Does this character sound okay?

[Moridin]

I have a rather odd character I would like to create and have join this site. I just found this site and would like to be able to introduce him into a wide-spread rp area.

He is an incredibly intelligent humanoid. He is a adjusted human both genetically and physically. Due to his past (which he reveals snippets of in rp) he has gone quite mad. He has a robotic servitor who accompanies him and keeps him out of trouble. Basically his genius comes out when he randomly tinkers with things, most usually making them run better or smoother, but occasionally making weapons out of things not normally considered to be so.

He would posess built in tech (enhanced sensory/reactions, built in weapon emplacements such as arm blades or finger lasers) but he is strictly a pacifist and does not use or even know he has such things. He also has a retrovrius surging through his system that has essentially stopped his aging process and greatly accellerated his healing process. (for more technical spec please YIM me at Moridin889.

He is mainly a whimsical character and is usually quite enjoyable for everyone but at times he has a beserk mode. This is where there is gory violnce exposed to him directly (he sees someone get shot right in front of him) after expressing that there should be no violence. His implants burst into effect at that time and he attempts to lay waste to everything. This happens exceedingly rarely and I limit it to times when someone is trying to kil other PC's or important NPC's.

If there are any concerns/protests/comments about this character feel free to send me IM's e-mails and I will try to explain/discuss any potential problems with him before making him.

 

[Wes]

The concept of a heavily armed, super-smart, amnesiac "pacifist" with a "berserk mode" and a mysterious past is something I see disturbingly often among new role-players and I can't say that I like it. It's a cheap way of trying to slip in an unbalanced power character.

That said, halted aging, cybernetics (including some built-in weapons), and fast healing are possible in the RP.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Not to sound like a grumpy old veteran or anything -- but your character's too special.

I would recommend reading about characters such as Tom Freeman or Rufus Sydney, perhaps Miles Gunn and Kotori Ketsurui. At the very least, read some of the Nepleslian plots. Not indepth, perhaps, but just in general.

Specifically, read the Jam. It's a good example of RP without special character pieces -- be they traits (berserker), specialities (not aging) or modifications (built-in sensors and such).

I'll be honest. You look at my first character, he's a little special. But as a first character, I accept that. My second real character is also a little special, I think -- but I like to think it's because of how she's developed through the RP.

What you suggest is just meant to be special. This character might fit into a plotship (forum group), which is where a lot of the community congregates, but it might also just make a few posts on Nepleslia and fade away from your lack of interest or from us not giving a damn about a character we (at least I) don't want to relate to. Right now, you seem to aim for the latter, like so many would-be players before you.

Try harder. Please. You show promise, believe it or not -- you've already gone farther than most who seem to wander by this hard-earned corner of the Internets. We want to accept you into this community -- I think I can say that safely. But it is just that, a community. It has standards, it had desires, it has (in a loose sense) rules and it has needs.

Talk with some of the other players. They'll give you a sense of what's going down and where you can fit in. Trust me on that.

 

[Moridin]

To Wes,

Yes my character has some specialty traits and may seem a little unbalanced. But only to people who have not seen him used. The beserk mode has only been used 1 time in about 2 and a half years I have posessed him. And that was on NPC's that were about to perish anyway. And I am not a "new role-player" I have been roleplaying for just over a decade. The only reason my character does have offensive capabilities at all is for those unendingly moronic fools in chat rooms and other boards who believe that they can go around and show off their idiocy and be called "cool" or "skilled" for assaulting random bystanders who wished to have nothing to do with them.

That said I thank you for giving a critical opinion. Many people only wish to appease others and therefore will never speak their true minds.

To Doshii Jun,

My character is special to make him stand out and give him flavor. Too often have I found characters with nothing special about them and they all have the same stories. Grumpy old war vets sitting around talking about their "battles" and drinking. Yes I admit my character was designed to be special, but it was for a noble purpose. To mix up this slowly stagnating pool and try to inspire ides, change, ANYTHING, even if it is only a laugh.

As long as I have computer acess you do not need to worry about me making a few posts then fading away. I pride myself on being involved or at least informed in all of the going ons in forums I join. If you don't wish to interact with my character, so be it. I cannot guarantee he will leave you alone though. I don't recall if I mentioned it before but I will reiterate now just how incredibly insane he is. Mostly like a alzheimers ridden 3 year old but off the rocker nonetheless.

Quick note: Please don't try to be parental. It just makes you seem condescending. I am not your child and even if I was I would not wish for you to talk to me like that. With that out I seem to have come to the conclusion that I may post the character nonetheless, just to see what will happen. Yes, this is a community with "standards", "desires" and whatnot but what else is a community but an amalgamtion of a whole collection of parts. Not all of the parts will fit in to your grand design or work perfectly. But the world keeps on turning.

 

[Toshiro]

(I would like to say that though I am not a moderator, I have a few words, because I have also RPed for a long time, and started in a similar position to you with a "special" character, though it was more in his outlook and profession than his offensive power. This is an effort to assist, not to be bossy.)


Firstly, everyone who spoke to you before me was a moderator (actually, you spoke to the two highest ranks there are here, and Wes happens to be the owner/top admin). It's their job to be reasonably critical when it is needed. That is all they have done, showing constructive criticism and reasonable doubts about giving such a position to a new player.

Furthermore, and I COULD be taking this the wrong way, but you just said several things about the RP itself which could be taken as insults. If they are insults, they are less likely to help you than hinder. If they aren't, please elaborate and give instances so we know what you're thinking rather so we don't start jumping to conclusions.

There is a need for original characters who are special, but the specialness need not be in their offensive capabilities, but also in their point of view or their choices in life. He can have flavor simply in the way he is RPed.

On the plus side, you seem to hit on quite a few aspects of good RPing, in my opinion, such as not abusing power, regular attendance, and wishing to bring something original to the RP.

I don't believe the moderators were against having an original character, but were more against having one that was combatively powerful from the offset, especially when you are unaccustomed to this specific RP. Also, even if you have RPed before, it may be difficult to grow accustomed to this particular setting, because it has so much material and is run in a somewhat custom manner.

If there are some problems with the mods wanting you to play this character now, try playing a normal grunt or something to show you can handle the offensive abilities of a new character, while you learn the layout. Just because you play a less special in power character doesn't mean they need to be boring, after all. I started the same way as you, and kept my "learning" character, because he was as much fun as my more "custom" one.

This is no guarantee that you will get your power character, but it may boost your odds if you can prove your responsibilities in THIS RP.

 

[Wes]

Alright. You seem smart and experienced to give a chance. I thought about this for a while and finally I said to myself, "Hey, this is a player character. Of course he's special." I mean, PCs should be a bit above the normal people of the universe, right? Roleplayingtips.com's newsletter had a thing about it a while back...but I digress. Anyway, go ahead and post your character biography. I just ask that you try to give us lots of detail.

 

[Doshii Jun]

My apologies, Moridin, if I seemed to come down on you too hard. You caught me on a bad day. But then, in your reply, you seem just as much a dick as I was, so let's call it even for now.

All I ask is that you prove me wrong.

 

[Jadg Wolf]

I would have been insulted by "stagnating pool" and all that, but that's neither here nor there. You seemed to paint the whole "special character" deal in a positive light, and there might be something to that argument, but there's also the ones who come and try to make special characters just so that they can be important or play over-powered characters. Usually the problem is when these characters don't fit into the setting, which doesn't seem to be a big deal here, but considering we know nothing of his past, it could very well be.

For highest approval chance you should, as Wes described, submit a lot of detail. Even if you keep the history a surprise or something like that, you still need to write it out beforehand and submit it at least to Wes. We don't want that you should pull something out of nowhere whenever it's convenient. Of course, once you do that, I'd be the one likely to bitch because the history's too big, so the conflict there would be in exactly how special the character is, but since Wes seems to have submitted to a philosophy I don't agree with, and he's in charge, you need to worry about pleasing him rather than me.

I think you made some good points, but at the same time I agree with pretty much everything Jake and MM007 (sorry I don't know your name yet) said. The point of this post is basically to give you the rationale for their arguments, one that I pushed a lot back in the day. Special characters (offensively, at least) are unfair to those PCs who aren't as special. They're usually created not to be original but simply to be better than everyone else even when the player might not (and a new one frankly does not) deserve it. Thus, the problem is not you or your character in particular, that's just how it's gone in the past.

I suppose you might have posted your character's bio by now, so if I've got time I might actually resume discussion there (I replied here because it was the first forum I checked). I mean absolutely no offense by this post, and bid you welcome to Star Army.