Portraying CRAZIES ??

[TechnoGothic]

How do you Portray Crazies in your Games ??

I HATE the goofyness most play up.
Its like playing a Malk in VtM, too many Fish-malks in the old days.

Myself i Ignore the Randomness of the insanities...

I let the find a focus to off set it...somewhat.

Weapons Training for Hours at a time to clear their heads...
HtH Training for Hours at a Time to clear their heads...

Also i change the nature of their insanities completly...

Some become Cold, and emotionless...
Some Forget the weakness of normal humans...
Some become obssessed with an ideal or goal...
Some forget how frail their still human body really is...
Some become completely loyal to a country/nation they will willingly die to protect it or its ideas...

I save the Zanny-goofball Crazies for the ones who were nutjobs before the MOM Implants...

I also rule, all Miltary Forces who use MOM Augmentation give their crazies the smaller-cup look. Not Hidden, but not huge cans either. After their service time, they are either altered for the Large can look or hidden look...

How do you portray Crazies ??
Nutjobs ?
Cold Killers ?
Ninja ?
Joker Wannibies ?

[grandmaster z0b]

I agree that I don't like the over the top goofball crazy, although crazies can and should be a fun OCC to play. I think letting the random insanities decide the character is a good way or if the player is good enough let them choose their insanities to create an interesting charcter.

Crazies should still be a sort of special ops soldier, not complete cartoon characters IMO. Like Juicers or Borgs they can be a very tragic kind of hero, sacrificing part of their humanity to protect others, or to simply survive.

[Kalinda]

The 'Wild and crazy guy' has been done to death, yes.

Personally I'm kind of thinking about throwing an NPC crazy into my game and basing him on Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Not wild and overbearing, just comes of as a bit mad from having been out in the sun too long.

[Uncle Servo]

The 'Wild and crazy guy' has been done to death, yes.

Personally I'm kind of thinking about throwing an NPC crazy into my game and basing him on Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Not wild and overbearing, just comes of as a bit mad from having been out in the sun too long.

"Oh, so that's the reason behind all the..."
"Reason's got nothin' to do with it..."

Yeah, a lot of gamers equate "Crazy" with "The Crazy Man" option under the Crazy Hero rules... and even though done quite a lot it can still be a fun option.

I think the point they seem to forget is that the Crazy character starts out pretty much normal, just like every other OCC. It's only over time that the insanities really develop. It's just like how your car always seems to run fine until the warranty expires.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I believe the main problem is that most people don't play off the actual insanities a Crazy has and instead just acts like a goof ball.

A player once said to me, about an NPC Crazy by the name of Maybury: "He doedn't seem that crazy..."

I responded with : "What are you talking about?"

To which he explained: "well he's not all 'off the wall'"

"Well" I said, "That's because his insanities wouldn't make him seem off the wall. He is mainly transfixed with cleanliness (he would often buff the groups Glitter Boy much to the pilot's chagrin) and power by association."

Just a note, the 'Power by Association' I gave him was him opening up a Coffee can with the words "Whoop Ass" on the side and shouting: "Time to open up a can of whoop ass" before every fight.

[Killer Cyborg]

I started a thread on this already.

My crazies, the few I have made, tend to be rather serious characters; sane other than their specific insanities.

[Uncle Servo]

I believe the main problem is that most people don't play off the actual insanities a Crazy has and instead just acts like a goof ball.

A player once said to me, about an NPC Crazy by the name of Maybury: "He doedn't seem that crazy..."

I responded with : "What are you talking about?"

To which he explained: "well he's not all 'off the wall'"

"Well" I said, "That's because his insanities wouldn't make him seem off the wall. He is mainly transfixed with cleanliness (he would often buff the groups Glitter Boy much to the pilot's chagrin) and power by association."

Just a note, the 'Power by Association' I gave him was him opening up a Coffee can with the words "Whoop Ass" on the side and shouting: "Time to open up a can of whoop ass" before every fight.

Heh... that's a good one.

[TechnoGothic]

i perfer the serious types myself.

Hannible Lecter is insane, and would make a great higher level crazy.

you'll notice the Crazy Varients seem to sane for the most part with quirks/insanities from time to time...

Lightning Warriors are far from goofballs
Ninja Crazies are quite and introsective to control themselves
Ultra-Crazies...well not as bad as a standard crazy still...

the American Crazies ( goofballs ) seem to have no self control at all as written. The NPCs shown should have LOW, low Mental Endurance...below 7...

[Killer Cyborg]

In my mind, the epitome of the Crazy OCC is Early, the bounty hunter from the Firefly episode "Objects in Space".
He's deadly, efficient, and weird enough to constantly keep you off guard.... but still serious most of the time.

Most other people I have seen play Crazies run them like Jim Carrey on speed.

[TechnoGothic]

In my mind, the epitome of the Crazy OCC is Early, the bounty hunter from the Firefly episode "Objects in Space".
He's deadly, efficient, and weird enough to constantly keep you off guard.... but still serious most of the time.

Most other people I have seen play Crazies run them like Jim Carrey on speed.

YES...
he would be a good mid-level crazy...

River...
i could make as a crazy too...
but she has lot of levels due to her "strangeness"

[Scooter the Outlaw]

There is a difference between comic crazy and real crazy. In reality, insanity of any kind is a disturbing experience, and often leaves the individual afflicted touched in very unhappy and unfortunate ways. It basically depends on your character concept, but I tend to think most people who opt for Crazy implants don't come out being very chipper, but are often embittered because their rash grab for power is costing them more than they thought they would; very foolish, believing they can overcome the implants and that any insanities that pop up are actually just part of their personality... that kind of thing.

Like z0b said, they can also be excellent tragic heroes, like Juicers or 'Borgs... or really mean villians with no repect for life and dignity. The stereotype crazy being all colourful and off the wall isn't wrong by any means, but I think of all the O.C.C.s in Rifts, Crazies are among those with the highest potential for fleshing out and excellent role-play.

[grandmaster z0b]

There's no right or wrong way to play a crazy, but if the're the giggling lunatic type they have probably got the "Crazy Hero" persona at third level.

I've got a crazy in my group - Captain Breakfast- who has popeye syndrome (power by association - needs cereal for his power) who can be quite "wacky" with his breakfast cereal obsession, and thinks he is a super hero. However that doesn't mean he becomes an idiot in battle.

Except for his obsession with violence - hates it to the point of becoming violent himself (fits in with his super-hero/vigilante persona) - he acts pretty much like a special ops/commando type, which suits the crazy skill set.

In an old group there was a Juicer who probably acted more like a "typical" crazy than Cpt. Breakfast. However again it fitted in with his character, he only had an IQ of 8 (which I made him roleplay) he had been a speed freak before he became a Juicer, and his character never considered the consequences of his actions which was why he become a Juicer in the first place. I was amazed how many times this guy survived what looked like certain death- that was before the UR can't die from MDC attacks rule, when Juicers having hundreds of SDC was really important because they could actually take the the small remainder of MDC damage after their armour was blown away.

Anyway I seem to have gone off the point... sorry.

[grandmaster z0b]

At first level they can have any kind of personality you think is appropriate, it's only as they go up levels do they start to act a bit oddly. Their initial skills seem to indicate they are taught a lot of assassin/ thief type skills: surveilance systems, acrobatics, pick locks etc, and of course are essentially a kind of super soldier.

Of course you should play it however you see it best, I've seen crazies with a focus on hand2hand combat, others who have a ton of different pilot skills, some are into heavy weapons and other's who are full on stealth.

[Aerv]

What I usually do is take the optional personality roll and exaggerate it. If I roll for bossy and arrogant, the character becomes the ultimate poke. He is the boss of absolutely everyone and will not listen to any other opinion. If I roll for Lone wolf, he is exactly that, never wanting or asking for help, and hardly using it when forced on him.