Odious Personal Habits

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Bruno

This thread may be hoping for mostly -15 point OPHs, but it's collecting mostly -5s. Quoting Monty Python is not a -15 point OPH.

Insisting on only speaking in Monty Python And The Holy Grail quotes, and only responding to people who do the same? Beside being a "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" level of communication problem, that's possibly a -15 OPH. Either that, or a Delusion.

In GURPS Screampunk, "Quotes Gilbert and Sullivan" is only a quirk, and noted as the Victorian equivalent of quoting Monty Python.

More generally you could have "constantly makes references to some literature/media around people who can't be expected to be familiar with it." But I don't see how you could get that to -15.

[Not]

How about: being a celebrity?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

In GURPS Screampunk, "Quotes Gilbert and Sullivan" is only a quirk, and noted as the Victorian equivalent of quoting Monty Python.

More generally you could have "constantly makes references to some literature/media around people who can't be expected to be familiar with it." But I don't see how you could get that to -15.

Yelling it might, maybe.
Throwing in non-English words into common speech can quickly get annoying.
But verbal habits just seem incapable of rising to top tier OPH.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Giving sexual favors to invaders(to invaded obviously).

Usually, in an occupied country (e.g. Nazi occupied Euroe) that's merely a reprehensible form of prostitution (the occupying soldiers are the ones with the chocolate, nylon stockings and so forth, so it's reasonable to suspect that such women have an economic motivation for their choice of sexual partners).

Or if you happen to think that all prostitution is reprehensible, then that particular form is merely extra reprehensible.

It's not -15. Although it may well net you a serious Enemy disadvantage.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by malloyd

I'd think most people would just class you as "harmless lunatic who babbles nonsense all the time" and ignore you. That might be a -15 point disadvantage, but it's not an Odious Habit.

To hit a -15 point OPH with just words I'd expect you to have to work at it, selecting the most offensive things you could for the person you are currently speaking with. I reserve that level for stuff like "runs over peasants in the street, makes a special effort to target pregnant women", "throws parties where he rapes slave children" or "shoots pets any time he encounters children playing with one". Verbal equivalents maybe aren't inconceivable, but almost have to be deliberately offensive.

Have you watched the two recent French OSS-117 movies? The protagonist has an extreme case of cultural chauvanism. But in terms of OPH, I still don't think he hits -15, even when at one point he seeks out and (presumably severely) beats up a muzzein for making noise during the night time.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Not

How about: being a celebrity?

As in being famous?

Or specifically as in famous for being famous without actually having any kind of actual talent that makes you stand out (e.g. skill, or Talent with a capital "T", or high Appearance, or some other fairly rare advantage)?

Even in the 2nd case, it can only be an OPH if the celebrity constantly tries to remind everyone that he is a celebrity.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'll just point out that hotdogs can be all beef or all chicken.

Maybe I really just prefer somewhere else as a place for mediocre snack food?

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

I think this might be relevant...


http://bastion.free.fr/odieux.htm

[MetaRob]

These are some great ideas. I think one of the first ones I'll use is
"Pointing your loaded weapon at people for emphasis while speaking".
That's a great one for the character I'm thinking of.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'll just point out that hotdogs can be all beef or all chicken.

Turkey hotdogs exist as well; I haven't ever seen them sold as a fully prepared, ready to eat snack/light meal but simply as an item to pick up at the store, locally you can find them at any "non-minor" grocer. Well, any where I have bothered looking.

Getting back on topic, I am seeing something of a disconnect where some seem to insist on OPHs that really ratchet up the danger... but the cost of OPHs are based on the reaction penalty: -5 points per -1 reaction penalty, the standard guideline for GURPS. They do not have to be as overly dangerous as other specific Disadvantages because they usually inconvenience you in a different manner. If it seems like a bargain, then it would be nice if some of the posts insisting for -15 points your OPH should be provoking attacks from otherwise "average" citizens could mention they also think similarly priced social traits shouldn't be worth more than -15 points or explain to a confused otaku why there is a difference.

Basic Set: Characters provides no examples of -15 point traits. There are some being mentioned in the thread, and I recognize them from 3e. Between being from a supplement (as opposed to the core rules) and being "grandfathered" in, there seems sufficient room for error; perhaps some of the more problematic ones go above and beyond what is minimally required for a -15 point Odious Personal Habit. Or perhaps too much is being read into them; just because an Ogre has a Odious Racial Habit of "Eats Other Sentients" good for -15 points doesn't mean a human with the same thing as an Odious Racial Habit is going to have to be a murderer; while difficult and expensive such a person may procure human meat in a legal manner (in some settings, rather easily).

To move a "neutral" reaction to being attacked requires a lot of negative modifiers. The -3 to reaction rolls a -15 point OPH yields will make you more likely to be attacked, but without anything else, it just shifts the results on p. B560 up by one: "Neutral" requires rolling a 13 to 15 because after the penalty it becomes a 7 to 10, "Poor" happens on a roll of 10 to 12 because after the penalty is applied it is a 7 to 9, etc.