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Author(s): Aderyn
Date Added: 6/1/09
Last Modified: 9/12/09
Introduction
Welcome to Gates of Aedolyn (GoA)! The following guide is for new members to read so they may create a character for the Gates of Aedolyn setting. In order to roleplay, you are required to create an application for your character first.
A character application, or app for short, serves as your admission to roleplay in GoA. This is necessary to ensure that your character adheres to the rules and fits the setting. Once approved, your app gives other players you roleplay with information to reference to about your character. Players can glean more insight into your character than what is in your posts, which simply amounts to a better time roleplaying all around.
Your character app must be approved by moderators, known as Character Advisors, before you begin roleplaying in Aedolyn. To receive approval, players post their character app in the Character Pool board. The Character Advisors and other members as well will review your character and comment with feedback, changes, and ultimately approve or deny your character for admission into the world. You must obtain two out of three approvals from the Character Advisors.*
* NOTE: For now, an Advisor, Counsellor or the Administrator will approve all characters. You will only need one approval to be considered approved.
Before you begin creating your character, we strongly recommend you do the following:
- Learn The Rules for Gates of Aedolyn. The rules are quite simple and easy to remember. To summarize: be civil out-of-character; use proper spelling and grammar; do not post for other characters’ actions or reactions/do not post another person’s work as your own; behave realistically within Aedolyn’s physical environment; and remain true to the setting. The last of which is quite important.
- Read the documents in the Library to better understand the setting and background of Aedolyn. You do not have to read everything before your create your character, but enough for you to be comfortable with the setting. Aedolyn is set in the 6th age. The world is semi post-apocalyptic; the gods are dead, civilization a shadow of what it once was, and people are addicted to time traveling to past ages like a narcotic. There is very little semblance of “normalcy” left; all people in Aedolyn are affected. The best way to show us you are familiar with the setting is to incorporate this into your character’s background when you create him or her.
- Go through a few existing approved character apps in the Character Essence board at your leisure to get a feel for what other people have done. You may see that some people chose to use their own modified versions of the application below, or have written abnormally wordy apps. There is no “right way” to do an app other than to somehow incorporate the fields below. A humorous example of a character app is the Ham Sandwich.
The Character Application
Once you are more familiar with Gates of Aedolyn, you are ready to make a character application. The following information is what needs to included in your character app. You do not have to limit yourself to the fields or format listed below. Be creative, and if you need any clarification, do not be afraid to ask.
Name: Character names should be original and reflect the fantasy genre of GoA. Characters need not have a surname, and first name-only characters are perfectly acceptable.
Age: How old your character is. Keep in mind races age differently.
Sex: Male or female?
Race: Players have a choice of the races found in the people doc.
Occupation: What your character does to survive, such as living off the land or a job to make money.
Appearance: How your character looks. Paint a detailed picture with your words, and include such things as height, weight, hair, eyes, and build.
Personality: This seemingly benign piece of information will largely impact in what way you roleplay your character. What makes your character tick? What drives him or her? Why does he or she do the things they do?
Alignment: Which of these alignments is your character?
Skills and Abilities: What your character’s proficiencies are; weaponry, survival skills, knowledge, magic, etc. Skills are generally things your character has learned, and abilities are things your character has an innate talent for. Explain how they learned their skills or acquired their abilities.
Possessions: Any unique items of note that you feel are important to your character.
Strengths and Weaknesses: The amount of a character's weakness must be equal to or greater than the amount of strength. While your character's combat abilities are important, we actually want you to think of other aspects of your character's personality and characteristics as a whole than just where they excel in a fight, and where they are vulnerable, when deciding your character's advantages and disadvantages. These things may encompass, but certainly are not limited to: social, career, racial, intelligence, etc.
History: Your character’s history shows us what helped shape their personality, what experiences in their past have made them what they are today. What is most important here is a great deal of detail. We recommend writing at least 4 to 5 paragraphs. Be mindful of your spelling and grammar. Your character's history must take place in Aedolyn; we won't accept characters from different settings.
** Please post your app only once it is complete and you are ready to have it reviewed (no "WIP's").
Post-approval and Character Housekeeping
After you have your character app approved and moved to Character Essence by the Character Advisors, you are ready to begin your roleplaying journey in the realm of Aedolyn. We recommend that you start or find a roleplay in the Player Sphere board next.
In the near future, a Mentor will be assigned to new players, and a player will receive a PM from him or her after their character is approved to help them get started. The assignment of a Mentor will be automatic. However, a player can choose to opt out at any time.
Here are some protocols you want to be mindful of once your character is approved:
- A character may only be present in one thread at a time, with the exception of special events, mentor-mentee roleplays, and guild initiations. Time traveling is not included in this exception. If the special event takes place in the past, a character may not acquire new skills or noteworthy items, thus altering their future, that the character does not already possess in the present.
- There is no limit to the number of characters a person can have.
- It is a person's responsibility to label their roleplays closed and their characters retired. Moderators will not take action to label or move any old threads into a special archive board, and will let them stay in the boards they were originally posted in indefinitely. When you have participated in a number of roleplays with your character, we suggest maintaining a log in your profile with a list of links to your roleplays in sequential order, which will create a "story" so other people can see how your character has developed up to the present.
Once again, Welcome to Gates of Aedolyn!
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