Over_the_Edge_Players'_Survival_Guide

CHAPTER 1
Over the Edge
something that has stumped other people who have
tried to help.
Buttons
We’ve all got buttons that others occasionally push.
When a button gets pushed, the character reacts in an
irrational, stereotypical way, like Pavlov’s drooling
dogs. A self-aware character knows at least some of
his own buttons, but this knowledge doesn’t give one
the instant ability to control the response to a pushed
button. On the other hand, circumstances and force
of will can mitigate the button response. Don’t play
your character as devoid of free will.
What buttons does your PC have? A PC’s buttons
may be something like the following:
Hot button: People calling me stupid.
Fear button: Slime; wet things.
Lust button: Women who treat me like dirt.
Obey button: Authorities in uniform.
Love, Romance, and Passion
What are the traits of your “ideal” lover? How
close have you come to this ideal? What traits have
your actual lovers had? Is there a pattern in the people
you fall in love with? Do you say you’re attracted
to one type of person but find yourself repeatedly
involved with a different type? Are you romantically
involved with anyone?
Instead of developing one ideal lover, you can go
the C. S. Lewis route and develop two: an infernal
ideal and a divine ideal. The infernal ideal pushes all
your hottest buttons: lust, fire, sweat, passion. For
the sake of someone who approaches your infernal
ideal, you would lie, cheat, steal, and maybe kill.
The divine ideal inspires generosity, compassion,
and tenderness: walks in the park, holding hands,
calling each other cute little names. For the sake of
someone who closely matches your divine ideal, you
would quit smoking, dress better, lose weight, and
so on. (Decide for yourself which ideal you’d want
to be stuck with for the rest of your life).
If you develop an ideal lover for your PC, then you
need to decide whether to let the GM in on it. If you
do, she may well make life interesting for you (and a
game’s not worth playing if it’s not interesting, right?).
If you don’t, however, then it’s up to you to role-play
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your appropriate buttons being pushed when a “potential
ideal lover” shows up. Doing so can be a lot
of fun if the GM and the other players don’t know
why your PC is suddenly acting batty and using any
excuse to hang around this certain GMC.
Questions
Answer these questions for your character and you
will add a lot of detail to the character’s identity.
What would you fight for? Kill for? Die for?
What scares you?
What trait do you like least in yourself? Most?
What trait are you trying to improve?
How have you changed as you have matured? Have
you learned any important lessons about life?
What are your religious beliefs? Do these beliefs
lead you to behave in a certain way? How important
is the social aspect of religion compared to the spiritual
aspect? What do you think of people whose beliefs
differ from yours?
What are your hobbies? What’s your idea of a
good party, a good book, a good movie?
What bad habits do you have?
Personal History
You can also answer questions related to the
character’s life experiences.
Have you ever been in a violent fight, rather than
just a sport contest? If so, how seriously have you
hurt someone? Have you ever killed anybody? How
seriously have you been hurt?
Have you ever committed felonies? Ever been
caught?
What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened
to you?
What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?
The worst?
Where have you traveled, and why?
Relation to History
How was the character involved, emotionally or
personally, in major events in recent history? Calculate
how old he was for each event listed below and decide