• Last Seen: 2 yrs ago
  • Joined: 11 yrs ago
  • Posts: 888 (0.22 / day)
  • VMs: 0
  • Username history
    1. Prince 11 yrs ago

Status

User has no status, yet

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts

Superhero RP's can be fun, but I rarely find heroes wrote well-enough for my tastes. I often see characters meant to justify their powers or meant to fit the theme of their powers, and the depth ends there. This isn't universal, and that's another problem, actually. A lot of the time you will have these fantastic characters with great depth. So much that they can reference back key events or even minor influences from their childhood into present day decisions. But, those characters exist within the same setting of the ADHD Speedster that was part of some freak accident because he was running on two days without sleep while interning for his Masters at 22, and literally having no other depth. None. No familial ties, no youth history; he was just a stressed out kid with attention issues and an insanely fast work pace trying to finish uni ASAP. That's being GENEROUS, in fact. So, when you put that in contrast, it just creates this illusion or observation that some heroes are "better" than others even if they aren't more powerful, and that's never healthy, it always causes in-fighting. On top of that, there's always the guy trying to play the de facto hero, like Robin, but after following through with the RP for a while, another character is better liked and less impulsive, and there becomes a huge conflict when they want a new leader.

Superhero RP's, in my experience, can be some of the most fun, but simultaneously they capture the attention of far different kinds of writers at different stages in their life as well as often have VERY strong conflicting themes that just can't easily be dealt with.
A major contributor, especially in crossover RPGs, is when powerlevels are compared. Essentially "my dad can beat up your dad"


I always fixed that by immediately creating un-achievable bars. I have a chat-based roleplay that still go on in a universe of a roleplay I started years ago that has became so extended I might as well forfeit ownership of it. It all started, and maintained itself, because of three "S-tier" individuals, and I just plain never allowed RPC's to be S-tier. Basically, make someone have the biggest dick, and anyone that's there to stroke their own is just gonna skip the roleplay. Although it throttles activity at first, it successfully secures health. The strongest character, if I recall, boasted teleporting up to 9 times in one second and controlling electricity to such a degree he could finitely override your central nervous system to control your own body while also being able to conjure plasmatic jetstreams a few meters in diameter to disintegrate anything they touched. He was broken, he was meant to be, and because he was no one tried to push the benchmark.
Shouta, quite honestly, wasn't a fan of this girl. She could bare his will, but just barely. It wasn't as if he was intending to crush her with it - just make a point. Still, he felt she didn't grasp her position. There were many members of the crew whom showed potential. Alicia, if she was as skilled as she claimed, then all she needed to do was truly learn to use a sword. Nolan, the quickest to run off for Alicia, showed his concern for his crew. Luro was the quickest to actually grasp the ocean of different between Shouta and the rookies. Even Ray had the nobility to offer his blade. But, Runali... what did she have? What made her the adhesive force to this crew? Shouta didn't see it; at least, not in his first encounter with them. And, for that reason, his silent judgement of her was that her innocent naivety was equally a dangerous ignorance.


Regardless of what the captain might have said, Shouta was quick to grab the rapier with his bare hand and simply warp it through raw strength. A blacksmith could fix it, sure, but it would never be perfect again. Such was the nature of the blade. Shouta said, "I shall talk to youse in a moment, boy, but all I can say to'er is that if'n a man be willin' to 'imself an'is blade on the line for ya, it be the rudest gesture to turn'm down. You best learn tah value those aroun' you, Runali." Shouta was just as quick to let go of the rapier, leaving it with long stretch marks and portions of its formerly coherent steel warped and bent. Shouta felt as if his words had instantly made an impact, however, as Runali darted off after her dagger was broken in an attempt to comfort the one they called Alicia. Maybe it was just her priorities. Maybe she was just sexist. Maybe, Shouta pondered, Runali did not value acts of valor like that of Ray when she could visibly see that Alicia was upset. The tendencies of a woman... just his thought.

Shouta slid his hand into the same satchel he put the longer blade portion of Alicia's now-broken blade into. He pulled out a small sack of coins and threw it on the table, skidding it across the surface. Had he been sober, this might have worked, but in his drunken stupor, Shouta slid the bag a little too hard, knocking it into the floor and spilling out a few platinum coins. The bag was small, sure, holding no more than fifteen or twenty coins, but it was worth more than five bags of gold the size of Ray's skull. "Take it, son, an' get yerself a new blade. We're pirates, sure, but livin' by honor ain't wrong. Get yerself a better one. Get yerself whatever youse like, actually. Protect her, 'cause she's gonna need it if'n that's how she acts all the time." Shouta sighed, mostly because he felt like a softy, but at the same time he felt sympathy for he who seemed disregarded when acting honorably. Granted, he was a pirate. He was also drunk. Shouta was a lot of things, really. And, it wasn't about to stop. Shouta grabbed the bottle of whatever spirit he had ordered; actually, he wasn't even for sure if it was his bottle. He then downed a big gulp of it, spilling from the sides of his mouth as if he were parched.

"Jus' be doin' me a favor... talk less, an' act more."
I prefer dull, neutral colors. Using sheer contrast, they normally make it easier to read. Darker tones are just easier on the eyes. The original site Fox had also had a really good palette with orange-browns and muted red. mixed with some tans. My natural color scheme is just black/white/gray, though. I also experimented with some more complex color schemes and themes, but I either a) had to script them in raw text or b) couldn't alter their color from pinks and purples in the visual editor for the life of me, so I didn't want to make anything I couldn't teach someone else to use easily at a later date. That was one of my bigger factors: regardless of what I make, I want to be able to teach either Fox or Aki how to effectively use whatever editor it has at a later date (assuming Fox doesn't, idk what her actual skillset is).
I do have this mocked up for you: http://pirate-age.boards.net/

- Complete with a fully-functioning back-up forum (you can see the IC/OOC)
- Complete with archive; as of now, the archive could simply be a dump for every current IC-post; by request, I could also make individual archive threads per player for their own assurance
- Complete with a functioning portal that includes a profile center and chatango
- Added community section that can evolve upon requests and give added functionality to provide more features than just being a back-up/archive
- Although wide screen users might find the size of the site a bit off, it's actually meant to be tablet-and-phone friendly; keeping it lightweight in the event of guildfall
- Fairly simple to use with basic BBCode and profile editing options; I choose it over other sites, such as weebly or zetaboards, due it its simplicity without sacrificing stability, reliability and functionality. No lag, little downtime.
- Possibility for expansion through Plug-ins. (I didn't delve too deep into these possibilities as I didn't want to invest too much of my own time to be shot down)
- I can also add and edit pages as we see fit to throw on the rules, wanted posters, etc or we could simply make individual boards for such.

Anyway, this is just a rough draft. I went through Invisionfree, zetaboards, freewebs and a couple other hosting sites to see which had the greatest ease of use, lowest learning curve and best overall look (as you might have guessed, I prefer dark tones). Throw in whatever advice or input you want. Fox, as a graphic designer, might be able to spruce up another more customized theme, or we can just stick with this one. Editing this particular forum is fairly easy, so I can likely assist in such an endeavor. My goal was to combine functionality with ease of use.
You have the Prince. His resources are great. :) If a site you want, a site you shall have
And to think I'm notorious for my toxicity. Lol


Luro, in his stammering, let it slip. Runali was the captain, huh? She seemed like a little girl. She seemed even more naive than the girl whose sword he just snapped, younger than the girl that could be compared to a fairy, and far too young to be leading the men that were following her. Granted, Shouta had met many young individuals and even women that were capable leaders, but she a stark contrast to what he had seen in the past. That wasn't necessarily bad. In fact, two of the previous supernovas gave Shouta a similar impression, albeit for different reasons. None of that mattered now, however.


The intense gaze of Shouta fell on Runali. This is why he was the judge. Even drunk, his will was indomitable. Even if she could bare the weight of his will, no one alive would fight off the pressure that one could feel through his gaze. He was the judge. He wasn't judge evaluating, either. He was the jury and executioner, and it was visible from his gaze alone. He wasn't just going to pass some opinion onto her, that was made obvious by the fact he asked for her alone. He hadn't even judged them. No, this was different. He was passing verdict. What she would do, as Captain - as a good Captain - to make up for Alicia. The girl had failed in her 'challenge' so miserably, but more so she challenged a man and his word for the sake of her pride only to accomplish nothing. What did that merit? Not just for Alicia, but how would that reflect onto the Captain and crew as a whole?

"Runali, you will stand before me," he told her, a declarative sentence. Disobeying him might result in something as drastic as a crushed skull, if he caught her. Even if he didn't verbally communicate, the atmosphere he created wouldn't fail to. "That woman represented you and yer crew, but she failed to even leave an impression dat could make me remember'er name... what does 'at say of teh Stardusk? -- Don' answer. Don' waste yer breath; I know, but you don' seem to. I broke her sword teh break her will so she may build it back up stronger. As weak as you all are now, you won' make it long in this worl'. You will die a sailor's death, an' ain't no one gonna save ye miserable asses," Shouta spoke to Runali, almost speaking down to her at this point.

"Youse will face teh same punishment as'er. You will give me yer blade, be a sword er not, an' I'm gonna break in front of teh rest of yer crew. Difference be, you will show it to her an' you will keep it as a token of yer shame. If you ain't got any blade, girl, you be just dimwitted enough I may rip off yer arm," he told her, explaining what was to happen to her. It wasn't the worst, by far, but it had a definite symbolic gesture. After a brief moment of silence, Shouta added, "an', girl, if you ain't got a sword now, get one. It ain't about usin' it; a captain don' need to be a swordsmen. A sword is a symbol of leadership, girl. When a captain raises t'ere sword, the whole crew shoul' follow." Even while passing down his verdict and even explaining his punishment, Shouta was not without his words of wisdom. A harsh judge he was, sure, but far from a cruel one.
Google Chrome with a docs saver feature. The whole thing can crash, but I have saved hard copies of every single text character in an input box. More useful for college, but help here, too. :D

It seems Luro hit some hard reality.

Edit: Shouta ain't such a bad guy...
Tuuj, buddy, you could have totally used the Kermit Meme there.
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet