The game, not the painter.

How To Play

0. If you already know the rules, skip down to THE ACTUAL GAME STARTS HERE.

1. One person, whom we will refer to as the Host (although Wikipedia uses the term "chooser") — at this point, me — thinks of a famous person or fictional character.
2. That person reveals one initial: that of the name the person/character is best known by.
3. Other players ask yes or no questions about the character
4. Answers come in three flavors:
   • "No, I am not ______" — A character that meets the facts known about the actual character, as well as the question asked. Return to step 3.
   • "Yes, I am _____" — If the Host is unable to think of anyone who matches the question other than who s/he's chosen, then the character has been successfully guessed, and the one who asked the question becomes the Host for the next round.
   • "STUMPED" or "STUMP" — The Host has no idea who is being referred to by the questioner.
5. If the Host is STUMPED, the questioner who stumped them must provide the name of the character they were thinking of when asking the question.
   • If that is, in fact, the same character the Host was thinking of, and is an accurate statement about the character, it counts as a "Yes" answer, and the questioner becomes the Host.
   • If the character does fit what is known about the Host's character, then that questioner may ask a Yes/No question about the Host's character, which the Host must answer directly, without qualifiers.

Example

Host: (thinking of Luke Skywalker) My name begins with an "L".
Questioner: (also thinking of Luke) Are you a character from Star Wars?
Host: No, I am not Princess Leia.

THE ACTUAL GAME STARTS HERE

My name begins with S.

edited 9th Feb '11 7:15:04 AM by BlackWolfe

Are you a fictional character?

No, I am not Superman.

Edit: never mind, fictional character. I suppose non-famous historical people are out of the running, then.

Okay: did you try to learn fear?

edited 9th Feb '11 10:03:12 AM by SabresEdge

Are you an American?

Did you participate in a war?

Apologies for the delay. I have been asleep. The requirement is (relative) fame. It's no fair picking someone no one has heard of. So I'm not my aunt Sharon or something, that would be cheating.

That odd phrasing is throwing me off. The only person/character I can think of studied fear. STUMPED.

No, I am not Mr. Smith.

No, I am not General "Stormin'" Norman Schwartzkopf Jr.

edited 9th Feb '11 3:26:40 PM by BlackWolfe

I was thinking of Siegfried.

Is this character nonfictional?

edited 9th Feb '11 3:29:11 PM by SabresEdge

No, this character is not nonfictional. (Again, odd phrasing there.)

Known Facts

(a helpful list)

• Fictional
  • Not Superman
  • Not Mr. Smith.

IIRC, Siegfried's quest revolved around learning to fear. Of course, it's been a while since I studied Wagner.

Are you a counterpart to Koba?

I knew this was a mistake when I decided to create a game about character names on this forum: Damn me for resolving not to use Google to make this fair. STUMPED again.

Never mind, I screwed up. Substitute "Bronstein" for "Koba". (For the most part I've been trying to draw off prior knowledge, using Wikipedia only for confirmation.)

So, disregard my last question. The real question: "Are you a counterpart to Bronstein?"

edited 9th Feb '11 3:47:26 PM by SabresEdge

Okay, so the original STUMPED is revoked.

The new STUMPED stands. I used to be good at this.

Okay. The character in question was Snowball. (Bronstein was the real name of Leon Trotsky. I mixed up the names earlier: "Koba" was the nom de plume of Joseph Stalin. Animal Farm had Snowball and Napoleon, respectively, stand in as the expies of Trotsky and Stalin.)

Did you first appear in a literary work?

Whoo, that was convoluted... I haven't read Animal Farm in over a decade, too, so I still would have been stumped.

Yes

• Fictional
• First appeared in a LITERARY WORK

Did you commit suicide by shooting after an Attempted Rape?

Did you suffer Death by Newbery Medal?

edited 9th Feb '11 4:19:36 PM by Balmung

I predict you're going to be next and nobody will figure it out. STUMPED

Every idea I've had hasn't panned out. Also STUMPED

Nice! I had Svidrigailov in mind. (And I bet Balmung had Sounder.)

My question (I think Balmung also gets one): Was the literary work in which this character premiered published within the last 150 years?

Don't feel too bad about missing the lit. Quiz Bowl training exposes you to the most obscure literature worthy of the name, and it trains you in writing "pyramidal" questions: i.e., clues that apply only to one answer, but you would have to have studied it to know.)

edited 9th Feb '11 4:42:37 PM by SabresEdge

Yes.

Facts

• Fictional character
• Originated in a literary work
  • Written less than 150 years ago

Did you ever expose yourself to the powder of the devil's-foot root?

Actually, it didn't take too long: I'm a pretty avid Sherlock Holmes fan. The other choice would've been "Did you ever disguise yourself as Altamont?"

edited 9th Feb '11 6:25:19 PM by SabresEdge

No, I am not Sherlock Holmes. That one took a few minutes, huh?

edited 9th Feb '11 5:51:12 PM by BlackWolfe

Are you male?

Are you an orphan?

No, I am not Simon.

I used to be good at this. STUMPED by Reecer, still waiting for a question from Balmung.