Site Specifics
How do I go about creating an interesting and unique character?
What if I would like my character involved in a relationship?
What sorts of skill and talents would be most useful to the team?
How are rescues thought up and agreed on?
Who plays the rescued characters during a rescue?
Can we still get posts in our email?
I'm reading chapter five. What does "#x of the missing posts" mean?
updated and edited 08/07/07
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How do I go about creating an interesting and unique character?
In our RP, the key word is “realism”. We want characters that are exceptional people without being superhuman.
- First of all, have an idea of how to fit the character into the established universe. Take a look at the “Want Ads” to see what kinds of help IR currently needs. Then pull up the “Character Profile Template” that's on the Forums. That will help guide you through the actual building process.
- Believe it or not, in our RP, looks aren't going to be scrutinized too much... as long as you don't make your character drop-dead, supermodel gorgeous with shining silver hair, purple eyes, etc. But personality and background will be.
- Do the research on your character's education and skills and match them up to what could reasonably be expected for someone their age. And don't outshine the canons; they're the real reason we're playing.
- People face adversity in their lives, and you can reasonably add some to your character's past. However, too much adversity can be psychologically damaging, and if we see that your character's past has too much tragedy and woe you'll be asked to cut it back. The people who IR hires have to be able not only to bear the bad things in life, but also to rise above them.
- Be specific with personality. Ask yourself some questions. What are they like in the morning? How do they react when they stub their toe? If someone hurts them emotionally, what are they likely to do? When they go to a party, where do they stand? What's their reaction when someone yells an order at them? What would they do if Gordon put a tarantula in their bed? Things like this are what will help you figure out how to get into your character's head and create a specific and individual personality for them. And be prepared to play it out.
- Finally, take the comments of the moderators to heart. We want you to create a strong character, and our comments will help.
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What if I would like my character involved in a relationship?
Talk to Dianne about this one. A lot of it will depend on who the character is and how you want to build the relationship. As in real life, a relationship is built over time, not overnight, and isn't always smooth. And sometimes, it doesn't work out. So keep this in mind when you talk to Dianne.
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What sorts of skill and talents would be most useful to the team?
We have a page called Want Ads, where we have suggestions for areas in which IR could use some help. Some positions are active operative jobs where the character would be going out on rescue, some are more island bound. Of course, agents are always welcome, no matter their field of expertise. If you've got some ideas, please let us know. It's hard trying to figure out who IR might need next; those Tracys seem to have all the bases covered!
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How are rescues thought up and agreed on?
Once a month, all of the players and managers get together to plan out the plotline for the following few weeks, real time. Rescues are suggested and agreed on in these brainstorming sessions, and their details are worked out. It might take three or four months in real time to get all the details down, but we eventually do. If you have any suggestions for rescue scenarios, there's a thread on the forums where you can leave your idea. Who knows? We just may pick yours!
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Who plays the rescued characters during a rescue?
Anybody and everybody writing the rescue posts. The rescue victims are considered NPC (non-player characters) and can be used by any player.
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Can we still get posts in our email?
Yes! Our forum provider allows for that. If you subscribe to a particular topic, you'll get an email notifying you every time a post is added. The email will have a link to the new post, as well as a link to unsubscribe should you choose to. Just make sure you subscribe to the topic; subscribing to a forum lets you know when a new topic has been added... but not a new post.
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I'm reading chapter five. What does "#x of the missing posts" mean?
When we originally archived our old threads at the MSN site, they were in .rtf form and posted as a unit in the Documents folder. At the time, some of the final posts from chapter five weren't copied and were lost when we deleted the message thread. We discovered this when we decided to return the archives to messageboard format, and as a result, had to dig up some of the old posts from beta'd copies or recreate them from memory. Those recreated posts are marked as such.
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