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Old 06-17-2018, 05:55 AM   #1
Astromancer
 
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Default Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Basically, time travelers are going to meet Tolkien in the late 1930's. I need reasonable stats.

Tolkien is an Oxford Don who did groundbreaking work on early medieval literature. He was a solid author. He could read a large number of languages including several non-Indo-European ones. I personally assume he had the language talent.

I assume he had very good social skills. He married a woman well above his social status in hyper-status-conscious early 20th century Oxford. He maintained lifelong friendships with highly volatile people, some of whom, like C.S.Lewis, were emotionally disturbed. He navigated donnish politics with unpopular opinions and seemed to do very well.

Tolkien must have had reasonably good physical stats. He was athletic and it was routinely commented on. He often played soccer and rugby with the undergraduates into his fifties. He seems to have been able to play as a full equal even in his fifties (it was business and responsibilities that stopped him not lack of vitality, according to several sources). His physicality was routinely commented on.

Thanks for your assistance.
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Old 06-17-2018, 10:53 AM   #2
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

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.
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Old 06-17-2018, 11:05 AM   #3
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Give him quirk-level Stuttering. He was notoriously difficult to understand when he spoke quickly, which was most of the time.
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Old 06-17-2018, 11:20 AM   #4
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

I would NOT give Tolkien Wealthy. He worried about money most of his life; when he was writing LotR, he had to type the entire thing itself—he commented that the services of the ten-fingered were beyond his means. He was probably Comfortable, at least by the time he was at Oxford, but back in the 1930s, at least, professors weren't wealthy.
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Old 06-17-2018, 11:35 AM   #5
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

He might have had Distractible as a quirk, as he was quick to go off on tangents. A more extreme version could have had Short Attention Span.

That's ... a lot of languages. Would it be cheaper to give him Omnilingual?

He also likely had Soldier/TL6 and Guns/TL6 (Rifle) early on in his life, given he served in the trenches of WWI, but I'm not sure if he would have retained those later in life.

Public Speaking (Storytelling) is also a skill he had at least at 12, probably higher, given he could spin yarns that were quite entertaining at the drop of a hat; as I recall, the story that became The Hobbit began as a bedtime story for his kids, and he'd occasionally spin tales for his students and visitors off the top of his head.
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Old 06-17-2018, 11:59 AM   #6
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
He also likely had Soldier/TL6 and Guns/TL6 (Rifle) early on in his life, given he served in the trenches of WWI, but I'm not sure if he would have retained those later in life.
He's more likely to have retained a dabbler-level knowledge of Tactics, Leadership and Savoir-Faire (Military), since he did go through officer training, and the battles in his books are generally sensibly organised. He'd also have a decent level of Administration, from both military and academic backgrounds.
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Old 06-17-2018, 12:56 PM   #7
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
He's more likely to have retained a dabbler-level knowledge of Tactics, Leadership and Savoir-Faire (Military), since he did go through officer training, and the battles in his books are generally sensibly organised. He'd also have a decent level of Administration, from both military and academic backgrounds.
I think officers were expected to pick up at least a bit of Soldier as part of their training.

I'd also note that he was in the signal corps, if I recall correctly, so he would have learned skills appropriate to that. Actually not a bad placement for him.
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Old 06-17-2018, 04:17 PM   #8
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

I doubt his descriptions of battle indicate any kind of Tactics, Leadership or Savoir-Faire (Military). He himself commented I believe that he didn't go into great detail on these things because he didn't really know then all that well, and really just wanted the mythic story from them.
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Old 06-17-2018, 10:11 PM   #9
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

No typing skill. He pecked out LOTR with two fingers.
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Old 06-18-2018, 03:41 AM   #10
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Default Re: Stating J.R.R.Tolkien

That's probably Typing defaulting off Writing at TL6. (Been there, two-fingered that, at TL7-8.)

I'd given him decent IQ, of course, but mostly some kind of Good With Language Talent (about four levels), covering Writing and his academic subjects; everything seems to revolve around philology with him. With a footnote that this Talent rather shows up in the style of any fiction written by the character. (Reaction Bonus: Fellow philologists, anyone impressed by that sort of writing...) How much of a Reputation he has in academia might be an interesting question; presumably it jumps a bit after "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" in 1936.

Very little of which will necessarily show up in a game encounter, of course.
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