Part 2 of 2: Player Guidelines: Beginning, Middle, and Ending!

**Brovo** · 03-18-2012

Sheesh. I've been delaying this for months too.

Part 2 of 2: Player Guidelines.

Note: This may be deceptive, as GMs should understand the basics of being a player, too.

This set of guidelines will be oriented towards players, specifically towards identifying potential role plays, understanding yourself to understand your characters, understanding what goes into character generation, learning how character growth works both in the sense of power and personality, and more. I will divide these up into sections to make them easy to follow. This article will be liable to be updated many dozens of times to be all inclusive of all the information possible and every tool a player can acquire for their arsenal. Finally, most terminology will be explained as it appears.

So without further adieu...

The 101 Article for Players! V0.5 -Beta-

Note: This guide is directed primarily towards CRPG, 1x1 and Arena RPers. Since Nation RPing is, for all tense and purposes, a different beast after chapter 2. I do plan to do something for Nation RPers one day.

Book 1: Understanding Role Playing.

Chapter 1: What is a Role Play?

This is an often confused and sometimes debated concept. Is role playing a game like Dungeons & Dragons or video games, or is it a grand story, or even literature? It has many game elements, some story elements, and for a player doesn't really have much of any literary elements. To quickly explain the difference between literature and story and what games elements I am talking about...

Games: Role playing takes a basis in games, even on forums. GMs are game masters, the overall narrators and rule makers. Character sheets are virtually identical with their gaming counterparts--character creation. Any numerical system whatsoever in the role play is a games element. The list goes on...

Story: The elements of story for a player is in creating their characters or nations, writing their histories, crafting out their personalities or cultures, their growth/expansion and overall arc, and acting within the story itself.

Literary: For players? None in particular. Players don't craft the plot, nor do they create much of the world. They create characters and do battle with them (games element) and write out the actions, thoughts, and feelings of that character (story element). There is no literary element in being a player, so don't worry about it! GMs have that covered for you!

Why does this apply: Understanding what a role play genuinely is, is a fairly important concept to grasp. This along with the next chapter will help you figure out what kind of role play you will likely enjoy. After all, if you enjoy a role play, then you are more likely to feel the desire to stay!

Chapter 2: Genre & Style.

Now you understand exactly what a role play is. So now the next step is figuring out what kind of role play you will enjoy the most! This is divided into two areas primarily, but there are of course more specific things that you will pick up on, such as clichés and tropes, which you personally find appealing. That unfortunately only comes with experience. However, these two broad areas...

Genre

Genre is the term for categories based on some set of stylistic criteria. For example: The “Fantasy” genre is usually known for having swords and shields and fantastic creatures like dragons, lost princesses and heroic knights, evil warlocks and witches and of course, magic. Understanding what kinds of genres you enjoy most will help you to pick out role plays whose worlds you will naturally gravitate towards and enjoy by virtue of being within that genre. For example, if you generally enjoy movies and games and books about chronicling outer space and fighting aliens, making peace with aliens, and futuristic technology then by joining science fiction role plays your imagination will feel right at home, and it will take little effort to remain interested and feel like you know where you are going.

Style

The style of a role play is how the content is formatted and posted, what perspective or point of view you end up taking on as a player and the kinds of content expected from you. Nation role playing is an example of a style. Character role playing is an example of another. Below you will find a small list of styles, along with their corresponding summary. The primary difference between genre and style is that genre is about the content of your posts and the content of the role play itself, whereas style is about how you format and write your post.

Final Note: You can combine styles to create a hybrid style. In fact, some styles can only function if you combine them with other styles. Keep this in mind!

Character-Based Role Play: The atypical small group of adventurers solving problems, usually by cooperating under a collective goal or goals. Usually all together, but sometimes split apart into smaller groups. Usually based upon the point of view of a created character, typically in third person but occasionally in first person. Can be done free-form or numerically. (See below for free-form and numeric styles.)
Nation Role Play: A cult classic on Roleplayer Guild, this style involves creating an entire nation and role playing the various politicians, agents, military, economists, diplomats and more within it. Has a very heavy dependence on the numeric style. Usually done in third person perspective, switching to a general narrative when controlling several people, ships, creatures, or otherwise.
Arena Role Play: A niché style on Roleplayer Guild, this covers the idea of creating characters for the purposes of player versus player combat. This can be done in a tournament style of duels, combatants knocking one another out until there is only one person left standing or in the form of a small group or 1x1. Usually done free-form but can be done numerically.
1x1 Role Play: A style that is focused on the interactions between two characters, usually built upon relationships both of the romantic and friendly kind, and is typically not action-oriented. Almost always free form.
Free Form: When any of the above styles are based solely upon the creativity of the player creating and acting out their character with no numeric system such as stats. This is harder to control but has a little more freedom. Can be combined with the numerical system to create a mix between the two.
Numerical: When any of the above styles are based on numerical systems such as stats. This has a lot more stability and predictability, but can limit creativity. Can be combined with the free form system to create a mix between the two.

Didn't you mention this before: Yes, in the GM Guidelines thread I continually reference each of the four primary styles of role play and briefly touch on free form and numeric. Here is where I'm actually describing them in a concise way, since it applies to players just as much as it does GMs.

If you don't know if you like a specific style or genre, give it a try. If you don't like it, don't do it in the future. You are liable to enjoy role playing the genres that you see and enjoy on television, games, and in novels, however style is generally something you figure out on your own. Don't be ashamed if it takes a little while to figure out what styles you enjoy and which styles you don't!

Chapter 3: The guts of a post.

You now understand what kind of role plays are out there! Hoorah! So now what? How do you write posts that are interesting, that keep a role play alive? Well, lets find out.

Action, Reaction, Perception. These are the three things that compose a post, and as such it is vital that players such as yourself understand all three of these blunt tools in their arsenal.

Actions are anything that is spoken or done, anything that your character commits to or does in a physical manner. This is new material that anyone else in the role play can work with and work off of for their own posts. EG: “Edward danced across the hall, glancing towards the King every once in a while and slipping his hand into his pocket for a throwing knife.” Actions are integral as they give other players material to work with, they open up opportunities for interactions between characters, for reactions from others, they advance the story and the plot. This is the most important of the three parts of a post.

Reactions are anything that is a direct response towards an action, usually in a physical manner. They do not add additional content for players to work off of typically, but rather are a reaction or acknowledgement of an action. Between reactions and actions you have interactions, which allows characters to advance their own personal stories, create and develop relationships, and more. EG: “Edward watches the other assassin, Bella, dance across the floor and notices that the King's guards were distracted by her wicked charm.” Reactions are integral as they help give reasoning towards some of your character's actions, and can show a direct link between each post. A post that is nothing but reactions however gives nobody else anything new to work with.

Perceptions are anything that involves how a character perceives the world around them, personal thoughts. They also do not add any additional content for players to work off of period, seeing as how they aren't physical and don't add anything that anyone else can use. EG: “Edward felt unsure, though his hatred for the King was enough to motivate him, the King that killed his family, and he wondered if Bella felt the same way.” Though less important than actions and reactions, this can give others a view into the thoughts and emotions of your character, to see what is motivating them into their actions and reactions.

All three together make up a post. I just wrote one paragraph of a post, for example. With slight edits...

Edward's actions allow the King and Bella to both directly react to him, and others to step in if they so wish at any time, giving them material to post with so they can interact with Edward. His reaction gives the player controlling Bella some idea of how Edward is perceiving her and shows that he acknowledges her existence, and his thoughts show the motivation towards his actions. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to always have actions in your posts for others to work with! If you don't have actions in your post, you are not progressing the story. If you do not have reactions in your post, you are not interacting with others. Remember this!

Chapter 4: Game versus Story.

Role plays can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some can be more story-based, and others more game-based. This is important to understand because it helps in knowing what is more important in the character creation portion of your role playing experience: The game elements, or the story elements.

The Library, for example, is a game-based role play. When creating a character for this kind of role play, which has less emphasis on the overarching plot and more on individual missions and arcs, you want to consider more what your character can do, rather than how they can develop. Create the abilities, powers, and general idea of your character's combat class first, and then their personality and history and personal story afterwards.

Legend of Renalta: Reborn, on the other hand, is a story-based role play. When creating a character for this kind of role play, which has a large emphasis on the overarching plot and less to do with individual missions and arcs, you want to consider who your character is before what they can do. Who are they, what motivation do they have to commit to the goal of the plot. Once that is done, you create the abilities, powers, and general idea of your character's combat class afterwards, focusing on personality and history first.

Book 2: Character (Story).

Chapter 1: What is this?

Story: Is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds. This is one of the most vital tools in your arsenal as a player. This is where you draw up the motivations of your character, his or her personality, history, and more. How do these work in role playing? Lets start with...

Chapter 2: Personality and history.

Personality and history are immensely important in crafting your character, in helping others understand who your character is, what his/her motivations are, and how (s)he fits into a group. First, lets define them.

Personality is a combination of traits that composes how your character reacts to situations, these traits usually having been influenced and outright created by the character's history. It is important to remember not to mix conflicting personality traits. Otherwise you get a character who is warm and loving and yet at the same time a cold of heart manic murderer. Unless you are aiming for a split personality character that is ultimately destructive because nobody can trust him/her, you may want to make sure that your traits remain relatively similar. EG: Bella is a cold killer, well trained she cares little for the lives of others and pursues her goals in a determined, disciplined fashion to the bitter end.

History is a combination of events that composes the background information of your character. Are they well educated? Were they abused? Are they rich? Did they lose their family? The list goes on. Again, just the same as personality try to aim to have a character who has a relatively smooth flowing history, one that makes sense, so as to avoid having a character who grew up in an orphanage with free education, food, and health care, and yet somehow the orphanage was filled with evil abusive people who tried to kill the character. You also don't need to name every single little detail like the character's favourite colour in fourth grade, but listing all the important information (parents died) helps people and the GM to understand your character and their motivations.

Use this section to connect your character to the general plot. Why might they want to assassinate the King, for instance? EG: Bella's parents were assassinated in a contract, and she was taken as a baby to be trained as an assassin. Having a strict life of training she quickly grew to stop questioning things and just take them as they are; orders, people, knowledge, it all became the same in her eyes. Soon enough she grew old enough to take up contracts, and after a few became a veteran known to get the job done in a ruthless, efficient way. She was then sent on a contract to kill a King, having little care for the assignment but doing it because she was ordered to do so.

If you combine the history and personality sections you will see two examples. One of an indecipherable Mary Sue, a character of which is generally regarded as an attempt to be perfect in every manner and begs for attention, and the other is a decently constructed, straightforward character whom is easy to understand with a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Naturally edited slightly to make sure that the English flows smoothly.

In one hider you get a character whom has horrible conflicting traits which make her hard to understand, who has unclear motivations, and in the other hider you get a character whom has traits that can mesh together and which are explained in the history in a rather logical way, with a clear motivation to actually commit to the plot. When making a character, choose who they are and stick to it. Do not try to be everything. If you want your character to grow out of being, say, a cold assassin, that is what you have a character arc for, which will be explained later on in this section.

Chapter 3: Character Arc.

So now you understand how to build a character, but how do we make our characters grow in power and personality without attempting to railroad the plot the way we want it to go? Power growth will be addressed in another section specifically, here we will deal with personality!

Lets take Bella the assassin from earlier. We know that she is a cold assassin, cruel and efficient. If we put her in a group, she would be the loner archetype, which has its advantages and disadvantages and will be addressed in another section. Now, lets say we wanted to warm her up a bit, make her friendlier towards those around her, “find her heart” in a way. In a group role play, a character-based role play, she could do this in many different ways.

-Injury: Bella could get injured, say, in the next battle you could intentionally allow her to take a non-life threatening wound like getting shot in the shoulder, or having her knee dislocated through brute force. In a typical group of varied people, someone would try to help her, and through this she could start to see the logic in working with others and being a human being.

-Guardian Angel: Perhaps instead of Bella taking the injury, another character jumps in and takes the hit instead, sparing Bella from suffering. This could touch emotions she hasn't felt before, being a trained assassin who was taught that nobody would help her, this would be a direct conflict of what her point of view of what the world is, and what the world actually is.

-Moral Epiphany: Should this be a role play without violence or for some reason you can't accomplish injury or guardian angel, she could always enter into a debate with another player through a collaboration post about some concept of morality, such as life and death, emotions, individuality, relationships, love, etc. Either in one collaboration post or over the course of a couple of collaboration posts broken up with by contemplation and good ole' violence and gore, Bella could quietly start to struggle with the idea that her training is wrong.

-Natural progression: Through the course of a series of actions taken by this character and observed actions by other characters, Bella could grow to actually enjoy the company of the other characters in the story, and their values and perception of the world could begin to rub off on her and cause her own ideas to skewer and change.

These are just four examples, there is many other ways to develop a character. If you want the opposite effect for a chivalrous knight or an idealistic peasant, there is always...

-Abandonment: The character at some point feels emotionally or physically abandoned by others. This isn't always an available option however, so there is always...

-Denial: The physical or emotional denial of recognition for this character's perception of what they deserve, or wish to do. For example, a peasant boy could feel upstaged by a veteran warrior and thus denied the chance to show off his skills to the beautiful girl, or his attempts to flirt and make his feelings known could get denied by someone who has their heart set on another.

-Allure: The luring trap of greed, lust, or a general power thirst by the character. Perhaps an ambitious young knight succumbs to their desire for control over others, or obsession with becoming the strongest person alive.

-Regret: The loss of another character in the group, the inability to accomplish a goal of any kind, the list goes on.

Again, these are all just examples of how to take a cold character and warm them up or how to take an idealistic character and drive them into cruel or cold behaviour. Remember that you should never be too specific about how you want your character to grow in personality. It is wise to plan for multiple paths for your character, some dark, some light, as it also causes you to feel a greater attachment to that character, and subsequently to the world they are in and the people around them, as well as allowing you to take virtually any situation that comes up and turn it into a potential moment for minor or major character development.

Also remember that planning with other players and the GM can vastly improve the chances of you getting the developments that you desire.

Finally, remember that all good character development typically takes time and patience to set up, execute, and pull off properly, whether it is a slow development like Bella the assassin warming up to others, or a sudden change like an idealistic peasant boy watching his mentor or close friend die to the sword.

Book 3: Character (Game).

Chapter 1: What is this?

This section is devoted towards the more game-specific elements of role playing. Things such as character powers, action sequences, development of power and more will be addressed here. So, what are we waiting for? Lets get to it!

Chapter 2: Power and Focus in a role play.

Power and focus is the two primary elements to consider when creating a character's abilities, powers, and talents. Power is how strong the character is, it makes the measurable difference between a character who can obliterate a town by engulfing it in a magical firestorm and a character who struggles to lift a sword. Focus is how specialized a character is, it makes the measurable difference between a character who can use every kind of weapon under the sun and someone who specializes as a master of the spear. These two elements together create the overall strength of your character, whether he or she is underpowered or overpowered.

The first thing you should do is identify the role play's tolerance of power itself. If it is a story about being a God and creating worlds, having immense amounts of power probably isn't a bad thing. However if it is a story about a small ragtag band of adventurers against an evil domineering powerhouse force, it would likely be frowned upon to make a character who can snap his fingers and end the world. Understand the general theme of the role play first.

The second thing you should do is see if there is any already accepted characters and get an idea of how much power they have and how specialized they are. If there are none, test the waters. Create a character and specialize him or her for a role such as a warrior, a barbarian, a rogue, an alchemist healer, a utility-based mage, a destructive fire wielding mage, etc, then give them a small assortment of strengths and weaknesses. The more equal and relevant the weaknesses are to the strengths, the more balanced your character will typically be.

Finally, if there are any characters that are accepted or even simply pending, see what kind of characters they are. Depending on the role play if you all make a whole bunch of hording warriors you might get utterly obliterated from a lack of variety in the group's abilities. Just make sure to never take a role you don't like playing just for the sake of the group. It's not worth sacrificing your own enjoyment of the role play just to have a balanced group. A good GM will either reject having too many warriors or adjust his or her role play to compensate anyway.

Now that we know what to look for when designing a character...

Chapter 3: Designing the character.

We know what power and focus are now, so lets put them to practical use in designing a character!

In general, the rule of thumb is that the more powerful your character is, the less likely (s)he is to be accepted and the greater his or her weaknesses should be. For example, if we started crafting a veteran warrior who wears plate mail and has several years of training and experience using a large, two handed blade, perhaps an applicable weakness would be that age has begun to slow down his reflexes, or that he took a battle injury and now has a weak knee, or that he doesn't really understand magic and is especially vulnerable to it.

However if we took our veteran warrior and removed those weaknesses and then made his armour magic-proof and reinforced against ranged weapons, most players and a GM would probably sit there and wonder how they could ever harm such a juggernaut.

The second rule of thumb is that the more things your character can do, the less likely s(he) is to be accepted and the greater his or her overall power will be. For example, if we took our crafted veteran warrior and specialized him to only and exclusively use his two handed sword, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that he is really good with it, and aside from a few exceptions should do exceptionally well in melee combat, but exceptionally poorly at ranged combat. Especially with mages who could probably ignore his armour.

However if we took our veteran warrior and gave him several magical powers and a crossbow and some throwing knives and a short sword on top of that giant two handed blade, most players and a GM would probably sit there and wonder if our character is mediocre at all of these things or dramatically overpowered due to having no real, exploitable weaknesses.

When designing a character, keep in mind to have weaknesses for your character that makes them dependent on others to cover those weaknesses and to keep him or her balanced, and to specialize them to certain tasks so that their combat role remains clear and easily understood in a group. Now, how do we go about giving them even more power and abilities...

Chapter 4: Power Arc.

Now we know how to craft at least somewhat balanced characters and specifically the two elements that go into it. So now what? How do we take our veteran warrior and make him more powerful? There are a few methods to go about doing so, but the most important first step in just about all of them is this one.

Talk with the GM about it.

A GM is dependent on the accuracy of your character sheet to create appropriate situations for combat and interaction. Suddenly becoming stronger out of nowhere would throw both him and the other players for a loop and disturb the flow of the role play. First see if there is any system step up in the role play to increase power. If there is no specific system set up for it, talk with the GM about where and how you could increase your character's number of abilities or strength of abilities. Plan with him or her about it. Consider ideas like...

Magical artifact/Prototype weapon: Depending on the genre of the role play consider finding a magical weapon dropped by an enemy for our veteran warrior, or a prototype assault rifle for a science fiction soldier. If a prototype weapon seems silly, try a rare but effective or expensive and stronger weapon. Same logic applies to the magical artifact. In a Nation RP, discuss how to increase your fleet or army size and their level of power.

Training Sequence: Perhaps your character and another person's character engage in a training sequence, duelling/practising with weapons or committing to certain exercises. This is a perfect place to use a collaboration post as well. This usually doesn't require nearly as much planning or discussion with the GM to pull off as the magical artifact/prototype weapon example. Sometimes you can even forgo completely speaking with the GM entirely as often times the amount of power gained or abilities learned are easy to see coming and not too extreme and thus are easy to predict.

Combat Experience: Especially applicable for characters who are described as being new to combat, simply committing to and going through combat will grant precious battlefield experience. This is often the reason used to explain how recruits or peasants can catch up to veterans.

These are just three ideas out of many. Come up with some of your own while role playing and try them!

Chapter 5: Action Sequences.

--Coming Soon... Maybe!--

Book 4: Extras.

Chapter 1: Posting tools.

There are a wide variety of tools one can use to help encourage characters to interact, and to help yourself grow attached to and remain interested in a role play. This list will start out short, but as this thread is updated, will grow in size. I'm open for people to post in this thread about additional techniques that people can use.

Collaboration Posts: A collaboration post is when two (or more) people come together through instant messengers, E-Mail, or private messaging to write a post together, with one person posting up the results. Usually person A writes anywhere between a single line to a paragraph and sends it to person B, who responds directly to that single line or paragraph and sends it back to person A. This cycle continues until all people involved are satisfied with it, at which point typically the person who started the collaboration will post it into the role play.
Uses: To have two (or more) characters engage in conversation, a training duel, or any other remedial, typical activity that would otherwise take several posts to do. In this way, characters can interact without spending three to four pages of just back and forth chit chat. Incredible useful in group character-based role plays and almost integral to the success of nation role plays.
Not to be used for/in: 1x1 Roleplays have no need for this at any point. Arena RPs, typically, don't need to use this either. Using this constantly with only one or two other players to the exclusion of all other players in group environments is a definite negative, and very damaging to group cohesion as it fractures groups.

Spell check: I absolutely adore this nifty little tool. I cannot think of any reason not to use it. It assists greatly in helping you to keep your post as clear and legible as possible! Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome come with these tools built-in standard.
Uses: To assist in making your post perfectly legible. Especially useful for people who have only a rudimentary knowledge of the English language, or for grammar Nazis.
Not to be used for/in: There is no reason on this maiden Earth that you should not use a spell check... That I can think of anyway.

**Brovo** · 03-18-2012

Book 5: Epilogue.

Here lies additional information that I haven't catalogued into a specific category. A special thanks list for everyone who has helped to contribute to this article, as well as any and all final notes.

This is a beta version--It's not quite finished altogether and needs some tweaking. Any suggestions would be delightful.

I hope this is helpful. Please discuss and comment below so I can improve this article, or at least get told that it's working! If the article isn't working, please inform me as to ways I can repair or improve it. Nothing is more irritating than critics with no identifiable reasons. : | Otherwise I enjoy criticism.

Special Thanks

Kestrel: Offered a few pieces of advice here and there for it during development, specifically the entire Game versus Story section. Thanks Kestrel!

Final Notes: Will work on an index-like section for terminology like Godmoding and Mary Sues, more Nation RP examples and descriptions, maybe that action sequence part, might scrap it.

Looking for any information that anyone can provide about anything new or presently in the guide.

**Brovo** · 03-18-2012

-Reserved for future edits, just in case I need more space... O.o-

**Dudel** · 03-18-2012

I was originally just sending you IMs about my thoughts on the matter but it became very extensive very quickly. o.O

I'll copy and paste those, and then continue on as I see more things I don't think are ...proper.

I'll work those in as well, but that's a direct copy-paste with the exclusion of specific pokes at you as a person.

Firstly I want to say that everything was just fine... until I got to "The Guts of a Post." Then it went down hill. Your bias started playing in, again, and it's painfully clear that this is a "GM's perspective on RPing" as it lacks a lot of context.

Let us start with "The Guts of a Post." Instance one being: "Perceptions are not needed." This is implied, but not specifically stated. In fact, in many cases, perceptions drag things down or even DROWN an RP post (or entire RP).

Perceptions are the very last thing an RPer should toss into a post, focusing first on their Actions and Reactions.

In fact, the bare bones of an Advanced post (Yes and ADVANCED POST) is 2 Paragraphs. One being Action, the other Reaction. (Do I need to post the Advanced Guidelines for naysayers?) Arena is specifically set up "under Advanced standards" with "Action" and "Reaction" being their entire point.

Side: Red is a horrible color to use on RPGuild.

Game vs Story is fine too, with one exception.

Someone can create a Story character in reverse. As in, pick game elements and then rationalize them to fit into the plot and world, etc. In fact, most "Min-Maxers" do this on purpose.

Now onto this "Character Story" thing. Personally, I think it might need redone altogether. At the very least "Character" should not be broken up between "Game" and "Story" elements like that. A "Game" character has a personality, and a history, etc, they just take a back seat. A "Story" character will focus on powers, etc, they just take a back seat.

Story: Is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds. This is one of the most vital tools in your arsenal as a player. This is where you draw up the motivations of your character, his or her personality, history, and more. How do these work in role playing? Lets start with...

This is the most vital tool in your arsenal if you have a story based character. Game based characters require absolutely no motivation, or rationalization to exist. HOWEVER, using this tool is the easiest way to put a game-based character INTO a story-based game.

Chapter 2: Personality and history.

Personality and history are immensely important in crafting your character, in helping others understand who your character is, what his/her motivations are, and how (s)he fits into a group. First, lets define them.

Personality, given.

History, however, is typically only relevant when dealing with things that would cause conflicts. A world with racism, or economic strife, for example, typically means that characters from "different areas of life" not interact. This requires that RPers understand this notion... otherwise the characters "actual history" is typically made up as the RP progresses. So your comment on "connecting them to the plot" is accurate, but you muddle it with irrelevancies.

In many cases, RPers make up things (or reinvent things) long after approval, and GMs don't even notice.

AS for personality specifics: Your note on conflicting character traits is flatly WRONG. In fact, a character SHOULD conflict with themselves in order to prevent them from being flat, one dimensional and boring. What you MEAN is that characters shouldn't be bipolar flip-floppers who are Candy-cane nice one second and then spit fire the next.

If you combine the history and personality sections you will see two examples. One of an indecipherable Mary Sue, a character of which is generally regarded as an attempt to be perfect in every manner and begs for attention, and the other is a decently constructed, straightforward character whom is easy to understand with a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Naturally edited slightly to make sure that the English flows smoothly.

This, as well as your "Mary Sue vs Not Mary" has to down right go away.

You shouldn't worry about "Mary Sue" characters. GM's, especially, shouldn't focus on Mary Sue's unless their existence dismantles the games core. They'll otherwise work themselves out if the game is organized properly.

Chapter 3: Character Arc.

Don't even wanna look at it. But my view on things are strongly game-perspective so my POV, here, is largely worthless.

Book 3: Character (Game).

Everything here is golden... just need to realize that those other things above are not "Story Character Specific."

Power Arch, however, should typically be handled by the GM and not the RPers. GM reward, basically, for playing fair, is "Have a little more power." It's a standard for game-based RPs.

...and that's everything.

**Brovo** · 03-18-2012

Figures that when this Beta would roll around that you (Dudel) would be one of the first to tear into it.

I appreciate it though. That's what a Beta is made for; to be butchered, assaulted, and attacked in every possible way to find every small and large error and problem within it.

*Cracks fingers* I'll get to work on a patch. It should be up soon..Ish.. Kinda.

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