:) Sanctaphrax, I'm suddenly curious as to how you, Sir Statting McAwesome, would draw up the Burn Notice crew. :D
Good points; I'll certainly agree that druggies and other addicts are possibly in the negatives. I also think that people who are deeply in debt or other spiraling obligations can be approaching that limit.
Hey, I'm a knight now! Cool.
Unfortunately, I've never seen Burn Notice. I'm afraid that you'll have to trust in Deadmanwalking for this one.Oh, you should watch it; I think you'd like it. And, like I said in the OP, the narratorial voiceovers explaining things from the main character are a good way to show assessments and declarations to those players who aren't quite "getting it".
Good point about those far in debt. It occurs to me that "other spiraling obligations" could include a job that one takes too seriously or a difficult position in one's family.And they could leave. They could walk out. But they don't. Past a certain point, it ceases to become "I choose not to," and instead becomes "I can't."
PS: You know, Deadmanwalking is the one who inspired me to post here. I'd thank him for that if he was still around.Best way to thank him to keep going as you have been.
although he is not vanilla, from his behaviour i would see "bester" from "babylon 5" as a negative refresh mortal. also "giles" from "buffy" when he has his ripper-moments. (such as when he was killing a mortal in cold blood because he knew that buffy would not do that, and it was necessary.)(click to show/hide)
A better example is Dexter Morgan from the Showtime show Dexter. He can't stop himself from stalking, studying, and eventually killing murderers. It is his Nature, even when it places everything else he holds dear into jeopardy, even when he really wants to not do it, he still fulfills this compulsion.Or it could be that he holds killing those murderers as a higher calling and chooses not to resist his compulsions.
although he is not vanilla, from his behaviour i would see "bester" from "babylon 5" as a negative refresh mortal. also "giles" from "buffy" when he has his ripper-moments. (such as when he was killing a mortal in cold blood because he knew that buffy would not do that, and it was necessary.)(click to show/hide)
Dexter is another good example of a low-refresh-but-not-zero character. He gets compelled a lot, but he either buys off those compels or (most often) he finds a compromise. There are certainly a few times, where the "escalation rules" are used ;)
And by that logic, at least the heroes in a story have to have positive refresh. Everyone else will be tossed around as the story needs them.
I was offering him as more reasonable choice for 0 Refresh based on I don't remember him ever not indulging in his Compels