #41
Polydamas
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

I would give him a point or a Dabbler in Artist, maybe replacing one in Poetry ... his songs are workmanlike. Giving him two points in Poetry, IQ 13 and two levels of Talent should give him Poetry-15 which feels generous.

He has a Quirk "Compulsive rewriter." This is good because it means that there are all kinds of things where you will be told "Oh, talk to Professor Tolkien at Oxford about that, I have been trying to get him to give me a version for the Revue Philologique ever since that talk in Leiden but he says it still needs work."

Lots of people dabble in conlangs, Tolkien just invested more time and education.
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Last edited by Polydamas; 06-21-2018 at 06:39 AM. Reason: Corrected calculations of Poetry skill
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Old 06-21-2018, 01:26 PM   #42
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
I would give him a point or a Dabbler in Artist, maybe replacing one in Poetry ... his songs are workmanlike. Giving him two points in Poetry, IQ 13 and two levels of Talent should give him Poetry-15 which feels generous.
I've deliberately created a somewhat cinematic version of Tolkien which makes him suitable as an adventurer or Ally.

A toned-down version would definitely replace a number of his skills with Dabbler perks.

That said, I'd defend a lowish level of Artist skill for Tolkien, since he started drawing and doing watercolors as a child and carried on with it for the rest of his life. He did a number of maps and illustrations for LoTR, the Hobbit, and other works and, IMO, they're pretty good. For certain editions of his works, his illustrations were used as cover art.

e.g.

http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-conten...d_tolkien.jpeg

I was aiming for an Artist skill of 12-13, a "competent amateur, but nothing amazing" level.

Poetry skill should fall into a similar range, but perhaps a bit higher. There's plenty of poetry in all of his works and it's pretty good. Again, not first rate, but competent enough that it's enjoyable.

Edit: I'd also point out that Tolkien critiqued and studied poetry as part of his professional work, so even if he's not the most inspired poet, he had a very good sense of how it was constructed. His abandonment of his translation of Beowulf, because it didn't meet his quality standards, is a good example of someone whose Literature and Linguistics skills exceed their Poetry skill. They know greatness when they see it, but also realize that their own poetic and translation skills aren't good enough to do justice to a great (or graete?) work of art.

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He has a Quirk "Compulsive rewriter."
This might be a feature rather than a quirk. I was trying to give him quirks which are truly meaningful in game terms and which might limit his behavior or drive his actions. For example, his Catholicism exposed him to prejudice and influenced his moral philosophy, and he was infamous for his mumbled, nearly inaudible, lectures punctuated by absolutely amazing declamations of ancient poetry.

OTOH, "Compulsive Rewriter" is a potential quirk since it's sort of a low-level bad Reputation (-2, "Doesn't meet deadlines and you have to pry the damned manuscript out of his hands!", Aggrieved publishers and co-authors (itty tiny group), All the Time) and arguably harmed his career (e.g., had he released the Simarillion during his lifetime he could have made another pot of money).

It really depends on the campaign focus as to which quirks you wish to emphasize. Any of the "features" I listed for Tolkien could easily be turned into Quirks.


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Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
Lots of people dabble in conlangs, Tolkien just invested more time and education.
That's a bit like saying, "Lots of people dabble with rock guitar, Eric Clapton just spent more time on it." Tolkien was one of the greats at inventing carefully constructed, internally consistent, fully developed conlangs. People still learn and use Quenya and Sindarin, among his other invented languages.

I included all his invented languages and invented histories just in case Tolkien was actually "channeling" real events which were occurring on a parallel earth, or was actually not an author but a reporter or historian with a convenient portal to Middle Earth.

I think it would be tremendous fun to have a campaign where time and dimension jumping adventurers need to go to Middle Earth and recruit or kidnap Tolkien as a "native guide."

Edit: I slightly tweaked the Tolkien character sheet to take Polydamas' points into account and to add additional relevant skills/features.

Last edited by Pursuivant; 06-21-2018 at 02:38 PM.
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Old 06-21-2018, 01:40 PM   #43
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Originally Posted by Pursuivant View Post
I think it would be tremendous fun to have a campaign where time and dimension jumping adventurers need to go to Middle Earth and recruit or kidnap Tolkien as a "native guide."
I like this idea, though given how often Tolkien changed his mind (e.g. see the History of Galadriel and Celeborn in Unfinished Tales for how he kept on changing Galadriel's story), which version was "canon" for a particular Arda worldline might surprise Tolkien, let alone the PCs!
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Old 06-21-2018, 07:30 PM   #44
dcarson
 
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Omnilingual(pre done list -20%) might make sense for characters that speak a lot of languages but can't just claim to know any they come across.
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Old 06-22-2018, 02:10 AM   #45
Polydamas
 
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Originally Posted by Pursuivant View Post
This might be a feature rather than a quirk. I was trying to give him quirks which are truly meaningful in game terms and which might limit his behavior or drive his actions. For example, his Catholicism exposed him to prejudice and influenced his moral philosophy, and he was infamous for his mumbled, nearly inaudible, lectures punctuated by absolutely amazing declamations of ancient poetry.

OTOH, "Compulsive Rewriter" is a potential quirk since it's sort of a low-level bad Reputation (-2, "Doesn't meet deadlines and you have to pry the damned manuscript out of his hands!", Aggrieved publishers and co-authors (itty tiny group), All the Time) and arguably harmed his career (e.g., had he released the Simarillion during his lifetime he could have made another pot of money).
The reason why "compulsive rewriter" is a better quirk than "enjoys X" is that it burns time and limits his ability to use his skills to achieve goals like "make money" or "complete academic projects." If adventurer-Tolkien has to write an incantation, they will have to wrestle it out of his hands when the stars are right for the ritual.

That said, it looks like he published a lot in the 1920s and 1930s, it was more in the middle of his career that he slowed down and produced endless reams of drafts which were still unfinished at his death.
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Old 06-22-2018, 05:57 AM   #46
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Omnilingual(pre done list -20%) might make sense for characters that speak a lot of languages but can't just claim to know any they come across.
I like the idea, it lets characters, who are supposed to be elite academics in fields were knowing multiple languages is a requirement, actually know their stuff.
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Old 06-22-2018, 10:07 AM   #47
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The reason why "compulsive rewriter" is a better quirk than "enjoys X" is that it burns time and limits his ability to use his skills to achieve goals like "make money" or "complete academic projects."
You're right, which is why I added "compulsive rewriter" to the list of Tolkien's "features."

Any of those features would make a good Quirk, but per RAW characters are limited to 5 Quirks, so some got demoted to "features."

That means that anyone who wants to use my write-up of Tolkien can choose their own mix of features/quirks depending on which aspects of his complex personality they wish to emphasize.

For example, Tolkien volunteered very early in WWII to be a cryptanalyst, in part due to his WWI training and inherent patriotism, but also because he detested fascism. So, for a pre-WWII spy campaign, the GM can play up Tolkien's dislike of communists, fascists, and demagogues.
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Old 06-22-2018, 10:07 AM   #48
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
That said, it looks like he published a lot in the 1920s and 1930s, it was more in the middle of his career that he slowed down and produced endless reams of drafts which were still unfinished at his death.
He also liked to rewrite things he had already published. He even started to rewrite The Hobbit in the style of The Lord of the Rings.
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Old 06-22-2018, 11:14 AM   #49
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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Advantages: Charisma 1 [5]; Claim to Hospitality (Oxford University) [2]; Contact Group (Inklings and other academics, Effective Skill 15 (Administration), Somewhat Reliable, 9-) [10]; Fit [5]; Language Talent - Omnilingual [25]; Rank 2 (Administrative - Endowed Professor) (Limitation: Limited Scope, -50%) [5]; Reputation (+2, Scholarship, Fellow Academics (Small Group), 15-) [1]; Status 1 [5]; Talent 2 (Born Linguist - Linguistics, Literature, Poetry, Public Speaking, Writing) [10]; Tenure [5]; Voice [10].
* I'm not sure what justifies Charisma 1. He does not seem, for example, to have been a leader of men during his military service.

* The Omnilingual advantage as I wrote it isn't a form of Language Talent, and it costs 40 points and gives you Accented in "any language you're likely to encounter." I'm not sure how you derived the 25-point version.

* By the Basic Set treatment of Rank, I wouldn't give Tolkien Rank, as Oxford doesn't seem to be an agency of the state; his professorship would be subsumed in his Reputation and Status. Social Engineering does offer a more flexible treatment of Rank, and it would be possible to construct a version that fit his position, but I don't see that being done here, and I don't recognize "Limited Scope" as a known limitation on Rank and would hesitate to use it when there are already published rules for modifying Rank.

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Disadvantages: Addiction (Tobacco) [-5]; Bad Sight (Far-Sighted, Limitation: Mitigator, -60%) [-15]; Code of Honor (Mixed Catholic/Gentleman's/Professional) [-5]; Dependents (Family (Group - 50% of value)(Loved Ones), 6-) [-5]; Duty (Academic and Family Responsibilities, 12-, Non-Hazardous) [-5]; Skinny [-5]; Susceptibility 2 (Blood-borne diseases) [-1].
I don't think that there is a "Catholic" CoH, and I'm not sure Catholicism is the sort of thing that's expressed in a CoH. It might be a Discipline of Faith, or a Vow, or some other sort of behavioral restriction; but what enforces it is partly a sense of the presence of God and partly the administrative hierarchy of the Church, not a sense of living up to the standards of a heroic company. On the other hand, Tolkien might have picked up a little of CoH (Soldier's).

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Quirks: Devout Catholic [-1]; Enjoys hiking and recreational sports [-1]; Enjoys writing and performing poetry and literature [-1]; Mildly Intolerant of Non-Christians and Non-Europeans [-1]; Slight tongue damage which makes it difficult to speak articulately for very long periods of time (Quirk level "Stuttering" due to old rugby injury) [-1]
By the standards of his time, at least, Tolkien does not seem to have been Intolerant. I've read the letter where he slapped down the Nazi official who wanted to verify that The Hobbit was "Aryan literature." It might be better to give him Chauvinistic, as he was certainly aware of ethnic differences and indeed of differences between different regions within England. . . .
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