RE: [HOE] Re: was Doomsayers - now Harrowed

["Jeffery Yates" <jyates@qlinktech.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hoe@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-hoe@gamerz.net]On Behalf Of Sam
> de Smith
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 10:32 AM
> To: hoe@gamerz.net
> Subject: Re: [HOE] Re: was Doomsayers - now Harrowed
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jeff Yates <jyates@poboxes.com>
> > Yeah, my take too.  No lungs, no airflow.  No airflow, no sound.  No
> sound,
> > well, you get the idea
> <snip>
>
> Not strictly true, actually: a number of speech sounds are
> produced without
> using any air from the lungs, but instead use air trapped in the
> mouth (try
> saying "buttercup" without any vowels, with your hand on your chest, and
> you'll see what I mean). What you could argue in terms of the Harrowed is
> that, given that their musculature is intact (if not better),
> they are still
> able to use their diaphragm effectively. Also, old habits die hard - if
> you've spend you're life doing something, it's not just going to
> go away on
> account of a little death. Hmm, now there's an idea for a
> Harrowed flaw: the
> old grey matter's not what it might be, leading to you forgetting to do
> things that help blend in as a "normal" person (breathing, blinking etc. -
> do Harrowed blink? or indeed unconsciously breathe?), forcing futher Guts
> checks, or modifying them...
>
> Sam de Smith, allegedly a cunning linguist.

Good point, the "buttercup" bit.  So I modify my statement to "No airflow,
no ability to make all the sounds necessary for intelligible english."  Now,
an ingenious frat-harrowed-boy who had lost his lungs (diaphragm or not, the
lungs are the 'bellows'), could still use his stomach to burp out the words.
Me, I'd make the player do it too when speaking in character, but my group
is weird like that.

Now, the new Harrowed hinderance you bring up could be called "Autonomically
Challenged."  (Hope I spelled that right...)  No automatic breathing
motions, blinking, the occasional swallow doesn't happen, even the fidgeting
a live mammal does to keep blood flowing to whatever body part is holding
the body up, doesn't happen.  You know, shifting weight from left leg to
right, and back, so the soles of the feet can get a little oxygen,
readjusting your sitting posture so that your backside doesn't fall asleep.
A harrowed with this hinderance, when not doing anything, _really_ doesn't
do anything.  Worse than a statue, the harrowed smells bad, too.  Yeah, this
would creep out a lot of townfolk.  But only if spending a lot of time with
the deader.  And it would just be a "that guy gives me the creeps" response,
so I think it'd be a low cost hinderance, with small penalties.  Unless
you're trying to be one of the Queen's Guard that are _supposed_ to not
move!

Kinda funny actually.  I'm envisioning the character not being able to have
meetings with potential employers that end in anything other than a nervous
dismissal.  Poker games end early as other players get uncomfortable and
then eventually get up and leave.  Other posse members having to continually
poke the harrowed to see if he's still awake. <snicker>

Jeff Y.
Marshal for the Dynamite Gang