NuttsnBolts

The Mysteries of Awilix (A Planetary, Magic RP)

@Synthesis@BrokenPromise@Mr Donny

Added the info to the NPC section.

Have we been writing Character Sheets wrong?

I wouldn't get too worked up over things, especially if it's to do with anything here. I'm noticing this because everyone is trying to delve deeper and deeper into the topic and finding their frustrations that they've experienced, both with players and RPs. If working retail has taught me one thing it's that no matter where you go there will always be arseholes, dumbasses and hinderances to hold you back.

Off Topic Time (Cause I love stories from my work):
So I had another worker tell me at a store they worked at that they sold a lawn mower to a customer and said, "Fill it with juice and oil and she'll be good to go." You know, typical Aussie talk.
Well... Customer came back a few hours later claiming that it didn't work. Turned out that orange juice does not make a suitable fuel source. They claimed they did exactly what the sales person told them to do, but apparently the book marked instruction manual is just meaningless. *shrugs*

Anyways...

@tsukune Actually bought up a good point.

Unlike some of the people who have commented on thread, I'm those who will double-check the CS numerous times as I write my IC responses for the sake of consistency, especially in advanced-level RPs where there's a lot of things going on to keep track (and my memory is horrible).

@tsukune

*Raises hand*
I have a horrible memory for names and people, place in a few details and I'll forget some important details. So In a way having some of these details can aid with consistency. @BrokenPromise mentioned the idea of a long/short sleeve shirt mix-up and I myself have been on the receiving end of that. I had another player make an assumption about my character and how something worked until I pointed it out to them. If it had been a build-as-you-go roleplay than it would be a lot more harder to manage and if the CS didn't convey that information than it would have been confusing.

A lot of points mentioned above have good merits for a variety of reasons, so I can't say that one detail is correct and another is incorrect, but for a larger Roleplay a detailed CS seems to be more appropriate. My 1x1 (Which reminds me that I should reply to it... Whoops!) doesn't have a CS sheet and we use the occasional picture to set a theme or mood of the location/characters that we interact with. Not having a CS has actually made this particular RP quite fun, since we are free to throw in whatever we need, but it's a bit of a light hearted adventure.

Compare that to Gowi's NCQ and we all had quite detailed Character sheets. We had a large line up and we actually knew how the characters were going to interact, so when we wrote everything down it worked out quite well. We knew my character wore a jacket with an enemy logo on it (defected to another country), we knew that another character always wore her Russian ushanka (Landscape was cold and snowy).

When it does come to something like listing a mental disorder, I don't think that's necessarily a problem with the character or CS, but more a problem with the player. I've played mentally disturbed players before and it's hard, especially with some disorders (Try playing a character that has an active voice in her head and always refers to her and the voice as we... NOT EASY), but kudos to the player for at least trying to understand the disorder. I don't think building a character around it and using it for an RP is the best move but that also comes back to the GM who allowed it into the RP and how they failed to spot that it could be a problem.

Ultimately that's why I thought about this and wondered if anyone else had pondered over the same thought. A CS sheet should be an entrant form for any RP and maybe some GMs are asking the wrong questions and don't realise it. Age may not be important if you can only choose between "teen, young adult, adult, elderly", maybe the Appearance could be their favourite clothing setup rather than a bulk standard "this is what they always wear", and more effort placed into the biography rather than the personality so that players aren't locked into that mindset. Just a thought.

Put some salt on my name

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Salt

Continuing along with the Harry Potter theme.

Have we been writing Character Sheets wrong?

...the character is going to develop and change throughout the course of the RP they're in...

@The Elvenqueen

That does remind me of Personality and something I kinda forgot to add, but I notice some players state, "Billy is an angry person". Is that they're only way of expressing themselves?

One character I had in the first chapter of an RP was bubbly and loud, but after some events she turned into quite a depressive individual. It actually created a beautiful change because you saw this fall from grace, this realistic change and it felt more human.

Not a lot of people seem to do that and on a few occasions I've seen players make choices based on the character sheet restrictions, not real logic.

"Fran couldn't run because of her heels"
Just tell her to take them off! (Extreme example)

Have we been writing Character Sheets wrong?

We all know about the basic character sheet that every roleplay contains —Name, age, gender, etc— however I do wonder if sometimes these titles aren't filled out correctly?

Here's an example, lets see if you can spot the dilemma:

Appearance:

Billy has blue eyes and orange hair, his skin is pale with freckles covering his face. He wears a blue tee-shirt and long brown pants. He has white shoes and a baseball cap.

Do you see it? Does Billy's wardrobe only consist of blue tee-shirts, long brown pants and white shoes? Does he always wear a baseball cap? It is actually mentioned in one of our guides here.

"Where a description is specified: outline the basics. Hair colour, general style, eye colour, notable facial features, build, height (if notable) are almost all of the basic details that people will need to profile your character in their head. Other details are great, but you don't need to go overboard. There is a careful balance that needs to be struck between a boring factfile and going into purple prose. Striking that balance is one of the most fundamental tenants of good writing ability.

Things nobody cares about: your character's clothes are not important. Both in the IC and in your character sheet, you should avoid a 'wardrobe montage' – wherein you detail every aspects of your character's outfit. The problem with this montage within the context of the character sheet isn't obvious. It's supplying relevant* detail, isn't it? Maybe. However, extensive, intense detail into your character's outfit indicates that you heavily value their appearance. These montages can make the player come across as somebody using RPing as an excuse to fulfil superficial material wishes in a fictional land. Some GMs (but not all) might assume that you regard their world as a novelty in which to look fabulous and/or worry that your priority is your own character's appearance rather than anything slightly deeper."

So I then started wondering about the rest of the Character Sheet and how many roleplays I have been in that follow this same route. Appearance, weapons, items of use, skills, traits, etc. There are many parts of a character sheet that people write up to form a specific character and often I do see people create a stereotype.

- The Melee character with that ancient sword. Can they only use Swords? Do they not know how to use a dagger?
- That Hacker that is skilled in computer science. Are they only experienced in PC science?
- The grenade that is used and will explode into nothingness but has that shiny chrome casing with red trimming. Is describing it useless fluff?
- Does the character walk around EVERYWHERE carrying that AK47?

It presents a curious thought as to how limited or vast a character can be created and to what extent details should be discussed. I'm just curious as to how others approach this and what people's thoughts on are with the way character sheets are designed.

The Mysteries of Awilix (A Planetary, Magic RP)

J A C K S O N J E N K I N S

South West of Landing

The hanger bay doors dropped open as Jackson's hauler came barrelling into the landing zone, a scream of reverse thrust before the vehicle dropped onto the steel surface. The engines were still spinning when Jackson jumped up from his seat and rushed over to the rear tailgate, slamming his hand on the activation panel with a heavy slap. As the gates were slowly opening he could see a medical team already on their way, hover-stretcher inbound.

"It's not looking good!" he yelled out, just as the gate touched down on the landing pad, "He's been coughng up lumps of blood the whole way here."

The team swooped inside and carefully scooped up the man, placing him on the stretcher. One of the medical staff members noticed an excessive amount of blood coagulating around his forearm and pulled out a set of scissors, slashing into the fabric.

"He's been bitten!" They announced, seeing the series of indented teeth marks carved into the skin. "The marks don't seem familiar but from the looks of it he has been injected with a poison."

The medical team didn't have much time and stormed out of the hauler, yelling commands at each other as they left both JJ and Bubbles on their own. Bubbles walked up next to JJ, placing his hand on his mate's shoulder. "There's not too much we can do at the moment. I'll clean up the mess, you go take a breather."

Jackson sighed as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out oh his pocket, lighting one up in his mouth. He didn't have a huge supply but managed to sneak a few into his personal storage box upon the Noah II. "Thanks bud," he replied, feeling drained of energy, "Are you sure you don't need a hand?"

The co-pilot laughed, "Really, I just have to stick a mop in my mouth and this mess will be as good as gone."

Jackson laughed, the thought of the man trying to ingest a cleaning utensil was a sight worth seeing, but he knew that the man meant well. He turned away from his vehicle, giving a subtle way goodbye, and set out into the hangers. He had to report back to the foreman and inform him of what had happened; the dangers that he encountered and the man that he happened to stumble upon. Every piece of information was important, especially with Mr Quan breathing down their necks every 5 minutes.

The Mysteries of Awilix (A Planetary, Magic RP)

Time for Kostia's scouting party to get at least SOME characterization.

Anna di Marzo

_{» C A T E G O R Y}

Female ● 27 ● Scout ● Insect Attraction

_{» D E S C R I P T I O N}

Probably the most qualified for jungle work, Anna is (or perhaps WAS was the better word to use here) a botanist in her life on Earth. Of course the plant life on Awilix is nothing like that on Earth and studying the local flora is a challenge even for far more experienced experts. She does not hold any grand ambitions of becoming a great scientist and is completely content just kicking back with a book in her hands while the others do all the hard work. In the scouting party, she is usually the one to crack the best jokes and encourage others to not overwork themselves.

Anna's Lunos is Insect Attraction - it does pretty much what it says. When activated, her body releases a scent which is irresistible to most types of insects, causing them to flock to her. The scent lingers for two to eight hours depending on the environmental conditions and Anna's condition. She does not use her Lunos much, for obvious reasons.

Joseph Matheson

_{» C A T E G O R Y}

Male ● 35 ● Scout Leader ● Sticky Sweat

_{» D E S C R I P T I O N}

The oldest of the party and also its leader. In his previous life Joseph was a fisherman - he owned a small fishing boat and would make his living off the coasts of New England. He takes to his new job well, but his love for the sea is not gone and he often hopes he lives to see the oceans of Awilix. He is the rock of the group, always willing to pick up the slack of others with not so much as a peep. He greatly values teamwork and sees the team as a sort of family. He speaks the least out of the group and is always the peacemaker when any conflict arises.

Joseph's Lunos is Sticky Sweat - when activated, his sweat glands secrete a glue-like substance which allows him to easily latch onto any surface. Great for climbing! He cannot, however, control the rate of his sweating (unless you use conventional means, such as exercise) and which parts of his body secrete the sticky sweat, leaving many sets of clothes ruined.

Mark Stone

_{» C A T E G O R Y}

Male ● 22 ● Scout ● Sharpshooter

_{» D E S C R I P T I O N}

The youngest of the party. He didn't even have time to finish his education back on Earth, not that he paid any attention in class (few kids did anyway, knowing what was about to happen). What he lacks in skills and experience however, Mark more than makes up with enthusiasm. He came to Awilix with the hopes of becoming a renowned hero or explorer and that idea pushes him forward in everything he does. Always eager to use his Lunos and work in the field, leaving the paperwork and planning to the others. Fastest talker, eater and walker as well as most likely to be daydreaming out of all the members of the party.

Mark's Lunos is Sharpshooter - when activated, his eyes are able to focus and enhance objects far away, acting similarly like a sniper's scope. Also similarly to a sniper's scope, he loses his peripheral vision and is left with a really narrow fiel of view.

@Mr Donny

They seem fine so I'll be adding them in.

Gonna be working on a post at some point. Just been a bit sleepy today and I have work tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

The Mysteries of Awilix (A Planetary, Magic RP)

@Leoven That's all fine. Sorry to see you go.

The characters will still be in the RP should you ever decide to pick it up later, but thanks for the heads up. :)

Writing Romance (More specifically how to write an emotional scene)

Here's an odd query on my behalf.

Romance isn't really a genre I particularly enjoy reading and don't necessarily really have a real desire to write an entire story about it, but sometimes while writing there comes a point where you have to put down the swords, guns and masses of action in order to write a scene that conveys a lot more emotion than normal. Perhaps it's a scene about two people finally meeting, or a point when a couple realise that they have deeper feelings for each other—I do not know, it's not something I'm experienced with—but how would one word an event like this in such a way that it sounds pleasing and enjoyable to read?

My biggest concern is the possibility of creating a scene that comes across cheesy, forced, and without the impact that was desired. Personally I know I can write scenes that deal with depression and loss seeing as I have maimed characters in the past and watched other players respond with surprise and sorrow, but I know that this type of written emotion is very different to one that's more personal and touches a different aspect.

Any tips, tidbits and even examples would be greatly appreciated. I'm not entirely sure what info I am really looking for, just hoping if someone can offer some reliable responses.
(Also gonna place this out there as a forewarning but I'm not talking about the writing of a scene containing smut or graphical sexual content.)

Settings you want to run, but aren't skilled enough to do so.

The more years pass since the last produced stargate content, the harder it gets to find sufficient players.

@Ellri

Same thing also happens when the story has evolved into something else over the course of the series. Again I'll give Pokemon as an example but a Pokemon RP from 5 years ago will have different expectations to one that is from today (ie: Mega evolutions)

Sometimes it almost seems like roleplaying themes and stories are decided based on the hot topic at the moment. Starting up a Star Wars RP will be easier this year then 5 years ago before the latest Force Awakens movie and upcoming Rogue One.