Karkinos

Character Sheets: Where do you stand?

I just dumped & dipped so... what’s you guys’ fav & least fav things to fill out in a signup? Obviously depends but just of what you’ve seen so far.

Character Sheets: Where do you stand?

Paraphrasing / expanding from status. This is a counterargument to sign-ups in-general being a waste of energy:

• Sign-ups are a useful resource for the GM in order to plan IC events around a cast.
• Sign-ups allow the GM and other players to gauge players' capability, whether a player can write a lot or prefers to write little; have an established writing style, etc.
• It is healthy for other players to know the entire cast of a RP before/during the sign-up process so they can fill in niches and continue to make said cast more diverse.
• Sign-ups introduce a framework so a character does not spontaneously, egregiously change in their development during the course of in-character roleplaying.
• Specifics a GM may want to know before the IC may not reasonably come up within the IC. Best example would be an event prior to the RP that influenced the character in-question, like a streamlined history section.

I disagree with the notion that sign-ups have to be extensive and predict possibly everything about a character before they're even written. I think a lot of RPs spend too much time in the sign-up process. And I think what a sign-up should ask for depends on the roleplay in question; I think copy-pasting Appearance/Personality/Background is unhelpful as a player gauging what sets a roleplay apart. (Is that controversial?) I also think asking for arbitrary info like expanded inventories is actively harmful in maintaining player engagement. If a sign-up's a chore to fill out, people just won't fill it out, you know?

Personally, I like sign-ups as a player because I need a foundation. I also like having a 'prologue' before the IC; I don't want to spend too much time introducing my character. I want to jump straight into whatever can be done first.

The RP with the shortest sign-up I've seen was on a different site for a sci-fi 'Lasers and Feelings' playthrough. It was name; age; species; the stats; a one-sentence summary of the character. It think it worked, at least in concept, because 'Lasers and Feelings' is a super easy system and things develop on the fly.

There's my dump. Feel free to respond to any of my points! I'm curious what people have to say about sign-ups as a vying GM myself so I'll keep an eye on this thread now and then.

Blooperheroes: What Happens When the Superheores Disappear?

Haven't started yet, but thinking about it. A week is usually enough time for me?

I guess my biggest idea is the Flying Brick archetype i.e. Superman with the twist being each component of that archetype (flight / super durability / super strength) is locked behind a split personality. So when that personality's active, so is that superpower, but the personalities clash: that's the cost of having multiple powers active at once, if he can even manage it.

The 'main' personality has no powers but he's also the only one motivated to fight crime.

Proto name is Benny.

My other idea is a woman with like telekinesis/summoning powers but a mental block means she has to surf through complicated menus to nab anything. Her ego name could be like a hacking term or something.

Fire Emblem: Lost Song

@Denny Here it is: the new app, different from the old app... also a little longer... oops...

tl;dr with the background is she's still a Goldoan ambassador but alliance with the beorc nations is largely a personal priority she’s sacrificing for and something that's happening very gradually. And nobody dies!

dragon

---

Name: Afra ibn Saphar al-Rashid ('Afra, daughter of Saphar, the Rightly-Guided')
Age: 236
Race: Laguz
Gender: Female
Affiliated Nation: Goldoa
Class: White Dragon

________

_Inventory:

• Bronze upright shield with Daein painted flagship; carried on her back.
• Laguz Stone (x2) — 3 uses each.
• Concoction (x2) — 6 uses each.
• Gallon jug of beer (x2).
• No armor.

Abilities

---

^{⬥ half-shifting for intermittent scales, armored appendages, horns, and tail. cuts dexterity and offers only minimal defense. nonetheless, traits can manifest separately and instantaneously.
⬥ full-shifting into a quadruped White Dragon form. wingless but with peak agility, resistance, and power. gains access to breath. can sustain this form for upwards of ___ .
⬥ dragon sense to subconsciously locate other dragon tribe laguz within a 50-meter distance.}

---

My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt... and my breath death!

— The Hobbit or There and Back Again

_{Personality —}
Of silver tongue and red soul. The ᴀꜰʀᴀ welded from her experiences is, primarily, ᴄᴏɴꜰɪᴅᴇɴᴛ, believing herself gifted, of high order, and carrying herself with similar loftiness. This pride runs deep; it permits she have her own opinions separate of allegiance. The objective sort, she holds others to this as well.
AFRA is far from a patriot, but nonetheless proud of her heritage. She is distasteful of disguising her attributes; when she can boast, she will. Horns never hurt anyone.
The Goldoans tend to see the world in reds, whites, and blacks, to which ᴀꜰʀᴀ agrees and disagree. She has the speed and wit of a White Dragon but she knows dignity and personal duty like a Black Dragon. And much like a Red Dragon, she is welded hot, a tactician outside of battle but a cognoscente of it and adversity in-general. Many Goldoans fear their feral instincts; they train in half-shifting: half-measures. She may do the same, but she will assure you, when there is a time to release the dragon, she will take it.

Sustaining transformation is two-fold; physical wellness is pertinent, as is an unclouded conscience and mental state. Cool-headed ᴄʜᴀʀɪꜱᴍᴀ: ᴀꜰʀᴀ'ꜱ forte. She distinguishes herself from other Goldoans in being grounded. Her perfect evening has a little banter, some tale-telling, a good ale or two. ᴀꜰʀᴀ has a genuine, unfettered curiosity of Tellus at large, gleaned over her nose. Fixated with authority, she projects a right to others’ concerns, especially those they refuse to tell her, the dark ones that flit in their eyes and smell of fear. She wants to know others strengths and flaws for realist purposes too — forbid they trip over one another in the case of bandantry. And who else to protect all these relative children with armor, swords, and staves but the fire-breathing dragon?

Her pride runs deep. ᴀꜰʀᴀ has simply decided she likes the Beorc and the other Laguz, but overlooks their dynamics like the opulent patron of a theatre performance. ᴜɴᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴᴇᴅ, detached, dispassionate. She thinks too highly of herself to open up emotionally in the conversations she creates; she simply thinks too less of others to allow them similar privilege. Her orotundity can realize as social inelegance, overstepping and asking too much of of others’ punitive little lives.

_{Background —}
For many years — ‘many,’ distant and incomprehensible as that word becomes throughout a lifetime, either a true 'many' years, enough for kings to keel and earth itself to shift, or a short-lived 'many,' much like a 'decade' or a 'century' in the Beorc languages. Nevermind which; somewhen, it was decided the surviving members of the Dragon Tribe would not consult with the wider world for political and economic matters, period. Somewhen, there was warring, havoc, awry, and perhaps it was spurred by Beorc bigotry or rival Lagaz pride — perhaps it was spurred by those beastial, temperamental urges underlying much of Goldoan way of life.

Amidst the amelioration of outside Tellus, the Dragon Tribe stood alone with few contributions to give, fewer cares to do so, but the massacre of the Heron Laguz drew some to raise their heads from their stupors. Perhaps too late; some charity was issued to the remains of Serenes, ferried over by fringe royals on order of His Majesty. Before the tragedy, ᴀꜰʀᴀ was a marionette to the purposes of the king and his court. Listless, bemoaning the liability of her pure White Dragon lineage, in her developmental hundred-years — this was her first taste of consequence. She remembers the scale of destruction, the tomes, literature, paintings, property, and the lives reduced to ash before her eyes. Many of these things Goldoa would never know were lost forever. Even the Ravens and Hawks which gathered from far away bore mechanications entirely foreign — arbitrary to her tribe, but fascinating nonetheless. And what if they were devastated too? Would it be any less a loss even if it occurred opposite of a mountain range?

Truthfully, her tutelage spoke of Tellus as many Beorc and Laguz learned of Goldoa: existing in legend and fallible oral lore. Stories impartially recollected but with that underlying, poisoning whisper of danger far-off. The Dragon Tribe is a fearful race, ᴀꜰʀᴀ decided, upon her foray into the real world. They lay on hoards of antiquated goods and ideas, pontificating, (she pontificated) when their nobles are all stiff-lipped and decided through caste. The damned castes — the idea that a Black Dragon’s might and their authority were equatable at all. While ᴀꜰʀᴀ grew into her intrepidity, she grew in accomplishment, and controversy inevitably rose as she advocated interventionist policy even the long-standing pacifist king tagged as ‘too radical.’ She substituted her grandfather’s place as head tactician when he retired from politics — the title for her mostly proved a lure for her strong opinions to be heard. She wanted Goldoa to become more than legendary but viable to the wider world. She wanted participation in the United Bird Tribes! She wanted trade relations with neighboring Laguz nations! But what ᴀꜰʀᴀ aspired for herself was to become an ambassador, a diplomat who travelled beyond nation, who represented the shining qualities of the Dragon Tribe: their confidence, their intellect.

Goldoa, making small, hesitant steps, met none of ᴀꜰʀᴀ'ꜱ demands but did appoint several court members, including her, to representative status, together known as the Knighted Chancellery. ᴀꜰʀᴀ happily sacrificed one of the higher positions in Goldoan court. But, as usual, she would take full advantage. The Chancellery was assigned cursory ambassador tasks — observing foreign climate and directly informing His Majesty; attending social events to improve relationships between themselves and Lagaz nations, many which eyed them warily for this very new direction in Goldoan policy. The Chancellery was small and split between Gallia and Phoenicis. Wingless as she was, it was considered more convenient for ᴀꜰʀᴀ to convene with the Beast Tribes to the north — Gallia was certainly most convenient for her ambitions.

This was as she saw it: From racially-motivated pirate attacks off the coasts of Phoenicis to the legacy of anti-Lagaz expression from Daein to the Begnion Empire, if any Lagaz tribe wanted lasting peace, the conversation would have to include the Beorc. Objectively, there was no other option. Gallia, in this regard, was forward-thinking as its alliance with Crimea proved. ᴀꜰʀᴀ wanted to begin there and move clockwise.

ᴀꜰʀᴀ regularly attended meetings between both Gallian and Crimean nobility, and a historical inclination to the Lagaz made relations easy to maintain; that was one country sealed — almost too easy when, meanwhile, countries like Daein sat on millennia of injustices, loath to any cross-racial conversation at all. She could request reposition there to no avail; it was unspeakable, dangerous. And ᴀꜰʀᴀ was sick of meekness.

As recalcitrant as she was in regards to Goldoan’s caste system, ᴀꜰʀᴀ knew change warranted risk. She took matters into her own hands and she went for befitting White Dragon subterfuge. Obviously, this went beyond the breadth of her authority but she couldn’t become a “persona non grata” if His Majesty, nor foreign rulers, knew not the miller’s daughter she impersonated on the streets. Apparently, the Chancellery had a resource for Daein socio-political climate after all.

If anyone were to glean her insubordination, ᴀꜰʀᴀ'ꜱ would be stripped of her position altogether. Nevertheless:

This was, in ᴀꜰʀᴀ'ꜱ opinion, the sole convenience of the human form: disguise (pointed ears aside), which she adopted guilty. All the same, in the heart of the lion’s den, the ‘Children of Wisdom’’s stomping grounds, even over these supposed ‘many’ years that dissipated like sea foam — it didn’t mean little happened. ‘Many’ things — that is a genuine, record-shattering ‘many’ — changed, though mostly in a gradual, time-permitting sense. South of the mountains, a day is a week is a month until a year passes, but the Beorc track all of these like they do the stars and seas. Their world is a running wheel. Time moves.

ᴀꜰʀᴀ was reminded, quite starkly, of her mortality compared to their own; most crucially, she was reminded to appreciate moments as they came. She learned the glory of the unknown, of threat of exposure and expulsion, of triumph and adventure. She learned about pubs and drank enough to poison a cow — not a dragon. She lived a second life with far less gradiosity than the real thing but which managed to feel a spot more fulfilling. And the people she’s met, so far, have been the most important as they can be when you live for upwards of a thousand years.

Time began to move and ᴀꜰʀᴀ began to wander. The miller’s daughter catches wind of the Desert Hare on the outskirts on the kingdom. There is something enticing about it. It has been several months, anyway; the Chancellery will soon be expected to report to the king after years away from court. Likely, it is the most inopportune time to go.

A lone dragon slings assorted goods on her shoulder and swaggers onto a circle of covered wagons. She is dressed like the impoverished but curtsies like a princess. And a demon’s horns mar her forehead. She offers to protect and guide as only she — she is convinced — can do. She wants to make the most of dwindling time.

---

_{original portrait by kogami akito}

Blooperheroes: What Happens When the Superheores Disappear?

Ah, you’ve got a good selection already but I’ll voice my interest too!

Fire Emblem: Lost Song

@Denny Glad you like the character! I think a lot of Afra's self-image is based on her seeing herself as a walking nuke, haha. Honestly, I'm happy half-shifting's a thing so I might lean on that in-character; she'd be like a less-precise, maybe more fragile Myrmidon. I'll definitely be considering how I'll play her class since I don't want to override anyone's niche with big bod dragon.

Now for the backstory... pretty much, I couldn't think of a reason to get her from Goldoa to Daein, haha. It's the isolationism of Goldoa that's throwing me off and the nation as a whole; I assumed they would be doing their 'own thing' separate from the other nations, and I don't know what that would be, what kind of history they'd have.

Makes me kind of want to break her off from Goldoa, however that'd happen... I have a lot of brainstorming to do but I'll do those big edits + a few character tweaks asap :]

Fire Emblem: Lost Song

@Denny Good to hear!

Are there limitations on weapons, i.e. being up to a certain rank? And for my Laguz, although the canon ones can pass for Beroc, I found this cute picture of a girl with horns, haha. Could I keep those for my character? Where would you want to set the limit for draconic traits on a non-transformed dragon Laguz? Finally, could a White Dragon utilize other magical skills along with her breath?

Somewhat answered my own questions while chipping at the app.

Here's what I have so far; let me know if I overstepped anywhere in the background or if any ideas needs more fleshing out — and of course if there are other things:

tread cautiously: thar be dragons

عفرا

---

Name: Afra ibn Saphar al-Rashid ('Afra, daughter of Saphar, the Rightly-Guided')
Age: 236
Race: Laguz
Gender: Female
Affiliated Nation: Goldoa
Class: White Dragon

________

_Inventory:

• Bronze buckler shield with Daein flagship painted on the surface; carried on her upper right arm.
• Laguz Stone (x2) — 3 uses each.
• Concoction (x2) — 6 uses each.
• Gallon jug of beer (x3).
• No armor.

Abilities

---

^{⬥ half-shifting for intermittent scales, armored appendages, horns, and tail. cuts dexterity and offers only minimal defense. nonetheless, traits can manifest separately and instantaneously.
⬥ full-shifting into a quadruped White Dragon form showcasing peak agility, resistance, and power. gains access to breath and prolonged gliding. can sustain this form for upwards of ___ .
⬥ dragon sense to subconsciously locate other dragon tribe laguz within a 50-meter distance.}

---

My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt... and my breath death!

— The Hobbit or There and Back Again

_{Personality —}
Of silver hair and red eyes; of silver tongue and red spirit. The Goldoans tend to see the world in reds, whites, and blacks, to which ᴀꜰʀᴀ may agree to disagree, but nonetheless: She has served hand-in-hand to royalty; she knows dignity and personal duty like a Black Dragon. Her birth parents left her the speed and wit of a White Dragon. And the Red mother who raised her did so with iron temperament and iron fist. Patently, ᴀꜰʀᴀ took after her: a tactician outside of battle but a blood knight on the field. Many Goldoans fear the dragon’s feral instincts. She is not one of them.

The ᴀꜰʀᴀ welded from her experiences is, primarily, ᴄᴏɴꜰɪᴅᴇɴᴛ, believing herself gifted, of high order, and carrying herself with similar loftiness. It permits she have her own opinions separate of allegiance. The objective sort, she holds others to this as well.

ᴀꜰʀᴀ’s perfect night has entertainment, some banter, tale-telling, a good ale or two. She distinguishes herself from other Goldoans in her ᴄʜᴀʀɪꜱᴍᴀᴛɪᴄ appeals to others and a genuine, unfettered curiosity of Tellus at large, gleaned over her nose. Fixated with authority, she projects a right to others’ concerns, especially those they refuse to tell her, the dark ones that flit in their eyes and smell of fear. She wants to know others strengths and flaws for realist purposes too — forbid they trip over one another in the case of banditry. And who else to protect all these veritable children with armor, swords, and staves but the fire-breathing dragon?

ᴀꜰʀᴀ has decided she likes the Beroc, the other Laguz, but overlooks dynamics like the opulent patron of a theatre performance. ᴜɴᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴᴇᴅ, detached, dispassionate — just curious. She thinks too highly of herself to open up emotionally in the conversations she creates; she simply thinks too less of others to permit that privilege. Her orotundity can realize as social inelegance, overstepping and asking too much of the various little ants in armor with their punitive little lives.

_{Background —}
For many years — ‘many,’ vague and incomprehensible as that word becomes throughout a lifetime. It could be truly 'many' years, enough for kings to keel and earth itself to shift, or a short-lived 'many,' like a 'decade' or a 'century' in the Beorc languages. Nevermind which “many” — it was established at some indeterminable time that the Kingdom of Goldoa and all surviving members of the Dragon Tribe would not consult with the wider world for political and economic matters, period. At some point there was warring, havoc, and awry, and perhaps it was spurred by Beorc bigotry or rival Lagaz pride — perhaps it was spurred by those beastial, temperamental urges underlying much of Goldoan way of life despite how they practiced half-shifting and other such avoidance tactics.

Many wars — and this is an earth-shattering, significant ‘many’ — passed around the region-locked Goldoa but the massacre of the Heron Laguz in-particular caused the dragons to raise their heads, perhaps too late. Charity was piloted to what remained of Serenes Forest as organized by royal council, majorly dominant families of the lower castes leading the charge: the Red al-Bayts; the White al-Rashids, of the latter AFRA was the prominent advocate. A comparative fresh-face within the ancients of the Goldoan courts, she joined the flight course to Serenes and AFRA remembers the sheer scale of tomes, incantations, and magical knowledge reduced to ash. Knowledge Goldoa would never know. Even the United Bird Tribes bore contraptions Goldoa knew nothing of, like sailboats -- admittedly, arbitrary to the Dragon Tribe minding the geography of their kingdom. And, in regards to that magical knowledge, they probably had as much use for offensive spells as weapons or armor — that was very little. But ever since her first foray into Tellus, AFRA was internally invested in these people, their petty inventions and squabbles. It was the sort of entertainment you couldn’t find among the stiff-lipped traditionalists of her court who clogged up seats, collecting cobwebs and dust.

It was no wonder the bitter lengths AFRA would fight with her birth parents considering the discontentment broiling in her, but nonetheless:

Post-Great War Goldoa, to prevent like tragedies in the future, was inching towards interventionism — or would have liked to, but they were irrelevant to much of Tellus. How could they establish trade with the advanced likes of Begnion and Crimea when they had nothing to give in return? How could they create allegiance with the United Bird Tribes when, for much of the Great War, these so-called noble dragons were nowhere to be seen on the front lines? But there was one nation where ancient sagacity and sheer might were valued among commodities: in Daein. Of all the Laguz nations to which they could find common ground, it would be with the very symbols on their coat of arms. Though these Laguz saw themselves separate from the great Daein wyverns, their understanding of draconic warfare in-general was, expectantly, unmatched. There was a strained respect between the two races, but it was there; it was decided Goldoan court representatives should temporarily occupy the Daein capital for a period of diplomatic discussion.

You would think, an embassy of highest regard and the second in-line to the crown, a Black Dragon, a prince — the guards would be a little impressed when they first arrived.

The reluctance would make since gradually but the raid on Daein began from the embassy’s touchdown in Nevessa, spreading like brushfire through the homesteads, the cobblestone roads, the farmlands, and especially the pubs. Patrons knew them by those full, foreign names and honorifics. The lesser Daein footmen that would be seen with them, they were seen with them often; the Goldoans were as alien to the concept of ‘personal limit’ as they were to the wider world, so whom should have been stifled, collar-to-the-nape officials, they abandoned the stoicism and slow process of courtly matters when recreation called. And AFRA was a terrible influence. That’s all she’ll say.

They were all very careless and very naive to the reality of Daein’s hate, something AFRA herself had mistaken for fleeting, something the war had stomped out of them — it seemed so petty. The fact that there were Lagaz trotting merrily about as they wished, blending seamlessly within the population, only pointed ears acting as a clue, it drove the majority wild with paranoia, enough to strike an uptick in anti-Lagaz expression. Gradual as years went, but the mercenary movements, the murders, were no coincidence.

South of the mountains, a day is a week is a month until a year passes, but the Beorc track all of these. Their world is constantly running. You are reminded, quite starkly, of your mortality compared to their own; crucially, you learn to appreciate moments as they come. Time starts to move.

Second-in-line Prince Rashashim was discovered collapsed in his chambers. Poisoning. Potential perpetrators ranged from the maids who waited on him reluctantly to a greater face within the Daein elite. Needless to say, embassy-building efforts slowed from crawl to cancellation; legal action on part of Daein likewise began to spiral and stall. This was the breaking point and the Goldoan ambassadors had no choice but to scatter. With word on route to Goldoa, the consequences of the royal’s death stay uncertain. Will Goldoa interpret the act as summons to greater conflict? Will they buckle to pride, the uncertainty of mental strain on their dragon forms? Regardless of what comes, AFRA and her peers are strewn between the outskirts of Daein and the course back to Goldoa, awaiting directives — that is, her peers returned; AFRA has not. Something’s made doing so… complicated.

Catching wind of the Desert Hare, a lone dragon slinging stolen goods on her shoulders swaggers onto the circle of covered wagons She makes an offer to protect and guide as only she — she is convinced — can do, before her people force her hand. Making the most of her time, how many days remain.

________