I Heart RPGs More Than Yoga

Monday night is my Yoga class, but it's also the night my RPG group has decided to game. I can't do both, so which one wins?

This question isn't even worth asking - I'd rather play a role-playing game (exercise for my mind and imagination) than do Yoga (which exercises the body and, they say, the spirit) any day of the week. It's just more interesting.

We started a new game (and from here the rest of this entry's gonna get a bit... technical, so be warned), a d20 Modern campaign set in the late 1920s, a fine period for pulp horror and mystery. This is the Age of Lovecraft, after all.

When creating a PC (player character), I usually pick someone who will help round out the group - I'd rather choose last, so I see what we need, than go first and say, "I wanna play a fighter."

Not sure why I'm like this, maybe I'm an indecisive Libra and this makes it easier, or maybe I'm just a smart (yet meta) player who realizes the importance of a cohesive group. The A-Team doesn't need two B.A. Baracuses, you know?

The other PCs would be...

- A Scientist/Gadgeteer (Intelligence)
- A Boxer (Stremf)
- A Starbuck-like Aviatrix/Adventurer (Dexterity? Tough?)
- And a Rich, Spoiled, Athletic Dilettante (Stremf/Dex Combo?)

I figured the best complement to this group would be someone with good observation skills like a detective (Wisdom) or a face man (Charisma).

Due to the nature of the game, I decided to play one of my old favorites, that of a psychic. This might've been influenced by my recent reading up on Thomas Carnacki, who definitely would fall into the detective category. Yet whenever I hear the word psychic, I immediately think of our dear departed friend Criswell, who certainly belongs in the latter.

What to choose, what to choose? I wish I had written about this earlier, as it might've led me to a different conclusion. Hours before the first game, I was still agonizing over which path to take... and I went with Charisma.

(Really, the tipping point was which Prestige class I wanted... I wanted to be a Mesmerist over a Spiritualist, and the best way to get there was through Charisma. Technical!)

But very early on in the first game, I thought, "Whoa, that was a mistake," as those detective skills would certainly come in handy, while skills of diplomacy and charm, maybe not so much.

You can't sweet-talk your way past werewolves. Also, my character has absolutely no fighting skills, which come in handy when you're fighting werewolves.

And as a player, I'm much more in tune with finding clues than in dealing with people. And despite being a "performer," I always get vaguely uncomfortable acting around the gaming table.

Still, after two sessions, I'm pretty pleased with the Great Calveri. I like the idea of someone who wants to look for clues but is absolutely horrible at it. And his skills of deception have certainly made things easier once or twice.

He just needs to learn how to fire a gun or something.