FYI: This is not a D&D game. It's a CthulhuTech Tager game. For those who don't know what that means: Lovecraftian horror meets anime action. Tager means we're all playing "superheroes" who gain their power by bonding with an eldritch horror, which tends to amplify certain personality traits. In my character's case, pride and sadism. So now add that on top of the existing attitude problems.
Basically there's nothing you can do to know where the line is, other then asking the people you play with. The line is different for each player.
- It's OK to play a character with a bad attitude, but give the other members of the team a good reason to work with him in spite of his character flaws.
- These sorts of characters tend to have strong personalities, and can often leave much deeper footprints in the game than more traditional heroes, so beware of making character choices that derail the story, and know when to step into the spotlight, when to share it, and when to step out of it and let milder characters get a chance to shine.
- Make sure that you and the other players and the DM all understand what your character concept is out-of-game so that it doesn't come as a nasty shock to anyone, and come up with some way for the other players or DM to tell you back off in the event that the character goes too far and makes the players uncomfortable, rather than just their characters. (It's probably strangely appropriate in this case to borrow an idea from a different kind of role-playing: BDSM relationships, which use a "safe word" to stop the play when things go too far, and a participant is no longer enjoying things, and is really uncomfortable, hurt or scared out-of-character.)
- You might also want to put extra care into making sure you give your character recognizably and understandably human motivations and reactions so that the other players can follow the logic of why the character does what he does. It might not be necessary in all groups, but most role-players recognize and appreciate the storytelling effort, and will be more likely to forgive a difficult character as a result.
These types of characters can be fun for everyone involved, but it's a bit trickier to play them successfully, and a bit trickier for other PCs to play with them, so expect to put a little extra hard work, sacrifice, responsibility, and communication into playing the character.
But, when things work out well, they can be very rewarding characters to play.
Good luck, and have fun
As for your concerns, the Ta'ge symbiots enhance a characters personality, but to control the Ta'ge requires a bit of personal discipline. Maybe in his normal form he's got a bit more of a handel on his attitude to the point that he's at least civil enough to speak to without wanting to punch him in the face. You can be sarcastic and edgy without going the whole douche package and still make the character work, and it makes the Ta'ge symbiot more memorable if you save the juciest jerk moments for after transformation. Nothing like a giant monster barreling down the enemies throats for scuffing his shoes prior to the change after all XD
To that end, it may make for interesting roleplay and character building to take appropriate flaws in order to justify the behavior at the table without everyone flying off at the handel about it. "Mean" and "Short Fuse" are great flaws in the primary book that give you the opportunity to roleplay your character in such a way that it fits both flavor wise as well as mechanically.
Hope that helps. Happy Gaming
(BTW: Which Ta'ge is your character bonded to? I had a Spectre I flavored as a sniper that was pretty awesome when I played for a while
)And ToeSama, glad to see you know and love CthulhuTech too. I'm playing a Vampire. Game is aiming for Metamorphosis, and my higher level start means I get three prerequisites crossed off and 70 xp to spend. As for flaws, I've already bought Dark Secret and Duty 1 (sister). His dark secret? He's already betrayed the Eldritch Society by sharing their secret with his sister. Well, less share so much as rush in and rip a few Deep Ones apart when they messed with family. For me, I think that's a more representative flaw: for all his tough guy attitude, there are some things he cares about very passionately.
So how do you play a bully and not piss off other players. I wanted to play, Shamash, a dragonborn blackguard with the vice of domination. He is large, prideful and domineering. But he knows his strength and weaknesses. He is also a team player, wants to help his friends thrive and succede. But who better to be team captain and help his friends to succede than Shamash. Yeah he refers to himself in the third person, "Shamash will lead you to victory! Follow Shamash!"
I think I will play him loud and always will give his opinion, if its requested or not. He will yield to those he believes know better than him. As a team player he will yield to the wishes of the party, but sulks if he doesn't ger his way. But I want him to be pushy when he is right. I also see him picking and berrating those he feels falls short.
If the DM is OK with running that sort of campaign and the other players are OK with being part of a gang of bullies, then it seems like a dynamic that should work smoothly. Plenty of opportunities for all the PCs to brag and throw their weight around, while the rest of the party laughs and pats each other on the back....
Woosh! Dropping In! If this isn't the place just tell me to beat it. But I thought it redundant to start another thread.
So how do you play a bully and not piss off other players. I wanted to play, Shamash, a dragonborn blackguard with the vice of domination. He is large, prideful and domineering. But he knows his strength and weaknesses. He is also a team player, wants to help his friends thrive and succede. But who better to be team captain and help his friends to succede than Shamash. Yeah he refers to himself in the third person, "Shamash will lead you to victory! Follow Shamash!"
I think I will play him loud and always will give his opinion, if its requested or not. He will yield to those he believes know better than him. As a team player he will yield to the wishes of the party, but sulks if he doesn't ger his way. But I want him to be pushy when he is right. I also see him picking and berrating those he feels falls short.
Whoever said he's a bully? He's hot-headed and doesn't let many people get close, but he's not evil. Twisted, yes, but no more than any other character in this other game system. We're all starting with at least 1 insanity point, where 10 is the point of no return. Mostly, he's just got a lot of rough edges. The kind of guy you hate until you become comrades in arms and he finally opens up.
I replied to sirkaikillah's variation on your question.
Whoever said he's a bully? He's hot-headed and doesn't let many people get close, but he's not evil. Twisted, yes, but no more than any other character in this other game system. We're all starting with at least 1 insanity point, where 10 is the point of no return. Mostly, he's just got a lot of rough edges. The kind of guy you hate until you become comrades in arms and he finally opens up.
I replied to sirkaikillah's variation on your question.
Ah. My bad.
... Bullies tend to surround themselves with like-minded bullies of equivalent strength, and direct their agression together against weaker people. Equivalent strength: stronger bullies are avoided, and weaker people are fair game...
So that is not the kind of character I want to play. Maybe bully is the wrong word, overbearing maybe a better word to describe the character I want to play. I see Shamash as the kind of character to defend the weak from the classic bully described above, through intimidation and out right confrontation. He is not one to look for weak people to pick on, but uses intimitation and threats to get what he wants from foes and allies alike. I really do not want to represent the classic bully YronimosW describes above. I can play a overbearing intimitating hero but the pick on the weak classic bully is just a villian.
Whether straightforward bully, or an overbearing blowhard, or just a hero who knows what he wants and has no patience for NPCs or his team mates interfering with his getting it, my experience has been that the biggest obstacle in your way will be the quieter and more timid PCs; the worst case scenario is that such PCs get pushed into the background by a particularly imposing PC. The best way to prevent that and other common problems encountered by any of these PC types is communication: talk to the other players before the campaign starts, let them know what to expect, and encourage them to speak up if they seem to need the encouragement, and I'm sure everything will be just fine.
Good luck and have fun - let us know how things work out.
Your character's attitude shouldn't create strife amoung your group... attitude doesn't back someone into a corner. Letting your attitude carry over into actual dice rolls against other players... that's when you've crossed the line. That's not role-playing, that's attacking someone with rules. So long as those issues stay seperate, then your ruffian should have a fine home in any role-playing troupe. If another player reacts with violence to your character's attitude, then they're the ones at fault. Dice aren't meant to be used against people at the table, DM excluded.