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Code: PIRULUK

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  1. I need someone to try a battle against. PM me so we can work out the events of said battle.
  2. Unfortunately I'm in the middle of an exam period; so I can only write anythin substantial tomorrow ;_;
  3. MUST. CATCH. SHINY. TRAPINCH/SPINARAK
  4. Banned for not having any girls anywhere in your sig.
  5. I LoL'ed at both. Also, I finally updated the rest with the content. I think you can tell how much I hate Sues LOL. Hope I helped, and enjoy! <3
  6. Yeah I was going to add that in once I got home, that's only near the end of the creation process. I was going to be a lot more verbiose about it, though. I'll put that up as a TL;DR :3
  7. Hihi~ This is Acquiescence here~ welcome to my fanfiction 101 series - a set of primers on writing decent fanfiction. Naturally, this is relevant, as RP is technically fanfiction. Aaaaaanyway, today I'm going to be talking about character creation. So bear with me. 1) What makes a good character? First, let's think about what we want in a good character. We want a believable, well-fleshed-out character which stands out from the crowd. We want our character to be interesting and unique. We want a character which either makes others either go "I really wish I could meet this guy, he'd be a great guy to know" 2) What's in a name? Now that we've established what we want in a character, let's start working towards it. Give your character an interesting but believable name, one that's actually used, just not too often. Like Melissa. Or Rai. Definitely not "Jasper Thoth Lucifer Viridion von Theria el Ronte e Yoke", but also not "Bob". 3) Clothes make the woman/man Now that you've named your character, start with appearances. How unusual you wish to make your character's appearance is up to you, but do show some restraint. Robotic limbs would not make sense in a fantasy/non-scifi context. Eyepatches should have a good reason for being there. Long black coats with multiple layers makes no sense in a hot environment. Always remember: a character does not need to look special to be special. The best characters are those that look just like the average person, but have strong personalities and unique personality quirks. 4) I couldn't come up with a good title so: Character Traits Ah, yes. The key defining feature that makes or breaks a character: the character traits. A character's personality and unique quirks is what establishes the character as a good or a bad one. Make your character interesting, give it a unique personality. "Sarcastic" is not a unique trait, neither is "lazy". "Has aspirations to be a florist" is. The best traits are those that go with a common profession to make a character stand out. Is your character a detective? Give him a speech disorder to impede his communication of deductions. 5) The power within. Characters having powers of abilities of some sort are common within most universes. Be it intelligence, strength, magic, or martial arts expertise, abilities are good; they add more opportunities for character development. That said, don't go overboard with them. It's one thing to be a "court magus with command of powerful magic", it's another thing entirely to be a "world-class enchanter with various demon summons at your beck and call, who can still defeat any opponent in swordplay, is a master of 24 weapons, has 15 PhDs, knows 13 languages, plays chess and makes amazing coffee." balance out your character's abilities with weaknesses. Your character knows 15 martial arts? Ok, make him an idiot who doesn't know when to use what move and makes things worse before making them better. Your character is an all-powerful mage? Okay, make him extremely squishy with long cast times and cooldowns. Your character is basically a living god? Ok, make him lose his divinity when in the presence of something interesting, like cats. 6) The Mary Sues Cometh Okay, so you have a character. What? She's called Xyron Eridanir Feriroseka? Ummm... Ok, strange name. What? She has telepathy/pyrokinesis/telekinesis/electrokinesis/Molecular Control/Time powers/Space powers/Teleportation/All of the above? Oh, no. She wears a fluffy pink trenchcoat with violent streaks of red across it, has (totally natural) hair that flows in 17 different colours with various highlights, wears ankle-length skirts that she is still totally able to move about quickly in, and wears a cape? She has demon/vampire/warlock/angel/divine/holy one blood AND is the chosen one? She knows 14 different fighting style and can phase in and out of existence? She has an IQ of 9001, is the best chef in the world, can play all instruments (at the same time) and is the world's leading expert on everything from Alchemy to Zoology? Enter the Mary Sue; the OC archetype despised by all. Nobody likes a Mary Sue, and for good reason: She is too perfect. A Mary Sue is unbelievable, has no room to grow/develop, tends to have terrible characterisation, and can solve all conflicts by flipping her hair and winking. Now, Self-inserts are a good thing; no convincing character can be written without some aspect of yourself as an individual included; after all, how can you write a convincing character if you don't have the same mindset, at some level, as that character? However, Self-inserts come in two forms. The first, is the benign, authorly self-insert, where your character contains some elements of yourself as an individual. This is the good kind, the kind of self-insert that makes great characters. Then there's the dreaded "Wish fulfillment" self-insert. The Wish-fulfillment self-insert is when you take a part of yourself and insert it into a character...then proceed to add in all the things that you wish you could be, all the powers you wish you could have. This kind of self-insert is bad and evil. The Wish Fulfillment Self-insert creates Mary Sues. The Mary Sue is a character you want to avoid at all costs, no matter what. Below I'll share a few tips to avoid making a Mary Sue. 6a) Nobody's Perfect. The easiest way to prevent a character from becoming a Mary Sue (besides simple discretion and restraint) is by implementing flaws. All humans have problems, and OCs are no different. If your character is becoming way too powerful, give it something that checks its power. For example, perhaps a mage with the ability to cast a super-powerful spell needs rare ingredients from around the world, along with a couple of willing human sacrifices as the catalyst. Or perhaps the fighter with mastery in various weapons has narcolepsy and falls asleep in the middle of battles. Or maybe the mad scientist with an I.Q. of over 9000 is mute and frail, or suffers from constant migraines that prevent him/her from using all of this brainpower. That said, making a character completely useless at everything isn't a good thing either.The key is to achieve balance. A character should have a roughly equal number of strengths and weaknesses - for every area in which one is amazingly gifted, there must be another significant area in which one is amazingly lacking. For every good thing about the person (strong-willed, creative, funny, etc.) there must be a negative trait (narcissistic, defeatist, pessimistic, dull, has bad luck, etc.). Only then can your character appear more human and believable. 6b) Extremism must DIE. One common characteristic of Mary Sues is that their characters are often taken to extremes. If they're not peppy, excitable and practically oozing sunshine and rainbows and good morality all the time, they're probably dark, angsty, irredeemably amoral/immoral and extremely evil. That is bad. To quote Oscar Wilde, "I don't think now that people can be divided into the good and the bad as though they were two separate races or creations." Every good person has some evil aspects, and every evil person has some good aspects. If you decide to make an evil character, give it some good points, like having a soft spot for kittens. Or being an active philanthropist. Similarly, if you decide to make a good-aligned character, give it some evil elements, like a sadistic streak, or selfishness. Doing so adds more depth to your character and prevents it from being too one-dimensional. 6c) Sob stories make me cry. Another thing to note when doing a Sue test is the angst. Sues traditionally serve as a palette upon which the author can project his/her angst. That's the reason why most Sues (even those who are incredibly hyper and peppy) tend to have extremely tragic, normally ludicrous backstories. Like being abandoned at the age of 3 weeks, found, brought up and abandoned again at the age of 2, entered an orphanage, was bullied, was starved, was abused in all sorts of ways, ran away at the age of 9, lived on the streets, made a friend who happened to be living on the run despite her young age, then saw that friend die in a scene which typically involves guns, cars, helicopters, electric wires and various top-secret government agencies. Yeah...Angst is good, backstories are good, but there's a limit. That right there just broke the ceiling. And possibly the sky. And maybe even Alpha Centauri. Your backstory should be believable. Your angst should be believable. Do not angst for the sake of having a "dark and mysterious" character. Do not angst for the sake of angst. If you want a tragic backstory, fine. Moderate it. Show its visible effects on the character. Keep it within the realms of plausibility and belief. 6d) Poketalking OP. Here I'm going to list a couple of things that are pretty popular in Mary Sues for a few of the fandoms I follow. 1)Talking to Pokemon (Pokemon) 2) Random Psychological Ailment (EVERYTHING) 3) Three or more Servants (Fate/Stay Night) 4) Parseltongue (Harry Potter) I'm guessing the two most relevant to this forum are 1) and 2). So, let's address those. For 1), talking to Pokemon. There is basically almost no possible way for a character to have this ability without becoming a Sue. N got away with it because he's also a naive, secluded, self-deluded, idealistic, sheltered, ignorant child - a plethora of faults to help compensate for this ability - and the effect on his character is highly visible. A trainer, willingly engaging in battles, keeping Pokemon in Pokeballs, having the ability to speak to Pokemon? Definitely not the same level of visible impact, and therefore, not welcome. As for 2), this is an issue for most fandoms. A lot of people enjoy making their characters have some sort of psychological condition, under the illusion that it makes the character more interesting. The thing is, such conditions have a trigger. And if you want a psychological problem on your character, you must be prepared to justify it in his/her backstory. For example, Multiple Personality Disorder normally occurs as a result of repression of some sort, either internal or external. An inferiority complex is derived from external influences shaping one's view of life and society. A character who has one of these ailments for not apparent reason is, without doubt, a Sue. 7) Get Motivated Now that you've (hopefully) created a good character, the last thing to do is to take it one level deeper, by examining your character's motivations and goals. Since Ame was nice enough to type it out for me, I'll just save myself some effort and quote her here. Full credits to Amethyst for this section. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END OF GUIDE------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well then, that's it for the first installment of Fanfiction 101. I hope this Primer helped, and hope to see some good characters coming out :> Note: If you'd like me to critique a character, feel free to send me a PM; I'll look over it and tell you how/where you can improve. I may not be a very accomplished writer, but I should be able to help just a bit :> If you found this primer helpful, feel free to donate some R$ as thanks(I kid) Until next time, Acquiescence
  8. Well, what I was thinking was...random Servants. In the original verse you don't exactly get to choose your own Servant either. I may host one at a later date, but would like at least 5 participants.
  9. I think we should write new replies when continuing the narrative. The point of RPs is interacting with other RPers in-character. Also we get more R$ that way (I kid)
  10. Important Question: Are we supposed to merely edit our forum posts, or write new ones when continuing our narrative?
  11. > wants to start a persona/FSN RP. >not enough people >curses, gives up
  12. (character: Orpha) I woke up curled in a fetal position and gnawing on a pillow. "Ughhhh. Wow. Last night was incredible." Slowly, I sat up in the bed, delighting in the early morning sun, streaming in through the clear windows. Feeling around on my dresser, I found my phone and checked the time. 7a.m. Early morning sun indeed. The phone chimed in my hand - a text. "Hey Orpha! I'm guessing you either just woke up, or you're still asleep. Well, you'll see this the moment you wake up anyway :> I kind of had to return to Hoenn to settle some Champion-related issues; I probably won't be back for a couple of months at least. The house is all yours till then, of course. But my guess is, you won't be visiting it much. You're getting your first Pokemon today, right? And about 8 years too late LOL. Sorry I can't be there to help you start your journey :< keep me updated about your progress, 'Kay? Maybe you'll be champion by the time I get back ;3 Oh, and last night was AMAZING. I really needed that, thanks. Let's do that again when I come back <3 Love and kisses, Eve" Oh Eve. I love you and I love your insistent refusal to use text shorthand. Slowly, reluctantly, I pushed myself off the extremely comfortable bed and made my way to the bathroom. *A long bath and general personal grooming later* I checked the time again. 9:30a.m. Time to get this adventure thing started. Closing the door behind me, I took in the rural landscape of New Bark Town. Securing the lock, I took a few steps forth and turned back to gaze at the house. Then I turned on my heel and headed to Elm's lab. Never again did I look back. Elm's Lab - if one can call a heavily redecorated house a lab - stood before me, its shuttered windows and imposingly closed door delaying my entry. Elm was a nice person, to be sure, but he was also a researcher; a scientist. I had seen him out in the field - had even helped him out, once - but I had never entered his lab. Who knew what kinds of terrible experiments lay beyond this wooden portal. Perhaps I would find horribly mutated Pokemon. Perhaps I might chance upon a pile of corpses. I had heard of a lab in Kanto trying to create a man-made Pokemon; what if Elm was attempting the same? That would actually be rather interesting. Excitedly, I pushed open the door. To my immense disappointment, I did not see test-tubes of growing Pokemon. Nor did I see deformed imitations of Pokemon. Instead, the scene I stepped into could only be described as...cacophonic. Several Pidgey rocketed across the room, pecking at random morsels of food, one roosting in the hair of a man in a lab coat - Elm's assistant. Across the floor, various species of Pokemon from different regions scuttled about; I spotted a Cinccino, an Aron, as well as various different species of rodents from all the regions. In the center of the veritable assembly of Pokemon was a single man with glasses and a lab coat. Professor Elm. Apparently renowned as a leading expert in Pokemon evolution. At that moment in time he was chasing a Pichu around the floor, suffering the occasional shock for his troubles. The Pichu noticed me and changed course, making a straight dash for me. It leapt into my waiting arms and sparked happily as I petted its bright yellow fur. "I see Kiki's giving you problems again." Elm gave me a look halfway between exasperation and relief. It was a rather amusing roll of the eyes, accompanied by a very slight smile and a shake of the head, topped off with folded arms. It was a strange expression. Elm is a strange man. "Honestly, Orpha, I don't get why you can handle her so well." "Oh, it's probably because I smell like Eve." Especially after the previous night. "Why on earth would you smell like Eve?" Elm tilted his head in confusion. "Oh. Um. I'd rather not say." A wave of heat flushed my cheeks. Elm narrowed his eyes, but did not press the question. "Well then, it's time to start your Pokemon journey. I must say, it certainly took you long enough. You're about 6 years later than everybody else." "Please don't remind me." "Well, I may not know why you delayed your journey, or why you finally decided to get it over with, but I will lend my assistance nonetheless. If you'd please." Elm gestured me over to a table with three Pokeballs on it. The far left one was marked with a fire motif, the far right with a motif of a water droplet, and the middle with a literal leaf. The Pokeball was sitting on a leaf. "I'm guessing the middle one is Grass-type." "Your deductive skills are as unparalleled as ever." Elm gave me a sideways glance. "Anyway, on the left you will find Cyndaquil, in the middle is Chikorita, and on the far right is Totodile. You've seen new trainers long enough to know what they are and what they do; so what's your choice?" I immediately reached for the leafy Pokeball, as had been my intention from the start. Chikorita was one of the most adorab- Wait. I caught a glimpse of something fluffy. Extremely fluffy. As I bent down to take a closer look, what the fuffy thing was became immediately evident; A small Cottonee was sleeping by the foot of the table, its head-fluff rising and falling. A Cottonee. A Cottonee. I gently picked it up, feeling its head fluff rise up and fall down with its breathing as it shifted slightly to adjust to the cradle of my arms. "Elm, I want this one." Elm gazed at me skeptically. "A Cottonee? Why a Cottonee?" "Because it's cute. And fluffy. And adorable. And it evolves into Whimsicott." "But it's not very useful in battle, at least not like these other three." "It evolves into Whimsicott." "Whimsicott's not very good in battle eit-" "Whimsicott." Elm sighed, shaking his head. "It's your choice, I guess. It's a female Cottonee. Do you want to name it?" Name it? Name the amazingly cute ball of fluff in my hands? Oh yes. "I'm calling it Lily!" Elm held up a Pokeball and returned the Cottonee. He minimised the Pokeball and took out a complicated red device I recognised as a Pokedex. He placed the Pokeball into the Pokedex, wherein a screen appeared, allowing for the input of a nickname. I watched as Elm typed in 'Lily'. The device beeped once, then Elm removed the Pokeball and handed it to me wordlessly. I immediately let Lily out. A shivering ball of fluff looked up at me from the ground, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Hey there Lily. I'm Orpha, your new trainer. Let's get along, okay?" Lily shivered some more, staring into my eyes, Then I got tackled in the face by an excited, hyperactive fluffball. "Cott! Cott! Nee!" I turned to Elm, who was watching the scene unfold with an amused expression. "I think she likes me." Elm simply chuckled and held out the Pokedex to me. "I don't suppose I have to explain what this is for, and what I'm hoping for you to help me with?" "Nope. I've seen Eve use it a lot." "That's good. Well then, as a parting gift:" Elm reached into his pocket and held out 5 empty Pokeballs. "Here. A team of Pokemon has six members, after all." I pocketed the items with a simple "thanks!" and turned to leave, eager to get to know my new Cottonee. "Wait!" I turned back, gazing at Elm quizzically. "Well, I do feel kind of bad that you don't have a battling Pokemon, so..." He gestured for me to follow him as he walked into a room at the back of the lab. Before I entered, however, her returned, holding a yellow box in his hands. Moving back to the workbench, he placed the box on the tabletop, undid the clasp, and opened it. Within it was a cache of strangely-shaped orange stones. Sun Stones. "You can have one of these. Consider it a favour to Eve, for filling out the Sinnoh 'dex for me. You'll need one to evolve Cottonee." I reach into the box and take one, looking at it in interest. Then I stuff it into a compartment of my bag. I'll only evolve Lily when she wants me to. "Thanks, Elm. For all of this." "No problem. I wish you the absolute best of luck for your upcoming journey." Waving this time, I again turned and left the lab, embarking on the first steps of my new journey. My journey to be a Champion. I'll show you, dad. I'll make you proud up there, mom. Wait for me, Eve. Current team: Lily/Cottonee/Level 10 Gender: F Nature: Timid Trait: Prankster -Leech Seed -Stun Spore -Encore -Absorb
  13. First person/3rd person? And I think you get 5k, like in the games
  14. Well then, get me down as Orpha Janelle. Details in the other thread. Starter Pokemon is Cottonee (obviously).
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