What historical character would you like in your group? For what game?
I can’t speak to the personality of any given historical figure. I’m not a history buff myself and I don’t really know who’s approachable, who’s clever, who’s good at thinking in-character, and who’s actually incredibly racist. But in a sense that’s freeing, because it means I can discard personality and decide based on what other skills or knowledge they would bring to enhance the game experience. We’ve had plenty of times where we needed to know things like “how many people do you need to maintain a boat this size?” or “how hot does a fire have to be to eradicate a human skeleton?” Somebody who knows the answers would not only save us time, but probably come up with the kind of ridiculous ideas we treasure.
Since I basically want a Renaissance man to act as a repository of facts, I might as well say Leonardo da Vinci. If we can’t handwave the language barrier, then Benjamin Franklin. I think the best game for them would be one set during or slightly before their time period, preferably without too much magic. There’s no way our game is enhanced by having our guest star note that fire spells kill everybody in the room by consuming all of the oxygen.