Why "New to the List, but not the Hunt" is lame.

Why "New to the hunt, but not the List" is lame.

In November of 1999 the first posters to this started their characters. All new and fresh, they started their stories.

Now its 2002. Imagine you have been on the list since then, since those first few in 1999. A new person comes in and says, "I'm new to the list, but in my two years experience as a hunter…" Two years experience? Where?

The posters can provide hundreds of pages of text explaining how and why their character is where they are.

I've been posting here since May. Orpheus was imbued in the beginning of May, two weeks before my first post. Why? Because I lurked on the list two weeks before posting. Even then, having only been here seven months or so, I am frustrated by "new to the list, not the hunt." Where are your character's scars? How did s/he get them?

The only thing that gains respect is time. That is IC and OOC. Your character says s/he has been hunting for two years, let me tell you, Oprh could give a shit. Why? If you are new to the list, then IC he's got no reason to think you are any better than anyone else.

I have seven months of stories. Seven months of history for my character.

Experience isn't something you can put dots in. not here. Here, you need to earn it. And this still is both IC and OOC. A "new to the list but not the hunt" character is still new.

And when it comes down to it, those first few months of a hunter's career are the most interesting. How do they survive? Why do they survive? How are they coping with everything that is going on? I mean, frankly, a two year old hunter is boring. They've survived this long, why the hell are they joining the list? IC there is little information being passed around (which goes to a rant on what your character should know, and what hunters as a group know, but that is a different rant), little reason for your character to be there much less hang around.

Not to mention that there were not this many imbued those first few months. You'd think that the messengers attacked the populace by the thousands though. Also, the hunter survival rate is not as high as the list will have you believe. If you are an active hunter, living two years is a feat.

Which goes back to the story aspect. If you don't have the stories, then why should I, or my character, care that you were imbued two years ago?

Hell, you could have personally been the first hunter ever, and it wouldn't matter too much.

This is a character driven list. Not a stat driven list. You want to go head to head with me in making legal power characters? Fine. But not here. Here, you should make a real character. One with depth and background and emotion. One that someone who will never see the character sheet will care about.

You know, I never made a character sheet for Orpheus. It was never necessary. Stats do not drive my stories.