Help:Application Procedure
From DevilshireWiki
Concepts
A large variety of characters are possible at Devilshire: slayers, watchers, witches, school teachers, college students, fishermen, police, spirit warriors, demons, psychics, store clerks, television repairmen and more. Applying for a character on Devilshire is a multi-step process.
1. Come up with a concept. Read all news files and make sure to check +census. Check the boards. Talk to our players. That should help with ideas if you're stuck.
2. Decide which Character Type you're applying for: Investigator or Hero.
3. Go through character generation as outlined in the chargen rooms. This includes writing a background and descriptions for your character, completing +finger fields and +info fields and designing your character's stats.
NOTE: If you don't take anything else away from chargen here are the two most important things you need to know:
-You cannot take up more than two census slots so do a +census to make sure you're remaining under that limit.
-You can only take up to three of the following:
Artist, Athlete, Brainiac, Cop, Criminal, Cyborg, Demon, Demon Hunter, Detective, Empowered Warrior, Enchanter, Enhanced, Ex-Cop, Ex-Detective, Ex-Military, Ex-Watcher, First Responder, Four Families, Gadfly, Hypnosis, Insight, Invisibility, Jock, Junior Investigator, Magic Pusher, Nanjin Adept, Necromancy, Nerd, Nosy Reporter, Occult Investigator, Occult Scholar, Old Soul, Psychic Visions, Psychometry, Pyrokinesis, Robot, Scooby, Shamanism, Slayer, Sorcery, Spirit Medium, Superscientist, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Troll, Vampire, Watcher, Water Witch, Werewolf, Wise Guy, Witchcraft, Wizardry, Zombie.
Please, please note you do not HAVE to take three. Just ONE of these things is more than enough to create a character around. Three is just the limit. Most people get by with only taking one or two things from this list. Some get by taking none at all!
4. Apply. The chargen rooms will tell you how. It's lame, we know. We're working on it.
5. Wait for rejection or approval. Staff will very rarely straight out deny an app. If an application needs to be tweaked, staff will send a detailed @mail with what needs to be fixed in the background or with the stats and work with you on making the character work so that it can be approved. In the rare instances that we deny an app it is either because a player has requested we withdraw it, because the census slots that are being apped are filled, or because there has been no movement on the application for over a week (the person has not logged in for or contacted staff). In this last instance, the application will be denied with a request that the person make the corrections and then reapp.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds! They explain who your character is, where she comes from, and why she is here. There's no one specific way to write a background but here are some ideas to help you out:
The higher level your character, the more we expect. A good rough guideline for background length is between 500 and 1000 words for an Investigator and 1000-2000 words for a Hero. A Hero should have already been through at least one big fight/challenge, that should show up in the background.
Your background should explain your qualities and flaws. Some, such as good luck and hard to kill, aren't really explainable but your occult library, bad luck, and your fear of snakes probably are.
Also, try to explain any skills with more than 3 ranks. Pretty much anyone can have a single rank of Drive, for example, but Gun Fu 3 suggests some level of training and practice.
Details are good. Your character is more than a collection of stats. Tell us about siblings, first loves, and embarrassing moments. You don't need to overdo it but a few tidbits of information here and there tells the staff that you put some serious thought into who your character is.
Please don't include connections with other characters without permission. For PCs, ask the character's player. For NPCs, please contact staff for permission. Don't include direct references to FCs or places from the show.
If you try too hard for unique you'll likely get a rejection. Please read over our theme and setting files. Keep in mind our original source material. A demonic grifter on the run from a master vampire she scammed works. A set of genius bodies sharing a single mind from another dimension on a journey towards god-hood doesn't. A cursed swordsman wandering the world in search of his true love works. The Schattenjager from the Gabriel Knight series doesn't.
Alts
Players on Devilshire are allowed to have up to three characters, also known as alternates or alts. Only one of these three alts may be a Hero type character, the others must be Investigators. This does not mean you have to have a Hero character--you are more than welcome to have three Investigator level characters if you want. Due to the nature of census slots on the game, we ask two things:
1) At least one of your characters needs to be a Devilshire resident. This does not necessarily have to be the Third Alt, but it does need to be one of your characters. If you only intend to make two characters, then this doesn't really apply to you!
2) The Third Alt is restricted to pulling Qualities and Drawbacks from the Human Qualities and Human Drawbacks section of the Wiki. The Third Alt can take Package Qualities, but as we do not divide these up between Human and Supernatural packages, common sense will dictate which is appropriate. Especially given the fact that...
3) Third Alts cannot take up any +census slots with the exception of Family slots.
4) A Third Alt should be an Investigator with no skills above 5. Keep in mind that a skill of 5 indicates considerable training in that skill. A person with an advanced degree might have a 5. A black belt in the mysterious art of ninjutsu would have a 5 in Kung Fu. 5s are good stuff. You don't need to have a 6 to have yourself a good time.
Finally, though this is not third alt-specific, keep in mind that no one person is to have more than one character in a founding family. This means you cannot have a Swann and a Devlin or a Moore and a Harget. Given the relationships between some of the families, passing this rule will see to it that certain potential alt interaction issues are avoided entirely.
In addition, a player's alts may not be immediately linked in any fashion - such as playing two characters in the same family, two Slayers, and so on. It is recognized that there will be overlap as the game progresses. Both your alts might know the same Slayer, for example, but only one should be patrolling with her every night.
Further, your alts cannot benefit each other. Your scientist can't invent some nifty new gun, for example, and leave it around for your cop to find. There is gray area in this matter, though. For example, if your witch researches a tidbit of local folklore and tells her Slayer friend, who passes it onto her Watcher, who mentions it to your alt, the local occult bookshop owner, that will probably be fine. There was no intent to cross OOC lines and it happened naturally as a result of RP involving other people.
| Devilshire News File Topics | ||
| News Files | Building Guide • Copyright • Policy • Resources • Staff | |
| New Player Information | Application Procedure • Census • Character Types • Playing Villains • Restricted Concepts • Sample Character Background | |
| Game System | Attributes • Combat • Drama Points • Drawbacks • Fear • Global Commands • Experience Points • Human Qualities • Human Drawbacks • LP & Healing • Magic • Magic Spells A • Magic Spells B • Note • Package Qualities • Rolling • Skills • Supernatural Qualities • Supernatural Drawbacks • Superscience | |
| Setting and Theme | Overview • History • Folktales • Speech • The Four Families • Town • Conflict • Theme | |
| Characters | Casting • NPC Casting • The Devlin Family • The Harget Family • The Moore Family • The Swann Family | |
