User:Arlean

Imaginarium, a dream emporium!

Caress the tales and they will dream you real

A storyteller's game, lips that intoxicate

The core of all life is a limitless chest of tales

-Nightwish, "Storytime""

MU* Experience

I've been MU*ing in various forms since early 1995, though I take multiple-year breaks from time to time as I burn out or get annoyed. Yes, I remember TinyMUSH 2.2. My primary experience lies in RP-based places, although I have played on coded systems in the past (Treyvan, Ennersea).

I am also a proficient MU* coder, and have held code staff positions in the past. I have done Penn and Rhost but am most familiar with MUX's structure.

Availability

Timezone: US Eastern (GMT -5, daylight -4) -- my area does use daylight savings, which runs from the first weekend in March to the second weekend in November.

UPDATE 10 June 2015: The handwriting is on the wall at my RL employer. I am currently in the process of seeing how many industry certifications I can get and how fast I can update my resume before the political situation goes directly to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200, and I find myself on the job hunt. Consider @mailing me to seek RP.

I get up extremely early due to RL circumstances beyond my control. I do not get days off on this and therefore must make special arrangements to appreciably alter my schedule. This means that I will usually be unwilling to jump into a scene after 6 PM game time unless I have prior warning, as in a +event.

Access from work: I have some access from work during the day. It is a monitoring job, which has long periods of nothing going on, but when something does happen (and it does) I have to drop what I am doing, sometimes for long periods of time. I may idle unexpectedly or even drop off the game. I cannot in good conscience do anything that will be significantly harmed if this happens. Please be understanding if I say I cannot do what you're asking from work. I'll still do it if I can, just not on work time!

I can (maybe):

• RP in a player role
• Code something simple
• Chat

I CANNOT:

• DM anything
• Code anything involved or complicated

I do occasionally log in from a mobile device. If I say I'm mobile, I will not be able to code and I may not be able to RP; I'm probably just checking in. I may also typo very badly - bear with me, iPhone keyboards stink.

RP Preferences

RP Philosophy and Approach

My RP philosophy is best summed up thusly:

You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe

You've got to give of yourself before you're worthy to receive

Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet

But leave the bottle full for others, thank you kindly, Desert Pete

-Kingston Trio, "Desert Pete"

I believe that good RP is a feedback loop - if you create for others, they will in turn create for you. RP is not a one-man band, and it's not about you, it's about all of us together creating fun for all of us. The concept of the shared environment is the key - the more flexible you are and the more willing you are to give back, the more fun we'll all have. This is what you can expect from me and I will tend to expect from those I RP with.

My RP Style

Here's what you can expect from my RP.

• Skirts: I subscribe to the skirt philosophy of writing - "long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting". Therefore, my poses may vary in length. If one line will cover the desired effect, then I'll write one line - and sometimes one line is more effective than two pages. If I need to write two pages, I'll write two pages.
• Dense and Concise: I've been told I have a concise and "chewy" writing style. There might be cues, implied meanings, and/or suggestions in my writing.
• Reasonable Speed: I'm not the fastest typer in the world and I sometimes have a cat jump in my lap or walk on my keyboard at inopportune moments. I do my best to keep up, though.
• Little Or No Metaposing: If it's not useful for you to react to, it's verbal clutter in my eyes.
• Multiple Senses: My writing will try to appeal to sounds and smells as well as to visual cues; if I'm playing a scene where a sense might be missing to one or more participants (e.g. the scene is set in the dark), I'll play up the other senses.
• Non-Verbal Communication: 93% of all human communication is in the non-verbals - that's why text communication alone gets misconstrued. I rely heavily on non-verbal communication with many of my characters, and I look for the same cues in those I RP with most.
• Dry Humor: My sense of humor is closer to that of the British than typical American slapstick. This does not generally translate to my characters, whose senses of humor vary. It might show up occasionally in my pose writing, though.
• The Fourth Wall*: I will cheerfully abuse the fourth wall if the RP situation calls for it.

* If you're not familiar with the term "the fourth wall", it's an actor's construct that refers to the boundary between a fictional work and its viewing/reading audience. More information.

As A DM

• When I run a PrP, I expect to begin on time or close to it. I grant 15 minutes' grace and then will look to fill the PrP from whoever is available. If you have not notified me in advance that you will be late, and you are more than 15 minutes late, I do not guarantee that your space will be held.
• When I DM, I have something I call a stupid warning. If I ask you, "Are you sure?", that means that something bad will happen if you do that. I use it in RL tabletop and elseMU*, and it seems to work well.
• I try to keep things moving, but I am not a speed runner. I look for a max of six players in a plot, and my plots can run late. I deem color and atmosphere and RP to be more important than running a combat as fast as humanly possible; that said, I still try to keep things moving and will skip idle people.

Good to Know

• If you schedule a scene with me, I really do appreciate people who show up on time or as close to it as they can manage. If you can't make it, do your best to drop me a line and let me know. Same if you'll be late. I hold the old-fashioned view that punctuality indicates respect for other people's time, and I allot a certain amount of time for RP in my schedule. I also get up extremely early (10 AM GMT or 5 AM EST). If you're madly late, there's no guarantee that I will still be able to RP. Again, as a rule I cannot start a scene after 6 PM game time on a work night.
• I'm a morning person, and my RP may go down the tubes later in the evening. I may ask to pause at that point, because I'd rather give you my best and play when I'm capable of giving you my best.
• I've been accused of over-communicating OOC. Some people don't like this. If you don't like it, say so and I'll make it stop for you.
• I can be picky about details. It matters to me to get it right, because I usually end up with an RP headache if I screw something up. I may spend extra time, do research, check something out to make sure I have this or that minor thing right. I get a good product out of it, so it's worth it to me.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes

• Coffee.
• Geekery, particularly network geekery.
• Good music.
• Cats and kittens. Expect teeth-rottingly cute picture links posted on the Public channel from time to time.
• Coding.

Dislikes

• Politics and religion chatter. Don't take it personally if I leave the room if a discussion on one of these two topics start -- I'm here to have fun, and I prefer not to get involved in these types of discussions online.
• Traffic.

Contacting Me

If it's plot- or RP-related, please please please drop me @mail on the game. I am reachable outside of the game, though.

• Twitter: @warriorinside22 - I protect my tweets. If you drop me @mail on the game to let me know who you are, I'll add you.
• LiveJournal: Of all my social media, I'm the most OK with plot/RP stuff being left on my LiveJournal. I friendslock my LJ, so just friend me and let me know who you are somehow and you'll be added if you're a player on Tenebrae.