Shameless as a male character (some spoilers)

[The Usual Suspect]

Okay, so my new group is 3 women and 1 guy that is running Burnt Offerings for another group; so he's very aware of Shayless. This particular group is a bit more rural conservative than my usual group, so having Shayless hit on one of the girls runs a serious risk of uncomfortable ire. I plan to avoid that, and political discussion, with this group.

Having been warned in advance I have decided to transform Shayless into Shamus, who will be a big, broad shouldered, strapping young stud of a guy in the image of Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), but with a personality more in line with Gildery Lockhart (HP - Chamber of Secrets). He will of course consider himself quite the ladies man, and I've got time to work this all into the party's introduction to Sandpoint. I ran them through the Beginner's Box last month, and this month will be running the Swallowtail Festival. I plan to use the festival to introduce many of the NPCs before the goblins show up.

Anybody have any good ideas I can use for Shamus as I introduce him to the party before the goblin fight. Afterwards he will brag about how many goblins he managed to kill/drive off, but won't be around during the Forxglove rescue, and will always have to cover for his father at the store when the party is doing anything dangerous. The Shayless personality is so well known with regards to Burnt Offerings but I haven't seen any posts on gender swapping Shayless so I'll take any ideas I can get.

As for our one male player, to keep him on his toes I think the Averton twins will both take an interest in him behind each other's backs. It will take me a little practice to get their separate personalities down, and I'll keep it secret as long as I can that he's being courted heavily by both twins in a kind of competition. I would love some input here too. I have no idea how competitive twins might get in a situation like this.

[the Lorax]

Shamus the shopkeep...I'd go the route of making him a dreamer and a poet - I'll suited to the drudgery of day in day out sameness of being a shopkeeper, woefully unprepared to do things like make sure that he doesn't lock himself out of the store.

Instead of Shayless' "Hey, could you kill some rats in my basement *wink**wink*" it could be "Excuse me, this is embarrassing, but I seem to have locked myself out of my shop, I still have to do some cleaning and my father is due back this evening, could you help me get back in?" Add in a bucket of water "trap" left out under a window for a PC to slip and fall into. Make him as tactically sound of a combatant as a goblin - or just hapless. Perhaps he just ends up being lucky in a fight (he spooks a horse while trying to get a make shift weapon out of a wagon - the horse tramples some goblins in the street. Hes a good guy, just one you'd want no part of having on your team during an adventure.

Have Shamus get into a public fight with Banny Harker during the Swallowtail Festival, and then arrested for Banny Harker's murder later on.

I think it can work just fine.

As for the whole twins thing - as a shortcut I'd assign one a NG alignment, and the other a CN alignment and build their personalities off of that just so you can have a basis for giving them different personas.

[Tinalles]

Sounds entirely doable.

If the Shayliss incident is sufficient to ruffle your players' feathers, then Book 5 is going to be a challenge, since it's all about the PCs gaining power from their sins. You will probably need to adjust that as well, especially elements of the Delvahine encounter.

If I were in this situation, I would introduce the players to the Seven Virtues of Rule pretty early on, and arrange for them to discover not just that the ancient Runelords were powered by sin magic, but that their sin magic was in fact a corrupted form of a purer magic. That gives the players opportunity to actively pursue virtue in the hopes of finding good, morally sound weapons to oppose Karzoug and his minions.

The obvious outcome is the ability to forge Virtue-based weapons in Runeforge, though you may need come up with some different material components for the process.

Also, the Runeguard prestige class from Paths of the Righteous seems like a good thematic fit if you're doing stuff with the virtue in RotRL.

[Kalshane]

I would definitely agree with The Lorax that you want Shamus to be a good guy in order to contrast with Aldern. Your female players might be a little miffed if they're constantly being pursued by lousy people.

In fact, depending on your players and their characters, you could present an interesting choice to one of them by having her pursued by both Aldern and Shamus. Do they choose the dashing nobleman who comes off a little overwhelming/creepy or the hapless but kindhearted shopkeeper's son desperate to leave behind his dreary life?

[The Usual Suspect]

I already have introduced a couple of NPCs that are of the more upstanding variety. Though making Shamus a little more haphazard but kind hearted might do if I make his sister Katrine something of a noted vindictive witch. That could work with the Banny Harker idea too.

And while having Shayless go after one of the ladies would not play well with this group, it is not because they are likely to be unsettled by the idea of sin. Just the typical rural Midwestern lack of sympathy for the LGBTQA community. I find that somewhat annoying myself, but I'm not going to get into a row with them over their religious upbringing if they're willing to step out and play Pathfinder. Maybe exposure to the more cosmopolitan mentality of Golarion will rub off on them.

[the Lorax]

That's totally what I was thinking (about Katrine).

She's business minded and somewhat ruthless - she's really using a relationship with Banny to get things out of the lumber mill at discounts.

Shamus' fight with Banny is all about Shamus thinking that Banny is taking advantage of his sister.

(also getting to introduce Banny before he shows up as a corpse is a good thing, especially if you show him as capable and rugged, making his death all the more concerning. "Hey Banny was a bit of a tough guy - what the heck handled him so easy?")

[Kileanna]

The Usual Suspect wrote:

And while having Shayless go after one of the ladies would not play well with this group, it is not because they are likely to be unsettled by the idea of sin. Just the typical rural Midwestern lack of sympathy for the LGBTQA community. I find that somewhat annoying myself, but I'm not going to get into a row with them over their religious upbringing if they're willing to step out and play Pathfinder. Maybe exposure to the more cosmopolitan mentality of Golarion will rub off on them.

I think you're doing it right.

Forcing them on a kind of game they wouldn't like won't be of any help and it would probably only create conflict. You can't change a persons mind like that, and they'd probably reject what you're portraying.
If I know that a player of mine has some kind of taboo I try my best not to bring it to the table and keep it comfortable to everyone.

[The Usual Suspect]

Kileanna wrote:

The Usual Suspect wrote:

...

I think you're doing it right.

...

Exactly my thought. You can learn a lot from role playing games, but not if it is rubbed in your face or forced on you as a player.

[The Usual Suspect]

the Lorax wrote:

That's totally what I was thinking (about Katrine).

She's business minded and somewhat ruthless - she's really using a relationship with Banny to get things out of the lumber mill at discounts.

Shamus' fight with Banny is all about Shamus thinking that Banny is taking advantage of his sister.

(also getting to introduce Banny before he shows up as a corpse is a good thing, especially if you show him as capable and rugged, making his death all the more concerning. "Hey Banny was a bit of a tough guy - what the heck handled him so easy?")

I'm not sure what discount the general store would be getting from a lumber mill. They aren't doing finished products; but maybe material to fix up the store. It's a thought.

And I definitely agree about introducing Banny Harker early. I like the idea of introducing as many of the Sandpoint residents as is reasonable. Its just a matter of doing it without overloading the players.