Here are the ropes. See, I'm showing you them! (Ask)

[Caleb]

Alright then, since don't know where all of you stand as far as experience is concerned, lets start off with some basics. From Brandon Rhea's Guide to Role-Playing:

There are two major types of role-playing game systems that are used throughout the internet on various different role-playing sites. These systems are known as the d20 System and Freeform. On The Star Wars RP, we use the freeform system as we believe that it is the best choice out of every possible way one can role-play. To understand why we use freeform over d20, you’ll need to gain an understanding of what the two systems are all about.

The d20 system is a system of game mechanics published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000. Based upon the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the d20 system of role-playing is named after the twenty-sided die that is central to the core mechanics of the system. Over the internet, the dice are virtual as real dice clearly cannot be used in an interactive online environment. The role-play essentially revolves around the earned statistics of the character and chance. The higher your stats, the greater your chances are in striking a blow against an enemy vessel or an enemy combatant, as are your chances of survival from an attack against you.

Freeform role-playing, however, are written to look like they are part of an ongoing novel. In freeform role-playing, players don’t bother with dice or chance, though statistics are still used in role-play profiles to understand the capabilities of the character and what the role-player can do with them. Because there is no system of chance involved, role-players simply write their posts based upon what the other players have previously written, so long as what you write stays within the rules of the role-play.

Unlike, say, a Dungeons and Dragons role-play, this site tends to be driven by narrative rather than combat. That is not to say combat won't occur, it will simply occur less frequently and with some distinctions. Since this role-play is so dependent on narrative, a well-developed character is vital. Your posts rely heavily on your character's thoughts, feelings, reactions, movements, actions and dialogue. Because of this, it is good to have a firm concept of how your character would react to certain circumstances, or what he would say in a given conversation. With that it mind, one helpful tool for developing a character is a character template. This role-play provides two: the standard and the literary. One, as you can see is quite precise, the other is more fluid. The key is that both are subject solely to your creativity. Those templates look too daunting right now though, so let's try something different.

[B]Name:[/B]
[B]Appearance:[/B]
[B]Personality:[/B]
[B]History:[/B]

Copy the above template and fill out each category, aim for one strong paragraph for each.
Appearance: Describe what your character looks like. Height, weight, eye and hair color. How do they dress? How do they hold themselves? Do they slouch? Tattoos? Piercings? Do they comb their hair or let it mat?
Personality: Just tell us a bit about your character. What things are important to him? Does he have any attributes? Any crushing weaknesses? Does he talk too quickly?
History: What has life been like for your character This part is always difficult for me; I always stray either too far into detail or leave too much out. Use your best judgment, try to pick moments that were important to your character.

Right, just post your results below. I'll make one too and then we'll see what needs work.

 

[Horizon]

Helpful.

This guide definetly smoothes some things out for us new members.
Great job Ractic!

 

[Caleb]

Name: Garbok

Appearance: Garbok, a male Trandoshan, stands well over six feet tall and weighs almost three-hundred pounds—Trandoshans have very dense scales. His scales a vibrantly green and scarred in many places from blaster fire. His eyes are yellow and lamp-like. His mouth is filled with row after row of razor sharp incisors, and his breath smells like fetid meat. All in all, Garbok is not the most pleasant creature to be around.

Personality: Garbok has a tendency towards bloodthirstiness. Like many of his species, he believes in settling disputes through violence and feels that the weak should bow before the strong. He is also dedicated to the Scorekeeper, the Trandoshan goddess of war and the hunt, and believes that every kill he makes is recorded for all time. Garbok is also very contemptuous of other races, seeing Trandoshans as the pinnacle of evolution—the very embodiment of survival of the fittest.

History: Born to a Trandoshan chief, Garbok spent his early years waging war against his clan's enemies. From the time that he could crawl, he has been surrounded by violence and bloodshed. This unique education meant that, by adulthood, Garbok was already a seasoned warrior. He left Trandosha shortly after his eighteenth year, traveling the galaxy as a mercenary and a bounty hunter, hunting prey for the Scorekeeper to record.

 

[Dorin Hafmott]

Dorin Hafmott

A young man of twenty years, he has a handsome, contemplative face that betrays his youth. He has emerald green eyes, and shoulder length windswept, sandy blonde hair. He stands regal at five feet, ten inches and wears the treditional garb of a Jedi Knight. His form is corded and honed to perfection, but at one hundred and seventy five pounds, he relies on his dexterity over his strength.

Dorin is a quiet and serious minded individual who posesses a kind heart and a soft spoken demenor that makes him a favorite among his instructors as well as his peers. However, he can be quite argumentative at times, especially when he is determined to finish a course of action he has set his mind upon.

Dorin was the only son of a woman under the protection of the Jedi Order. The Knight assigned to protect her was forced to deliver Dorin in the midst of the battle that ultimately ended his mothers life. The Jedi, who faught the assassin off, while at the same time delivering him, emerged from the conflict victorious, but had failed in his duty to protect the woman from harm. Dorin was brought back to the Temple to be raised as a Jedi.
He was very sickly as a youngling, but when he was discovered to have a powerful connection to the Force, he quickly recovered when he began unlocking his potent connection and abilities. He excelled in his ability to command the Force, as well as his Lightsaber training, and was praised for his uncommon mature insight on the world and people around him.
The years passed and he rose through the ranks of the Order, gaining much prestige, and at the very young age of twenty was awarded the rank of Knight. He now teaches the skills that he has learned to other padawans, as well as carries out the wishes of the masters and the Council.

 

[Caleb]

Dorin Hafmott

Looks good so far...kidding, kidding.

His form is corded and honed to perfection, but at one hundred and seventy five pounds, he relies on his dexterity over his strength.

Be aware of proportions. At 5'10" and 175 lbs the character would either be overweight or quite muscular indeed.

That makes him a favorite among his instructors as well as his peers.

Try to avoid statements like this. Until we get into actual RP, there's no way of knowing how people react to him. Instead, consider describing the character as friendly, or personable.

He excelled in his ability to command the Force, as well as his Lightsaber training, and was praised for his uncommon mature insight on the world and people around him.

Be careful that you don't make your character overly-powerful (a condition known as Mary-Su). Remember that, by and large, averages exist for a reason. We can't all be Yoda or Darth Vader. Striking a balance will make for a more interesting character in the long run as it will be easier for your fellow RPers to empathize and relate to your character.

Other than that, it's a good start. You certainly have the right ideas and you've put them to work. One suggestion I would make is to either get a browser-based spell-checker or run your posts through a word-processor before you post them; it really cleans things up and there's no shame in it. I do it!

 

[Jake]

Excellent job, Ractic. Definitely a thing for new members to read -- though, perhaps you should include a section warning role-players to stray from the norm and try to be creative? I must admit, clichés are tricky, and more than once I've found myself writing them.

 

[Sensid-Kronos]

Name: Daxter 'Dax' Nordan

Appearance: Weighing in at a puny 120 pounds and standing at a height of 5'11", he is a lanky human being with scant muscle. His slender frame making him appear rather femanine, and making him the target of much ridicule from other men. His eyes are a dull brown, contrasting with his dark black wavey hair, adorned with an orange streak running down the left side made to follow the natural curve of his hair. On his chest, three long scars trace their way down from his left shoulder down to his right side, from his hunting accident with a Massif. On his back a long scar running from his shoulder blades to his lower back shows the surgery he required to remove a few benign cysts in between his vertebra.

PERSONALITY: Dax sees himself as the funniest guy in town; after a couple of drinks that is. He is more detached about killing sentient beings anymore, seeing them just as another form of prey. “They just tend to be bigger talkers”, as he so eloquently put it. He is not very good with long-term attachments to certain people, so he has no friends, and has been in no romantic relationships other than the occasional one night stand with some prostitute. While is more unattached and indifferent about people, he is nearly obsessed about his rifle. He dotes on that piece after he nearly lost it to that Massif.


HISTORY: Dax was born in a homestead of the modest Hal Nordan and his wife Innga Nordan on one of the hottest days of the month. In his earliest years he was taught by his father the family trade, and how to fire his first rifle; a beat-up old hunting rifle that he had used when he too was a boy. Daxter loved this rifle, and every chance he got he would skimp his studies and go out with a few friends to shoot some targets or Womp Rats.

He didn’t get a formal education, but he was home-schooled and taught to the best of his parents abilities how to trade, when to let a dead Mon Cal lie, how to survive if he was caught in a sandstorm and how to survive afterwards, and how to find the best deal in a Jawa’s Sand Crawler. His parents warned him never to leave the homestead without his friends in case Tusken Raiders attacked. After a fight with his father, he through a tantrum and stole his father’s land-speeder taking with him only his barest necessities, and went off on his own. He was fifteen at the time. He went into the Jundland Wastes just outside of Mos Eisley. He stayed out in the desert for a month or two, doing odd-jobs for people to make a few credits, hunting for food and getting water from town.

When he turned sixteen (The end of his second month in the wild) he went to hunt a Massif he had tracked to a nearby gorge, and he missed his first shot, and the beast charged, he got a second shot off that grazed the monster before he was taken to the ground, the Massifs claws taking him across the chest. He was able to reach his knife after a long struggle and plunge it into the monster’s throat. From there he decided that it was too dangerous for him to live in the desert any longer, so it was time to move into the town instead, so he sold his father’s land speeder and went to live in a small boarding house in the Old Quarter run by an older woman who ran a whorehouse nearby. He of course asked for a job, and he was given a short-term job of tending to the needs of the other boarders, all of which were assassins and bounty hunters.

He learned how to use his rifle more efficiently, and instead of credits as tips, he got advice from the few that would take the time to talk with him. He stayed at this boarding house for the next couple years, and by the time he was eighteen had outgrown his small room. Whenever he brought over company from the whorehouse there never was enough room…So, he packed his things, and went to the new quarter to work for a few traders, and help spacers find their way about. One offered to modify his rifle, a proposition that Daxter gladly obliged. He then felt that same desire he had felt when he worked in the boarding house to join those he talked to and become a bounty hunter as well. He poured his funds into his rifle and buying armor and his prized magnum, and took a few jobs here and there, nothing too big, just a few prostitutes who were holding out from their bosses and a dude that owed some taxes and was hiding in the Wastes. Once he had made enough money he caught the first passenger freighter off the planet with some forged documents, and began to travel the galaxy, gathering more experience and losing his attachment towards both his clients and his victims. Once he heard of the Hutt conflict he decided to play it by ear- if an offer comes, one side or the other, accept it and capitalize.