Underlining and capital letters can sometimes come off stronger than you might intend them to, especially without the use of emoticons. 

So thanks for pointing out that you're just looking for clarity, at first I thought you were upset. 

I reread the move, and I think that Catstacker has some really great stuff in the move.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be trying to play an 11 year old.  :)  And kudos to him for taking on that challenge.

Unless I'm missing something, the only words that he has spoken to the Japanese woman were, "Excuse me,".  There is nothing disrespectful in that.

I see your references to girl, but those were internals, and not something that should effect your characters response to the boy.  If your character has mental abilities, my most humble apologies, I'm only giving my two cents from what I'm reading and what I know of the characters.

I think however, that in a collaborative writing environment like this, more so than any other method that I've played in to date...trusting in your writing partner is extremely important.  And only responding to the things our characters can see and hear, while that can be challenging at times, is very important.  

There's some great stuff in that move.  :)  I think you clarified that she was a woman, in case it wasn't already apparent to Elias.  ...but, if he chooses to continue thinking of her as a girl, certainly plausible for a youngster, I think that's okay.  ...and if it comes up in dialogue, she can feed him to a dinosaur if she finds it disrespectful.  *grin*  That'll teach him!!

It's my bad.  When I read Michiko's entry in the Getting to Know the Characters thread, I read that she was 17 in 2004, and I failed to do the math that clearly shows that she's reached the wizened age of 21 by now, and is legally a woman.  She would still look like a girl to me, but to Elias she must look old, so I've changed the generic "the girl" to "Michiko" when the passage is descriptive, and to "the lady" when it reflects Elias' thoughts.

I've been having fun playing a naive character, though I have to confess that I've been using that as a crutch when I'm not sure what to do.  I've been rolling a d20 to see whether Elias has any particular knowledge of anything.  So far he can't tell the difference between a lizard and a dinosaur, and in all his eleven years in the city he's never encountered a twig, though Elias knows a four-letter word when he hears one.8)

Well, unless Michiko is a telepath, how could she know what was being thought? What would it matter anyway, this is just some kid who, as you say, got blown into your character by the storm. The point i'm attempting to make here is that one PC should not be allowed to control another PC's inner monologues - maybe this kid was bullied by people like Michiko growing up. Maybe he's just an ass and thinks less of people in general. The why's of it don't matter - if he wants to think of her as a girl instead of a woman (and the player admitted he made a mistake of four whole years in determining her age) then he can. Your assumption of disrespect was immediate and public, and I don't see any basis for it in the writing. Maybe a Private Message would have been more appropriate here. 

But that's ok :) 

IMO what the characters are thinking is not up for edit unless it is factually wrong - ie: Fish nest in pine trees and rear their young on a diet of gold. Sure it can be annoying if someone's character thinks your character is (fill in the blank). But unless it becomes painfully obvious through repetition, especially where those thought balloons have no basis in the current scene:

Nem and Phi are having dinner, discussing the latest baseball scores and all Nem is thinking is "Jesus, but Ardent is a dick. Dick dick dick..."

Then I think we should not meddle with that characters inner monologues. 

Where China and I DO agree is that if you as a player are becoming frustrated, then take it to either A: The player who is frustrating you, or B: The GM.

But it's Alex's game, so now i'm shutting my mouth. And yes, Cat did handle things very maturely - I bow to you sir (or ma'am).

Okay so I think we are all agreed that the fundamental issue has been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. If not, I will be happy to engage in as many debates as one might find entertaining. (Its in my nature to argue my point when I feel I'm right. )

That being said, I would like to bring up that afforementioned point. That is that it was my understanding that this was the place to air such commments, critques, complaints, etc.  That the entire point of having this area of the forum was so that issues could be discussed and resolved (as this one was, thank you) without directly affecting the game.

And really as I said before, I wasn't as much complaining or critizing as much as trying to get an understanding.

If this is not the place to do that for this campaign, someone please tell me where it is.

Thanks.
F8

Well, I'm just watching at this moment, but it seems like most everything has been settled fairly well.  I don't have a problem with using this thread to air any questions or concerns, similar to what was done.  My only request is everyone takes a deep breath before responding to anything on this thread, and assume everything is intended as non-offensively as possible.  In particular, if it is an issue between two other players, let them handle it with my supervision.  What I don't want to have happen is one person voices a problem or opinion here and get dog-piled by everyone.  This hasn't happened, that I've noticed, on NextGen yet, and I'd really like to keep it that way.  I've been on both ends of that in other games, and it never turns out well.

So in summary:  Air any problems you have in this thread as politely as possible.
Keep any discussions civil and assume the other person doesn't mean to offend
Don't jump in unless you are involved in the problem.  Or are the GM and/or boss person in charge of the site.

In any case,
Let's have fun out there. : )

In this case, I think it should be first come, first serve.  So long as it's in character for a character to do so.  

I'll be at Petsmart ALL day today showing my foster pups, so I likely won't have a chance to post till tonight or tomorrow.  Not something that needs to hold anything up.  Have at it, if it's in character for Michiko to do it.  

Hello All,

I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to officially close the Torg game.  I just don't have the time and energy to do it right now.  You guys were great and stuck with me through a lot and you deserve better, but I don't see it happening.  Thanks for playing and all your efforts for the game.  Again, I'm really sorry.

Alex

Thanks for the game Alex!  It was fun while it lasted.

Heya Alex,

I understand where you're coming from.  

I'll move the TORG forum to the archive section, as well as the image gallery.  It will be here if you need to reference it again or decide to resume play or hand it off.

I can run the game if everyone still wants to play.  The game that I was trying to start this summer isn't happening, so I've got some time and energy.  Would you still like to play a character, SDT?  You could take over Elias, or maybe play Akio Tanaka.

I'd be happy to play.  I'd probably take over Elias or bring in my own character.  Do you want my notes on what was going on?

I'd love to see this game continue for the players, but I should probably use this time to bow out. 

As it is, I'm really struggling to keep up with TCQ.  My schedule is so crazy I hardly have time to breathe sometimes.

@ SDTroll: Definitely send me any notes you've made so far; I'll improvise until I fit the story together with a new character balance.  Are you going to take an existing character or make your own?