Applications

Name Format

All character bits should use the format "firstname lastname" at chargen. Their heroic title will be included later in +finger.

New Applications

Character applications will be encouraged to be simple, concise, and to the point. We are not looking for proof that said player “knows” the character, but rather how that character is uniquely theirs and fits into our theme/setting/world. A concept that integrates into our canon is preferable to a concept based entirely on an encyclopedic knowledge of comic books.

Applications will be done both in-game, and during or after approval posted to the wiki where logs will be linked to that character’s page for all iterations of that character.

Applications will consist of: Skills, Resources, Pros, Cons, Background, and Questionaire.

Skills

Skills are the things your character is good at, whether by dint of natural talent or training. These can include professional skills such as Professional Basket Weaving or superhuman talents. Musical talent, inventiveness, or using machinery all falls under this.

A skill entry should indicate the character's ability on an 'average' day with the appropriate resources/equipment. Please keep skill entries short and to the point. You can add additional clarification to your character's wiki page if needed.

Resources

Resources are items, assets, and possessions. Examples would include Captain America's shield, Tony Stark's wealth, or Peter Quill's starship. Regular income and equipment that's issued or on 'permanent loan' would fit here.

Pros

Can't figure out if it's a Skill or Resource? If it's difficult to quantify but is an asset, it probably goes here. This applies to passive capabilities that aren't necessarily trainable (immunity to poisons, physical characteristics like Very Tall, etc.) Other examples might include rank in the military, a web of underground informants, or an upbeat attitude or relentless willpower and determination.

Cons

This is the catchall for liabilities. Bad debts, old enemies, disease, personality disorders, whatever impedes or inconveniences the character probably belongs here. This should not include minor quirks that are character flavor rather than being an outright hindrance to their heroic lifestyle. Moreso than powers or backstory, Cons are *the most important parts* of character development.

Background

Backgrounds should roughly come in three parts of 6 or more lines each. Below is a set of loose guidelines and motivational questions to give you a sense of what staff looks at for in a 'complete' background.

• The primary section is the 'at a glance'. This should help players quickly familiarize themselves with the character's broad strokes and immediate fame/notoriety, if any.
  • What is the character's recent history known?
  • What major events did they participate in or what groups are they a part of?

Someone unfamiliar with the character should have a passing acquaintance of their immediate past after reading the background.

• The first background section should focus on early life.
  • Where was the character born?
  • Did they come from a good household, were they raised by penguins under Gotham Zoo, or were they decanted from a cloning tank last year? How were their origins part
  • How did they live during their early years?
• The next section should be origins.
  • What motivated them to become a hero or a villain? This is the 'call to adventure' that starts the Hero's Journey:
    • It might be the death of a loved one;
    • Witness to a violent crime
    • Adoption by a more senior hero
  • Having heard the call to adventure, did they pursue that quest to completion before their current state, or is it still looming over them? Are they a callow youth or hard and experienced hero/ine?

This should bring the reader up to date on the character, though additional sections are permissible if the background gets very expository.

Questionaire

A short questionnaire will also be required

• Who is this character and how do they fit into the world?
• Who is this character to you?
• What do you want to do with them? What RP hooks are you looking for, or to create?
• Have you looked at our timeline and picked dates of major events? Do those events conflict with previously established RP, or make other characters impossible?

Some sort of encouragement/message during the application process should also be made to both the applying party and the MU* in general to touch base with active characters/players for that character to establish groundwork (whether new, or potentially inherited from a past iteration of the applying character)

Taking over a pre-existing Character

We prefer for players to maintain all prior RP, and staff discussion will be needed for significant changes. The list below indicates order of preference in assuming a previously played character.

1. Maintain prior IC history and canon.
2. Make minor alterations to correct inaccuracies or out of date information.
3. Make changes as needed to keep the character in the game as long as those changes are not a wild departure for the character or disrupt the theme.
4. Implement an alternate universe/Secret Skrull protocol to amend actions of previous player, if such actions are grossly out of character.
5. The character is so effed we need to reboot and start from scratch.

Advancing the character’s skills or maturity should be done in a fashion that integrates with a reasonable previous timeline or is done through future roleplay. Such changes are evaluated on a case by case basis. Dick Grayson transitioning from Robin to Nightwing may be permissible; Betsy Braddock going from European model to post-Hand Kwannon in the space of a week would be too much.