Calling all Demigods! discussion

Age is subjective but it has it's defining components that should be considered and then reflected in the Personality Section to explain how your character became that way.

Character Creation is an exciting but pivotal moment to beginning roleplay. You'll want to design a character that can be involved with the playerbase but also write an application that can pass the moderator's approval.

Here's a few tips to creating a "Calling all Demigods" character.

1. Always spell check and grammar check your application before submission. Spelling and grammar is important to this group -- application and pose wise.

2. Review the character application template. Under each Cabin folder there is a thread for the Charries. The first post of that thread shows the format of the template.

3. Be sure to copy the character application template completely to a notepad or Word file to begin construction.

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CHARACTER APPLICATION TEMPLATE
(Usually each cabin follows this format but verify first if your cabin has the same before copying this one.)

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Personality:
Weapon:
Other:

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CABIN

"Calling all Demigods" has all the major god/desses cabins and a lot more minor cabins than most Percy Jackson RP games. Selecting your character's cabin sets the tone for the entire application.

You'll want to brush up on your mythology. Greek Mythology is an excellent source of information. Our moderators have also constructed a quick cheatsheet.

Find what cabin feels best for your character. And you may want to read the other approved characters in that cabin before proceeding. This will assist you in not duplicating character sheets.

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NAME

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet."

Shakespeare had it right. A name creates a cohesive character and identifies them. Mr. Riordan selected Percy's name after the Greek hero, Perseus. Your character needn't have a Greek mythological tie-in. For example, a daughter of Demeter could be named Sunshine since Demeter presides over the seasons and harvest and sunlight is needed to grow the plants.

If you're stumped on a name, there's a lot of name search engines on the web. Hop over to google and enter in the search box: Names and Meanings

If you're still having trouble, try to narrow your search further by perhaps: Italian Names and Meanings OR Greek Names and Meanings.

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AGE

Your character's age defines the character's history and personality. A typical twelve year old girl may not have the same control and power feats as a seventeen year old girl who has lived at camp for eight years. You'll want to consider these factors when deciding your character's age.

Age is subjective but has its defining components that should be explained further in the Personality Section.

For example, a typical twelve year old girl may be more immature than a seventeen year old. If she was more mature than her classmates, then in the Personality Section, I would explain that my girl took care of her sick mother while her dad worked three jobs. My character developed a work ethic to keep the house intact and thereby at twelve was more mature than her friends who may typically be more concerned with going to the mall and picking out clothes.

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APPEARANCE

Be as descriptive as possible about your character. What's written here, helps the reader visualize your character. Do avoid subjective statements such as "not fat but not skinny". How does that help the reader know what you mean by fat and not skinny? It's subjective to each reader what he/she sees as fat or skinny.

An alternative statement to that would be, Isolde wasn't plump as a cow but she wasn't thin as a rail. That statement gives a clear idea that she falls between extremely large but not extremely thin so Isolde must be about average in weight.

Be realistic with your choices. A green-skinned, amber eyed girl wouldn't fit in the Percy Jackson world unless she was a mythical creature.

If you're stumped on how to create a description with a little umph, please review Writer's Bane to Describing Characters by the Book Shelf Muse. Her tips can be applied to your daily roleplay poses, too. Another guide of tips is here, James Thayer's Author Magazine Article.

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PERSONALITY

This is the section typically I find the moderators ask for more description. A well-rounded personality would clearly define your character's strengths and weaknesses. It's safe to say that each character should have about two weaknesses for every two strengths.

For example, it isn't realistic to solely have a:
a happy, go-lucky, kind and generous sixteen year old

As it is compared to:
a happy, go-lucky, kind and generous sixteen year old puts on this act to avoid showing her vindictive side.

This sixteen year old appears as a one-dimensional sweet girl but on the inside is cruel and mean. The character could go many directions -- be a wolf in sheep's clothing by building friendships but undermining them by telling their secrets to other people.

I will write more when inspiration hits. In the meantime, I found some great source materials that provide you with questions to ask about your character when developing it.

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WEAPONS

Let's get realistic here. At Camp Half-Blood, in all likelihood, the weaponry would be of an ancient Greek/Roman design. Let's not plague ourselves with every weapon in the known world to create the latest Museum of Ancient and Modern Weaponry solely for the want of having that "super special snowflake weapon." Weapons won't make your character different. How you play your character and interact defines the character.

Learn to embrace the typical weaponry. You can make it unique with applications of gemstones, cuts, metal designs and so on.

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OTHERS

*yawn* Not another pet. Had the moderators not temporarily banned any new pets, I would still have yawned at another application with a pet. At Camp Half-Blood, when is there time to care for your pet while training rigorously? Have you ever taken care of a pet? It's a big deal and consumes a lot of time. Even fish take time between feeding and fish bowl cleaning! And again, the pet doesn't define your character. Having one doesn't make the character any more special or different.

MORE TO COME

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PERSONAL TIPS ABOUT WEAPONS/BATTLES

A personal pet peeve of mine under weaponry are statements of never misses the target. Even the best professional Olympian who has trained nearly 24-7 since childhood can still make mistakes. You, as a person, have mastered walking and yet still trip from time to time. Then you have to consider, every character can enter a situation which other influences/factors will impact the likelihood of hitting the target.

For example, if your character is an archer is being chased by a pack of wolves through a rainstorm, the chances of hitting the target is less likely. The archer requires time to aim, calculate wind variations/speed/distance, and shoot without being interrupted by a wolf leaping at the archer's legs.

Another example, if your character is a swordsman and is tiny and thin fighting against a muscular opponent, your character's hits would have less strength/damage than the muscular one. However, being small and thin gives your character greater agility to move than the muscular one who MIGHT be slower due to bulk.

Always and never can make a boring and bland statement which could lead to other players avoiding roleplay with your character. Statements as these pre-determine in your mind who will always be the victor in a battle. Who would want to enter a fight that there's no good conflict? Fighting is about conflict and the excitement of seeing who will win depending on the many factors in the battle.

For example, Mary Sue and Jane Doe each have in their profiles that when shooting arrows, they never miss the target. Well who wins? You two could bicker all night about how each is a daughter of Apollo, practiced/trained since three and so on but what does that resolve other than an entire night of fighting and no roleplay progress? Learn to embrace a twist in the storyline. If you give a little in the story, your opponent may give as well to develop a fantastic story.

For example, Mary Sue fell to one knee, exhausted from the battle. They had been fighting for an hour and it seemed like Jane Doe would win. Mary Sue noticed a river behind Jane Doe. If she could push Jane Doe hard enough, her opponent might fall!

Jane Doe was getting too hot. The noon day sun didn't make the fighting any less cool. Mary Sue caught her off-guard with her brazen bash. Jane Doe fell backwards into the river and scrambled to her feet to continue the battle. Drenched and with a twisted ankle, she pressed on and winced through the added pain. At least she wasn't hot anymore!

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GUIDES

1. The Roleplay Academy Creation 101 Guide

2. Creating Characters Guide Please scroll to the bottom of the page for the Creating Characters Section.