Archer

Thanks for the info Voidus! Palindrome, thanks for the responses. I have no more suggestions. Meeker, okay. I understand why you made the character the way you did. Arith Matic, I think because of the quality of the weakness, how the character is now would be acceptable for E3. Usual disclaimer applies. Thanks for your cooperation.

Hello! Welcome to the Shard. Working under the assumption that can't overtly use their powers because if the referee sees them do so, they'll get penalized, who would you rather have on your basketball team, a mistborn or a feruchemist?

Klasten closed his eyes, mentally preparing to give a short eulogy. He furrowed his brow, concentrating on how to best express the somberness of the moment. A life had been lost. Grief, pain, guilt - he was awash with emotion. When he was ready, he raised his hand to begin. "I'M ALIVE! DAMAYA, I'M COMING!" someone shouted, interrupting him. Klasten turned the hand raising into a back-scratch, hoping no one had seen it. When he finally spotted her, standing on the roof, he shook his head. Annoyed Araha had ruined her own funeral, he sighed and rolled his eyes. You owe me half of a rope, he thought. At that moment, a loud avian shriek filled the air. It echoed around the cave, unsettling some smaller rocks. It had come from deep within one of the tunnels. Concerned, Klasten began moving in that direction.

You typed that on mobile? Wow. Does that mean they hang, unmoving, in the air? If so, I don't believe that is possible. I'll assume you know what you're talking about. If so, I just learned something new. Woot. Since Reckoners Earth is in the Alleyverse, you could get plastic and a nice handgun pretty easily. I always recommend including humanizing weaknesses. Stuff like fears, character flaws, and physical quirks. The short height is also a weakness. I would feel comfortable approving this character for E3 (though you'll need to run the numbers and wait until restrictions are finalized) if you address the things I mentioned. Ping me and I'll add it to the the E2 list. Overall, it's a nice bio. Well done.

We've tried that before. Someone volunteered to be an Unbiased One and ensure our future government would be fair and honest. For reference, here's the thread we executed him in.

That made me picture a Librarian travelling to the Rithmatist planet, seeing the clockwork horses, and freaking out with ideas for how to make a monster out of them. I like the detail and the ideas are good. Might want to consider painting the gold though, to avoid people trying to steal it. Yes, I'm the right person. My normal username is Archer, but Ookla Season was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The bronze misting being able to hear rhythms has been confirmed by WOB to be possible, so no issues there. However, it was my understanding that non-Singers don't emit rhythms. If that's true, they wouldn't be able to detect emotions of most people that way. I'd like that sentence reworded. I'd like some clarification on how the spikes work. I don't understand how sorrow can be spiked into someone. They appear to be hemalurgic (otherwise the infection they cause would cause issues) but that's usually used for other things. Maybe a hemalurgy expert could help me out here? Overall, it's a great bio. I appreciate the thought you've put int making a dynamic character. Once the things I mentioned are cleared up, I feel confident approving it. The deadline some people wanted (Boxing Day) is fast approaching, and we have no era-ending plot going yet. I predict it will get bumped to New Years. It looks like we're going to do a short time skip, so I'd begin RPing now. Even though it would be easier to start in E3, you may be waiting for weeks. Welcome to the Alleyverse! We have a weird relationship with the books. We generally base planets we visit on what they are like at the start of the series, and do the same for powers. For example, our Epics all have weaknesses and our allomancers still need to Snap, despite developments in cannon that have done away with those restrictions. But there's no rules about that. Generally, so long as it doesn't contradict the books, you're fine to insert scenes and events. This is the most I've seen someone do that, but I think we could allow it. Unfortunately, this character is OP. Even with the blindness, having that level of investiture is too much. For E3, it definitely won't be permitted. We're aiming more for the level of a compounder in that era. I hate to ask this, because it will require reworking their backstory, but I would like their powers to be reworked so they are less powerful. I like your creativity and attention to detail. Great start. Welcoem to the RP! He can't read music? He looks bad in a suit? When he whistles, every dog ina ten mile radius comes to lick his face? And I second Mac's request. Please don't advertise guilds here.

HOW DARE YOU!?! That's outright slander. Canada is not a republic. We're a constitutional monarchy, and proud to be one. Her Majesty plays a very important role in our government. Without her assent, no laws could be passed. She also *mumble mumble* face on coins *mumble mumble* statutory holidays. And she appoints Governor Generals, which have the very important role of appointing Lieutenant Governor Generals. Otherwise, former astronauts would go unemployed. France is a republic. USA is a republic. The UK, Canada, Australia* are not. *because of some clever vote splitting during the referendum I like how this conversation is going. Keep up the good work! And I agree with counting by RPer, not character, during votes.

Remind me to talk to you about that. ^ I judge characters the way I judge duels. Anyone who has ever had me as a mediator for one of those can attest that to ensure fairness, I like to quantify things. That's how I roll. The optimist in me wants to believe that every new RPer takes my advice and compares their character to the power level of other characters and tries to make theirs average, but I realize that doesn't always happen. I would like a solid rule like a points list to fall back on when making decisions. I don't like telling people their character is OP, but not being able to give them a good reason. As a result, I often let more powerful characters than I'd like to be approved. I wouldn't want such a list to be completely hidden. I understand that people might be tempted to use it to make the most powerful character possible, but I want to maintain public faith in the system as well. So, I recommend tucking it away somewhere obscure, but accessible, like the wiki. To comment on the discussion about new members having trouble joining, I agree with the suggestion of making a thread for that, and writing some steps. Just today I got a PM from someone who said they were confused about how this whole thing works. They knew enough to PM me, but all the unwritten rules and assumptions confused them. So I believe there's a need.

Disclaimer: I m not affiliated with this guild. But I do have experience with assassination, both on the receiving end of things, and with doing it. RIP Voidus' rock. Assassination in this RP is done one of two ways, depending on the target. However, the general principle remains the same. When this guild is paid to do so, or decides it would strategically beneficial, they 'kill' someone. This often entails the use of weaponry and false pretenses. The two types of targets are a.) Alleyverse characters. In the RP threads, characters can interact via third-person narration. The assassin will often seek to narrate an attack from which their are few reasonable alternatives for the victim other than death. When a character dies, they can not be RPed with any more. For this reason, it is considered bad form to kill a character without consulting with their author first. b.) Alleyverse participants. This style was more common in Era 1, but it still happens on occasion. First-person roleplaying, the assassin PMs the target, engaging them using *x* style RP or narration or actions. This is similar to the approach the DA uses to distribute cookies in the Intro threads. The victim, if they have prepared in advance, may have a method of resurrecting themselves. If not, they... continue to exist, but are ticked off at the GBs.

Thank you for your suggestions, Ookla the Meeker. And for getting this thread up finally. On the topic of government, I would have liked an ‘anarchy’ option on the poll (like we have now), but no matter. There is no need for a government. The RP already has guilds set up to provide security, community, and all the things a government provides. Characters have no reason to form one. But politics are fun. So long as people realize that an in-game government can only create in-game ‘rules’, it could be a fun thread to participate in. Should this happen, I would recommend convening at regular intervals, but not continually. Otherwise characters will have to stay at the capital in order to have their say. If you only met, for example, on weekends, it would allow them to go on adventures during the week. Or they could share the responsibility of representing their bloc with other members. While making the government based around guilds would make sense, as has been pointed out, it leaves independents out. But how would you enforce decrees? The only force that has the authority to do so in-game is the guilds. You’d need their support. I strongly caution against creating an army to enforce the rules created. It would create situations where RPers are given undo amounts of power. The better way of doing it would be to have a democracy, should people decide they want a government. Maybe a compromise where Great guilds get to propose laws, or their reps get vetos (just kidding. We all know how well that would work). Or each time a different GG rep chairs the meeting, thus giving them the chance to set the agenda and lead the debate, but still giving individuals a chance to be involved. Or we could have a system where everyone gets a vote, but you have to be present in the thread to cast it. So people on adventures couldn't participate. Instead, they could give permission to someone to vote for them. So, on one day I could cast four votes, three on behalf of others It would create some interesting politics. Literal vote trading. But would it be one vote per character or Sharder? And couldn't people just get inactives to give them votes? Ignore that Indeed. That would have been a fun system. I would prefer a longer time skip, like 100 years. If characters from the time when we allowed higher power levels are still around, or can easily return, it can lead to power creep, replicating the issues with that that we had during this era. There are people who want to keep their characters in Era Three. Should they continue to participate, it would seriously hamper efforts to create a consistently low levels of character power in E3. The only way I can foresee this not happening if we do a short time skip is if everyone’s characters die before the new Era begins, or are somehow striped of their powers and OP technology. I’m advocating for a hundred year skip, but I realize I’m in the minority with this opinion.

Meanwhile, Klasten frantically tried pulling on the rope. Stupid rocks, he fumed. That was my favourite lasso. Angrily he kicked a nearby pebble. It rolled away, down a side-passage and out of sight.

I know absolutely nothing about Magic: the Gathering. But the premise of the Alleyverse is that characters from everything Brandon is written, so in my opinion it would make sense to permit the inclusion of elements from Children of the Nameless. I have yet to read that story though (So please, nobody spoil it!).

Klasten cringed, rubbing his leg where a small rock had fallen on him. He avoided looking at the ground near his head, where he was pretty sure he puked at some point. He commanded his limbs to move, but they were sluggish to respond. Even his neck was stiff and aching. "Help!" he heard a female voice shout. A surge of adrenaline pumped through his veins. He was needed. With super-human effort, he stood up and began walking in the direction of the noise. Hi feet smacked against the rock, each step a little harder than it needed to be. His ears were still ringing from the noise of the cave-in, so he thought he heard squeaking. Couldn't be, he thought, dismissing it as pain-induced falsehood. Klasten arrived at the pool. Looking in the direction the screaming lady was looking, he caught a glimpse of a sinking figure. I must save him! Klasten thought, pulling out his lasso. It was stiff and dust covered, having never been used, despite him being an excellent lassoer. Fingers moving with renewed energy, he swung the rope around in the air, then threw it at the figure. It flew, perfectly on target... before hitting the surface of the water and stopping with a disappointing sploosh. Oops, he thought.

Things That Make Idos Powerful: - Lack of moral restrictions. 'Good' characters are often less aggressive and less willing to use their powers. They are also vulnerable to things like their friends being targeted, or making bad decisions because it is the 'right thing to do, even if it's not the safest! Tally-ho!'. Hardened killers don't have these problems. - The Epic power is powerful, but due to the amount of things that could counter it, it's not as powerful as one might think. (I assume that was intentional.) I will note though that the weakness is unusual, even for an Epic weaknesses. Being spiked with A-gold negates your powers? What was Calamity thinking? (I'm going to guess that that'll be explained in the history though.) - They're physically elite. People often RP their characters as being in great physical shape anyway, but at that level it's almost like Fortuity's secondary Epic power. I would have included at least one physical limitation. Eyesight, hearing, blood pressure, vertigo... everyone's got a humanizing weakness. Or maybe I'm just reacting to the prevalence of 'spent years training to become a better than Batman' backstories. They tend to be used as a way for people to act like a pewter misting without having the power show up on their character sheet. In the RP, the ability to kill is one of the most coveted powers. And this guy's a perfect killer. That's where I'm coming from with my assessment. Hope that helps.

*wipes tear from eye* It's beautiful. The bolding, the detail. I might print it and frame it on my wall. I can't comment on whether or not it's OP, for the reasons I gave Mac. My general sense would be that it's on the higher end of the spectrum. *is full-on crying now, but doesn't care* Look at these bios! They're all grown up. Time for them to move out, then. (I'll be housing E3 bios in the second post in this thread.) It's a n interesting backstory, but it fits with what we've seen in cannon regarding the Scrivener's Bones. I predict it could be within our acceptable power level, but don't quote me on that.

For the past week, it had been at a tie (25-25, then 26-26). Based on previous participation in polls, I did not foresee any new votes being cast in the near future. And since the RPers are evenly split on the issue, it would be advisable to talk about it some more so we can come to a stronger group consensus. The saying goes that the best compromises are when everyone walks away unhappy, but this is RP is based on having fun. I'd rather see greater margins of victory than 50% plus one, lest undo tension be created. If a proposal can only win by one vote, it could be improved upon. That's what I'd prefer to do with tight races. Also, thank you for your votes. If you tell me what your original votes were (so they can be removed), I can edit the results at the end.

I'm pretty sure everything that can be said about channelers has already been discussed. While I don't like to stifle debate, if it's just going to be repetitive there's better uses of our time. Unless new arguments or information is available, it would be better to just put the question to vote or some other form of final decision. We've established that how powerful a character is depends on how they're RPed. However, limiting what they've got to work with seems like a good way to reduce how powerful someone can be. The best proposal so far for creating a baseline has been the points system. The other option would be what we have now, where approvals are based on a general sense of how powerful they would be compared to others. But it's hard, for example, to determine how someone with no arms stacks up against someone with a different weakness. We could make a baseline test (could this person beat a lion in hand-to-hand combat?) but magic systems have different strengths and weaknesses. I'm a fan of considering how prevalent something is in cannon/ how plausible it is when choosing powers, because in general, the rarer it is, the more powerful it is. A baseline of 'as likely as [eg. a steel misting]' could work. I can't think of a planet offhand where the average citizen is extraordinarily powered. Having powers is often the exception, not the rule. To make this easier, I recommend we establish what should be considered too powerful in each magic system.

I am aware that this is a double post. But doing so brings this thread to the top of the page, and gives you all notifications so you know about it. After that's done (read: tomorrow) I'll merge this post with the one above it and it will be like this never happened. Cool? Thank you everyone for responding to the polls so promptly. The last poll was up for over a week and only got 26 respondents. These have been responded to by 21 and 22 members respectively, which is pretty close, so I feel comfortable replacing them now in favour of new poll questions. Here’s the results of the polls: 57.1% of respondents said that yes, position of one’s character should correlate to one’s position in a guild. 57.1% of respondents said that RPers should only be allowed to join a set number of guilds (TBD). Also, characters should NOT be required to join guilds. 57.1% of respondents said that yes, guilds with many (eg. 5) active, unique members should be given special status (Great Guild Status). This status should give them permission to access greater amount of resources, like armies. 59.1% of respondents said that BOTH in-character and out-of-character spying should be allowed. 59.1% of respondents said that there should be limits on army creation and use that make it so only guilds with a high number of unique, active members can create and use armies. 77.3% of respondents said that no, the RP should not allow non-Sanderson elements, with exceptions on a case-by-case basis for elements the majority of the group would like to include (for example, this could be Warhammer 40K technology). The full results can be found here. Now that we have space available, I have put up some more questions. I'm working my way through everything we've discussed in this thread based on Meta's summary post. It's been a lot, so there's a lot of questions. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but it's the best method we have for doing this kind of thing. New questions have also been posted here: Thank you for your cooperation. Happy voting!

Gotta say, I love the name. Based on my current interpretation of the rules Ookla the Foxed proposed, and my general sense of how powerful characters should be in Era Three, I would say that Maq is not OP. But I reserve the right to change that assessment depending on how the discussion on Power goes. Even that power level may be ruled to be too much. I like that it is Sanderson-based tech, but if there's a restriction on weaponry, the grenades might need to be revisited. It's a nicely filled out bio, I appreciate that. The biggest change I'd recommend is bolding the name of each section to make it easier to read.

Era Three is beginning sometime within the next few weeks. To prepare, I recommend that people begin brainstorming ideas for their future characters. However, until the power level restrictions have not been agreed upon, I will not be posting characters onto the list. This ensures we do not have to revisit character bios afterwards to make them comply with any restrictions we set. If people would like to post ideas for their bios to get criticism and feedback, they are welcome to do so at any time. But I reserve the right to ask you to repost it if they get buried before the time when I start assembling the list (I recommend not tagging me unless your bio is done. That way if I forget to put it on the list, you can edit your post to summon me to the spot. Don’t worry, I follow this thread). Ookla the Meeker kindly volunteered his, so I’ll use it as an example for this post. What he posted was a good example of a first draft of a character sheet. It contained a basic layout of his thoughts in a manner that gives the reader a fair impression of what his character is like. He also filled in the required fields. A character bio must include name, investiture, special skills and weapons/equipment, weakness, and their history. It is strongly recommended that it also include their family, home planet, and age as well if those are not mentioned elsewhere. He chose to also include alignment and distinguished between investiture and other Sanderson-created powers. That is acceptable. You may add in extra fields if you feel their inclusion will give people a better idea of who your character is. Do not include Cause of Death at this point, unless your character is dead already. If you do not do it, I will bold the names of your fields. Eg. ‘Name:’ I know Ookla the Meeker’s post isn’t complete, so now’s the perfect time to give constructive criticism. If this were a final submission, these would be my comments: [Note: This post was written before Ookla the Meeker's second post, so some things have been addressed, but it still works as an example.] Epic Power: Wire Proficiency This Epic power should be explained to some extent somewhere in the bio. That way we can tell if it is OP. It also gives people reading it a good sense of what the character can do. Remember, people can compartmentalize, pretending not to know the things they learn in bios when they are in character. Please don’t put will be revealed later or it’s a secret for any fields. It’s hard to imagine what someone’s like if part of their character is unknown. It's okay to include any impressively detailed lists you may have prepared about the capabilities of their Epic power. Weakness: Let me put some though into this. Beyond the necessary Epic weakness, I recommend listin multiple other weakness to develop the character. Physical characteristics: Descendant of Dedelin, so he has the Royal Locks. He keeps his hair pure white. He has pale blue eyes and a oblong face with a hooked nose. Lean and muscular. The question this begs is how did he become an Epic? This combination may be unacceptable due to implausibility, depending on what is agreed to in the Power Level debate. While one could be travel to Earth and be gifted powers by Calamity, it is unlikely that would ever happen. [Note: Remember, Epic powers are gifted, not inherited. The process of getting their powers should be explained in their history. Until that's done, it's hard to comment intelligibly on the character's reasonableness.] Family: Nothing to important to mention as the "family won't play a part at all. But he is a Descendant of Dedelin I think that if you’re going to include the field, you should at least mention something. Everyone’s got a family, and that has a major influence on their personality and status. Are they royalty? Were they disowned? Did they have a close relationship with their parents, making them feel more confident about themselves? Did their family members have any quirks that have impacted them? Even if they were abandoned at birth, it would still be good to sketch out who abandoned them and why. Home planet: Alleyverse This isn’t a planet. If they were born in space, saying so would be more helpful. (Though I suspect that was a typo of Alleyplanet.) History/Biography: Spoilers will add later. I encourage people to be open and detailed in their bios in Era Three. This is the section that gives people the best idea of what the character is like and why they are that way. Your bio will be up for months, you can spend an extra fifteen minutes writing up a life for your character. It’s an important part of the RP planning process. You need to do it. If you are tempted to put ‘doesn’t know’ down here, you shouldn’t. As the author, even if the character doesn’t know, you should know their backstory. People are the sum of their experiences. You may put ‘doesn’t know’, but I expect you to follow that with ‘…but what happened was’, and an synopsis of their life. If you can’t think of details to include, try the circumstances of their birth, how their parents treated them, what their home was like, what their day to day routine was like growing up, what their goals and ambitions were, who they look up to, what were the world events going on during their childhood etc. Another cop out I will not be accepting in Era Three is the lack of memory excuse. To quote another RP guide: Beyond that, they still had a life before losing their memory. Their body, habits, and worldview was shaped by their experiences. We need to know what they were to give us an idea of who this character is.

I would have liked to include the following questions: However, the three question limit on polls means I couldn't. I changed the poll in the Chat Thread to get some of the ones I wanted to in, but these ones will either need to be put up after voting for these ones is over, or asked about in another thread (I considered the Power Reform thread, but didn't want to impose). For these polls, we generally get around 20 respondents fairly quickly, then five or so trickle in for a few days afterwards. If we get two dozen, I'd feel confident locking in those results, then switching questions. So, vote, vote, vote!

For the record, here are the final poll results: I'm only allowed 3 questions per poll, and we have a lot of questions to vote on, so I'm replacing the questions with new ones. Please also vote on the questions posed in the Guild Reform poll. Thank-you! 12/10/18 EDIT: New questions are up! This thread's polls are being used to ask about stuff that was discussed in the Guild Reform thread, but I didn't have room to ask there. We have a lot of questions to cover.

Ene and Tesh joined the Liebrary as well. It's a coincidence that they signed up with a few minutes of each other immediately after a discussion in the TUBA PM about developing our spy network to infiltrate more guilds. Why, I expect they've been very diligent and productive members. Not that I would know, of course. I definitely haven't received reports on their progress. No, sir. Not me.

The drawback (in the books) of using AonTia is that it's very risky. If you're off by a few feet you could end up in a wall or in midair. This restriction is never considered by RPers (myself included). I would be fine with doing away with Tia cards to be more realistic. I'm still open to allowing teleportation epics, those people from AoN, people like the Phone Company guy, and Elantrians who do their homework to do it, but restricting ordinary people from doing it without a good explanation. It's a reasonable limit. The question then becomes of timing. People want to get from thread to thread quickly. But I think if we don't legislate a solution, the RPers will quickly figure something out. The way I'd do it would be to set up platforms on different worlds and start a business teleporting people to different planets. It wouldn't be as precise as we allow now, and mean people have to spend time travelling more than they do now, but it would prevent people from being stranded on planets (until they learn how to use the resident Shard's perpendicularity. )

First off, wow. All the upvotes! Here's some of the things I have reservations about (but on a whole, I think these are well-written). While this is one way of ending power creep, I feel it could be too limiting. However, I don't have a better suggestion. I will note however that one problem we have is people increase their power, and the weaknesses they set out in their bio become out of date/insufficient. Perhaps encourage people to update their bios whenever they get new powers, thus providing the community an opportunity to reject it, while also reminding them to update their weaknesses? This one could be limiting as well. Generally it would work, but it prevents us from having characters who believe they're doing good, but are really doing wrong. Or if we all want to become villains and have a storyline related to that, it could be problematic.