|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:16 pm
NPCs and Disposable CharactersPlayer Owned NPCs and Background CharactersDestiny City is populated by a wide variety of characters, the vast majority of which will never knowingly come in contact with the powered side of things. While powered characters take the forefront of our story, every one of them has people in their lives that may play an important role--but not so much that it's worth getting them as an approved character in the shop.
These may include family, friends, classmates, coworkers, or just general people they have some familiarity with. Player owned NPCs are background characters meant to enrich the lives of their official characters and are designed to emphasize their backstory and role in the world. Player owned NPCs do not need approval, as it as assumed that these characters will exclusively appear in roleplays or solos along with the approved character they were designed for. These characters must be civilians, and must be written with a few basic things in mind.
Like all characters, no NPC can be 'the best' at anything, nor should they be written to be in any exclusive roles, such as Mayor, the President, a celebrity, or the Police Commissioner. If your NPC needs to be anything other than an 'average citizen' it should be approved before written.
You may choose to play an NPC for a character and then later decide to quest them; if you do this, any RPs you completed with them as an NPC will not be applicable towards their growth if you choose to get them as a powered character. While you may puppet these NPCs as often as you need to in your own character's stories without needing permission, you will need shop permission to play these characters for someone else's story. Please see below for more information!
These characters do not count as an official character, no matter how often they appear in RPs or Solos. While you may write them to have a name, unless you own the surname for a powered character, any player is still free to quest for that surname. If you ever choose to quest for the NPC as an official character in the shop and the surname you previously chose is already in play, you will be asked to select a new name.
Player owned NPCs are owned by the player who creates them; this is usually the owner of the character they are affiliated with. While they may grant permission for others to utilize their NPCs, these characters are not available for anyone to use without permission.
While these characters should typically be roleplayed as background characters, making small cameos and/or filling small roles in RPs or Solos where you are also playing an official character within the shop, there are circumstances where you may be able to play just the NPC or Background character. There should always be at least one official, in-play character in any RP or Solo with an NPC, but we understand that there are situations where an NPC background character could fill an important role for official characters. In these instances, we ask that you PM the Shop Mule for permission to play them as a non-disposable NPC and outline the RP or plot you want to do. After approval, you may do the RP, but when titling the RP you must include the NPCs name with an asterisk in it, and you must make an OOC note in the first post that you have shop approval to play an NPC. Shop Owned NPCsShop Owned NPCs do not follow the same rules as normal characters; these characters typically have meta roles and are offered by the shop to help players advance their plots. These characters are played on the mule and do not have ordinary growth requirements or restrictions due to the unique nature of their purpose in the shop, which is simply to facilitate and aid in player plots. You can find information about Shop Owned NPCs and how to RP with them here!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:16 pm
Disposable InformationWhat Is a Disposable?A disposable character is an NPC that a player puppets, but who is not an official character in the shop. These characters are typically used to fill a role within a single roleplay or plot arc when no other character can, and they are most commonly used when death is involved. For example, if a Negaverse Agent is tasked with killing three Senshi, it may be impossible for them to kill three officially acquired character, so for them to succeed they would be permitted to kill three NPCs that are brought into play specifically for the purpose of completing this task.
A disposable NPC is not an excuse to play a future powered quest character before acquiring them; a disposable should either be killed when the plot is complete, or be played with the intention that they will be removed from play when the plot concludes. If the disposable isn't killed, they should have a solid exit and the player should have a solid explanation for their removal from play (such as as leaving town, going to prison, being placed in a coma, etc.) While these characters may return for another plot, the intent is that they do not exist outside of having a specific plot-relevant purpose, and they are not in play or assumed to be around when they do not have a specific role.
You do not need to have an official character in the shop to volunteer to play disposables for other players; if you are a new player and want to dip your toes into roleplaying (or want to earn Crown Tokens to save up for a new character!) you can volunteer to play disposable characters for others! The most common, and easiest, place to start is playing a youma; you may require a bit more information and experience before you can play other faction disposables! Disposable TypesThere are a few different types of disposables, and while some of them have overlapping information, some have faction specific relationship you should be aware of when deciding what type of disposable you need! Disposable CiviliansYou can play disposable civilians as need be, but you cannot quest for these characters at a later date, and they should not be specified as being anyone of great importance. Your Negaverse character might kidnap a member of city council and pull their starseed, but they couldn’t take the mayor, or anyone else who is in a major position whose disappearance or death could not easily be brushed under the rug! You typically do not need permission for a disposable civilian and can puppet these as you need! Disposable YoumaThese are the most common form of disposables. A player does not need permission to use a feral or humanoid youma in their roleplays. Greater Youma are not permitted for roleplay, but if you require a larger, or more powerful youma, you will need shop permission so please send in a plot with your request!
Youma can look like any animal you can imagine—or even a combination of animals. They should not have pieces of modern day technology mixed in (or be cyborgs), and they are not able to masquerade as humans.
Youma powers may consist of very basic magic (less than a Basic Senshi), be strictly physical, or a mix of both. These youma should be fairly basic in intelligence; they can have basic animal instincts and be driven by natural urges. Disposable youma should not be able to have conversations with humans.
Any Order Character is able to dust a youma. Dusting returns the youma to the Rift and leaves behind only piles of dust. Only 4th Stage Characters are able to permanently destroy a youma with their Tiara. If you temporarily dust a youma, they will recover after a few days, and you may reuse and replay the same youma.
Only one disposable youma battle can be counted towards growth to the next stage. It doesn't matter if two powered characters fight five different youma in five different roleplays; only one of these battles can be used for growth, per stage. Powered Disposables Disposable Characters are usually used for members of an opposing faction to kill to show development or in major shop events. In major shop events, there will be rules posted and a sign up thread, but the rules are pretty much the same for personal disposable senshi or event disposable senshi!
If you are killing a single powered character, you do not need plot approval! Provided you follow the rules listed below for powered characters, you do not need any sort of permission to kill a disposable character over the span of a single roleplay or solo.
If you require a powered NPC but do not want to kill them, if you are killing multiple powered characters over a short period of time, or if you have a disposable that needs to be used across several RPs before disappearing, you will need approval so we can go over potential repercussions and make sure the plot is feasible! For approval, you may either use this thread or send in a PM sent to the shop mule, The Space Cauldron.
All disposable powered characters should have a made-up name so that official names are left open for legitimate quests.
If you are playing the disposable in a solo where you write both your own character and the disposable, it will follow normal solo rules. If someone else is playing the disposable against your shop official character, or if you each have a powered character involved in the RP, you may use one battle with a disposable character for a growth requirement. If there are two official powered characters in play in the RP, only their names should be included in the title; typically disposables will be unnamed, but if you have an approved plot with an NPC that spans multiple RPs or plays a larger role, they generally need approval. When titling RPs with an approved disposable of this nature, you may include the Disposable's name with an asterisk next to it in the RP title, and you must make an OOC note in the first post or the RP that you have shop approval to play the disposable NPC.
These characters must die or otherwise 'permanently' disappear from play. If you have a future plot that could reasonably require their return you can contact us and request it.
Disposable Senshi should never have a sphere mentioned and will always use generic attacks. This is to make sure spheres stay open for legitimate quests. Your disposable can be a Basic, Super, or Eternal Senshi, but not a Royal.
Disposable Knights should have a made-up name and Wonder so that official names are left open for legitimate quests. They should weapons that reflect their rank, and should not be superpowered. Knight weapons are not lethal and have a pool of magic to channel energy from. Their magic should always reflect their planetary themes. They can be a Page, Squire, or Knight, but not a Royal Knight.
Disposable Negaverse Agents should have a made-up mineral so that official names are left open for legitimate quests. They should weapons that reflect their rank, and should not be superpowered. Negaverse weapons are usually toys or gag weapons at Lieutenant stage, but become lethal as they rank up. They have limited magic they can use, but this manifests in the form of enchanted weapons rather than spells. They can be a Lieutenant, Captain, or General, but not a General Sovereign. The FormYou do not need to use a form if you are killing a civilian, a youma, or a single powered character, but if you intend for a character to kill multiple powered characters over a short period of time, to use a powered NPC across the course of multiple RPs, or if you need to use a powered NPC short term but do not want to kill them, please PM the The Space Cauldron with your plot request and an explanation of the situation! You may use the following form to do so: Quote: [b]Name of Approved Character(s) Involved:[/b] (Which of your character(s) do you intend to roleplay with the disposable?)
[b]Disposable Information:[/b] (Faction, Name and Rank)
[b]Disposable Powers/Weapon:[/b] (If it is a Senshi, include vague magical abilities; if a Knight or Agent, include weapon. If the Knight is going to channel magic, include desired magic, too)
[b]Reason for Disposable:[/b] (Include a basic reason for why you need this disposable; remember that killing someone can greatly impact a character's psyche. Your character should not be a mass murderer without some consequences, so please just be aware of this!)
[b]Fate of Disposable:[/b] (Will they die? Are you sending them out of town for an extended/permanent time in case you need them again?) If the disposable is part of a larger plot, please just send in this information alongside the rest of the plot!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:17 pm
FAQAbout how many NPCs are killed every day due youma attacks, starseed thefts, casualties of war, etc? How are these deaths reported?
Destiny City has a huge population; the official death toll is skewed because most of the deaths cannot be classified as murder. In instances of starseed deaths, it might simply appear as though the person slipped into a coma or died a natural death. Youma can do damage in many different ways—one youma may breathe a toxic gas, one might maim, and one might simply drain all the energy out of someone. These might be written off as attacks from stray animals or gang attacks. There is no denying that Destiny City has a lot of unnatural deaths, but the large population seems to lessen the impact of how many deaths are actually occurring per day. Many people also go missing and are never found, or are simply assumed to have left the city rather than have been killed.
Does playing an NPC Background Character or Disposable Character count for growth requirements?
You cannot use the word count for any NPC towards growth towards one of your own characters, however if you are RPing with someone who is playing an NPC or Disposable, your character can still count it towards growth. Any approved character that is eligible to earn growth requirements can use RP with an NPC or Background character, but must keep in mind a few things: if you are writing both the NPC and your character, this will count as a solo, and you can only count ~50% of your word count (or however much of the text is from your approved character's perspective) towards their growth. You cannot write a PC and an NPC and use all of the word count towards the PCs growth. If someone else is RPing the NPC, you can roleplay with them and get growth requirements, but they cannot earn any growth requirements as the NPC. They can earn a credit towards a monthly Crown Token, however.
Can one of your background NPCs later be quested as an official shop character? Can a disposable be quested?
You can absolutely quest that one of your civilian NPCs be made as an official shop character, and you can even quest for them to power up as well! Any RPs done prior to them being acquired cannot count for growth, but these background NPCs can later be quested for if you ever want to play them powered. Disposable characters, in almost all cases, cannot be quested as official characters except in the case of youma. All powered characters can awaken only after their art and stamp are acquired, but their awakening can be backdated up to two weeks to whichever occurred last. Because of this rule, disposables that were played outside of that window are ineligible to become actual shop characters because they exceed this rule and would have an unfair IC advantage. Youma have different rules, but depending on how long the character has been a youma for, they may not be eligible to purify. If you have a civilian NPC you want to bring into the shop, this is usually fine; if you have a powered disposable you want to bring into the shop you can contact the mule to ask and we will work with you as best as possible, but it is intended that these powered disposables typically permanently disappear after their plot purpose has been fulfilled and these characters will almost never be eligible to join the shop as official characters.
Is there a limit to how many disposables a single character can kill?
Not exactly, but please be reasonable about this! Your character is still taking a human life and while some factions, such as the Negaverse, may not be morally upset by this due to the Chaos, it is still worth taking into consideration that this might have a profound psychological impact on someone. Killing a large number of characters may earn the attention of other characters and/or faction leaders. Characters should not be mass murderers, and deaths should have a purpose; as long as you are respectful and realistic about this, there is no limitation to how many disposables they can take out.
Can you gain all of your growth requirements by roleplaying with NPCs or Disposables?
No; there are limitations to how many unofficial shop characters can be used towards growth requirements. For example, NPCs should be background characters, unless you have shop approval to RP them as standalone characters to serve a plot purpose. Players can only use one battle with a disposable youma to count towards growth requirements for their character. If two players are using their official characters together to take down a disposable played by either one of them, or a third player, the roleplay can be counted as a battle as well--however, one player alone cannot play a disposable and their character and count it as a battle; this would simply be a solo. You must have two players involved to count anything as a roleplay or battle. Disposable youma are different than PC youma; if a player has an official youma character, this will count as a battle, the same as any other two powered characters fighting! RPs with Background NPCs are supposed to be rare and plot oriented; disposable characters are meant to be supplemental characters to fill the roles that other characters cannot. These characters are meant to enhance the RP environment, not meant to substitute all player characters.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
