Characters we are looking for:
Characters with a thought out, well-rounded personality. It's easy to create a character with a sad backstory or dour outlook on life; interesting characters who are social and generally happy are always sought around here.
Looking to get your character involved in ongoing plots? If so, please read the rebellion overview, Paragon's information and the guard activity.
Like politics or catty upper social class behavior? Please consider Marn's upper class: you can find character ideas here and here.
Closed Races to New Players:
Vampires.
Battlemages.
What to read:
There is a new player guide here. It should cover everything you need to know, and if you need any additional help don't be afraid to PM me and ask. This post here is just some extra information that hasn't been added to the website yet
General:
First of all, know the setting. Once in a blue moon we get applications for characters that really don't fit, like silver wristwatch wearing werewolves with sawed off shotguns. Don't be one of those people. You don't need to read everything, only the first page of the setting here.
There are some rules about your account. We need a valid email and you can't have a silly account name with numbers in it.
Once you've done that, make a new post in this forum with the necessary information on it. It will get reviewed and you might have to make a few changes before it's accepted. If you're bringing a character in from another RP you do not have to say so on the application, but you must keep in mind that you may need to change some aspects of that character to make him/her fit in Thar Shaddin.
The Character Sheet:
Template:
Code: Select all
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Race:[/b]
[b]Description:[/b]
[b]Possessions:[/b]
[b]Powers or Strengths:[/b]
[b]Weaknesses and Flaws:[/b]
[b]History:[/b]Newly approved characters are on probation, which means their profiles remain in the applications section until they have RPed for a while. This is to keep track of characters who get made but who people never actually start using.
Roughly 40% of playing here is your ability to write and 60% is your ability to write with others, so make your character with interaction with other people in mind unless you want to write alone.
Age: Self explanatory. A child will probably not be a mighty warrior or able to cast complicated spells. An old person will have greater skills and knowledge but less physical ability. Do not make your character older than about 500 years to start with. Those kinds of ages are epic, and reserved for special beings ( which would be very difficult to write. Can you imagine being over 500 years old? ).
Race: You can create or invent your own race if it is not already on our list of established races, which you can find in the races section of the Setting.
Making a human is always a good place to start. Humans are the most common race in the setting, and you will be forced to focus more on your character's history and personality, and less distracted by bells and whistles, if you make a human.
Half-elves are also a common choice. They fit in very well with the setting of Marn as long as you understand the relationship between elves and humans here. Unlike in some settings, elves are not inherently all-around superior to humans. In some aspects (physical strength, non-artistic craftsmanship, willpower and emotional fortitude) humans are typically stronger.
Hardcore racism does exist in Marn, but will always be the opinion of individuals or groups rather than the entire city. Many gnomes and elves live their lives without encountering major persecution.
Physical Description: Describe your character's appearance. Feel free to stick a personality description under the physical. Weapons and armour should be listed under possessions.
Possessions: List important items that may come up such as weapons and armour, whether your character has a house, a horse, etc. An exhaustive list of every detail is not necessary, so you do not need to list essential living supplies. You can just assume your character has the essentials as you see fit.
If your character uses a katana, do not expect it to cut through solid steel or otherwise be an ultimate sword. When giving a character a longsword or broadsword, it's good to know if it is a huge 2-hander or a light and fast sword.
Remember: just having a sword does not mean your character knows how to use a sword. If you do not list your weapon proficiencies under powers or strengths, your character can not use them very well.
Powers or Strengths:
What is Overpowered? - Generally speaking, overpowered is something that no one else can resist, and trying only makes them look silly as your invincible character effortlessly dominates them. Overpowered characters are no fun to play against.
A weapon or attack so powerful it cannot be avoided or survived is overpowered. Turning into an invincible demon or dragon counts as overpowered. Being so tough that hitting you at all is pointless also counts as overpowered. Healing magic so powerful that there is no point in being injured at all would be overpowered.
Allow limits to your powers so that if you get into combat other people can at least slow you down.
Fatigue or after-effects from powerful abilities do not balance them - because the person is still being effortlessly overwhelmed at the time.
Leave Room For Improvement - New characters cannot be too powerful to start with. Players who have been here for longer can have stronger powers. Use this to your advantage.
Becoming better over time has great story potential. One example of this is Julen, who started off as a farmer looking for work and in his first thread (Musical Illusions) met a squire who later began training him as a warrior. If you want a magic-user with 6 different powers, start off with 2 or 3 and play out how he or she gains the rest of them.
Share Spotlight - Being best at everything means that there is no point in anyone else writing with you because they are not going to do anything important. Pick 2 or 3 general areas where your character excels at and let other players be good at something else.
Magic - Most people can't use magic. Laws against magic in Marn would be silly if magical abilities were standard. Starting spellcasters should have 2 or 3 handy spells (4 or 5 if given weaknesses to balance them out) with specific effects, possibly within a single theme.
EG: Instead of "control over elements" (a vague and ripe for abuse power) the character has a short list of elemental based spells.
Remember that magic is under strict government control in Marn (and by extension, Shim), so if you plan on playing a magically-oriented character they must either be somehow in service to the government or hiding their use of magic.
Combat Abilities - Be very clear what any power which works in combat does. Few things are more annoying than suddenly having your character crippled by a special ability that doesn't say it can do what it just did. Non-combat abilities can afford to be vague because they don't seriously affect other characters.
Secret Powers - Yes, you are allowed to have special abilities which only the staff know about (for plot purposes). However, you must announce the fact that there is a hidden power and that power must be approved by the staff (we will keep it private). Surprises can be fun but other players have a right to know what they are getting into before they write with you.
Weaknesses and Flaws:
A Good Thing - In terms of story-potential, weaknesses give you as much to deal with as strengths. They give you a tool to write with and make things interesting. Most of the best stories revolve around weaknesses. Notice how nearly every Superman story revolves around kryptonite? Otherwise everything would just be easy and thus boring.
Good weaknesses are those which create storylines. A curse your character is seeking to remove. A limitation which forces the character to recruit others for assistance. Even a personality trait which gets your character into trouble is good, because there can be plots about dealing with the trouble.
One fun option is tying a weakness to each strength of the character. A large man may not be as fast or agile as a smaller one. A magic-user might struggle with technology. My character is honest and charitable to a fault, which may be inconvenient for the character but is fun to write. Find flaws which you would enjoy playing.
Balance In Context - Starting lots of fights is only a weakness if your character is likely to lose some of them. For a huge heavily armed werewolf if they start pointless fights then that is just a reason not to write with them (since we already know they're going to win the fight).
Obviously, you cannot choose more powers by listing all the magic powers you don't have ("cannot turn invisible", "cannot create forcefields"). In essence, weaknesses need to hinder the character in order to balance out extra powers.
History:
Use this as your chance to show off your writing. Impress people with your character backstory and people will be eager to write with you.
For the love of all things purple give your character goals, give them unfinished business from their past, give them something to do. This will make starting so much easier. Most plots never get larger than 3-5 people, because otherwise they take forever for everyone to have their turn (if everyone takes 2 days to post then 5 players x 2 days = 10 days before my next turn). So if there are 2-3 players looking for a story to join and no plots small enough to invite new people, you can more easily start a new story with them - if everyone waits for someone else to provide them with a plot no one ends up playing.
Characters who create new storylines are actively encouraged.
On this note, consider how the personality of your character will have an effect on which plots he is likely to become involved in. If you are playing a paranoid loner, it will be difficult to convincingly bring him into a storyline with other people. Or if you are playing an arrogant bully, certain other characters may simply be unwilling to work with you.
Finally, if your character develops magical abilities this is a very major thing. Write it as such in your history. From this moment on the character can do strange things beyond most - so give it more than a footnote in your character history. If your character uses magic, don't write a history which has no mention of him using said magic.