Application Process and Tips

 

So, you're considering making a move to Orange Star City? Well, we welcome people eagerly, but there are some rules to consider and observe before you are allowed full access to everything we have to offer. If you are expecting this to be like all the other Tegaki RPs where you just post a profile and then go bat shit crazy, I might suggest you look for another RP.

 

Right now, we are NOT open for Apps. There will be an announcement on Orange Star's Tegaki account when we are, okay? These rules may also change in the future, whether it be before or after we start actual roleplay, so check here for the final word before you apply.

 

1) Read The RULES, THIS PAGE, and as much of the other information as you can tolerate on this wiki. Look at what roleplaying has gone on before you entered. Trust me, the more you know, the better off you'll be.

2) Think of a character to fit our setting, a sci-fi, futuristic setting. You are in a city that is very much based upon technology and possibly, with a fairly big militaristic influence. More tips for character creation will be provided below, but overall, obviously, if you want to play an elf who rides in a pirate ship, you are NOT at the right place for that and it WILL be rejected.

3. Make a basic profile app in the Applications post with the following info:

 

a) A nice shot of your character, in COLOR, interacting with a background or a prop, preferrably a medium shot that illustrates most of the character. I want to know if you can properly illustrate your character in a small comment box, because you will be doing this ALL THE TIME in this game. If you don't like how hard it is making characters this tiny and this detailed is, that's cool, but perhaps you need to look for another game to play.

b) A little blurb about your character describing the essentials about the character. What he or she does, a short background story, ya know, any "important" information one might give about a character in its initial "pitch".

 

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY AND TO THE BEST ABILITY YOU CAN. MAKE IT LOOK GOOD- THIS INITIAL APP COUNTS!!!

 

4) I (Rogue) or a mod (to be announced as they are required/needed) will check the applications on a regular basis and announce on the app thread who is accepted and who is rejected. Hopefully we will also be able to tell the rejected applicants WHY they were rejected.

 

5) If you were initially accepted, you will then need to make a better profile image/reference sheet (see below for information about this) and tag it with Orange Star's tag.  In addition, you will need to be given access to the group's wiki to create your character page. Please contact a mod so you can be given access with an invite key.

    5b) If you were rejected, do not fret, you CAN reapply! However, we do require that all rejected applicants wait at least a week before reapplying to allow time to observe accepted applicants and appropriately rethink their character/redo another application- unless noted otherwise by the mods, please obey this rule. It may be flexible in the beginning to allow our roster to fill up faster, but as we get more characters this will apply.

 

6) Create ONE intro thread for your character in Tegaki, and mark it with the Orange Star tag. All characters have a beginning. How does yours begin? We want to know.  Does your character wake up to another bright day in the city, a big smile on his face? Is he rudely awakened at 5 am by the sounds of bugling, his commanding officer yelling in his ear, and he spends the next 12 hours (or more) racing around to do his duty? Does he wearily open his eyes after another late night, and with yet another hangover? Does her mother kiss him goodbye as she goes off to school? You get it. This is a "real-world" test of your RP abilities, as well as if you read the rules concerning threads/posts (See the "Rules" Page for information, in particular - "NC/C"! )  and you MUST do this part before you enter the main game, NO EXCEPTIONS. In addition, this is a solo effort-no other RP players will be allowed in this thread. Remember to open the thread after you have finished your intro so a mod can tell you whether or not you can post in the main thread yet!

 

The format of this thread should be:

 

A) The main splash image will illustrate the character in an interesting way, in place with an appropriate background. No text description of this thread is needed in the splash image

 

7. If you have successfully completed your "introduction", a mod will inform you that you are fully accepted into the game, and you will now be able to post into the main game thread. You will need to then observe the main thread, and APPROPRIATELY make an IC entrance into the game. This may or may not be immediately, and it may not be with other characters, as depending on where they are in the city, the story going on, it just may not simply be possible for you to enter, say, a secret base that they've fought nail and tooth to access. If the players are for example, visiting their friend Xavier's house, obviously if you want to enter, you'll have to knock at the front door, call him, message him, ask him in some way if "you can come over". Get it? If you are not sure how to enter, ask a mod! They are always there to help you out!

 

8. If you make the decision to leave Orange Star City (as in leave the game), please explain this OOC, and then work on appropriately exiting your character out of the plot. This keeps the amount of "random exits" from occurring and disrupting the gameplay of other players, and will make sure that you will be more than "the guy in the bar who disappeared 15 minutes later.", that you are remembered in however large or however small of a way.

 

9. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO BOOT OUT A PLAYER, AT ANY POINT IN THE APPLICATION OR GAME PROCESS, IF THEY ARE A MORON OR A DICK! DON'T BE STUPID!

 

 

 

General Tips

What we're looking for ?

 

 

- Clean, readable art in a clear style. I'm not picky on HOW you render your images, just make sure they look GOOD, with VALUE and COLOR (unless the situation can provide for black/white or a limited palette situation).

-Readable Handwriting. For both of these points, THE ZOOM TOOL IS YOUR FRIEND. GET TO KNOW IT.

-Ability to read and follow directions.

-Ability to create and play a character that will fit within the world.

-A sense of humor and no particular wants to exclusively do one thing or another. Always expect the unexpected. There will be times you will get to oh, fight and possibly rampage, but there will be times when you have to play the mundane and the boring, as well.

-Characters who will ACTIVELY contribute to an ongoing storyline.  You're supposed to enjoy this game, yes? So do it! =D

-Players who are willing to communicate with mods and other players. There will be a chat room which players are expected to hang out in at least every once in awhile, to help coordinate posts and such.

-OVERALL, PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO MAKE AN EFFORT, AND TAKE TIME, TIME, TIME, TO MAKE THIS A GOOD GAME!

What we're NOT looking for:

 

-Mary Sues

-Cybering

-Godmodding

-Anything medieval, fantasy, Dungeons and Dragon based. (There are other linear RPs that can provide this fix out there, trust me.)

-Anything that is NOT human. This includes half-demons/angels/whatever.

- Clear ripoffs of licensed/copyrighted characters. The last thing I want to see is a palette swap of Naruto, Solid Snake, Goku, whatever. I'm not stupid and you WILL get rejected.

- People who think RP is comprised of rough, 5 minute doodles that look bad. If you can't draw, I'm sorry, this may not be the RP for you. You need your doodles to appropriately tell a story here. If you have major problems drawing, a TEXT RP may be a better option for you until you feel you've improved enough.

- Popularity and Spam are not the names of the game here. If you cannot devote enough time to the RP, and are only just looking for another RP Group to add to your , like, 10 other casual groups you've already joined (for example, *insert several school academies* *insert gang games* *etc etc*), I would reccomend not joining this game. There are tons of other groups you can join if all you're looking to do is make tons of random, pointless threads, or character artwork with unconnected roleplay bits and pieces. I want players who are going to DEVOTE TIME  to the game, and be THRILLED at being able to post in a linear fashion.

 

On that note though, if you already are in several RPs, but feel like you can devote more time and join this RP? Great, don't let my ranting stop you, but yeah, I just don't want slackers, okay?

 

-Excuses. What you put into the game, is what we will judge you by. I don't care if you have "good art" other places or, "oh, well, I play better in this other game", or "oh, well, um, my other RP is taking up too much of my time, sorry". I DON'T CARE. YOU SIGNED UP TO PLAY THIS RP, NOW PLAY. I'm not going to actively spend time looking at your DevArt account and expecting you to "one day" make a brilliant post.

 

-Lastly, drama, elitism, or just plain idiocy, is NOT appreciated here. I'm actually an easygoing person (despite all these ranty rules- some people just have thick skulls, ya know?), but I do know how to run a RP game and when somebody is yanking my chain too much...

 

Character Creation Tips/Guidelines

 

 

This roleplaying game takes place in the near-future/future in a technology based city. It is not really an apocalyptic city, per se, but I can say there is the potential for such events to happen should the story unfold in such as way. In general, characters can be basically anything that can happen in a standard, peaceful society.

 

 

Some example stories/games/animes to consider to get the "feel" of the world:

 

Megaman/ Megaman X 

Street Fighter

King of Fighters and/or Fatal Fury

River City Ransom

Dragon Ball/ Dragon Ball Z/ Dragon Ball GT

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Akira

Star Wars

 

 

Races:

 

*This game should be composed of PRIMARILY HUMANS. So, no elves, demons, werewolves,vampires, anthro/furries, etc,etc, OKAY?

* However, considering it is the future, one of the technologies that should exist is gene therapy and cybernetic technology. So with that being said, you are allowed to MINORLY modify your HUMAN character to maybe say have, unusual eye colors/horns/robotic limbs,etc, but if it gets too crazy, I WILL reject your character.  IN MODERATION.

*Humanoid robots can also be considered, as they do exist in this time period. Just be aware that there will be rules restricting your character as there are laws controlling how robots are used and treated in Orange Star City, and again, it is not guaranteed that I will accept your version of what a robot is supposed to be.

 

*Again, any races I have not mentioned are NOT ALLOWED.  PERIOD. In particular , anything even remotely resembling FANTASY or PAST HISTORY related will not be allowed, I cannot stress this enough because people always try and break the rules and try and have like, a person who is mutated to look like an elf, or something like that.

Character Information

 

 

* Make your character believable, and not extremely crazy. The crazier you get it, there's something to describe these characters, and they're..well...."Mary Sue"-ish. In fact, I suggest when fleshing out the history of your character, consider taking this "Writer's Mary Sue Test" to prevent such a thing from occuring. It works. Trust me. (Granted, this doesn't work very well always... and especially on NPCs....but NPCs are designed to act,  well, SNK boss badass at times, yes?). In addition, filling out any sort of sketches, interviews, questionaires about your characters prior to even drawing out the character is useful....the more you can think about your character's personality, background, morals, etc,etc, the easier RP will be with this character.

 

 

*Currently I will flat out suggest AGAINST making your characters any sort of royalty, authority figure,etc,etc. Playing as average Joes is more fun overall, and playing as gods is only fun for so long before you realize that there are no challenges in life, yes?

 

 

*Anything along the lines of "He is the son of the ruler of hell", "He is the 'One who Will not be forgotten", "He is an exiled prince from *insert foreign country here*", is NOT ALLOWED. Again, no God Moding/modding/anything similar.....

 

Abilities/Powers

 

Alright. The point of this game is NOT to God-Mode these abilities to death, do NOT go BAT SHIT CRAZY and make your character the next Neo, the next Super Saiyan, or the next Wolverine, X-Men, crazy Marvel character,etc,etc. That being said, I will allow these things in MODERATION.:

 

 

Energy manipulation/psionics: It is expected these abilities exist, but are extremely limited in their usage. Think of the movie Akira: Characters like Tetsuo and the Espers (Takashi, Masaru, and Kiyoko)  had awesome powers, but in turn it drove them insane, or turned them into shriveled old kids. These abilities will be LIMITED in usage, and if I see too many of these characters I will stop allowing this ability in applications.

 

 

- Your character can be trained in various fighting styles or job related skills, like for example, hacking, mechanics,etc,etc. If he is skilled in SOMETHING, it should be noted in the main wiki page in some sort of way.  Again, do not go TOO crazy on this, you are expected to start out with SOME abilities, and as time goes along you may or may not gain more.

 

 

Mutations/Gene Therapy: Your character can have been born with some sort of genetic mutation, or undergone genetic therapy for some sort of unseen element, but they are MINOR elements of your characters, and again, think reasonably when planning these. Again, if they grant your character some sort of possibly overpowering ability, I expect they are either LIMITED in usage of said ability, or that there is some negative thing to it that will make your character weaker in some other element.

 

Anything else? Possible, but in general, not likely.

 

 

Things FLAT OUT not allowed:

 

-"Magic" (No magic missiles, no level 2 Fire spells, NO FANTASY HERE).

 

- "Demon Blood" "Bit by a Werewolf" "Bit by a Vampire", "descendant of a demonic being" "half-elf",etc,etc.: These are annoying elements that I believe that are NOT NEEDED by most player characters, unless they are gained in-story. That being said, there MAY be a possibility for these creatures to appear in the storyline, but it is NOT guaranteed, and even less guaranteed that said creatures will spend the time to actually turn you into one of them- instead of ripping your head off and killing you like they most of the time do!

 

 

 

The last word on this I have to say, is that if it's stereotypical, annoying, or overly powering, expect it to get denied. I can't stress this enough, because if I don't, there will be somebody who will try and break past these rules because they "didn't read that". YOUR PLAYER IS NOT YOUR POWERS, YOUR POWERS SHOULD ONLY CONTRIBUTE A SMALL PORTION TO YOUR CHARACTER.

 

Technologies

 

There is tons of futuristic technology to choose from, right? Yup, you are right! So in general, I do accept these sorts of technologies to exist, and you may use them to augment your character as you choose.

 

* Laser/beam weaponry (Beam Sabers, Laser Rifles, Laser Cannons,etc,etc.)

* Speeder type vehicles (Land speeder, speeder bikes, etc,etc.)

* Mech suits of various types

* Robotic technology (both restricted AI, full AI, and free-will humanoid based). However, there is one main rule in Orange Star City, and that is that Robots must always obey the will of humans. Any robots who do not, are destroyed with no exception. Like most futuristic societies, robots are not quite seen as equals yet, but currently robots are perfectly fine with this rule.

* High-speed air/land/train travel

* Some Space travel/exploration (However, unless really necessary RP will be in Orange Star, not "in Space", k?)

* Advanced computer/networking technology (Datapads, small computers)

* Bionic implants/enhancements.

* Teleporters

 

Anything else I've forgotten? You're welcome to run it by a mod, but there are no guarantees that it will be approved.

 

 

Example Character Biographies:

 

 

[Will be up shortly! Check back later!]

 

About Profile Images/Posts

 

When making the more detailed profile image, the first thing that I should like to point out that this is NOT just any sort of image w/ bio info like your standard "RP"s that have appeared before Orange Star- there is a specific way they should be made, okay? It's not really that hard.

 

 

Figure 1.1: A basic, but appropriate character reference image.

 

1) Create an image, HEAD TO TOE, that shows off your character. This is so other players will be able to reference this image for posting their replies, so they don't screw up your character's looks royally. It's also helpful for those 2 am posts where you can't remember what the hell shirt your character wears or something like that. Try and put the character in an interesting pose that perhaps would show off their personality, but this is not required. The main purpose is for REFERENCE, and if for the love of mike you can only manage a basic pose when you make this, so long as it appropriately shows the details of your character- it's okay. See Figure 1.1.

2) If your character has alternate costumes/interesting features, also detail that in the image. You might have to put two shots of him/her in one image in this case, or if you can fit it in the comment box, please put any additional details there. If you cannot fit the character into the image, create another post for this costume and mark it as an "alternate costume".

3) Any extra VISUAL details can go in the comment box if they do not fit into the main screen. Try not to clutter the main image with too much, as after all, other people will be looking at this image for character reference- you don't want questions every five seconds as to "what is that thing squished into the corner- his hand or a hand bag?"

 

Any BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION will NOT go into this post- this is what the wiki was designed for. Put information about the character's background, personality/ astrological sign/favorite color/mother's maiden name/etc, in the WIKI, please.

 

For a starter example, please see Xavier's Profile Post.

 

Finally, I want to make a comment/precaution about character design. This is not a RP where the only drawings of your character will be either a series of heads, or oneshot character images like other groups on Tegaki. You will be drawing your character frontways, backways, sideways, and in poses that you probably haven't imagined up on a normal day because we're trying to draw out a story using our characters. So, with that in mind, if you are not a strong artist, or you don't want your fellow players chomping you in the butt, try and streamline your character as best as possible design wise. Does he really need 20 chains strapped around his body? Do we really need his clothing's pattern to resemble an intricate wallpaper? Does he really need THAT many scars? Things of those sorts. I tend to think of character design in terms of animation, which if you look at their character designs, have really simple, but powerful designs not based upon the details, but upon a strong foundation with body shapes/color palettes/symbolism.  Just something to consider.