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Old 05-14-2018, 10:10 AM   #11
The Colonel
 
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Default Re: 13th Warriors

The two obvious problems that spring to mind are fifth wheels and snowflakes.
Phantasm's example above appears to be a fifth wheel - a character that doesn't really belong and contributes nothing useful to the game. This is often the result of a player misunderstanding the game they are about to play.
The snowflake seems to crop up a lot in "that other RPG" where you get the (possibly clichéd) party of three humans, two elves, a dwarf and a planetouched half dragon fae - there's nothing inherently wrong with the character mechanically, but it jars badly with the setting ... the same also applies to ninjas, kung-fu monks and swashbuckling pirates rammed into a stock medieval setting. Like the "misunderstood edgelord drow" it's usually a sign the player isn't of the team persuasion and/or has contempt for the GM's worldbuilding attempts.

Of course, done properly a 13th warrior allows you to inject useful complementary skills into a group that would not otherwise possess them.
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Old 05-14-2018, 04:04 PM   #12
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Default Re: 13th Warriors

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Of course, done properly a 13th warrior allows you to inject useful complementary skills into a group that would not otherwise possess them.
My point of view exactly. Unless you want to be a support utility player the role of the 13th Warrior isn't for you. However, if you can take the support role and play it in a way that promotes the GM's vision, and have fun doing it, it's a viable choice.
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Old 05-14-2018, 04:09 PM   #13
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My point of view exactly. Unless you want to be a support utility player the role of the 13th Warrior isn't for you. However, if you can take the support role and play it in a way that promotes the GM's vision, and have fun doing it, it's a viable choice.
It's not a 13th warrior if it promotes the GMs vision.
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Old 05-14-2018, 04:35 PM   #14
Þorkell
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Default Re: 13th Warriors

The thing with a 13th Warrior* type thing is that in the film that gives you the name of this thing the Arab character at least was a contemporary of the Vikings. Granted he wasn't in the part of the world he was from. How is this type of character different from any other character who travels far from his home?

*And, for what it's worth, I really don't get the fascination with this film.
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Old 05-16-2018, 07:13 PM   #15
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Default Re: 13th Warriors

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. The 13th Warrior, after a film with Antonio Banderis which I liked alot, is a PC who is really odd for the setting. A fish far out of water. However, as he explained his point, I thought up an Arab Player Character for a Viking game that would be fun and useful to the group.
The problem with this analysis is the Arab wasn’t out of place in the party.

He was culturally different, but his skill set meshed perfectly with everyone else.

In D&D terms he was the sage... replacement for wizard in a no-manna game.

Once he learned the language there were few problems, and his cultural point of view and education are the only thing the Vikings lacked.

The “13th warrior” article posits a character who disrupts the party... Ahmad ibn Fadlan does the opposite.

As an aside, Arabs wouldn’t have been unknown to Northmen, and vice versa. The two cultures encountered each other around the Black Sea... with is more or less where the 13th warrior takes place.

Last edited by tanksoldier; 05-16-2018 at 07:27 PM.
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Old 05-18-2018, 12:12 PM   #16
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Default Re: 13th Warriors

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I was hoping for responses. Hasn't anyone played a "Fish out of water" PC and had a blast?
I tried to play a Lamont Cranston type (surprise, right?) In a 4-color supers game, many years ago.

That sucked, and it taught me why I don't like supers as a gaming genre.

My friend, Anten, who plays A.J. in my Facets campaign, is about to start up a small-merchant sci-fi campaign heavily influenced by Firefly, but with ideas from other sources, too.

I'll play the ship's cat.
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Old 05-18-2018, 12:22 PM   #17
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I tried to play a Lamont Cranston type (surprise, right?) In a 4-color supers game, many years ago.
That doesn't even seem like a fish out of water; it's pretty much a martial artist with invisibility art. If you were doing this in GURPS you might have run into issues, but those have more to do with GURPS than with the character (GURPS is rather unfriendly to the 'trained normal' super).
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Old 05-18-2018, 12:37 PM   #18
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That doesn't even seem like a fish out of water; it's pretty much a martial artist with invisibility art. If you were doing this in GURPS you might have run into issues, but those have more to do with GURPS than with the character (GURPS is rather unfriendly to the 'trained normal' super).
The main ptoblem was that he was best-suited, and built to, hunt down crooks and corruption, and the rest of the group wanted flashy fights with supervillains.

It was my fault for building him, that way. I eventually realized I had zero interest in fighting supervillains. I wanted to shoot corrupt cops in the face, instead.

I bowed out of that campaign; it was the best thing for everyone.
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