I've only done it once and even then certain parts of the character were adapted/changed. I never got to really play put the character's story to its end and I had other people asking me to remake her so...
Usually I, like others have said, will just grab concepts or bits and pieces
Americans have a really obsessive thing with having 'perfect' teeth, sometimes even over healthy teeth. We (as in culturally) view straight even teeth as being more acceptable than crooked, healthy teeth.
It's weird.
So it becomes shameful to admit 'Oh I had that tooth that was causing me literal pain and suffering removed.'
Sometimes a tooth is just a problem. It might be wisdom teeth. It might be genetics. Sometimes it is dentist avoidance. Sometimes it's monetary. Sometimes it's our own damn fault. For me it's a combo of all the above. 
But yeah, we Americans have a cultural hang up to get over for sure.
@Tinuviel said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
@Auspice The problem with judging characters from the outside is that we often just don't know how deep their layers go. Often we see stereotypes or "the mentally ill one" because we're only seeing one layer. So it's up to staff to really keep an eye on shit like that, not us.
Well, this whole discussion is based on staff reviewing characters. 
@Tinuviel said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
@Auspice While I agree with the sentiment, outright 'restricting' the idea of playing a mentally ill character is still kinda stupid. Putting these character ideas under closer scrutiny I can definitely get behind, as with all potentially confronting ideas.
That said, it's not about whether the policy is right or wrong. If the staff want to throw their hands up and refuse to deal with certain types of characters, that's fine. We aren't going to change their minds or whatever, but we can point out problems with it and call it stupid.
Oh, I wholly agree with that. I'm just saying that making a caricature of mental illness shouldn't be OK. That was the point Lotherio was trying to make, I think. He's been frustrated and upset by people who think it's 'cool' to have PTSD as their character quirk.
Kind of like how it's been discussed before that people who go 'Oh, I like to keep my desk clean because I'm so ODC teehee' are upsetting because it's incredibly insensitive and rude to people who legitimately have OCD. PTSD isn't a character 'quirk' and it's not something to just slap onto a character to be 'cool' or even something to make the end-all-be-all of a character.
Just like, as said earlier: profession is different than nationality. mental illness !=who your character is. It can be part of what shapes them, yes, but when you're looking at a lineup and it's like 'We have the bartender, the librarian, the teacher, the gardener, and the major depressive.' ......one of those does me a concern as a character concept and should, as you say, come under closer scrutiny.
@Admiral said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
Unless it's an offensive racial stereotype or something
Gonna point out that people being insensitive about mental health/disabilities falls into the 'or something' here IMO. And I think Lotherio is sort of referencing that. In his mind, people playing PTSD (a serious condition) as a 'cool stereotype' is being insensitive about a serious mental health issue.
And I can wholly understand that.
Ugggggh. I am so sorry. 
I know your pain.
I've cancelled a good half dozen dentist appointments in the past year because of a Problem Tooth that flares up with pain and mild infection because I am downright terrified of the dentist (I had to have a tooth removed a handful of years ago and due to anemia, it ended up a dry socket.....). All I can suggest is to try to find someone to go with you as support. I don't really have anyone and every appointment I make, I end up canceling because the anxiety gets to me, but I can tell you: letting it get too bad is not a good idea.
I'm really hoping, once I have insurance again, to get myself to a dentist to get my current tooth issue resolved. So I'm talking from a sort of hypocritical standpoint here... but also the standpoint of I feel your pain. Literally. It sucks to have days of only being able to chew on one side of your mouth.
I will say this tho: dentists who can 'block' that side of your face = win. It's what I need since I'm immune to Novocaine. It super helps.
The EpicGames launcher has World of Goo for free right now. If you've never gotten to play the game, now's your chance. 
(And if you want to play it and desperately need it not on Epic, I think I MIGHT have a key on Humble I can give out.)
@Sparks said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
@krmbm said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
@Goldfish said in Gray Harbor Discussion:
But did they have a wave of amputee apps and had to be like. STOP. All limbs now.
Yes.
@BobGoblin said in WoW Classic:
YOure just mad because you couldn't find mankriks wife
I had to Google wtf that was
I actually got bored and quit around level 40 because I got sick of grinding and everyone I played with had quit.
@BobGoblin said in WoW Classic:
Imagine the joys of organizing a 40 man 4 nights a week for 5 hour progression. That's what I remember of raid leading in classic
@surreality said in Meg and Pikachu:
...so glad I'm too old for most of this shit to reside in the memory banks. For like, the very first time, I'm super glad I'm too old for a thing.
A new feel, thanks to MSB. Thanks, MSB... I think.
@Ominous said in The OOC Masquerade ?:
If the game leans more towards a MUD atmosphere, is competitive, or has a theme entirely built around keeping secret identities and such like in a Werewolf/Mafia sort of game or BSG with cylons, I would say keep the masque. Otherwise I feel that it gets in the way of collaborative storytelling.
So having played a BSG game where I WAS a skinjob... I was sent an @mail by Staff with my designation (#7), when I would 'go active,' and a couple other (v. limited) details.
No one knew (I think a couple people suspected just because ofc people knew PCs would be chosen) until my character outed herself after deciding to align with humanity. She knew who the other skinjob at the time on board was, but I didn't out them. And this was on a game with FS3, so it had open sheets, etc. But BSG games have been long-running enough that it's in the culture to handle things well in that sense.
The utterly confused look on my seat mate's face when muffins fell out of my hoodie pocket.
...what, you don't have pocket muffins?!
@Wretched said in Random links:
Humble Bundle has a bundle for Writers... thought this might be relevant to the communities interest.
Some of the books in it look good, too. I'm sad I am at $0 spare dollars or I'd pick it up.
@faraday said in The OOC Masquerade ?:
@Jaded said in The OOC Masquerade ?:
I had more fun on that character than on my other Reach characters precisely because people could not be 100% certain whom or what they were dealing with. I think in this case the whole keeping up with wikis and adding PBs was more harmful to creating RP than facilitating it.
That's totally legit, and I'm not trying to downplay your fun in that instance. Everybody's playstyle is different.
But just to offer the counter-example... on BSG:U I had a character whose backstory included being from a moon with an ongoing insurrection, and being a part of this dramatic siege/evacuation incident earlier in the war. While I'm sure I could have milked some drama doling this out as a surprise, I had at least a half-dozen deep character relationships sparked because other players had read that info in my character wiki and hooked into it somehow. Both in terms of "Oh we should have these guys butt heads - it'll be awesome" and in terms of "Let's make up a shared backstory since we were both part of The Incident/both from Insurrection Moon." That was awesome, and couldn't have happened on a closed-OOC-info game.
It also enables people to run plot.
"Ooh, I really like what you have going there and it gives me ideas. Mind if I use it as a hook for some plot?"
My dad is my emergency contact ONLY because I have his phone # memorized.
He's an asshole and a terrible person, but..... I know his #. 
@surreality said in The OOC Masquerade ?:
People have limited time for their happy fun time games, more so than when this hobby was younger -- so were most of the people in it. Being able to find like minds and characters with similar interests (even if those interests include having a conflict between the characters) via open information to get the things done that people will enjoy, and not waste their limited time bouncing off walls and being confused as a player is considerably more important than it was in the 90s. The average player's priorities have changed. This is also non-trivial, and not to be overlooked.
This is why I do not wanna waste my time spending 30-odd minutes trying to figure out why our characters would even meet up in the first place.
This is why I like wikis, why I like @faraday's RP hooks on peoples' sheets on-game/portal pages. Because I can see an interesting character with an RP hook that is super appealing and go 'Hey! We should meet up sometime!'
I got limited time. You got limited time. Now neither of us is sitting around twiddling our thumbs going 'Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh'
I am personally not a fan of OOC masq. I know not everyone who has the 'You can't tell who or what my character is!' on their wiki is trying to be twee, but so many who do are that I just find it tiresome.
You know why I want to know who/what your character is? RP Hooks. It makes it easier for me to figure out reasons for us to RP.
Because jesus. fucking. christ. am I sick of spending thirty fucking minutes on channel trying to come up with how we can RP together because you're too goddamn lazy to put effort into it. 'Let's go here to RP' 'Nah, I wouldn't do that' 'How about..' 'No, that doesn't make sense for my character.'
Add in someone who is 'a mystery!' and they won't give you shit to work with.
I know on 'OOC Masq' games people are meant to just wander around the grid, but I'm not that kind of person. I don't wanna just wander or lurk.
So I see someone who is being 'sekritive!!!' and I just think they're someone who either, a) is really, really boring and can't think of anything actually interesting about their character, or b) thinks they're way more interesting than they actually are.
Telling me what faction/sphere/whatever you are gives me instant ways to hook in to your character so we can RP. People who use that info for mechanical advantages are problems.
And you know what we do with problem players? We show them the door. (Or we should.)
I'm personally tired of policies that hinder collaboration and RP made in the spirit of hindering problem players rather than just getting rid of the problem players.
