Epic Characters

[Kainus Maximus]

I came up with this idea while looking at some stuff from the game Warmachine. In Warmachine, you may select a general character (or Warcaster) to lead your army. At higher point levels in the game, you have the option of picking advanced forms of these characters known as Epic Warcasters, they are the same characters, but time has moved on, they have gained more wisdom with their age, along with power.

My thoughts, are why not apply this to characters? Players can create future versions of their characters based on certain futures, and these can apply to seperate RPs. A new section will have to be created to store these characters (nobody wants to have to see the same character 8 times if they dont want to) and this can allow for new RPs as well.

I should note, these are somewhat AU, but not entirely, these are for characters in their later years, so something might be different down the road, but their begining is no different from the begining of the character it is based off of.

What are your thoughts on this?

[LotusBlackfire]

I like the idea, kinda had that in mind for AJ, but im guessing this would allow for different paths the character could have taken correct?

[masterveers]

Sounds good like a good plan, kind of like KOTOR where you can show the different path your character could have taken in there ladder years.

[Silva]

So what you're saying is there should be a way to use already existing characters, only in their more advanced ages tagged along with "what if" scenarios on what they do along the way? That can work, they'd be confired to just one or a few threads, but still plausable. I think some of us have even tried alternate history characters, I know Ninmast has, so it'd essentially work the same way as that.

[Giant Brother]

Okay, so these would be like History RPs, except in reverse? Well, I already have older versions of a few characters, but hey, a little AU never hurt anyone.

[Ninmast]

We already do this. We mark them as Future True or Adult Karen. I don't see why this needs a special area or special rules or special RPs.

[EJP]

Well... as much as I hate to steal Spectral's lines even though I've gotten away with using him and them as a refferance in college papers, in this I feel "Meh". Truthfuly, yes I do have designs for updated/upgraded characters in my head. Such as Having Tigerwolf becoming darker, more powerful, and discovering what he truely is. But all of that doesn't really need to be done for special reasons or RPs. Unless... you mean to have an RP, where Everyones characters have to have some shared experience or they all had a some dark violent thing happen to them that sent made them a bit loopy compared to their normalness.

Well truthfully I don't know what to think of all this so I'm just going to stand with "Meh" until I can get my thoughts figured out.

[LotusBlackfire]

well for ninmasts question its more along the lines of multiple adult forms in which different stuff happens therefore different outcomes making that charactre like how he is

[Kainus Maximus]

Future wont work, and I dont like the 'adult' premise.

I cant exactly label an Epic version of say Daristan Tannes as future, he doesnt exist in a future enviornment like the future descriptor said (or said anyways) and some people will have many versions of their characters. Epic is not simply future, Epic is ONLY for characters who already exist. It would be nice to have a category for versions of the same character so we dont have to see the same character multiple times (I will talk to you on this personally Ninmast) the idea behind this is giving people more freedom, more options, and more inspiration to become more creative with their characters. We have that with some people already, but it's only a few, and hardly used, not to mention some problems attatched (as said, I'll talk with you in private).

We talked about adding new rules and such in the past, this will make things more crisp and clean.

[Ninmast]

It could, but at the same time, it may just be extra weight. I don't see how this addition would serve any great cause that is not already provided by the present system. It seems to me like when we discussed breaking down all the RPs into sub-boards for time period and power level. A nifty idea, but ultimately more trouble than it is worth.

I understand the kind of characters you're talking about. The future characters are not necessarily set in stone, but they are one facet of what the character could be.

To use True as an example, there is an adult True that is more serious and more of a techy. But there are also two other versions of her, also addressing future or alternate versions of her.

Star also has alternates. To my knowledge, she has at least five present-time alternates (Sailor, Non-Tomboy, Dark, Chibi and Male) and four futuristic alternates (Future Tomboy, Future Non-Tomboy, Future Dark [special thanks to EJP Gallant for her creation] and Full Angel).

There's two versions of Karen (Teen and Adult), Ixion (Good and Evil), Epsilon (Classic and Mk. 4) and Heihachi (Samurai and Shade).

There's two versions of David Connor (I.P.D. and Gundam) and ARIEL (OS and Android).

There's two versions of Quicksilver (Original and Styx).

There's two versions of Mark Auvern (Classic and Detective).

All of these can be supplied in the present form, but with your suggestion, I see something happening like the History RP section. If there's one thing I hate about that section, it's the restrictions. You can't use pre-existing characters. Period. You can only use characters from the past. I couldn't use Maxwell in Corruption. I had to use Siafanar. Regardless of the fact that Maxwell hadn't met any of the other people in that RP, I had to use someone else.

I see the same thing happening with these characters. They will be locked into participation and that will be the only available option, regardless of what anyone wants, likes or prefers. The moment we say this is this and that is that and from now on, we're not allowing them to even know the other exists, that's when we've locked down the RP and nailed imagination to the ground.

[Kainus Maximus]

Some of your examples are not related to the subject, we are looking at characters who from the point in their characters page, are considered to have many to several years pass (over 10 at least) and are still considered canon, or have a different future. This is NOT for complete AU characters.

I did not plan on creating a seperate sub board for RPs, nor did I plan on simply banning all non Epic characters from participation in the RPs (If I said that earlier, I mispoke, and apologize), in fact quite the opposite. Most characters for the RPs, can warp through time and space, ussually ending up back or forward in time. I was however, planning for a sub board for the characters. It can keep them more organized and such, and not plug up the character's board with repeats of the same yet slightly different character. I'm not trying to create a new style of RP, I'm trying to a seldom used existing one, by expanding the time space dimension ideals, allowing for more characters. However, if we do this, and it works, we'll need a new area for the characters, as I said.

(And just because I'm nit picking, There is no "Classic" Mark, the detective version is considered canon over the original)

[Ninmast]

But I liked Classic Mark ... He was grumpy and moody and unconventional ...

Alright, I suppose what I'm missing is how this seperate board is necessary. I get that Pyran or Full Angel Star would be Epic characters, but why a special area? You said to prevent duplicate characters, but regardless of which section they're in, they're still going to be in the registry, right? So wouldn't that just be kinda an extra hassle?

[Subtle]

This is obviously somthing people would enjoy using and create content for. Its probobly about as nessacary as the story section on the site, and if we can have that, I dont see why we can have this.

[CHANGEME]

We could just keep alternate and future versions of the same characters to the same thread, just in different posts.

[Ninmast]

subtle said:

This is obviously somthing people would enjoy using and create content for. Its probobly about as nessacary as the story section on the site, and if we can have that, I dont see why we can have this.

The story section is very important. This is, after all, the Elite Authors Board, not the Elite RPers Board.