I kind of figured appealing to the crowd that's into Manly Men was what they had ShB-and-later Thancred for. He's in his 30s, reasonably tall (5'9'', which is the 50 mark for male Midlanders) and short-haired, tanks, has a kid he wants to protect (Ryne), picks up girls, and so on. The writer preferences for this game just don't seem to lean towards slab-of-muscle Manly Man, and I don't think that's a writing flaw.