[DL] How mean and bloodthirsty is "Mean" and "Bloodthristy"?

[Dan Davenport <danield@flash.net>]

One of my players created a Southern gunslinger with the hindrances of
"Bloodthirsty" and "Mean as a Rattler". He REALLY played up these
hindrances, which is good... but I think he went to extremes, which is
bad. The PC would systematically slaughter wounded enemies without fail
and would respond to ANY attempted interaction -- from PCs or NPCs --
with biting sarcasm at the bare minimum.

He finally ditched the character, feeling that no one was giving him a
chance to show his "good qualities". I explained to him that he
shouldn't expect other PCs to give him the benefit of the doubt if he
demonstrated nothing to them but hostility.

I further suggested that hindrances are meant to add spice to a
character, not to dictate the entirety of his personality, and that
following his logic, any character taking a negative personality trait
is pretty much going to be a villian.

IMHO, Bloodthirsty and Mean as a Rattler are hindrances to create
characters like Eastwood's Man With No Name -- the kind of guy who
doesn't take any crap. This guy's character wouldn't take any crap, to
be sure... but he thought that _everything_ was crap.

In the end, he agreed with me but said that he didn't think the could
portray a change in the character convincingly. Fortunately, his
replacement character is cool. :)

Have any of the rest of you encountered a similar problem? If so, how
did you handle it?

Dan Davenport

-- 
"Beware the inveterate punster, Doyle, it's a sure sign of brewing
mental disturbance." -- Jack Sparks (to Arthur Conan Doyle), _The List
of 7_