Post by Gatz on Mar 21, 2016 0:00:26 GMT -7
"Caroline, how do I create my character profile?"Make a thread in this board, preferably titled after your character so it's easy to find. Include all of the required information (see below) in your profile. If you're still working on the thread but just wanted it posted so you could finish later or something, make note of it somewhere in the thread title or in the thread itself, like marking it with [WIP]. Once I look over the thread and approve what's there, I'll move it to the corresponding Active Characters board. Afterwards, you're free to start roleplaying with that character wherever you want in Lualdi. I suggest keeping a link to your character profile in your profile somewhere for easy access.
"Caroline, what do I need for my profile?The character's name. I don't care if it's their real name or not. List what your character is going to be called in the roleplay.
An appearance section. Describe how your character looks. It doesn't have to be tremendously long, but you should still give your fellow players enough of an idea as to what your character's appearance is, especially if you don't have any sort of visual aid like a sprite or character art.
A personality section. Describe how your character acts and behaves. Like the appearance section, it doesn't have to be a novel by any means. However, listing this kind of information about your character might help other people see ideas for plots or interactions between your characters and their own, so don't be shy about going in-depth.
The character's age and what time period they're from. Due to the often grim nature of Unstuck in Time and how bad things will definitely happen to characters who get involved in the main plot, it's suggested that you don't make characters excessively young. Old Unstuck in Time set the minimum at age 12 for player characters. The youngest NPCs are around 14-15. Make of that what you will.
2,000 spruzzo. Spruzzo is Lualdi's currency, and your character has 2,000 of it to start. How they have this money is up to you. You can use it to buy items, Pokémon, or just to keep for later. If you really don't want to take this money for roleplay reasons or just as a self-imposed challenge, you don't have to, but it might end up making for frustrating gameplay unless you go in with a plan to mitigate the difficulties of not having any money.
"Caroline, what is optional but still recommended?Separate posts for your character's active Pokémon team, "in storage"/"benched" Pokémon, and items and other belongings. Being that this is Pokémon, it's pretty natural that your character has the potential to accrue a lot of stuff over the course of the game. Do yourself a favor and keep things separated/organized in advance.
Your character's birthday. You might get fun things when it's your character's birthday!
A backstory section. If you want aspects of your character's backstory to be secret, feel free to omit such details. You're also welcome to have your character's backstory elaborated on as the game goes on. I've found that including a backstory seems to help more than it hurts in character creation, though, especially if you're unsure of some aspects of the setting you're roleplaying in, so I recommend one anyways. If your character is going to be connected to an NPC in some way via backstory, this is required so that I know the exact nature of their relationship and connection.
"Caroline, what is not needed at all, but can still be included if we want?"Some kind of visual representation for your character, such as a sprite. You don't need it if you don't want one or have one."Hey, wait! I have a question! Can I..."
A wiki article. Unstuck in Time has a wiki, and if you want to link to it in your character profile, you're more than welcome to. The wiki, as always, is strictly optional, though.
Superfluous trivia information. You want to list your character's favorite food or favorite Pokémon? By all means, go for it.
A starter Pokémon. If you want, you can have your character start with a Pokémon of your choosing. This Pokémon can come from their backstory in some way, like having been captured shortly before the character's story in Lualdi begins or being a long-time family pet that's come with them to Lualdi. This is not required because you can get also your starter from Hawberry Farms at the start of the roleplay, or if you want, you can arrange for your starter to be obtained some other way after character creation. Giving your character a starter Pokémon in their profile at character creation means you cannot acquire a free starter Pokémon in roleplay. Regardless of how a starter is obtained, it must follow these rules:
- Must be level 5.
- Can only have abilities or moves legal for its species and level.
- Cannot have Dream World abilities.
- Cannot start with egg moves, Move Tutor moves, or TM/HM moves.
- Cannot start with a held item.
- Must be in its lowest evolved form and cannot be a Legendary Pokémon.
- Must be generally or mostly typical for its species (e.g. a fluffier Shinx or an Eevee missing an ear is fine; a Shinx that's pure white or an Eevee with wings is not).
"...use a fancy template for my profile?" So long as all the required information is somewhere there, go ahead.
"...make my character related to an NPC in some way?" Clear it with me, though there is the forewarning that pre-existing relationships with NPCs -- at least at this point in the game -- are going to be weaker rather than stronger if they exist at all. Something like being a former employee of a Gym Leader is likelier to be accepted than being a Gym Leader's cousin or former best friend.
"...roleplay a character from another canon/continuity/universe?" You can port over characters however much you want so long as they fit in the Pokémon world and don't violate any continuity there. No doing something like "my character was from normal Earth and woke up in Lualdi!".
"...make my character related to another player character, including one of my own?" So long as all involved parties agree (in the case of characters owned by different players), yes, go ahead.
"...have more than one character?" Yes, but I personally don't recommend having more than three or four. Too many characters, and you might stretch yourself too thin. Three or four is plenty to see every aspect of Unstuck in Time's plot, particularly if you explore the plot with other characters. Do note also that characters you own may not trade items, Pokémon, or other belongings between themselves. Please do not circumvent this rule by having your character trade a Pokémon to another person solely with the intention of getting it back to another character.
"...make my character from another region?" Yes, your character doesn't have to be from Lualdi, and you can even make your character from a region of your own design if you want. However, do note that if you want a character who's from a time period other than modern, that implies that they were in Lualdi when they traveled through time, even if they are natively from another region, as currently, time portals only exist in Lualdi itself.
"...make my character a 'supernatural' human?" This will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. A good rule of thumb is that if it exists in the Pokémon setting already (such as how we see humans with psychic powers, like Sabrina) or if it could plausibly exist in Pokémon, it will probably be accepted. Things like werewolves and vampires will not be accepted. Do try to make your character's powers clearly defined, especially the limits of their powers and any drawbacks they have.
"...make my character a Pokémorph?" No.
"...make my character a Pokémon?" No.
"...make my character able to understand Pokémon?" If you really want and if you can justify it, sure. Do note that Legendary Pokémon will be able to speak to people normally, so understanding Pokémon speech is not a requirement for the plot by any means.
"...give my character a weapon?" Yes, but for the love of God, don't abuse this rule. If your character is packing enough weaponry to overpower other characters through sheer force, especially with no drawbacks whatsoever and without the aid of Pokémon, I'm going to step in and swing a Nerf bat at them. Keep this reasonable. We're still playing Pokémon.
"...start with any items?" If the item has no impact on battles or doesn't give a real mechanical advantage in some way, yes, you can start with it. A backpack is fine. A necklace made from a Kecleon's scale that changes color is fine. A backpack full of Hyper Potions or a Kecleon scale necklace that lets the wearer turn invisible is not fine.