[SRP] Avatar RP discusion and sign up

[Shy Shay]

An Avatar RP? Impossible, you say? Well, I SAY NEIGH!!!

Okay, in all seriousness this is my first time running and RP, and I'm going to try to go for something that I've always wanted in an RP; the feeling of getting stronger. In order to do this, I've set up the begining of stats. It's fairly simple, but the gist of it is that there are 100 skill points to become a master in an element or a stat or something else. You can get better, but let's stick with the 100 for now.

Now, everything that you try to do has a difficultly level, and if you don't have a skill that is equal or above it, you normally won't be able to do it. However, there are three ways to get past it. First is 'will power'. This is determined by how good I determin your RP post to be, and the reasons that you have will also increase /or/ decrease the increase/decrease. Both temperary increases and decreases are advantages, though as for why I'll keep a secret.

The second is dumb luck. I will flip a coin to determin an increase or a decrease, and then I will roll a 20-D to determin the amount.

The third is fate, which is basically my GM do-whatever-you-want-and-get-away-with-it badge. I can change your scores, temporarily if I think that it would be interesting.


Now, at every 25 levels of a skill or stat, you can learn something special. For example, at 100 earth bending you can learn metal bending. Learn, not discover. However, if you are particularly skilled, then you can discover/invent it. Now, let me give you a few examples from the show.

Toph inventing metal bending. In order to do this, I'd say that you'd need a skill of 200. And through the series, I'd say that Toph is at 150 max, 120 min. Let's go with 120.
Assuming that she is at 120, she gets 50 points from will and 30 points from fate to invent metal bending.

Zuko is not the best firebender in the world, however he keeps on beating impossible opponets. That is becouse he is a very 'fatefull' person and becouse he has a lot of will. At least, that is how I'd define it in this RP.

You should know that all stats will be kept, calculated, and changed by me according to your posts. You will not know your scores, but you will be able to experiance getting stronger.

Okay, now for the basis of this RP. Four, possibly more, people will be teleported into the avatar world, a long time after the legendary Aang and the golden ruler Zuko. Everybody can bend all for elements now, but 7 more have recently been discovered; dimensions, personality, body, fate, luck, history and emotions. The four players will be from this earth, this time, and will be teleported and changed by the dimension personality and body benders to the Avatar world.

Now, due to the recent influx of new elements, a new Avatar must be choosen. Each player will either bend fate, luck, history or emotions. These all have effects on your willpower, and will be explained in more detail to the user through a PM. Also, only one player will become the new avatar, and be able to bend all elements. That will be determed by me at the end of this RP.


Okay, on to the character creation bit. Due to the nature of this RP, it is going to require what I deem the best RPers of the lot. Unfortunataly, that means that some of you will be cut even if you are early to respond. (Just to be clear, this will not be true for everything. Post a scenerio in 'Make a TF Foundation' and I'll probably pick it up) As such, I will wait until four or more people that meet what I think is the level that I want for this RP. Once again, I am sorry for anybody that does not make it, but that's the way it is with this.

Character creation will be rather simple. Just tell me what your characters name and personality is in a clear format, as well as any likes or dislikes of transformations. Also, I request a good long introduction of your character, just descriping what he/she is like in a descriptive manner. A story from there past, there hopes for the future, or just a general description is fine. It just has to be long enough for me to be able to judge your RP skills. Also I want which of the 'new' elements that are available that you want in the order you want them. So, for example, I'd want fate first, then luck, followed by emotions, and I would want least history.

I also want a reason why you should /not/ be in this RP, a reason why you should, and a person you think is better for this RP then you. If you don't know anybody that well, then just say so and you can skip the last step.


Now, if there is anybody that would like to help me with the stat system, the PM me and I'll introduce it to you. However, I expect that you will not be in the RP and that you will not tell anybody else. Sorry.

If anybody has any complaints or requests, please post so. It will take a while to finalize the sytem, but that doesn't mean that you should take a month to post. It will take 3 weeks at the absolute most, and 1 day at the minumum. I will wait a bit longer after I've finished the system, but still, post as soon as you can.

Once again, I am sorry for those that don't get in, but this /is/ my RP. I am ready and willing to run a RP for anybody, though. Once again, just post in 'Make a TF Foundation'.

[Shy Shay]

OKay, I've wrapped up about 80 to 90% of the rules. There are a few gaps, and a lot of the remaining gaps I can't see. As such, I would appreciate questions about my RP. It would not only help define and finalize the rules, but it would help others get an understanding, as well. That, and I'm begining to wonder if anybody is interested in this RP. I know of one person for sure that is interested in this RP, but is anybody else?

[Shadowmaster]

Definitely an interesting idea, especially with the stats aspect.

If I'm reading this right, the four original elements are open for everyone at the start (Obviously having to be learned/mastered) and the other four available elements (fate, luck, history, emotion) are earned over time, right?

[Shy Shay]

Well, everybody gets the four original elements. But they do have to learn them and stuff. However, the four new ones, only one out of the group gets that. So, by the end, the party might have a master fire bender, ai rbender and fate bender as one person, the next a master water, earth and luck bender, the third as a master earth, fire and destiny bender, and the last one an emotion bender. The reason why is that, currently, the 'essence' of the avatar is fractered, so the new elements go to only one person each. They get access to them, and they, essentially, have to invent the way to use them. Or meet a lion turtle.

Did that answer your question?

Also, I think that I should I mentions this, I will try to keep all of the players scores realitvly even. However, if one person just laze's about eating and the other is a training maniac, then all bets are off. Also, a new thing is that there are sub skills that go 1 through 5, and that is for everything that isn't going to be part of the main thing. And I do mean everything. Knowledge, other martial arts, arts in general are also all kept track of. At the end of the RP I'll show everybody there end stats. If they want to know, that is.

Oh, and yay! Somebody else is interested!

[Shadowmaster]

Yeah, that answered it. Though, when you say they need to invent a way to use them, what does that mean, exactly?

Anyway, guess I'll give a character sheet a shot now.

Name: Jesse Benton
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Personality: Nice, helpful, a bit high strung.

Description: To say that Jesse's life follows a routine is a bit of an understatement. His days consist of waking up at exactly 6 AM, eating breakfast (Usually a bowl of cereal, though if he's feeling adventurous, he'll have some waffles), going to school/work (Whichever he may have on that given day), eating lunch (Always a turkey sandwich, a small bag of potato chips, and a bottle of water, which he acquires from the same shop every day.) heading home to take care of any work or cleaning that needs to be done, eating dinner, relaxing for a bit with some reading or TV, and then going to bed at 11 PM, only to start the whole rotation over again the next morning. And he'd truly prefer to keep this schedule going indefinitely.

Jesse enjoys his predictable life, and becomes a bit irritated when something occurs that forces him to deviate from his routine. (His coworkers once heard an hour long rant because the shop that he buys his lunches at were out of the brand of chips that he buys. They now keep some extra bags around, just in case.) Also, whenever he's in a position that he doesn't want to be in, he makes sure that those around him are aware of his displeasure.

That being said, Jesse is a nice enough person, if one is able to put up with his...eccentricities. He's loyal to the friends that he has, and would do anything within his power to help them if they had a problem. (Example: Despite his dislike of conflict, in high school he once aided a friend of his who was being attacked by some bullies.)

His ultimate goal is to get a comfortably paying job that can support him, and one day a family, and just get through his life with as little difficulty as possible.

All in all, Jesse is a good guy, even if he is a little too set in his ways.

TF likes/dislikes: Not a fan of mental rewrites (Some modification is alright, I suppose, but I'd like to keep my characters minds where they are as much as possible.) or inanimate. Other than that, can't really think of any particular dislikes, so his me with your best shot.

New elements in order of wanting: Luck, Fate, emotions, history.

Alright, I think that's everything. I may edit the profile there a bit, but I think it's all set.

[Shy Shay]

Okay, that's good! I finally have a character! *Does a little dance*

As for inventing a way to use them, it's like how Katara taught herself water bending, or how Aang sort-kinda learned soul bending from a lion turtle. The characters will get a scroll describing to them the basics of there unique element, but other then that they just have to practice it until they manage to get it right. The scroll will help you up to level 25, though. These elements are, quite literally, new to the world. Nobody else can luck bend except for the player that gets it. These new elements are quite potent and, while they aren't used for fighting, are a key in learning and winning fights. I don't want to make it easy for you!

Now, are there anymore characters or questions? Or am I going to have to play an RP disigned for four with one?

[Vomica]

Name: David Weil
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Personality: Introverted, honest to a fault, and operates on a Kantian moral system

Description: What can be said of David? He is a man of both simplicity and ideals, one of the few things he can not stand is one of pragmatic mind. Having completed his degree in mechanical engineering a year ago, he has been working for a local firm. This entails the mind numbing work of testing and then retesting the designs of the higher ups. As he isn't a senior member of the firm, he rarely gets a project of his own, but instead is used as a lackey. He doesn't mind such a situation to much, since it is only temporarily -- and the student loans must be paid!

Despite being an introvert at heart, David is a man who yearns for attention, gratitude, or at least a pat on the back. He is in somewhat of a relationship with a girl he'd describe as 'an unparalleled beauty', however he hasn't been able to move the relationship forward to a serious degree. Why can't he? He has never been able to answer this question, and for the time he passes it off as moral obligations.

He does what he does for the lone reason that he feels that it needs to be done. Motivation out of duty, necessity, or personal desire... he will do it. The importance of his actions are in that order as well, being as duty is the reason why society exists (at least that is what he might claim).

David is a nice guy though! Despite being a stickler for rules, he is a compassionate fellow. In his spare time, when not nerding it up, he volunteers at the retirement home. Spending the time there just visiting the elderly, giving company to those there that families never visit them.

New Elements: Emotions, History, Fate/Luck (This is subject to change for the moment. I don't think I grasp the concept of each. What is the difference between Luck and Fate? It'd seem to me that the influence of both is identical -- just the means is different. And history... some clarification on that would be appreciated.)

TF preferences: I'm good with anything. To a limit. If a TF would butcher the character physically, mentally, or what not in terms of RP... it's best to be avoided. Also, I do have a slight aversion to overly sexuallized things. But that's just for my own form. Anything goes with others.

[Shy Shay]

Yay! Two characters!

Well, luck and fate are diffrent becouse Luck can affect somebody at any time, and fate is only at story moments. So somebody who is lucky might get farther in there training, but still get beaten by somebody who is fatefull. In this RP, the bending diffrence is that luck is always in effect while fate only happens in those 'big showdown' moments, or moments in which the character gets a large will bonunce.

There are other diffrences as well, but those are only going to be told to those that actually get the element. Whether or not they tell is up to them. As for history, it means that you can literally change somebodies past. The in game effects give the character more or less oprutunities to use will. So, if I was a high level history bender, then I could make it so that your sister died becouse you were to weak. Therefor, you would get more chances to increase your will bonus, especially if you were defending somebody that you took to be like a new sister. Does that make sense?

Now I have a question for you. What is Kantian morals? I googled it, and I'm still a bit confused.

[Vomica]

Kantian morality is simply adhering to the concept of the categorical imperative. Entire college courses are taught on that idea... so I'll try really hard to simplify it. There are two main ways it is usually described (Kant himself stated them this way). One is the universal application of the axiom (That is the motivation to an action), and the others is the way you treat others.

The second is far easier to understand -- you treat people as people, instead of as a means. Respecting another human is more important then anything else you want (within reason of course). So it's fine to have a waiter at a restaurant, but being rude and mean to him is just wrong.

The universal application... is... well. The action you are considering it's moral worth... you just need to imagine a world where it is always done. Like say for example, lying to a bank that you will pay bank a loan. You want the loan, but you don't intend to pay it back. If you lie that you will, then the bank will give it to you. However, in a world where everyone lies on a loan like that... the bank will expect people to lie. Thus there is no reason to lie, since the bank assumes everyone is already lying! Thus won't take your word that you'll pay it back. The point is, if the action you are considering to take becomes contradicted or illogical when applied universally... then there is something wrong with the action.

I hope that helps. If it's too foreign of a philosophy for anyone, I can null it. I tend to find it interesting to have a set of ethics established for a character, so all the actions chosen aren't exactly the ones I'd do!

[Shy Shay]

Nah, that makes sense to me. And I'm the only one that really matters!

So, are there any other questions?

[Knight Errant]

Mhm... I'll try my hand at this.

Name: Jack Spaulding
Age: 22
Gender: Male

Physical Description: Jack is rather out of shape. He has muscles under his flab, but usually lacks the motivation to use them. He is around six foot tall, has brown hair and brown eyes, a goatee, and usually wears black jean shorts along with whatever nerd shirt he feels like wearing for the day.

Bio: Jack has a brilliant mind, but seldom uses it to its full potential. Stuck in books and games, a dead end job to fund his collage pursuits, and a self imposed lack of a social life are the trademarks of his life. He lives in his parent's basement, and all manner of stereotypes come to mind while describing him. The plain fact is he prefers escapism to what he sees as the boring drudgery of daily life.

He is an honest kid, to a fault. And his few friends are very close. But sometimes he would just rather be alone, to read the latest book or frag some noobs in Halo. Besides this, there isnt much to say about him. He is rather patient, slow to anger, and stubborn. And plods away at life at his own pace. His dream is to eventually become a software programmer for one of the big game companies. Beyond that, his life is of any ordinary kid.

New Element Wish List: History, Luck, Fate, Emotions.

TF Preference: I think Shay knows my general preferences by now... if not I'll likely talk via PMs.

Reason I should not be in this RP: I am prone to lapses of posting... but hopefully this shouldnt be a problem. But still, I'd hate to randomly stop posting and have the RP grind to a halt.
Reason why I should: I like to think I am one of the more detailed RPers. I like to add complexity to my posts, personality to my characters, and have them act as realistically as possible.
Person I think is better for this RP: Brnin8r is made of liquid awesome... but he tends to be more prone to vanishing than I am it seems sometimes. Either way, he is another detailed, intelligent RPer.

[Harri-chan]

Name: Skylar LeBlanc
Age: 29
Gender: Female

Physical Description: Skylar is of around average height, and quite skinny. Her dark brown hair comes to her chin, and is usually held back with a big stretchy fabric headband across the top of her head. She has dark brown eyes, and a slightly upturned nose.

Bio: Skyler always wanted to be a dancer. From the age of four she was taking ballet lessons, and dedicated herself to the art. At age sixteen she was offered a place in a prestigious dance college, alongside girls a full two years older than her. It meant a move to the big city, but less than a month after her arrival, she was hitting by a car when out seeing the sights. Her spine was badly damaged, and she spent over a year in a wheel chair after the accident. This was followed by many tough years of rehabilitation. Eventually, she was able to walk again, and by her mid twenties she was even able to dance. Of course by this point, she was far too old to ever make it as a professional, but her love for ballet was still as strong as ever, and she took a job at the very same dance college, now as a teacher. In the last six months, Skylar has been dealt another cruel blow. Doctors diagnosed her with cancer, and it had been eating away at her for too long already. She's been told she could only have six more months to live...



New Element Wish List: I really don't mind. I know very little of Avatar, but I'm actually looking forward to learning it IC. My character will be the same as me, right? She'll be clueless and need the whole concept explained to her, so I can learn through that. I'll be happy to take whatever I'm given and then learn how to use it to the best of my ability.

TF Preference: Spoken through it with Shay on IRC. AR (as always *blush*)

Reason I should not be in this RP: My TF of choice is age regression and MSF is for TG

Reason why I should: I think I'm a decent writer, and try my best to bring the RPs to life with detailed postings.

Person I think is better for this RP: Where to begin.... There's many, many better RPers on this forum than I.

[Haylie]

Hmmm... I'm pondering joining this RP. I'm not sure if I'd be good enough for this RP, as you say we must be. I can give reasons, but if I won't be playing, then I don't think I should put forth the effort to make a totally new character.

Reasons I SHOULD: I like to think I can remain in-character, and I also love The Last Airbender (that's the official name now, thanks to James Cameron, the jerk).

Reasons I should NOT: My posts tend to be rather short. Also, I'm not the most reliable poster. I'm also not good with numbers.

Better suggestions: I'd like to put forth Guendolen. Granted, she's on even less than I am, but I think her RP quality could well make up for that.
There are others, but Guen's my first choice.

[Shy Shay]

I have more a possiblilitie of more then four options?! Holy -beeeeeeeeeeep-! Anyway, for those of you worried about causing the RP to grind to a halt, don't. I came up with a few rules that should make things easier for everybody.

1: I expect at least one post every three days. If I do not hear from you three days afterwards, then I will post for your character. If I do hear from you, then I will wait up to a week, or you can get somebody else to temporarly take control of your character. I do this becouse I know how frusterating it can be waiting for somebody to respond, and it is also to assuage any fears.

2: Nobody can post more then once until I have posted. I can post before others respond, if I deem it important enough to do so.

3: This is important. Always type, 'He/I go to do something, instead of doing it. I've got a stat based system over here, so you don't know what you can or can not do, I do.

4: Now, since I have the prospect of a lot more players, this is just something that I'm going to put here. If I get a multiple of 4 players that I like, and am having trouble deciding, then I'll run 2 games of this instead of one. I'm going to ask that the players don't look at the other thread. If anybody thinks the temptation would be to much, just let me know.

5: In some cases, or all cases, the player is the only one that knows something. As such, I might put done something like this:

For Shay:

Billy Bob is feeling tired, but he could push himself farther.

For everybody else:

Billy Bob charges at the eniemy, without a trace of hesitation in his steps. It's as if he cannot lose!

Just highlight the ones that are for you, and not for others.

[Brnin8r]

Aww...I'm recommended?
*cracks knuckles*
Well then. Wouldn't want to disappoint.

Name: Griz Morris
Gender: Male
Age: 29
Personality: Rough-n-tumble outside. Creamy sensitivity on the inside. Slightly insecure with his 'softer' hobbies in light of his large frame.

Description: Griz drinks and parties his single life away, having a wide berth around him as he does so. Being nearly 6' 7'' and about 320 pounds of girth, the man's size is intimidating enough to make it hard for friends. His head is shaved bald to hide his premature receding hairline and he attempts to make up for it with a dark, bristly chin strap of beard that goes from one sideburn to the other. His genuine smile is wide and boisterous. He usually is dressed in a normal, albeit old and grungy, set of clothes; his shirt hanging over the gut he's developed in his later twenties. Don't let the gut deceive you though; his strength in general is something to be taken into account. Despite his general drinking, when the man's sober he can be one of the most literate person on paper. He writes poetry in his alone time, afraid to show it to anyone. If anyone were to know that he wrote poetry and sonnets, he'd be a laughing stock. In reaction to people and any sort of comment hinting at him being soft he withdraws and becomes surly, scowling at everone and becoming a veritable ticking time bomb of temper. His patience could nearly be infinite when he can control it, but it may as well be half a wick on a stick of dynamite when he's riled.

Introduction of sorts:
Griz sat on a bench on the edge of a park overlooking a calm and serene lake. He wore large sunglasses to deflect the horrifyingly bright light of the hangover-enhanced sun. His oversized body was hunched over, occasionally looking up to one of the cherry trees in the distance, sketching a small copy of it into his notebook, the sketch framed a recent poem he had written all about the beauty of the park and lake people took for granted. "Hey Griz!" shouted a voice from behind him, which caused the burly man to jump and shuffle his notebook back into the bag he carried at his side, "Uh-uhh...yeah?" he asked, not looking at the verbal assailant; though the voice was familiar enough to recognize who it was: Brad. His next door neighbor who always had house problems that Griz was 'the perfect man' to fix. It bothered the large man, because he would always accept the cry for help, but never did Brad invite him over to his house just for kicks and giggles. "Whatcha doing out here, a lumberjack like you? Growing a soft side now that you're almost 30?"
That was that...Griz whipped around, tossing the bag to the ground, and grabbed Brad by the collar. A flicker of fear flashed behind Brad's eyes, "I don't have a soft side." he emphasized as he shoved the man forward, nearly knocking his balance off. He knew he'd gone too far...even though Brad never hung out with him, he was one of the few people that talked to him. "Geh...-ugh..." he almost said he was sorry, but instead of apologizing he said nothing, picked up his bag, and walked quickly away, the anger inside him and the pounding headache incurred from last night making life an absolute hell. All he wanted to do was get home and have a beer, or a shot, or...anything...

For the four primary elements, I figure Griz'd be more focused on Fire and Earth. Air and Water could be the things he uses when he's calm.

For the new ones, I figure he'd focus on Emotion first, Luck second, History third, Fate fourth.

TF likes/dislikes: Likes vary from everything to anything, though the one thing I hate is instantaneous ones. The finger snap TFs that have no character development in them. Also, destroying my entire psyche with a 100% mental swap destroys my character. Not so fun. But as long as it doesn't involve those two things, you could turn me into a trainstation covered in cats lol.

Main reason I SHOULDN'T play. As Knight said, I waffle on regular posting like a politician with a three-sided quarter and tend to be sucked into the void of real life. Though I'll do my best to keep up with the three days stuff. Who knows, I might update my other RPs more regularly lol. Also, I know very little about Avatar. Liked the concept, never watched it.

Main reason I SHOULD play: I always enjoy a new challenge, trying to make something exciting and unique to make the story have a little more depth so everyone remembers it better.

Someone who I think could do well. Kaizer's a pretty good, regular poster, if with a little short posts occasionally. He's got a lot of improv in his blood.

Is that all right?
*breaks knuckles*
Ow...