Examples of failed self-control rolls in fiction

[thrash]

I think the only way to determine whether a fictional character should have a particular disadvantage is if it is a part of their character description. Then you can talk about how often they manage or fail to resist this particular trait.

Originally Posted by maximara

Lina Inverse's failures of Bad Temper were spectacular and common enough to earn her the nick name "Enemy of all who live"

Lina also suffers from Greed and Gluttony, at levels where it's more memorable when she does manage to resist. Goury shares the Gluttony trait. Amelia has some combination of Over-confidence, Impulsive, and Compulsive Posturing (Ally of Justice), although she buys these off over time.

Megumin (from Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!) has a -10 point Obsession with mastering Explosion magic (it's not clear whether it's one spell with many variants or college of closely related spells), to the point of refusing to learn any other type of magic, however useful, and optimizing for a single, FP-exhausting cast once per day. "Nice bakuretsu!"

[Varyon]

The Noble Dead Saga has quite a few. Leesil suffers from Alcoholism (which isn't quite an SC Disadvantage, given it's actually resisted by Will), but buys it off partway through Thief of Lives - his most notable lapse is when he drinks with some sailors during a card game, and ends up too drunk to effectively help Magiere fend off an assassination attempt. Magiere suffers from Bad Temper (and Stubbornness, but that's not an SC Disadvantage) for most of the series, although she eventually buys that down to Quirk level (or it may have been there from the start; I don't recall her actually being seriously inconvenienced by it). The whole reason the town they move to in Dhampir (which kicks off the whole plot) even suspected they had a vampire infestation was because Ratboy failed his SC roll against Unnatural Appetite, so that he didn't stop feeding until his victim was dead (IIRC, he had done this a few times). Oddly, Chane - despite often functioning as a creature of instinct - doesn't appear to have any SC Disadvantages above Quirk level. Early on, he indulged his Unnatural Appetite, but once he found out how new vampires are actually made, he refused to indulge it (and never fell off the bandwagon in this regard, implying no SC roll) - initially he'd let his victims bleed out rather than continue to feed (he still killed, as Toret never taught him the more subtle feeding methods available), and later he used magic to enhance how much sustenance he got from his victims (without directly feeding), to the extent he could easily subsist on animals (and in the end, he no longer needed to feed at all, playing guardian to an orb that sustained him). His obsession with Wynn seemed more like a Sense of Duty than GURPS Obsession.

[tshiggins]

Peter Quill going completely non-linear when he finds out how Thanos got the Soul Stone.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

In Lord of the Rings, Peregrine "Pippin" Took appears to have Curious. The bit where he has to look in the Palantir might be the effect of the item's magic rather than his character (although, in Middle Earth, such magic tends to play on preexisting character traits), but when, in Moria, he drops a stone down a dark shaft to see what happens (despite the need for quiet), that looks like a failed self-control roll.

I think Waverly Earp could give Pippin a run for his money in this department:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cQoJ7gjaM

sneaking into the lair of witch with dangerous demons who could 1-hit kill you?

keep a secure 2-handed grip on your rifle and eyes peeled for intruders?

or...

take hand off rifle to adjust jar-you-know-nothing-about-which-might-be-hexed to make sure it's equidistant from others on shelf?

even when she stops herself she has to glance back and examine their alignment... that's got to be a penalty on a vision check as your gaze averts from where it ought to be

[RyanW]

Madmartigan fails a self-control roll to resist Obsession, which he temporarily suffered due to a minor magic dust accident.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

(Bonus: Not a self-control disadvantage, but Tarkin is definitely Callous.)

Pretty much a requirement to be an Imperial.

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Return of the Jedi: Luke cutting loose on Vader is some kind of failed roll, but I'm not certain which. Maybe Berserk or Bad Temper.

Or just Luke going for Committed Attacks after appropriate dramatic dialogue. While he certainly has Sense of Duty and at least Quirk level Impulsiveness, he otherwise isn't written as Berserk or Bad Tempered.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Or just Luke going for Committed Attacks after appropriate dramatic dialogue. While he certainly has Sense of Duty and at least Quirk level Impulsiveness, he otherwise isn't written as Berserk or Bad Tempered.

Perhaps he might've been Afflicted with one of those temporary as some kind of Darkside force-emo-manipulation by Sidious?

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Pretty much every vulcan in Star Trek has some explosive episode.

Kirk used this to good effect against Spock in the first Kelvin Universe Star Trek movie, getting Spock to lose his temper and realize that he was not fit to command in the immediate aftermath of his home planet being blown up/mother's death.

Since the entire race is written as being emotionally repressed, with tendencies towards Bad Temper, Berserk, Bloodlust, Intolerance (Non-Vulcans), and Paranoia (Mitigator: Meditation), and since Vulcans are smarter and stronger than humans, you really don't want to taunt Happy Mr. Vulcan. In ST:Voyager, Tuvok nearly takes Neelix's head off a couple of times but refrains from doing so due to successful self-control rolls. At one point, IIRC, he fails a self-control roll and attacks Tom Paris.

Vulcan social etiquette also demands complete stoicism, so even having a lower self-control roll than the expected norm has social implications. In ST: Enterprise, I'm convinced that T'Pol was seconded to the smelly, emotionally-immature humans as punishment duty because she didn't have a sufficiently good self-control roll to resist Bad Temper and Compulsive Behavior (Exploring).

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

In Lord of the Rings, Peregrine "Pippin" Took appears to have Curious.

Another classic LOTR failed self-control roll is Boromir, whose Sense of Duty (Gondor) and a failed Overconfidence roll made him attempt to seize the One Ring from Frodo. In the aftermath, his Code of Honor, Sense of Duty, Proud quirk, and a second failed Overconfidence roll made him quit the Fellowship, resulting in his death, the capture of Pippin and Merry, and the Fellowship breaking up soon thereafter.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Another classic LOTR failed self-control roll is Boromir, whose Sense of Duty (Gondor) and a failed Overconfidence roll made him attempt to seize the One Ring from Frodo. In the aftermath, his Code of Honor, Sense of Duty, Proud quirk, and a second failed Overconfidence roll made him quit the Fellowship, resulting in his death, the capture of Pippin and Merry, and the Fellowship breaking up soon thereafter.

No, Boromir doesn't have Overconfidence. He doesn't swagger around believing he can handle anything that comes his way. He's quite sober about the decline of Gondor and its chances against Sauron (nil). I think he has perfectly justified Confidence (which isn't a trait in GURPS).

Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo because the Ring causes people to believe that they can get everything they want or need by using it. With the Ring I can command armies to victory. With the Ring I can create the greatest garden in Middle-earth. With the Ring people will serve me fresh fish from the sea every day. If you had to pick a disadvantage that the Ring induces in people, it's probably Megalomania (and it would probably be a straight Will roll to avoid acquiring it). It may or may not be accompanied by a Delusion. (With the Ring, Boromir actually COULD defeat Sauron, but Gollum would never get servants bringing him fresh fish daily. We already know what Gollum will do with the Ring because he already did it.)

Boromir never quit the Fellowship. He was responsible for the capture of Merry and Pippin only in that Frodo ran away from him, which meant he didn't return to the camp, and so everyone panicked and ran around looking for him, and Merry and Pippin ran into a bunch of orcs.

Boromir definitely has a Sense of Duty to Gondor as well as a Duty to Gondor. I don't think he has the Proud quirk: he is certainly proud, but the actual quirk is defined as being concerned with your personal success, wealth, or social standing, and Boromir is perfectly willing to subordinate all of that to serve Gondor. I might give him a quirk of "Defends the honor of Gondor; reacts at -1 to anyone who seems to slight it." I might also give him a quirk of "Provincial": he has trouble recognizing that Gondor isn't the only place in Middle-earth worth talking about.

If he has a Code of Honor, I'm not sure how I would define it.