Loco Mofo

Character Sheets: Where do you stand?

Not sure how much I'll be adding to the conversation that hasn't been said already, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A CS, to me, is an integral part to RPing on forums- public Rps, anyway. A private invite-only thing is a free-for-all where the rules are made up and the points don't matter. However, when you're dealing with potential strangers, you need some way to test them and see if they're not pulling a fast one on you.

@Ammokkx

This is exactly what it comes down to. People wear you down, man. Years of shananagins wear you down. There are different types of role players, from hobbyists to passionate story tellers who would put their free time and energy into something else if they didn't care about their stories so much.

Joining one of my normal RPs (the one I'm working on now isn't as hardcore on an individual level) is a huge investment. If you have school in 2 months, or are just passing through and got excited. . . you probably shouldn't fill out a sheet on the spot. But again, people where you down. I'd rather a thread crash and burn to death than have 6-8 people show up and destroy or abandon it within a month.

Character Sheets: Where do you stand?

On the other hand, I feel like some GM’s use them to assess writing ability or to just have a pile of lengthy info regardless of whether or not it’s necessary. This is where, I think, we get into the territory of a CS being “useless” and a waste of creative energy, especially for meaty parts of a CS that may take a while to formulate. How relevant is that background or complete life story to the start of the roleplay? Will it get mentioned at all? What purpose does it serve in starting the roleplay? If it serves no purpose, I would argue that it doesn’t need to be there in the first place.

@Chai

We do this for several reasons.

First of all, most people hate big sheets. They just want to plug & play, because they could give a shit about the story, only what their character can do within it. A beefy, detailed sheet sets up a first line of defense against plug & play types.

Second of all, that beefy sheet makes sure we know, that you know your character. That you've taken the time to fully flesh out a fictional human being, rather than a shapeless mass of potential to unleash upon any given situation.

Finally, it attempts to force establishment of FACTS. So that you can't, at any given time, retcon that character's past and skill set to serve your needs as your situation evolves.

I have to dumb my sheets down for most projects, because no one would apply if I used the full version.

What went wrong with Expanding Horizons?

It's fine to have minority/female characters, but they work too hard at trying to make them perfect and flawless (AKA, the biggest writing sin ever). Rey is a hard core mary sue. Anikin had to actually learn how to use the force, and Rey just beats someone who was personally taught by luke with zero training. She also just "finds" Luke's lightsaber in a random pub. Not "A" lightsaber, LUKES lightsaber! Anyway, I could rant about this for hours, but other people have done this for me, in less time.

@BrokenPromise

Now that I have more time, I want to talk a bit about Disney's Star Wars.

It's my opinion that this was mishandled straight out of the gate. They seem to operate fast and loose with the plot holes. Even released a novel to run damage control on a shitty villain - only to kill him off in the 2nd film before doing virtually ANYTHING with his character. This isn't an isolated incident. Evidently Disney's people don't see a problem with this, because they did it to T'Challa in MCU as well.

They did a poor job of introducing Rey. I don't care that she's a tiny bit of a Mary Sue, because she does it in a vulnerable kind of way that still provides a journey. But when they spend an entire film doing everything they possibly can to make you believe without a shadow of a doubt that she has to be a Skywalker, only to flush it all down the toilet, offering literally nothing in its place, you have to give your head a firm shake, and take a moment of silence for the murdered potential this film had.

We have a scrapper with no parents living on a desert planet.
We have an unlikely encounter with danger and adventure sweeping this mysterious orphan out of orbit to explore the galaxy.
We have a naturally gifted force user who possesses an uncanny ability to connect with it.
We have Anakin's lightsaber literally beckoning to her... Yoda's voice speaking to her before the saber gives her visions of Luke when she touches it..

I mean seriously. This is the type of modern day, dumb as fucking shit writing that insults the viewers intelligence. They really don't care at the end of the day, it's about getting their money back from an investment.

I still think she's somehow a Skywalker, or related to Anankin via the whole Force-birth thing, as the most common theory is that she is a reincarnation of one of the original force users. George's OG force users, who knew no light nor dark. They practiced BALANCE. (YES. The Jedi were polarized fools, and Yoda knew it. They need to evovle, or die.)

Episode 9 they have to do something with somebody, because so far it's literally filler.

In terms of lil Bennie being defeated so easily by Rey. Well, he sucks. He may be decent with the force, but his saber skills are for the birds; Trash.

Cinema General

<Snipped quote by Fabricant451>

No, my entire point is that brendan frasier and nathan fillion are just examples of a very overused and long standing character trope that was around way before and will be around way after chris pratt.

Ive not seen moneyball but Zero Dark Thrity? It was a dramamtic film sure, but Chris Pratt was in it for about 17 mins and he cracked 2 jokes and held a gun in a brief shooting scene. Hardly a 'dramatic turn'.

Im not even saying he's a crap actor, I'm saying he's nothing new, interesting or special.

@Dynamo Frokane

I actually like Nathan Fillion, and not just because he's a fellow Canadian. I enjoyed him as Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly, and I used to find Castle funny when it first came out. I just haven't watched 'law enforcement team' shows since William Petersen left CSI.

Chris Pratt is only enjoyable when he's playing a total ass-hat like Star Lord in a kid's film full of other shoddy performances. He was intolerable in Jurrasic World, and the film was hot garbage to begin with. I saw him in some drama with his female counterpart, Jennifer Lawrence. I'll at least give her American Hustle, she played a good part in that movie, for what it was.

They are both a perfect representation of today's film audience. It's on the viewer, not the actor. Hollywood runs on data, and psychology, nothing else. Every move made is calculated and projected trice over.

What went wrong with Expanding Horizons?

I'm not quite sure why we're talking about star wars in a thread about expanding horizons, as there are plenty of better places to do that.

However...

The primary reason why Disney star wars/Disney Marvel/etc is doing poorly is because of the movement to make politically correct media. It's fine to have minority/female characters, but they work too hard at trying to make them perfect and flawless (AKA, the biggest writing sin ever). Rey is a hard core mary sue. Anikin had to actually learn how to use the force, and Rey just beats someone who was personally taught by luke with zero training. She also just "finds" Luke's lightsaber in a random pub. Not "A" lightsaber, LUKES lightsaber! Anyway, I could rant about this for hours, but other people have done this for me, in less time.

@BrokenPromise

It happened to come up, and I think if you really want to crack this nut open, the focus should be the new verse, not the old dead one.

Disney is killing it, with the exception of the failed Solo film. They're learning slowly that you can Make new films and you can get by, but if you want to dig up beloved canon and characters, doing irrelevant cash-cow titles, they will fail. This is the most iconic science fiction material in the world. You don't toss its trophy characters around in cheap.

It's actually becoming an issue, because Disney now knows they can pump out any type of generic, watered down, family-friendly, conceptually safe crap, and it will turn out millions in profits.

You need look no further than the MCU for all the proof you need. I don't think the MCU has let it's audience truly feel an emotional or dark moment, until 'The Snap'. There's always a joke wedged in, to make sure you're smiling and laughing from open to close. They meticulously attack every angle of these films to ensure mass appeal.

Man of Steel had more character development than all of the MCU combined, I.W. notwithstanding. Yet people go into MCU films primed to adore it, and go into DC movies primed to hate everything about them.

Disney is breast feeding the industry powdered milk right now. They meticulously craft universally lovable films that anyone from a 7 year old rookie, to the 56 year old grandpa can fully digest in a single sitting, without thinking, or feeling too much, because in today's hyper-sensitive society, feelings carry risk.

In terms of your PW specifically, Expanding Horizons. I don't know what happened to it, but in twelve years of RP, on many, many different sites, I can you tell what happens to a lot of PWs, and it's far less specific than you might be thinking. These things die on a regular basis and have been since the dawn of play-by-post.

First of all you have to understand that a lot of people on average get excited by the romantic notions of PW, sign up, then given the proper time, realize it's probably too much work and effort. We see this just in RPs, let alone something o the scale of a PW.

Most PWs die due to lack of actual direction and organization. You can take all the time and care in the world to design the settings, the lore, create all the factions and primary locations, work out the running plots and sub-plots, etc. But if there is no PW team to manage and guide those plots, and keep the player base organized, informed, and 'in the loop' so to speak, it will lose any and all individual interest. PWs are great, but there has to be a real point... Sandboxes are doomed to fail, because it's essentially chaos: A petri dish for characters.

I had seen someone else say that staff created it and then more or less abandoned it. To me this is hearsay because I don't know, but if there's even a grain of truth to that, you needn't look any further for answers. PWs don't look after themselves. Stories need a certain level of structure to be good, and therefore rewarding for serious players.

What went wrong with Expanding Horizons?

So other than your pet peeves how was the play?

@Ruby

I didn't read your RP, I was making a joke at the expense of Last Jedi. Figured should get something for my ticket and the 2 and a half hours spent in the theater that day.

All he did was tell old stories in new settings. None of his themes or storytelling was that revolutionary, and in fact much of it owes directly to some of the oldest hero traditions. Keep it simple and direct the hell out of the film was his gameplan.

@Ruby

Nothing about anything these days is revolutionary, but Star Wars revolutionized sci fi pop culture. It became bigger than its predecessors like Battle Star, virtually burying them for a decade in the 90s.

As someone who knows the lore, I'm surprised you don't know that the simplicity we got was a result of actually making a 2 hour, stand alone film.

Prior to completing a final script, George had a plethora of lore that, sadly, would have unnecessarily convoluted a 2 hour film plot. This lore included things like the Whills, which the Star Wars Story Group is now trying to weave back into the canon over time.

Sadly under Disney's prying gaze, we'll only ever get candy coated fluff along with any semblance of the old verse which may be offered.

Mythic Universe CS Format Test

Summary

Name: Owen James Thorne
Alias: Crusader
Nicknames: Illuminator (rookie handle), The Crusader of Light (given by media, eventually embraced and simplified)
Alignment: Hero
Species: Metahuman
Age: 41
Born: Citadel City, NY, 1978
Resides: Citadel City, NY

Appearance

Appearance

Costume Appearance

Distinguishing Marks: None

Powers/Skills/Equipment

Powers:
- Light Manipulation (Photon blasts, generation of light from body)
- Flight
- Enhanced Speed

Power Drawbacks/Limitations/Weaknesses:
- The use of his power for too long or pushing them too hard causes Owen's body to heat up, resulting in radiation burns, even death.

Skills: Leadership, conflict resolution, problem solving skills, martial arts training, kenjutsu training (never used to fight crime)

Available Equipment: SARA
SARA: Systems Analysis and Repair Algorithms, or ‘SARA’ for short. Designed by James Thorne, SARA is the world's most advanced artificial intelligence. SARA assists Owen in various ways. She is able to hack into security and satellite systems, as well as perform research tasks, and keep Owen informed and alert. Located at Thorne Tower, she is a side-kick, security system, and IT team, all neatly rolled into one sentient machine.

Personal Items: Gold Watch

Biography

HYPERION
My body is broken. My spirit scattered across the stars.

The cold black void approaches our last vestige of hope.

Children of Earth. I offer you the only gift I have to give.

James and Angela

James Thorne and Angela Monroe met while attending Citadel middle school together in the mid-1960s. They became high school sweet hearts and dated throughout college. James earned degrees in programming, mechanical engineering, and business, whilst Angela earned a medical degree. Out of college they married at twenty-six and were ready to settle down and start a life together. Angela began work as a Doctor at Citadel general, and James went to work for Global Tech working in the robotics laboratories. One year later, little Owen was born.

Early Life

James and Angela Thorne gave birth to Owen on April 16th, 1978, at 4:42am; The stroke of dawn. A tiny fragment of something ancient and pure resides within Owen and has given him meta-human powers.

He grew up an only child of upper-middle class parents in a nice neighborhood of northern Citadel City. He was skinny, weak, and socially awkward for the first twelve years of his life. He didn't have many friends as a result of his withdrawn personality, but at home he had all the love, acceptance and companionship he needed.

When he was nine, James quit his job at Global Tech. The years of conflicting interests and beliefs had pushed James out of the company. The next year he founded a new company with a college friend by the name of Vincent Grimm.

It was through Jame's business associate, Eddie French, that Owen met his best friend, Jacob French. Jacob was a funny, outgoing, tough kid from the east end of Citadel. He provided Owen with a loyal companion and protector when the situation called for it.

Thorne Enterprises

Founded in 1988 by James Thorne and Vincent Grimm. It started with the dilapidated, derelict husk of a building just outside of downtown Citadel. James and Vincent transform what was once an eye-sore along the harbor-front, into a pillar of human advancement. Thorne Enterprises is a multi-faceted company with floors in the fields of research, technology, products, and building contracts. The company also does a lot of work within the city and country, giving back to the people, and trying to assist in solving problems we share as a community and nation.

James and Vincent spend a decade developing state of the art technology, such as the ever-lasting battery, and the highly advanced AI, SARA. They diligently protect this tech from competitors who would seek to a raise market prices.

Owen

The year is 2000. Owen is now twenty-two-years old attending college on the west coast. He is earning degrees in business and programming. For the first time in his life, Owen's light manipulation abilities begin to manifest. Several weeks later, Owen receives a call to return home. James has thrown himself from the balcony of his office in Thorne Tower.

Owen returns to Citadel City to bury his father. He inherits the title of majority share holder of Thorne Enterprises, and reunites with Jacob French, who is now a rookie cop in the Citadel PD. Owen entrusts Jacob with the knowledge of his newly discovered abilities, and together they try to understand and develop them further.

[More to be developed via RP]

Personality/Mentality: Owen is a withdrawn introvert. Bottling up his emotions allows him to avoid them, and focus his energy on the needs of others. He is a true pacifist and peacekeeper. He struggles with the moral complexities of fighting crime, and goes into every situation with a problem solving mentality. Rather than fight the problem, Owen tries to solve it. Like his father, he is a selfless man who thinks only of others in his daily life, and at his job.

As a rookie hero, Owen is humble, peaceful, and lenient with criminals and villains. He receives better press than some other heroes due to his extremely passive style and consideration for the city and public in terms of safety and damage. Owen strives to do the right thing, and is often conflicted when put in dicey, loaded situations where tough choices have to be made.

Owen is a natural leader and humanitarian. His response to distress and suffering is to take care of both sides.

Portfolio

Occupation: CEO, Thorne Enterprises
Affiliations: TBD
Reputation: TBD

Teams: TBD
Allies: TBD
Enemies: TBD

Roleplays: Coming Soon...

Journal Logs

!UNDER CONSTRUCTION !

What went wrong with Expanding Horizons?

<Snipped quote by Loco Mofo>

Probably because this topic is talking about the former PW, which was rando mutiverse garbage. You're thinking about the current one.

@BrokenPromise

My mistake I misread the OP when he said new SW PW.

I know of at least one good SW RP to have existed at some point. And I don't even follow those RP's because I never saw SW. I think Ruby ran it.

@Odin

I've seen a few that were better than Last Jedi, if that's what you mean.

Problem is everyone wants to put thier own brand on everything, and you can't put any brand on SW except Lucas. It's too iconic and established.

So when a few people are trying to do decent grass roots Jedi, Sith, Empire, or Republic characters, looking for a meaningful Star Wars experience, that one kyber-katana wielding ex-Sith Jedi Academy drop-out turned bounty hunter just destroys it all by proxy. And some broken, self-centered, unicorn character build emerges in every RP known to man.

What went wrong with Expanding Horizons?

I have no idea what happened with the RP in question, but no one has mentioned that it's Star Wars. Point blank. This is sci fi gospel. As a huge SW fan, I can tell you there are 0 good SW RPs to my knowledge.

Never read a good one, because it's SW. I LOVE this shit. Disney can't do it, we can't either.

Mythic Universe Reboot [Format Test]

! UNDER CONSTRUCTION !

SUMMARY

Have you ever had a really good, well developed super hero or villain concept you wanted to do an RP for,
or may have ported into Marvel or DC?

This is a universe you can establish them in where they won't be alone, or alongside Hulk, etc.

This is a universe building project (many RPs) for original character concepts only. The goal is to flesh out a universe through the creation of characters and the development of those characters in origin stories, team-ups, cross-overs, and special series stories. As such, the universe will have many different RPs, with an ensemble roster of characters that interweave to create a larger narrative.

When it comes to OC super heroes and villains, I believe in the power of the origin story. You don't show up, having 'history' and form super teams to save the universe, you're an OC, not Captain America.

I want to assemble a small team of writers to co-develop the universe, on top of recruit as many able bodied hero/villain writers in the community as possible to hammer it and all of its Rps out.

In order to keep a lid on it, and establish a premise for the hero and villain dynamic, I created some lore.

ANCIENT LORE

In the beginning, there were only two.
Twin brothers and deities of The Cosmos.

Hyperion represented energy, light, and creation.

Hyperion

"You'll destroy it all, brother. Left alone and in the darkness you created." -Hyperion

Kronos represented matter, darkness, and destruction.

Kronos

Zeus: "What did you do, Father?"
Kronos: "What he couldn't. I ended it."

If I found the right person, I could let someone play him to take some of that burden off of me when the shit hits the fan.

The Rise of Kronos

The proverbial waltz was never-ending. A constant upkeep of the celestial balance between good and evil, light and dark, matter and energy. Constantly the struggle between light and dark. The cycle was relentless, lasting eons upon eons, before a restless Kronos grew impatient.

Seeking a resolution; some semblance of closure, let alone freedom, Kronos succumbed to the darkness and violence that consumes his very existence. He took staff in hand, taking Hyperion by surprise, and struck him down.

The Conquest of Kronos

Free from the bonds of his brother and duty, Kronos set forth, destroying planets one after another.

None could resist his might, until he discovered Tartarus and its indigenous Pyrophyte population of warriors. Who fought so hard in resistance that Kronos chose to enslave them using the promise of conquest and glory.

Harbingers

Known as Pyrophytes prior to being enslaved by Kronos. He deploys them like cannon fodder to do his leg work.

"Pyrophyte no more. You shall be known as my Harbingers of death and despair." -Kronos

The Children of Kronos

Over thousands of years, the decision to murder Hyperion began to weigh on Kronos. He somehow felt incomplete, restless still. He discovered a young, vibrant planet in a tiny, unspectacular corner of the cosmos… Earth.

Kronos began an experimental chapter of his existence. He birthed two sons, Zeus and Hades. Lesser deities birthed by the Pyrophyte Empress’ eldest daughter, despite the human appearance Kronos had designed.

Zeus

Modern


"The future rests in these tiny hands, little God Slayer." -Zeus

Writer needed to handle his character.

Hades

Modern


"My sweet, naive child...let me show you how it's done." -Kronos

The twins were told the story of their father and uncle, and tasked with a job similar to that which he and his brother shared, so long ago. They were to maintain the scales of good and evil on Earth.

For tens of thousands of years they watched over, sometimes even ruled over the planet and its young species, the threat of Kronos ever looming overhead. . .

MODERN DAY

The lore of old has been forgotten.
Zeus, Hades, fictional characters in old Greek stories and Disney cartoons...

Locations

Citadel City, NY

Citadel City, New York is the largest, most technologically advanced city in the world. Rich with metahumans, and crime for them to fight. Whilst it is the primary location at present, more are welcome.

Citadel City

Open to development. Provides a fixed location to make characters more accessible, and will be the primary location of the confrontation with Kronos, and it will pretty much take everyone to stop him.

Temples of Shadow and Light

In ancient Asia, two temples were formed in dedication to light, and darkness. They both trained warriors to carry out the will of their cause and masters.

Temple of Light

Founded in ancient China sometime between the Han and Tang dynasties. The Temple of Light represents the protection of innocent life, the prevention of violence, and the spread of virtue among humankind.

The Temple of Light has modern outposts and agents all around the world, including Citadel City.



Highly trained in the arts of wushu, judo, and qiang (spear/staff). Some are metas, some are not.

Temple of Shadow

Founded in ancient Japan sometime in the 11th century. They developed the shinobi code and techniques prior to spreading it via their agents throughout feudal Japan. They represent the use of violence to control one's own destiny. They teach unconditional loyalty to the temple.

The Temple of Shadow has modern outposts and agents all around the world, including Citadel City.



Highly trained in the arts of shinobi, kenjutsu, and jujitsu. Some are metas, some are not.

The modern era is when origin story RPs will begin to pick up.