From:	Mike & Linda Frankl mlfrankl@***.com
Subject:	summer running
Date:	Tue, 14 Sep 1999 22:30:22 -0400

K wrote:
> > > I wear a black leather jacket in Houston heat ... I don't see armored
> > > jackets in the summer as unreasonable ...
> >
> > But is that the typical fashion of the area (not just within a group of
> > friends, but most people you see on the street)?
> >
> > To me, in the heat, a person wearing a black leather jacket stands out.
>
> I do know that the character I am about to "resurrect" (not
> literally, just
> bring out of mothballs) has a habit of going around wearing an
> expensive long
> coat and no shirt at all underneath. He's a 6'7" russian from
> Siberia and
> has some strange expressions to his own fashion statements as well.

True, but I think that where I was going is that the more visually unique a
character increases the tendency for people to readily remember them (read,
ID them), especially if a firefight or other illegality breaks out.

To explain, I once had a player for brief time that described his character
as an elf with a 2 foot blue mohawk. Now while I understand that in some
clubs and fashion circles this is perfectly acceptable, but during an
extraction everyone is going to remember a 2' blue mohawk. I understand that
extreme looks are good for distractions, but if they are a constant then
they assist in identifying a character. What made it worse is that the
player had no understanding of why such an identifiable style would work
against him. Now if he had slicked it down during runs I would have been
impressed.

Anyway, I'm not against unique looks, but there are some drawbacks to being
too visible. Although if someone uses them effectively then they actually
work as disguises.

;)

Smilin' Jack