So you've permed!
Handbook for the Recently Deceased

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

So someone's permed. It was a messy and dramatic affair, largely against their will, and that character's run was cut short. Unable to achieve their goals, get revenge, see their arc come to fruition the way they wanted to. Then, shortly thereafter, an immy appears and it becomes all to clear who the last character was.

It's a scenario I think anyone who's been playing long enough is familiar with, and the fact it's recognized as one is a problem for a number of reasons.

>The Meta

The biggest issue at the forefront is signalling (accidentally or otherwise) to other players who you were previously. For better or for worse, you've alerted the player base to who you once were and made the burden of ignoring past favoritism or grudges all that much harder. There is, also, the tendency for some of these characters to 'speedrun', making dashes for characters/factions/jobs they know they can benefit from.

>Ruined Expectations

Not universal, but not uncommon, I've seen players make a character pursuing the same goals again and again and again, each time feeling frustration and failure at having not achieved what they themselves (the player) are after. One example was a player when I was a GM who, over a period of time, kept trying to be a Judge. Each new character went to a different faction that would lead them down this path, until they eventually circled back around to where they started. This leads into the third issue.

>The Bleed

Sometimes, whether these players recognize it or not, they're pursuing those previously mentioned biases. Whether taking the first chance to get revenge on a person who helped perm you, or pursuing your past character's love interest, or even playing off a bias you know another character shared with your previous one. This is probably one of the biggest issues of all, as it cheapens not only your previous character's experiences and your current one, but you're also blindsiding characters who have no history with your new one. This one is harder to quantify, admittedly. Sometimes, you simply like a player's style. Sometimes, you -really- dislike a player's style. I've seen it ranging from enjoying a person's sense of humor to full on blood feud the first chance a character got. This is bleed, pure and simple.

Recognizing the issue and solving it

To keep this from running on any longer than it inevitably will, I think we can all see how these thing compound. But how do we fix it?

I'll make this advice general, as not to call anyone out even vaguely, as I think these things are something everyone should consider when making a new character.

>Personality/Mannerisms

This one could be considered the easiest and the hardest. For some people, it's easy to recognize what sort of 'signature' parts of themselves are obvious, while introspection is a bit more difficult. The easiest one is using the same exact phrases as the last. Or ranting about certain things. Probably the most volatile is people reacting to the same scenarios that led to them perming, finding the same anger as before, and using the same insults. If it didn't work the first time, it probably won't work the second, third, fourth...

>Change up your goals

If your last character wanted to be a blade wielding Chinese mugger, but -this- one is different because they're a brawling Swedish mugger... You might want to change things up more. Again, I know some people are more tuned to combat than other aspects of the game, but try to at least change up the angle of approach. It might keep you from perming the same way again.

>Character Bias

Another one that could be considered easy/hard. The next time you make a character, try to give anyone you held a strong bias for/against on your last a wide berth. Easier said than done, sometimes, but give yourself some breathing room and not immediately fall back into your OOC biases. If you hate something, let it go. If it comes back to kill you, stab it.

---------------------------------------------------------

This has been long as fuck already, and I could still probably go on more, so forgive me if it was too long or I didn't expound on something more. Hopefully this helps players who feel like they're trapped in a cycle, on the receiving end or otherwise.

I always try to generate a completely different character, personality, age, background, but especially goals.

This is another thing that might help players who are stuck in the cycle.

Your character's been reset. You have a new past, which means a new way of achieving your new goals, which means new mannerisms, which means new... Etc etc.

Like 0x1 said, sometimes it is hard to displace those feelings, but by putting those opinions on your character and compartmentalizing them, and combing that with a completely new spectrum of approach (mentally, behaviorally, ticks/tells), you'll avoid repeating the same mistakes... Sometimes literally.

If any character's behavior toward my new one seems to have a whiff of bleed, I just stop RPing with them. There's so much more to do than feed someone else's bleed.

This goes for other players' new characters too. Don't take this as a challenge, because that would be metagaming and against the @rules, but, good luck trying to RP with my character if you can't let go.

Same goes for things like tells - choose a new favorite drink, clothing style, item, attitude. Last character was a murder hobo? Be a scared immigrant who is shocked by what they see.

For ideas for things like the little things like clothing style, drinks, etc, Cyberpunk 2020 has a randomized character generation set of charts for things like this that are good for starting points when making a character. Get those creative juices flowing.

A new coat of paint on the same drama-engine is usually pretty easy to identify, and players should be realistic about how much anonymity they're going to have. It's not hard to identify the player behind the character, regardless of how different the character is.

Players write a certain way, they act a certain way, the want certain things, they have a certain roleplay and mechanical ability. If you are yourself interacting with characters your previous character did, it's reasonable to expect for your character to not inherit that character's relationship, but be realistic about how different you are, really, from what you did previously and how you're interacting now; because chances are if they're treating you the same, you're acting the same as you did and expecting different outcomes.

Best in my opinion to not deliberately highlight them in any way whatsoever - at least until your new character has had a good burn-in time to develop their own turf and react to an organically legit IC reason to engage with them at all.