Refresh your IRL Character Sheet
Is your character carrying a staff these days?
It occurred to me earlier today how role playing and strategy games informed some of my better career decisions, right down to the rules systems. This might have been my pivotal aspect of gameplay. Does your character still have the same physical appearance? Is your character carrying a staff these days? Wearing a robe or prominently displaying a magic item?
"By Quests and Skills, Forge My Tale!"
At age 14 I became obsessed with RPGs. The games and gaming were fun, but the rules systems were what inspired me to play. The idea that I could decide and establish what a copper coin was worth relative to a gold coin, how big a street brick could be, how powerful monsters could be, all the weights, measures and relationships between elements in that world. They all needed to be defined and took on a life of their own during the course of campaign building and play.
A character develops over time; gains XP, inventory, spells, potions and so on. The mechanics of the entire game (maybe even the Universe it's set in) is built on character development and interaction between player and non-player characters.
Character sheets were a byproduct of the rules system, and I showed my friends the potential. We tried to a campaign built around an experimental rules system, influenced by one of the systems intentionally meant to drive game mechanics (The MARS system by David Tennent) and extended with my own interpretation of some of our group's preferences. We included beasts from ‘A Tolkein Bestiary’ as well as some of our favored foes from the Fiend Folio.
It's all lost to time now, but the evolution of the idea stuck with me. Play testing the mechanics was difficult and took discipline that competed with other teenage priorities. It reminds me so much of the effort required to dredge up business rules and requirements, shaping the data into an effigy and testing it yields experience points, spells, potions, capabilities and inventory. It's OK to make a new character sheet. If everyone's XP can also goes up, It's even OK to devise and play test your own rules system. It might even be necessary. It can go on your character sheet.
Maybe your stats have changed. More Charisma? More (or less) Stamina? Dexterity? Constitution? Wisdom?
If you're blocked on a resume rewrite or critical review, consider it a refresh of your "character sheet"
"Your journey through the realm of technology leadership has been marked by formidable challenges and remarkable triumphs. From the hallowed halls of academia to the tumultuous battlegrounds of corporate strategy, you have honed your skills and emerged as a formidable leader. Your quest continues as you seek to conquer new challenges, forge alliances, and lead your team to glory in the ever-evolving landscape of technology."
So I did what anyone would do in this day and age, I made a GPT — Resumaximus
https://chat.openai.com/g/g-UtUU3ktw2-resumaximus-director
Paste in your tired, dirty old resume AKA “character sheet” along with the job description you want to chase and receive a revived resume.
With this incantation, you will receive the same in Character Sheet format: