Title: Re: [GRIT] [META] PLEASE READ. I feel this is very important.
Author: schimmel@blue.seas.upenn.edu (Scott Schimmel)
Date: 2 Aug 1998 06:23:03 GMT

sanjian wrote:
: As far as Shelley goes, it will be a while before I get into his
: earth-shattering thread.  He still doesn't come anywhere in the
: vicinity of the significance in GRIT  that, say Vince or Scott, do.

Now that's weird to read. ^_^;  But I suppose it's come to be true...

: Until then, no sense in wasting valuable emotional content.

Actually, in my experience, it's the emotional content that would
cause the significance, so you're geting it backwards. ^_^  Persuming,
of course, several things...

Hmm... that sounds like a lead-in to Easy Ways To Become Significant.

1. Don't worry about being significant.  This is the most important
rule.  Just have fun.  If other people have fun, too, they'll want to
work you into things more.

2. Involve others.  Occasionally, there's good reason to make a post
that's essentially just a conversation between your own characters.
But don't make it an entire plot, or nobody else will care.  Don't
even make it pivotal to a plot, if you can help it, or people who were
involved might lose interest.  Get other characters involved in your
threads.

3. Don't try to control the thread once others are involved.  It
probably won't work anyway, and you'll just end up alienating people.
Remember rule number 1: Just Have Fun.

4. Be involved with others.  Get your character involved with Ranma
characters and other GRIT characters.  Go along on others' threads.
Don't feel the need to foreshadow your own plot in every one of your
posts, either.  Idle conversation with a few PCs can usually turn into
something interesting, anyway.

5. But not too involved.  If your PC is in every thread, he's probably
seriously overworked. ^_^  Given that there are often multiple threads
happening at once, this shouldn't even have to be said, but sometimes
it's easy to forget.

6. Be reasonably active.  You don't have to post every day, but if
you're prone to dropping off the face of the earth for three months at
a time, it'll make it hard for others to take a chance on your plots.

7. When introducing a new character, don't start a new thread to do
it.  Not unless it's -really- necessary, at least -- it often won't
draw much attention.  Get established, so that other people have an
idea of your PC's character... then start a thread.

8. When introducing a new character, keep powerlevels reasonable.
Unless you're planning to run a villain, there's no reason to have a
spellcasting psychic martial artist mecha pilot who has the ability to
instantly and permanently learn any move he sees.  Even if you -are-
running a villain, there's probably no reason to have all of it.  Try
to specialize in one thing, or a couple of things that tie together
into one style -- nobody in RL can do everything, and characters in
GRIT shouldn't be able to, either.

9. Don't worry about image.  Have your characters say and do stupid
things.  Have them make other characters mad once in a while.  Have
their "help" go horribly wrong and make an enemy for life.  Have them
develop an unrequited (and unappreciated) love for some other
character.  Give them annoying mannerisms like always speaking in
haiku.  If you must have a character who's -always- nice and sweet,
have them annoy others with their cheerful disposition, or pick fights
with the character who's always sarcastic and nasty. ^_^  No, you
don't want to make enemies of everyone, but making friends with
everyone is even more boring.  Remember the general trends of
interpersonal relationships in Takahashi's manga... ^_^

10. Even if you are posting a numbered list, don't feel compelled to
make it a "top 10" list... d'oh!

--
Scott Schimmel                http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~schimmel/
Ex ignorantia ad sapientium;  "You really aren't normal, are you?"
ex luce ad tenebras.              -- Miki Koishikawa