Becoming The Mask

[WackyMeetsPractical]

For the GMs and leads who were responsible for playing specific characters, I would like to know if you ever delved too deeply into your roles. Whether you found yourself thinking like the characters out of the game. Whether you found yourselves taking interactions with your characters too personally. For example, when some of us would insult or attack one of your characters, did you ever find yourself personally offended? (I do recall one letter I wrote to Morgan that may have come close to a personal attack of character, though I really tried hard to avoid that sort of thing.)

Also, just for fun, which characters, not just the ones you've had involvement in, did you guys relate to the most? Or enjoy the most? And for extra fun, which ones didn't you like very much?

[Rick Healey]

Well, the first question is really one for the dedicated writers; I never got that far in when I did spot writing.

Though I related to Holmes the most.

[Dana]

I lived in Morgan's skin for weeks and weeks. I did take things personally a few times, I did get hurt a few times, but then I remembered I was the writer, not the character. The distinction does occasionally get messy, if you're not careful.

[Sicon112]

I lived in Morgan's skin for weeks and weeks. I did take things personally a few times, I did get hurt a few times, but then I remembered I was the writer, not the character. The distinction does occasionally get messy, if you're not careful.

I hope I didn't insult you. Someone as Morgan started a sarcasm duel with me. I was just sorta continuing it for the rest of the time. XD

[Val Reznitskaya]

I always made sure to define that line pretty clearly for myself, so of course I didn't take it personally when all of you were hating on Romeo. At the time, that had been part of the point. There were plenty of points where I wanted to justify his actions but simply couldn't. But the negative feedback had been so much harsher than I expected, and it caused me to seriously re-evaluate the character - if he didn't react to the things you guys were saying, it just wouldn't have seemed realistic at all. That whole arc went through a huge overhaul as a result.

My favorite character was probably the Cat, because his whole concept was just hilarious. As for the character I could relate to most, I'm not really sure. There was a point where I really sympathized with Morgan despite having zero involvement with her character.

[Tom]

When Romeo got admitted to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, it was, on a meta and story level, a direct response to the harshness of recent comments.

He wasn't as bad as he seemed to be, he was just seeming colder to drive Juliet away so she could be happier without him. Your comments forced him to drop the facade and confess his semi-noble intentions. (I could be fudging the details. Val can correct me.)

On our level, we knew that Romeo was not as horrible as you thought, and we needed something that would generate some sympathy while still being 1) faithful to the character and 2) a reaction to what you had posted. I'm very happy with the direction Megan and Val took that story from there.

[Scarab]

When Romeo got admitted to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, it was, on a meta and story level, a direct response to the harshness of recent comments.

He wasn't as bad as he seemed to be, he was just seeming colder to drive Juliet away so she could be happier without him. Your comments forced him to drop the facade and confess his semi-noble intentions. (I could be fudging the details. Val can correct me.)

On our level, we knew that Romeo was not as horrible as you thought, and we needed something that would generate some sympathy while still being 1) faithful to the character and 2) a reaction to what you had posted. I'm very happy with the direction Megan and Val took that story from there.

I honestly felt realy guilty about the whole Romeo thing. I mean I know we didn't force feed him the alcohol or anything but we can't have helped him at all, and we were really jerks to him, I felt. Especially me (Bringing up Rosalind may have been accurate but it was still very mean of me). Still on the plus side, it had the benefit of restarting his friendship with Juliet... so I guess some good came of it.

[Rick Healey]

Oh, the planning for Romeo's hospital trip was awesome. I was planning all sorts of terrible medical conditions that could have come up. And tons of ways that Juliet could have reacted (she could have been so much meaner and colder... and Romeo totally would have deserved it, too). I'm happy how it played out, though - Romeo was duly punished for jerk behavior, yet also earned himself a Woobie point. Also, poor Juliet got to show how awesome she is, even when crap gets thrown her way.

Also, if I can praise our writers, I think our Juliet ended up so much better than the original. Take that, Shakespeare!

[Scarab]

Oh, the planning for Romeo's hospital trip was awesome. I was planning all sorts of terrible medical conditions that could have come up. And tons of ways that Juliet could have reacted (she could have been so much meaner and colder... and Romeo totally would have deserved it, too). I'm happy how it played out, though - Romeo was duly punished for jerk behavior, yet also earned himself a Woobie point. Also, poor Juliet got to show how awesome she is, even when crap gets thrown her way.

Also, if I can praise our writers, I think our Juliet ended up so much better than the original. Take that, Shakespeare!

You know I always remember studying that particualr play in year ten (I was envious of my friends in the other class who got to do Othello ) and thinking about how silly and pointless their deaths were: how if they'd just been ale to be two normal teenagers it might have worked, or most likely not have worked out but at least they'd still be alive. Even then I was aware that Romeo and Juliet wasn't really the lvoe story it's assumed to be, it's more of... a warning story about making a bunch of hormonal scared teenagers the carriers of old arguements.

In a way I think most of us knew in advance the way Romeo and Juliet's 'break up' would go, I'm just glad they grew past it and got the chance their stories never gave.

[Val Reznitskaya]

Tom is pretty much right. But let's just say that a lot of that canon wasn't there from the start. The original outline for these characters was... quite different. That's definitely one arc that changed for the better because of your input.

By the way, I tried to bring this out more, but I'm not sure if I succeeded - the reason Romeo was upset about Rosaline might not have been entirely what you thought. In the original play, she rejected him outright, and the only reason he met Juliet was because he was trying to forget her. Ultimately he forgot her pretty quickly though, which was one thing that inspired the Romeo incarnation in the ARG, but he never dumped her.

[Dana]

Even then I was aware that Romeo and Juliet wasn't really the lvoe story it's assumed to be, it's more of... a warning story about making a bunch of hormonal scared teenagers the carriers of old arguements.

There's a reason it's a tragedy, not a love story. It's not about the love.

I graduated with an undergraduate degree in Dramaturgy, I could talk plays with you ALL DAY FOREVER.

[Connor Fallon]

I remember I had to calm myself down one of the many times the Witch was angry. I think it was right after she revealed that she had been watching the forums, and then Sicon claimed that everything had been a ploy to get her to reveal this and went off on her.

I had no REAL reason to be frustrated, but the witch was frustrated, so I was. Good thing this emotional resonance did not continue into her getting depressed =)

[Sicon112]

I remember I had to calm myself down one of the many times the Witch was angry. I think it was right after she revealed that she had been watching the forums, and then Sicon claimed that everything had been a ploy to get her to reveal this and went off on her.

I had no REAL reason to be frustrated, but the witch was frustrated, so I was. Good thing this emotional resonance did not continue into her getting depressed =)

Sorry about that. I was rather surprised that plan went so perfectly actually, and got a little sadistic in my glee. :/