Catchphrases

[dunlaing]

So I'm listening to "A Boy Named Sue" on my iPod and it starts with Johnny Cash saying "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" and a huge roar of applause which is due at least in part to the simple fact that he started every concert with those same words. Later in the song, the narrator says to his father "My name is Sue, how do you do?" and I had a vision of the character being a Dog* and his player just looking the GM in the eye, saying "My name is Sue, how do you do?" and pushing forward two dice.

That led to the idea of a character whose traits are all catchphrases, but that seemed a bit too whimsical for Dogs in the Vineyard. But nothing's too whimsical for Capes!

The Thing
aka Ben Grimm, Uncle Benjy

Powers	Styles	Attitudes
"I Can't Hold It Much Longer, Stretcho."	"It's Clobberin' Time"	"Wotta Revoltin' Development"
"You Know How Much That Stogie You Just Ruined Cost?"	"Yer Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing"	"Aw, nuts"
"These Big Orange Mitts"	"Cosmic Doo-Dad"	"...My Aunt Petunia"
"Ya Crum-Bum"	"Yancy Street"	"I'm a Monster"

I'm imagining a game in which you say one of the quotes on your character sheet every time you roll a die. Want to hit Dr. Doom? fine, but you only get to roll the die if you also call him a Crum-Bum.




________________________
*from Dogs in the Vineyard...not a canine.

[Eric Provost]

I think it's a fantastic idea.  Personally, I'd probably just use my catchphrases under the heading of Styles, and then only one or maybe two of them.  Maybe I can work it into this weekend's game.

-Eric

[Eric Sedlacek]

Catchphrases as styles are simple.  I do find the implication of incurring debt over a catchphrase rather interesting.  I think your borrow from Ben Grimm, "It's clobberin' time!", might actually be a debt-generating catch phrase...at least for Ben.

[dunlaing]

It's Clobberin' Time is definitely a Debt-generating style, not a check-off style. And it probably would be more workable to just use a few, not the entire character, but there are definitely some catchphrases that need to be what you say in order to roll the die. "Hulk is the strongest one there is!!" "Nothing stops the Juggernaut!" "Shazam!" "Up, up, and away!" and for a trek game "...reverse the polarity..."

[Zamiel]

That led to the idea of a character whose traits are all catchphrases, but that seemed a bit too whimsical for Dogs in the Vineyard. But nothing's too whimsical for Capes!

I've been using Catchphrases in the Style column for a bit, now, because they catch such a big chunk of certain characters' styles. I wouldn't actually require that they be said in the course of the scene, per se, to activate them, but they tend to get said just there anyway, so its never been an issue.

(That is to say, if the phrase is, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" variants such as "You feel lucky?" or "After the echo of his gunshot fades, you hear, "-- punk?"" work just fine.)