04-30-2017, 02:46 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
|
Literary Perks!
Writers make good PCs. Or at least the fantasy authors that somehow can spend all their time travelling and adventuring without ever having to earn their keep by writing stuff.
Still, from Doctor Watson to Jessica Fletcher, from Ariadne Oliver to Lois lane, and from Clark Kent to Ellery Queen, writers make fun PCs. so I'm staring the thread on Literary Perks (and Quirks) to flesh PC writers out a bit. Editor's Pet This is a highly limited form of Charisma. Basically it effects only editors who have jobs and advances to hand out. It doesn't do anything but help the writer get contracts and the best practical advance. This does get a positive reactions from publishers, but other writers are jealous. Gifted Translator Basically anything you translate works for publication you get +1 to all rolls for translation. Note: this is just for translation for publication. And you must know both the languages you're translating out of and into. Ear for Translation If your PC successfully translates a text, they'll also get some of the text's less tangible qualities into their translation. Example: Rabelais and Proust both wrote in a slangy racy style. Which most translations of their works totally lack. If your PC has this knack, even a weak faulty translation will have some of the racy slangy flavor of the original texts. Deadline BeaterBasically, this is a limited form of luck. It helps you met deadlines for getting your writing assignments done and handed into the editor. You might get shot on the way to the editor's office, and die at the front of his desk, but you've got standard luck for getting the work itself done and handed in. Again, editors love you, other writers hate you. Your turns.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
04-30-2017, 03:15 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
|
Re: Literary Perks!
The story must get through.
If there is a way to get the story back to the news desk, newspaper or blog you can find it. A typewriter story telexed to a buddy who emails it to a coworker. Some how some way the story gets through.
__________________
Waiting for inspiration to strike...... And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn |
04-30-2017, 04:54 PM | #3 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Quote:
Zeitgeist Anticipator You have the ability to tell what subject will be hot with the public a year in advance. This gives time for the book to be written, edited and published, just about. Roll IQ once per month; Cultural Familiarity with the target market, and living there are prerequisites.
__________________
The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
|
04-30-2017, 08:41 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Quote:
|
|
04-30-2017, 10:18 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
|
Re: Literary Perks!
And yet in Finland there is a competition for best translation to Finish and a translator with Swedish as her native tongue has won it several times in the later years.
|
05-01-2017, 01:01 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Perks
Walking Dictionary Your vocabulary is the size of a baleanopterum. Get +2 when you need to use exactly the right word or to win pub trivia nights. Walking Thesaurus You know a hundred different ways to say big. Must be useful somehow. Style Master You have internalised all the rules of a particular style guide, such as Strunk's Elements of Style or the Chicago Style Manual. Get a +2 reaction from your editor and the editorial process takes 10% less time. Viral Hound You're the source of the latest Tweet that has become an instant meme, or the heartfelt Facebook post that everyone has to share. Get +1 on Propaganda rolls if you're aiming to get a particular message out. Quirks Overly Excessive Verbosity in Combination with Extremely Wordy Verbiage Why use two words when twenty would suffice? Many people give up reading before they get to the end of your text, or your meaning is lost in the word forest. Get -2 for trying to communicate a specific idea. Also, your editor groans when anything of yours lands on his desk: gain a -2 reaction from your editor, and +20% time to edit something you've written down to a reasonable publishable length. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophilia (No, not pedophilia). You have an excessive like for long words. This usually alienates your reader, or they have trouble understanding your meaning due to overly technical lexis and the need for an open dictionary to get through a text. -2 to influence readers, +2 reaction from other language nerds. Cliche Hound Like a dog with a bone, you can't be separated from the use of cliches in your writing. Generally a -2 reaction, but you might get a bonus writing pop songs, working in advertising or for tabloid newspapers. Mr Malapropism For all intensive purposes, you can write. Readers can usually understand your meaning clearly enough, but the use of slightly wrong words can be jarring, and sometimes actually leads to complete misunderstandings. -2 reaction from educated readers. Grammar Klutz Punctuation Klutz You really, should of paid more attention in school. Your computer's grammar corrector underlines every other sentence you put down, but your to busy to check everything. -2 reaction from grammar snobs, who will decry the collapse of modern English language education in the face of your writing onslaught. Spelling Bie You have trubble spleling teh wrods rite. You can sometimes get away with blaming your phone's autocorrect, but generally people see through that excuse. -2 from readers, also -2 from computerised Research rolls as your misspelt keywords never return any search hits. Probably more disadvantage level: Secret: Magnum Kleptus The piece of writing that got you started or that you are most famous for wasn't yours. You stole it from your dead roommate's writing drawer or you're Mia in Season 1 of Californication. Could turn into loss of reputation or lawsuits if the secret is revealed. Secret: Serial Plagiarist You don't write much yourself, instead it's all compiled from a bunch of online sources you've manipulated into a semblance of cohesiveness. Risk of loss of your job or expulsion from university if found out. Secret: Magnum Fraudulus The piece that you're most famous for purportedly relates real-life events that you experienced, but is in fact largey untrue. Prepare to be hounded by internet sleuths and investigative journalists interviewing everyone from your past. See season 5 of The Wire or Helen Demidenko for examples. Laziness: Writer's Block An aspected form of Laziness- when faced with a writing task or looming deadline, if you fail a self control roll you end up doing something unproductive or unrelated instead. (Not sure if this is the best fit for writer's block, but it is at least one aspect of it.)
__________________
Collaborative Settings: Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting! |
05-01-2017, 01:15 AM | #7 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
-- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG. |
||
05-01-2017, 01:16 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Maledictologist
You have made an intense study of the vocabulary of insults and foul language, and when to effectively use it. You gain a +1 bonus on rolls where this would be useful. (n.b., this is not in any way a compulsion to use such language inappropriately.) |
05-01-2017, 01:23 AM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
Collaborative Settings: Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting! Last edited by Daigoro; 05-01-2017 at 01:29 AM. |
||
05-01-2017, 01:58 AM | #10 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
|
Re: Literary Perks!
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
-- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG. |
||
|
|