Tarynt Essrog
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Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Thu 26 Jan 2023, 19:24

I just started reading Destroyer of Worlds yesterday, and Stanley Zmijewski comes across like a lunatic. Not a raving lunatic, but the kind you might sit down next to at a bar and strike up a casual conversation with; and only realize 15 minutes later what a terrible mistake that was.

His backstory is amazing, because it provides no meaningful information at all, and yet paints a vivid picture of a of a subtly disturbed mind.

His act one agenda-by itself-does not seem especially bizarre, just oddly simplistic. But the second act agenda adds context that that makes you realize that he is interpreting events around him through a very personal filter that doesn't include the big, or even medium picture; and that he is disconnected from the world as everyone else around him is experiencing it.

Now I really want to get Chariots of the Gods on my table, just so I can get through it and introduce my players to Stanley.

One plan I have is to start Destroyer of Worlds pronouncing Zmijewski correctly, like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbpJEIyjlv8, (which sounds like, Jmi-ev-ski); and then when they start getting it right, change it to Zmi-jew-ski, so he never stops getting annoyed and making fun of their names in retaliation. Stanley will frequently complain that it is disrespectful that no one can be bothered to learn his name, and have generally inappropriate or non-sequitur reactions to social encounters that might raise their suspicions about his agenda. And then I just want to watch a player's reaction when they get to take him over in the second act and read his background and agenda card, as it clicks that the motivation for his odd behavior was simpler yet weirder than they had guessed.

I think I'm also going to make Zmijewski his own custom panic table with results that involve doing things with his belt, like making people smell it.
 
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Angelman
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Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Thu 26 Jan 2023, 21:26

Also, for added context, Zmijewski was based on Gaska's grandfather. He is basically just Gaska putting his grandfather in the game. lol
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
Tarynt Essrog
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Posts: 29
Joined: Sat 29 Dec 2018, 06:57

Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Thu 26 Jan 2023, 22:13

Also, for added context, Zmijewski was based on Gaska's grandfather. He is basically just Gaska putting his grandfather in the game. lol
Yeah, I saw you had posted that on another thread, and I desperately want to hear more about Grandpa Crazypants, just to add some more context to Zmijewsky.
 
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Angelman
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Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Thu 26 Jan 2023, 23:32

Sorry, mate. I don't have any more information... Only that Zim was based on that man.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
Tarynt Essrog
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Posts: 29
Joined: Sat 29 Dec 2018, 06:57

Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Fri 27 Jan 2023, 00:48

Maybe someone will be able to catch Gaska on a convention panel or something and get him to elaborate.
 
TheoGB
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Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Fri 27 Jan 2023, 11:52

And then I just want to watch a player's reaction when they get to take him over in the second act and read his background and agenda card, as it clicks that the motivation for his odd behavior was simpler yet weirder than they had guessed.
So you're making them change the characters after every act?!

Or you just mean if they were killed in Act I?

Anyway, my players picked Silva, Hammer, Mason and Iona so he's one of the ones I'm having to NPC which means no time really to try to put much in the way of character spin on him, particularly with Chaplain having greater story points in the early Acts and now again in Act III.
 
Tarynt Essrog
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Re: Zmijewski: The best published PC/NPC in RPG history

Fri 27 Jan 2023, 16:43

No, I'm just assuming a casualty sometime an late act I or act II. And if he comes across as baffling enough, there is a good chance someone will take him just to see what is going on with that.

I think all the characterization that needs to be done is a constant running commentary that emphasizes things that either aren't important, or didn't really happen.

[My players are pretty keyed up to notice inconstancies in their own memory from what I'm telling them, in world, what just happened. In part because haven't been correcting them out of character when they have confused themselves with either poor notes or not reading their notes carefully while playing the Electric Dreams case for Blade Runner; but also from the gaslighting they experienced when we played a few sessions of Gradient Descent (for Mothership) to make them uncertain if their characters had been replaced with infiltration android doppelgangers. So they might be more inclined to be alarmed by an NPC making casual comments that don't make sense than the average party].

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