Just Another RPG Blog

okay, because @twixtandshout says I should, I present to you all:

The Adventures Of Dad^TM

(this is long I am sorry)

- So, it’s the start of a new semester, which means new games for my school d&d society

- and I’m doing a table for us, with some folks I haven’t met before, and I get talking to one of them about our past games

- “oh yeah,” he says “I have this character I’m really attached to and I want to play him again.”

- “well my gm is really cool, she’s doing a sci-fi campaign, you should totally sign up for her game!”

- “cool, I will”

- and he does. and he introduces our newly formed party all to Dad.

- full name: dad. occupation: everyone’s dad. skills: craft steak. reason for being on this spaceship: got lost and was too stubborn to ask for directions. character description: who needs a personality when you’ve got grillin’ skills like these!

- I’d say the entire party immediately adopted Dad, but it would be more accurate to say that Dad immediately adopted the party.

- Dad’s talents included grilling in zero gravity, greeting everyone we met with a firm handshake, getting high rolls to say “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” and materializing alongside whatever dumbass party member had gotten themself into trouble this time because “Dad can sense when his children are in trouble”

- Dad had no canonical appearance, as he was simply the platonic ideal of a dad. art of him always, without fail, depicted him in a hawaiian shirt.

- once he was depicted as a centaur-like creature, but his bottom half was a lawn mower. this may or may not be cannon. we don’t really know.

- anyhow, Dad is a peaceful guy, and like, we don’t do a whole lot of fighting, so like, whatever

- but we were given a final boss

- and like, the fight is going slow

- until Dad shows up

- pulls out Dad’s Trusty Shotgun^TM

- because “A Man’s Gotta Protect His Family”

- and 

- fucking

- in one shot

- takes out the big bad’s entire defense system

- to the horror of our long-suffering GM, who just hid her head in her hands in utter defeat, because that was about half the fight in one round

- next semester, this same player signs up for my campaign

- “hey, GM? can I play Dad again?” “fine. but only if you take a rank in craft steaks.”

- well, we get one (1) fight in

- a fight that i had PURPOSEFULLY set up to try and make the new party figure out how to work together

- and I forgot about Dad’s Trusty Shotgun^TM, despite the fact that I should’ve known better

- and Dad deals 15 damage to an enemy with 8 hp, and ends the combat in one (1) turn.

- Dad proceeds to become the reason why I can’t make up any enemies with an hp of less than 50, otherwise the fight just doesn’t last

- Dad adopts not only the party, but also pretty much every single non-hostile npc

- (the party was very on-board with this)

- in one session, the party elected to send Dad on a Dad Sidequest, in which Dad commits Crimes^TM in the form of helping a kid fake their death in order to hide from the government

- he pretends to be Sargent Dadd in order to get through security and do so, and rolls so high on his disguise check that nobody questions him

- he then nat 1s on his forgery check, and is Unable to lie on the necessary records

- followed immediately by an nat 20 to authoritatively spread news of the kid’s “death” just like, around. could he lie when forging? no. no but he is now so Determined to protect his child that he will believe this lie now, goddamnit.

- his endgame was only summed up as “Dad continues on to his next d&d campaign,” a statement explainable by the following Dad Lore:

- every universe has a Dad. he is Everywhere, in many iterations. waiting to grill you steaks and call you champ.

What got you started collecting?

First set of dice?

Most recent dice?

Favorite set?

Favorite brand?

Favorite style/series of dice?

Best dice colors?

Least favorite style or colors?

Ever get dice from a kickstarter?

Any handmade dice in your collection?

Rare or OOP dice you wish you had?

How many sets/how many individual dice do you own?

Whats the Right kind of d4?

If you could design your own dream die/set, what would it look like?

Any dice superstition?

(Also feel free to send me ask where you answered these or ask me about my characters!)

1. What 80s song that best suits your character?

2. What currently popular song suits your character best?

3. What meme song suits your character?

4. If they are good singers, what artist do they sound like?

5. What instrument can they/would they play?

6. What’s their favorite type of music?

7. What’s their top 3 artist?

8. What cheesy 90s-2000s song best suits them?

9. What music decade suits them the most? (20s? 80s?)

there’s more than one kind of charisma. the default always seems to be “suave ladykiller/casanova who can and will knowingly manipulate people and do it with a sly smile”, but that’s not the only kind.

i play a 20 charisma warlock who is… none of those things. she’s kind of shy and easily flustered but she IS extremely good-hearted and kind, and she radiates a certain kind of aura that just makes people want to like her and trust her because they can tell she’s a good person.

Charisma is literally just your ability to influence how others feel about you - and not just feelings of likability. So while being flirtatious definitely falls into that category, it’s way more broad than that.

Other High Charisma styles

Heart of Gold: This is the example OP mentioned

Class Clown: Just really funny. But actually funny, not mean funny or obnoxious or anything. Just jokes around, tries to get people to laugh, makes jokes and has a good time. People just like to hang out with you because you’re fun.

Intimidating Aura: High Charisma doesn’t always mean people fall over themselves to be with you. Being incredibly intimidating and confidant is its own kind of Charisma. This doesn’t mean you’re mean or overly aggressive - this means you command a respectful presence that makes people want to listen to you and believe you. 

Cute/A-dork-able: One of my characters has really high charisma because she’s just a really naive, cute cinnamon roll. She’s not great at talking to people, she’s just so damn cute you can’t help it. This is the appeal that puppies or kittens or other baby animals have - they’re not good at anything, they’re helpless and kinda dumb and it’s so fucking cute.

There’s obviously more than this, but that’s the point. High Charisma =/= High Seduction (or at least doesn’t have to)

and when I say “inspired,” I mean we basically waltzed up to a fleet of pirates that we were supposed to take down and did exactly this, because, and I quote, “the pirates probably don’t have dental. we should unionize them.”