I think we could all work on our presentation. I've had the pleasure of Rping with a whole slew of people. Some of them were great writers who made me interested in their characters, while others had a lot to learn before they could do the same. What I've found interesting is that a roleplayer's ability to write posts doesn't have any sort of bearing on how good a job they do filling out a character sheet. I've been bamboozled time and time again as great characters come from poor sheets, and sometimes the opposite is true. Clearly, filling out a character sheet takes an entirely different skill set than writing a post. Alright fam, here's how this works. For the next 5-6 months I'm going to host a character creation contest. Each month, I'm going to post a mock OOC for a fake RP. It will include details about the setting, lore, and rules your characters MUST conform to. Obviously it's all going to be a bit light, as we won't actually be playing said RP. But once you've looked over the OOC, you can make your character. It's pretty much just like a real RP, only it'll never actually start. Instead, a voting thread will open up where the community will vote for its favorite. Once the voting period is over, a winner will be declared. If there is a tie, I will break said tie with my own vote. Without further ado, how do you guys feel about the wild west? [hr] [color=orange][center][h2]G O L D R U S H[/h2][/center][/color] [hr] [center][IMG]https://66.media.tumblr.com/a4eb08020787f0a03fff222910c0aa01/tumblr_pmh3usdXjn1w6599so1_1280.jpg[/IMG][/center] [indent][i]Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me. [indent]Lee Van Cleef[/indent][/i][/indent] [indent] Welcome to Ashfork! The only town within miles of the old Sanjay volcano. It's been long extinct and people are coming from all around to get their hands on the precious minerals that lay inside. Of course, Ashfork's isolated location also makes it a perfect place for ranchers to build their ranges in solitude, and outlaws like to come here to lay low for a while. But I think you've come at a bad time friend. Lot of weird sorts have started moving into town, and now people are starting to turn up dead! Every morning there's always a few people laying in the street, covered in stab wounds. I hope that doesn't scare you away, most of us are alright people! But say, what brings you here anyway? Are you one of them miners, or are you the ranching sort? You're not an outlaw are you? [/indent] [hr] [center][color=orange][h1]THE SETTING AND PLOT[/h1][/color][/center] [hr] [center][IMG]https://66.media.tumblr.com/02c17d9b5a0a6d5181ebfa5727ecf2be/tumblr_pmh3ue3dMH1w6599so1_1280.jpg[/IMG][/center] [indent] Your roll in this RP can be anyone living in or moving to Ashfork. You can be the bartender at the saloon, the sheriff, a dancing girl, a rancher, a gold tycoon, or that quiet gambler who never shows his back to anyone and totally isn't an outlaw. The sky is the limit, so long as the character makes sense given the scenario. The only group of people that would be off limits would be wild Indians. Your goal is to uncover who or what is killing people so willy-nilly. Or at the very least, you need to stay alive. As a secondary objective, you should try to get as rich as you can. That's why most people came here, right? [/indent] [color=orange][h3]Location[/h3][/color] [indent] The RP takes place in frontier-era America, some time in the mid-late 1800's. The story revolves around the going ons of the people of Ashfork, which is a fictional town located near the US's northern border. The population is usually somehwere in the 300-400 area, but the recent gold rush has sent that number spiraling into the thousands. The land surrounding it is pretty flat, aside from the giant Sanjay volcano off in the distance. It performed it's last eruption a long time ago, and the land is covered in green as far as the eye can see. So long as you don't look too high up the volcano, which always has snow on it's peak. During the colder seasons, inhabitants of ashfork can tell when winter is coming by how much of the mountain is covered in snow. It's currently mid spring, and lots of people are funneling into town to start up a mining operation. The news of this mineral-rich target has somehow made its way across the globe, and even foreign miners are showing up to lay claim to part of Sanjay. Of course, the large influx of people is providing Ashfork natives with ample opportunities to serve them and line their own pockets. There have been a few sightings of wild Indians, but they are few and far between. Some speculate that they live in and around Sanjay, but no one has been able to confirm this yet. [/indent] [color=orange][h3]People[/h3][/color] [indent] Most of the Ashfork natives are your standard American frontiersmen and woman, while a few of them are American Indians who chose to live here for one reason or another. However, the miners(?) coming into Ashfork have traveled from all over the globe to get their hands on all that gold and silver lingering in the volcano. Most of them do not get along very well with each other. Racial discrimination and all that. [/indent] [color=orange][h3]Night of Knives[/h3][/color] [indent] Ever since the miners got here, people have started turning up dead. And no one has even built a mine shaft yet. When the sun rises every day, more bodies are discovered. Nobody hears the victims cries, and there doesn't appear to be anything linking the victims together aside from a few stab wounds. What is a bit disturbing is that the number of people who are killed every night seems to grow. Yet no one has actually seen the killer(s?). People gossip about this “night of knives,” but their lust for gold keeps them from running off. Everyone will have to work together if they want to stay alive. But it's hard to cooperate when everyone is competing with each other for gold. [/indent] [hr] [center][color=orange][h1]QUESTIONS & ANSWERS[/h1][/color][/center] [hr] [center][IMG]https://66.media.tumblr.com/2f6dbd6bca879b5b508c44095f17d26a/tumblr_pmh3ue3dMH1w6599so2_1280.jpg[/IMG][/center] [indent] [h3][color=orange]Q:[/color] Did you have a specific year in mind? or at least a specific decade?[/h3] [indent][color=orange]A:[/color] Mid-late 1800's is as specific as I'm getting. If you like having 100% historically accurate backgrounds, you are free to pick a specific year for your character as long as it's in that time range. But I'm not going to disqualify anyone for difficult to spot inaccuracies or anything like that. [/indent] [/indent] [indent] [h3][color=orange]Q:[/color] Can I use images for a description? Any limits to how crazy I can get with a character sheet?[/h3] [indent][color=orange]A:[/color] Given the nature of the contest, it would be preferable that no one used images in their character sheet. And while you are free to pretty up the character sheet with different formatting code, remember that this is a character contest. A pretty sheet with an ugly character won't win.[/indent] [/indent] [hr] [center][color=orange][h1]RULES[/h1][/color][/center] [hr] [center][IMG]https://66.media.tumblr.com/e07ae06e6a67e877b5ce5d0c52d35bfc/tumblr_pmh3v7i3tp1w6599so1_1280.jpg[/IMG][/center] [indent] 1: ~ This is a “vanilla” western setting, so no magical powers, elf ears, sci-fi pistols, etc. 2: ~ This is a contest. While it would be most ideal to have a bunch of characters that are all different from one another, no one will be omitted for filling the same “archetype.” 3: ~ While a CS will be provided, you may edit it however you see fit. 4: ~ New characters are mandatory. 5: ~ Simply post your submission in this thread once it is completed. Deadline is the 19th at about the time this post was made. 6: ~ Feel free to ask questions in this thread as well. I could use the feedback. [/indent] [hr] [center][color=Orange][h1]THE CHARACTER SHEET[/h1][/color][/center] [hr] [color=orange]Name:[/color] [indent]The character's name, silly![/indent] [color=orange]Age:[/color] [indent]How old are you now, how old are you now...[/indent] [color=orange]Occupation:[/color] [indent]Your job, you bum![/indent] [color=orange]Appearance:[/color] [indent]Waddaya look like?[/indent] [color=orange]Personality:[/color] [indent]Quirks, aura, hobbies, stuff like that.[/indent] [color=orange]Bio:[/color] [indent]Tell me about your characters deep dark past.[/indent] [hr] ...and for the easy copy/paste. [code] [color=orange]Name:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [color=orange]Age:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [color=orange]Occupation:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [color=orange]Appearance:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [color=orange]Personality:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [color=orange]Bio:[/color] [indent]text[/indent] [/code]