Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ultimateconjurer 11-30-06, 02:37 PM	The alienist eventually goes crazy, right? How would you role play that?
Kitaki 11-30-06, 02:54 PM	Stare into space, alot. It helps for long stretches where you cannot come up with appropriatly insane things to do. Then suddenly burst out with the crazyness. Introverted insane people are easier to RP then the ones that are Extroverted 24/7.
Cam S. 11-30-06, 03:22 PM	Have your character compulsively perform a strange action--lick windows, collect limbs of fallen foes with a hacksaw, draw strange geometric patterns on every surface available. Put a lot of skill points into knowledge (mathematics), and use it for everything, or something like that. This, combined with the above introversion suggestion, should make your character strange, disturbing, and interesting.
Tacitus_Acheros 11-30-06, 08:32 PM	Check out some of the Villainous Traits and Mental Symptoms of Taint from the Heroes of Horror book for some ideas. Some of the highlights: Always looks just past the person he's speaking to, never making eye contact. Fingers constantly twitch, as though eager to grab and throttle Practices strange religious rites and observances that match no faith known to others, such as adding "holy salt" to anything he eats, drinks, or administers to others. Mutters the same prayer, scripture, or quotation over and over. Speaks with and makes gestures towards empty space. Appears to be listening to some unheard sound or voice. Refers to other people as "it," never "him," "her," or "you," even when speaking to them. Stares a little too intently at people as they talk, never looking away. You could also imitate those poor Sanctioned Psykers from W40K (aside from the chance of having you head explode when you try to use your powers), by going into weird spasms for no visible reason and talking as though you were on the wrack: "My mind bears a great pain!" "Ah...(disturbing laughter) so you need me now?" "I...(wheeze) knew you'd say that..." "Their fate is...foretold" "I already know what you want..." "Do you know...what you ask?" "Witness your doom!!! There's always the list of Short- and Long-Term insanity effects from Call of Cthulhu too, if you feel like going retro.
Kitaki 11-30-06, 10:06 PM	Speaking of Cthulhu, the term "Cthulhu fhtagn" will either make you sound plain old nuts if your DM isn't familiar with Cthulhu, or make them say "Aw ****" becaues you've just told him a possible alien entity you've been in contact with.
Fithero 12-01-06, 10:15 AM	If you want, you can check out the last episode of firefly, where the assassian sneaks aboard Serenity. This guy is cold and calculating, was extremely smart (and had some views which were pretty interesting to say the least... i actually think they are real world aswell... something about finding and knowing the 'purpose' of 'things'). Anyway, the guy was totally bat-$hit crazy, he had anti-social tendencies... memory lapses.... and licked certain objects. Playing crazy is like playing a paladin... most people screw it up and play lawfull stupid. They go overboard and just screw things up. A good place to look is in any of the World of Darkness books... they have a pretty extensive list of mental illnesses and their effects, im pretty sure Unearthed Arcana has some aswell. Just dont go overboard or youll tick off the dm and players by taking the spotlight. Make it subtle, yet very eerie.... just really small things that come out of no where and totally creep everyone else out. Anyway, hope this helps some... and made sense??? Peace
RavingDork 12-02-06, 01:01 PM	Here is the bio to one of my characters (a psion: telepath). I though it might help to serve as an example. Appearance: Jackal appears as an emaciated young man with pale skin, no body hair, and hundreds of small scars from head to toe. His gray eyes and thin, wry smile only serve to enhance his crazed appearance. His movements, although seemingly random, are incredibly deft and agile. Clothing: Jackal, even while incarcerated, wears the tattered black robes and magical mask that he has always worn. Personality: Jackal watched his family murdered by demons as a child; consequently this traumatizing event coupled with the emergence of his psionic powers at puberty quickly drove him to madness. His insanity makes him constantly chuckle and mutter to himself in strange tongues, and he seems unable to follow arguments or conversations for long. However, his insanity does not prevent him from seeing danger or menace when it threatens—or defending himself with lightning speed and efficiency. Jackal’s moments of lucidity are rare, but even then, he is a masochist and sadist in the extreme. He seems to revel in the terror his appearance causes among the natives of his country whom he terrorized for so long. History/Background: The orphaned son of a noble family, Jackal is still a force to be reckoned with in his home country, even since his recent incarceration for suspicion of multiple murders. While he was free, Jackal was a serial killer, an enforcer of madness and violence. Known by many names, he wondered among the cities of his country, killing anyone he identified as an enemy (whether or not they actually were) with his psionic compulsions. Even in those days he was a psychopath prone to fits of extreme violence; since his incarceration, however, he has lost any vestige of sanity he still possessed. Indeed, it is this complete lack of sanity as well as the absence of any true evidence of his crimes that stayed his execution. Now that he is a captive in one of the most heavily guarded prisons in his country, Jackal still manages to disappear for long periods of time (much to the chagrin of his supposed captors) and can be found wondering the countryside almost as often as he can be found in his cell.