help

character development:

A few things to ask yourself as you put yourself into your character's shoes.

Name: What is your birth name? What name do you use now? Did you choose that name, or was it a nickname or a joke that just stuck?
Gender: Male or female? The Temple of Zelos, the main organised religion believes that a 'woman's place is in the home' and there is a bit of gender discrimination in the clergy and the knight class. Gender would also affect your biological makeup as well as maybe your social and psychological outlooks and the way you interact with other characters.
Race: Are you an elf/dwarf/human/gnome? Some races may hold prejudices against others, some races tend to be better at some things than others, some are brought up differently than others. They also tend to look fairly different.
Age: It's important to note that the different races age at the same rate. However, they show their ages differently. Elves, for example, appear eternally young, while gnomes are born wrinkled. Even if death and life are linked in Arcana, old is still old, and a character (no matter what race) should be between the ages of 6 and 80, with 20-40 being a typical 'adult' age, 40-60 being 'middle-aged', and 60-up being 'older adult'. If you wish to play a character who is under 6 or over 100, you must have your story approved by a GM first.
Description: What do you look like? - See 'Character Descriptions'
Birthplace: Where exactly were you born? A child raised in Arcana will have had a different childhood experience than someone growing up beyond the mists... If you were born in Arcana, where exactly in Arcana? Was it a rural environment or an urban one? Same questions apply if you come from beyond the mists. Even if you do not remember your home, it will have shaped your personality in some way and the skills that you have.
Family: What was your family like? What was your family life like and how has it shaped you? Were you an only child, or did you have siblings? Were you an orphan? What are the names and personalities of your family members? Do any survive? If so, what are they doing now? Are you keeping in touch with them in some way? Have you begun your own family? Are you married? Separated? Widowed? Do you have any illegitimate children floating around? You do not have to have lost all family ties to RP a good character.
Economic background: Were you rich/middle-class/poor during your childhood? Was that different to what it is now? Why?
Education: Where did you learn all your skills and what are they? From whom did you learn them?
Occupation: What do you do for a living? Have you ever done anything else? If so, what? Was it illegal? Why did you stop doing it? Would you go back?
Political beliefs: You might have come from beyond the mists where there was a different political system. What are your beliefs? Do you object to being under a monarchy? Do you want to overthrow the monarchy, despite the fact that the gods are protecting it? Or are you a loyal subject of the king?
Religious beliefs: What are they and how important are they to your everyday life? The main organised clergy on Arcana is the clergy of Zelos who is fairly monotheistic. However, there are other gods and other religions, the three main god(ess)s being Vita, Mortis and Asmodeus, the Three. Do you worship any one of the Three above the others? Do you worship any other gods other than the Three? Why? Do you worship the Three at all? Keep in mind that the gods -do- walk the earth and poke their noses into the affairs of mortals when it suits them. Have your religious beliefs changed, and if so, why?
Morals: Do you have any ethical code that restricts your behaviour? What is it? Will you lie/cheat/steal/commit murder? When did you decide you could and why? Even if you do not kill yourself, do you condone it? Under what circumstances? How do you treat criminals? Do you adhere to a personal sexual ethics code? Do you even think about it? How strongly do you follow your code?
Goals: What do you want to achieve in life in the short term and long term? Riches? Fame? Revenge? To what lengths will you go to achieve those goals and do you have any plans regarding them?
Personality: Inquisitive? Provocative? Violent? Ambivalent? Conservative? Superstitious? Militant? Shy? Defensive? Naive?
Virtues: What are you proud of about yourself? Your honesty? Ability to deceive? Inner beauty? Physical prowess?
Flaws: What things make you less than perfect? A bad temper? A physical disability? A tendency to walk over other people? Inability to communicate your emotions? Two left feet and butter fingers? Any phobias?
Traits: Do you chew your lower lip while you think? Fidget? Blink excessively? What kind of habits do you have that are intrinsic to you?
Likes: The sea? Music? Gossip? Winning?
Dislikes: Dwarves? Dirt? Open spaces?

Try to create a balanced character. Your character is mortal and cannot be good at everything, or perfect. Characters who have no flaws or problems are very boring to RP with. Create someone who is three-dimensional, who you can imagine existing.

character descriptions:

A few ABC's for creating your description:

Avoid action.
Be realistic.
Check your spelling.
Don't twink or powergame.

That said, these are some more thoughts and expansions on the above ideas about character description that might be useful to consider.
They are compiled from several online documents, most of them linked to the Tales of Ta'veren MUSH webpage at http://tales.ccs.yorku.ca/

Be descriptive and create a picture for the other players. What does your hair look like? Your eyes? Do you have an angular face, or a chubby one? Are you tall, or stout? Do you look like you're common ? Or are you a deviant from the norm?

To reiterate from above: Spelling And Grammar Are Important. Your description creates a first impression for other players. Whether it is a good one, or a bad one, depends on you.
You see a tall, handsome man with rippling biceps. He has tanned skin and walks with a warrior's grace.
is far more impressive than
u see a tall hansom man with ripling byseps he has tand skin and walks with wariar grace
Even less dramatically misspelled or badly-worded descriptions can detract from your character. You might consider typing your description out in Word or another editor so that you can spell-check it before you enter it. If you have one, make use of your thesaurus. Does your character have blonde hair? Consider giving her "golden ringlets" or "a fall of champagne-coloured locks" instead.

Try to avoid power-gaming or twinking in your description, eg. "His frightening appearance makes your heart flutter in panic!" Let the other player decide if your description is frightening enough, don't force it on them. Even more subtle errors such as "His gaze is almost impossible to hold for long." lend an air of...well, twinkishness to your description. A far better way to word the above two examples would be (1) To make sure your description is frightening. Something along the lines of "Tom's face is a study of menace. His dark cowl hides most of his hair, only a few locks slipping out of the sides. His eyes are hard and cold as a winter's night; a dark, heatless passion burning in them. His movements are purposeful, a sense of planned horror dwelling in the drift of his hands." would be far more effective, in the long run. (2) Try being descriptive about his gaze, if it's so important that you can't just role-play it. "His eyes are intense, as if he is trying to see directly into the mind of another." is both more interesting and less twinkish than the first effort.

Try to avoid 'action descriptions'. A prime example of an action description is:
She notices you looking at her and drops her gaze to the floor, shifting nervously.
Is she going to do that every time anyone looks at her? One would hope not. It's not practical, particularly if the character in question is currently haranguing a would-be molester at the top of her voice.

Some common stereotypes:

Extraordinarily beautiful. One of the most common stereotypes of all MU*s. After all, if you can be beautiful, why not be beautiful? Well...soon, beautiful gets slightly boring and not so beautiful when everyone looks the same and being plain has a beauty all of its own... ;) -
Size extremes. Male characters tend to be unusually tall (6'2"+) to the extent that it's not unusual any more. Female characters tend to be petite and dainty, or tall and lithe. No-one's ever the least bit chubby.
Powerful characters. Rippling muscles, war incarnate, Hercules type figures are overdone, as are the mages with wisdom glinting in their eyes. Evil characters are almost tall, thin and cadaverous with black, flowing hair, pale, corpse-like skin and either glowing red eyes or hard, black ones. And they look like they have risen from the depths of hell, or something similar. Occasionally, they will be wearing various dead body parts or certain parts of their anatomies are clawed, or whatever. It has gotten to the extent that evil just isn't scary any more. People just sit back and laugh. Try to avoid overdoing it. -
Coined phrases. "Her eyes shine with a wisdom beyond her years", "He moves with a feline grace", etc... Please. How many times must one stumble through the same trite descriptions? Once again, get out the thesaurus. Work something up on your own.

Character types to avoid:

It's unbelievably tacky to steal a character from a novel, TV show, or movie unless the Mu* in question is actively accepting FC's (feature characters) from that particular piece of literature. If you're going to role-play with imagination and verve, start with your character. It's one thing to find a look, a history, or a personality that appeals to you and modify it to suit your particular character - after all, inspiration is inspiration - but the key word is "modify". If you like Aragorn (Lord of the Rings), then consider playing someone who's of noble birth and abandoned the rich lifestyle for that of a wandering fighter. Or a prince whose kingdom was destroyed and is desperately seeking to regain it, meanwhile living as a refugee. Or a scruffy wilderness-fighter with no noble blood at all. But don't play the last of Ilsidur's heirs, raised in secret until the day when he can claim his rightful place as king of Gondor and his betrothed for his own. And don't name him Aragorn. At the very least, try to come up with your own name for your character. There's an excellent fantasy name generator at http://spitfire.ausys.se/johan/names/default.htm, if you have trouble thinking of names.

Evil characters are very difficult to play, firstly because they are often loners, which makes role-playing difficult to begin with; secondly, because they so often fall into stereotyped behaviours that limit role-playing even further. If your character gains a reputation for killing people or tormenting small children, "good" characters will begin to avoid him or her IC'ly simply because their players cannot justify any involvement with your character. When that happens, you've lost the part of role-playing that gives it its name. If you simply must role-play an evil character, try to make the character unique. Think about why he or she is evil and how, exactly, that evil plays itself out. And remember that there is a system of law, personified by the Kingsmen and the Town Guard, and that they do pursue lawbreakers. If you are new to roleplaying, I would suggest a character that is less complicated to play.

Characters who are out-of-theme are certain to be excluded from roleplay very quickly. Keep in theme. There are no vampires or werewolves on Arcana. Nor are there electricians or spaceships. Although you can proclaim yourself a god, keep in mind that there are real gods just around the corner who have lightning bolts at hand. If you have a character concept that you're not sure fits in the Arcana theme, then ask a GM for help. That's the reason they're there.

ability scores:

How to use your stats:

You have a lot of leeway in determining your physical attributes in character generation. Respect that, and make your description fit your atts. If you have a low strength, don't describe yourself as a hugely muscular person. Likewise, if you have a high strength, don't describe yourself as a scrawny man.
A normal human being, without any special qualities whatever, would have attribute scores between 10 and 12. If you're confused, consult the following charts (some details adapted from White Wolf's Mage: the Ascension). And please, remember that these are guidelines, not laws. Your high-Dexterity character may be quick but not graceful; you should still try to scale his or her abilities accordingly:

Strength

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	You couldn't lift your own voice without straining something
6-9	The kind of person who wound up hanging off the end of the climbing rope in gym class
10-12	Your everyday, average Joe. Doesn't work out, but let's face it - who has time?
13-15	Stronger than the average man, but no Mr. America.
16-18	The level of strength sought after by those who spend their days lifting very large weights
19-20	Frighteningly strong; the point at which Olympic judges insist on drug tests every thirty seconds or so.

Dexterity

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	You have trouble making sure your legs stay under you when you stand up.
6-9	You're likely to trip on the edge of someone's shadow.
10-12	Your everyday, average Joe. Good enough for a pickup game, but no star.
13-15	Your grace gives you definite athletic - and fighting - potential.
16-18	The kind of dexterity that gets you noticed for it.
19-20	Words such as "fluid", "boneless", and "dear gods how can he do that?" come to mind.
21-22	Only achievable by elves and other such supremely graceful races. Beyond description.

Constitution

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	You're bedbound most of your life, catching every cold that comes by
6-9	"Sickly" is the word that the rude use to describe you. "Frail," of course, being the more polite term
10-12	Your everyday, average Joe. You get the occasional cold, and if you wear yourself out, sometimes worse.
13-15	The very picture of health. You almost never get sick, not even when eating raw sushi in a seedy bar.
16-18	Your body can handle almost any assault with far more resilience than the ordinary person.
19-20	If someone were to send an assassin after you, you'd have the rare honour of being poisoned by the best, due to your superior toughness. The same with fighters. You can...well, take a beating.
21-22	Only achievable by dwarves and other such supremely rough-and-tumble races. A toughness akin to stone

Intelligence

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	The village idiot. IQ 40-60 or so.
6-9	Not the brightest star in the sky. Sometimes you have to have things explained twice. IQ 80 or so.
10-12	Your average high school "B" and "C" student. Nothing special. IQ about 100.
13-15	Your average high school "A" student - the kind who gets it without working all that hard. IQ about 120.
16-18	"Brainy" would be a good way to describe you. Borderline MENSA-quality. IQ about 140.
19-20	Only a very few achieve the level of genius intelligence that you can claim for your own. Your mind is suitable for evil masterminding or eccentric inventing...or both, if the fates compel you.
21-22	Only achievable by gnomes and other such innately brilliant races. A level of cognition that approaches wizardry.

Wisdom

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	Your life may be ruled by an utter lack of planning; a rashness that causes people to wonder if you're stupid or just crazy; or a complete inability to take a hint. No matter how intelligent you may be, in practise, you're positively daft.
6-9	You tend toward impulsiveness, imprudence, or irresponsibility. You may not realise what's going on until everyone else has already gotten the picture and moved on.
10-12	Given sufficient information, you can get the big picture, although your advice is often more well-meaning than accurate. You can take a hint, and you usually remember to think before you act.
13-15	People seek you out for advice, since you have a reputation for being sensible. You are anything but impulsive in your actions.
16-18	You have an unnaturally sharp grasp of any situation, able to sort out the complexities of any tangle within a few moments.
19-20	Approaching the preternatural comprehension of a sage on the mountaintop. Your perception of things is clearly understood, and your understanding far exceeds the bounds of mere knowledge. You are serene, in tune with the world, or centred in your mind.

Perception

POINTS	DESCRIPTION
3-5	Oblivious to the world around you. It'd take you two minutes to realise you'd been hit over the head with a brick.
6-9	Inattentive at best. You don't pay much attention to what's going on around you. The things you see may not register in your mind, even if you see them.
10-12	You catch the gist of what's around you, but unless you actively focus on them, the details escape you.
13-15	You're sensitive to the subtleties of your surroundings, aware of changing moods and partially-concealed byplays.
16-18	You're keenly aware of what's going on around you, able to reconstruct the details of a scene and the emotions that flicker across faces.
19-20	Your awareness borders on intuition. You don't have to think about what you see for it to be useful to you. You're likely to notice that the stone in the Duchess's ring has changed between this meeting and your last, a week ago.