Being an
Awesome Hopeful
by Kelly, Lis, Cams and many more who've suggested points over the years
So you're applying or the roleplay, you've written down this really cool character and you can't wait to see him/her in play, you post it on the Hopefuls board and wait patiently for mentors to say "I love this, you're in!". Unfortunately, what actually happens is "I'm sorry, but this is entirely unrealistic, please take it away", "You... might want to do some major tweaking in this category", and it feels like they tear it to shreds.
Here's how to avoid this in a few simple steps!
Step one - Have a Look Around
This starts with going back to the books- look at descriptions of what Tortall is like, what kind of people populate it, and what professions they have. This should show you some obvious things- many women still did "womenly" things. Merchants were becoming more and more important. Commoners were forbidden to carry swords. There were very few Yamani in Tortall. The Rogue were full of many different kinds of people with all sorts of professions- mercenaries, thieves, fences, forgers, mages, you name it. The Song of the Lioness quartet is particularly important if you're applying for the Inn and creating a rogue character. The Protector of the Small is very useful for the Little Court.
Then, try doing research about history. This can give you a lot of neat ideas about what else Tortall was like. Tortall is based very strongly on England from 1400-1600. This means you can search for web resources about professions, science, the arts, clothing and weaponry of the day. This helps an awful lot to make you realise just how much you have to pick from.
If you can't remember the difference between zhir/zhirit/jian? Take fifteen minutes and thumb through your copy of Song of the Lioness. When we see your character Patril jin Cadao is a minor noble of Sarain, we'll instantly know you've done your homework.
Say you go through and find all the quotes relating to jin and zhir, but you still aren't sure which is which? Don't guess, just ask. In your profile, when it asks for name, put something like:
"Patril ___ Cadao. (I've looked but I can't remember if he's supposed to be jin or zhir. I know his family wasn't written down until the Book of Bronze- can someone help me?)" Mentors will be thrilled you're paying attention to detail. It also shows you want it done right the first time-- which makes our job easier.
Lis says: If you want your character to be a certain occupation and need to more about it, feel free to ask in your profile. For example-
Occupation: Bard (does the Inn hire bards, or are they very welcome? Do they get to perform much and are they paid? I'm trying to figure out why they'd be there)
Place of Birth: Alusanne, Tusaine (Are Tusinian characters common? Has the club decided anything about Tusaine, beyond what we know in the books?)
Then, everyone who knows anything about the subject will give you information- and usually they have a lot of information about what flies, what doesn't, and where to look for more information.
An important part of forming your character is making sure you've read (but not replied to) Mentor's comments on other characters. But before that, you need to be aware of the differences between Steelsings and Pure Tammy Canon (PTC). Despite our efforts to eliminate them, a few always pop up-- both SS and Tortall are ongoing creations. If we address something Tammy hasn't in her next book she might come out with a different definition of it. One good example is the Sight. Some characters created before the publication of Daughter of the Lioness could See the future with thier Sight, but then in the DotL series, Tammy tells us this isn't possible, so we now don't allow characters with the Sight to See the future. There are other things that Tammy has not yet written about that we are still making up our own rules about, but in the end it's us, not her, who has to work to reconcile the two when there are differences.
Also be familiar with Pure Steelsings Canon. PSSC differs from PTC because some creations, like the Divine Realms II, are purely our creations and will never reconcile with PTC. Saying your character is an important rogue at the Dancing Dove is excellent PTC, but it ain't gonna fly here. There's more information then you'd believe out there in the other tutorials- read the Inn tutorials, the Magic tutorials, the Rogue tutorials. These should help you construct a character who'll slide into the Steelsings world effortlessly. After all, it's what they're there for.
Step two - Sheep in a herd or lone wolf?
Now, before you post your character, take a look at the applications in the RP Hopefuls forum. Take note of what's really common and what's less common, and what the mentors say about each profile. It's a great way to learn what the RP does and doesn't have at any one time. Are most of the characters Tortallan, or from another country? Do there seem to be an awful lot of people from, say, Tusaine? We're almost always full to the brim with teenage girls- would you consider a boy, or someone older? What are their personalities like? ("Friendly and welcoming until you hurt their friends" or "shy but will make herself heard if you hurt their friends" are perennial favourites). Are there a lot of mages or pickpockets or candle-makers or dog breeders?
If you do play something odd that we don't see a lot of, people will be much happier- it's much better to be the first alchemist the Inn has ever seen than the twelfth cutpurse in a row, or a character who has acne to counterpoint the fresh-faced countryfolk.
Step three - Actually writing the profile : Important stuff
Even when you've done all that research, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to come up with a concept for your character. You know if you can just get that initial idea, you'll be able to write the perfect profile, but how do you start?
3.1 Beginnings
The first and easiest step is to start with the basics - some simple stats to work with.
Do you want a male or a female character?
Take your pick. There is a definite imbalance with the male to female ratio with characters, so if you apply with a male character it might buy you a bonus point or two. It's not going to make or break passing your character though.
What life stage are they in?
You don't need to pick an age at this point, but defining the life-stage of your character helps. Is your character young and just learning their trade or married with children? Or indeed somewhere in between? There's a general prejudice against young unmarried women, but again, with a well written character, you can pass them. The number of widows has gone up recently too. Married men are a rarity.
On this note, there's not much point applying with a child on his/her own since it's just unrealistic, so try to make sure your character is over about 13 or so.
Those two simple decisions have probably already begun to form a character in your mind, but there's one other thing that's good to consider at this stage if you're applying for the Inn.
Are they a rogue hopeful?
One of your first two characters must be, but it doesn't have to be your hopeful character if you'd rather wait till you're in the game and watch the Rogue game play first. If your character is going to be in the Rogue, they'll need a rogue job of some sort and a reason for wanting in. Remember, your character won't necessarily know where the Rogue HQ is before they enter the game , so you'll need to think about how they'll find out either before or after entering.
3.2 Flesh to the Bones
The job you character does is pretty much the key question here. In real life, the job someone does has a huge influence on their life. There's a need for training, family pressures and time taken up working. If a job is manual that's quite different to an intellectual job. The questions below should spark some ideas and some of the answers can go into their personality and history sections.
Now you're probably getting an idea of what kind of person your character is. From here, most people either work on writing the history and personality. It doesn't really matter which you work on first as it's personal preference, but it is essential that you remember that they're inextricably interlinked.
3.3 - Personality where it's at
Personality in an application is one of the most vital things, because it's what will be most apparent when you roleplay. Fun and outgoing characters are a lot of fun- they're always the life of the party. Sensible and stable people great because they're the anchors and voices of reason in the roleplay and are very flexible. World-weary, competent people who have seen it all, but manage to have fun once in a while have a lot of depth and will improve your roleplaying and characterisation skills very quickly, but may be a little challenging.
You will find a personality creation tutorial here.
Consider more than one aspect of your character. Do they love learning, or do they think school's a drag? Do they show off their abilities? Do they secretly laugh up their sleeves at other people? Do they tend to see life in a very black-and-white fashion, or can they see the reasonable points of every argument? What's their take on religion?
The big point is, it's tempting, but don't make your character exactly like you, especially in personality. You may think it's "bad" to have a character who's lazy, sometimes critical, selfish, or shortsighted, and that we won't like him or her- not really. People are often mean or lazy or ignorant or cynical- nobody can change that. Just be prepared to accept that if your character's going to mouth off about the Rogue, people will smack them down in character just like anyone else would. That isn't bad- it's part of what makes roleplay interesting.
At this point, the phrase ICA=ICC should enter your vocabulary. It means, "In Character Actions=In Character Consequences". This means that if your character does something, other characters will respond in a way that's realistic and not always nice- for example, if your character breaks a Rogue law, they may get taken out back and beaten up or have their ear cut off. If they're always mean to people, nobody will like them. It's not because we don't like you, it's because your character's actions have consequences.
Consequences aren't bad, necessarily; they're interesting. Just expect them. If your character is, for example, really snarky and always mouthing off, you might want to show that in their 'weaknesses' section. Which means-
3.4 - Weaknesses count
Your character's weaknesses should only rarely be something like, "Can't use the sword or play piccolo." Most people can't use a sword or play piccolo, so it hardly counts (unless your character is part of an elite piccolo-playing group of swordsmen, which, by the way, we have never seen. Consider it!).
Weaknesses are the things that keep your character's life from being perfect. For example, the snarky and mouthy character I mentioned above definitely has weaknesses. His weaknesses might include, "Never understands when he offends people and has a problem getting people to agree with him."
Alternately, if a character is all sweetness and light and has eight kittens, her weaknesses might be, "Doesn't understand how horrible life can be. Is naive and ignorant to the realities of life and doesn't realise how dangerous the people around the Inn can be."
Everyone has weaknesses- someone who's well-organised may not be able to cope with surprises or setbacks very flexibly, while someone who's very nice to everyone might not be able to understand why people don't like him/her or be hurt when they're not liked. Weaknesses are good! They help you get to know your character better, and they tell your mentors that you understand your character's bad points.
3.5 - Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Net and l33+ Speak.
If ur post looks lik +his \/\/e \/\/ill not re@d i+. We will simply ask you to retype it, properly, and edit your post. This entire role-play is text based, and no one wants to spend hours decoding each statement of leet. Furthermore, if you actually spend the time to type that way, not only does it make you appear to have the maturity level of an eight-year-old, it also makes you appear to be a moron. Spelling and grammar are different issues.
Spelling is easiest to correct: Microsoft Word has a spellchecker. So does LiveJournal. The forum even has one. If all else fails, fall back on www.spellcheck.net. Mentors take offense to having to read profiles that haven't been spellchecked for a number of reasons. One, because we're doing this to make your RP experience better, we feel it very rude to increase the amount we have to edit. It also shows us you tossed your profile together in five minutes, without expending any effort, and you don't care what it says or how it looks.
We don't expect stellar grammar from you, either, but we do require the basics that make it legible. Put periods (full stops) at the end of your sentences and capitalize after them. Remember your apostrophes for possessives, and please, PLEASE learn the difference between its/it's, your/you're (no, it's not "your is shorter, so it's always correct,") and their/there/they're. (Even I type those up wrong, occasionally.) Do your best with commas. If you aren't sure, again, ask someone to take a few minutes and look it over. We'll be able to tell you put in the effort.
3.6 - Presentation Please
So once you've got your character all thought out, you actually have to make a profile. You can't just slap something up in five minutes.
Preview your post and make sure you don't have any paragraphs that are huge. They're referred to as "text blocks of doom". Split them up into smaller paragraphs- it makes the application much easier to read.
Bold your fields. This is really snazzy- it makes the application wonderfully readable. You bold things by using the [b] and [/b] commands.
You type: [b]Name:[/b] Bob of the Woods
[b]Where Living:[/b] In a shrub in the Royal forest
[b]Place of Birth, Age/DOB:[/b] A neighboring bush, 62/September 25
What you get is:
Name: Bob of the Woods
Where Living: In a shrub in the Royal forest
Place of Birth, Age/DOB: A neighboring meadow, 62/September 25
Now, doesn't that just scream, "Look at me! I'm putting effort into this!"?
3.7 - The Final Test
We strongly encourage you to put your character through the almighty Mary Sue test. This test is a summary of what the mentors will first tell you about, therefore if you want to avoid the worst of the crits, put that profile through its system and use the score to edit your character before you post it. Like that, you won't have every mentor going berserk over the wonderful Yamani princess on a unicorn you were thinking of posting. You can find this test here .
Step four - Facing the Mentors
First, acquaint yourself with the rules. If it says not to do something, don't do it. Never post on another Newbie's profile. If you have concerns about a mentor or a newbie, take them privately AND POLITELY to a mentor. Treat mentors with respect-- we're doing this out of our own time, and we're trying to make -your- experience more enjoyable. So grant us a few minor things.
4.1 - Courtesy, courtesy, courtesy
Remember to be generally polite to the moderators who are helping you with your profile. Their job isn't to make you feel bad, it's to help you make a character that you and everyone else can play with in the RP. They actually have a lot of experience and good ideas, and they can help you a lot once you're in the roleplay.
You may end up editing your character a lot- but even if you decide not to, be polite. The message shouldn't be, "I want my character to have purple hair and you're a meanie for saying no so she has purple hair so BAH!" Be reasonable. A reasonable way to say it would be something like, "Aly's hair in Trickster's Choice shows that weird hair colours happened in Corus. I think it shows her personality- that she doesn't like meeting society's expectations- and I know that some people might look at her oddly for it. She's okay with some people being weirded out by her." This shows the mentors that 1) You are paying attention to canon (canon is the books the RP is based on) and aren't doing this for the heck of it, 2) You have a reasonable in-character reason for doing it, and aren't doing this for the heck of it (seeing a trend here?) and 3) You're ready to accept that In Character Actions = In Character Consequences. This is a big plus instead of doing something the mentors don't like just for the heck of it.
Also, please don't pester the mentors for crits. If you've not received a crit three or four days after you posted your profile, by all means bump your thread up with a post. However, it will not be appriciated if you PM the mentors constantly asking for more crit or bump your post up every few hours. All of the mentors do have real lives that take priority over Steelsings. That means we have to go to school, uni or work just like you, so we can't always come back to you with crit instantly.
4.2 - Crossing swords with a Mentor
Suppose we suggest you change something in your prof and you REALLY don't want to do it: for example, your character has a sword. We say your character can't have a sword. You now have two options.
Option one: "Yes they do have a sword and that's final. You can't make me change that."
Response: "Pity you couldn't join our RP."
Option two: "Well, I know swords were forbidden to commoners-- Alanna offers to teach Daine and Daine protests that the sword is a noble's weapon. But I believe Tammy states the palace guard could carry them, royal or not, and my character is immediately going to enter training to be in the palace guard. Furthermore, he's the oldest son of his family and his father was a member of the guard until he was injured on duty, so my character will inherit his father's blade, so that he may train to become a palace guard."
Response: "You seem to have taken into account our worries (commoners couldn't learn to use a sword and owning one is financially infeasible, etc)" so we'll think on it and let you know."
If you take the option two route, no one will guarantee you'll get your way. But you'll have a much better chance of having your character be allowed to own and train with his sword, and you'll show us that you're willing to compromise and you understand our concerns. Remember, you can have the best reasons in the world for not changing things like we ask-- but if you don't explain them to us, we're not gonna know. So the two worst things you can do are either smile, nod, and not change anything because "you know better," or never respond at all. Remember: Points for showing us you understand and are willing to compromise. Negative points if you blow us off or get argumentative, no matter how good your reasons may be.
4.3 - Being Tricky
Your character is Yamani, stunningly gorgeous, with a tragic past and an incredibly huge, untrained gift. We tell you your character can't be Yamani, needs to change some of her looks, can't have a tragic past, and gifts must be small and well trained.
On your second edit, you post a character who is Yamani, stunningly gorgeous, with a happy, legitimate past and a huge, untrained gift. We make suggestions on the other three and approve of your past.
On your third edit, you post a character who is Scanran, stunningly gorgeous, with a tragic past and a huge, untrained gift.
Here's a hint: We read every profile straight through; we don't skip over a section once it's been resolved. If you try to slide by us, we will notice. Similarly, if you change your profile once you're in the RP, we will notice. Tricks like this make us feel you believe you know better, and don't need our advice. We'll simply stop giving it, and vote no on your application.
When we do ask you to change things, (say, for instance, your character has fire-red hair, naturally, and a tremendous gift,) don't change them to something equally dramatic. A character with emerald green hair and raving quantities of Wild Magic is no more likely to be accepted. The point isn't to have the craziest, weirdest char you can- it's to have fun and that means having a realistic character.
4.4 - Disappearing
Don't expect to make one correction and be done. Don't get snippy if we ask you to make corrections. Overall, NEVER just disappear. Once you're into the RP, you can play as often or as rarely as you like. But on this board, you have at most two weeks to impress us. If you suddenly go silent-- even if it's after your second or even third revision-- and there are still things we want fixed, we will vote no.
4.5 - It Works Like This
Familiarize yourself with the way the Mentoring system works. Read the tutorial on The Joining Process . Understand what is going to happen and build yourself a timetable, so you know when things will happen to your char. If you have a question, check those posts first, before you ask.
For instance, keep in mind that your post will go to voting the first Wednesday after it has been posted. That means if you post on Tuesday, you will get one week of mentor reviews. If you post on a Wednesday, however, we'll have an entire fortnight at our leisure to comment and talk to you. Assuming you follow the steps above and don't cause excessive problems, you should slide in no problem.
Voting results are posted on the Wednesday after they went to vote. When your character is being voted on, you're naturally allowed to edit your profile right up until your results come back (most mentors do their voting over the weekend). Also, try not to pester mentors with "Am I in voting yet? Am I in voting yet?" The calculations are simple enough for you to do on your own.
Please do not ask how voting on your character is going, you will not get a reply. Should you be denied, you may always reapply. Of course, if you pitch a screaming rant on your post (or someone else's,) after you're denied, we're going to deny you again.
4.6 - It's a Game!
If you think a mentor is being harsh, they probably are -- but only so that you won't be mocked or ignored when you reach the RP. We try to embrace the theory of constructive criticism, which means that we will mix what we like with what we didn't like. It also means that we will not rant, scream, or yell at you out of hand and will always try to post reasons on why we want something changed. Unfortunately, it also means we won't kowtow to your feet slavishly over what a magnificent profile you have, master. Telling us that you've spent hours working on your profile won't make us be more lenient to you if we find problems with your profile. It also makes no difference to us whether you've roleplayed on other sites before. We have never seen you play so we only have your profile and your behaviour on Steelsings to go on. Plus, the game here is probably played differently to other sites so while experience is good, it's not going to affect how we vote on your application.
Remember, nothing we say to you is personal. This is only a game you're applying for. If you have a problem with something a mentor said, don't scream or yell or report them to the Site Admin as being abusive-- contact them through Email or PM and just ask, POLITELY, why. Maybe they didn't explain themselves well enough or you didn't understand, and if you talk to them you can just figure things out. We're not yelling at you, so don't yell at us. And we'll always be willing to compromise.
This is the hardest part. We're the mountains before Oregon, the billygoat on the bridge, the battle with Sephiroth before you reach the Promised Land. Once you're past us (hopefully with your new, improved, shiny and spiffy char,) you shouldn't have to face criticism like this again. So just have fun.
Step five - Working with Rejection
So you've worked on that character and yet it was rejected. It's annoying, it's disappointing, it's frustrating - yes, we know, each and every one of the mentors had to go through the Hopefuls at some point. Before you pull your hair out, have a look at the top ten reasons for which profiles are rejected.
There's this quaint belief among applicants to the roleplay that the only thing that matters is the final quality of the application. We would like to point out that this isn't always so; we judge on a wide variety of factors. This means that we'll look at the other posts you make on the forum as well as your application thread and we'll always take into account your general attitude and understanding of what the roleplay is all about.
These are some lesser-known reasons why a profile might be rejected:
10. Author is functionally illiterate.
9. Author has some literacy skills, but is applying for a universe that isn't Tortall.
8. Author believes they are the character and will not be dissuaded.
7. Every edit and critique made on the profile makes it either just as awful, or even worse.
6. Author responds to edits and critiques with, "It's my character, I'll write the way I want!"
5. Author uses perfect grammar and spelling in the profile, but types like a ferret on crack everywhere else.
4. Author displays a direct lack of courtesy or respect, or a mentor finds the author on another site ranting about "those mean bitches in Steelsings."
3. Author has plagiarized from another source, or is actually a sock puppet for a member who fell into the bad graces of the establishment.
2. We've seen this character type several times before. This week.
1. It just needs a little more work, or the author to take a step back and try another character for a fresh perspective.
To Conclude
Being accepted to the roleplay can seem like a very hard thing to do. Your character's acceptance depends entirely on the opinion that people you have never seen have of it. It's entirely frustrating, we know, but the system is there for a very good reason : when we look at profiles, we realize that without the system, the RP would be invaded by Gifted Shang, Yamani princesses, people with Wild Magic coming out of their butts and there even was once an application for some half-animal character.
Understand that the mentors aren't doing this out of need to be sadistic and powerful. We're taking time out of our real lives to read your profile, find what's wrong, and help you turn a rough draft into a character you will be able to play easily and which will fit in the Roleplay without a hassle. Your best weapons in this fight are patience and courtesy and they are to be used without limitations.