Sign me up, coach

Ah, SUs/signups... (or apps/applications, depending on who you ask) The starting point of every great character and story. It's the initial hurdle, the kickstart button to any RP. How much do you enjoy the SU phase, as a player or GM? Players, which parts to you enjoy about SUs? Which parts do you not? Do you think certain popular parts of SUs should be reworked, or possibly removed? GMs, what do you enjoy about the SU process? Is it a struggle coming out with a suitable one for your RP? How much do you enjoy reviewing your applicants' sign-ups?

Discuss, and share some if the best best SUs you think you've written/read as a player or GM!

Sign ups are my least favorite thing to make, mostly because I never feel like I know my character until I've put them through a bunch of stuff. I understand the point of a SU, but sometimes criteria for SUs are too high, or info of the universe isn't eough to satisfy a gm/dm (this is even worse when the gm/dm already has the characters they want in their rp in mind)

I treat SUs as the starting point for my character: it details how they are at the start of an RP, from where they are free to grow and change in response to whatever happens. I actually enjoy making SUs, though sometimes I end up seeing stars from fatigue xD. (I don't think I've ever take more than a couple of days from starting to write my SU to finishing it; it's a habit.) After finishing an SU I've usually spent enough time with my character already to really get excited to play them. ^^ I get even more excited if I see other really cool SUs and interesting characters. And if I ever get a bit stuck, referring back to it works pretty well as a way to brainstorm new things.

My favourite part of an SU is the personality. While it's easier for me to write a lot in the history section, it's the personality section that really shapes my character and brings them to life for me--the history section is mostly how I justify their personality. xD I usually start with personality and then write the other parts to reflect it.

My least favourite part is naming the character the appearance. I've always been pretty bad at designing unique characters, and I absolutely suck at describing specific features. Recently there's been a trend for using face claims, something which I both love and hate. It's an easy reference point, but I feel it can be limiting. Sometimes I get lazy and google search an image that I can fit my character into and then just describe their appearance from the image.

People have experimented over time with changing up the SU format, but it generally follows the same criteria because it... works. It even used to be in the rules exactly what sections are required in the SU, though they have since been changed to allow for player creativity. I know some people are proponents of banishing the history section into the nether since they feel that it gives away some of the mystery behind their characters, but I don't necessarily agree. In my opinion, the SU's main purpose is to allow the GM to screen it for anything inconsistent or even unpalatable: a character's history is an important part of them. A character with a backstory of super edgy "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD MY LIFE IS RUIN" probably doesn't make for a good character I say, having just signed up for an RP with a character whose parents are both dead. Or if someone wished for their character to be born to royalty, or something that directly clashes with the world the GM set, then the GM can weed it out directly. And if you want to keep it mysterious, you can always be vague in the actual SU and hash it out with the GM privately if the need arises. Honestly, most people don't remember the exact history of every character in an RP. xD

Also Khawill brings up a good point. It's much harder to write an SU for an RP with an ill-defined world, or with limited information. It's impossible to fit everything about the world of an RP into the OP, but the GM can still be clear about what the goals are or what might be expected as an RPer, etc. If the GM is willing to help your character creation, then that always makes things easier. Sometimes I do feel that the GM can be biased or pressured towards accepting characters that they've had a hand in creating from conception, so usually I try to create a workable SU first. xD

SO YEAH THOSE ARE MY TWO CENTS. :D :D :D

...Brevity? What's that?

I don't write particularly good SUs but I really do enjoy creating characters. My characters usually come to me fully formed so it's not really a creative experience for me, rather I enjoy watching my ideas come to life in text form.

As a GM I love the hype of the SU phase and watching the characters people plan to thrust into my worlds and to theorise how they'll go etc. It can be a bit tedious to have to read post after post and then edit the OP accordingly (both OOC and IC posts) but it's worth it. GMing really is the best xD

Sweet Dreams said:

People have experimented over time with changing up the SU format, but it generally follows the same criteria because it... works. It even used to be in the rules exactly what sections are required in the SU, though they have since been changed to allow for player creativity. I know some people are proponents of banishing the history section into the nether since they feel that it gives away some of the mystery behind their characters, but I don't necessarily agree. In my opinion, the SU's main purpose is to allow the GM to screen it for anything inconsistent or even unpalatable: a character's history is an important part of them. A character with a backstory of super edgy "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD MY LIFE IS RUIN" probably doesn't make for a good character I say, having just signed up for an RP with a character whose parents are both dead. Or if someone wished for their character to be born to royalty, or something that directly clashes with the world the GM set, then the GM can weed it out directly. And if you want to keep it mysterious, you can always be vague in the actual SU and hash it out with the GM privately if the need arises. Honestly, most people don't remember the exact history of every character in an RP. xD

Also Khawill brings up a good point. It's much harder to write an SU for an RP with an ill-defined world, or with limited information. It's impossible to fit everything about the world of an RP into the OP, but the GM can still be clear about what the goals are or what might be expected as an RPer, etc. If the GM is willing to help your character creation, then that always makes things easier. Sometimes I do feel that the GM can be biased or pressured towards accepting characters that they've had a hand in creating from conception, so usually I try to create a workable SU first. xD

SO YEAH THOSE ARE MY TWO CENTS. :D :D :D

...Brevity? What's that?

Click to expand...

You said my name, so happy YvY

Personally, I find that history isn't always that important to a character. Although it can help to justify character traits, I just don't believe a lot of RPs have situations where a character's past is needed. Many RPs are about reacting to the here and now, it's fairly rare for the player to be able to plan the future for an RP, which also means it can be hard to fit in things that come from their past.

For example: Let's say your character's backstory is along the lines of "My father killed my family while I was at school, and when he was sent to jail he looked me in the eye and said 'You're next.'" Now the section would have the character's relationship with his family, perhaps school stuff, and what happened to him after, but a history like that would mean that the player would have to fit their father plot into the GMs plot. The more the RP focuses on story, the less the player can fit these things in, and the more irrelevant the history becomes (after all, why explicitly state history if it is just to justify the character's personality?) The history needs to contain story beats that are relevant to the plot that the character will go through, otherwise it is hard to see why it matters. The character's best story should be during the RP, not their past before it, but there's only so many histories one can have if they want to be unique there, when really players should try to have more average pasts, so they can have an amazing present.

That is pretty ranty, and certainly not well worded. I'm not against histories, in certain RPs they can be pretty cool (open sandbox ones for example), but as a universal thing I just don't buy into them. I think having RP samples are much more indicative of how a player wants to use their character and make them act in the world, and I bet players would be much more in-tune with their characters if these sample posts are joint posts with the GM, so that they have to have their character actually react to unexpected things.

Khawill said:

You said my name, so happy YvY

Personally, I find that history isn't always that important to a character. Although it can help to justify character traits, I just don't believe a lot of RPs have situations where a character's past is needed. Many RPs are about reacting to the here and now, it's fairly rare for the player to be able to plan the future for an RP, which also means it can be hard to fit in things that come from their past.

For example: Let's say your character's backstory is along the lines of "My father killed my family while I was at school, and when he was sent to jail he looked me in the eye and said 'You're next.'" Now the section would have the character's relationship with his family, perhaps school stuff, and what happened to him after, but a history like that would mean that the player would have to fit their father plot into the GMs plot. The more the RP focuses on story, the less the player can fit these things in, and the more irrelevant the history becomes (after all, why explicitly state history if it is just to justify the character's personality?) The history needs to contain story beats that are relevant to the plot that the character will go through, otherwise it is hard to see why it matters. The character's best story should be during the RP, not their past before it, but there's only so many histories one can have if they want to be unique there, when really players should try to have more average pasts, so they can have an amazing present.

That is pretty ranty, and certainly not well worded. I'm not against histories, in certain RPs they can be pretty cool (open sandbox ones for example), but as a universal thing I just don't buy into them. I think having RP samples are much more indicative of how a player wants to use their character and make them act in the world, and I bet players would be much more in-tune with their characters if these sample posts are joint posts with the GM, so that they have to have their character actually react to unexpected things.

Click to expand...

Oooh discussion! :D

I can see where you're coming from, but I still disagree. Histories can be important in informing how and why the character reacts to present things in the RP. It can be more important in some RPs than others, for sure, but a character that has family trouble might be able to relate to another character that has an unsatisfying home life, or a character that has experience in a certain industry may somehow be able to call upon that knowledge in the RP. The history provides skills and experiences players might be able to consistently draw upon, without it being something they might pull out of their butts just for convenience. The overall plot of the RP does not supercede the importance of individual growth, in my opinion. You can have a character with a personal history and fit it into a greater plot; and if your character doesn't get the chance to tie up any personal plots, then it still adds consistency and depth. Your character cannot grow or overcome personal obstacles if you never made any for them, and adverse personality traits or flaws can't and aren't meant to be completely eradicated because that's what MAKES the character.

I know I wrote earlier that I use the backstories to justify personality, but I think I misspoke. I should probably say I always have the personality in mind when I write the history, but the history definitely informs the actions of my character in an RP just as much as their personality does. It's the history that provides my characters with their motivations and goals in an RP--the personality is how they choose to carry them out.

Personally I think how important history is in an SU depends largely on the RP. With Gunpowder the lore has been largely developed as we go in man ways so it wasn't really necessary to include anything.

Mind you we also thoroughly discussed our characters and story plans as they were made and it was never intended to be as story driven as it has evolved to become. Basically (as a general rule), the less story driven the RP the less important the history part of the SU.

I personally like to imagine the character I'm using (or at least someone related to them) is actually the one making the application for the RP, as opposed to just me writing a fictional dossier. I like adding flavor into my writing as it helps me become more invested. I always hope that I'm able to give readers an immediate vibe as soon as they go over the first two sentences. Sometimes I even invoke an unreliable narrator, just to practice subtlety and to make the character feel more like an actual individual with their own viewpoints on life.

I also always read every participants' applications thoroughly... and it can be a real nightmare when I have to go through like ten research essays before a strict deadline. Aside from understanding the RP's general theme, getting a good feel of the cast as a whole really helps out when working on my own character since I'm able to think of the possible dynamics and foils. It even encourages me to take on different angles that I would have never thought about beforehand.