[quote=@Spanner] Well, its not really about playing weak-ish characters but about being forced to play weak-ish characters in such a fitting setting to make characters with a certain background that wouldn't let them be weak. I mean, one of the characters that I thought about playing was an ex-Oinin that ran away from Kirigakure and "exiled" himself in the village, quite the common setting in Naruto considering that at least 2 characters in the anime share it. Thing is: According to the period, we're still in the middle of recovering from a great war (in which my character most certainly would have fought) and in the middle of the bloody mist period - that, while controversial, undoubtedly made some of the strongest Shinobi generations in kirigakure's history. Having such a ridiculously high-spec background, it would be ridiculously hard to effectively make a relatively older character (around 26 in age) that is in the level of a chunnin, as he'd most certainly be dead if his strength was that low - especially since his clan (Yuki) is supposed to be suffering from persecution around this period. It's kind of illogical even if I plan to have him as a character that isn't even going to fight, being hidden as an independent medical-nin in the village and being dedicated to just heal others from now on. That being said, It's not as if I'm saying that I'm bothered by having weak characters - especially because I often make purposefully weak characters to make them experience growth IC - but that I dislike the idea of everyone being forced to have characters around the same level "just cause" when you're making such an open setting. [/quote] I realize that I should have put this in the OP and I will, after this, but the "being weak and underexposed" was mainly meant for those who grew up in Gobi. Obviously, those who moved to Gobi to seek refuge would have more experience and be stronger. But I see that this is my mistake for writing it like I did. The fact is that we want to have characters that can allow growth, instead of them being at their peak already. This doesn't necessarily have to be power-wise. But again, if you don't like it, that's cool. I'm not trying to force anyone. It's a matter if taste. [quote=@Raineh Daze] As was said, it's not a "you've got to play weak characters" issue. It's more the restrictions imposed by the setting. The characters have to be detached from the great villages pretty much by default, which writes off borrowing almost all the entertaining abilities. And then you have it slapped square between two of the wars, which leads to two conclusions: 1) We're following canon, so even more abilities are restricted in their availability. 2) Nothing the characters do is going to matter because canon is charted already. [/quote] We're sort of trying to force people to be creative, yes. With their techniques and stuff, that is. Since most of the techniques we know from the series haven't been invented yet, you (as players) are strongly encouraged to come up with your own ideas instead of relying on those already explored. We're very willing to help players with this, as it's the sort of thing we do for fun with no reason other than just doing it. If you want to borrow an "entertaining ability", there are lots of options. Your character could, for one, have moved to Gobi for one reason or another. If it's a KG you want, you could be the bastard child of some clan member that visited one of the "entertainers" in the village (although, we do want to limit the amount of KG used, in general, so not every single character has one). In a manner, I do feel that the setting actually would allow more freedom for having characters with remarkable abilities, since the village is so detached and mostly just a village of whores, so no one would know if a bastard child of anyone was born there. We're not exactly following canon. I mean, things will go down in a similar manner, but we want for our characters to be able to make an impact on the world. I am willing to change the entire history of the world as a result of what one of our characters would do. No future is ever set in stone and we would have never chosen a setting like this if we weren't willing to make changes in the world. But like I said to Spanner; if you don't like it, that's cool.