Master Kokiri 9
The Dungeon Master
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2009
- Location
- My ship that sailed in the morning
Alright guys. Time for the sign ups of my very first original story.
Things have changed quite a bit from what was originally the plan. First off, the story no longer takes place in feudal Japan. Instead, it takes place elsewhere. Full details will be revealed in the story itself.
As far as the basic plot goes, it follows a young female vampire as she searches for power. It goes deeper than that, but that's pretty much all I can tell you at the moment without spoiling things. Vampires are still a big part of this story, I can assure you of that.
The technology level is similar to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood if you must know, and it relies of hydroelectric energy (and gigantic batteries for things like ships, cars, and so on) for power.
And now for the meat of this thread: the character signups. For characters, I'm going to have to ask everyone that has already signed up to make the appropriate changes (you'll need to change the name, reduce personality to three key traits, and choose your fighting style/magical talent).
Also, for everybody, I'm sorry about this but I'm going to have to ask you to agree to a Character Clause. I hate to do this, I really do, but I need to ask for you to basically just hand me the ownership of your characters (as in, in such a way that I can technically claim them as my copyrighted material). The reason I do this is because this is going to be under a Creative Commons Liscense (via posting on deviantArt), and quite frankly there's a small chance that I might actually get this published in some way, shape, or form, and I want to avoid messy legal issues. I'm not going to be making major changes to your character or anything (though I will probably take creative liberties on more subtle details, such as minor appearance or personality tweaks or filling in details where needed), again, this is just to avoid messy legal issues. If you don't accept this, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accept your character.
I don't really need much as far as roles go. Just four antagonists and I'll be more or less set. If you don't want your character to be an antagonist, he or she can be a powerless protagonist (who will likely only make a few appearances). If I don't get those spots filled, it's not a big deal since I'll be making characters to fill those spots anyways. Sorry about that, but them's the breaks. I'll have to limit protagonists to three sign-ups, though.
Antagonist
Antagonist
Antagonist
Antagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Again, I don't need the Hypothetical Protagonists, but they're there if you don't want to be an antagonist.
Unconfirmed characters are characters that haven't been updated and accepted by the Character Clause.
Kondo, Filled by jedizora Unconfirmed
Kyouko, filled by Ghost of Zelda4 Confirmed (I talked with her via real life because lolsister and she pretty much said I could go nuts with her character.)
EijiFilled by Komali Confirmed
As you can see, I've done away with the role scheme that I had before. This is mainly because, as I developed the story (along with the world), some of these character roles have changed. Minus the tweaking, they're good as they are (again, once the appropriate changes are made), but they may or may not fill the roles you originally expected them to. I promise to make each one of them as awesome as I possibly can, though.
These are the fields that you'll need to submit (or resubmit if you've already submitted your character). If you've already submitted a character, now would be a nice time to change things around.
Name: This is your character's name. Valid names are real Japanese ones. A family name is appreciated, but not necessary. Here's a generator that can generate Japanese names. For simplicity's sake, keep family names FIRST if you have them. Note: The name generator orders Japanese names in the traditional western order (IE you have the given name before the family name). The names in the middle are just extra given names for you to choose from, so take note. I'd also like to hear about the history behind the names for potential symbolism. You can get the scoop by clicking on the name in the generator once it's been generated. If you forgot, that's okay, but try not to let it happen. Writing the names in the native language is a nice touch, but not necessary.
Role: This doesn't have much use other than to distinguish if you want to be one of the powerless protagonists or an antagonist.
Gender: Simple field, this distinguishes whether your character is a man or a woman. No silly answers like both or neither, though...
Age: This is the age of your character. Try to keep it believable. Your character can be old (around 60 is the maximum age I'll allow) or your character can be younger (20 is the youngest age I'll take for an antagonist).
Appearance: This is how your character looks. Are they tall? Are they short? What kind of hair do they have? Do they even have hair? Scars? No scars? And much more. This is also where you'll be making clothes. For clothes, I just have two restrictions: use a bit of a flair from Japanese clothing. Going all out Japanese mode is cool, but not required. The other restriction is that it has to be functional/not overly complicated. Sure, fighting in a dress or what-have-you is awesome, but it's unpractical and, quite frankly, somewhat far-fetched. However, just fighting in plain old non-restrictive clothing (like a regular shirt and pants) is not. I heavily advise against armor due to how clunky it is.
Personality: I'm going to have to restrict personality a wee bit more than before. I'll allow each of you three key traits (hot-headed, kind, cold, distant, jolly, etc) to put into your character. I will expand on it a bit more in private (giving them flaws, rounding them out, etc). As long as they don't directly conflict each other (for instance, a lazy character who is also very motivated makes no sense. A lazy character, however, who will chase you to the ends of the earth if you do something that REALLY p*sses them off, however, makes more sense) you should be fine.
Magical Talent: This is a character's ability with magic. Gone are the days of alignment only based magic, now you can have abilities too. However, each character only gets one ability/alignment to choose, so as not to break things. Certain abilities I'll have to look into to make sure that they're properly balanced, but you should be good with anything you can come up with. However, try not to flood things with a certain alignment or ability. Alignments I'm a bit lenient on (up to two characters can share an Alignment) due to the fact that, well, they're not exactly the most specific things in the world. Specialized abilities, however, (like, say, the ability to create portals at will or bend physics) will be a one character only deal, for the most part. Also, I must premptively ban gravity based powers, dimension based powers (like the aforementioned portals), repulsion powers (unless it has a limitation, like only being able to be focused through the hands or only repelling a certain material such as metal), and void based (as in summoning black holes) powers due to their difficulty in scaling down so that they're not too threatening but still threatening. If you choose this, I will choose a Fighting Style as I see fit.
Fighting Style: Alternatively, you can submit a fighting style instead of a Magical Talent. This can be as simple as martial arts (although please don't narrow it down to a specific martial art in that case: I'm not sure if I'd be able to find enough resources to research it) or what kind of weapon your character uses (like, say, a longsword or a gun, and yes, guns DO exist). Just don't go using machine guns or say something like "everything". You may also choose whether or not your style is grace based (IE dodging your foe's moves and countering with your own) or power based (IE going all out aggressive until your enemy drops). If you choose this, I may assign a Magical Talent as I see fit.
Here's a template for you to borrow:
You're probably asking yourself "Hey, when's the story going up?" right about now, or at least that's my guess. Whether or not you were thinking that, I'm going to answer that question anyways. My answer is: I don't know! Seriously, I can't give a definitive answer on when the story will be up. All I can tell you is that I'm hoping to get this show on the road by the end of September, although that is a bit of an optimistic goal. Realistically, I think early October is the most likely release date of this story.
Also, about character confirmation, I have sent everybody who made a character a PM about this. I will give everyone exactly two weeks from now to confirm and update their character (in other words, until the 25th of August). If they don't, their spot is (sadly) lost and I will take it upon myself to fill the gap.
Things have changed quite a bit from what was originally the plan. First off, the story no longer takes place in feudal Japan. Instead, it takes place elsewhere. Full details will be revealed in the story itself.
As far as the basic plot goes, it follows a young female vampire as she searches for power. It goes deeper than that, but that's pretty much all I can tell you at the moment without spoiling things. Vampires are still a big part of this story, I can assure you of that.
The technology level is similar to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood if you must know, and it relies of hydroelectric energy (and gigantic batteries for things like ships, cars, and so on) for power.
And now for the meat of this thread: the character signups. For characters, I'm going to have to ask everyone that has already signed up to make the appropriate changes (you'll need to change the name, reduce personality to three key traits, and choose your fighting style/magical talent).
The Character Clause
Also, for everybody, I'm sorry about this but I'm going to have to ask you to agree to a Character Clause. I hate to do this, I really do, but I need to ask for you to basically just hand me the ownership of your characters (as in, in such a way that I can technically claim them as my copyrighted material). The reason I do this is because this is going to be under a Creative Commons Liscense (via posting on deviantArt), and quite frankly there's a small chance that I might actually get this published in some way, shape, or form, and I want to avoid messy legal issues. I'm not going to be making major changes to your character or anything (though I will probably take creative liberties on more subtle details, such as minor appearance or personality tweaks or filling in details where needed), again, this is just to avoid messy legal issues. If you don't accept this, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accept your character.
Roles I Need
I don't really need much as far as roles go. Just four antagonists and I'll be more or less set. If you don't want your character to be an antagonist, he or she can be a powerless protagonist (who will likely only make a few appearances). If I don't get those spots filled, it's not a big deal since I'll be making characters to fill those spots anyways. Sorry about that, but them's the breaks. I'll have to limit protagonists to three sign-ups, though.
Antagonist
Antagonist
Antagonist
Antagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Hypothetical Protagonist
Again, I don't need the Hypothetical Protagonists, but they're there if you don't want to be an antagonist.
Roles Filled
Unconfirmed characters are characters that haven't been updated and accepted by the Character Clause.
Kondo, Filled by jedizora Unconfirmed
Kyouko, filled by Ghost of Zelda4 Confirmed (I talked with her via real life because lolsister and she pretty much said I could go nuts with her character.)
EijiFilled by Komali Confirmed
As you can see, I've done away with the role scheme that I had before. This is mainly because, as I developed the story (along with the world), some of these character roles have changed. Minus the tweaking, they're good as they are (again, once the appropriate changes are made), but they may or may not fill the roles you originally expected them to. I promise to make each one of them as awesome as I possibly can, though.
Role Fields
These are the fields that you'll need to submit (or resubmit if you've already submitted your character). If you've already submitted a character, now would be a nice time to change things around.
Name: This is your character's name. Valid names are real Japanese ones. A family name is appreciated, but not necessary. Here's a generator that can generate Japanese names. For simplicity's sake, keep family names FIRST if you have them. Note: The name generator orders Japanese names in the traditional western order (IE you have the given name before the family name). The names in the middle are just extra given names for you to choose from, so take note. I'd also like to hear about the history behind the names for potential symbolism. You can get the scoop by clicking on the name in the generator once it's been generated. If you forgot, that's okay, but try not to let it happen. Writing the names in the native language is a nice touch, but not necessary.
Role: This doesn't have much use other than to distinguish if you want to be one of the powerless protagonists or an antagonist.
Gender: Simple field, this distinguishes whether your character is a man or a woman. No silly answers like both or neither, though...
Age: This is the age of your character. Try to keep it believable. Your character can be old (around 60 is the maximum age I'll allow) or your character can be younger (20 is the youngest age I'll take for an antagonist).
Appearance: This is how your character looks. Are they tall? Are they short? What kind of hair do they have? Do they even have hair? Scars? No scars? And much more. This is also where you'll be making clothes. For clothes, I just have two restrictions: use a bit of a flair from Japanese clothing. Going all out Japanese mode is cool, but not required. The other restriction is that it has to be functional/not overly complicated. Sure, fighting in a dress or what-have-you is awesome, but it's unpractical and, quite frankly, somewhat far-fetched. However, just fighting in plain old non-restrictive clothing (like a regular shirt and pants) is not. I heavily advise against armor due to how clunky it is.
Personality: I'm going to have to restrict personality a wee bit more than before. I'll allow each of you three key traits (hot-headed, kind, cold, distant, jolly, etc) to put into your character. I will expand on it a bit more in private (giving them flaws, rounding them out, etc). As long as they don't directly conflict each other (for instance, a lazy character who is also very motivated makes no sense. A lazy character, however, who will chase you to the ends of the earth if you do something that REALLY p*sses them off, however, makes more sense) you should be fine.
Magical Talent: This is a character's ability with magic. Gone are the days of alignment only based magic, now you can have abilities too. However, each character only gets one ability/alignment to choose, so as not to break things. Certain abilities I'll have to look into to make sure that they're properly balanced, but you should be good with anything you can come up with. However, try not to flood things with a certain alignment or ability. Alignments I'm a bit lenient on (up to two characters can share an Alignment) due to the fact that, well, they're not exactly the most specific things in the world. Specialized abilities, however, (like, say, the ability to create portals at will or bend physics) will be a one character only deal, for the most part. Also, I must premptively ban gravity based powers, dimension based powers (like the aforementioned portals), repulsion powers (unless it has a limitation, like only being able to be focused through the hands or only repelling a certain material such as metal), and void based (as in summoning black holes) powers due to their difficulty in scaling down so that they're not too threatening but still threatening. If you choose this, I will choose a Fighting Style as I see fit.
Fighting Style: Alternatively, you can submit a fighting style instead of a Magical Talent. This can be as simple as martial arts (although please don't narrow it down to a specific martial art in that case: I'm not sure if I'd be able to find enough resources to research it) or what kind of weapon your character uses (like, say, a longsword or a gun, and yes, guns DO exist). Just don't go using machine guns or say something like "everything". You may also choose whether or not your style is grace based (IE dodging your foe's moves and countering with your own) or power based (IE going all out aggressive until your enemy drops). If you choose this, I may assign a Magical Talent as I see fit.
Here's a template for you to borrow:
Code:
[B]Name:[/B] Japanese names only, please.
[B]Role:[/B]
[B]Gender:[/B]
[B]Age:[/B] 20 to around 60 is what I want.
[B]Personality:[/B] Only three key traits, please.
[B]Appearance:[/B] No ridiculous clothing. Other than that, pretty much anything you make up goes.
[B]Magical Talent:[/B] Alignments or special powers will do. Enhanced physical traits such as strength or speed do not count. Unavaliable if you fill out Fighting Style.
[B]Fighting Style:[/B] Anything that isn't ridiculous or using uber-advanced technology will do. Remember, this setting is Steampunk, so less powerful guns (like, say, a pistol or a revolver) are just as valid as swords and the like. Unavailable if you choose to fill out Magical Talent.
Now What?
You're probably asking yourself "Hey, when's the story going up?" right about now, or at least that's my guess. Whether or not you were thinking that, I'm going to answer that question anyways. My answer is: I don't know! Seriously, I can't give a definitive answer on when the story will be up. All I can tell you is that I'm hoping to get this show on the road by the end of September, although that is a bit of an optimistic goal. Realistically, I think early October is the most likely release date of this story.
Also, about character confirmation, I have sent everybody who made a character a PM about this. I will give everyone exactly two weeks from now to confirm and update their character (in other words, until the 25th of August). If they don't, their spot is (sadly) lost and I will take it upon myself to fill the gap.
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