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Do you care/think/have an opinion about this thread?

Care about what? This thread? No way. 0.012903225806452 1.3% [ 4 ]
I think this thread is okay. 0.048387096774194 4.8% [ 15 ]
I like this thread. 0.2741935483871 27.4% [ 85 ]
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I am undecided/neutral/other. [If other, please post] 0.074193548387097 7.4% [ 23 ]
I think it is completely stupid and it is simply a waste of time for everyone. 0.0064516129032258 0.6% [ 2 ]
I don't know - but I do love shiny things. Gold is shiny. Very shiny. Ooh . . . gold. 0.1741935483871 17.4% [ 54 ]
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THE CHARACTER HELP THREAD

WE NEED EDITORIALS! See Posts 14 and 2.

User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Introduction
    Here is the Good Characters thread. The purpose of this thread is to discover the perfect character format. But that will most likely never happen.

    However, I am wishful. I will insert information that I know of for a good character, and you can help by posting what you think is a good character. The information will grow, and the characters shall be stronger (not really, but they would be better)!

    There will be a few introductory posts that explain what a good character is, and what is not a good character.

    As this is a community project, I hope the community submits 'Editorials' on different aspects of characters. That way, we all can see different opinions of 'Good' characters. If you want to make one, go to Post 2, and look at the Goal List. Thank you!


RULES
    = DO NOT STEAL CHARACTERS! That is illegal, counts as Plagerism, and will only get you into trouble.
    = DO NOT spam. For the love of all that is good, do not spam!
    = You can post about any ideas that should be added to this place. It would actually be most appreciated.
    = You can show your characters here, and we will analyze them for you. Or, at least try.
    = Be respectful. It goes a long way, and it pretty much just helps you.
    = Follow the TOS. It is self-evident, but needs to be said.


Helpers:
    We need helpers!

Well, lets begin!

Table of Contents
    Post 1
  • Introduction
  • Table of Contents

    Post 2
  • Announcements
  • Updates
  • The Goal List

    Post 3
  • Bad Characters
  • Types of Bad Characters

    Post 4
  • Silent Warrior
  • Noisy Warrior
  • The Innocent but Strong
  • Uber Powerful Mages
  • I-am-Still-An-Unoriginal-Character

    Post 6
  • Good Characters
  • Balance
  • Tipping the Scales: Where and When to use Balance - Editorial submitted by omgtehsuiso
  • Keeping it Real - Editorial Submitted by Penden

    Post 7
  • A proper Character in a Form
  • Background
  • Appearance
  • Personality
  • Age
  • Playing an Aged Character - Editorial submitted by VanRiku
  • Weapons
  • Skills

    Post 8
  • Links
  • Super-Shiney Platinum List
  • White List
  • Black List

    Post 9
  • Races
  • Angel
  • Demons, Hell
  • Demons, Kitsune
  • Elves, High
  • Elves, Dark
  • Elves, Wild
  • Humans
  • Vampires
  • Werewolves

    Post 10
  • Beyond the Form
  • Your Static Characters - Editorial submitted by VanRiku
  • Alignments - Editorial submitted by Gabriel Avelin
  • How to Role Play Your Characters - Editorial submitted by omgtehsuiso
  • What Does it Mean to be Truly Good? Editorial submitted by Gabriel Avelin
  • Roleplaying Evil - Editorial submitted by omgtesuiso

    Post 14
  • HOW TO SUBMIT AN EDITORIAL

    Post 15
  • Poll
  • Poll Results
  • Past Polls

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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Announcements
  • I have added a new poll! The Character Awards segment will occure!

  • I have seen some good editorials, and a few were based around the popular Table-based Role Playing system known as Dungeons and Dragons. However, I will not tolerate summaries of books, no matter how good they are. You must come up with original ideas here, or else it is simply an advertizement for books, and that is not tolerated.So from now on, please write your editorials based on personal experiance in Forum-based Role Playing, not reading books (unless it is for Editorials on Races, or if it is a system of character creation used in certain Role Playing systems).


  • The Poll has ended! Cards #2 and #3 are the chosen few for the Kitsune section!



Updates

  • We have a Werewolf Editorial submitted by Aerotan.
  • We have a Vampire editorial submitted! Yay! Thanks, Crelancio!
  • Well, we have not been getting editorials recently, but I have updated the general look of the thread with indents, making the search for titles in posts easier.
  • We have a Race Editorial on High Elves!
  • Haha! I have updated the White List and created the new, ultra-high-class Super-Shiney Platinum List! This is for those who have been helpful beyond my expectations!
  • We have a What is Good Editorial! Look in post 10!
  • The Truly Evil Editorial has been removed based on lack of possible original work.
  • I have added a Names editorial and a How to Role Play Your Character editorial! As well, post 14 is now describing how to submit an editorial of your own!
  • The Poll Section is updated, and I want you to post the reason of your Vote! Feedback is encouraged. As well, I finished my Angels editorial, but like all Race editorials, you can submit your own of Angels (even though there is still one there).
  • Gabriel Avelin sent me an editorial on playing evil characters. You can read it in post 10.
  • We have another two! Gabriel Avelin sent me an Alignment Editorial! omgtehsuiso sent me one based on Balance! As well, I added a Goal List so that generous people who wonder what they could do to help this thread can look at it for ideas.
  • Two more Editorials were submitted to me! Browse for them in the Table of Contents.
  • The First editorial was submitted by Penden, and it is in Post 6.
  • Post 9 has become the Race's Post.
  • The thread was created


The Goal List
Bolded items are things that I would like as soon as possible. If you think you could do them, then please do! They are very important!

Striked Out items are completed, but can still be done. That doesn't mean they are needed. As this is a group project, the more opinions, the better it will be.

Italic items are long goals that can be completed by doing other things.

    EDITORIALS
    To submit an editorial, PM it to Character Help Thread, or post it here.
  • Races (yes, there can be more than one, and it can introduce a Race that has not been mentioned yet)
  • How to Play a Character
  • How to play a Good character
  • How to play an Evil character
  • Types of Good and Evil (beyond standard alignments)
  • Character Excersizes
  • School Characters (Barton Neighborhood)
  • Family Characters (Barton Neighborhood)
  • Homosexual Characters
  • Stereotypes and the Real Deal
  • Lets Create a Character!
  • More Balance
  • More Mary Sues
  • More Beyond the Form
  • Fifteen Editorials (10/15)

    THREAD RELATED
  • Character Awards
  • Character Contests
  • Well . . . it is sort of a personal thing . . . I'd like this to be a sticky. ^^;

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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Bad Characters
    Bad characters are very common nowadays. When I went through Barton's RP threads at random, I saw many "bad" characters. Of course, it is my opinion, but I had reasons behind it. They were a type of bad character, which I have found to be limited down to five different types.

    As well, I have noticed that the Anti-Munch project has fallen to a state of Temporarily Disabled. So, in their honor (gosh, I love those people), I will quote them on Bad Role Play skills with Bad Characters.
    Anti-Munch Project
    The people who never miss a single shot no matter how hard it is (Aimbotters).
    The people who can't be hit or just shrug it off (god-moders).
    The people who have absurdly strong powers (twinks).
    The people who 'balance' thier characters by having a massive but irrelevant weakness and massive powers (min-maxers).
    The people who use Out Of Character knowledge to get an edge (Miss Cleos).
    The people who do things in hindsight (McFlys).
    The people who RP other people's characters for them (Puppetmasters).
    The people who RP completely irrelevant things (Daydreamers).
    The people who RP actions and time against others while the others aren't presant (Shoe elves).
    The people who ignore or alter RPs that they don't like (Revisionists).
    The people who RP an absurdly time consuming sequence occuring between other people's actions (Speedhackers).
    The people who play as characters that are completely impossible (Oxymorons).
    The people who arbitrarily declare themselves the winner with instant death attacks (Baghdad Bobbits).
    The people who've taken actions before they start RPing (Gaseous Snakes).
    The people who alter thier character as needed for the situation (Zoicite).
    The people who gain abilities as they need them with no prior exposure (Trinities).
    The people who pick-up things that spawn from seemingly nowhere (Quakers).

    Note that these are just stereotypes. I have seen a few of each that demonstrated a good character that were both functional and easy to Role Play with. These are all just opinions, but are generalized for the majority of that type of character.

The Types
    In Progress

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The First Stereotype: Appearance and Description

    Clothes, Colors, and Equipment
    Everyone loves a rebel, or so they say. Players, readers, writers, GMs, and so forth love it when there is a thrilling and exciting plot undergoing in a story or game. After all, people do not play or read for boredom. They want action, they want recognizable characters. Alas, some people believe that certain traits in a character’s appearance will ensure memory and renown when it merely lets them blend into the mob of similar characters.

    So, naturally, we want to avoid that norm. And that norm seems to be growing and changing al the time, so I (nor anyone else) can not just give you a list and tell you to never use those traits. That is both conceded and unrealistic; different settings and stories create different types of appearances. However, there are general patterns noted amongst different genres of Roleplaying.

    In Fantasy, there tend to be only a handful of fashion sets. There is the Magi fashion set, which is usually a long, billowing robe and cloak. Often, the hues are white, black, blue, and even red at times. These seem quite common, honestly. Mages tend to need less weight on them so that they can gesture the arcane gestures properly when conjuring a spell’s effect. If you have a mage that doesn’t wear armor, you can try different types of clothing. I’ve always had a fondness for the mage who wears a swashbuckler’s uniform without the sword. Other ideas might include martial-arts-inspired garb, which often has plenty of movements for the limbs, or normal street clothes, as they can allow the mage to blend in when necessary. If you are insistent on the billowing robe and cloak, I might suggest adding detail to the clothing itself. If it is a blue robe with a blue cloak, describe how the cloak is fastened, how ornate the robes might be, any symbols or reoccurring patterns, and so forth. You can make a previously bland uniform into a stunningly beautiful piece of work with the right words.

    A different fashion set is the Scoundrel set, which focuses on light armor in a stylish concealment. Often, the person would wear either normal clothing that has leather armor underneath it, or something similar. This kind of garb is ideal for rangers, rogues, thieves, and so forth, as they conceal their purpose when sneaking around. However, so many characters of this type choose such similar clothing. There is the looming cape and hood, often in dark blues, reds, or even black. This can allow them to blend into the shadows, but in a sunny day in a group, they’d most likely be extremely noticeable. If you are insistent on the looming cape and hood, you can try different colors, such as tan, grey, or brown. These hues not only allow you to blend easier into most medieval buildings, but you also blend into peasants, for a quick getaway. If you want a different type of attire, try just simple leather armor with a shirt and pants. Nothing ornate, nothing complicated; just simple and basic. If you steal anything, your simple garb wouldn’t be as remembered by a shopkeeper compared to a large, billowing piece of fabric pinned to your back. Don’t doubt the power to purposefully blend into the NPCs, as it can save your character’s necks. For those who need stealth in the wilderness, green and brown hues are a must. I’d suggest using smaller, less dramatic clothing, as there is then less of you to see if you are trying to hide in the shrubs. Otherwise, the cloak might actually be good when the weather turns sour.

    The third and final common fashion set is the Wartime set. Commonly, this is where characters wear armor, weapons, and so forth commonly all the time. Most often than not, it involves a cloak or cape to accent the armor, but the armor isn’t as concealed as the Scoundrel set. Honestly, that is horribly unrealistic, because common armor (and, most likely, magic armor) isn’t very comfortable and flexible, so it would limit movement and cause fatigue much easier than clothing. In a casual setting, characters wouldn’t wear full-plate mythrill armor with their sword strapped on their back unless they have a reasonable excuse to do so. Red, white, silver, and black are the more common hues for the armor, which make some sense. Most metals are silver-white-gray, and many people can darken the metal’s tint. Red armor would help conceal any blood splatters that occur during battle and war, and that therefore has a reason. But those colors are quite, shall we say, done. Browns, yellows, greens, and so forth can create stunning suits of armor, and they can be most intriguing in battle.

    I suggest using a combination of these sets of clothing, armor, and attire for different purposes. Your characters, most likely, do have one set of clothing and armor. They, like us, have more than one pair of pants or more than one shirt. Keep in mind that you can have multiple fashion sets, and use that to your power. It is more entertaining to read about characters who might wear a vibrant orange sweater this day and then wear a maroon t-shirt the next rather than an all-white clad person.

    Here is a helpful post that also goes into great detail about Descriptions. [ The Character Creation Thread – 4: Descriptions ]
    Physical Descriptions
    Aside from clothing, we all love characters with unique, often exotic physical appearances. After all, what kind of exiting character looks bland, normal, and ordinary? Surprisingly, these kinds of characters can make the most amazing and memorable events. When we make characters, often we give them traits that others remember. Brilliantly blue eyes, stunningly beautiful face, thin athletic build, and a handful of others follow a common flow. But if these traits, which are suppose to make the character out-of-the-ordinary, are common amongst other characters, then your character is not as unique as you hoped. At least, not in that way. I suggest trying to find the trends that other characters follow visually. If you find these waves of normality, you can surf them to stages of abnormality. In other, less confusing words, you can find visual effects that are not part of the norm, and then make a unique, new character.

    There are numerous amounts of stereotypes amongst the body shapes and builds. In my experience, I have seen the “thin but athletic build” multiple, multiple times. Honestly, that is one of my least favorite builds out there. When observing some references to that (notably a lot of Anime), I have come to the conclusion that the build is trying to be two shapes at once. In men, it means that they look thin and non-bulky with clothes on, but as soon as their shirt/coat/whatever is off, you see unrealistically an unrealistically toned figure underneath. I have actually compared images of one character with and without a shirt, and I have noticed that the bulk on the non-shirt is much larger than with a shirt. They, physically, seem to be two different characters. Amongst the rest of the builds, no-fat and all-muscle are also annoying to me. Live with the fact that your character, most likely, needs fat. Humans need fat, as it stores vitamins, minerals, and energy while providing warmth. Without fat, a human would live a long, sad life.

    These traits are common amongst the male characters, and the female characters have their own stereotypes. I have noticed that female characters tend to have curvy, but fat-less bodies with big butts and big breasts. In my experience, I have found similar descriptions amongst the (literally a large majority) female characters, and it infuriates me to many levels. Not all women have big tops and bottoms with very thin wastes; some of the more interesting ones I’ve read are those that are lacking in those departments. Not all women are sluts, and not all women seem to have implants. Please, I can not stress this enough. Not all women have big boobs.

    Onto the eyes. The eyes are a focus of a lot of characters, as they can be the mirror of the soul. However, dazzlingly bright eyes aren’t always there. I tend to play characters with blander iris colors, as the bright blue/red/green are already very common. That does not ruffle my feathers, as some eyes in this world are, indeed, vibrant and bold. However, when the character’s eye colors change with their mood, I start doubting the player’s roleplaying skills. In reality, our eyes do not change color. In fantasy, it is over-done. Odd, isn’t it? I enforce the idea of a constant eye-color. Your eyes do not change to a vivid red when you are angry. Your eyes do not shift to an emerald green when you feel jealous. Your eyes do not shift to a bold blue when you are feeling peaceful. Your emotions (unless it is the norm of the race) do not show themselves through your eye colors.

    The rest of the Senses
    We mainly describe our character’s through the visual sense. After all, it is the easiest to do. We look at other people, remember faces/bodies/etc., and then move on. Right? Usually, wrong.

    There are the other senses we use to help identify people. If we know the person, we often know how they sound, and if we ever get close enough, their scent. We might even know how they feel if we ever touched them (such as a parent, boy/girlfiend, dear friend, child, etc.). For more vivid characters, we can use these qualities to help add depth to the description.

    When people try to use them, they often add traits that follow the norm, and sometimes are horribly stereotypical. For scent, I’ve noticed “the scent of fresh rain” can be common, as it is a pleasant scent. For sound, “singsong voice” and “deep, resonating voice” are also common. Sometimes, they can be done right. Other times, they are simply horrible. Some people use small qualities, such as “steps lightly”. But by doing so, they end up giving them a window of opportunity to add more to their characters that might not have been on the profile. For example, the “singsong voice” would then allow the character to be a professional singer, then be famous beyond belief. Originally, it could have been just a quirk; a melodic voice. But with an opportunist player, the character now has a much higher rank than assumed. I do not recommend this.



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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Mary Sues
    What is it? Short Definition
    The Mary Sue is a term in writing for a certain type of character. This character is an extension of the author's ego. That means it is a copy of everything (or at least a lot) of what the creator wanted. In Role Play terms, it is a powerful, 'perfect' character. There are few true Mary Sues, but there are way too many normal Mary Sues.

    What is it? Detailed Definition
    The Mary Sue is an ideal character. Strong, attractive, popular, and cool, the Mary Sue (Gary Stu for male characters) is a huge pitfall. Everyone wants to play one, but no one ever should. These characters are, bluntly, stupid.

    The characters often have a great number of skills. They don't have to be masters, but they have a lot, and they are great at most of them. In simple terms, the character is a Jack of All trades, but is as good as someone who specializes in that sole trade.

    The Mary Sue is also highly beautiful (in more than one aspect). They appear to be heavenly, and are often exquisite in many different types of clothing. Their soul tends to be 'beautiful' (to the creator, which means it may not be innocent). That can make for a wicked personality.

    The Mary Sue is a huge part of any story or Role Play. They suck up the other character's roles, hogging the plot to them. The Role Play dies because of it, and the Mary Sue brought everyone down with her.

    If a Mary Sue is detected, please tell the Role Player politely. If they ignore or even flame you (which is against the TOS), then you can gesture a Spork, the mighty weapon against Mary Sues, at them wildly, but realize that they may be to fearful that they made a bane of characters.

    At this point, send them the Mary-Sue Litmus Test for them to test the Mary Sue. A good character (in Role Play sense) should follow this table:
    Role Play Type - Score
    Non-Literate - 50
    Semi-Literate - 40
    Literate - 30
    Advanced - 20

    The scores are the maximum allowed. However, some of the questions in the test are asking about a story plot. For that, simply tell them what has happened (and if the answer does not score you a point, then what you plan to happen).

    If you do get a Mary Sue, then you must figure out what to do. Sometimes, the best way to eliminate a Mary Sue from a Character is to look at the things that gave you points. Choose a few, and then adapt your character so that those things do not apply anymore. Then the score would go down.

    Where can I get more information?
    Here is a great site for an explanation: Explanation, tests, and other Mary Sue Lore

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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Positive Characters
    Wait - What?
    I have explained negative characters to you, but that is not what this thread is about. It is about the search for positive characters, and this point on will express what is 'positive', and not as much of the negative things.

    Positive characters help enhance everything in a Role Play. The setting flourishes under a positive character's footsteps, the plot thickens around a positive character's actions, and the Role Players tend to Role Play better with a positive character.

    This positive is not referring to the good-evil/constructive-destructive scale, but a well-developed character that has balance. What is balance, you ask?

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Balance
    What is Balance?
    Balance is the trait of a character that equals out strengths and weaknesses. This is the fundamental part of a character.

    All characters have their own strengths and weaknesses. But how much of them is extremely important.

    Let's start of with the strengths of a character. This is what your character can do well, and any good skills he/she has. These skills should be a good size; they can't be too big. Imagine if there was a currency with your strengths. A good strength costs $5. A super strength costs $15, and a godly strength costs about $50. You do not have any money, but you can have a tab in the Strengths and Weaknesses Shop. You decide to buy an amount for your tab. Note that it is hard to get off a high tab. Naturally, you want a good amount of strengths without going too far into debt. So purchase skills for around $10-20. This is a good place to start off a character.

    But right now you have a character with all these strengths and no flaws. What kind of good character is that? A bad one. To get you out of debt, the store manager decides that if you take some weaknesses, he can take away money from your tab. A good weakness is $5, a strong weakness is $15, and a godly weakness is $50. What to buy? Your goal is to get $0-5 on your tab, so you should have about as many weaknesses that are as big and noticeable as your strengths.

    Do not get the godly weaknesses or strengths. These can make Min-Maxers, as seen in the Anti-Munch quote. You should stay within a budget.

    The strengths and weaknesses should compliment each other and flow together well, like good upper body strength and bad lower body strength. They are conceivable together.

    While Role Playing, your character should maintain this balance. They should not do anything in the Anti-Munch Quote box, no matter what. Keep that balance, and you have a major trait in a good character.

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Tipping the Scales: When and Where To Use Balancep
Editorial submitted by omgtehsuiso
    Part One: Balance of Self

    As detailed by Roka, balance is terribly important in your character. However, being realistic about what you use to keep the scales even is equally paramount. For example: a pirate RP I joined awhile back had a system of points you'd allot in three categories. These were Ship Skills, Knowledge, and Fighting Skills. One point would mean little knowledge/experience with the subject and five was mastery. I developed a sharpshooter character, who will be referred to
    here on in as Rae. Rae, of course, was an expert with rifles and strictly that. Most characters in the RP had maxed out their Dodge stat, but I decided to keep Rae relatively low in that area. Sharpshooters are, after all, kept far from the actual close-range fighting. Yes, this meant whenever someone was too close to him, he'd get hit, and it happened often. But it wasn't an annoyance at all. It was just another weakness.

    In other words, weaknesses should match the strength their counterbalancing. A burly axeman shouldn't also be able to dodge like a quicker fighter would. Also, said quicker fighters shouldn't be as strong as a burly man. They can get more hits in, but normally, they'd be quick swipes, not huge blows. We're not talking disappearing and running across the room in an instant to deliver a lethal uppercut to the jaw. This would be something like your typical assassin, not Kenshin's Soujiro Seta. Watch the lightning-quick assassin cliche, though. When caught in combat, it would be odd to see an assassin actually fight. They rely on sudden, easy kills to get what they want done. The whole point is to make sure your weaknesses are realistic with your strengths. Being unable to drive a car should not compensate for being a master at shooting guns.

    Part Two: RP-wide Balance

    Often, larger roleplays will need several people to watch over the general roleplaying group. In the pirate RP mentioned above, we had three moderators, myself included. Of course, godmoding and the like were not common, as it was a literary roleplay. It happened, though. Members with low dodge rates would be able to dodge bullets, something impossible to do in reality, especially against someone trained to use rifles well. It was a great annoyance, and the RP slowly died because of it. A few members started going on a lengthy spiel about ghosts and spirits, something the creators never intended to happen. If you're going to roleplay in an organized manner, let the creators take the reins sometimes. It IS their plot and world, after all.

    If you have an idea that you think might be controversial, ask the creators/moderators first. If you see someone else doing something that might affect the plot in an odd way, then yet again, let the creators know as well as the roleplayer. It can't hurt, and it'll help them roleplay better. Of course, they might get mad at you for it, but don't let it get to you. As it happens, most roleplayers are very prideful towards their characters. Make sure you're not harsh, though. Constructive criticism is the best type. Two positives for every negative and all that rot.

    Part Three: Accepting Weakness and Death

    We love our characters, but sometimes, others will be able to capitalize on their weaknesses and defeat them. Battles happen often in any roleplay, and are the main driving force behind them. Whether you're trying to stop the world from ending or just topple the wicked corporation, you'll be fighting a lot. Understand that your characters CAN be defeated, and even killed. Surviving every attempt on your life and coming out unscathed is virtually impossible, unless you're some superhero. And even then, Superman was weakened by Kryptonite.

    Be careful with using weaknesses of other characters to your advantage. Your character won't be able to scan their brain and find every little flaw they have. It takes many battles and long analyses of their fighting style and habits to even begin to understand what can defeat them. The same goes for your opponents. If they magically know how weak you are against a certain form of attack, protest. Remember, this isn't Dragon Ball Z. You can't find out power levels. An exception goes to Dragon Ball Z roleplays. <3

    Now to the fun part: Death. Yes. The end of life. Oh noes. It happens to everyone at any time. Did you read that last sentence? Someone died while you were. Now, we always see young, sprightly teens in roleplays, preferably 15 or 16. Why? It's easier for them to live, apparently, even if you're stronger when you're 30 and apparently wiser when you're 40. And besides, Cloud was cool. A bullet can still kill your hormonal friend. Did you know that a gunshot to the leg can kill someone, even without the blood loss? The shock does it. You don't need to score a hit in the head or the chest to take someone out. It's not really that hard. And even if they DON'T die, wounds like that take a long time to heal, and can still get infected over time. We don't have bodies made of kevlar. (Also, your shoulder applies to the leg rule, too. It seems to be the most common place to take a bullet.) If you're playing a character in the medieval days, a wound would normally be fatal. There was no real defense against disease then. They'd "let the
    bad blood," but that never really helped, and made the infection spread to other areas. (Believe me on that one. I studied medieval medicine for a novel I'm working on.) Wounds from bullets developed just after the age of steel often took pieces of clothing with them, and made the wound fester quicker. Stuff happens. Poor Johnny can die.

    Does this mean he has to die in vain? Of course not. He can go out nobly or just sort of die a slow and painful death. It doesn't matter. Almost any death will coax the characters to get moving. Remember, everyone loves revenge. How many characters have you seen with entire families/groups of friends who were completely wiped out by villainous people? It's in movies, books, TV shows, everywhere. Kill Bill, The Punisher, all that fun stuff. The motivation is always revenge, though the characters pretend it isn't.

    If a character around you dies, the sudden reaction doesn't HAVE to be vengeance. Anger is one of the steps in grief, but it doesn't suddenly stop there. Besides, we've all seen revenge before. But it IS one of the great motivators in roleplays, and it works. Don't let deaths go unnoticed, but don't make them so absurdly important that your character angsts over poor Johnny every minute of their life, even if she was his lover. As Penden mentioned in "Keeping It Real," the
    five stages of grief end on a positive note. Darth Vader's "NOOOOOOOooooooo" ruined the ending, mind you.

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Keeping it Real: the psychology of all races
Editorial submitted by Penden

    While it is important to study the aspects of any race you wish to create your characters from, even humans, there are certain psychological things that apply to all or most races. This is what makes a person read a book about hobbits, like the Lord of the Rings, and feel sympathetic with that character. You may love the idea of the race but some part of you still thinks of that character as just a person, not an elf, human or hobbit.

    Now, the only people we know in real life are human beings. Animals don't exactly count because they can't speak to us, and any way if I included them in this rant it would have to be much longer! As for humans, though, they are what we use to compare most characters we read or create to, to see if they are realistic.

    The first thing that a character needs to be is consistent. Even when people do unpredicatable things, their behavior over time is fairly consistent. If a character does something that the reader feels does not match up with either their past actions OR their beliefs, then your character is being inconsistent. Remember that the best predictor of a real person's actions are their previous actions, not their beliefs, and that actions can actually change a person's beliefs. This happens so that the person does not feel that their beliefs are inconsistent with their actions! However, if your character has the will power or the motivation, they can change their beliefs and then their behavior.

    If a person changes their behavior, they are not being inconsistent but merely switching to a new set of consistencies. Pulling off a change in behavoir with your character and making it believable is hard. Your character needs a good reason to change their behavior. Most good reasons are internal, like guilt, but a character can also meet up with extreme outside circumstances that make them change superficially, like if the police are after them.

    The next thing a character needs to be is 3D. This means that they need to feel and act like a complete person would, with conflicting emotions and a sense of past, present or future. A character who does not have a sense of these does not have a sense of consequences, and will do something stupid like pick a fight with some one ten times bigger than them for no reason at all. A person without conflicting emotions will become too predictable. This does not mean that your character cannot supress conflicting emotions very well in some cases, just as long as they don't do it all the time! Conflicting emotions come from relationships with other characters, past actions, and a feeling of guilt when a past action or feeling does not match up with their beliefs. This is why I mention them together, because they are related. For instance, a person who is afraid of dogs has probably had a dog scare or bite them in the past. But if they are an adult they are also well aware that lots of other people are not scared of dogs and that some dogs are nicer than the one that bit them. Therefore, they still feel fear but they believe that they should not, and may even feel affection towards a neighbor's pet even though they would never go near them.

    You can put a heck of a lot of work into a character's past and personality to help cover these two main things. Just remember that a beautiful character sheet doesn't make your character a great character if you don't know how to play them! Pay attention to the likes and dislikes you give them and try to show as much as possible through action, because that is how the other players and their characters are going to get the best look at your character.

    Over doing it--

    As a final note to all you drama nuts out there, human beings are also very resiliant emotionally. It's true that there are plenty of people who aren't, but at the same time a person who is simply afraid of dogs can usually live their life very well despite it. Most people bounce back from failure and disappointment, even something very drastic like the death of a friend! If every one went around killing themselves over every little thing that hurt them in their lives, you would never hear their stories! Humans are usually survivors.

    Note that the five stages of grief end on a more positive note:

    * Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
    * Anger (why is this happening to me?)
    * Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
    * Depression (I don't care anymore)
    * Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes) razz

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Some Things to Keep in Mind
  1. When a character has amnesia, explain what that character has forgotten in the Biography. Just because that character forgot, doesn't mean that the DM/GM should.
  2. Try not to use trench coats. They have recently been terribly abused by n00bs, which makes you seem like one.
  3. If you can, let their hair be a natural color. That does not mean that Bob can be born with blue hair, or Sally naturally has green hair.
  4. Think about your characters hard. They should act and be as if they were real and be as realistic as possible.
  5. Japanese names are overdone for non-Japanese characters.
  6. Japanese weapons are over-done (like a Katana), except for when that is the only type of weapon available.
  7. If you want an awesome character, try giving them a weapon not commonly used, like a Mace, Flail, Spear, Pick, or Chains.
  8. You character does not have to be 'cool' in the dark, looming, always controlled way. Make your own cool, for goodness sakes.
  9. In a magical world, opposite elements (light and dark, fire and water, etc.) coexisting should bring a conflict within the character.
  10. BE UNIQUE!

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    What is a Proper Character?
    The Proper Character is not just a good character, but a good character that fits the form used in request of the Role Play. The character must be filled up fully for the Role Play to accept you.

    What is a good form to use to plan out a character?
    Use the form the Role Play provides for you, but if they have none, than you can use this one.
    Gaian Name: This is your screen name.
    Character Full Name: This is your character's full name.
    Age: This is your character's full, true age
    Gender: This is if your character is a boy or girl.
    Race: This is what race your character is. If there is only one race, include what fraction or group the character is in.
    Appearance: What your character looks like.
    Personality: What your character is like.
    Weapons: What your character uses to fight, or to defend. Can include super-natural forces.
    Skills: This is what your character is good at (the strengths).
    Background: This is the past.

    [b]Gaian Name:[/b]
    [b]Character Full Name:[/b]
    [b]Age:[/b]
    [b]Gender:[/b]
    [b]Race:[/b]
    [b]Appearance:[/b]
    [b]Personality:[/b]
    [b]Weapons:[/b]
    [b]Skills:[/b]
    [b]Background:[/b]

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Background
    What is the Background?
    The Background is all about what your character has experienced. This is ranging from childhood memories to modern events. You do not need to go into every little aspect, but you need to include what are the important and essential parts of your character's history.

    In this section, the character's family can be introduced, and with it, some weaknesses that have taken its toll. Remember not to make your character's past too angst, or too bland. If your character is standing out, then he/she should have an interesting, but reasonable past. Even though this is fantasy, make it realistic.

    What should be in the past?
    You should mention where the character was born, and the family near the beginning. After that, progress up chronologically (time), introducing character-forming, important moments. Things like a school project in Kindergarten should be ignored, but the character getting lost in the Airport, forming a fear of getting lost is important. This is the entire character's life in 2-5 paragraphs (not sentences). Do more if the Role Play asks for it, or do less if they want a brief past.

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Appearance
    What is the Appearance of the Character?
    It is what the character looks like, physically.

    What should I put in my Appearance?
    You should (unless the Role Play says otherwise) all sorts of things. To start off, you may want to mention the ethnicity and height of your character, moving onto body type, eye color, and facial/hair details. Move onto the upper body, lower body (including feet), clothing, then any quirks your character has that does not fit in those categories.

    Body type?
    The body type is a general description of what your character's shape is. There are a few different types of body types. To start from thinnest to fattest, there is: twig-like thin, thin, slightly thin, normal, medium, husky, heavy, round, fat, obese, gelatinous.

    In muscle category, there is: thin, sort of thin, normal, medium, heavy, wide, big, buff. This category can be altered to your character specifically, though, as there are different amounts of body muscle.

    Facial and Hair?
    Yes, facial and hair. This is the description of the head. There are many different types of head size, and the human mind recognizes faces over any other part of the body visually. Therefore, they get their own category.

    The face has many traits you can focus on. You could write a sentence on each of these traits: nose, cheeks, mouth, eyes (which can be two if you stretch it), forehead, and general shape of face. The hair can have a sentence on: color, length, thickness (thin, thick, etc.), and style. Right there, you have 10 sentences just on the face.

    What about the upper and lower body?
    This is describing the rest of the body. You could fill up paragraphs with this information, but to follow brevity, you should keep about one sentence on each of these traits (then some more on what you think up): Muscle mass, color, texture, and any markings (tattoos, scars, etc.).

    Clothing?
    Geeze, you just had to ask about almost everything. Clothing is what your character generally wears. Realize that the entire set of clothing for your character should not be listed out, but you should keep a general description of what your character favors. Include colors, styles, and texture.

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Personality
    What about a Personality?
    This is the personality; the essence of a character. Here, you have a lot of information on how the character's mind works.

    All right . . . what should I put in it?
    Oh, lots of stuff. This is the chance to show the character's flaws and strengths (in the head). That can span from terrible morals to a quick mind. It can range from jokester to serious person. It all just depends.

    To start off, describe what your character likes and dislikes. From there, branch off into hypothetical, general situations (like what would your character do if he/she was lost). Continue through the situations and get to any good personality traits (like optimism, kindness, greed, etc.). Include personality faults (like naive, self-centered, etc.) that make sense. It is hard to have a self-centered, generous person. Make sure the traits flow together reasonably well.

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Age
    I know what Age is, but why does it have its own chapter?
    Good question. Age is a very powerful trait. It can limit a character's abilities, generate a base for a personality, and end a history.

    The age must also be realistic. A 10-year old in a middle of a literal war would be very stupid of that Role Player, but a 25-year old may be better suited (although no one is ever ready for war). Consider the setting, what you might go through, and when the Role Play ends, where everyone will be. I have actually seen a pre-pubescent in a battle left unscarred (physically and emotionally) in a Role Play. That is seriously unrealistic. See why there is a chapter on it? It is important.

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Playing an Aged Character
Editorial submitted by VanRiku

    Most players chose a character between the age of 13 and 20, the teenaged years. This is well and good but the world is not all made of teens. While teens make for good characters because of all the raging hormones and romantic opportunities, playing an older character can be quite amazing. I do not recommend this for new people to RPing but if you get a few notches on your belt try to play a character say between the ages of 40 and 60 (as a human). Some of the best characters are the ones that no one else wants to play. With all these teenaged demons and furies running around it's a rare treat to run into a rusty old warrior who has lost his touch and started drinking. While they may lack in the aspect of being at their prime and the romantic angle, they make of for it with the ability to pull of histories that you can't other wise pull off. Auron from Final Fantasy 10 is a great example. He has an feel of almost a warrior who has lost everything. If he was a teenager he could not have had that, he would not have lost as much because he would have been alive for a lot less time. Having a buried past is also a lot easier, it is easy to dredge up past memories if you experienced them 5 years ago, but what about 30 or even 40 years in the past?

    When you play as an older character you have to take their past in to perspective. If they were impulsive as a youth they might be a wild or an even more impulsive person in their older age (although that tends to calm down quite a bit). If they were a flirt a dirty old man/woman is a great role. They also might be an aged Casanova, take your pick. As for fighting they tend not to use all their skill. They are not as fast to act on average but they can use skill that they have spent their lives building up to instead of a wild fury of skill that you seemed to obtain over night (that right, I am bashing teen character because how many 14 year olds do you know who can blast energy out of their eyes and are the best swordsman in the world?)

    Weapons and races can also play a vital role in defining your character. An old master with a broken sword who refuses to fight is more effective than one who is lugging around a huge hulking axe and professing peace. An old rusty blade can be a great gift to another player, it tends to add an aspect of honor to the weapon so they won't just discard it when they find the next shiny sword they come across. As for race older Demons tend to be a lot stronger and feared, elves more potent with magic, vampires don't get older really, and wearwolfs tend to be more dominate (maybe a pack leader).

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Weapons
    What do you mean by Weapons?
    A weapon is something you use for battle, often offensive. But Weapons can be interpreted as a mystical force, a physical object, or even something more defensive.

    All right . . . can you give us an example?
    Sure. A weapon could be a bolt of raw lightning fired from an arcane spell caster's palm, a small blade thrown from the hands of a skilled assassin, or a spiked shield rammed into an enemy by a hardy man. The weapons available in each Role Play vary a great deal. Modern day Role Plays may have more ranged weapons (guns) and short ranged (daggers) than a medieval Role play, which has less ranged (mainly bow and arrow and a crossbow) and medium ranged (longswords, greatswords, maces, cudgels, staves, etc.). Some Role Plays have Japanese influence, allowing Katanas (which have only one blade, mind you). But note that if it is a western Role Play, then the Katanas would be much, much rarer than if it took place in Japan. Seriously consider what the setting can provide.

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Skills
    Can you give me a list of some basic skills to get an idea from?
    Sure thing.
      Skills
    • Computers
    • Math
    • Biology
    • Physics
    • Literature
    • Sports
    • Swordplay
    • Use of a physical shield
    • Running
    • Lock-picking
    • Cooking
    • Jumping
    • Punching
    • Kicking
    • Thinking
    • Driving
    • Riding a horse
    • Growing plants
    • Survival
    • Astronomy
    • Meteorology
    • Sailing
    • Flirting
    • And the list goes on . . .


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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Links

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Super-Shiney Platinum List
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White List
    Penden - She has submitted an Editorial to me. Thanks!
    VanRiku - He has submitted two Editorials to me! Thanks a lot!
    omgtehsuiso - He has submitted 2 Editorials to me! As well, he has donated 2,300 gold to the Character Awards Fund! Thanks!
    Gabriel Avelin - He has submitted 2 editorials to me!
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Black List
    None so far . . . keep it like that, and DO NOT SPAM!

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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Races

    Why is there a thing here about Races?
    Races help differenciate the characters in role plays from each other. However, each race is different, and with this difference, they can be superior to another. This is the main reason that races are so important.

    Haha! A list! I shall follow it to the word!
    No, no! Don't do that! These are all examples of the race, covering their base information! In your Role Play, you are the master of everything. You can warp what is going on, who is who, and what is powerful. These, however, are the typical forms of Races. You can get ideas off of this list, and with these ideas, you can create a larger, more unique race. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS LIST WORD BY WORD. I repeat, Do Not Follow This List Word By Word. Remember, this is the TYPICAL, average, general society and norm for the race, not your character specifically.

    All right. What will you cover?
    I will try to cover the basic races. A few people have added some things to each race, and I hope that I have covered enough. I will add a grading system to each class, and with it, I will try to explain how good or bad they are.

    Grading system?
    Yes, a grading system. It is also a small fact sheet for the typical members of that race. If you want the ruberic, here it is:
    Lifespan:
    Magic Skills:
    Technology Skills:
    Personality:
    Physical Skills:
    Mental Skills:
    Overall 'Good' Rating:
    Common Alignment:
    Society:


    Wait - this seemes very weird. Could you explain parts of the Race Ruberic?
    Sure!
    Lifespan: The average life-span of a creature in Earth years.
    Magic Skills: The average strength of magic and what they are good at. The typical ranges of spell fields are: Restorative (healing and restoring life or items), Protective (shelding from different forces), Enhancing (improving or degrating qualities), Elemental (fire, earth, light, dark, holy, evil, air, water, ice, lightning, and plants), Divination (gathering information or fortelling the future), Mysticism (general miscellaneous spells that have odd and unrealistic effects, like teleportation), Conjuration (creation or calling forth of something), illusion (decieving or fooling creatures), and Necromancy (the dead).
    Technology Skills: The species technological skills and abilities, such as guns and swords. The raiting of 1-10 would describe how well they advance.
    Personality: The typical personality of the species.
    Physical Skills: Their abilities or weaknesses based on physical abilities, like fighting and strength.
    Mental Skills: Their intelligence or mental powers.
    Overall 'Good' Rating: A Raiting form 1-10 displaying if a character on this race is worth doing. The higher, the more of a 'good' species.
    Common Alignment: The common alignment of the race. There are two scales. First is the good-evil alignment (good, neutral, evil). The next scale is the order-chaos alignment (lawful, neutral, chaotic). They are written out as <law-chaos> <good-evil>.
    Society: The typical society of that species.

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Angels
    Lifespan: Angels tend to be immortal.
    Magic Skills: Angels have great magical skills in Resorative, Protective, Enhancing, and Elemental (mainly light and holy) magics. They are very powerful.
    Technology Skills: Angels don't tend to have a lot of technology, using medeaval weapons. RATING: 2
    Personality: Angels are very zealous about being good. Following a strict code of conduct, Angels try to be the embodiment of good and all its relations. The ideal Angel never lies, always plays fair, and is constantly polite and kind.
    Physical Skills: The Angels are physically strong creatures, skilled with swordplay and physically strong.
    Mental Skills: The Angels are very intelligent and wise, but lack psychic skills.
    Overall 'Good' Rating: 2
    Common Alignment: Lawful Good
    Society: The Angelic Society is composed of sacred and good souls from earth. They live in large, white homes that are both spacious and airy. All exaultedly good creatures who die become angels, unless they were ressurected. Law here is universally followed, as it is all agreed apon, due to the Angel's good and lawful nature.

EDITORIAL:
If you think you could write an editorial on this race, please do so and PM it to Character Help Thread.
Angels are the personification of good. In all sence, they are light, peace, fair war, elegance, and beauty. Each Angel is wonderful, and with their wonder, they are not bloated in the head.

Angels live forever. This can follow the first belief that all good souls transform into Angelic counterparts in heaven (or any other utopia, really). This can express that you can not kill the dead. Another belief is that Angels are another species entirely. This may be a bit more realistic for a Role Play, as your characters would not come from the dead as strong beings. In either cases, Angels live for all of time, but may be killed with the second belief. They just . . . don't die of old age.

Angels are very apt in the mystical fields of Arcana (magic). Each was 'born' (or re-born if you think that they are dead) with great gifts that can show themselves to be very powerful. Their main skils are Holy and Light elemental magic. Each one can banish (holy), reveal (light), and stun (light) hordes of unholy creatures of the dark. Their healing (Restorative) and shielding (Protecting) magics are also to be reckoned with. If you manage to strike a blow through their nearly impenetrable shields, then their sacred armor, they can just heal the damage almost instantly.

Even with all of their magical abilities, Angels have terrible technological skills. The best they can make are sacred relics, like swords or shields. They have not invented any technology of their own, using the technology of others. In most setting from mideival and later in time, Angels used just swords or other melee weapons, refraining from guns, bows and arrows, and spears. It is against their code of conduct, which expresses how angels must fight fair-fair melee or use magic with ranged battles. If they switch to physical ranged attacks, then they can temporarily loose all of their gifts.


Angels are very kind outside of battle. As they are truly benevolent, each one wishes to make the pained world a better place. Because of that, Angels are very focused on good deeds and honorable acts. They shun corrupt moves and unholy requests almost instantly, then try to redeem the preformer. However, their personalities are shifted more to a responcive mode instead of an aggresive mode when against their arc rivals Demons (hell). When confronted with these Demons, Angels are focused on them, and tend to watch their moves in order to see what their motives are.

Outside of their magical abilities, Angels are impressive in the physicall field. Each one bears the power of elite swordmanship, and some even boast powerful archery skills. In battle, they are brave (but not foolish, as they retreat when they are sure to loose [or at least the smart ones do]) and deadly, slicing through hordes of vile enemies that taint this world.

Angels are very bright outside more hostile territories. As they tend to be immortal, each has a huge pool of wisdom and knowledge to their disposal. With it, they figure out problems, conjure up new spells, and call down the forces of good to great disposal. However, their mental brilliance is not focused on Technology.

Angels are a popular race, and because of the popularity + the power, this is given a terrible 'good' score of a Two. Many people have done angels, and many people have buchered this race because they chose it. I have seen many huge, terrible Angels in Role Plays, and their polar alignment creates a flat charater.

The Angelic society can be followed up by the following:
Government (i.e. Democracy, Theocracy, Monarchy, Anarchy, Plutocracy, Aristocracy, etc.): Dictatorship, with one holy, puyre good being in charge (tends to be G*d or some other higher order). However, the entire system is based on honor, which works.
Location: Heaven (or the likes)
Economy: Heaven has no economy, as everyone gets just what they want and need.
Military: The Angelic Army is very powerful, boasting large numbers and huge skill for every troop.
Population: The Angelic Population is near infinite, if you believe in the Death of creatures=angels.
Natural Resources: The Angels have no natrual resources, but they do magically get stuff, like metal.
Freedoms: Angels have seemingly boundless freadoms, and as everyone is valor-encrusted, the freedoms are never abused.
Bias (i.e. Sexism, Ageism, etc.): There is only bias against Demons in Heaven.
Skills: The Angels are skilled weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, and spellcasters.
Other: -none-

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Demons, Hell
    Lifespan: These Demons tend to be immortal.
    Magic Skills: The Demons from Hell are apt at Illusion, Element (fire, unholy, dark), Illusion, and Necromany. They are very powerful in the magical arts.
    Technology Skills: The Demons are not very far technologically. RATING: 2
    Personality: Demons are often trying to trick people, forcing them into a corrupt life style. However, recent modules of demonic handywork have fallen short, showing a suprising retreat. Nonetheless, Demons tend to try to kill things, corrupt souls, and create chaos in the most ordered parts of the universe.
    Physical Skills: Demons are overwhelming physically.
    Mental Skills: Demons can posess people, forcing them to do corrupt things.
    Overall 'Good' Rating: 2
    Common Alignment: Chaotic Evil
    Society: Demons live in a pure hierarchy, with the Devils ruling them. Each one was raised in malice and hate, and will raise their children in malice and hate. No love or joy truly exists for them, as most believe that the reason for all of their spiteful actions are manfestations of what they really want: peace with themselves, much like a bully.

    EDITORIAL:
    If you think you could write an editorial on this race, please do so and PM it to Character Help Thread.

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Demons, Kitsune

    Lifespan: Depending on the breed, kitsune can live from 50 years to over 500 years. It is rare to find one that reached 600 though.
    Magic Skills: Kitsune are highly skilled in magic, since it one of their many ways of defense and offense. Skills: Restorative (healing and restoring life or items), Elemental (fire, earth, light, dark, holy, evil, air, water, ice, lightning, and plants), Mysticism (general miscellaneous spells that have odd and unrealistic effects, like teleportation), Shape-shifting, and illusion (decieving or fooling creatures)
    Technology Skills: 8. Kitsune can adapt to technology fairly easily.
    Personality: Most are easy going and friendly,a few are more outwardly so. It is rare to find a kitsune that is anti-social.
    Physical Skills: Tend to be fast and flexible, they do do have slightly more strength than a normal human but not enough to set them apart. Able to dodge and dart, and do most acrobatics.
    Mental Skills: Kitsune are intelligent, sly, and clever, and use their wit in most instenses of trouble.
    Overall 'Good' Rating: 1 (this is added by Roka_Shotar), as they are way overdone, and I have yet to see over ten good Kitsune Characters, and way to many bad ones.
    Common Alignment: Kitsune tend to be neutral on the sides of good and evil, but when they go allign to good or evil, they go there to a chaotic degree.
    Society: Kitsune society is usually very accepting of other kitsune, whether they be of the same clan or not.

    Lifespan: Possibly above 1000 years. Every 100 years, Kitsune gain a tail and when they hit 1000 years, they turn white, silver or golden.
    Magic Skills: Are wonderful illusionists, enough Kitsune together can create an entire breathing, working city. They can possess people and tend to be very devious, as well as agile. They can shift shape into human form, fox form, or a form that is somewhere in between. They possess people (usually women) through the vaginal cavity, mouth and fingernails. Can tend to be a bit vampiric, sucking energy from land and from its potential lovers. They can also possess other �normal� foxes. Foxfire.
    Technology Skills: Little to none.
    Personality: Again, are usually devious and easily offended. Good thieves, and love tricking people, possibly driving them crazy. They are usually reclusive unless it comes time to possess someone. Forests and other parts of nature (lakes, rivers, mountains, etc) are their preffered homes. They like aggravating the weakness in people.
    Physical Skills: Agility, strength, shapeshifters
    Mental Skills: Ability to creat through illusion, possession, and some forms of
    telpathy
    Overall 'Good' Rating: 1 (this is added by Roka_Shotar), as they are way overdone, and I have yet to see over ten good Kitsune Characters, and way to many bad ones.
    Common Alignment: Neutral-Chaotic
    Society: There are thirteen species of Kitsune, named after the 13 elements:
    a)celestial, known as heaven or myobu, which guard the temples and are the messengers of Inari himself/herself
    b)dark Kitsune, known as nogitsune. Are usually the adversaries of the Heavenly Kitsune.
    c)Wind, or kuko
    d)Spirit; kiko
    e)Fire
    f)Earth
    g)River
    h)Ocean
    i)Mountain
    j)Forest
    k)Thunder
    l)Time
    m)Sound

    Kitsune tend to live in families, and work together as much as possible. Lone kitsune tend to try and make families. Even myobu prefer to drive away nogitsune, instead of killing them.

    EDITORIAL:
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Elves, High
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    Editorial submitted by omgtehsuiso.
    We know and love High Elves. They come from places like Lord of the Rings. Here, we're going to look at the basic High Elf and how to make him or her more original. Because High Elves are tired and trite.

    Let's take a look at our specimen elf, Mr. xX*~Legolas~*Xx. Mr. xX*~Legolas*Xx likely lives in a secluded, hidden city with beautiful architecture based vaguely on Ancient Greece, Rome, or that one city from Lord of the Rings. What was it? OH. RIVENDELL. Rivendell is clearly not the template for every other elven city ever. They're just all similar. If his city had a theme song, it would be a soft chorus to the background of some harps and violins. He is tall, pale, usually blonde, and very slender. His pointy ears do not detract from his complete and utter sexiness. He is likely a master archer, even though his kind is very, very peaceful and would not harm anything until said anything had torn their faces off and worn them as it paraded around the village, massacring anything in its path. This mastery of bows and arrows includes and is not limited to: instantaneous kills on the first shot as well as 100% accuracy. Due to his lithe figure, he is also very nimble. He can climb the backs of arrow-riddled elephants and fling himself onto horses while they are being ridden. Yeah, if there were gymnasts in his world, he'd be one of the best. Then again, so would every other High Elf. Even if he is thin and flexible, this does not impact his strength. When in dire circumstances, he fights like the greatest swordsmen ever to emerge in the world. He is very wise, broods often over the activities of Mother Nature or whatever the Elven name for that is, ("A RED SUN RISES. BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILLED THIS NIGHT." wink , and also incredibly charming. If he encounters a woman, he will have her in his bed by nightfall. If not earlier. And yes, this goes for almost every High Elf ever. Of course, there are people who think outside the box (we like to call them the Japanese. Look at Zelda! There are ACTUAL DEFENSELESS ELVES IN THERE.). These few people deserve a medal. But this doesn't concern them. Now, what can we do to fix YOUR trite, cliched High Elf?

    First, get rid of the overall air of perfection around them. Yes, they're immortal and have a million billion years to practice their archery technique. Does that mean they can hit vital organs EVERY TIME? There's this thing called wind. Ever heard of it? It kind of screws that whole accuracy thing up. Of course, the General Rule of NPCs applies to everyone, so that doesn't matter, since the entire villainous army will be composed of NPCs and one or two somewhat important henchmen. (Note: The General Rule of NPCs states that no matter what, the useless, expendable NPC will die in combat and be replaced instantly by another NPC, who dies seconds later, and the cycle continues.)

    Wisdom. Okay, so the High Elf has had a million billion years on <insert planet here> to practice his brooding skills and philosophy. This does not make him the next Socrates. In fact, you are not the next Socrates, either. Don't bother with wisdom. Or red suns. Even if High Elves are in tune with nature, this doesn't make them able to detect the slightest movements of their opponents by talking with the trees. That's for cool people like Aragorn. I'm not telling you to make your elf unwise. That works fine. Just don't make him/her omnipotent. The Legolas of the LoTR books was actually really, really uppity and annoying. For some reason, Peter Jackson was not pleased with him screaming "Ai, ai! A Balrog!" and made him into a badass archer-philosopher who forms the template for every other elf today. Fat b*****d. Either way, just because the sun is setting/rising a certain way doesn't mean you can predict the impending doom upon the race of Man from it. If the sky is on fire, yes. Red sun, no.

    Remember reading about balance? Yeah, most High Elves have none (not the gymnastics kind. They have a lot of that. Strength-wise is what I'm talking about). Again, they're usually perfect. Sempiternal, sexy, sage, strong, swift, supple.. (The Six S's of High Elves) But anyway. Get rid of one of those or something of the like. Maybe not the immortality part, since that's characteristic of every elf. Perhaps the beauty or the quick and powerful combo? Doing away with one makes your elf seem more believable. And if you can pull off more than one, the RP community might love you for it. Depending on which community you're talking about.

    omgtehsuiso is a college professor/part-time novelist. He lives happily with his wife, Lyranisha, seventeen kids, and three cats, in Oxford, England. He prefers to call his little section of the city "Rivendell."

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Elves, Dark
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Elves, Wild
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Humans
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Vampires
    <coming soon>
    Lifespan: Infinite. As long as they feed, they can survive.
    Magic Skills: Powerful illusionary skills, slight psychic powers, shape shifting skills and (some have) flying. Vampires' skills work well against mentally unsound opponents, or those with overactive imaginations, capitalizing on their willingness to accept the illusions set around them.
    Technology Skills: 0. Vampires are oblivious to technology, operating with their powers alone.
    Personality: When not chasing prey, vampires are introverted, unfriendly, and generally grumpy people.
    Physical Skills: Great upper body strength. Faster reflexes than normal humans. Sharp fangs.
    Mental Skills: Cunning and devious, but not street smart. They often create intricate plans, but when something goes wrong, begin to flounder.
    Overall 'Good' Rating: 3. Too many people do the 'I vant to suck your blood' gig. If you get past this stereotype, they can be very good. However it is very easy to fall back in to the old vampire rut.
    Common Alignment: Neutral Evil
    Society: Vampires work alone. They only align with a party when it means more prey, and they NEVER work with other vampires. In fact, they are often opposed to each other, fighting to the death (Although 'destruction' is a better word here, since death is not known to them) over small issues.

    EDITORIAL:
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    Editorial submitted by Crelancio.
    Vampires are the carnation of evil. When a human has had their blood mixed with a vampire's, they become a vampire. All vampires start under the direct control of the one who 'created' them, although they can break free by either destroying their master or finding a vampire to take their place.

    Once a vampire has been created, it is very hard to destroy it. While a stake through the heart and baptized silver bullets can wound it (And this is sometimes fatal, but not usually), the only ways to truly destroy it is to take it in to yourself (Yes, vampires eat each other), or to drive a holy cross in to it's head.

    Vampires appear exactly like humans, save their red eyes and fangs, which vary in size from normal teeth to 10 cm long. Whilst weak to sunlight, at night they operate as humans do, with the added ability to change any physical feature except the eyes and teeth. This makes vampires very hard to detect, and many people trade with them regularly, unknowing that they might be the next victim.

    When dealing with humans, vampires tend to be introverted, grumpy, and cold by nature. They will often avoid the eyes of others, and very rarely talk about anything but business, unless it benefits them somehow. However, when alone, they completely change.

    Vampires are incredibly devious, sly, and generally cruel. Being the uppity immortal beings they are, they select a 'worthy' target (Often a princess, or a well known figure, just for the attention and fear it stirs), and devise scheme after nefarious scheme, until they find the perfect plot. Then, with brilliant cunning, they completely drain the target of blood.

    Once a human has been drained, one of three things happens to them.
    a)The Vampire needs a servant, and mixes his blood with theirs, making them an enslaved vampire.
    b)They are re-animated by the vampire, and become lifeless, mindless corpses, who can only perform the most basic of the vampire's commands.
    c)They are left to be found the next day, completely drained of fluid.
    Servant vampires do not care so much for the devious plots their masters create, and are not picky about victims. Thus, they are known to drain entire towns to create an army of soldiers, or merely for the fun of it.

    In short, vampires are nasty things. When playing them, remember not to fall in to the stereotype vampire, and don't forget your weaknesses. Too often does someone forget that they are weak to sunlight, or that the cross kills them.

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Werewolves
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    Editorial submitted by Aerotan
    Perhaps one of the most misused character Races on all of Gaia is the Werewolf. They've been played as little more than shapeshifters, to the point of ignoring the phases of the moon in some cases, as blood-thirsty hunters, killing every human in sight, as solitary warriors, shunned by all the world, as innocents by day, always unaware of their condition,as immortal sages, and as noble defenders but mostly they've been portrayed as a lesser of two combatting evils, with KOS status placed on all of the Night's children. Let me state now that I despise a certain movie that shall remain un-named for this reason. Now on to debunking and re-education

    Depending on setting, Werewolves either live for about 150 years or they live roughly 40-50 years. They are by no means immortal, and depending on the setting Lycanthropy is either a curse or a disease. If it is a curse then it may go either way at the whim of the RP's owner, but if it is a disease, it will shorten the lifespan of the afflicted. It should be noted that a werewolf is, as a rule, allergic to silver, as it disrupts the curse that causes them to be werewolves, often rather painfully.

    Werewolves tend to be pack minds, especially in their hybrid and wolf forms. They tend to seek out the companionship of other werewolves, or even dominant minded humans if need be. Unless they are the leaders of the pack they tend to be submissive, and will follow any order given by anyone higer on the food chain than themselves. If they are the leaders of the pack they are agressive and dominating, and prone to doing things to prove their strength or leadership abilities. As a group they tend to enjoy hunting down things weaker than themselves, and most packs see humans as one of those things.

    A werewolf's human form is often somewhat physically superior to the average human, but not beyond what a good five-hour workout a day will give you. They have somewhat hightened senses of smell, which has degrees of variance depending on the werewolf's natural sense, and an enhanced sense of taste, although they usually prefer that of red meats. Their hybrid or half form is typically incredibly powerfull, able to lift objects as large as cars, albeit not easily, if they train enough. They have a sense of smell that far exceds what humans are capable of, and a heightened endurance, making them capable of running for hours on end if need be. The wolf form is about twice as large as the average wolf, and anything that would stem from their size is increased, but that's about it. In all three forms the eyesight suffers somewhat, human form isn't too terribly affected beyond the occasional blurring of vision. The hybrid form is rather nearsighted, and red-green colorblind to boot. The wolf form is extremely nearsighted, and sees in a spectrum of blues and greys. They tend to be good fighters, although the human form could very well become a mage if he has the potential, which is rare. The Hybrid form is an excellent physical fighter, often able to take many injuries before he becomes seriously wounded. The wolf form is simply a hunter, they are passable warriors, but usually follow their instincts and run if a fight turns sour.

    In human form werewolves are as varied as humans mentally, some are even scholars when they're in human form. The hybrid form usually is not counted among the wisest of creatures, although they are not stupid, they tend to have a one-track mind. In their wolf form Werewolves are natural born hunters, usually thinking of only one of four things: "Hunt", "Eat", "Sleep", or "Mate". And yes, werewolves can and do breed in all of their forms, including with non-werewolves. It should be noted that rational thoughts a human might have do not exist within the minds of either of the other forms, and indeed they have seperate thoughts and memroies unless the change was voluntary. Bear in mind that Lycanthropy is either a curse or a disease, and most people who find out about it are going to want to have it removed or cured if at all posible.

    Werewolves in their human forms can adapt to almost any kind of magic, but their hybrid and wolf forms are capable only of the magic of transforming, and only if the change into them was voluntary.
    Weapons-wise the human form is capable of adapting to whatever is on hand, but the other two are stuck with what they're born with.

    Human form is completely varied naturally as far as alignment is concerned, all nine are present. Hybrid form is typically either Lawful <any> or Chaotic Evil if they are at the top of their pack, beta and below are Lawful Neutral. Wolf form is Lawful Neutral. It should be noted that a human who voluntarily shifts into his hybrid form takes on that alignment in thier human form, as does anyone who finds out they are a werewolf and does nothing about it. Needless to say, Natural Werewolves are either the Alignment of their hybrid form, or Lawful Neutral.


    The two types of Werewolves are Natural and Afflicted. The differences are few and far between, the only major one being that a natural lycanthrope cannot be cured or have the curse removed, as it is a permanent part of them. Aside from that it's all a matter of time, natural lycanthropes have spent their entire lives being able to shapeshift, and it's almost a reflex to them, they also tend to think somewhat more carefully in their hybrid form. Not enough to change their alignment, but enough so that they aren't completely mindless.
    Natural Lycanthropes are werewolves who are born that way, and the Curse of Lycanthropy is an integral part of them. They arise when a werewolf who is not in wolf form mates either with a human or another werewolf, in either human or hybrid form. A child conceived by a werewolf will be delivered in the form (s)he was concieved in. Any pairing involving a wolf will result in the offspring being a litter of wolf pups with no lycanthropic abilities whatsoever. Although it is probably too much information, the hybrid form can produce offspring with another werewolf in any form, with a human, or even with a wolf.

    Werewolves tend to live in packs, with the most powerfull or cunning being the Alphas. Unlike wolf packs, the Alpha Male is in charge in a Werewolf pack, unless he is in wolf form. Other members of the pack tend to stay in whichever form the Alpha of their gender is in. All of this, however, only applies to Hybrid or wolf forms, Humans can either live in this pack, or be spread out in society. If they are unaware of their condition, they will live almost exactly like they did before. Again, be aware that if a human finds out he is a werewolf and accepts that fact, he is also accepting the fact that he is the newest recruit, the omega of the pack, and is going to have to be very submissive for a long time, especially if they are female. Ranks typically run Alpha> Beta> Delta> Others> Omega, the priority within each rank usually runs: Male Hybrid> Female Hybrid> Female Wolf> Male Wolf with Natural Lycanthropes ranking above Afflicted within the same rank, unless another factor offsets it (a Natural Lycanthrope male in wolf form is higher ranked than an Afflicted Lycanthrope male in wolf form, but both are below an Afflicted Lycanthrope Female in wolf form.)

    The most notable thing about Werewolves is that from three days before the Full Moon, to three nights after the Full Moon, they have a harder time controlling their changes, and the night before, the night of, and the night after the Full Moon they are forced to assume either their wolf form (Full Moon night), or their Hybrid (night before, night after) form.

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User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.Beyond the Form

    When you make a 'good' character, you often Role Play them. You enjoy yourself, developing the character through experience. When you go far enough into you character, you get to a point where you feel an attachment to your character.

    This link binds together Role Player and character. What does that mean? Well, it is like the character is alive in your head. You can see him/her, you can feel his/her emotions, and envision what he/she would do in certain situations.

    This is called living Beyond the Form. As humans, we have imaginations (although some seem to be lacking in it). With these imaginations, we can see objects, events, and odd concepts without actually seeing them. For example, there is a red circle on a white piece of paper. It is about 5 cm in diameter. Can you see a red circle on a paper in your mind? Even though there is no red circle here, you might envision it.

    That is using your imagination. When you read descriptions, hear descriptions, or think of descriptions, your imagination makes it real, mentally. Sometimes, your imagination fills in gaps in descriptions. Back to the circle thing. See how I never said there was a purple or green line around the circle? Or if there was no line whatsoever? Your mind filled in that trait with what seemed to work well.

    This can be taken to another level. Instead of visually registering in your head, the description of a character also allows your imagination to create a mind; a personality; another person. You could envision how he/she acts, how he/she feels, etc. However, this is a lot more complicated than a red circle. There are a lot more factors for your imagination to fill in, so it takes longer.

    Soon, after some Role Playing sessions, your character will be more vivid and realistic in your mind as your description is integrated into your imagination. This is living beyond the form.

    Remember how I said that the traits filled in make sense to us? Well, mostly by personality, these filled-in traits resemble ours, as we tend to know how we think. There are a few of us who don't, and that is all right. You may have radically different characters than others. But for those who tend to know how they think, some of your personality will rub off into your character. This is living Beyond the Form.

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Your Static Characters
Editorial submitted by VanRiku

    While you RP you might find a character that you like. Later on you might find that you can apply that character to other threads. This is called creating a static character. Some experienced RPers have several such characters (I have 4 or 5 such characters). They might use one for gothic, or darker RPs, one for mediaeval, one for an anime, one for a Final Fantasy, ect. When you spread your character it gives you a sense of attachment to that character and his/her history. You may want to include things you have done in other RPs in the history of a character like this. Some things you may want to ignore (such as you character got killed in another RP). Other things like characters that this character has aided might be mentioned. Of course you may have to fix that character for the bio form of the thread but you keep the majority of that character alive. The advantage of creating a static character is that you will take less time creating one, be able to have that character grow in mind body and power. You may also want to have a static character age. (I once had a character on MSN chats that went from age 7 to age 72 before he died of old age...) Static Characters can be a rewarding experience but only if you play them well.

    IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: DON'T use them from RPs that they are not build for. For example, don't use a gothic, evil, vampire in a star fox RP (do they have those?). Sometimes you should just make a new character for one like those.

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Alignments
Editorial submitted by Gabriel Avelin
    There are nine alignments that cover all characters. Every character falls under a "sphere" of order (lawful, chaotic and neutral) and another "sphere" of ethics (good, evil, neutral). But what does it mean if you have a chaotic good character? A lawful evil one?

    Below, you'll find an example scenario and then a defintion of each of the nine alignments. Then, you get to see a nifty little blurb about how that character would react.

    In the middle of a large forest, there is an enmorous spire. It is a beacon of despair and misery, housing a small (yet powerful) tribe of Hobgoblins who are rumoured to be led by a Fiend. These monsters demand homage, threatening to ravage a small town nearby if they are not offered the most beautiful virgin girls every week for their disgusting master. Two raids have already been launched against the town for their defiance, stripping them of much of their food and material value, including the heirloom scepter of the ruling Lord. The Lord of the small town is desperately seeking out any kind of help - anyone who will vanquish the evil Hobgoblins and retrieve any surviving women. And if they could get his scepter, that would be just swell. Anyone who does this is sure to earn the town's respect and gratitude (in the form of gold, of course).

    Lawful Good
    Anything, my liege, to vanquish the evil that plagues your land.

    The knights in shining armour or perhaps compassionate spies for a king, these characters embody the traditional "hero." They fight for just causes, sent by what they see as a legitamate authority - a righteous king or the head of a church or maybe even the direct word of their deity. A true lawful good character will never just stand by as an injustice is played before them. If they see a thief stealing bread, they will not only catch the thief but place him in the hands of the proper authorities. Sometimes, however, this can be quite a burden on said character's friend - who wants to drag 20 prisoners off the battlefield and back to town, a week's travel north?

    Note: Perhaps the greatest misconceptions of this alignment is that lawful good automatically means "lawful stupid." Approached by the elder of a town, the lawful good character would never hesitate to aid anyway he or she can but that doesn't mean they won't ask important questions - "Just how many black dragons are we talking about? Can you not spare any warriors to aid me in my quest?" Never would they ask a question such as, "How much will I be getting paid? And you vow to name a holiday after me?" These are not good traits.

    Example: Approched by the lord, the lawful good character does not hesitate to take on the task of freeing the innocent women. Not only is he (or she) happy to obey the lord of the land but he/she is anxious to do right in the world, eliminating the evil and restoring the small town to its once prosperous state.

    Lawful Neutral
    Anything you ask, m'Lord.

    Often an alignment adopted by lawyers or aristocrats who see no difference between good and evil. They harbour no favour towards what is right and what is wrong but this does not mean they actively seek out malicious or benevolent means to their ends. They play by the book and if the book just so happens to benefit them, all the better. They might be perceived by others as arrogant, vendictive, just or perhaps even annoying depending on the laws they follow.

    Example: The lawful neutral does not refuse to obey the lord because he is a source of authority. The fact that these are evil creatures does not matter - the lord could've asked the lawful neutral character to rape an innocent woman and he or she still would've done it. The promise that he or she will also be rewarded only sweetens the deal.

    Lawful Evil
    And just what exactly am I guaranteed by doing this? Err... my lord.

    Sometimes preceived as an odd combination, one perfect example of lawful evil are devils. They love causing suffering through order - they trick people into signing on to contracts in which fancy wording hides the fact that the devil is the sole benefitter. Other examples might be aristocrats who tax the people heavily in order to hire more town guards but really uses the money for himself or lawyers who find loopholes in the law in order to needlessly execute people (some of who might be entirely innocent).

    Example: The lawful evil character can't wait to take advantage of the town because of their plight. Those who save the town are entitled to a piece of land and respect... only, the town charter never actually specifies what kind of respect and how much land. After doing as the Lord asks, the lawful evil character might force the Lord to give up the land that just so happens to be under the most luxurious mansion and the respect that he requires might be in the form of beautiful female slaves.

    Chaotic Good
    You talk too much, "my liege." Yeah, I'll kill your stupid hobgoblins but I'll do it when I'm good and ready.

    Probably the most famous example of this character is Robin Hood. As a chaotic character, he (or she) hates being told what to do and as a good character, that ire is only risen when evil people are telling him or her what to do. A chaotic good player follows no specific structure and plays by their own rules but always in the name of good. Though they would never dream of killing the king, they are no opposed to filling their pockets while in the palace in order to give back to the poor.

    Example: When approached by the Lord, the chaotic good character probably will probably do whatever she can to undermine his authority. Maybe she won't properly kneel or maybe she'll just avoid meeting with him. Either way, she'll end up going after the evil hobgoblins that threaten the safety of the town. But maybe the scepter the Lord wants back might "accidentally" get pawned off with the money going to the more needy.

    Chaotic Neutral
    Tell me again why I have to kill these hobgoblins? On second thought, tell me again why you're even talking to me, you pompus blowhard.

    The chaotic neutral character always goes out of her way to undermine authority. She hates structure - she just wants to go with the flow. Anyone who tries to control her will fail miserably. She is a free spirit. Of course, her chaotic nature is never done with a good heart or an evil one. If she sets fire to the palace as a type of protest and five innocents are killed in the blaze, she doesn't turn a blind eye. She didn't mean to kill them but she's not going to go out of her way to make sure they're safe.

    Example: The chaotic neutral character would never do anything a king or lord told her to do. She would only consider destroying the hobgoblins if there was something in it for her. If there was rumoured to be an artifact of great power in the tower, she might just go for it, killing any hobgoblins in her way. Of course, the prisoners are no burden on her mind - they can live or die for all she cares. She might also go and kill the hobgoblins if she particularly likes fighting or killing - she doesn't do it out of the goodness of her heart or to be cruel but simply because she wants to.

    Chaotic Evil
    My liege, if I kill you and make sausage from your flesh, do you think the townspeople will eat it if I call it "royal meat?"

    Not only does he undermine authority but he does it trying to cause as much suffering and misery as possible. Rather then set fire to just the palace in a form of rebellion, why not set fire to everything in the town at the same time? Better yet, poison the water so that it's guaranteed everyone suffers. Almost nothing weighs on this person's mind except the wanton destruction of others. There is no guilt or remorse. Common examples of chaotic evil beings are demons, malicious ghosts and the majority of Drow.

    Note: Not all chaotic evil characters are raving lunatics. Some keep to themselves, doing their dark deeds when no-one is looking. Again, chaotic evil does not necessarily mean "chaotic stupid."

    Example: The chaotic evil character would only find themselves in the tower if she felt like she needed to kill something. Of course, this something could very well include the prisoners from town. Treasure doesn't weigh too heavily on this person's mind though it is still there (who knows what other kinds of weapons I could buy with a couple hundred more gold pieces?). No matter how you cut it, though, she just wants to commit evil acts to flaunt in the face of authority.

    Neutral Good
    Of course I'll save the prisoners... What do you mean I need to address him as, "my liege?" That's stupid.

    Some people just wish for peace and happiness. They care nothing for rules or order, they just want to spread the message of good. They'll help almost anyone in need, without even recognizing their social status. They won't go out of their way to undermine authority but they probably also won't even care for any rules or laws. The neutral good would gladly overthrow a tyrannical king - not to disrupt the order but in order to save the people. Likewise, the neutral good character also wouldn't mind obeying the laws if it meant the town guards wouldn't act up and injure innocents (as they have a reputation of doing).

    Example: As a good character, he does not hesitate to put his life on the line to save the prisoners and rid the land of the evil hobgoblins. Nothing else really matters to the character. He jumps at the idea of doing a good deed. Even if the king didn't want him to go after the hobgoblins, he still would not hesitate to destroy the evil creatures.

    True Neutral
    No, thanks. I don't feel like it today.

    This is possibly the hardest alignment to roleplay as. Nothing matters to this character - not laws nor ethics. Good, evil, kings and devils are meaningless words to the true neutral character. They act however they feel like acting, not caring (or even unaware of) the fact that it might help or hinder others. The majority of these characters are completely self-centered, concerned with number one above all else. Infants are perfect examples of true neutral characters. Another example would be nature itself - it would as soon rain for farmers as it would wash away all the crops, maybe even drowning the men who tended them. As a roleplayer, you must remember that you must never be swayed towards one end of the spectrum or the other lest you change your alignment. They generally have neutral goals that they strive for. Perhaps they vow never to let anyone become too powerful or too weak politcally.

    Example: It is very difficult to determine how the true neutral character would act in this situation. It all depends on the actual character. The character might as soon dismiss the cry for help as they would jump at the opprotunity.

    Neutral Evil
    I'm going to eat your face now. Oh, you're the king? Well, that's real nice for you, isn't it?

    Just as all evil characters, the neutral evil loves to cause suffering. Only, this kind of evil is totally blind to authority. Suffering is suffering and whether it affects a prince or a popper, it still gives joy to the character. Characters like this can be extremely out-going, proclaiming their evil ways to the world or secluded, keeping to themselves, festering the evil inside of them until it can be properly directed.

    Example: Not caring whether a regal figure has approached him, the character simply wants to cause suffering. His fury is not directed at just the king or just the people - his evil is for everyone. That being said, the character might just burn down the town or unleash a plauge upon them or maybe just go gun-ho and kill as many people as possible. If they're not too tired afterwards, they might go after the hobgoblins, too.

    Tilts
    Some characters, though ultimately defined by these nine alignments, have what are called tilts. A character might be neutral good, paying no heed to kings and queens or any kind of organization but might enjoy having a routine for himself. This character is neutral good but tilts towards lawfulness. A chaotic evil character might love undermining authority but maybe it's because it causes grief among people, not because he hates the order so much. Though his acts are against authority figures, he does it out of the evilness in his heart, not so much the chaos. Therefore, he is chaotic evil but tilts towards neutral evil.

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All the World's a Stage: A Guide to Roleplaying Your Character
Editorial submitted by omgtesuiso
    So you've got the best profile in the world. Now what?

    Next comes the hardest stage of creating a character: development. You have to delve deep into your character's personality. What are their likes, dislikes, fears, goals, and opinions of key issues in your roleplay? Let's start out with the basic principle behind your character's multi-dimensionality: personality.

    Part One: Exploiting and Creating a Multi-faceted Personality

    We've all got our own opinions and feelings about certain things and certain people. Let's start on the surface and go for the broadest category of personalities: good vs. evil.

    Make note before you embark on this: good and evil are entirely subjective. The Axis powers, more likely than not, thought that Hitler was a good man. The Allies did not. This was a subjective analysis. Was he evil by nature? Certainly. He presided over the massacre of millions of people. However, the Axis backed him because they thought that genocide was the
    right thing to do.

    Now that we've gotten that out of the way, you have to decide what your character will be judged as by the heroes. Will he be a member of the villain's cadre or play a hero like the rest of the main party? See the "Alignments" editorial for further details. Remember, evil and good
    exist on certain levels, and there will NEVER be a person who is pure good or pure evil, unless you're talking spirutual beings like gods and demons. However, those technically aren;t people. If you aren't satisfied with the "good" or "evil' generalization, make a mercenary or somebody who won't take sides without a great amount of persuasion. Just take note that mercenaries, sellswords, and the like were viewed as relatively unreliable and greedy people throughout history. Many medieval mercenaries fled at the slightest possibility of loss.

    Now we have to get a bit further. Once good and evil is out of the way, you have to decide how your character is going to act. Remember, certain personality types cause shortfalls as well. Frodo was terribly kind, and this kindness and pity for Gollum allowed the creature to wedge itself between his friendship with Sam. The "good" and "evil" archetypes normally lead to a plethora of cliched characters: good ones are inherently noble and strong while evil ones massacre cities by the dozen with little or no motive in doing so. Furthermore, heroes often have relatively poor families, causing them to "understand" how other people have it under the rule of the evil emperor who MUST be overthrown. Swordsmen aren't born, they're made. Remember, a sword like Cloud's probably weighed upwards of sixty pounds, something that would be terribly hard to wield. The actual swords of the age, the zweihander and flamberge, for example, were used strictly for swinging. Omnislash just doesn't work, sadly. But I digress.

    It's up to you to decide how your character will act, and it's up to the other roleplayers to decide how their characters will judge yours. But actions make up the personality more than anything else. There's no real archetype for personality like most people tote around for good and evil.
    Even good and evil don't really have archetypes. A character who would be viewed as evil, with the right motive, might be viewed as good. Dictators calling for peace can certainly seem like they're going to help for the time being. Let's take a look at motives and motivations
    now.

    Part Two: Creating Goals and Motives

    So Dark Lord Emperor of Death nuked Keryoto. Why did he do it? Was it because someone in the city betrayed him, or was he just having his evil fun? Of course, the more political motive to send an entire city to ruin seems more realistic. But most world leaders wouldn't be stupid enough to do it. They'd have the whole world on their backs unless they had a more valid reason. Perhaps it was an "accident" that occurred while they were trying to defend the city from invaders. Let's first explore the goals of a character.

    As people, we all have dreams and aspirations. Some of us want to publish books or mangas. Others want to be lawyers, CEOs, doctors, and other high-paying positions in the job world. Your characters are likely going to wind up discarding the basic hopes and dreams of normal people to save the world from whatever evil is threatening it. Why? That's a motivation, and it'll be covered later. Let's first look at short-term goals. These will probably only apply to the beginning of the RP, before everything picks up steam and the villain starts gaining prominence. Your character might want to make 10 pieces of gold at work. They might want to run 5 miles
    in the morning. Short-term goals are easy. It's long-term that are going to be hard. They might want to publish that book or be that knight. Problem A is going to be why they put those goals aside to call their banners against the villain. Remember, people during the Holocaust NORMALLY went with Hitler's hunt for Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and the like. What's your
    character's reason for being different from the 99% of other people who remain subjugated by generic emperor 123490384203? This is where motivations come into play.

    We need to understand why your character's going and saving the world. Does he just hate the villain that much? Like I mentioned in my other essay, revenge is probably the biggest motivator out of them. Villain's henchmen killed family, heroic teenager seeks vengeance. Is he just trying to prove himself? It's up to you, but your character should really have a good motive for chasing the villain or doing whatever they do.


    Part Three: Understanding and Using Emotion

    We all know the simplest human emotions. We've known them since we were children. But now is the time to introduce yourself to how to use that knowledge to your advantage.

    Based on your character's personality, they might react to certain situations differently. A psychopath won't be as shocked by rape as the everyman would. An apathetic person tends to care less about events than an emotional one. Someone who is depressed will take bad events to
    a higher level than someone who is not.

    So, step one of this process is analyzing your character's personality to figure out how they react to events as the RP unfolds. Now, once you have that done, apply it to the roleplay.

    However, many people take the "Woe is me!" path and act overly dramatic. Remember, your character doesn't have to be strictly emotional. Certain things may trigger a deeper reaction than others. Again, seeing someone's mutilated corpse will affect a person much more than being stung by a bee. It all depends on their fears and memories, too. Pieces of the past may bring about feelings that can also affect your character. Remember, putting "Little is known about <charactername>" won't help you at all. Even if your character has amnesia, they can still retain memories of things that happened after said amnesia incident.

    Just remember your characters will grow and change like everyone else does.

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What Does it Mean to be Truly Good?
Editorial submitted by Gabriel Avelin
    There are several misconceptions about being good. Being good does not mean heedlessly running into battle, smiting evil here and there. It also doesn't it mean turning down the pleas of help from a village elder because the danger is "too great." Good is something much more complicated and though the "good path" is sometimes always obvious ("Yes, I will help you" or "Yes, I will donate gold to the orphange" or "No, I won't assassinate the king for money" wink , it can often appear grey and some players may struggle with what their character should do ("Could I poison the water to a village of evil-doers?" or "Can I lie if it means saving a life?" wink .

    "Good is not nice, polite, well mannered, prudish, self-righteous or naive... Good is the awesome holy energy that radiates from the celestial planes and crushes evil. Good is selfless, just, hopeful benevolent and righteous." - Chapter 1, Book of Exlated Deeds

    Truly good characters are beacons of light, radiating hope wherever they go. Peasants can look upon truly good characters and smile despite their wealth (or lack thereof) because they know the character will always stand up for those who cannot do it themselves. Prisoners captured by a Paladin never fear because they know they will always be treated with love and compassion. Likewise, some villians laugh at good characters because they know if they surrender, the good character will always show them mercy.

    But wait - why should a good character show mercy to a villian who will just continue on with his evil ways? The answer is simple - by showing mercy to a villian, the good character has touched their vileness with the santified kiss of the light. The villian may go on to burn down a village after being shown mercy but the good character never loses hope in the villian. So long as there is a single shred of light, there is always hope. Perhaps one day, the villian will understand why the warrior continiously showed the villian mercy - not out of weakness but out of love.

    Being truly good is not an easy thing to do. It requires that the character make personal sacrifice time and time again (even if the sacrifice seems to make no difference). Truly good characters understand that it is not enough to simply avoid the darkness but that the light must actively search out corruption and evil in order to stamp it out.

    Sometimes, the good character is forced to make a decision that blurs his or her judgement. Is it right to lie if it means saving a life? A thousand lives? The entire world? Surely, the end would justify the means. This theory, however, is rooted in evil. A lie is a lie and nothing will ever change that. Yes, the people would cherish and praise the character for doing such a noble deed but by acting evil, only more evil can come of it. It cannot be stressed enough - a truly good character must realize that any act of evil (no matter how small) will always lead them down the dark path and away from the light.

    Faced in such a situation, the good character must find another way. Again, they must search deep inside themselves - to the light - and seek the honourable path, however hard it may be to traverse. If the ends can justify the means, then a good character would not hesitate to take more hostages from a nearby village to exchange for the safety of his friends.

    It is also never right to attack creatues based on rumours and theories. A good character would never just launch a siege on the stronghold of known bandits if they had not actually done anything wrong. Likewise, the good character would never launch an attack on a tribe of gnolls unprovoked. It is possible that these creatures have changed their ways and are seeking a more peaceful life. It is important the good character not let the light be tainted, becoming a zealous stuper.

    Again, it is not easy being truly good. It is a difficult path to take and only a few characters actually have what it means to become a true warrior of the light. But does it mean that if your character doesn't do exactly what this editorial says, he or she isn't a good character? Not entirely. Just because a character doesn't donate to the poor, doesn't mean they are inheriently evil. They are not as good as they should be but if they still uphold the creed of light, they are considered a good character.

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Roleplaying Evil

"Evil is tricky. Just when you think you understand it, it changes its face. It takes a lifetime of study." - Janet Fitch, White Oleander

    You've probably already read all about alignments. Chaotic whatever and all that. You probably know all about villains. They murder ruthlessly. They're usually incredibly powerful and have countless minions. Here, we'll talk mainly about how to set up and understand evil in your roleplay.

    Chapter 1: The One-Sided Evil

    Most roleplay villains have no real personality save for the fact that they're, well, evil. This is far more compelling to fight against than a multifaceted villain. Why? Multifaceted villains have some level of good in them. With single-trait villains, you know they're more than willing to destroy several towns in order to achieve their goals. Often, the enemy is a beast that relies strictly on instinct. The dragon only wants to eat, but he destroys the village in a rain of fire. The humans are furious and hunt it down. These villains crop up in even the most advanced of RPs.

    This same principle applies to most human (or whatever race your villain is) enemies. The tyrant is oppressing his peoples. A group of peasants bands together and leads an uprising. Mad scientists are threatening to unleash a biological agent upon a large city. They have no real emotion. This is your basic psychopath. They react differently to genocide and other various ways of expressing their purely evil hearts than normal people do. Most villains can be called psychopaths.

    These villains are the easiest to use because no one really has to play them. A short narrative from the head of the roleplay can instantly describe a city-wide massacre. Usually, roleplays do not come to a final encounter with this kind of villain. There will be many meetings and battles with him, but never real closure. If, somehow, the villain is defeated, another one pops up and the story continues.

    One-sided villains make for, in my mind, the easiest roleplays. The villain doesn't need to be developed. He just needs to be killed.

    Chapter 2: Changing Its Face

    Multifaceted evil makes for a more interesting roleplay, but a slower one. The villain cannot rise to power as easily, as he or she needs to be developed first. The king might want to be dictator-for-life, but also unite all the kingdoms of the world under his rule. This gives a greater opportunity for peace. No one likes a dictator. Naturally, there will be a resistance movement, but some people will agree with him. This is terribly rare.

    The villain may even doubt himself. In the story I'm working on, my villain often questions his motive. This is often harder to come to grips with than a confident, strong villain. Characters like Sephiroth were sure of themselves. They were more compelling to kill because they weren't afraid of killing, stealing, or burning entire villages. Multifaceted villains are often not. They might need an advisor or cohort to convince them to go through with the carpet bombing of Kashgul. Villains who doubt themselves seem more human to the roleplayer. They may even sympathize with them to a point.

    Chapter 3: Dealing With the Multifaceted Villain
    Multifaceted villains almost always need a separate person to roleplay them. This is often very hard for them to do because what crimes they commit are normally under the will of the roleplay creator. In most cases, the character you've spent pages of text developing will be dead by the end. Your minions of destruction will be godmoded at. The only actions you can really use are the ones the creator likes, and if he's not happy with it, it's dropped. Playing the villain is very hard.

    Multifaceted villains make roleplays better, but harder to deal with. Often, there will be two sides of player-characters in the conflicts. Most battles will end out in no real victory for either side. If you're willing to use a villain with more than just the evil trait, go ahead. It's honestly a better experience if you're willing to deal with the problems it may cause.

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Reserved for Future Use! If you have a suggestion on what to put here, or any of the other Reserved posts, PM Character Help Thread.

-idea- Character Excersizes

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Reserved for Future Use! If you have a suggestion on what to put here, or any of the other Reserved posts, PM Character Help Thread.

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Reserved for Future Use of Character Awards, a monthly contest that focuses on various character elements.

So far, the elements can be ranged from Race to Gender to Best Appearance. The "Best" categories would have no specific title untill the Judges come out. That means that you will have to write a Good Character all around to try out for a "Best" Category (and not focus on one part of the form).

So prepare your characters, and the start of each month, I will announce a new Character Award chance. You post your characters in FINAL FORM, and I will save them all to a Word Doccument, make then anonymous (other than numbers, which I will keep to myself), and hand them to the Judges.

If you wish to be a Judge, please PM Roka_Shotar. If I accept you, I will explain the rules and stuff.
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    What is an Editorial
    This entire Thread is based on a collection of writings and ideas contributed by Gaians. These pieces are known as an Editorial.

    Without the editorials, this thread would be bare, lacking meat, knowledge, and usefulness. Luckily, there are editorials in the thread right now. However, there is always room for more.

    What does that mean?
    I want you to write an editorial for me. What that would look like is a multi-paragraph 'essay', if you wish to call it, on one aspect of characters. The form of the Editorial should follow a conveniant, asthetic module described later in this post.

    If you really want to help me, you can do so by writing down (in detail) explinations of different topics. In my Goal List (Post 2), I have posted some ideas of Editorials that are needed, like Races and Character Excersizes. Use this to first clear up what is needed, then you can send an Editorial about other aspects of characters.

    Who do I send it to?
    PM it to the user known as Character Help Thread, as he is the mule that manages the editorials.

    What Format should the Editorial be in?
    Glad you asked. This entire thread is based off of a few traits that define how Editorials are layed out.

    The Title is bolded and in size 15 font. The body of the text is in size 9 font. The Chapter titles are in size 12 (normal) font.

    LAYOUT:
    The Character Help Thread
    Title

      Chapter 1 Title
      Body text 1.

      Chapter 2 Title
      Body text 2.

    [size=15][b]Title[/b][/size]

    [list]Chapter 1 Title
    [size=9]Body text 1.
    [/size]
    Chapter 2 Title
    [size=9]Body text 2.
    [/size][/list]


    See how it works? PM this editorial in CODE brackets, if you could, so it may be more conveniant.

    To type it, go to Notepad, and then click on FORMAT on the top of the screen, then Word Wrap. Now it is easier to type! Unfinished lines are moved down, just like in word or in Gaia.

    After it is typed, spell-check it, edit all added commas with Notepad commas, and then PM it to Character Help Thread for speedy service! Thanks!

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The Poll
Please post here explaining the reasoning of your Vote. Feedback is highly appreciated. smile


Poll Results

Is this thread useful?
    Yes. ------------------------ 76% ~ [76 votes]
    No. ------------------------- 5% ~ [5 votes]
    Maybe. --------------------- 19% ~ [19 Votes]
    Total Votes: [100]


Past Polls

Character Awards I - 08/28/2005 - ../../....
Is this thread useful? - ??/??/???? - 08/28/2005
Kitsune Factsheet - ??/??/???? - ??/??/????

The Last Poll was about the Kitsune Factsheet.

I have been getting different ideas on that Race, so you can choose what I should put up there!

Card #1
Demons, Kitsune
<coming soon>
Lifespan: Unlike their demonic counterparts they have a lifespan similar to humans, about 80-100 years.
Magic Skills: They tend to use a lot of Elemental magic (Especially fire), but illusion and conjuring are not above them.
Technology Skills: They do not normally make technology for themselves. Now and again you will see a Kitsune with a gun that they took from a body. RATTING: 1
Personality: Normally they are quite quiet (Don�t fall into the �Silent Warrior� stero type when playing them, it�s a big lure) but there are a large number of them who are extremely outgoing (they tend to be female)
Physical Skills: Like their demonic counterparts they are inhumanly strong.
Mental Skills: Not the brightest things on two legs but they are cunning and cleaver, do not confuse this with their general lack of a grasp on higher concepts.
Overall 'Good' Rating: 3 (They are normally abused to the point of nausea and they lend themselves to many stereotypes and that is a large pit fall)
Common Alignment: Like humans they do swing from one side of the spectrum to another, but they tend to have a bit of guile so I would place them along the line of Chaotic-Neutral or Chaotic-Evil depending on the Kitsune.
Society: Many live in the depths of hell and others chose to live among the humans. Small settlements can be found in the deep woods normally protected by some illusion spell so that they are not disturbed.


Card #2
Lifespan: Depending on the breed, kitsune can live from 50 years to over 500 years. It is rare to find one that reached 600 though.
Magic Skills: Kitsune are highly skilled in magic, since it one of their many ways of defense and offense. Skills: Restorative (healing and restoring life or items), Elemental (fire, earth, light, dark, holy, evil, air, water, ice, lightning, and plants), Mysticism (general miscellaneous spells that have odd and unrealistic effects, like teleportation), Shape-shifting, and illusion (decieving or fooling creatures)
Technology Skills: 8. Kitsune can adapt to technology fairly easily.
Personality: Most are easy going and friendly,a few are more outwardly so. It is rare to find a kitsune that is anti-social.
Physical Skills: Tend to be fast and flexible, they do do have slightly more strength than a normal human but not enough to set them apart. Able to dodge and dart, and do most acrobatics.
Mental Skills: Kitsune are intelligent, sly, and clever, and use their wit in most instenses of trouble.
Overall 'Good' Rating: 7.
Common Alignment: Kitsune tend to be neutral on the sides of good and evil, but when they go allign to good or evil, they go there to a chaotic degree.
Society: Kitsune society is usually very accepting of other kitsune, whether they be of the same clan or not.


Card #3
Lifespan: Possibly above 1000 years. Every 100 years, Kitsune gain a tail and when they hit 1000 years, they turn white, silver or golden.
Magic Skills: Are wonderful illusionists, enough Kitsune together can create an entire breathing, working city. They can possess people and tend to be very devious, as well as agile. They can shift shape into human form, fox form, or a form that is somewhere in between. They possess people (usually women) through the vaginal cavity, mouth and fingernails. Can tend to be a bit vampiric, sucking energy from land and from its potential lovers. They can also possess other �normal� foxes. Foxfire.
Technology Skills: Little to none.
Personality: Again, are usually devious and easily offended. Good thieves, and love tricking people, possibly driving them crazy. They are usually reclusive unless it comes time to possess someone. Forests and other parts of nature (lakes, rivers, mountains, etc) are their preffered homes. They like aggravating the weakness in people.
Physical Skills: Agility, strength, shapeshifters
Mental Skills: Ability to creat through illusion, possession, and some forms of
telpathy
Overall 'Good' Rating:
Common Alignment: Neutral-Chaotic
Society: There are thirteen species of Kitsune, named after the 13 elements:
a)celestial, known as heaven or myobu, which guard the temples and are the messengers of Inari himself/herself
b)dark Kitsune, known as nogitsune. Are usually the adversaries of the Heavenly Kitsune.
c)Wind, or kuko
d)Spirit; kiko
e)Fire
f)Earth
g)River
h)Ocean
i)Mountain
j)Forest
k)Thunder
l)Time
m)Sound

Kitsune tend to live in families, and work together as much as possible. Lone kitsune tend to try and make families. Even myobu prefer to drive away nogitsune, instead of killing them.


Thank you for voting!

The Results

Poll
Which Card should I use?
    Card #1 . . . 4 votes . . . 9%
    Card #2 . . . 4 votes . . . 9%
    Card #3 . . . 6 votes . . . 14%
    Cards #1 and #2 . . . 7 votes . . . 16%
    Cards #1 and #3 . . . 3 votes . . . 7%
    Cards #2 and #3 . . . 9 votes . . . 21%
    All three cards . . . 6 votes . . . 14%
    None of the three cards . . . 3 votes . . . 7%
Gaia Forums » GAIA Community » Barton Town (Role Play) » Barton OOC

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