@tek It's a biological imperative.
My peeve? My mother is visiting, ostensibly so she can "learn how I do things" for when she's housesitting for me while I'm away. Of course she has taken the opportunity to remind me just how many lovely young ladies there are that don't need a visa to live here.
I'm going away to see my goddamn husband and my in-laws, mother.
@auspice I have been in a similar situation as that teacher. Alas. Parents with, presumably, learning difficulties that can't or won't consent getting their children assessed. Unless it's actually abusive, the state often won't do anything. (And even when it is... the state often doesn't have the resources to do much beyond removal.)
@auspice I've eaten some weird shit when I'm drunk. Maybe it's just the alcohol telling you that your cooking is good?
@auspice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
We're laying down in the dark not making a sound. Shh.
@ganymede You could do it. Doubt you'd manage to keep a straight face though.
@thenomain The term cracker meant poor white people in Virginia. The colony founded in the year I mentioned. it was typically associated with poor Celtic (that is Irish and Scottish) migrants of the period. The term itself comes from an earlier Shakespearian source.
ETA: So, yeah. Only white people in or from predominantly English colonial areas are crackers, if you want to be technical.
@thenomain I was referring solely to the foundation of the first English colony, which happened in 1607.
@thenomain Those were Vikings. Do you want to call a Viking a cracker?
@ganymede said in Questionably viable character types and tropes (tangent from staff ethics convo):
@the-tree-of-woe said in Questionably viable character types and tropes (tangent from staff ethics convo):
The Vivienne can also be difficult to pull off, because she's a sniffy manipulative bitch, which can be just the WORST without her being softened by a little humanity (like Vivienne was).
@SunnyJ is the only person I know who can pull this off believably.
The trouble comes when everyone and their puppy thinks they can play "sniffy manipulative bitch." But can't.
@surreality Well that wasn't what I said. Giving people stuff to do isn't at all the same as 'make sure they have stuff to do in every possible scene.'
@surreality If those people are signing up for an event like that, they're idiots. What I am saying is that there should be occult investigation plots, and sniper-oriented plots, and whatever else. Not that every scene needs to be dedicated to them.
One trick ponies that never grow aren't characters, they're cardboard cutouts.
@surreality Well if you're approving applications that have "I am a sniper, sniping is what I do because I am a sniper" then, yeah, you need to give them stuff to do or give them the agency to find that stuff on their own. The same goes for your other example. If you're approving characters that are heavily invested in arcane lore or occultism or whatever... then yes, you need to give them something to do.
Approving an application is more than just a rubber stamp saying 'yes you can play'. It's saying that the kind of character you're approving is one you want to see played. If you approve a character that you know won't get spotlight time, or much in the way of fulfilling RP without making such concerns absolutely clear to the player, you're just wasting their time.
In my youth I was the witness to a crime against a friend of mine. A crime of heinous and barbaric nature.
The perpetrator of said crime is up for parole, and I have been given the chance to testify once more in order to prevent that parole from occurring. Originally I wasn't going to, as much as it pained me to consider that, as I'd have to fly back to the UK to do so.
Yesterday I received a call that I could give my testimony via VOIP. I get my chance. So that's something I love today.
@sg said in Questionably viable character types and tropes (tangent from staff ethics convo):
@surreality said in Questionably viable character types and tropes (tangent from staff ethics convo):
'Lone wolf/solitary crackpot/always goes it on their own' character tropes.
Whenever I meet snipers, I usually just say, that must be nice, I'll call you when I'm doing anything outside and we have hours of notice so you can belly crawl to your position and not move ages, then, when things go sideways and the firefight is on the OTHER side of the building, you can complain OOC to us that you have nothing to do. FFS, grab a SMG smartgun and get in the game!
While I agree that lone-wolf style snipers (the players of whom clearly have little idea how the vast majority of snipers actually do their thing...) are meh character concepts... if you're running a thing and there's a sniper-PC - using a system/theme in which snipers are definitely a thing - and you don't give them something to shoot at/do? They're not the ones at fault.
@auspice But omg deadlines are so much more important in teh real world...
That's just horrid organisation on his part, and he's taking it out on his students. Stupid fucker.
@faceless That's like... the holy grail. I only ever get extremely good luck on rolls when they aren't important. 
