Post by Frank on Jul 9, 2008 14:14:45 GMT -5
ROLE NAMES: The B-List Actor Improbably Playing a Bit Part in a D-List Movie
ALIGNMENT: Who Knows?
GENERIC ROLE DESCRIPTION:
BACKGROUND
It's always a jarring experience. You're watching a terrible but vaguely funny horror movie on Showtime at 2:00 in the morning, the cast of which is filled with unknowns and model/actors and refuges from the WB and possibly Matthew Lillard. The plot is not engaging, but the dialogue is suitably mockable and the Lillard is, as always, awesomely awful.
And then it happens. The idiot leads speak briefly with a professor/parent/neighbor/priest/convenience store owner, and you suddenly lean forward.
Holy shit!, you think. Was that Andrea Martin/Malcolm McDowell/Jon Voight?
Their first scene is very short. They appear again halfway through the film, but only briefly, to remind you that they're alive. Mostly they take a backseat to the Lillard or the Love Hewitt or whoever. But you know. You know that John Fricking Voight doesn't take a six-line throwaway role in a B-horror movie. He'll be important, somehow, by the time the movie ends.
Maybe he'll be in league with the bad guys, or the bad guy himself. Maybe he'll turn out to have secret knowledge that's key to defeating the bad guys. Maybe he'll rush to the rescue of our heroes, revealing that he was secretly a ninja in the 70's. Probably the last, because after all, John Voight is a cool dude.
POWERS
That's just it. At the outset, the The B-List Actor Improbably Playing a Bit Part in a D-List Movie has no powers. He doesn't even know what his alignment is, because it's not set. At some point, something will happen, and he will find his place in the story.
My instinctive idea of how to handle this is to assign him some means by which he steps into the role of some dead power role, or alternately to become a PFK. Whatever it is, though, it should be flexible; he should start the game with an equal chance to become a Vig, a Detective, a Deadite Lord, or a Serial Killer.
QUESTIONS
How to handle this?
ALIGNMENT: Who Knows?
GENERIC ROLE DESCRIPTION:
BACKGROUND
It's always a jarring experience. You're watching a terrible but vaguely funny horror movie on Showtime at 2:00 in the morning, the cast of which is filled with unknowns and model/actors and refuges from the WB and possibly Matthew Lillard. The plot is not engaging, but the dialogue is suitably mockable and the Lillard is, as always, awesomely awful.
And then it happens. The idiot leads speak briefly with a professor/parent/neighbor/priest/convenience store owner, and you suddenly lean forward.
Holy shit!, you think. Was that Andrea Martin/Malcolm McDowell/Jon Voight?
Their first scene is very short. They appear again halfway through the film, but only briefly, to remind you that they're alive. Mostly they take a backseat to the Lillard or the Love Hewitt or whoever. But you know. You know that John Fricking Voight doesn't take a six-line throwaway role in a B-horror movie. He'll be important, somehow, by the time the movie ends.
Maybe he'll be in league with the bad guys, or the bad guy himself. Maybe he'll turn out to have secret knowledge that's key to defeating the bad guys. Maybe he'll rush to the rescue of our heroes, revealing that he was secretly a ninja in the 70's. Probably the last, because after all, John Voight is a cool dude.
POWERS
That's just it. At the outset, the The B-List Actor Improbably Playing a Bit Part in a D-List Movie has no powers. He doesn't even know what his alignment is, because it's not set. At some point, something will happen, and he will find his place in the story.
My instinctive idea of how to handle this is to assign him some means by which he steps into the role of some dead power role, or alternately to become a PFK. Whatever it is, though, it should be flexible; he should start the game with an equal chance to become a Vig, a Detective, a Deadite Lord, or a Serial Killer.
QUESTIONS
How to handle this?