Post by Ryori Holloway on Apr 30, 2014 19:17:34 GMT -7
If you're reading this, it's because you are in the process of creating a character here at Mass Effect: Galaxies. Congrats! If this is your first character, then we're very excited to have you aboard and to integrate you into our community. If you are a returning member, then welcome back! We're looking forward to seeing what new idea you have in store for us.
Here at MEG, we expect our writers to be active with keeping their characters' profiles up to date. This thread is to show what we expect to find in your dossier, and to give you some tips and ideas for getting started and keeping it organized. How you organize your dossier is completely up to you. Some people like to have a one post thread with all the information on it, and others like to separate different items by post. There is no right or wrong method. However, there are certain things we expect to find within your dossier:
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION & PERSONALITY
This is mostly self-explanatory. What race are you, and how would you describe your looks? What is your age? Sexual preference? Name? The more details, the better. We want you to be able to paint a picture with your words for us to visualize your character. If you have suitable pictures that is a plus, but please also give as detailed a physical description as you can! This should include what your skill set is, which we will describe momentarily.
This is also the time we want you to give us a brief summary of your character's personality. What makes you who you are? Are you too easily trusting? Prone to violence? Loyal to your friends? Infuriatingly happy at all times? Let us know what to expect.
Your skill set, which needs to be listed here, is very simple. In the Mass Effect games, we were able to choose from six different class types: Adepts, who focus solely on biotic abilities; soldiers, who are pure combat specialists; engineers, who specialize in tech fields of all kinds; vanguards, which have a mixture of skills in biotics and combat; sentinels, who focus in biotics and tech skills; and infiltrators, who make use of tech and combat capabilities. As should be expected, adepts, soldiers, and engineers will typically be more advanced in their skills than vanguards, biotics, and sentinels who are likened to "Jacks of all trades, but masters of none". Now, this does not mean that you cannot have a character who is eventually very strong in two different specializations, but the cost for picking two ability fields is that it will take more time and effort to become more powerful in these areas because you are spreading your focus. Please also note: specializing in biotics or tech does NOT mean that you don't know how to use a weapon. It only means that you aren't as proficient in combat in general than a soldier would be.
Additionally, it is important to note that your skill set is NOT necessarily an in-character title. These titles are simply a quick and efficient way for us to know, OOCly, what skills you are going to be focusing your character on. Just because you list yourself as a "Vanguard" in your dossier does not mean that other characters will be referring to yours as such in role-play.
PRE-RP HISTORY
How did your character get to where he is today? Where was he raised? Does he have any family? Close friends? What hardships did he struggle with to influence his personality? Did he have any particularly happy moments of his life that are noteworthy? What are his goals? How did he get into his field of study? There can never be too much detail here! The more fleshed out your history is, the more real your character will become, and the easier it will be for you to write him. Everything here should be your character's history up until you started RP'ing them.
CURRENT HISTORY
This is a place to keep a current, up to date log of what has happened to your character in RP, and what they are currently going through. This section is meant to focus on broader, overarching occurrences that are having or have had affects on your character. You do not need to talk about every mission you went on, nor every conversation or experience you've had. Just the things which have happened IC that you consider greatly important and influential to the development of your character.
MAJOR POSSESSIONS
As we've stated in our rules, we are not going to be micromanaging an economy here. You are simply expected to be reasonable about the assets you have available to you, and the items which you've been able to acquire. This is a place where you should list the items which you use a lot, preferably with an short explanation (or a link, if applicable) of where or how you got them. These can be assets which you own personally, or ones which have been entrusted to you. For instance: an Alliance soldier who is captain of her own ship should list her ship among her possessions, even though the ship itself belongs to the Alliance.
RELATIONSHIPS AND ENPC'S
What significant relationships does your character have? This should include both PC's and NPC's. We would like to know who you're acquainted with, friends with, and who you consider rivals or enemies. It would be preferable to have a short couple sentences to describe your relationship with the individual, but how detailed you are is up to you.
In the case of ENPC's, however, we do expect to see detail. ENPC's (acronym for essential non-player character) are NPC's who are very important to your character, and should be treated as extensions of your character. Meaning, for the most part, only you are in control of these particular NPC's. Other players are allowed to hurt, attack, and interact with these characters, but they cannot automatically kill them, nor can they control their actions. These NPC's can only be RP'd by you or with your expressed permission. Characters which might be considered ENPC's: members of your ship's crew, close family members, a treasured mentor or teacher, etc. Again, please be smart. The chances of your character knowing the Grand Admiral of the Alliance fleet are extremely slim. If you're not sure about an ENPC your considering, don't hesitate to PM an admin. We are always more willing to work with people who take the time to double check than ones who assume they are being reasonable.
THREAD LIST
We would like you to keep a chronological list (with hyperlinks) to the threads you've participated in ICly. This will be beneficial both to you and to staff in the long run, in case you need to find or reference a previous thread.
Feel free to be as creative and artsy with your dossier as you please, or keep it simple and uniform! As long as everything is clear and sensible, then we are happy. There are only a couple other additional things to note:
1. You are not allowed to create a relative to another PC without the other writer's permission. Not everyone wants to find out they have a surprise, long lost sibling.
2. With some exceptions, all PC's start at the rank of recruit. If you are considering transferring your character from another board, we are willing to work with you so that you do not have to start from the bottom again, but we will need to see some evidence of your previous RP history with the character as well as proof of achievements earned on your previous board. If the administration does not feel there is enough to verify your starting at a level beyond novice, then you will start at the bottom like everyone else. For an explanation and break down of our ranking system, please see our RP rules thread.
3. You need approval on your character's dossier by an admin in order to begin RP, because we want to make sure you have gotten all needed information for starting your character. Dossiers can take time, and we understand that, so feel free to throw up the bare minimum and add in more as you go along, but if you RP without having an approved dossier then your IC posts will be deleted until you do. The bare minimum consists of: physical description, personality, and at least a general history, as well as listing all applicable points/powers from our point system. Further more, if an admin feels that there is something unreasonable in your possessions or ENPC's (or anything else for that matter) they have the right to restrict you from RP until it is altered and fixed.
4. In your account profile, you have been provided with an area to put a hyperlink to your dossier. Please be sure to add that link as soon as you have the thread posted, to make it easier for staff and members to find it.
5. In the case of Spectres: This is the only kind of class we are RESTRICTING. Spectres are supposed to be rare, chosen by the Council to represent and speak for their individual races. Please ask a member of the administration before using an NPC Spectre in your thread.
6. Last but not least, do not be afraid to ask questions! We were all beginners once. Seek help, and you will receive it.
Here at MEG, we expect our writers to be active with keeping their characters' profiles up to date. This thread is to show what we expect to find in your dossier, and to give you some tips and ideas for getting started and keeping it organized. How you organize your dossier is completely up to you. Some people like to have a one post thread with all the information on it, and others like to separate different items by post. There is no right or wrong method. However, there are certain things we expect to find within your dossier:
- Physical Description & Personality
- Pre-RP History
- Current History
- Major Posessions
- Relationships & ENPC's
- Thread List
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION & PERSONALITY
This is mostly self-explanatory. What race are you, and how would you describe your looks? What is your age? Sexual preference? Name? The more details, the better. We want you to be able to paint a picture with your words for us to visualize your character. If you have suitable pictures that is a plus, but please also give as detailed a physical description as you can! This should include what your skill set is, which we will describe momentarily.
This is also the time we want you to give us a brief summary of your character's personality. What makes you who you are? Are you too easily trusting? Prone to violence? Loyal to your friends? Infuriatingly happy at all times? Let us know what to expect.
Your skill set, which needs to be listed here, is very simple. In the Mass Effect games, we were able to choose from six different class types: Adepts, who focus solely on biotic abilities; soldiers, who are pure combat specialists; engineers, who specialize in tech fields of all kinds; vanguards, which have a mixture of skills in biotics and combat; sentinels, who focus in biotics and tech skills; and infiltrators, who make use of tech and combat capabilities. As should be expected, adepts, soldiers, and engineers will typically be more advanced in their skills than vanguards, biotics, and sentinels who are likened to "Jacks of all trades, but masters of none". Now, this does not mean that you cannot have a character who is eventually very strong in two different specializations, but the cost for picking two ability fields is that it will take more time and effort to become more powerful in these areas because you are spreading your focus. Please also note: specializing in biotics or tech does NOT mean that you don't know how to use a weapon. It only means that you aren't as proficient in combat in general than a soldier would be.
Additionally, it is important to note that your skill set is NOT necessarily an in-character title. These titles are simply a quick and efficient way for us to know, OOCly, what skills you are going to be focusing your character on. Just because you list yourself as a "Vanguard" in your dossier does not mean that other characters will be referring to yours as such in role-play.
PRE-RP HISTORY
How did your character get to where he is today? Where was he raised? Does he have any family? Close friends? What hardships did he struggle with to influence his personality? Did he have any particularly happy moments of his life that are noteworthy? What are his goals? How did he get into his field of study? There can never be too much detail here! The more fleshed out your history is, the more real your character will become, and the easier it will be for you to write him. Everything here should be your character's history up until you started RP'ing them.
CURRENT HISTORY
This is a place to keep a current, up to date log of what has happened to your character in RP, and what they are currently going through. This section is meant to focus on broader, overarching occurrences that are having or have had affects on your character. You do not need to talk about every mission you went on, nor every conversation or experience you've had. Just the things which have happened IC that you consider greatly important and influential to the development of your character.
MAJOR POSSESSIONS
As we've stated in our rules, we are not going to be micromanaging an economy here. You are simply expected to be reasonable about the assets you have available to you, and the items which you've been able to acquire. This is a place where you should list the items which you use a lot, preferably with an short explanation (or a link, if applicable) of where or how you got them. These can be assets which you own personally, or ones which have been entrusted to you. For instance: an Alliance soldier who is captain of her own ship should list her ship among her possessions, even though the ship itself belongs to the Alliance.
RELATIONSHIPS AND ENPC'S
What significant relationships does your character have? This should include both PC's and NPC's. We would like to know who you're acquainted with, friends with, and who you consider rivals or enemies. It would be preferable to have a short couple sentences to describe your relationship with the individual, but how detailed you are is up to you.
In the case of ENPC's, however, we do expect to see detail. ENPC's (acronym for essential non-player character) are NPC's who are very important to your character, and should be treated as extensions of your character. Meaning, for the most part, only you are in control of these particular NPC's. Other players are allowed to hurt, attack, and interact with these characters, but they cannot automatically kill them, nor can they control their actions. These NPC's can only be RP'd by you or with your expressed permission. Characters which might be considered ENPC's: members of your ship's crew, close family members, a treasured mentor or teacher, etc. Again, please be smart. The chances of your character knowing the Grand Admiral of the Alliance fleet are extremely slim. If you're not sure about an ENPC your considering, don't hesitate to PM an admin. We are always more willing to work with people who take the time to double check than ones who assume they are being reasonable.
THREAD LIST
We would like you to keep a chronological list (with hyperlinks) to the threads you've participated in ICly. This will be beneficial both to you and to staff in the long run, in case you need to find or reference a previous thread.
Feel free to be as creative and artsy with your dossier as you please, or keep it simple and uniform! As long as everything is clear and sensible, then we are happy. There are only a couple other additional things to note:
1. You are not allowed to create a relative to another PC without the other writer's permission. Not everyone wants to find out they have a surprise, long lost sibling.
2. With some exceptions, all PC's start at the rank of recruit. If you are considering transferring your character from another board, we are willing to work with you so that you do not have to start from the bottom again, but we will need to see some evidence of your previous RP history with the character as well as proof of achievements earned on your previous board. If the administration does not feel there is enough to verify your starting at a level beyond novice, then you will start at the bottom like everyone else. For an explanation and break down of our ranking system, please see our RP rules thread.
3. You need approval on your character's dossier by an admin in order to begin RP, because we want to make sure you have gotten all needed information for starting your character. Dossiers can take time, and we understand that, so feel free to throw up the bare minimum and add in more as you go along, but if you RP without having an approved dossier then your IC posts will be deleted until you do. The bare minimum consists of: physical description, personality, and at least a general history, as well as listing all applicable points/powers from our point system. Further more, if an admin feels that there is something unreasonable in your possessions or ENPC's (or anything else for that matter) they have the right to restrict you from RP until it is altered and fixed.
4. In your account profile, you have been provided with an area to put a hyperlink to your dossier. Please be sure to add that link as soon as you have the thread posted, to make it easier for staff and members to find it.
5. In the case of Spectres: This is the only kind of class we are RESTRICTING. Spectres are supposed to be rare, chosen by the Council to represent and speak for their individual races. Please ask a member of the administration before using an NPC Spectre in your thread.
6. Last but not least, do not be afraid to ask questions! We were all beginners once. Seek help, and you will receive it.
Happy hunting!
