Character Creation Guidelines (original) (raw)

Character Guidelines:
If you're interested in joining S&S, you're probably wondering how to fit your character into the FFX world. Here are some basic rules and guidelines that should help you in filling out your application. Please take the time to read them thoroughly before you app -- the mods really just wrote this for their own amusement, but they know when you didn't read it and it turns them into grouches. For some of them, that's not a big step.

First, a few general rules relating to characters:

1. Only one main character per person. You may have multiple characters though, just no more than one first tier or two second-tier. (So you could have 1 first tier and three third tier, or 2 second and a third, etc.)A main character would be a playable char or otherwise someone utterly integral to the plot. Using FFX as an example, Yuna,Tidus, and Auron are first-tier characters. The next tier down would be characters who are important and playable, but not quite as central to the plot. In X, these would include Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, and Khimari. Next down would be the third tier characters, who are generally NPCs -- Issaru, Dona, Brother, or Rin would fit here. Characters

2. If you app and are accepted, you're expected to be active- particularly with first and second-tier characters. This RP isn't going to progress without active players. In the words of the mods, "If you have a big-name character, you're obliged to put him out there."

3. You can't play an aeon or Sin.
They're not playable characters and will be controlled by the mods.

4. Canon friendships and partnerships are completely fluid. However, when possible, unless you've got a really cool concept, your character's family is probably the same, unless you've got an excellent concept that explains them having the same personality with a different origin. That said- if your character HAS canon family or close friends, it'd behoove you to check the apps of those characters if they're taken, to make sure your character isn't mentioned in the backstory of theirs. Check Laguna's app for an example.

5. All characters must come from one of the Final Fantasy games or the non-Disney characters from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. If you think everyone's taken from a game, check our master list of possible characters. There are a LOT of characters from FF that are vastly underplayed, and there's no reason they have to *stay* a minor character. (A GM once told me "There are no minor characters, only ones whose players don't give their stories scope.") If *all* the characters on the main list get taken, we'll consider opening the game to original characters and/or characters from a limited number of other games.

6. Let's talk about summoners.
On your application, you'll see that it asks you to list your character's occupation. For the purposes of the guidelines, we'll divide this into three categories: the general population (which should be the bulk of the characters), summoners, and guardians.

A. Remember, you don't have to play a summoner or guardian! Creativity makes the mods love you. Play your character as an Al Bhed treasure hunter or a priest of Yevon. Most of the population aren't planning on battling Sin, so feel free to create scientists, engineers, architechts, traders and blitzers. If everyone creates a summoner, things get boring pretty fast, so don't be afraid to experiment. Characters from the areas surrounding the lost temples are also appropriate, but should not dominate the game- these temples are lost for a reason- most of their population has been wiped out by Sin and the survivors have generally resettled in other areas. Check out the culture guide to see how concepts from other FFs have been integrated into the game, and be original. However, if you decide you ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE A SUMMONER OR YOU'LL DIE, read on.

B. Obviously, because this is an FFX RPG, summoners are fun, and central to the game. The RP begins at the beginning of FFX, after Yuna departs from Besaid, but after that the ball is in your court. Any summoner may decide at any time to challenge Sin, so Summoners are by definition at the forefront of the game. (Unless you're playing one like Dona or Scarlet.) Before you grab a summoner, refer back to Guideline 2. Please don't let these guys get dusty. And just wanting to be one isn't enough- it's important for your character to have a REASON to undertake what amounts to a suicidal quest.

C. Summoners making the pilgrimage must be 17 years old. Most are over 20. Remember, canonically, Yuna was far younger than any of her compatriot. However, feel free to experiment with age -- younger characters can be still in training and pre-pilgrimage.

D. Summoners making the pilgrimage must have gone through a brief training period at Bevelle temple, so include it in their backstory. This session is about a year long and prepares them for challenging and accepting the aeons. This takes place at Maesters' College in Bevelle, where the bulk of Yevonite priests and priestesses are trained. RP at that location has it's own community, maesterscollege. Beatrix of Alexandria is the head of security for the mini-town of the university and helps train-would be guardians, which also serves as a matching program for summoners and guardians. That way, summoners who don't have friends or family willing to protect them can hook up with other characters to form parties.

E. Every summoner must have at least one guardian, though they can certainly form a party with more. However we highly encourage you to find actual characters to serve as guardians, rather than NPCs. Remember, your guardians do NOT have to come from the same game. Just meet them ICly.

F. Tying into the last guideline, guardians should outnumber the summoners by a fair amount. Check the OOC com. If you see a million and three posts reading, "I'm trying to find someone to Guard X Character! Anyone got a guardian available??!" then use your better judgment and don't create another summoner. Ideally, you should check the community BEFORE you have create a summoner- so it would be a good idea to have a back up concept for any summoner you create.

That just about covers it! Head off to the application and get to work. Good luck!