Day 3 of #RPGaDay and we come to a prompt that surprises me. Not only is "Poise" not something this activity has mentioned at all, but it's a word I rarely use in my 17 years of blogging. Almost every time I use the word it's in reference to a potential attack, be it an RPG Actual Play or a wargaming After-Action Report.
So let's largely avoid combat and focus on the poise and demeanor of Lathar Bracken, Enforcer, in my Monday night Gamma World campaign.
Naming your character Lathar in a post-apocalyptic RPG obviously generates a certain image similar do a 60's TV cartoon character, and over 100 sessions in, we all still default to that image.
In reality, he's far more nuanced. A local boy from Riverbend, whose father abandoned him and his mother when he was 12., getting work from the Restorationists since 14, finally allowed to go on missions... as part of the De Facto explorers at 20.
Everyone expects him to be the brute force, the firepower, but in reality, he's the face of the group, years of working with adults had honed his charisma to act like he was all things to all people.
And not only is he the most charismatic in the group, in a group with a full-on Restorationist Examiner, he's the smartest one in the group (at least stat wise). Strength was actually his dump stat!
Low strength aside, he fails... a lot, and just keeps going.
He's been ready for action for years, constantly talking about his "Combat Leadership," in and out of game. And when he finally got to use it recently? The claims were proven true, as he took a rag-tag bunch of mutant plant militia and admirably ambushed a larger enemy force, suffering only moderate casualties.
His greatest moment of poise comes with his new bride, Thunnelda. While negotiating ferry passage across the Big River, Lathar agreed to a blind date with the ferryman's sister.
Thunelda was rough around the edges, covered in face tattoos, and prone to violent outbursts.
Most thought she was totally unhinged. Lathar quickly learned that she was, in fact, very "hinged."
When he walked into her room at her brother's place, Lathar discovered her hobby, addiction, fetish even was hinges, her walls covered from top to bottom with them.
He didn't run away, rather ordering Bug Nuggets with extra Glow Saunce on an actual date, and defending her honor in front of the townsfolk when no one else ever did.
He's the only person that's kept her from her violent outbursts, succeeding so consistently that, if he's around, he can instantly soothe her violent tendencies. It seems pretty obvious after the fact that they would get married.
And now he and his friends have been on an epic quest to find his father, allegedly far down river, amongst the infamous Black Reeds. And while the mission was successful, the disappointment with this reunion is tactile.
And even to the end, Lathar has held the same situation with poise and dignity, even if the other unfairly questioned him.
After meeting his father, and being thoroughly disappointed by it.
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| Lathar with the rest of the De Facto Explorers, the Early Days. |
.Nott bad for a player whose in his late 50s and that's only on his second RPG character EVER.
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