Post by Elf King Fyrn on Jul 22, 2013 2:08:36 GMT
Making an RP Bio
When you make your RP character, you are that person for the rest of your time on the server, unless they somehow die off. Many servers accept RP bios that are not made with any thought. We are not like other servers. We expect full competency in making an RP bio, and we will not allow our players to submit pitiful entries. In order to get a nickname, your RP bio must be read over and accepted by a staff member. Nicknames add a fullness to the RP aspect, so make sure your bio follows the below guidelines.
Template
Use the following template to write your RP bio. It's very important that you use this formatting tool, because uniformity is everything.
Making the Bio
When you make your RP character, you are that person for the rest of your time on the server, unless they somehow die off. Many servers accept RP bios that are not made with any thought. We are not like other servers. We expect full competency in making an RP bio, and we will not allow our players to submit pitiful entries. In order to get a nickname, your RP bio must be read over and accepted by a staff member. Nicknames add a fullness to the RP aspect, so make sure your bio follows the below guidelines.
Template
Use the following template to write your RP bio. It's very important that you use this formatting tool, because uniformity is everything.
IGN (in-game username):
Character Name (first and last):
Race:
Age:
In-game Relations (marriages or biological relationships):
Job/Title:
Battle Class:
Weapon of Choice:
Appearance:
Personality:
Background:
Character Name (first and last):
Race:
Age:
In-game Relations (marriages or biological relationships):
Job/Title:
Battle Class:
Weapon of Choice:
Appearance:
Personality:
Background:
When you make your RP bio, it's important to follow these guidelines. Again, we want every RP bio to be the best it can possibly be, because you'll have to use the facts included in your bio for other things.
1. Choosing a name. When you choose a name for your character, you should consider two things. The first is originality. If your character's name is something like Frodo, there are going to be some issues. Instead of poaching someone else's character name, use your own. Don't use character names that come from mainstream media, be it books, movies, or anime. And do not use name generators. The names listed there are usually taken from other sources and are contributed by other Internet users, making it all the more unoriginal. How to choose a name leads into the next object of consideration: your name's meaning. Every name should have some sort of meaning. While we discourage using names that are made up, we do not restrict you from using them. However, it's better (and easier) to use a name glossary. Google "<insert language> name list" or simply use Google Translate to find a name that suits your character's personality. For last names, search "medieval surnames" or "medieval last names". Usually surnames reflect a person's occupation, but there are hundreds of exceptions to this rule. These tips should should help you in choosing your character's name.
2. Writing your background. This is the most important part of your bio because it tells your character's history. You want it to be fluid and smartly written, but not superfluous and over-the-top. The basic background should be three paragraphs long, with 5-8 sentences minimum per paragraph. If you feel you need to write more to get your point across, feel free to do so. If every paragraph is not a minimum of 5 sentences, it's alright, so long as the rest are at least 5 sentences long. These next three points will clarify each paragraph and its purpose for the average character age, which is between 16-30 years old (age may vary depending on preference or race). This is an example outline of a background's features, so don't feel relegated to only these three things in this order, but you should at a minimum have two of the three paragraph subjects incorporated into your story.
a. Early Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's early life (birth to around 10 years). It should have information about your character's parents and their bringing-up. If your character is an orphan adopted by a rich lord or lady, put that here. Place anything related to your upbringing in this paragraph.
b. Middle Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's middle years, which start at the end of your "early life" and end at your current age. If you have a coming-of-age story to tell, that should go here. This more or less poses as the climax of your bio, so make this part especially good.
c. Current Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's current lifestyle, job, etc. If you are married or biologically related to another player, you can put that information here, although in some cases it may be best to place that in the Early Life or Middle Life section. If you're a blacksmith, put a little bit in this paragraph about your job, wares, or standard of living. This should be a relatively simple paragraph to write because it reflects what you're doing on the server at the moment.
Now that you know the suggested structure of your background, the next step is the content and word choice. Two example backgrounds are below, each for the fictional character Samwise Gamgee from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Background #1: samwise gamgee was born in a hole in bagshot Row. his fader was called hamfast. his muder was named bell. he and his dad were garden and sam gardened for Frodo bags. sam loved elf and wanted to go see some all his life
sam went with some peoples and frodo to destroy the ring of sauron. he and frodo left the others bhind at a waterfall and went to mordor by themselves. they sneaked into mordor and threw the ring at mount doom. then they rode an eagle and flew to the fields of cormallen. then they saw aragorn's crowneng and went back to the shire, but it was cuntroled by sorumen so they had to free the hobbits from the bad guise
now sam is married to a girl named rosie. he a daughter named elanor. he lives in bag-end with his family and takes care of his garden. he ran and was elected for mayor of hobbiton twice in a row. he miss frodo because he went to the grey havens
Background #2: Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, youngest son of Hamfast and Bell Gamgee, was born in a small hobbit-hole along Bagshot Row in Hobbiton. Hamfast, affectionately known as "The Gaffer", served as a gardener in Bagshot Row for most of his adult life. Sam soon adopted his trade and tended to the gardens of Bag-end, home to the elderly Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo Baggins. At an early age, Sam developed a growing passion to see the elves that lived in the forests south of the Shire, a people that Bilbo spent a short time around on his journey to the Lone Mountain. His gift for poetry also brought him great favor in the Baggins household.
Sam was part of the Company of the Ring for a little under a year before they dispersed at Isengard. Sam, Aragorn, Frodo (bearer of the Ring), Merry, Pippin, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf were all part of the Company that traveled to destroy the One Ring and defeat Sauron. After traveling through the Golden Wood, home of Galadriel and Celeborn, the Company got separated at the Falls of Rauros. Sam and Frodo traveled alone to Mordor; on the way they found a creature named Gollum who had tried to kill Bilbo years before. But Gollum betrayed their trust and left Frodo to be kidnapped by orcs. Fortunately, Sam retrieved the Ring before Frodo was taken. Sam, forced to use the Ring despite its danger, sneaked into Frodo's dungeon and rescued him from his captors Frodo and Sam continued on to Mount Doom, where Gollum found them again and bit the Ring off of Frodo's finger. Frodo had become consumed by the power of the Ring and slipped it on, but Gollum got it back into his possession. However, he fell backwards into the mouth of Mount Doom and burned in the lava below, Ring and all. The Dark Lord and his servants all perished then, and the Black Tower fell into ruin, as with every other structure that had been made with the power of the Ring. Tired, hungry, thirsty, and out of supplies, Sam and the now nine-fingered Frodo had no way to get back home now. But a great battle had been won by the Captains of Gondor and the Riders of Rohan, and Gandalf the White rode on Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, to carry the two dying hobbits to safety. After some days of rest and reuniting with the Company, Sam and Frodo attended the coronation of Aragorn, now King Elessar of Gondor, and then made their way home. Sam played a part in liberating the Shire from the clutches of the fallen wizard Saruman, and moved into Bag-end after Frodo left Middle-earth for the Grey Havens.
Samwise Gamgee currently lives in Bag-end with his wife Rosie Cotton, daughter of Farmer Cotton in Bywater. He has a daughter named Elanor, whose name was chosen by Frodo before his departure. Sam is mayor of Hobbiton, in his second term, and lives next door to his father. He enjoys his life as mayor, but gardening is still at the center of his day. The mallorn tree he planted in place of the felled "Party Tree" is his pride and joy, and he looks at it every day out of his windows.
Background #1, as is blatantly obvious, has very poor punctuation, atrocious grammar, horrid spelling errors, and a whole host of other things wrong with it. This is an exaggeration of what we don't want. It uses words like "wanted", "went", "left", and "threw", all very mundane verbs. It meets the bare minimum standards, and no more. On the other hand, Background #2 has excellent punctuation, grammar, and no spelling errors. This RP bio is a good length; not too long and definitely not too short. It uses words like "dispersed", "betrayed", "perished", and "liberating". It's very smooth and flowing. Backgrounds equaling or rising above this will most certainly be accepted without hesitation. Stories emulating Background #1 will be denied without a doubt, and asked to be rewritten. Use words like those in Background #2, as they are more descriptive and detailed. Using detail is everything, but excessive detail makes a background or story lengthy and monotonous. Combine word choice and a fair amount of detail to make the perfect RP background.
2. Writing your background. This is the most important part of your bio because it tells your character's history. You want it to be fluid and smartly written, but not superfluous and over-the-top. The basic background should be three paragraphs long, with 5-8 sentences minimum per paragraph. If you feel you need to write more to get your point across, feel free to do so. If every paragraph is not a minimum of 5 sentences, it's alright, so long as the rest are at least 5 sentences long. These next three points will clarify each paragraph and its purpose for the average character age, which is between 16-30 years old (age may vary depending on preference or race). This is an example outline of a background's features, so don't feel relegated to only these three things in this order, but you should at a minimum have two of the three paragraph subjects incorporated into your story.
a. Early Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's early life (birth to around 10 years). It should have information about your character's parents and their bringing-up. If your character is an orphan adopted by a rich lord or lady, put that here. Place anything related to your upbringing in this paragraph.
b. Middle Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's middle years, which start at the end of your "early life" and end at your current age. If you have a coming-of-age story to tell, that should go here. This more or less poses as the climax of your bio, so make this part especially good.
c. Current Life. This paragraph should contain information about your character's current lifestyle, job, etc. If you are married or biologically related to another player, you can put that information here, although in some cases it may be best to place that in the Early Life or Middle Life section. If you're a blacksmith, put a little bit in this paragraph about your job, wares, or standard of living. This should be a relatively simple paragraph to write because it reflects what you're doing on the server at the moment.
Now that you know the suggested structure of your background, the next step is the content and word choice. Two example backgrounds are below, each for the fictional character Samwise Gamgee from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Background #1: samwise gamgee was born in a hole in bagshot Row. his fader was called hamfast. his muder was named bell. he and his dad were garden and sam gardened for Frodo bags. sam loved elf and wanted to go see some all his life
sam went with some peoples and frodo to destroy the ring of sauron. he and frodo left the others bhind at a waterfall and went to mordor by themselves. they sneaked into mordor and threw the ring at mount doom. then they rode an eagle and flew to the fields of cormallen. then they saw aragorn's crowneng and went back to the shire, but it was cuntroled by sorumen so they had to free the hobbits from the bad guise
now sam is married to a girl named rosie. he a daughter named elanor. he lives in bag-end with his family and takes care of his garden. he ran and was elected for mayor of hobbiton twice in a row. he miss frodo because he went to the grey havens
Background #2: Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, youngest son of Hamfast and Bell Gamgee, was born in a small hobbit-hole along Bagshot Row in Hobbiton. Hamfast, affectionately known as "The Gaffer", served as a gardener in Bagshot Row for most of his adult life. Sam soon adopted his trade and tended to the gardens of Bag-end, home to the elderly Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo Baggins. At an early age, Sam developed a growing passion to see the elves that lived in the forests south of the Shire, a people that Bilbo spent a short time around on his journey to the Lone Mountain. His gift for poetry also brought him great favor in the Baggins household.
Sam was part of the Company of the Ring for a little under a year before they dispersed at Isengard. Sam, Aragorn, Frodo (bearer of the Ring), Merry, Pippin, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf were all part of the Company that traveled to destroy the One Ring and defeat Sauron. After traveling through the Golden Wood, home of Galadriel and Celeborn, the Company got separated at the Falls of Rauros. Sam and Frodo traveled alone to Mordor; on the way they found a creature named Gollum who had tried to kill Bilbo years before. But Gollum betrayed their trust and left Frodo to be kidnapped by orcs. Fortunately, Sam retrieved the Ring before Frodo was taken. Sam, forced to use the Ring despite its danger, sneaked into Frodo's dungeon and rescued him from his captors Frodo and Sam continued on to Mount Doom, where Gollum found them again and bit the Ring off of Frodo's finger. Frodo had become consumed by the power of the Ring and slipped it on, but Gollum got it back into his possession. However, he fell backwards into the mouth of Mount Doom and burned in the lava below, Ring and all. The Dark Lord and his servants all perished then, and the Black Tower fell into ruin, as with every other structure that had been made with the power of the Ring. Tired, hungry, thirsty, and out of supplies, Sam and the now nine-fingered Frodo had no way to get back home now. But a great battle had been won by the Captains of Gondor and the Riders of Rohan, and Gandalf the White rode on Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, to carry the two dying hobbits to safety. After some days of rest and reuniting with the Company, Sam and Frodo attended the coronation of Aragorn, now King Elessar of Gondor, and then made their way home. Sam played a part in liberating the Shire from the clutches of the fallen wizard Saruman, and moved into Bag-end after Frodo left Middle-earth for the Grey Havens.
Samwise Gamgee currently lives in Bag-end with his wife Rosie Cotton, daughter of Farmer Cotton in Bywater. He has a daughter named Elanor, whose name was chosen by Frodo before his departure. Sam is mayor of Hobbiton, in his second term, and lives next door to his father. He enjoys his life as mayor, but gardening is still at the center of his day. The mallorn tree he planted in place of the felled "Party Tree" is his pride and joy, and he looks at it every day out of his windows.
Background #1, as is blatantly obvious, has very poor punctuation, atrocious grammar, horrid spelling errors, and a whole host of other things wrong with it. This is an exaggeration of what we don't want. It uses words like "wanted", "went", "left", and "threw", all very mundane verbs. It meets the bare minimum standards, and no more. On the other hand, Background #2 has excellent punctuation, grammar, and no spelling errors. This RP bio is a good length; not too long and definitely not too short. It uses words like "dispersed", "betrayed", "perished", and "liberating". It's very smooth and flowing. Backgrounds equaling or rising above this will most certainly be accepted without hesitation. Stories emulating Background #1 will be denied without a doubt, and asked to be rewritten. Use words like those in Background #2, as they are more descriptive and detailed. Using detail is everything, but excessive detail makes a background or story lengthy and monotonous. Combine word choice and a fair amount of detail to make the perfect RP background.