11 thoughts on “Just wanted to share the first draft of a custom gimmick I had been working on.”

  1. I see where you went with when you said Mick Foley, but I also see a lot of Eugene in here.

    Overall, the core of this Gimmick feels like the Clown and the Jobber gimmicks mated and produced this as their offspring: everyone knows you are the loveable loser, but you make them want to see you wrestle for those rare but meaningful wins.

    Actually, that sounds like Heath Slater. Yes, this is the Slater gimmick.

  2. Neat idea. It reminds me of the “Searching fir a Gimmick” gimmick Al Snow did. It is odd to me that the playbook has a +2 Look and only 1 move that relies on Look, while it has several that rely on a -2 Real (including what would normally be a very powerful basic move.) Also it is unclear to me why the restriction on REALITY CHECK exists, since it uses the same stat as STAYING GROUNDED. It would be a useful playbook to move into more than start with, but it provides a nice alternative to The Wasted for injecting uncertainty into a character.

  3. I think I worded Staying Grounded incorrectly. I mean that once per episode you can use any stat in place of Real, which is really just my way of saying if you have to make a statement or just lay something down straight you can roll your best stat (which is probably Look) in place of it since chances are you probably haven’t touched it. If I allowed a character to double up with Reality Check it basically allows them to have an fantastic chance at all times to get exactly what they want all the time which isn’t exactly the point of the character. Plus it is a stipulation that there is at least one +Real move in a gimmick that can effect the gimmick outside of kayfabe.

  4. I also completely considered making a second +Look move, but I also wanted to put emphasis on the fact that The Alter Ego can also come from a strong, technical background that may pass over into this role. He has the option to boost his Work with a move option so I wanted to give him something that helped give you incentive to use it. With Cut Of Their Jib and I Do It All For Them having such similar qualities, I thought it might be too overwhelmingly one dimensional for the gimmick to strictly pull from only one resource. Plus I just thought it was fitting to make the latter a +Work related role hahaha. Regardless, I’ll definitely it into mind and touch it up if I can think of better ways to implement different things.

  5. This is very cool! 

    Having a high +Look is really strong, since promos are so central to getting your own way and are generally where you generate lots of Momentum, btw. Not necessarily a problem, but just something to think about.

    I’m not sure I understand what STAYING GROUNDED is meant to look like! It’s an automatic move, which means it’s something central to this kind of character, but what does it look like on a wrestling show?

    I personally would be inclined to make GIVE ‘EM WHAT THEY WANT the automatic Move, since (a) it plays up the “rare but meaningful win” part and makes you important to the overall show in a pretty meaningful way, I think. Does that make sense, or is that counter to the tone you’re going for?

    I like a lot of the Moves individually, but I challenge you to pare the set down by one Move (whether thats taking something out or combining some of them). There’s a lot of options! Show us what you want to see in play with the Moves, not all the different things that could happen, if that makes sense?

    Hope some of that helps! Love the direction this is going!

  6. I disagree with Nate; I >Don’t< see the direction this is going!

    When I see The Alter Ego, I think of both comedy gimmicks (Mr. America, The Hurricane) and serious ones (Nation of Violence Samoa Joe, Cactus Jack, Kane/Corporate Kane, The Monster Abyss).

    Do you track Ego/Alter Ego heat separately? That’d be like the Unchained in MonsterHearts, definitely an interesting core mechanic to play with.

    For comedy, I’d definitely include a move where you make it obvious you’re the other guy, but authority figures can’t prove it or refuse to believe it.

    Something like

    “THAT WAS THE OTHER GUY: Once per episode, take +1 momentum when you ignore a stipulation earned by your other side. Authority figures of your face/heel alignment will NEVER be convinced you’re the same person. If you  spend two momentum, even your most ardent detractors can’t find proof.”

    For the violence, try:

    “THIS IS ME: When you do something brutal or heroic your Regular Self would never consider, roll +Look. On a 10, gain one heat with your opponent and you maintain control for the next exchange automatically as they can’t fathom you. On a 7-9, gain momentum but the walls begin to crack; your opponent gets +1 heat on BOTH your identities.”

  7. Nathan Paoletta Thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate it.

    I completely see where you’re coming from and it was a concern for me at first too, but the more I looked at what I was trying to do in building the gimmick the more I realized gaining a lot of Momentum fast is exactly what I wanted from it. Fast Momentum building and high risk high rewards for strong, quick Audience gain. I felt +Look had to be the fundamental building block for such a charismatic character, though I may consider splitting it with +Work if it otherwise won’t work.

    I actually completely understand what you mean. I feel as though that may singlehandedly be my most rushed decision of a Move. I never really THOUGHT of what it would look like, just how it played out. Clearly I can see how this is a problem as it not only creates an unclear action for the player but because it also creates an unispired scene for the Imaginary Viewing Audience. I may rework this idea a little bit and if I do I will probably remove it as an automatic move.

    I think that this is a great idea, actually, and I completely understand. This move defines what The Alter Ego is about and that is raw entertainment. Sure winning is great, but everything they do they do for their audience. This move is all about playing up their personality traits BIG in the ring, so naturally it would make sense to make this available automatically.

    I’ll definitely see what I can do. I actually added one extra move in at the last moment because I just had a spur of the moment idea before sharing it with some friends, so I know the Move list is probably a bit more bloated than it should be. I understand the importance of clearly defining what I want the gimmick to be. I will be putting more time into this for sure.

    Glad you genuinely enjoyed the idea. I’ll make sure to share some more when it is updated!

  8. Adam Goldberg I completely understand what you mean. The overall direction of this gimmick could be defined a bit more. When I first embarked on this I had strictly Mick Foley in my head, remembering all of the crazy gimmicks he ultimately possessed. Dude Love, Cactus Jack, and Mankind were some of my favorites over the years, but as I kept writing I remembered people just like the ones you’ve listed and it made me have to step back a little and think about what I was writing.

    Much like Nate challenged me to do, I think I truly need to be able to DEFINE what I really want this gimmick to ultimately do. From a playable standpoint it is about talking well on the mic, getting the crowd worked up, and gaining/using Momentum at crazy rates. It is an easy role to gain Audience in, but one that also asks you to take plenty of risks to get there. But from the standpoint of creating an engaging, well defined character for roleplay it kind of gets lost a little bit. The fluff isn’t really well defined and I think a lot of it is due in part to me being so focused on creating interesting moves.

    I will say I agree though. The Alter Ego is split between both the comedy gimmicks and serious ones. I think me clearly defining tis as “Babyface” and “Heel” will immediately help, and finding ways to flavor what is already established around how those roles functions. When I go to trim down some of the fat I’ll look into maybe being able to find ways to combine or recreate things to make it feel a little more personable to the gimmick it represents in real life.

    I actually really played with an idea like this in my head! I’m not really familiar with MonsterHearts, but it sounds like a neat concept. I wanted to do a really neat mechanic with this role, but I couldn’t quite come to solid enough foundation to include it in the first draft. I was considering doing it off to the side in an episode or two to see how it worked. Maybe when I go back to fix some things I’ll toy with the idea some more. I just don’t want to force something without really thinking it over first haha.

    Those are some interesting ideas and I’ll definitely consider them. I know I could use some more goofy ideas that really play up the ham of the role so it’s something I have to keep playing around with.

    Thank you so much for your feedback, by the way! I appreciate the input.

  9. As a general note, the most useful thing, for me, is to come up with specific examples of what each Move looks like (either drawing from actual wrestling example, or constructed for yourself from what play looks like). It really helps cut through the “this is a cool idea!” possibility cloud.

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