May 9, 2011

Character Sheets are the new Rorschatt test.

I'm a big fan of being able to convey a complex concept in a tiny little package.  It's tough, but when done right, boy will it knock your socks off.  I'm always trying to find a way to communicate with people in a way they'll understand. Working at an IT help desk, I get that what I think of as being very simple is exceedingly complex to someone else.  That someone else could be a highly educated lawyer who's had years more schooling than I have.  It's all about what makes sense to a person.

That said, the toughest part of dating/making a new addition to your pool of nearest and dearest is the "getting to know you" stage.  This is where my inner rational and geek pick up their boffer weapons and prepare to let loose the pencils of war.  To set the stage, a dear friend of mine and I have had some long, detailed discussions through email.  Some of which include our favorite tabletop RPGs.  We're both drawn to the World of Darkness series; him to the Tolkienesque world-building mechanics, and me to the character interaction and development.  Being two sides to the same *NTJ coin (He the I and myself the E), it gets a little spooky at times.  But, it's the "being able to quote Silence of the Lambs in any situation" good kind of creepy.

We've both kvetched about how certain aspects of our personalities appear to others and how, in truth, perception isn't the reality.  For example, I bemoaned the fact that I've been called intimidating, aggressive, and scary.  I know I have some personality flaws that lend to that, but in fact, they're in place for just the opposite reason; it's how I disguise weakness.  Thing is, I've spent so long perfecting that facade, I have no idea how to tear it down now that I want to.  Case in point, I don't just gush.  Female ejaculation jokes aside, I don't know how to just give shameless adulation to a person.  My adaptation is to point out silver linings and truths that perhaps a person has lost sight of with sincerity and force.    Have you seen the Blind Side?  It's very much a Leaigh Anne Tuohy "Don't you lie to me now." sort of thing.  It isn't quite the same as genuine praise, but it's the reality of things in the here and now.

Ok, now that the stage has been set dressed, let's continue.  Sometime about two months ago, I ran across a card game called Cards Against Humanity.  After I had nearly peed myself laughing at this game, I had to share.  So, I sent the link to Greyson.  Seeing that it was licensed under creative commons and that we could modify it, we got to thinking about making our own decks.  Card ideas suddenly became all we could talk about.  I have never laughed so hard or spent so much time peeking into the more absurd aspects of life. 

Sometime during this creative outpouring, we'd started taking about gaming again.  I think it was after I'd mentioned that I wanted to change my real name from one of the most common ones given to girls in 1977 to Jezebel.  That got us onto the topic of how the WoD treats those biblical myths, and how maybe Lilith would be a better pick.  So, amid this orgy of D10 and #2 pencil goodness, I get this email with two PDFs attached.  They were vampire, the Masquerade character sheets, drawn up to reflect our real-world personalities.  Brilliant! 

Freud’s version of my ego threw a ticker tape parade down Cerebellum Avenue.  The NT aspects of my personality danced the lambada with my gamer geek.  How better to give someone a simple, one page synopsis of either what you believe yourself to be, or how you perceive someone else.  As any self-aware person knows, how you believe yourself to be, and how you're seen by others can sometimes be VASTLY different.  If I didn't think the reaction to that would be to say "That's nice." and back away slowly, I'd suggest something like that as a fantastic tool to cut through all the BS and really tell a person who you are.  As is, I'm pretty sure you'd be asked if you still lived in your mom's basement.
Ephemily, as identified by Greyson.

Alright, I know you’re curious.  So, without further ado, here’s the sheet created for Ephemily by my nearest and dearest Greyson, in all its shame and glory.

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