Ex_Libris

Ray Gault was a young man who grew up in the harsh environment of downtown Paragon. As a young boy he was constantly bullied and beaten up for little reason more than entertainment, and it didn’t take long for Gault to learn self-defense. Every day after school he trained for hours, improving his strength, agility and endurance, and soon no one dared lay a finger on him. But this was not enough. In the process of improving himself, he became obsessed with reaching the limits of the human body. He increased the resistance of his training ten-fold and it consumed all of his free time. One day, Gault encountered two other like-minded individuals brawling in a back alley, Jake Lenzor and Ted Kolo. The three became fast friends and furthered their training by sparring with one another. Within a few years, Gault, Lenzor and Kolo had shown an uncanny ability to improve, increasing their abilities to beyond regular human means. They could jump ten feet in the air, run a 2-minute mile and smash through solid granite. However, the triad were blind to limits of any kind, and when they found they had reached a barrier in their training, they began searching for a new way to further their ambitions. Their goal was finally reached when Gault emerged from the Sahara desert (in which he had been wandering without water for two months), with an ancient text from the tomb of some extinct people. After years of effort, Kolo managed to partially translate a passage from the tome, highlighting the creation of a “mind link”. Supposedly, through a meditating procedure called Izko, any number of individuals could create a link of wills that would tremendously increase the potentials of all within it. The three, desperate for results, fulfilled the procedure without translating any more text, and found themselves with more power than they had ever imagined. They not only were much stronger and hardier, but they could sense one another’s presence and also anticipate each other’s moves. Finally satisfied, the three decided to put their powers to use and spent several years fighting local crime as The Tri-Alloy. Everything went well at first, but as time went on, the connection between the triad grew stronger and stronger until it was almost unbearable. The greatest shock came when each woke up at 6:00 in the morning one day, and found that he couldn’t distinguish between the movement of his body and those of the other two. After several hours of struggling, the three managed to meet in Gault’s basement, but before they could even begin to discuss their confusion, they were all drawn together in a flash of brilliant green light. When they awoke, there was only one, Triumvirate.

Any feedback is appreciated.

I was in Beta for 3 days ...anyway I liked the I.D. card that you filled in for your character but I never saw how it was implemented. So here is a chance introduce a little role play information behind your Hero.

Name:?

Background:?

Battle Cry:?

I look forward to some good background stories.

/Cheers ShadowSeed

The orange chemical softened and he took a deep breath. He staggered to his feet and looked about. He was in a warehouse and by the look of neglect it had been so for many years. He took a few steps and slipped in the orange muck. He fell to the floor fast and hard, but he did not feel any pain. Getting back up he did his best to find others, someone that could help him. He walked about aimlessly and tried to find something to get the good off with. He almost had to duck to get through a door way and that had never happened before. He found a small bathroom and pulled the cord on the single handing bulb.

The swaying light cast shadows about the room but enough to see in the mirror. His skin was quickly absorbing the orange goo and in moments he was dry. He noticed his arms were now the size that he always wished his legs were, and his legs were huge. He looked like one of those pictures of heroes of old. Almost seven feet tall and as broad as a chimneystack. He made his way out and finally found the entrance to the building. He looked outside of the building to see a huge sprawling city on the horizon. He pushed open the door and it fell straight of the hinges with a thud and a rattle. The old chains that had wrapped the door had been broken as too. He turned about to see the sign above the building “Armed Forces Storage Building #3”.

A few papers blew by in a light breeze and one stuck to his foot. He picked it up. The Paragon Tribune??? Dated 2004!!!

“Them sums-a-bitches…”

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Armed Forces
- Science Tanker
- Invulnerability / Super Strength
- Virtue Server

Echos…

He awoke surrounded by the burning orange liquid as it solidified around him. His last breath being squeezed out of him by the hardening chemical.

“It’s no good Sir. He is dead.”

“He can’t be dead. Look his heart is still beating.”

“No look. See these alpha waves. He is brain dead. The psychotropic effects flash fried is higher brain functions. His heart will stop as soon as the chemicals effects wear off. The chemical did have some of the desired properties… it did harden. It would take us hours just to cut out a small piece.

“Well, he did make it farther than any of the other test subject. Do we have anyone left?”

“No sir, he was the last volunteer.”

“Notify his family. Just like the rest of them. Tell them he died in a Viet Cong ambush. His body, as usual, was unrecoverable.”

“Yes sir. What about what is left?”

“Leave it in the cylinder. Put it in storage. We may be able to analyze it later.”

All was darkness…

He let the thug slide from his grasp as he looked around. The intelligent proved his real worth. The smart thing to do would be to run. Instead he grabbed the sobbing girl and produced a curved blade. “I will cut out her heart I will.”

He closed the distance between himself and the pair slowly.

Click. Click

His hands could barely contain the blade he was shaking so much. “She will die and it will be your fault.”

Click. Click.

“I am warning you. I will do it.”

Click. Click.

He screamed, “I will see BLOOD!”

Click. Click.

He shot his arm out at cuffed the thug across the brow. The shock caused the thug to loosen his grip on the girl and Forces took advantage of the moment. He swept her up and jumped onto a nearby fire escape. Letting the girl go he peered down upon the thug. The blimp passed slowly overhead and a random light bathed down across the hero. Seven feet tall, blue body suit with a prominent white star on a red field in the middle of the chest. “I don’t negotiate with enemies of the state!”

The thug turned to run as Armed Forces slammed his knee into his back. Armed Forces slammed his chest into the ground like a tent stake with his entire mass riding down his frame. The thug’s fractured ribs punched ragged holes into his lungs and he spit out a wad of sputum.

Armed Forces stood up, “And so you did.”

He retrieved the young girl from the fire escape and helped the lad to his feet. He quietly escorted them from the alley.

The orange light from across the neon sign across street illuminated them as they came out of the alley.

Click. Click.

Click. Click.

“Let them go or you will feel the might of…”

The masked one opened depressed the trigger of the submachine gun and it smiled death. With a split second to spare he willed his defenses to action and his skin became as steel. The bullets slammed into his abdomen and the trio of toughs charged. The beefy thug came in swinging a sledgehammer thinking he was Babe Ruth. He decided to let the hammer fall and it skipped off of his shoulder. The other two just suddenly stopped.

He gave a toothy grin and finished his opening, “The Armed Forces.” He threw a massive overhand swipe down upon the meaty one sternum sending him across the alley. The thinker had pulled a pistol and was firing randomly down the alley. The slimy thug was moving in for a slash when he was caught by a jab to side of the head followed by a close-line across the neck. A sickening snap was heard both of his collarbones gave way under the force of the blow.

Armed Forces charged at the pistol user hoping to trod him under foot. He almost made it when another cacophony of rounds blasted into his side from the masked thug. He felt a small caliber round bounce off of his right peck and a sweeping blow across his back. The stars cleared to the meaty one taking another swing with that hammer, again. He thought to himself, they outlawed selling spray paint to kids to reducing huffing but they must give construction equipment away. He leaned to the right letting the hammer find nothing but air. He used the hammers momentum to his advantage and delivers a one to two combination to the meaty thugs kidney. A large wet stain appeared in the tough’s pants as his legs gave way under him. Forces decided it was best not to run into this one again and slammed his elbow across the back of the thug’s skull quickening his slumber into the trash litter alley.

The masked one seemed to be having some trouble with his military grade firearm as he was trying to clear the jam. Armed Forces jumped behind the distracted thug and proceeded to make methodical blows to his opponent’s backside.

He slammed his open palm into the spine of the thug, “S – Squeeze the trigger”.

“P – Pull back on the charging handle”, echoed down the alley as she grabbed the thug buy the shoulder and they he down the alley.

The thug stumbled to his feet and tried to clear the jam. The masked one was so intent in using the weapon at hand he forgot to use his head.

Forces barked, “O – Observe the chamber” as he drove his fist into his masked ones stomach. He expected the fight would be over by now but the masked one let out a laugh as he finished clearing the jam. The submachine smiled again as Forces jumped into the air. He took a round or two in the legs but avoided most of the barrage.

“R – Release the charging handle. T – Tape the forward assist.” More blows rained down upon the masked one and he began to wave from the impact of some much punishment. Blood was flowing from the mouth of the mask and his breathing was ragged.

Forces scooped the masked one up into a bear hug and cooed “S – Squeeze.” The masked one went limp under the pressure and the machinegun let off a few disappointing rounds.

He walks down the alley at toward the toughs. His steps resound in the dark like taps. Click. Click. Click. Click. Only the clean one notices the noise,

“Quite! Someone’s comin.”

Click. Click. Click. Click.

His flickering form comes into view under the haphazard incandescent store light from across the street.

“Would ya look at that mates. Someone draped a flag over this cape. Ever seen someone like that?”

The small one smirks, “We can take him… we can put that flag over his grave.”

A dark echoing voice comes from the shadows and another form emerges from the shadows. A double click of a safety resonates through the alley, “I saw we burn it.”

Echoes…

“Look Sergeant, we only asked for the toughest volunteers to participate in this study. Out of the hundreds of applications only a few have made it this far. Now that you know what we are trying to do you would back out now. What would your family think if they knew you would bow out when the chips are down.”

“Sir, I want to participate but this is more than a study!”

“Sergeant. If we can get the expected results we will be able to kick the damned 5th Column straight off American shores. We could take this war back to them. We could stuff the American flag straight down their fascist throats. Make them pay for what we have lost.”

“But sir, immersion in this liquid? I mean, is this the only way.”

“Sergeant, I don’t claim to understand exactly what this stuff is. Hell, only a few people even know it exists. We don’t expect real results from the Manhattan Project for years and this war is not going to end itself. It is going to take courage to defeat the enemy and you have that.”

He barely remembers what the scientist said. Psychotropic this and catalyst reagent that. Robert was never very good at science.

“Is there no other…”

“You going to step up to the plate here Sergeant and hit a home run for Uncle Sam and apple pie. Or are you going to stay in the dugout and let the home team down.”

“Sir, no sir!”

They strapped him onto the table and lowered him into the empty testing cylinder. He never really could get the hand of these new fangled breathing apparatus. The lid sealed shut and whirling noises clamored about the cylinder like baby spiders crawling out of an egg. With a rush the orange liquid flooded into the cylinder. He screamed in pain through the apparatus it felt like he was being burned alive.

Its prom night and he looks down a grimy alley at a trio of toughs terrorizing a young couple. The blonde’s apparel and make up says she is trying to act twenty but her pleading eyes show she is still just a child. The poor is barely a teen with questionable taste in rental clothing. The short wiry thug produces a blade and snickers, “I think she wants to dance with me.” The boy acts like a man as he attempts to put himself between her and the toughs. He does not even to get to complete his first step before the thick, greasy goon slams his fist into his gut. You can hear the wind leave his lungs as he collapse to the welcoming embrace of concrete. She sobs, “Please let us go, we just wanted to get home.” The clean looking thug retorts, “Home is where the heart is love. Where the heart is!”

Echo’s from past call to him,

“Pop relax. I will make you proud.”

“You would make me proud if you give up this foolish notion of defending the world and come back home”

“You know I can’t do that. I have signed the papers. I have to go.”

“Look here, them recruiters are no good liars. You are my only son and they can’t make you go!”

“Pop! I am getting on the bus. All my friends have already been called up. I have to go. What will people think of our family, of me… if I don’t?”

“Forget them sums-a-*******.”

“Pop, I am going. Kiss mom for me.”

Franklin grabs his son by the shoulder and looks him straight in the “Don’t you volunteer for anything. You hearin’ me? Not a damned thing!”

“Sure Pop, whatever you say.”

Good stuff!

LOL

I ain't as fancy as y'all, with all them purty clothes and flashy beams and what-not. I came here to Paragon City because I ain't considered no freak, hell I'm about the most regular man wandering these here streets. All these bugs an aliens an women who would be durn good looking if'n they weren't blue or on fire or what-not. I'm more of a country man when you get right down to it.

Sum folks around here wonder what a man like me is doing in the city in the first place. I'ma here because of a promise to my pappy. My pappy was the first one to get the gift because my grandpappy supposedly shacked up with an alien from another planet. I always thought they was pullin' my leg because I never seen no alien or strange happenings cuz I only ever knew my granny that grandpappy married after my alien granny went away.

Now I was tellin' a bit of a white lie when I said thar weren't no strange happenings. Many a night my grandpappy would get into the family recipe and then run around in the woods with a bathrobe on screamin' alien granny's name and my pappy would have to track down the ol'man with his huntin' dogs and carry grandpappy a kickin' and a screamin' back to his house.

And then there were my pappy. He was a good man, and he was tough as nails. My pappy couldn't be hurt at all, bullets would bounce, knives would bend, saws would break. Grandpappy would say with pride that them were the alien genes workin' in my pappy. My pappy's pals liked it when he would be sippin' on some of the family recipe and then let the ol'boys start shootin' and stabbin' him and what-not. Hell, my pappy's friend Wayne hit him with his truck and ended up havin' five hundred dollars worth of damage while pappy didn't get one scratch.

When I turned 15 I got the power too. My pappy was so proud, and he learned me how to use the power and discovered that I had gotten somethin' more from alien granny. If'n I concentrated real hard I could make my hands light up as bright as the sun! If'n I hit anything when my hands were all lit up I could mess it up real good. Soon I was drinkin' the family recipe with my pappy and his friends and pullin' all kinds of stunts that didn't seem so smart once I'd wake up the next day with a mean hangover.

My ma smacked the tar out of me and my pappy fer what we did, but she let it go on. The worst day in my life was when ma passed away from the cancer. My pa changed after that day too, he started thinkin' on how we weren't doin no good works with our powers, and that there must be somethin better to do than to amuse his pals when we were all drinkin'. When Pappy got sick he sat me down and asked me to make a promise.

Pappy wanted me to do somethin more than he did, and when he passed he asked me to go and help people that weren't as fortunate as we was. After he passed on I signed up fer the military, and went into the supers force attached to the marines.

People at home was good to me because I dun growed up there, but they still was afraid of what me and my pappy could do, never quite felt normal until I was surrounded by other super powered folk.

That were difficult for me, considering that being normal meant being around all these crazy lookin' folk that could fly or throw fireballs or just plain dressed strange. I would like drinkin with the folk that could freeze things because I could always serve the family recipe at the proper temperature.

Now, I'ma not the kind of man that looks down on city folk and city livin', but y'all can't handle the family recipe!

Me and one of them fire starters was sippin the family recipe and he got so out of his head that he went back to his house and burned the dang thing down! I still have a good chuckle about that from time to time.

After I got out of the military I sat down and thought real hard on what I should do next, how to keep the promise I made to my pappy. That is what led me here, to Paragon City, where the trees are small and the skyscrapers run off as far as the eye can see.

So if'n you are in Paragon City and lookin' for trouble I'll be there, and I'll beat the holy livin' tar out of you son.

well, the first thing i do when entering the tutorial, is set wsad to the arrows... i think its retarded to not use the arrow keys when that's their sole purpose! to direct you...

r = reply,
t = tell
tab = cycle enemy
` = disable UI
numlock = autorun

^ those also get set right after character creation

/bind b powexec_name Brawl
/bind h powexec_name Hover
/bind s powexec_name Sprint
/bind button4 powexec_name Hover
/bind button5 powexec_name Fly

those are all for now, as im used to using 1-0 as hotkeys so no need to hotkey all my other powers. just ones i don't use all the time, but enough to merit its own special button

cool story

I liked it. Good job Midnight Void.

Uh, maybe they dont visit the forums and dont know Virtue was the annointed RP server?

Still no reason to be rude, but there's also no reason to assume that all players read the boards and know what goes in them. I also imagine that many people are trying to grind their way back up to where they were prior to Beta.

OK, be gentle. I am not much of a writer and didnt intend on coming up with backround stories on my chars. However last night I had trouble falling asleep and the stories came to me. Hehe. Here is the first, on my main..Midnight Void, Scrapper (Dark/Regen). Pic here: http://mysite.verizon.net/res1x7iz/s...dnightvoid.jpg

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Jack Hoffman just got off of his patrol. Still in uniform he went to pick up his beloved wife from work to walk her home, as he always did. He met his beautiful wife and proceeded to stroll home on this lovely evening. The two talked about their day when two muggers jumped out of the shadow, pointing weapons at them. Jack’s hand was itchy thinking about his service revolver strapped at his side. “Better not”, he thought to himself, “The only important thing is the safety of my wife”. “Here is my wallet, honey give them your purse, we don’t want any trouble”, Jack told the muggers. “Wish it were that simple”, the mugger replied, "we came for your life". Jack then realized this was about the trial he was going to testify at. He knew that crime lord wasn’t going to go down easy. Like a fast draw westerner, Jack quickly drew his revolver shooting them twice each in the head, but somehow the muggers were unaffected. Jack had heard about these seemingly invulnerable new criminals. He shot his last two shots on the one closest to him, nothing. They shot back, all is black, all if fading.

Beep, beep, beep. What’s this sound? Where am I? “Aghhhh!” Jack screams as the memories of the event came flooding back in his mind.

“Where is my wife!”, Jack demanded.

“Calm down sir, you just came out of a very long coma”, replied a nurse rushing to him.

“What? How long have I….where is my wife, is she OK?”.

“I’m sorry Jack, your wife is dead”.

“No, can’t be..can’t”, Jack pleaded as a tear rolled down his face. “I need to visit her, where is she buried?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this Jack”, said the nurse softly.

“Tell me? Tell me what? Just tell me!”

“Your wife’s body disappeared in the morgue.”

“What! How can that be! We have to find her. I have to find her”, Jack said struggling to stand up.

“Jack, that was over two years ago. Your partners in the force have already done everything they could to find her. They have found not even the slightest trace.”

“How could that be?” Jack asked as he broke down in tears.

A few weeks later Jack was fully recovered from the hospital. All Jack could do was try to pick up where his fellow officers left off, but there was nothing to pick up on. Jack was falling into a deep depression. This entire thing felt like a nightmare. Jack, trying to get this all straight in his head, just could not. He found himself wondering in the park. “I’m tired” Jack thought, “So tired”. He found a spot on the grass and laid down, staring at the stars. His eyes looking in the midnight sky catches an empty spot, void of stars. “That’s all I am now”, Jack thought to himself”, “I am that void of stars in the midnight sky. All is empty, all is dark.” Jack reached into his pocket, pulled out the very service revolver that failed him many years ago, but was just weeks ago in his mind. His hand gripped the pistol handle firmly, his index finger wrapped around the trigger, the nozzle at his head. His finger started to squeeze the trigger as he was lying there staring into the deep dark void in the night sky, when something started to form out of the void.

“What’s this?” Jack thought.

“There is power in the empty, power in the dark, power in the void” Jack heard, but not with his ears. It was in his mind. Like this thing forming in the void was talking straight to his mind.

“What? Who are you?” Jack asked as he laid the gun down by his side.

“I’m not a who. I am a what, but that is not important. Embrace the void you feel. There is power there. With this power you can battle the very beings that did this to you”, the mystical forum in the night sky said as it faded away.

For some reason Jack understood. He could not explain how. He started accepting his dark, depressed feelings and as he did this he felt different. He looked down at the revolver he was about to end it all with when he notice his skin turned as black as the void in the sky.

“I am that midnight void in the sky”, he thought to himself, “Jack is dead.”

Here is what I use for hover, up will always turn hover on no matter what state it starts in and dwn will turn it off no matter what state it was in. This is good for when you get knocked out of the sky.

/macro up "powexec_name Hover$$powexec_name Hover"

/macro dwn "powexec_name Hover$$powexec_name Hover$$powexec_name abort"

/bind mbutton "powexec_slot 9"


I have hover in slot 9. This way I can easily hit it at the apex of a jump or if I fall off something. No sweat. I'll also be binding flight to F once I get it.

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See I totally bogle at the whole "kill steal" thing... I mean they've already set up the system to deliver XP and drops according to Damage dealt. If I run up and do the Coupe De Grace on a Red (High danger to me) My damage will be peanuts compared to what brought the baddy down. So I'll get maybe 1 or 2 xp, they'll take the lions share and the odds of me getting the drop will be less that 2%. The only thing that get's hurt is maybe someone's pride, and what better introduction to start some great RP'ing! I've had people rush in to try and "get a piece" if they're over their heads, I'll step back and laugh as I let them take the agro (focus of the attacks)

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All too often this has not been the case for me. I have never had somebody come in and kill steal an almost dead MOB. In every instance I've had somebody one shot (usually somebody a level or two higher than me) something that hasn't hit half health yet.

Either I get a blaster type who lets of their most deadly attack OR I have a meleer who runs in and smacks the MOB dead in one shot while I was waiting for a DoT or for my power to recharge (this happened all the time with my controller).

Heck, just yesterday I pulled a group of 3 with an AoE, just to have somebody three levels higher than me run up and kill two of them before I could react.

My name is Genezhov Schlomo Gureivich. I was born in Mogilev back when Ukraine still had "The" in front of it. It was a rough life living in Mogilev with my name.


Its ironic, really. All my life I'd tried desperately to overcome the prejudice against my kind in the Party and had almost made it. I was a "Starshy" Lieutenant in the Navy, based out of Vladivostok, half a world away from my family in many ways. I was of the relatively minor Party rank appropriate for one my people attempting to make believe I wasn't one, and just beginning to have enough influence to perhaps shield my family from the worst of the harrassments, back in Mogilev. I had almost thought I had escaped the burden of being a Jew in the Motherland.


I should have realized. I should have known that no matter what I did, no matter how much I proved myself to the Party, They wouldn't care. It had been proven time again in the Great War. I thought I would be different, though. I thought, maybe, I would be able to show them that a Jew could be a good man in the Party.


For all of my hard work. For all of my loyalty. This was how they repaid me. In the dark of the night at the trained hands of the Committee for State Security. The pistmas came under cover of darkness and took my parents and my baby sister. Took them to God wouldn't know where. Most likely someplace not too far from my home port.


They claimed my father was transmitting state secrets over one of those new computers that were just beginning to be seen outside of the military. What a joke! My father? The old man still couldn't believe we had men living in a space station. No, he was transmitting no state secrets. He didn't even know any state secrets. He'd been a low level machinist since his father was wisked away during the Purge. And my baby sister...Miriam, so sweet. So beautiful. She should have been a beauty queen. Instead...no, what those izvergie did to her I will not tell. It would be a sin to relive that.


They told me my father was a traitor to the Motherland. They told me they were sure a good Party member like me would understand. They suggested I take a few weeks away from my ship. They suggested that if I was smart, I would forget it had happened and concentrate on my promising career.


I went home. I went into the small flat which was our home, thanks to my Membership, and for the first time in my life, I prayed. I prayed to Adonai, the God Party members were not supposed to believe in. I begged him, give me the means. Give me the ways to exact revenge on the betrayers.


I do not know if Adonai heard my plight, or if it was some other being. I do know that something heard me, though, heard me and granted my request. I was given great powers. Powers which permitted me to deal retribution with the very darkness They hid in to abduct my family. And they paid. Oh, did they pay. The Party refused to acknowledge my exsistance, but Committee members throughout the Motherland whispered about The Temnota in fear. They, who feared nothing, feared me.

In the end, it was all for nought. The Party crumbled under its own corrupted weight and They ended up in direct control of everything. Even the so called President is one of Them.

Now...Now I live in Paragon City, in America. I attempt to cleanse the blood from my soul with righteous deeds. I attempt to bring hope with my Temnota.

If only Miriam was here, to live in America and see me performing Tzadaka every day.

The suggestions here are good ones.
Let me add one more practical one:

Come up with a character "voice." Use certain phrases often (I have a bad feeling about this), and/or have a favorite exclamation (Holy X, Batman!), and/or write with an accent (Ah don't know what yer talkin bout, sugah). Little touches like these go a long way to creating a persona others can understand.

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(Sorry Ubervermin, I don't mean to be overly critical of what you had to say, just wanted to present an alternate point of view that might be more newbie-friendly in some ways.)

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No, no, you've got a perfectly valid point, and my comments were rather brash. I'm just a little off-the-wall; having roleplayed for many years and enduring a vast number of similar stereotypes, in which no involvement is given into personality or weaknesses beyond a few subjective quirks here and there.

My examples were, I admit, extreme - however, I still urge any beginning roleplayers to invest time in coming up with a unique characteristic for the character they are roleplaying, instead of falling into the trap of creating a carbon-copy person with one or two minor differences.

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Cool, thanks for not taking my response the wrong way,heh. Lots of people on these forums can be pretty thin-skinned.

And yes, that is definitely a good point in general, it's always good to have an original "hook" of some kind for a character to make it more original, such as possibly taking a basic archetype and giving it an odd twist of some sort.

[ QUOTE ]
(Sorry Ubervermin, I don't mean to be overly critical of what you had to say, just wanted to present an alternate point of view that might be more newbie-friendly in some ways.)

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No, no, you've got a perfectly valid point, and my comments were rather brash. I'm just a little off-the-wall; having roleplayed for many years and enduring a vast number of similar stereotypes, in which no involvement is given into personality or weaknesses beyond a few subjective quirks here and there.

My examples were, I admit, extreme - however, I still urge any beginning roleplayers to invest time in coming up with a unique characteristic for the character they are roleplaying, instead of falling into the trap of creating a carbon-copy person with one or two minor differences.

[ QUOTE ]
Please, I beg of you - make an original character. Too many people are falling into the trap of carbon-copy RP characters that are so cliche they should be have been in Equilibrium. You've got the desperado with a tragic past who takes in a grave voice and always uses a gun. You've got the ordinary-person-turned-superhero-through-some-accident and always seems to be coming to terms with their powers while wondering what their future holds. You've got the extra-dimensional entities or other races who come to Earth and comment about how silly Humans are.

Make up an original character. Not so much in how they look, but how they act. Why do we never see narcoleptic priests? How about a pill-obsessed doctor? (My friend actually played a guy like that - whenever someone even mentioned a bit of pain, he would offer him a pill.) What about Captain Testasterone who acts tough around everyone else, but is deathly afraid of women and acts like a sissy around them? Originality is the essence of roleplaying.

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I think you're being a tad general as far as what isn't an original concept, and rather narrow about what is. Also, keep in mind that you're giving advice to someone new to roleplaying, not suggesting unusual concepts to a jaded player who's tried it all. In fact, it's generally best for someone new to roleplaying to go with something basic and archetypical such as the ones you passed off as "unoriginal." They can work in more personalization and detail later, but it's a good place to start, rather than jumping right in with the escaped mental patient with a fetish for hitting villains with large wheels of cheese.
Ultimately, I'd say just go with what appeals to you. So what if it's been done before? Almost everything has. Just give your own take or spin on something, and you can make even an old idea seem entertaining and original.
(Sorry Ubervermin, I don't mean to be overly critical of what you had to say, just wanted to present an alternate point of view that might be more newbie-friendly in some ways.)

I was born - Victor Makaveli // my birthplace - Romania // Special abilities - Ability to steal souls of my victims and use them to heal myself. .... ... .... I am here as a represtitive of the vampire community. I am here to tell the vampires... hiding in Virtue... To come out....come out....where ever you are................