Post by PIME2 on Jan 24, 2016 13:53:44 GMT 1
For starters, to apply for one-shot characters, you must make a new account which is either an OOC account or one specifically made for rping one-shot. You are not allowed to use a character account for one-shot posts, just like you can't use one character's account to post another's post. This is to keep your character post counts and posts with one-shots separate. If you later decide to apply to play a one-shot as a proper character, we will add the posts you made as a one-shot to that character's post count.
The following is the template you should use when applying for a one-shot character. Below that are some guidelines on you can, can’t and shouldn’t do.
Of the template, the only ‘required’ part of it is ‘setup’ when you first post, what is the story you want to tell. It all needs to be filled out before we can accept it and you can play them, but if you are just wanting to say an idea so that others can then scheme with you about it, and in turn a character can be made from that, then it is worth posting just that idea so people can see it.
As I’ve alluded to throughout, this could be a story of players facing off against a villain (Hysterians verses a dragon, a Viking brawling with a PC, etc), or could be a more plot driven (an outsider travels home for a short time with people from berk and they interact with one-shot character(s) native to that land, or a couple of Vikings go off and end up meeting an old and powerful dragon who is dangerous, but friendly as long as you’re on it’s good side). Note these are just the first ideas I had while writing this, anything which is a plot concept which could be contained to one thread (or a chain of threads) is doable.
As mentioned, the other aspects are optional when you first post, though it is good to include more if you have locked down ideas.
The ‘Player’ section is for those who have an idea they want their own characters to interact with. Using 'Open' means that you are leaving offering for an idea to be used by another member, so for that idea to be accepted another member would need to offer their want to run your idea. If you left any details (name, species and/or character description) would also need to be filled in by that person if necessary.
While all this is predicated on the fact that we will be worrying as much about ‘long term viability’ of a character as we would be for an apped character, please remember that we still have standards of believability for this site as a whole, so if a character doesn’t fit this site, or we feel that they are too much of a Mary Sue, we will still veto these characters. All this is for giving everyone a bit more freedom in stories, not so you can get around our review standards.
Similarly, usage of any one-shot character is limited to the thread(s) talked about in the application, if none were mentioned then the character is only accepted for the first thread it posts in connected to the plot described. If you want to do multiple threads on the same plot post so in the app so that we can accept it. Don't worry, we will almost always say yes, it's just so we know where the one-shot are being used, as they are not properly accepted characters and so we do not want them to be used outside of where they have been permitted to be used.
Dragon specific One-shot guidelines
Unlike with character apps, there is no post count requirement for making a one-shot dragon application. This is because the reason we have the 25 post requirement was because it is harder to find rp where a wild dragon can be involved in compared to what humans can get involved in, so we don’t want new members to hurt their experience of the site by making a choice which damages their experience of the site purely because they didn’t realize the problem. The point of one-shot characters on the other hand is that they are made for the threads they are in, so there is no reason to keep the restriction.
Similarly, Foreign and Untrainable dragons are also allowable as one-shot characters, but the plot has to work for such species to be there otherwise we will say no. Rare dragons and Titan Wings still require 100 posts with one character to be able to make a NPC rare of.
Oh and do not post requests to run massive boss dragons like Red Deaths or Bewilderbeasts. We will say if we want such an idea to be run on this site and I will either run them myself or delegate it when the time comes.
Large Events and characterless One-shots
Final thing to talk about is the scope. It is always better to try and keep any plot size as small, I would suggest that the majority of one-shot stories should, if only affect noticeable the player characters who are a part of the thread. We can talk about stuff that's larger but as a rule of thumb smaller plots are more manageable and more likely to be completed. Also, if you have a plot idea which doesn't have a character in mind (such as, for instance, a small earthquake happens causing a cavern to be opened wich pcs can explore) that is worth posting through oneshots too
The following is the template you should use when applying for a one-shot character. Below that are some guidelines on you can, can’t and shouldn’t do.
[b]Name:[/b] [Self explanatory]
[b]Species:[/b] [Human or dragon. If dragon, state specific species of dragon]
[b]Description of character:[/b] [Give a basic idea of what your character is like, you can be as simple as ‘age group, gender, occupation’ or you can be as detailed as to use the regular character app templates, or anywhere in-between]
[b]Setup:[/b] [Why do you want to use this character, what plot ideas do you have for him/her for the thread you’re going to write them in?]
[b]Player:[/b] [Will you be playing this character or do you want someone else to (if so either state the name of the person who is going to or put ‘Open’]
Of the template, the only ‘required’ part of it is ‘setup’ when you first post, what is the story you want to tell. It all needs to be filled out before we can accept it and you can play them, but if you are just wanting to say an idea so that others can then scheme with you about it, and in turn a character can be made from that, then it is worth posting just that idea so people can see it.
As I’ve alluded to throughout, this could be a story of players facing off against a villain (Hysterians verses a dragon, a Viking brawling with a PC, etc), or could be a more plot driven (an outsider travels home for a short time with people from berk and they interact with one-shot character(s) native to that land, or a couple of Vikings go off and end up meeting an old and powerful dragon who is dangerous, but friendly as long as you’re on it’s good side). Note these are just the first ideas I had while writing this, anything which is a plot concept which could be contained to one thread (or a chain of threads) is doable.
As mentioned, the other aspects are optional when you first post, though it is good to include more if you have locked down ideas.
The ‘Player’ section is for those who have an idea they want their own characters to interact with. Using 'Open' means that you are leaving offering for an idea to be used by another member, so for that idea to be accepted another member would need to offer their want to run your idea. If you left any details (name, species and/or character description) would also need to be filled in by that person if necessary.
While all this is predicated on the fact that we will be worrying as much about ‘long term viability’ of a character as we would be for an apped character, please remember that we still have standards of believability for this site as a whole, so if a character doesn’t fit this site, or we feel that they are too much of a Mary Sue, we will still veto these characters. All this is for giving everyone a bit more freedom in stories, not so you can get around our review standards.
Similarly, usage of any one-shot character is limited to the thread(s) talked about in the application, if none were mentioned then the character is only accepted for the first thread it posts in connected to the plot described. If you want to do multiple threads on the same plot post so in the app so that we can accept it. Don't worry, we will almost always say yes, it's just so we know where the one-shot are being used, as they are not properly accepted characters and so we do not want them to be used outside of where they have been permitted to be used.
Dragon specific One-shot guidelines
Unlike with character apps, there is no post count requirement for making a one-shot dragon application. This is because the reason we have the 25 post requirement was because it is harder to find rp where a wild dragon can be involved in compared to what humans can get involved in, so we don’t want new members to hurt their experience of the site by making a choice which damages their experience of the site purely because they didn’t realize the problem. The point of one-shot characters on the other hand is that they are made for the threads they are in, so there is no reason to keep the restriction.
Similarly, Foreign and Untrainable dragons are also allowable as one-shot characters, but the plot has to work for such species to be there otherwise we will say no. Rare dragons and Titan Wings still require 100 posts with one character to be able to make a NPC rare of.
Oh and do not post requests to run massive boss dragons like Red Deaths or Bewilderbeasts. We will say if we want such an idea to be run on this site and I will either run them myself or delegate it when the time comes.
Large Events and characterless One-shots
Final thing to talk about is the scope. It is always better to try and keep any plot size as small, I would suggest that the majority of one-shot stories should, if only affect noticeable the player characters who are a part of the thread. We can talk about stuff that's larger but as a rule of thumb smaller plots are more manageable and more likely to be completed. Also, if you have a plot idea which doesn't have a character in mind (such as, for instance, a small earthquake happens causing a cavern to be opened wich pcs can explore) that is worth posting through oneshots too
