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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 1486841" data-attributes="member: 16760">I know how it is - I tutor desperate college students in the weeks leading up to finals. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I'm not sure exactly what you mean ("personal separation"?), or why it's scary?I do get into my characters, no question.  Once when arguing with SP about experience points after an intense Champions game, SP finally said, "That's it!  I refuse to carry on an argument with the Phantom!"  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  We still laugh about this, and he was right;  I was still in "Phantom-mode" as the game ended, and he's a good deal more assertive than I generally am in real life.  (Mild-mannered Clark Kent, that's me! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But there isn't a one of my characters that isn't a reflection of me in some way, in whatever distorted funhouse mirror;  if they weren't, I wouldn't be able to play them.  I do not become other than what I in some sense already am, even if in a magnified and twisted way, and through the lens of capabilities I don't actually have.I don't see this as scary, I see it as good acting - getting into the role.  I did some acting in high school, and was moderately good at it.But if it's any comfort to you, these writeups are definitely "dressed up" from what they are when actually played.  There's plenty of OOC chatter between me and SP - joking around, teasing, reminiscing about our mutual past, cursing in awed tones (generally me, during "big" scary scenes like Legion's birth), and so on.I also add a lot of touches to the writeups that never happened during the game.  For example, I deliberately added the bit about Alex fixing omelets for Carlos after it was all over - I was inspired by Johnson's omelet proverb, and thought it would make some great foreshadowing and also supply me with a neat title.If you're curious about what Alex reflects in me, I suspect it's that I was very much an outsider and a loner in high school.  I felt very misunderstood and put upon, and not without reason;  I was intensely shy, reserved, and guarded.  I have largely outgrown this, but I suspect Alex is a reflection of that aspect of me, amplified, supported, and explained by his out-of-control telepathy.On the other hand, I'm unmarried, far happier than Alex, practice a vibrant faith (I'm Catholic;  Alex is at best an agnostic on his more dreamy days), and couldn't fight my way out of a wet paper bag. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Plus I'm a slob, and he's a neatnik's neatnik.Wow.  Thanks - imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I find that every minute spent putting thought into one's characters (and campaign worlds) pays off in-game by a factor of ten, if not more.  Of course it can be overdone - you can spend so much time thinking (especially about campaign worlds...) that one never gets around to playing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Consider me on-rocked. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  And I'm glad to BE back. Thanks.  I'm very proud of that line.  It's another bit that I added to the writeup that never actually got gamed.P.S.  Hellzon - glad to meet you. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Feel free to comment;  I'm something of a feedback whore. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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