OOC & IC Sections
OOC Section : This is information about you, the player. Please be rest assured that this information is solely for staff's use and will not be given out without your consent. Click on the boxes and enter the requested information by typing inside the box in question. If you already have a character(s) here on XMR, please feel free to include this information in the 'experience' portion of this section.
IC Section : This is where you enter the information on the character for which you are applying. Character name should be a SINGLE word/name; if it is longer, you can enter that in the full name section. Apparent and actual age should only differ if you are playing an unusually long-lived character (example : Wolverine appears to be in his mid-thirties in the comics, but in many comic book continuities, is actually in his fifties or sixties).
Codename may be left blank if your character does not have one. (Example: Jean Grey has been known as both Marvel Girl and Phoenix. Depending on how she is being applied for, either name might be relevant.) Please include a full description as this is set on your character by staff upon approval — if it is point-form, it could cause your application to be denied.
Background Section
The number one question asked about applications seems to be: How long does my background have to be?
We don't like putting a word-count number out there because some people are quite adept at making short and sweet character histories that fully cover the scope of the character, their experiences and great plot hooks, while others need to be much more verbose to achieve this.
However, with that said, if a background is a single, small paragraph, it will likely be deemed insufficient and could be enough for an application denial.
Three or four good-sized paragraphs should be fine (or a page or so in Word), so long as it gives the staff a good idea of what type of person your character is, what kinds of trials and tribulations they have faced in the past (is she a human who was nearly killed by a mutant in her teen years and she's held that grudge all these years, making her a good candidate for FoH?), and so on.
Consider the following questions when writing your bg:
- What type of family does your character come from? Wealthy? Poor? Middle classed? Loving? Dysfunctional? Etc.
- Were there any kinds of traumatic or personality-influencing events in his or her life? (Did he fall down a well when he was a child and is now claustrophobic? Did a mutant save him? Did humans save him? Was he a mutant growing up with the support of his family or without any support system? Was he a human and a good kid who turned out to be rather naive and sees no issue with mutants? Did he fall into a bad crowd?)
- Why is your character in Manhattan or the other areas represented on the game? (Was she born there? Did she and her family move there at some point? Is she a mutant who hopes to live in Rykers with the other mutants? Is she a human who wants to help 'clean up' the city? etc etc etc)
- What is your character doing now? (Is he a student? Trying to make a living? Opening a business? Just looking for a job? Looking to get into the more criminal side of things? etc etc)
- What are your character's goals? (Long term, short term, personal, career, etc.)
- Give us some kind of plot-hook for your character. (Does she have a brother/friend/lover/other relative who has gone missing and she's looking for them? Does she have a criminal record and might be recognized by the police if they're paying attention? Is she a Missing Child on a box of milk somewhere? Is she here to buy out part of her father's company to rival him and eventually take over or at least thwart him at every turn? Is she an anti-mutant campaigner who might get into one of the anti-mutant gangs or groups?)
The above questions are the MINIMUM pieces of information required for the game. Be aware, though, that we may ask for additional information if there are holes in the background that we can't seem to figure out from the information given.
For longer backgrounds, please feel free to use point form if you'd prefer, but we need to be able to make sense of it, so keep it readable, please.
Powers Section
This section is solely reserved for mutant characters; if you are applying for a human, just type in 'none' or 'This is a human character' to fill in the space. If you are applying for a mutant, read on. Any aspect of your character's mutation needs to be mentioned and fully explained in this space. Keep in mind explanation, duration, potency, range, variations and 'tricks', limitations, restrictions, flaws, special circumstances, weaknesses, etc. while writing up this section.
Each 'trick' should get its own paragraph explaining the nature of it and its parameters. (Example : Wolverine in the comic has a healing factor, which would be one 'trick', as well as heightened senses which is another 'trick', the adamantium skeleton, the claws, etc. Each of these should be fully explained with the above parameters covered.) If you need help with this, please see the object in the Guest Starting Room regarding powers for more information on what sort of information we look for.
Flaws Section
Nobody's perfect and that includes mutants and humans alike. For balance, everyone should have a few flaws to be a well-rounded character. These can be character traits such as a short temper or a deadly allergy to some other substance (examples : chocolate, peanuts, dust, penicillin, kryptonite, etc.). For mutants, there can be power-related flaws as well (examples : passing out every time they use thier power, absorbing other people's personalities permanently, being physically fail and use of powers could potentially kill them, etc.).
Be creative, but also don't be perfect; no one is perfect and it's the imperfections which make RP fun. (Please remember that saying your character is vulnerable to fire isn't actually acceptable as a flaw, since everyone is vulnerable to fire, unless there is something that makes your character particularly vulnerable, i.e. Beast and Nightcrawler might be ~particularly~ flammable and able to catch fire quicker than others, making it harder to actually extinguish them. Note that things such as police records also fall under flaws.)
Skills, Resources & Miscellaneous Sections
Skills: This is the spot where you can tell us about all the skills, abilities and resources out of the ordinary that your character may have at their finger-tips. Is your character a master chef? Crack driver who used to do stunts in movies? Ambidextrous? A lefty? Particularly wealthy or poor? Have a driver's license? Pilot's license? Able to pick locks?
Resources: This one is more about money, property and other resources of particular note and value. Generally, unless an item is worth more than $750 or so, we likely don't need to know about it UNLESS it is a specialty item (i.e. if your character owns a set of lock-picking tools, that should likely be mentioned, but if they have a basic Dell laptop, meh, we don't need to know).
Put it all down here, but remember to fully explain why these are particularly significant and outside of the norm (we don't need to know he makes a mean Kraft Dinner but if he is really good at making Thai food, that might be noteworthy).
Miscellaneous : Got more to tell us about the character but it doesn't quite fit anywhere else? Have any aspirations on where you'd like your character to end up down the road? Anything else out of the ordinary? It all goes here. Please note that this will NOT end up on the +char sheet on-game but we will still read over this material and make note of it.
