Feedback is most welcomed!

[Valiant 96]

Seeing the lack of activity on this board, I'm going to try get things started.

 

Advent Destiny is still a growing site and much of what we have are still in the testing stages. I hope that everyone would bear with the various problems that comes up, be it coding-wise, administrative-wise or RP-wise.

 

I would like to extend my invitation to all members to voice their opinions and provide feedback on how we can improve the site. Please understand that as much as we like to implement as many features as we can, much of what we can do is limited by the resources and knowledge available to us.

 

However, I hope that discussions on the various ideas you might have might turn into something fruitful.

 

I'll state my dream for Advent Destiny once again. I hope that this site will continue to grow and improve for years to come. I want that to happen. I have been to sites that have been around for 7, 8 years. Why can't we do the same? 

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

Let's see....

 

How about making OOC discussion threads for various role playing threads? If we'll be making one for the pilot academy, maybe we can make one for others as well for consistency as well as making the other role playing threads cleaner.

 

Of course, another would be to put an exemplary or example profile for new users to take a look and try to follow so that they would not have to redo theirs so many times over.

[Valiant 96]

The former would be possible if anyone who needs to chat OOCly takes the initiative to start a new thread in the RP discussion board.

 

The latter could be done by adding it to the guides. However, I believe that in doing so, it might influence the way profiles are written. I rather not taint or shackle their imagination by showing them a model profile. But that's just my opinion.

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

The former would be possible if anyone who needs to chat OOCly takes the initiative to start a new thread in the RP discussion board.

 

The latter could be done by adding it to the guides. However, I believe that in doing so, it might influence the way profiles are written. I rather not taint or shackle their imagination by showing them a model profile. But that's just my opinion.

 

All well and good with the first one, but we don't exactly have to show how it's done to the most minute detail. Instead, we can merely give suggestions instead of showing an entire profile, say suggestions regarding what sort of details to add in more, and maybe just show but a short blurb of a good profile so that new users and new role players won't be so lost.

[Valiant 96]

You are always welcomed to submit a guide

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

Nevermind. Apparently you already have a rough guide in Character Creation. All that needs to be done is just to add on a few more details or just a straight example.

[kct 0]

Or we can make recommendations of how the whole thing is carried out.

[Valiant 96]

You can always make new guides. We welcome that.

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

Okay, this is done according to the template. Hope it's actually something new...

 

General

 

Full name: (Use original names. Names must fit with the nationality of the character or how he/she looks like unless explained thoroughly in the 'Personal History' section.)

 

Good example: Aiden Smith

Bad example: Tanaka Johnson, Blaine Yamato (The less references to canon characters, the better).

 

Nickname: (Use your imagination! Or you can even make use of legends from various mythologies. Just no references to the canon. Nothing too corny/cheesy as well.)

 

Good example: Shadow Dancer

Bad example: Destiny Warrior

 

Age: (One of the most important factors. PLEASE make sure that the age is reasonable.)

 

Good example: 18, 22, 27

Bad example: 13, 14, 66

 

Gender: (Self explanatory).

 

Race: (Only Naturals and Coordinators allowed. No Newtypes or SEED modes. If you wish to be an Extended, ask for permission from the moderators and only confirm it when it is granted.)

 

Occupation: (Occupations must go in accordance with the faction you wish to join later on when applied for. Remember: These are modern times. Try not to refer back to things which are long gone and things which are redundant to whatever you wish to be: military personnel or civilian. If the need arises, please do explain in detail in the personal history.)

 

Good example: Pilot, 1st Sergeant, journalist.

Bad example: Cook, Ronin, Salesman

 

Birthplace: (Self explanatory. For Extendes, permission must be granted.)

 

Citizenship: (Self-explanatory.)

 

Personality: (Try to add as many details as you can about his personality. What he likes, why he acts that way etc. Don't be stingy on the details. Try to reach at least one large paragraph or split them accordingly. For help, refer to Character library for reference. Eventually some of his behaviour should be linked up with his personal history.)

 

Appearance

 

Height: (Self explanatory. Nothing too tall or short. Remember for pilots that unrealistic heights might mean that your character might not fit into the cockpit comfortably, which would affect piloting skill.)

 

Good example: 1.56-1.85 m

Bad example: anything below or above mentioned range.

 

Weight: (Again, nothing too heavy or light. Must be in accordance with the Build mentioned below.)

 

Good example:45-90 kg

Bad example: weight below or above mentioned range.

 

Hair Colour and Style: (Take note: Natural hair colors only allowed. Anything out of the norm must be dyed or due to some health problem which must be stated clearly in the personal history.)

 

Good example:Black, Brown, Auburn, dyed Blue or Green.

Bad example: 'Natural' Blue with gray fringe. You're making a realistic character, not Saruman of LoTR fame.

 

Eye Colour: (No multi-colored eyes or eyes of different color unless explained thoroughly in personal history.)

 

Identifying Marks: (Nothing to drastic. It's hard to be original here but don't put any if you can't think of one.)

 

Skin Tone: (Self explanatory.)

 

Build: (Keep in mind this goes hand in hand with your height and weight. A 1.55m male weighing at 70+kg means that he would be squat and stout.)

 

Clothing: (Something normal/simple will do. Be original and creative.)

 

Handiness: Self-explanatory.)

 

Background

 

Mother: (Try to state job and status here or in personal history.)

 

Father: (Try to state job and status here or in personal history.)

 

Siblings: (Try to state job and status here or in personal history.)

 

Wife/Girlfriend: (Try to state job and status here or in personal history. Ask for permission if you want your character to have a relationship with another.)

 

 

Personal History: (Okay, this one's the toughest. I highly recommend you take a look at the personal history from the character library, use that as a reference ONLY and make up your own. Try to put in as many details as possible, linking back to your identifying marks and personality as well as citizenship , job scope and family background. No one paragraphers here. Separate certain details at his childhood life to his teenage life and up to the military life into various paragraphs, for example.)

 

Lastly, use punctuation and spelling checks every now and then and save your profile at intervals lest you make a mistake. Take note that these rules are not made to make you suffer, but to provide you with a more realistic and enjoyable role playing experience. )

 

Don't know if this is good or bad...Might drive away some new RPers with all sorts of rules. Of course, an assurance at the back would be good. Oh well...Just a suggestion, anyway.

[kct 0]

I don't know, this is just to complement F.A.I.T.H's guide (I do not need Geass).

 

Full names can either be a self-made name, or one generated using several name generators. Make sure that it is relevant to the ethnic of the character (example, for someone who is a Japanese, use a Japanese name, UNLESS there are reasons for a name that does not really look the part, for example, adoption).

 

If you do not really want a nickname, you can just put the first name of the character for that section (pretty much what I did). It is your choice to have the name, but make sure there is a reason for it (example, for my Coliseum character, his connstant switch of tactics gave him that nickname).

 

Regarding the subject of age, try not to be too young, and try not to be too old, UNLESS you have permission from the admins/mods for it (like winder's ever-loli character), or that you have a valid reason for it (like the character is a president or something, lynnks' character looks that part).

 

Gender is as above, meaning self-explainatory in any way. As for characters that aren't exactly straight (like my Sayaka-chan), state their true/original gender (meaning only males or females).

 

Race has been throughly explained above, but Newtypes are to be selected in random by the admins (although they would be classed as either Natural Newtype or Coordinator Newtype). No 'Perfect Coordinator' and stuff like that, we try to maintain a certain level of fairness here.

 

Occupation is dependent on the status. Non-military personnel can have a more conventional job (don't we remember that OPA's a cook) compared to the ones in the military, as for those awaiting status of their mobile suit pilot training results, it is advisable to leave it blank or something similar. Try not to have something over-the-top (like some kind of member of a royal family), without a reason.

 

Try to state the birthplace of the character, even if the character lives in an entirely different country (like mine ). For the ones who are born in 'unnatural circumstances' (i.e. clones and Extendeds), ask for permission.

 

Citizenship is based on the allegiance of the character at the moment.

 

Personality, try to have something different from the norm. You can get an idea of how the character would act, or at least model them from something that you have seen before. Overly perfect characters are obviously out of question, as everyone that walks around the world is at least a human, be it Natural, Coordinator or else. Of course, a good personality character description would also make it easier for someone to approach your character, or at least have an idea of what is there to be expected from the said character (my character can be passed off as someone 'tsun-tsun', meaning that she does get angry easily if conditions are unfavourable).

 

On the subject of appearance, think carefully on how you want your character to look like. Don't let the restrictions on items like hair colour, do-not-look-like-canons, etc. dampen your spirit, I believe one can create a truly unique character, even with imposed limitations. If you are unable to think of a proper look for a character in mind, there are a lot of pictures on the Internet that you can use to model the appearance of the character (something I did and advised some of us here to). If there is several additional information regarding the character you based the look on (like height, weight, 3-sizes, etc.), then use that to your advantage! Otherwise, try to think of something that fits right (girls usually range from about 40kg to 55kg, and guys would usually go from 55kg to about 90kg, unless the said person is fat by nature). For clothing, you definitely need one for uniform (if you are member of a faction), one for other-than-official business. The keyword here is knowing how to use the rules to your advantage (there are some good-looking characters, although I don't know about mine). For handiness, ambixdetrous people would have a slight disadvantage for lacking a major hand (resulting in stuff like confusion in juggling).

 

For character relationships, keep it simple. If you do not wish for anyone to hit on your character, try to state that he or she is not looking for anyone.

 

The background is no doubt the hardest part when it comes to creating a character, as some of us here tried to steer away from the convention. Looking around the character databases gives you a general idea on what to look at in a character, although the easiest way would be making a personal history and how the character came to behave that way. Try to seperate the history into numerous stages, like childhood, teenage life and so on.

 

Additional information, like hobbies and stuff, can be added for the people to know your character better, and hence learn on the proper way to interact with your character (for example, my character is VERY SENSITIVE at people telling stories that she is not straight).

 

I guess that is it for now, it is hard figuring out what to write in such a short time.

 

As for scaring away the newbies, I think this is more than enough to guide them through the whole process.

Edited March 29, 2007 by Guest

[Valiant 96]

Guys, post them in the rules and information board.

 

Make a new thread for each guide so that whoever has questions about or additions to the guides can reply to the appropriate guide.

 

Good work but I believe some things still can be worked on. I have yet to read it all. One thing I noticed is the vague explanation of the age in FAITH's guide. It'll be better if you could explain why the examples are bad.

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

Sorry about that. That guide was done in about 10 minutes, so I neglected to check if my spelling was correct and if I missed out anything.  Maybe we can make two separate guides based on kct's and mine.

 

Basically, the examples based on the age is that pilots cannot be too young or too old as the former might be too young of age to actually understand everything and one issue that pertains to both too young and too old: The physique of those individuals. The stress might be too much for either of them to handle.

Edited March 29, 2007 by Guest

[Valiant 96]

Yes yes, you are most welcomed to make as many guides. Please do

[kct 0]

Maybe we can make two separate guides based on kct's and mine.

 

Nah, you can insert the bit parts from my guide, although I would try to write up something about determining the appearance of the character later on.

[kct 0]

Bumping this.

 

Since F.A.I.T.H is done with his character profiles guide, we should move to one of the other guides the old site have: character race guide.

 

This is going to deal with all the babble about Naturals and Coordinators, and the issue about hybrids, that is children born to Natural-Coordinator parents, that I have raised in the other thread.

 

So far this is what I have in hand (from Wiki and other infos):

 

Naturals is the de facto normal human, born without any form of genetic enhancements from birth. They displayed normal traits, such as a normal learning pace and so on. A Natural's body state is dependent on the factors like health and parent trait.

 

Coordinators are humans who have went through any form of genetic enhancement from birth, usually at the decision of parents. Because of their enhanced genetics, they displayed qualities that are seemingly better than Naturals, such as a faster learning rate, and the ability to cope with diseases.

 

Unfortunately, according to an AI based on George Glenn, the first Coordinator to exist, Coordinators have strayed from their intended purpose, that is, to set the road map for human evolution for all of mankind.

 

Coordinators are usually divided into 3 categories, based on generations, although they can go on:

 

1st-generation Coordinators - they are usually born to complete Natural parents, who decided to have their children genetically enhanced, supposedly for a better future. Genetic modifications are carried out during the early phase of the embryo stage, in which the modified embryo will be inserted back into the mother for gestation and so on. Unfortunately, the mother's womb would not be able to support the genetic modifications in some changes, resulting in potential changes. The child of the Coordinator will be considered 2nd-generation Coordinators.

 

2nd-generation Coordinators - children of usually 1st-generation Coordinator parents, they will usually have the genetic traits (including the modified ones) passed from their parents, without the usual need to go through the process of genetic modification again. However, inherited trait is mostly dependent on the genetic properties of the Coordinator parents.

 

3rd-generation Coordinators - children of 2nd-generation Coordinator parents, they will continue the inheritance of the genetic properties of their Coordinator parents. However, they tend to be sterile, a situation which PLANT have tried to remedy by researching through various means, in the time being.

 

Extended humans (biological CPUs) are part of a secret Atlantic Federation (Earth Federation) project aiming at creating mobile suit pilots capable of fighting on the same level as Coordinators. It was codenamed "Biological CPU program" in the earlier stages, probably because the amount of mental conditioning the pilots have to endure. They are divided into 2 main stages, based on the amount of enhancements they underwent:

 

First Stage Extended (FSE) - humans who undergo some biological enhancement falls into this category. They have been mentally conditioned to effectively eliminate their sense of fear, and increase the level of aggression they display in a battle. Unfortunately, they are very reliant on Gamma Glipheptin, a performance-enhancing drug given to the Extended humans, and the drug affected the mental stability of the FSEs, causing them to behave in sometimes undesirable manner (like attacking their own squad mates in battle). Withdrawal symptoms tend to be extremely severe, as their nervous system might collapse due to the brief duration of the drug. They also tend to disobey orders at times; only threats of taking the drug away from them can make them listen.

 

Second Stage Extended (SSE) - they are humans who have underwent even more harsh enhancements than FSEs; the process usually include psychological and physical alteration, extremely heavy mental conditioning, performance-enhancing drugs, and harsh combat training (such as locking them up in a room, for them to kill each other to see who is the ones that will live in the end). Despite their ability to obey orders better than their first-stage counterparts, and being more stable, they required regular reconditioning, especially after battles. "Undesirable" portions of their memory will be regularly erased to prevent untoward "Incidents", especially after trigger words (a result of the psychological conditioning) is used on them.

 

I won't be placing Newtypes yet, that will be for later.

 

I realized something. Have the scientists in AD fixed the issue of infertility yet?

Edited April 5, 2007 by Guest

[Valiant 96]

kct, I'll suggest moving the discussion on the race to a separate topic under RP Discussion.

[Valiant 96]

Thanks. Another spelling error I know of but have yet to find time to edit the code for is the chat's welcome message

[liubei013 0]

(Sorry, I moved my post to a more appropriate thread, Bugs/Errors. _<" title="" />)