Character Creation

tart small. I can't stress this enough, so I'll use caps: START SMALL.

Your first character here won't be powerful. You can't be a 1000 year old vampire who is known around the world as the greatest fighter ever and who wields the mighty Sword of Blargensblag that can kill anyone in one swing. When you begin, as in all RPGs, you will be using a character with few powers and little renown. When the staff reviews your character application, this is a major consideration.

Once you understand the rules you should post your application in the appropriate forum and wait for a staff member to review and approve it before playing.

The Musts

• Your character cannot be taken from a popular movie, TV show OR book unless you wrote it yourself. This goes double for anything even remotely related to video games and anime. Do not attempt to reference these things unless you want a verbal lashing.
• Know the setting. Make the character fit. Magic is illegal in Marn, so if he/she grew up in Marn they would know that.
• You can bring in a character from another RP, BUT you will have to edit your character's history to fit the setting of Thar Shaddin and reduce his/her powers to the level of new characters here (if you are new here). How you do that is up to you.
• If your character's race appears on our list of races, all of the things there must apply to your character. This is to ensure consistency with the races we already have walking around.
• Be reasonable and start small. Do not make your first character's age something silly like 1000 years old. Do not assume he/she is "the best (whatever) in the world." Don't expect to get a whole bunch of powers for your first character.
• Please do not choose a vampire as your character's race. This restriction is here for plot related reasons. If you really must have a vampire, speak to the staff.

Coming Up With a Concept

he most important part of developing a character for Thar Shaddin is not your powers, but coming up with a personality and history. Don't go overboard at the start thinking about all the kinds of cool and crazy powers you want to have. Powers will not help you interact with other players in a meaningful way. They get boring quick, and can even annoy other players if you go overboard.

Read over key parts of the setting and think of a person, a place, and a history that inspires you. Try to avoid cliches like the super flawless hero protagonist or the dashing assassin. Your character should have personal flaws. Flaws are what give characters... their character. Flaws give you a tool to write with and make things interesting.

Is she good or evil? Greedy or thoughtful? Old or young? What race is she? (You are allowed to pick any race you want, or even make up your own, but see point 6 below and also the list of races) What are her motivations, her fears, her aspirations? What sort of attitude does she have? Where is her family? Whether or not you want to play an ordinary human or a super magical creature, these kinds of questions are what matter most. Powers and appearances are secondary traits.

After you know these details, the kinds of powers or strengths he/she will have should come to you. If you're playing a young elf boy who grew up on a farm in Shim, he will probably be healthy and strong, but won't know much about martial arts.

History and Items

our character's history and what items she possesses are related. She could be born in Marn or Shim, or be a wanderer traveling there for some reason. If born in Thar Shaddin, you can assume she has a house in the residential district of Marn or a farm in Shim. You do not need to make an exhaustive list of every single thing your character has. It is safe to assume that she has at least some money and some clothes. You should list weapons, however, because they come up and will reflect your character's training. It is especially important to list any and all magical items, healing herbs, or other fanciful things you wish to have. Usually it is ok to write in your actions that your character has something that isn't in the profile, as long as it's reasonable. Common sense is important here.

Remember, we do not use gold. We use a coin called the Bishan. The setting is partially medieval and steampunk, so technology exists and so do guns, but you must read about the limitations on this in the setting.

Choosing Powers

his section applies to all your character's strengths. That includes money, magical powers, fighting ability, etc. You are allowed to create and pick any powers you want for your character as long as you:

• Justify why your character has the powers in his/her history.
• Explain in detail EXACTLY what any special powers can do. Do not use terminology such as "nature magic" without explaining as much as possible about what it can do.
• Limit your powers to what is appropriate for a new character (if it's your first character). One or two nifty spells is usually a good limit to start with.
• Strive for balance. If you make your character physically frail you can take more magic. If you take no magic you can pick strength, money or good looks instead.

Remember that magic is illegal in Thar Shaddin and the guard will kick your ass if you bring too much magic into the city.

If you want to play a character who has no special powers at all (what a concept!) then it will be very easy to get approved and we will be quite lenient if you ask for things in the future.

Create the Profile

egister in the forums (following the rules for accounts!) and then post the following information in the applications section:

Player Name: (optional but good if you already have a character)

Name: (of your character :P)

Age:

Race:

Height:

Weight:

Physical Description:

Possessions: (anything important they own or keep on their person)

Powers or Strengths: (including stuff like magic, money, martial arts, etc.)

Weaknesses: ( flaws, physical vulnerabilities, downsides, drawbacks, etc. This part can be tricky. )

History: (be descriptive with your history, this is what tells us if you're capable of putting effort into your writing.)

Finally, if your profile looks haphazard and is full of stuff like typos and short forms we will ask you to fix it or may suggest another place to play. We don't expect you to be an amazing author (I'm certainly not) but if you write like you haven't passed grade 5 English you can forget about playing here.