New Trait: Youthful

[jay042]

Youthful (minor bad trait)
The character is not seen by society as a responsible adult due to their age. Adults will often not take them seriously, especially if they are spreading fanciful stories about their neighbors being alien robots or Silurians hiding in the sewers. They will be at -2 for any time you are trying to warn adults about possible threats or other situations where they might think your judgement is suspect. Depending upon the time period, the age of what is considered might differ, though on average it usually is around 16.

[markrand]

At what age would the Youthful trait be available?

[olegrand]

Dec 14, 2016 16:48:31 GMT jay042 said:

Youthful (minor bad trait)They will be at -2 for any reaction rolls to adults.

Wouldn't there be situations where this penalty wouldn't apply or could even be turned into a +2 bonus (e.g. convincing adults that you're innocent / harmless / ignorant etc. when you aren't) ?

[jay042]

Dec 14, 2016 18:11:36 GMT markrand said:

At what age would the Youthful trait be available?

I'd put the cutoff around 16.

olegrand said:

Wouldn't there be situations where this penalty wouldn't apply or could even be turned into a +2 bonus (e.g. convincing adults that you're innocent / harmless / ignorant etc. when you aren't) ?

Possibly, maybe if the player used a story point?


Mostly I'm thinking of the classic trope of the kids seeing the evil things all around them and their parents being totally oblivious and thinking the kids are imagining things.

[markrand]

One idea I had was to have two characters. One is an airline stewardess from the late 1960s. The other is the stewardess' 10-year old cousin who is heading to the airport with her so that she can join the other members of her girl scout troop for a tour.

[olegrand]

Dec 14, 2016 23:45:24 GMT jay042 said:

Possibly, maybe if the player used a story point?

Since using a single story point can give you 2 extra dice on a roll (or shift a result by one category once rolled), this would really feel like a swindle, uh?

Dec 14, 2016 23:45:24 GMT jay042 said:

Mostly I'm thinking of the classic trope of the kids seeing the evil things all around them and their parents being totally oblivious and thinking the kids are imagining things.

That's a good idea, really... it was only the "-2 to ALL reaction rolls" thing that seemed a bit all-too-encompassing in game terms. That being said, the topic of Convincing other people that aliens etc. exist would be an interesting one to tackle in general.

[jay042]

I was kind of basing this off of the Dogsbody trait from Primeval. I was thinking it was a lot more encompassing than how it was written

Maybe just a -2 any time you are trying to warn adults about possible threats or other situations where they might think your judgement is suspect.

As for kids skating by thanks to adults not being suspicious of them, that might also depend if they have the charming trait.

[da professor]

Just as a thought, if the campaign is a variant which doesn't involve time travel, the cut off age for this trait could be different depending on the time period. In the middle ages( particularly early in the period) a teen would be an adult, but in the Victorian era and later, some people have/had difficulty being taken seriously into their twenties.

[markrand]

The other idea I had was that the young girl is flying as an unaccompanied minor and that a screw up in arrangements prevented her from being picked up at the airport. Since the girl's father is at a convention at the same hotel the stewardess is staying overnight at, she agrees to bring the girl there.

[jay042]

The main reasoning of this trait was due to me trying to stat up a younger version of Sherlock Holmes from the 80's movie Young Serlock Holmes. In the movie he did make a nuisance of himself to Lestrade by constantly throwing out his outlandish mystery theories. Throughout the movie people did not take him or Watson seriously since they were just schoolboys.

[Catsmate]

Dec 17, 2016 3:10:48 GMT jay042 said:

The main reasoning of this trait was due to me trying to stat up a younger version of Sherlock Holmes from the 80's movie Young Serlock Holmes. In the movie he did make a nuisance of himself to Lestrade by constantly throwing out his outlandish mystery theories. Throughout the movie people did not take him or Watson seriously since they were just schoolboys.

Have you seen the TV series? Rather good and undeservedly obscure.


The idea of young characters is an interesting one, given the Sarah Jane Adventures and Class.

[senko]

I admit my first thought on reading the trait went to all the horror movies with a little kid essentially spattered in blood and holding a knife behind their back saying "The bad man went that way" tearful eyes, adult turns around, stab, stab, stab. So I agree there are situations where being a cute little kid or even just a kid could be an advantage. Maybe two versions that aren't exclusive so you can have both, need both. The bad trait makes it hard to make adults take you seriously while the good trait does the same thing but for situations where you would benefit. That is . . .

Trying to tell the adults that a big scary thing with long fingers ripped off its leg and put on the dead police officer = "Poor childs truamatized, get a counselor in here."

Trying to convince someone your not involved in the dead body and don't know anything = "Poor childs probably going to need a counselor put her in the room over there till Sally gets in, here honey have some hot chocolate."

Both cases are the same situation but in the first one its a negative trait because your trying to get them to take you seriously against a penalty while in the second your getting a bonus because your trying to convince them you don't understand what's happening and are scared.

As for the age I would leave that to GM determination because depending on the time period/culture/social class that age of adulthood could vary from 12 or younger up to late 20's/early 30's and that's not counting individual differences such as Tom was a genius already considered the par of adults at 8 while Sam was a decadent fop living in his parents poolhouse and relying on them for everything well into his 40s. Sure same isn't going to immediately be treated as a child in a major city but in a small town where everyone know's everyone. Then you have alien species and people who just look younger/older than they are. Someone who's of a shapeshifting species could be eligeable for the trait in their normal "I'm cute and helpless please don't scare me" form and not in their "I'm not a big scary predator really? This umm that's my disemboweling arm but I don't use it . . . much honest and not on people." form. Of course on top of this we are dealing with a time travel game where the brilliant professor could be aged back into a child and retain all their memories so they get the penalty on all interactions with adults outside the base but not inside where the staff know what happened.

I also agree convincing someone of aliens could be an interesting challenge especially in a "modern" game where torchwood, unit and who know's how many other organizations are busily trying to ensure the general public doesn't know or at least believe in them.

[olegrand]

Dec 15, 2016 22:00:24 GMT jay042 said:

Maybe just a -2 any time you are trying to warn adults about possible threats or other situations where they might think your judgement is suspect.

Yes, I think that would be neater - and closer to what you wanted to reflect in game terms.

Dec 15, 2016 22:00:24 GMT jay042 said:

As for kids skating by thanks to adults not being suspicious of them, that might also depend if they have the charming trait.

Good reasoning - especially since, as a minor bad trait, Youthful would give you the points to buy Charming.

While we're on this topic, perhaps we could also imagine a related / reverse trait for adults - something reflecting an utter, complete disbelief (and refusal to believe) in aliens and other weird stuff (even when faced with evidence or actual events). Unless I'm mistaken, I don't recall this has been treated in game terms in one of the supplements (yes, I should have checked before posting) and the tendency of many people to "rationalize" / "debunk" alien encounters as publicity stunts, mass hysteria crazes etc. or whatever is a fairly recurrent topic in various DW / Torchwood stories. This could be a Minor Bad Trait, along the lines of Argumentative, By the Book etc. What name would fit this description? Skeptic? Scoffer? Denial? But obviously it should be avoided for PCs...

[jay042]

Dec 18, 2016 15:19:48 GMT olegrand said:

While we're on this topic, perhaps we could also imagine a related / reverse trait for adults - something reflecting an utter, complete disbelief (and refusal to believe) in aliens and other weird stuff (even when faced with evidence or actual events). Unless I'm mistaken, I don't recall this has been treated in game terms in one of the supplements (yes, I should have checked before posting) and the tendency of many people to "rationalize" / "debunk" alien encounters as publicity stunts, mass hysteria crazes etc. or whatever is a fairly recurrent topic in various DW / Torchwood stories. This could be a Minor Bad Trait, along the lines of Argumentative, By the Book etc. What name would fit this description? Skeptic? Scoffer? Denial? But obviously it should be avoided for PCs...

Well, before meeting the Doctor, Donna clearly had the trait

I'd call it "Oblivious" 

[moondragon007]

Dec 18, 2016 16:32:16 GMT jay042 said:

Dec 18, 2016 15:19:48 GMT olegrand said:

While we're on this topic, perhaps we could also imagine a related / reverse trait for adults - something reflecting an utter, complete disbelief (and refusal to believe) in aliens and other weird stuff (even when faced with evidence or actual events). Unless I'm mistaken, I don't recall this has been treated in game terms in one of the supplements (yes, I should have checked before posting) and the tendency of many people to "rationalize" / "debunk" alien encounters as publicity stunts, mass hysteria crazes etc. or whatever is a fairly recurrent topic in various DW / Torchwood stories. This could be a Minor Bad Trait, along the lines of Argumentative, By the Book etc. What name would fit this description? Skeptic? Scoffer? Denial? But obviously it should be avoided for PCs...

Well, before meeting the Doctor, Donna clearly had the trait

I'd call it "Oblivious" 

Scully in X-Files also has this trait, even after seeing all kinds of supernatural and extraterrestrial stuff go down. I'd call it "Sceptic" or "Unimaginative".