McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

How would you build a character like this? Someone who is phenomenally bad and blissfully oblivious about it?

William McGonagall - worst poet ever? (the HP character is named after him)
Florence Foster Jenkins - Horribly bad singer
Tommy Wiseau - his movie the Room has attained cult status as dwarfing Ed Wood when it comes to directorial ineptness

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

Are you referring to Gilderoy Lockehart? McGonagall is pretty competent, last I checked...

I probably wouldn't build such a character, but massive Delusions, massive OPH, truly stupendous Luck and Serendipity to have lived this long and keep living... that's the basis.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

Oops. Forgot to add links.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

Oh ****, I thought you meant Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther: Wiseau, it's close enough. These are all real people? How depressing. I wouldn't run a game with any of them. Take Pitiable. Hell, pretend it's a leveled trait and take it 3 times to represent how much fun people have mocking them.

You might get more "obviously terrible famous singer" recognition with William Hung, by the way.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

Florence Foster Jenkins requires no introduction.

It's probably important to distinguish between critical reception (loudly negative) and practical effects (draws a significant audience). Arguably, since all three of those people got/get no end of work, they actually do have skill in Poetry, Singing, and Professional Skill (Movie Director). It's possible that they have Delusions preventing them from understanding the nature of their talents ("My work is beautiful art rather than the aesthetic equivalent of a car wreck people can't look away from."), but they can still put the skills to practical effect. This may also be setting a poor threshold for "incompetent." For example, no matter how bad he may be relative to other directors, Wiseau has nevertheless directed more feature films than any three or four forum members combined.

Alternatively, they have some other audience-drawing capabilities. La Jenkins, for example, had money for publicity and some sort of Reputation which drew people in, if only to mock her. Wiseau and McGonagall may have built their success on other skills. McGonagall, apparently, was a skilled performer even if he was an incompetent poet. Maybe Wiseau is bad in a director's chair but a brilliant motivator and negotiator, able to persuade people to give him what he needs to make those bad movies.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

That's the impression I get. He is good at other things, like convincing people to give him money, but making movies... not so much. Ed Wood had the same power of persuasion IIRC.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

As mentioned above, a delusion ("My works are flawless masterpieces that everyone loves!") would probably cover this, perhaps combined with some degree of Overconfidence or Megalomania. Add in the Incompetence quirk if you think their rating in the relevant skill isn't low enough.

If they're genuinely neurologically incapable of recognizing their own flaws, you might also want to build them a Neurological Disorder for Anosognosia.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

Is this maybe a case for the dread Anti-Talent? I would expect them to be bad at neighboring fields as well, although I haven't tested them.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

When trying to estimate their actual skill values, you need to be very careful. Don't compare them to successful professional artists (who are at the very tip of an extremely competitive pyramid), but rather low-level hobbyists: people who take regular singing lessons, high school poets and the like. 1 pt in the relevant skill and a delusion which convinces them that they are already great and don't need to improve would probably be perfectly reasonable.

Re: McGonagall - Foster Jenkins - Wiseau
 

No. I don't think the case has been made that they're notably worse at what they do than anybody else working without acquiring a skill. They've just managed to thrust themselves into arenas where their quite possibly garden-variety incompetence is judged by the standards of professional work. The question is not, for example, whether or not Wiseau is a worse director than, say, Kurosawa and Ford. It's whether or not he's a worse director than you.