A (SMACK) Guide

[TrueBlue©]

A Slightly More Advanced Guide to Character Creation

By TrueBlue(Copyrighted)
With a brief statement concerning the Power Level system by Kainus Maximus,
And a side note concerning character histories by Ninmast.
And then an afterword by Kainus again, which was sort of edited a little bit by TrueBlue(Copyrighted), but just to split it up into smaller paragraphs and capitalize stuff. Nothing cut out or anything like that.

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Author's Note: Due to generic silliness that could sooo easily be avoided, I've decided to add another Character Guide to the forum. It'll be very EAB-specific and a little more advanced than the Basic Guide, for those of you who think you know what you're doing but actually don't want to further learn and grow! ^_^

I'll write it in the same format as Spectral's guide, for simplicity's sake, and forego most of the introductory-explaining to save time and texts walls. Some very important topics are only lightly covered in here, and everything is really kept to simple, plain speak for the same reason (and for understandability >_>). This is only the Slightly More Advanced Guide, after all!

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Name: If I look at a profile and the first thing I do is roll my eyes, it's probably the name.

For the average Modern character, the name should be pretty normal, and suit the person without being too obvious. You can look up names on lots of websites, my personal favorite is Parenthood.com. There's also Babynames.com¹. Look up personality traits of your character; if they're an uber-coldhearted killer crime lord, you could look up names with "strong-willed," "clever," or "wealthy" in the meaning, something like that.

For Medieval characters, these being a minority, names are more flexible, but you still ought to be reasonable. I like to use less popular biblical names, since they're old and real. Avoid viking names unless you're actually making a viking, and then only if you're making a full-time viking. None of that wizard business on the side.

Making up your own names is fun, too, but control yourself. A good, generic rule of thumb that I like to use is, if you don't even know how to pronounce it, scrap it. Also, avoid giving your character names that A, you would suicide over if you had, or B, only one name, like "Bubble" or "Wedge." Those are not names, they are nouns, though the latter can also be used as a verb, and no self-respecting individual would tolerate them. They could be superhero aliases, (though dumb ones,) but use your head. This applies to characters in any era.

Also, do not name any of your characters "Bert."

Age: Even if the age of your character isn't known, you should still put what age they appear to be. Mid-twenties, early teens, late sixties. Since many of us have characters that age as we do, this policy is a good, generic one.

For demon shapeshifters, if you aren't certain, (and who ever is?) go ahead and round the age down to the nearest thousand, to be safe.

Gender: Because of the increasing popularity of transgendered characters, I have to ask you, please list what gender the character was originally, and explain right here, not later on in the History, whether or not they can switch genders, or have switched genders and are stuck, and what gender they prefer to be, if they have a preference.

For some reason, there's a quite brainless fear of putting more than three words in any listing above "Appearance." Please, if something up here needs explaining, explain up here. Really. Nobody likes reading through forty page histories and still having no idea what the heck's going on with the character until they finally get to the "Powers" section. Do you? Of course not. We've got a long way to go before we get to "Powers."

Race: Original and little-known races should be listed in the Race Topic if they're going to be used multiple times. Personally, I think that if you're only using a race one time, we can let it slide, but then you have to explain what bearing the race has on the character himself both power-wise, appearance-wise, personality-wise, etc. As much info as we would need to know, at least; you don't have to put in so much detail that we choke on it. Balance, grasshoppers.

Alignment: Ahh, Alignment! Smell it! Feel it! It's so convenient! Alignments are a very simplified preview of the character's personality. In this section, there really are limitations to what all should be listed. So! This is a list of the only alignments you should ever use: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral-Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil.

Now, there's always been the trend of putting "Himself" or "Whoever his organization is aligned with" as an alignment. I am writing this to put a stop to such foolish and irregular fooleries. You know who you are.

If you have a character with this alignment (that isn't an alignment), his alignment will likely be Chaotic Neutral, or perhaps Chaotic Evil, maybe even Lawful Evil in less common cases. You can always ask one of the staff if you aren't sure, since we know everything. Honestly, though, please don't use "Himself" as an alignment, it's positively irregular. Now that you know, don't ever do it again, okay?

Power Level: Ahh, Power Levels. Deceptively complex spawners of multi-page petty arguing, yet they are required for a character to be considered useable in the RPs. Believe it or not, there's a good reason why this system's been in place for upwards of four years, so instead of just directing you to the Power Level Guide, (also stickied on the Character Registration forum) I'll explain it here in my own words.

The main cause for the afore-mentioned arguments is the fact that many members just don't understand them, but it's not always for lack of trying, these ratings are actually kinda complex. Allow me to put another dogma to rest:

Power Levels are NOT a Rating of Your Character's Offensive Capablities Versus Those of Hapless Villagers.

Most especially not. Your character's Power Level is not a seizmograph so much as it is a review of their capabilities all-around. This and this are good, this and this are not so good.

One rule of thumb that I always get socked in the face for telling people is, if your character could defeat the average Power Ranger, they are High-Tier Medium or higher. If your character could not, they are Low-Tier Medium or lower. This is one very solid LAW in this world of shifting sands.

If you don't know anything about Power Rangers, you're not American. The average power ranger possesses the most absolute average known in armor, offensive prowess, defensive prowess, weapons, finisher moves, melee fighting, and hand-to-hand combat capability with no glaring weaknesses. Go watch on YouTube. I'm serious.

Remember to keep an open mind about another character's Power Level. There are plenty of characters who can beat other characters a whole Level above them, because they have some advantage of terrain or elemental weakness, etcetera. Power Levels are guidelines for whether or not a character might fit very well into a certain RP, rather than an iron "THIS CHARACTER IS MORE POWERFUL."

If you don't know your character's power level, make a ball-park estimate; Low, Medium, or High. We won't shoot you in the face if you're wrong, just put a question mark or some other note there, but please try to make an estimate.

Also, Kainus would like me note that, in quite a few cases, once your character hits High-Tier High, five times out of ten your character just can't beat another High-Tier High. As in the case of many super-ultra bosses, they're both totally unbeatable hopelessly, stupidly broken.²

Timeline: Timelines tell us what era your character is original to, as well as what eras are available to them. The most common era by far is Modern, followed by Medieval, and then Futuristic. Recently there's also been a noteable, if tiny increase in characters from the beloved but rather narrow Steampunk era. (Perhaps two characters now!)

And you time travellers, of whom there are too many these days: Your age has absolutely nothing to do with how many years you can go back or forward in time if your person remains static. -The Management

Appearance: Looks aren't everything, but they definitely count for something. Please, be thorough with your descriptions, and for the love of all that is good in the world, don't make it such a pain in the ass to read. (Personally, I like to arrange mine in a scripted format like this one for easy, crystal-clear reference.)

Hair: Hair color, hair style, and hair length... fur... horns, if you want... bows. Etcetera.
Eyes: Eye color, whether or not they change colors.
Skin: Skin tone. Ears sometimes. You can also list any tattoos or scars here, or you can save them for Outstanding Features.
Build: Slim? Moderate? Muscular? Obese?
Blood: Color, that is. May be omitted from a human's profile if they have normal, red blood, unless you really want to list their blood type, (weirdo.) but for aliens and other non-humans, I like to include this.
Attire: Clothing, so this can get a bit lengthy, but that's alright. You can also note here where they wear their weapons if they do, but you needn't describe said weapons yet, just listing where they are is fine and will save space.
Height: How tall? Exact numbers are good, but if you're not sure and you absolutely can't figure it out, that's okay.
Weight: Can be omitted, but it's another thing I like to include, especially for non-humanoids and android characters.
Outstanding Features: Here you can list those tattoos with crazy-long descriptions, any nose piercings, any scars and what kind of scars they are and what they might be from, etc.

Further advice, do not compare your character to any celebrities. By this I mean, "his hair is like Tom Cruise's in that one movie but different!" Oh-ho, don't give me that innocent look. You're guilty! You're ALL guilty!

Personality:

It's appalling how often this section gets skimped on or removed entirely from profiles. A character's personality is what makes them unique, not their powers or how much jewelry they wear. If you want a character to be truly original, play them like an actual person with actual thoughts and realistic emotions, not just a pawn or an avatar in a video game world. Think of your characters as real people.

To repeat myself, in order to make a character real, you have to play them like they're real. Many guides will tell you to base your characters on yourself. While this is solid advice, it only gives you one character. In order to combat this, many people make characters out of different fragments of their own personality. This is all well and good, but now you have characters that are nothing more than fragments!

To strengthen the originality and quality of your character's personality, you can try asking yourself how they would respond in different situations and, more importantly, why.

A good way to get the answer to that fleshed out is to roughly write out the personality you want your character to have, and then RP said character in a controlled environment, like an IMRP. Many times, the character will naturally stray from what you've written, so feel free to make adjustments.

But here again is the balance factor. If you always flesh out characters by reactions that naturally come to you, regardless of whatever you've written beforehand, you're likely to contract Allofmycharacters Arezactlythesame-itus. And that's a very boring and vaguely irritating disease to have. It also, ah, causes swelling of the face. It's pretty gross.

Six paragraphs in now, and what all should be in the Personality section, anyway? What constitutes as personality, and what should be left to other sections? First, give their most dominant trait. What sticks out the most about this guy? Build on it from there, ask yourself different questions. How would he respond if someone stole from him, if someone got the door for him, someone cut in front of him in line, he saw someone committing a crime, etc.

Concerning Angst:

Believe it or not, I'm not gonna diss 'em. Let's look at American Heritage's definition of Angst.

Angst: n. A feeling of anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression.

While angsty characters are often joked about and generally dissed for their unrealism, (which is silly, because here, again, YOU'RE ALL GUILTY) the fault usually just lies with whiny characters. Just because little Billy here has had a bad run doesn't mean he isn't entitled to a sniffle here and there, just don't make the rest of us cry you a river. That means don't dramaticallly allude to your past. Like, ever.

History:

Ahh, yes. Here, there be dragons! Dragons that devour brain children whole and laugh while you cry.

In more ways than one, the History can be the toughest part of a profile to finish. For one, it's often the longest part. For two, many times we don't even know the character's whole history, only interesting bits and pieces that, when brought together and organized for such a purpose as this, aren't very easy to explain or describe in terms simpler than a whole friggin' novel. Many people just put "WIP" and leave it at that forever. (For those of you not in the club, "WIP" is author jargon for "Well, I'm Pathetic.")

The only advice I can give you is to sit down, take a deep breath, and plow on through it. When you get bored or run out of time, take a break, save it on WordPad, come back to it later. A lot of people like to just post whatever they have and go, "Well, I didn't have time, so I wrote this in two minutes which is why it's bad. Shut up. WIP."³

Yeah, no. That excuse only works if you're on a school computer, and even then it's still pretty annoying.

The History should tell us who the character is. Start with when/how they were born, if that's special. If not, give us vague details about their childhood and upbringing and then go into when/how they got their powers, since, you know, most characters have powers. If they were created in a lab, give us some background for why.

Try to keep telling the story with the same attention to detail throughout, go from important event to important event in the same voice. A lot of people like to go from "Billy grew up in the city as an orphan on the streets. Then he was nineteen and he did random odd jobs," to, like, "William drew the cursed blade from its ornate sheath, the dreaded Tsukinagi. It sucked his gaze away for a split second. For that split second he could hear it begging for violence, singing to him for gory chaos as sweat trickled down his weathered brow. It would consume the man. But now he tore those thoughts away. 'I will not permit this dishonoooor!' He roared as he charged, blade high, the edge shining with that unquenchable bloodlust."

That... Yeah... On that note, there should be no dialogue in a character's History, anyway.

To explain myself better, try to keep close to the same emphasis throughout the History. Of course, some parts will need to be expanded on a little more than other parts, but don't go crazy like Billy.

After all that, end it with where they are now, what they're looking for, etc. Tada! You're nearly done with the profile now!

And a side note from Ninmast:

We're sorry, we can't find your destination. says:
Here, more than any other place, balance is key. If you have a paragraph in appearance (major kudos if you can) and a paragraph in personality (double kudos), but your history is only three lines, it makes the whole profile look top-heavy. As the single most important part of your profile, it may not hurt to aim for making it at least three times the length of your appearance or
We're sorry, we can't find your destination. says:
personality. However, this doesn't mean just skimping on the other two, smashing them into one line and then including the same blah three-line history. Regardless of how long the rest of your profile is, I would say your history should never be less than, at an absolute bare minimum, one paragraph, and I would strongly encourage making it longer.
We're sorry, we can't find your destination. says:
And for the love of all things literate and tasteful, THERE ARE OTHER CHARACTER ARCHETYPES BESIDES ANGSTY TWELVE-YEAR-OLD KILLER ORPHANS!!!
Dear Ambellina says:
*laughs*

Fun Fact: According to TrueBlue[Copyrighted]'s 2007 character survey of nearly fifty (50) characters, nearly three fourths of all characters had either no History at all or a History under two paragraphs long.

Powers: Along with their appearance, a character's powers are likely what will be remembered most about them. When someone refers to Star Peacefire, they think 'pink energy blasts'. When somebody refers to Mark Auvern, they think 'guns and gravity powers'.

What comes with being remembered, though, is that the powers run smoothly with the character altogether, or otherwise really stick out in your mind, for better or worse. This isn't saying your characters need a theme to be remembered, goodness knows True Monday is probably the most themeless character in existence, equipped with a Zorro costume, a frying pan, and a mystical, fire-shooting, anti-chaos halberd.

Not theme, no. Balance. Their powers may be part of how they're remembered, but when someone thinks of Star, they also think of the witchy attitude. Powers shouldn't be all there is to a character.

Now, wait a second, we've just written a whole profile, with a personality and a history and everything. How could Powers possibly be "all there is" with all that up there? Remember what I just said about balance.

It's a difficult thing to pin down and explain, but I feel I should say a few words about a thing called 'air' in profiles. Like how sometimes someone can have a 'snobbish air,' or an 'air of carelessness'? Different people have different airs, this strongly shows up in writing styles. Yes, writing styles even effect something that seems like it ought to be flat and plain, like character profiles.

When writing Powers, try to keep your air respectful and open. Explain yourself, not defensively (or sloppily!), but with a balance of dignity and bluntness. We don't like slogging through walls of technical explanation. Try to cut it down to a bottom line, and list reasonable limitations.

Furthermore: Inappropriate Powers and Otherwise Limiting You Guys' Creativity, Per Say, and Whatnot, For the Common Good of Humanity, and La De Dah.

A Mid-Tier Medium (5) Wizard cannot level a city, no matter the prep time. This is the law. So stop that.

It's not unusual for High Powered Freaks (HPFs) to have a gazillion powers, but does anyone ever even like those kinds of characters? Yeah. I don't know any Sentry fans.

Weapons: Also "Equipment," and really, that's a better title, but I really like Weapons because I just do.

That is a bad attitude to have towards RPing. You should always be open to better ideas, and when one comes along, absorb it for yourself! Never think to yourself, 'Well, this way is my style' because you know what? Your style SUCKS. Write with the goal of being understood, not to look smart or do your own thing.

The Weapons section is where you list everything your character carries, or has immediate access to, in the way of items that can be utilized in the assault of living and nonliving and unliving beings. It's where you list weapons.

According to True's afore-mentioned survey, at least one fourth of the characters surveyed carry swords, and a third of those carry more than one, and exactly one percent of all characters surveyed carry said swords on their backs in broad modern-daylight and are under 18. There being about 450 characters on the EAB, that is 4.5 characters too many. Be reasonable with what weapons your character has, and particularly, how they are carried. It works in animes, not in RPs.

Many members solve the problem of weapon storage by giving their character limited summoning powers, and some just add limited shapeshifting to the weapon to give them more variety without all the annoying little details. Both of these solutions are entirely legal and perfectly acceptable excuses, but not every character you make should have these abilities.

Naming your weapons is okay, but it's still kinda cheesy. The King's Blade, the Power Skillet, these are fine. But try to keep in mind some of the rules I suggested up there at the very top, under 'Name.' If you can't even pronounce it, Mister "Holy Blade Tsukinigami Barakukuniyan of the Seven Gods of Super Great," scrap it. If it's Japanese and has more than three syllables, scrap that, too. You should really also have no more than three weapons with Japanese names if your character isn't specifically a Japanese superhero or a Japanese villain.

Also, guys. Stop comparing your katanas to diamond. Diamond is very hard, but it is brittle. That stuff only works in animes. Just tell us your sword is fashioned out of an unknown alloy or protected with a special spell and thus is very strong. Trust me, we do not actually care to get into exact physics with you.

Weakness: Contrary to popular belief, at least one fatal flaw (i.e: an allergy to fire, a specific weakness against electricity, etc), is not actually required for a character profile to be legit. Nope. But half a brain is.

What do I mean? Well, think about yourself. Most of the RPers here (and I say most because most of you are guys, and that's how guys are) consider themselves very formidable opponents, physically and sometimes mentally speaking. Oh yes, absolute bamfs. Nerds.

Insultery aside, think about yourself again. You're a great fighter, right? Or you're extremely intelligent, or even both. But you aren't perfect, and you know that. Where's your imperfection?

Weaknesses are imperfections. Every character is required to be imperfect, characters that aren't are considered "god" characters and we hate them. But notice, your own imperfection probably isn't a weakness against dark magic or water elementals. It's probably something more mundane, like becoming frustrated or angry too easily and snapping at your allies, an overly vengeful attitude, or a low stamina, or being too stubborn or uncreative to change strategies when the one you normally stick with doesn't work. These are all weaknesses, and if your character has any character at all, they'll have at least one.

To wrap up this section, suffice it to say that you don't have to have a one-hit-kill weakness. At the same time, weaknesses like that are entirely acceptable and usually pretty interesting, just, they shouldn't really be all there is. What makes your character weaker than they should be?

To put the previous section-wrapping in some bubble wrap, make sure you actually abide by your character's weakness. I've seen quite a few times characters with weaknesses like, "Arrogant and underestimates enemies," only for this character to pay very good attention to his enemies. Play by the rules, guys. Just like yourself, your character can't possibly block every punch, even if he knows the technique to do so.⁴

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¹The websites mentioned also have surnames listed, just search for "surname" as the meaning.

²Broken: (Bro-kuh n) Adj. Nerd Slang describing a character with an idiotic level of power. "Hah, yeah. That Airoar is totally broken."

³WIP is actually author jargon for "Work In Progress." Which is basically the same thing as "Well, I'm Pathetic," anyway.

⁴I know this "sup" thing is for citing sources and all, but I like the little numbers...

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Afterword: By the Kainus Maximus! A word concerning Mary and Gary Stus.

We all have an idea of what the ideal character is. Whether they are strong, smart, attractive, or even the polar opposites of these, we all have a preference to play what we desire.

From my standpoint, I believe that anyone has the right to play what they wish to play as (the only exception being powergamers). Therefore, I do encourage you to play what you enjoy, despite what others may say, or how much gagging you may hear. However, it is good to take the advice of others in what they say and suggest. Try not to take it as an insult if someone doesn't leave positive comments on your character, they are only trying to help you make the best character you can possibly make. In that regard, if you are making comments on other peoples characters, you don’t need to jump out like the holy inquisition and accuse someone of creating Gary Stus. Everyone on this board, at one point or another, has made at least one in their life time.

The thing is, GS’s and MS’s don’t really matter that much in RP environments. They are horrible in fan fiction and regular fiction and such, but really, they don’t have as much disgusting control over RPs. Sometimes the creation of a GS/MS is used as a stepping stone for us to get higher, and we should help others get to that high point, not push them down and declare heresy.

It should also be noted, that it is the responsibility of the mods, to help people in the design of their characters. Often times, people come up with things that don’t work, and someone may shoot it down and that is the end of the story. If this happens, one should not hesitate to go to an admin (although I am rarely on the board these days, I am ALWAYS willing to help) and ask for advice on what to do. If they refuse to help you, then they aren’t doing their job (the exception being powergamers).

True presents an excellent (although, a tad ranty⁵) guide on how to get well on your way to creating not just regular RP characters, but characters people will like and tolerate and enjoy to share company with in their RP. You do not need to follow each point here to a T (though I strongly suggest taking the power level system to heart), but it may improve the quality of your characters, or at the very least, give you a good laugh.

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⁵ "I know! It's so great! !!" -True

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So there you have it, a Slightly More Advanced Guide to Character Creation. That is the real title, but it wouldn't fit in the subject line. Please keep questions, comments, and amendment suggestions to PMs and Instant Messenger. You can otherwise email TrueBlue© at true_blue_3243 at hotmail.com. I'll be here all week, ladies and gentlemen.

[Oathkeeper]

Quick Concern:

So my character, The Tank Man and his subsequent AU version... Are they bad characters because they intentionally break your rules?

[TrueBlue©]

First, I said don't post here, dammit!

Second, what rules are you even talking about? Not to name your character Bert? It's just a guide, doofus.

(And a damn good one, too.)