CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES (a FAQ)

Our process of character creation might be a tad different from the process on other sites, so in order to avoid confusion, skim through these guidelines we've created for your convenience and peace of mind when creating your new character.

Step One - Where To Start

You should start your character creation progress by posting a new thread in the audition section of the form with the name of the character you will be creating and the word "audition" after the name. What you'll be wanting to put in this new thread is an audition for your character. An audition is simply a roleplay sample that you'll be using to prove to us that you understand your character. You should use an audition for both canon and original characters, though we have slightly different requirements for each:

Canon Auditions

detailed, with thoughts, actions, and dialogue
Cannot be a scene taken from a scene in the character's game
Must be completely absent of the godmodding of other canon characters
Can be a post from another site as long as it follows the above requirements

Original Auditions

detailed, with thoughts, actions, and dialogue
Must be completely absent of the godmodding of canon characters
Can be a post from another site as long as it follows the above requirements, and can be from a non-Final Fantasy site if it's the same basic character

The more detail put into the audition and the better the grammar and grasp on characterization, the more we'll like it. We do not expect you to have every single nuance of a canon apparent in the audition. Just try to show us you can play them well in the situation you create.

Step Two - I've Posted An Audition, Now What!?

Well, we're glad you asked! When you've posted an audition, the staff will be prompt to read it for you. If we like it, we'll give you an approval. If we think you can touch it up a bit, we'll give you a little advice and a time frame to make the corrections. If we simply can't help you with it, we'll have to deny it and ask you try a different character. It will take the approvals of two administrators, which will be posted in the same thread, to have your audition pass.

Step Three - Completion of the Creation Process

Once the audition does pass, you can feel free to create your character's application using the template we provide. Post this application in the forum labeled "Applications," and once you've finished and we've made sure there are no obvious errors in the application, we'll move it to the approved section and you'll be free to start the process of roleplaying. Huzzah!

We hope this little guide helps you understand where to go with your character creation! Good luck!

Note - Thread Masterlist

In order to maintain the continuity on our site, players taking a canon should look at the Thread Masterlist board. See if your wanted canon is listed and, if he or she is, read the threads they were involved in previously. We want to keep some continuity in our story, and constant retcons of characters made by new players can make things highly complicated for other players. Yes, the canon is yours and you are free to take liberties, but do respect the continuity and work with the players who previously threaded with the canon. It's not as if those past site events simply disappeared. Work to incorporate them into your interpretation of a canon, unless those playing other canons would rather you did not. Try to communicate with your fellow members about canon history and work out a canon continuity that works for all of you.

When creating a character (not just a Final Fantasy character) people look at things such as a well written personality. What your character is like in situations that they are thrown at.

What would your character do if they randomly woke up in a place they are not familiar with?

What things make them happy? Makes them sad?

Do people generally turn away from them? Or are they an approachable person?

How they react to someone drawing a sword on an innocent person, would they step in or just let it go on and be faced with that decision later.

If a random person walked up to your character and engaged in a fight, would they flee, talk themselves out of it, or bring on the blood bath?

Understanding your character as a whole in a variety of situations is a good thing to start out with. Not only for yourself, but it helps the other RPer(s) understand as well. Fleshing out a characters personality is key in Role-play. Another thing to also look at in terms of personality would be their alignment.

Lawful Good: Civilization and order.
Good: Freedom and kindness.
Unaligned: Having no alignment; not taking a stand.
Evil: Tyranny and hatred.
Chaotic Evil: Entropy and destruction.

Alignment Source

These terms can be simplified into three groups, Hero, Neutral and Villain. In terms of character creation, we want you to look at every aspect of the process. If your character has the need to save a damsel in distress, most likely they are doing it for pay, because there is a relation with damsel or they are doing it for the greater good. If your villain character is running around, hauling off carts of rainbows and daises, there is first and foremost something wrong. If your hero is setting things on fire with every intention to hurt people, your character is not a hero. There are exceptions, while your character might have bad dealings with certain people, and/or are forced to do such actions.

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Now that that is covered, it is said that how your acts plays a big role in their history. What decisions they made in their lives, how they were brought up also plays a big role, were they born in a world that was covered in war, or a world that was blessed with peace?

Take Lightning for example :

Lightning's father died when she was young, and her mother died from an unknown illness when she was fifteen. With no other family to turn to, Lightning raised her younger sister, Serah. To get over the pain of her parents' deaths and to become an adult as quickly as possible, she changed her name from Claire Farron to "Lightning".

After graduating from high school Lightning joined the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment under Lieutenant Amodar, where she attained the rank of sergeant and was scheduled for officer training. However, she began to lose sight of her goals, and worked many hours while spending little time with Serah.

From Final Fantasy Wiki

She is a main character in the Final Fantasy XIII series, most of her history is compiled from in-game events, making her early life really vague. However a character being built from nothing but scratch a good history is a foundation of an original character. Here is an example of an original character made by Kent.

The son of a Nabradian officer and his noble wife, a relative of the royal family by marriage, Coulson was always filled to the brim with tales of war and tales of peace that his father believed would bring his son to appreciate the military arts. And, in fact, Cole (as he came to be known amongst his friends) would develop quite an interest in history. He'd had it 'up to here', as they say, with his father's expectations for his military career however; he decided long before he came of age that despite his father's wishes and the rearing he received that he would be anything at all but a military man. When he grew into his late teens (after receiving his education and before he would be recruited into the army), he revealed this to his father. They wouldn't speak for roughly four years after this. Cole began a career that he'd learned he had a passion for when exploring with his friends in his youth - he became something of an archaeologist, as he preferred to call himself. In reality, though, he developed simply into a maverick fortune seeker who happened to specialize in treasure.

Coulson Pike (c) Kent

Created from the lore of Final Fantasy XII, a well written early life and the decisions he made to make it. A lot of things can be taken into consideration when writing a history for your character.

Were their parents involved in their life?
Did they have a lot of friends?
Do they have siblings?
What did they do in their free time?
What was their coming of age? Did they do anything important to make them see or understand the world around them?

Written by Sayenith (a work in progress)