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WarKitty
2010-08-26, 08:32 AM
So we all have gamed with the munchkin. Threads dedicated to his hatred abound. I'm curious - how many have gamed with the loonie? This has usually been the type of problem player I've had to handle.


http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLoonie

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 08:44 AM
We once played an entire 30-level 3.5 campaign dedicated to being the loonies:

We had a dwarven sorcerer named Rhon Jheremy, whose spells all had sexual innuendo written all over them. Message became Sweet Nothings, Tenser's Floating Disk became Rhon's Rotating Love Bed, and I don't think I'm allowed to say what Magic Missile was called. :smallwink:

I played Sho'Nuff the nearsighted monk. Great in melee, couldn't throw a shuriken to save his life. Not much to say here, I was kind of just the enabler in the group anyways.

Then there was Metro the Gnome Bard. (Metro-Gnome, metronome? Get it.) Also he was extremely metro-sexual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosexual). He sang a bunch of boy band songs to inspire us.

Being the loony is great fun when everybody's in on it (except the DM, of course; can't clue him in until you spring the characters on him).

WarKitty
2010-08-26, 08:47 AM
We once played an entire 30-level 3.5 campaign dedicated to being the loonies:

We had a dwarven sorcerer named Rhon Jheremy, whose spells all had sexual innuendo written all over them. Message became Sweet Nothings, Tenser's Floating Disk became Rhon's Rotating Love Bed, and I don't think I'm allowed to say what Magic Missile was called. :smallwink:

I played Sho'Nuff the nearsighted monk. Great in melee, couldn't throw a shuriken to save his life. Not much to say here, I was kind of just the enabler in the group anyways.

Then there was Metro the Gnome Bard. (Metro-Gnome, metronome? Get it.) Also he was extremely metro-sexual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosexual). He sang a bunch of boy band songs to inspire us.

Being the loony is great fun when everybody's in on it (except the DM, of course; can't clue him in until you spring the characters on him).

Yeah I could see it being great fun. Mostly the problems I have are when one player insists on being the loonie in a serious group.

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 08:51 AM
You always have to have one, IMO. As long as there are limits to his/her shenanigans,and he/she knows how to be serious when it's called for.

WinWin
2010-08-26, 08:51 AM
Loonies can be dangerous. In my experience they shift between mildly disruptive and enteraining roleplayers. Worth the trouble of DMing for, especially when they do something memorable (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyAwesome)

Such as a player in one of my games having his character grapple a Remorhaz, deliberately getting swallowed by said Remorhaz and then sending the table into hysterical laughter for 5 minutes with the best Jim Carrey impersonation I have ever heard. By the time everyone settled down and got back to the combat he had decided to empty his characters belt pouch (which had a few doses of poison) directly into the creatures belly and then Word of Recall to safety.

Greenish
2010-08-26, 08:53 AM
It can be funny when not overdone (or kender :smallfurious:), as long as the player is not hogging all the attention, and the character can still hold it's own (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunnyEarsLawyer).

My first character in a pen-and-paper RPG ever was one (understandably because I was new, and an over-the-top personality was easier to handle). I still have my friend's sketch of him stored with my luckiest dice (and occasionally have to explain why the halfling pictured is devouring a dog his own size in one gulp).

Kurald Galain
2010-08-26, 08:56 AM
So we all have gamed with the munchkin. Threads dedicated to his hatred abound. I'm curious - how many have gamed with the loonie?
Sure. I've found two problems with loonies.

One, while they're hilarious in the right kind of campaign, they can be game-wrecking in an overly serious kind of campaign. This can usually be alleviated by treating his more over-the-top suggestions as OOC.

Two, not every player can pull it off. There is a difference between making remarks about genitalia all day, and actually being funny. This kind of player usually quits on his own once he realizes that nobody's laughing at his jokes.

arrowhen
2010-08-26, 08:57 AM
1. Make sure all the players agree on the general tone of the campaign before the game starts.

2. Lead by example.

3. Consistently ensure that all actions have reasonable and appropriate consequences.

Winterwind
2010-08-26, 08:57 AM
I've encountered two of these species so far... in both cases, sooner or later we ended up no longer inviting the Loonie when we were going to be roleplaying. Both of them proved to be too disruptive and inconsiderate of what the rest of the group was aiming for.

Of course, if the group had been deliberately aiming for zany antics, that would have been a different matter entirely.

Noneoyabizzness
2010-08-26, 09:00 AM
have had almost all my players be a loonie in at least one campaign. never had a player do it all the time though

Kurald Galain
2010-08-26, 09:01 AM
1. Make sure all the players agree on the general tone of the campaign before the game starts.

2. Lead by example.

3. Consistently ensure that all actions have reasonable and appropriate consequences.

4. Play Toon with them, or Paranoia.

5. ???

6. Profit!

Winterwind
2010-08-26, 09:04 AM
4. Play Toon with them, or Paranoia.

5. ???

6. Profit!Definitely seconded. A game practically designed for that turns what might have been an annoyance otherwise into a really fun experience. :smallbiggrin:

valadil
2010-08-26, 09:04 AM
We've got one now. What's different about him than the description WK posted is that he's not really attracted to the weirdness in the system. He just kind of makes up his own stuff to see what happens. If we played WoD, he's probably be attracted to Malkavian but wouldn't play it any differently than any other group.

I think he takes a birds eye view to the game. He's not playing as his character. He's watching his character. And he wants to make it blow up in the most fantastic way possible.

WarKitty
2010-08-26, 09:06 AM
Definitely seconded. A game practically designed for that turns what might have been an annoyance otherwise into a really fun experience. :smallbiggrin:

Depends on the player. Unfortunately a lot of mine have been of the "LOL fart joke!" variety. And have led to strict rules of Things Players May Not Joke About due to the prevalence of insensitivity.

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 09:07 AM
4. Play Toon with them, or Paranoia.

5. ???

6. Profit!

TOOOOOOOOON!!!!!

Know where I can get a copy (if it's even still in print)?

Starscream
2010-08-26, 09:23 AM
I've been the Loonie before. Great times.

My most notable character that filled this role was Hank/Don, my gestalt Warblade/Healer. I took the multi-headed template so I had two heads, with polar opposite personalities. Hank was hotheaded and bloodthirsty, Don was a wussy pacifist.

I would actually roll each round of combat to see who was controlling the body, and play accordingly. This drove the DM to distraction, as there was no way to predict whether I would be trying to talk the enemies out of fighting, or run at them screaming and swinging an axe.

The whole character was a reference to Hank and Don Hall, two DC superheroes also known as Hawk and Dove, who had a similar dynamic (though without sharing a body). Needless to say, they spent most of their time bickering.

The best part was that even though they had opposite personalities, they still had access to all the same powers. Hank could heal himself quite effectively, and Don could bust out some impressive maneuvers when he really needed to (though he'd be apologizing the whole time).

WarKitty
2010-08-26, 09:25 AM
I've been the Loonie before. Great times.

My most notable character that filled this role was Hank/Don, my gestalt Warblade/Healer. I took the multi-headed template so I had two heads, with polar opposite personalities. Hank was hotheaded and bloodthirsty, Don was a wussy pacifist.

I would actually roll each round of combat to see who was controlling the body, and play accordingly. This drove the DM to distraction, as there was no way to predict whether I would be trying to talk the enemies out of fighting, or run at them screaming and swinging an axe.

The whole character was a reference to Hank and Don Hall, two DC superheroes also known as Hawk and Dove, who had a similar dynamic (though without sharing a body). Needless to say, they spent most of their time bickering.

The best part was that even though they had opposite personalities, they still had access to all the same powers. Hank could heal himself quite effectively, and Don could bust out some impressive maneuvers when he really needed to (though he'd be apologizing the whole time).

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Unfortunately most of the loonies I've gamed with either didn't have any decent powers or never used them. That and the "HAHA you said ass!" jokes...

Yukitsu
2010-08-26, 01:29 PM
I usually just ignore him, as does the DM for the most part. They kind of turn out more normal when you ignore them.

kyoryu
2010-08-26, 01:33 PM
I've played with two types of Loonies:

1) The Silly Loonie, who is probably the most common (plays Kender, does everything for lulz, etc.)
2) The Psycho Loonie, who primarily wants to get away with as much extreme stuff as possible (put the enemies' heads on stakes and do a puppet show with 'em for the town? Sure, why not!)

I think the second type is actually more disruptive, unless the entire group wants to play that style. The first group can be contained, and with a modicum of control, can even enhance a game.

Greenish
2010-08-26, 03:04 PM
(put the enemies' heads on stakes and do a puppet show with 'em for the town? Sure, why not!)There's a term for that. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyAwesome)

Keld Denar
2010-08-26, 03:09 PM
Back when 3.0 first came out, I had a player play a Cleric of Micheal Jordan. He was the hero god of Air and Travel. Get it? Lol!

Reis Tahlen
2010-08-26, 04:04 PM
I regularly play a Loonie, with two rules: never kill the mood, and never kill the game.

My current character is a Goblin Spirit Shaman, Ratgash, the "Cutest Goblin in the World". He is overly kind and polite; Carebears look like psycho next to him. He always worries about the well-being of his group, and place healthy communication above violence. He loves flowers, and animals, and people, and... and... everything! He asks the Necro Priest if "he had nice dreams and slept well", he worries the barbarian's lunch is hot and delicious enough, and so on...

GM: A sudden, freezing wind blows...
Ratgash: <To the near NSFW Sorceress> Oh my, you'll catch sneezing-nose! Here, take ma blanket, you'll be warm!
NSFW Sorceress: Errr... No, thanks. But it is cute of you.
Ratgash: My mommy sez I'm the cutestest goblin!

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 06:11 PM
Back when 3.0 first came out, I had a player play a Cleric of Micheal Jordan. He was the hero god of Air and Travel. Get it? Lol!

...and lol I did. That may be a classic.

BladeSingerXIV
2010-08-26, 06:54 PM
Most of the groups I've been in have been fairly loony-friendly. For example, it was not a problem when we had a "I want to eat shoes and pee on the dead dragon" barbarian in the party (which he did, if you were wondering).

I'm a touch frustrated by an upcoming game, though. It's Mutants and Masterminds, and one guy in the group has put all of his power points into two things: 1) a sidekick who is as good as the sidekick can get at our level, 2) the highest charisma he can manage while maintaining the following, and 3) a max-power continuous emotion control that makes everyone think he's awesome. His stats other than charisma suck, he has no defenses or toughness bonus, and he has no attack abilities. The emotion control is even limited to only being able to make people think he's awesome. He intends to go around roleplaying stupid until a fight breaks out and he gets taken out in one shot, then playing his sidekick instead.
I'm not that serious a roleplayer, but there is no reason for that character to be with us. He should just be playing his sidekick, and I'm kind of hoping that early on he gets hit by someone doing lethal damage and botches his save...

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 06:57 PM
Most of the groups I've been in have been fairly loony-friendly. For example, it was not a problem when we had a "I want to eat shoes and pee on the dead dragon" barbarian in the party (which he did, if you were wondering).

I'm a touch frustrated by an upcoming game, though. It's Mutants and Masterminds, and one guy in the group has put all of his power points into two things: 1) a sidekick who is as good as the sidekick can get at our level, 2) the highest charisma he can manage while maintaining the following, and 3) a max-power continuous emotion control that makes everyone think he's awesome. His stats other than charisma suck, he has no defenses or toughness bonus, and he has no attack abilities. The emotion control is even limited to only being able to make people think he's awesome. He intends to go around roleplaying stupid until a fight breaks out and he gets taken out in one shot, then playing his sidekick instead.
I'm not that serious a roleplayer, but there is no reason for that character to be with us. He should just be playing his sidekick, and I'm kind of hoping that early on he gets hit by someone doing lethal damage and botches his save...

But if he makes everybody think he's super awesome, won't they just fall down and worship him? Sounds more like a villain to me.

Mongoose87
2010-08-26, 07:00 PM
I don't see how you can get anything done, when all you do is flip a coin.

kestrel404
2010-08-26, 07:07 PM
I'm probably the Loonie for my group. I used to be GM, and now I'm taking this opportunity to relax and unwind and have fun messing with my friend who's running the game.

Currently, I'm playing an Orc Thief in Earthdawn. In the Earthdawn setting, there is no such spell as 'polymorph', no such ability as 'wild shape', and basically no way at all to shapeshift. But the GM, in his infinite wisdom, gave the party a staff that allows whoever is using it to shapeshift when they use a particular power (Disguise self). A power I happen to have. So I get the staff. And since then, I haven't returned to my original shape, except for those times when I've tried to do something really stupid, was rendered unconscious, and ended up back in Orc form.

By really stupid, I mean attempting to turn into one of the cursed 'blood elves' who have thorn elementals magically bound to their skeletons so that spikes are constantly growing out of their bodies, causing them continuous excrucating pain (and therefore offering them virtual immunity from the pain penalties caused by paltry things like damage). Well, I turned into one. But I hadn't been living with that pain for the last hundred and fifty years, so, ouch.

And attempting to turn myself into a dragon. After meeting one for the first time (I have to meet a critter before I can turn into it). While still in the presence of said dragon. During delicate negotiations for our lives.

Yeah, I think I'm pretty well into loon territory with this character.

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 07:16 PM
Yeah, I think I'm pretty well into loon territory with this character.

I dunno about that, what's your thief's wisdom like? That may be perfectly in character.

BladeSingerXIV
2010-08-26, 08:03 PM
But if he makes everybody think he's super awesome, won't they just fall down and worship him? Sounds more like a villain to me.

I suppose that may be a fair point. I doubt the DM will go that direction, but it's worth remembering. We're only starting this week though, so I can't be sure this will turn out poorly. All I can do right now is bring my will save up high enough to resist him and hope he doesn't actually play his low, low intelligence score.

Uncertainty
2010-08-26, 09:24 PM
I regularly play a Loonie, with two rules: never kill the mood, and never kill the game.

My current character is a Goblin Spirit Shaman, Ratgash, the "Cutest Goblin in the World". He is overly kind and polite; Carebears look like psycho next to him. He always worries about the well-being of his group, and place healthy communication above violence. He loves flowers, and animals, and people, and... and... everything! He asks the Necro Priest if "he had nice dreams and slept well", he worries the barbarian's lunch is hot and delicious enough, and so on...

GM: A sudden, freezing wind blows...
Ratgash: <To the near NSFW Sorceress> Oh my, you'll catch sneezing-nose! Here, take ma blanket, you'll be warm!
NSFW Sorceress: Errr... No, thanks. But it is cute of you.
Ratgash: My mommy sez I'm the cutestest goblin!

That sounds so awesome! I wish there were people like you in my group :smallfrown:.

WarKitty
2010-08-26, 09:29 PM
Ok so am I the only one that seems to have a problem with this type of character? Every time I get one they seem to exist only to disrupt things and drag the entire group down. Have never had a comic relief character that didn't end with everyone else wanting to strangle the player.

kestrel404
2010-08-26, 09:38 PM
I dunno about that, what's your thief's wisdom like? That may be perfectly in character.

Oh, it's quite in character. I don't have a wisdom score (earthdawn system uses Perception, Willpower and Charisma for mentals), but perception happens to be my dump stat so I enjoy playing up the 'absent minded/clueless rogue' persona.

FoE
2010-08-26, 09:46 PM
I tend to prefer Loonies to be more like Minsc from Baldur's Gate and less like Richard from Looking for Group.

Please, no whizzing on the king. It wasn't funny the first fifteen times you did it.

darkpuppy
2010-08-27, 02:01 AM
I had a loony in my old group. His name was Josh, and he rocked. He still rocks, but he rocks far away now, sadly... Ahhh, well...

...as people have already noted, the loony player can wear a bit thin at times, and there were quite a few times where I lost my rag to "Oooh, this is cool, can I be this, even though you specifically said no?" , but he had this uncanny ability to find the silliness in almost any situation. Often requiring hefty GM intervention to sort out...

...For example... it is stupidly simple to make a combat round last a whole session in Mutants & Masterminds. Just let Josh remake his old character. Y'see, one interesting thing about Mutants & Masterminds is that there are few controls on where you spend those points... and some of the powers, even with addons, come surprisingly cheap. To illustrate: Picture, if you will, one moderately strong bloke in spandex. Not super strong, but still wrestler class. Now watch him split into two... the two clones act differently. Then he does it again... and again... and again... Suffice to say, that killed the game.

But other times, he made us laugh fondly. Like his seminal character, Flail Axenshield (supported by his mate's character, his twin brother Hammer Axenshield)... I posted a brief summary of their two most notable exploits in the Funny D&D stories thread, but, suffice to say, they were a laugh riot. Or the time where I ran Pembrokeshire in Shadows (my own homebrew WoD 2.0 set in my home county), and, of course, Josh wanted to vampirise the staff of the gaming store... Even out of game, he would come out with surreal comments which had very unpredictable effects. The one I remember most fondly was the "In old country, we use donkey for everything" diatribe... done in a really bad Hollywood Romanian accent. Keep in mind the guy was 14 or 15 when he started gaming in my group.

I have also, as a response to this, sometimes been a loony GM, something that carried on to my most recent group... there are times, when tensions are high, people are pissed, when I will calm the group down with something surreal, yet satisfying... such as the Star Wars Saga game, where everybody was thinking I was going to kill their party... essentially, I lampshaded my fudge by flinging Jar Jar Binks across the void of space into the line of fire... naturally, this combined two good things (the death of a despised comedy sidekick and their character's lives being saved at L1), so they let it pass... in the older group with Josh in, my most common "right, everyone get back in line" thing was to invoke Randy K Milholland's "Redneck Tree"... by damn, the players would visibly quake as I described the red eyes in the dark, and that horrible, horrible voice that suddenly came from behind them with one word...

"Puuuuuuurrrrrdeeeeee...."

potatocubed
2010-08-27, 04:23 AM
Because I typically run wacky adventures and crack jokes constantly both in and out of character, the loony doesn't bother me too much. Roleplaying games lend themselves very well to a particular kind of absurdist humour - witness the Order of the Stick as a fine example.

That said, if someone is not running a wacky adventure I can see how the loony might cause problems. As I state in the Potato Guide to Wacky Adventures (WIP): "Sometimes your friends just want to play Call of Cthulhu as nature intended, and won't appreciate sharing their investigation with an Abe Lincoln impersonator no matter how good his stats are."

Saph
2010-08-27, 04:43 AM
We always have at least one.

Example of a loony in action: Several members of the party were trying to infiltrate the warehouse of a suspected criminal in a town whose mayor didn't like them very much. It was after dark and they were trying not to attract attention.

Beguiler: I move to the front door of the warehouse.
Dread Necromancer: I look around. Is anyone watching us?
DM: *rolls dice* Yes, you see somebody watching from an open first-floor window.
Beguiler: Do they look unusual?
DM: They look like an ordinary townsperson.
Dread Necromancer: I call over my imp familiar. "Impsy! Fly up invisible to that man and Suggest to him that he needs to go to the bathroom."
DM: Hmm . . . okay. *rolls Will save*
DM: *success*
DM: You hear a sudden yell from the window. "Aaah! There's an invisible demon talking to me!"
Dread Necromancer: "Impsy! Stab him!"
DM: "AAAAH! It's stabbing me! IT'S STABBING ME! MY VEINS ARE BURNING! GET IT OFF ME!"
Dread Necromancer: "Impsy! Turn into a monstrous spider and bite him in the crotch!"
DM: "EYAAAH! NOW IT'S TURNED INTO A GIANT SPIDER AND IT'S BITING ME BETWEEN MY LEGS! OH GOD, THE PAIN, THE PAIN, MAKE IT STOP! HELP! HELP! GUARDS!"
DM: By the way, the screams are echoing down the street and you can see lights coming on in the windows.
Beguiler: &*%$ it. I cast Knock on the warehouse door and open it.
DM: The door opens. You see the man you've been looking for, along with his bodyguards. They look like they've just gotten up and they're moving towards the door with their weapons out, and as the door opens they check and stare at you.

Did I mention that the PCs had split the party prior to this, so half of the PCs and their NPC support was outside the town waiting for them to return from the scouting mission? Yeah, things went downhill rapidly from there.

ghost_warlock
2010-08-27, 04:54 AM
A good number of my characters have been loonies, which I guess means that I'm likely the loony of the group. To an extent, anyway. Though my characters may be nuts, they're often also extremely dangerous (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingInsanity).

A chief examples include my GURPS Space mad-scientist character, Dr. Wilkins, who has a long list of humorous quirks ranging from the inability to remember anyone's name (so he just calls everyone Bobby) to a pron addiction. He's the only character in the party with access to experimental warp-drive/teleportation technology and he's willing to go to any extreme and sacrifice anyone (even the entire universe) in order to test his theories. Meanwhile, he's pretty much responsible for unleashing a zombie/Borg apocalypse on at least one space station and will likely start a few more while he attempts to figure out how to wrest control of the zombie/Borg from the alien artifact that creates them.

Another example is my fighter/transmuter/wild mage, Jalsgrim Redmother (aka Jarble Toothface aka Tim the Enchantress aka The Muttonman aka The Violet Flame). Thanks to a willingness to experiment with unorthodox spells and zero regard for anyone's safety while doing so, he's often as dangerous to his companions as he is to their enemies (if not more).

Most recently, my 4e Encounters character, Shikirr the thri-kreen battlemind, derailed the session for about an hour the other day after it was discovered that he has a gambling addiction. :smallbiggrin:

FelixG
2010-08-27, 05:15 AM
There is a player in my group who tends to try to make loonies often (example: Star Wars D20 Revised, a Wookie who tried to sexual assault anything, even droids while counting it as unarmed damage)

My group discourages it by making them the first targeted in everything, 50 storm troopers? guess who gets targeted from every blaster shot?

In short: I hate loonie characters when the game is supposed to be serious, though they are often quite fun if the campaign is made for that sort of thing (another Star Wars reference: Turning a kushiban sith into a missile using force push, move object and a light saber to kill a city full of gungans.)

742
2010-08-27, 06:41 AM
i occasionally play the loony sarcastically* but its usually when people are taking lawful stupid way too far and combining it with tactical stupid and noncoordination, so nothing i suggest seriously could possibly work and i just try for crazy awesome.

i can be a loony DM, but mostly when im DMing for children and my serious thoughts tend to be a bit darker than their parents would be happy with.

*sometimes

Asheram
2010-08-27, 08:10 AM
I've had a coupld of loonies in my games... Ah... The first one we don't play with anymore though... I miss him, he was really fun.

Player: I charge the two trolls!
Rest of group: Uhm... how much HP do you have left?
Player: Oh, enough. Don't worry.
GM: Alright, then you charge the trolls
Player: Yup... And I... *rolls die* Damn. Misses.
GM: Alright, it's the first trolls turn. He swings his sword and... *rolls die* Take 25 damage.
Player: Oops... I died.
Rest of group: WHAT?!
GM: ... Hey... how much HP did you Really have when you charged?
Player: Oh, two. *shrugs*
GM and Players: *Collective facepalm*

Greenish
2010-08-27, 08:15 AM
My group discourages it by making them the first targeted in everything, 50 storm troopers? guess who gets targeted from every blaster shot?Isn't the person they're trying to hit safest? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy)

Serpentine
2010-08-27, 08:20 AM
I've never played with a munchikin. I play with the Loonie all too often. In fact, one of the games I'm in only contains Loonies. Turns out it's not my style :smallsigh:
(half on the bright side, half exemplifying my point, my child-like half-orc Rogue has acquired a masterwork ivory dildo which she has started using as a mace or club)

dsmiles
2010-08-27, 08:22 AM
I've never played with a munchikin. I play with the Loonie all too often. In fact, one of the games I'm in only contains Loonies. Turns out it's not my style :smallsigh:
(half on the bright side, half exemplifying my point, my child-like half-orc Rogue has acquired a masterwork ivory dildo which she has started using as a mace or club)

um...:smalleek:

Starscream
2010-08-27, 10:11 AM
I'm a touch frustrated by an upcoming game, though. It's Mutants and Masterminds, and one guy in the group has put all of his power points into two things: 1) a sidekick who is as good as the sidekick can get at our level, 2) the highest charisma he can manage while maintaining the following, and 3) a max-power continuous emotion control that makes everyone think he's awesome.

Ah, M&M. I think one of the advantages to that system is that silly characters can work just as good as serious ones in many situations. There's a reason Batman and Plastic Man get to be on the same team.

Probably the only character I've played for M&M that could qualify as "Loonie" was Gladstone, the luckiest guy on earth (yes, he's named after another comic character, thank you for getting the reference).

He had Luck Control and Probability Control for his powers, and overall decent stats. What made him a loonie wasn't his abilities, which are legitimately useful powers, but his style and attitude. He wore no costume, just a normal suit. No mask, no secret identity, no weapons. He was just a guy who hung around with the other Supers as a living-luck-magnet.

And it actually worked. The fun part was coming up with fun ways for his luck to take effect. Instead of just "The bad guy inexplicably trips over his cape" we'd come up with increasingly elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque chains of random events that would always work. It was sweet.

Umael
2010-08-27, 12:05 PM
*nod*

Been the Loonie and been in the game which was ruined by the Loonie. Never really been in a game that was one and the same though.

In my old gaming group, I was known as the most likely to play it "dark". My PCs were often the ones with lasting emotional scars and a tendency to growl instead of talk, or shoot first and interrogate through forensic evidence. One particularly fine campaign though, I ended up playing the Loonie while everyone else went dark (totally bizarre coincidence, by the by).

Basically, in a Mage game, I played a Son of Ether ghostbuster. Meanwhile, we had a rogue Iteration-X hit man, a Euthantos assassin, a feline Bastet (i.e., effectively ammoral, although not malicious), and a Verbena doctor. All good for a serious game... and here is the ghostbuster. As the Storyteller said, it was a great character concept, but it was the wrong concept for this game.

(Although I wonder... what would a "dark" ghostbuster be like... hmm...)

In my current gaming group, one guy tends to play the Loonie. A lot. If we play Vampires, he is the kind to jump at the chance to play the Malkavian. What's annoying is that even though I can play a Malkavian just as well as he can, it feels like overlapping territories, so I tend to go for a non-Loonie concept. Again. *sigh* It's a little frustrating, although hardly what I would call serious.

LibraryOgre
2010-08-27, 02:28 PM
In general, I have seen two types of loonies: The IC loonies and the OOC loonies.

The OOC loonies are the ones who are always cracking jokes, pointing out absurdities and, I am sad to say, playing funny/apropos songs on their laptops during the game (it's amazing how well Shadowrun games play to the theme of 80s action TV shows). Hzurr knows this well, as I am the looney of this sort in his game the game he abandoned to its fate. :smallwink:

The IC loonies are, IMO, the more troublesome types. They do things, in game, for the lulz. They push the shiny red "do not touch" button. They ask dragons about crocodile handbags. They try to milk the minotaur. In short, they do what they can to cause chaos and disruption, making the life of other players difficult. Sometimes, they're fun to be around. Others, they're just obnoxious, especially when their lunacy destroys a lot of careful work.

In dealing with them, your only real option is to exclude them or ask them to stop (or tone it down). In-game consequences to their action, IME, don't actually effect them... their character is usually a playing piece, designed for maximum lulz, rather than someone they care about and don't want bad things to happen to.

Devils_Advocate
2010-08-27, 03:18 PM
two types of Loonies:

1) The Silly Loonie, who is probably the most common (plays Kender, does everything for lulz, etc.)
2) The Psycho Loonie, who primarily wants to get away with as much extreme stuff as possible (put the enemies' heads on stakes and do a puppet show with 'em for the town? Sure, why not!)
Gods help you if you get one of each.

:elan: - I'm Chaotic! I have a low Wisdom score!

:belkar: - Me too!

:elan: - I am dimwitted and wacky.

:belkar: - I like to kill things, because killing things is fun!

:roy: - *sob*