I've been working on something the last three or four weeks that I think fills a much-needed gap in the general RP community here. There are a number of players who like to solo, or who don't necessarily want to team up, get into someone else's epic story, but who still want to Role Play in some capacity. Spider-Man, for example (pre-Brian Bendis), would occasionally guest-star in a Fantastic Four or an Avengers comic, and then he would go right back to doing his own thing.

Many of the people interested in RP have formed super groups, and those groups are themed to the needs of the players. But there's nothing available for solo characters. I get a little put out walking into Club Caprice and trying to strike up conversations with total strangers. I hate that. I don't do it in real life, and I'm not keen on doing it when I'm trying to escape from that real life, either. And when I was pen and paper gaming, about a zillion years ago, I hated having to invent a reason why my four players were together. This led to some creative solutions: sometimes starting them all out in jail for various offences (D&D) or having them all sponsored by a benevolent corporation (V&V), or other time-saving set-ups. Why not do it for our characters?

So, this is my propsal. I've got several alts and backstories posted on www.primusdatabase.com (do a search for my username, @monkeyhead), and there is a hook, a clue, or an interesting development in every one of them. I'm openly inviting other players with similarly-themed backstories or fuzzy logic in their origins to find ways and means of hooking onto one or more of my characters. There are a number of examples to choose from, and I'm personally open to just about anything.

Doing this, and putting the character info (cross-linked, of course) on the Primus DataBase, gives solo players a framework from which they can operate without having to join a group. Your Olympic athlete may have gone to the games with my Olympic athlete--did we get along, or were we bitter rivals? Then, when I run into you in-game, we've already got a prior history, and an RP can break out, then and there, depending on what we decide before hand. Or, if we get along, we can knock out a few of those missions where the required number of heroes is 2 or more, and RP along the way.

There are a couple of next step ideas to go from this, but right now, I'm just interested in making some connections that we can all use for more widespread, more "instance-based," less group-oriented role play. If you are interested in this, or think this is a good idea, please check me out on Primus and let's discuss this here, if you like.

This is precisely the purpose of Character Ties, and definitley something people should be posting more often.


For instance, my villainous character Fortress spent years in the Millenium City Prison. Was your character an inmate? Would you know him? He was a strong arming kind of guy, and he didn't take life too seriously, though he wasn't a Deadpool. Additionally, if you work/worked at ARGENT, you might know about him being a person of interest to them.


Siegebreaker is an alien from a system not far from Earth. The government that runs the three planets there is called The Unity and Siege is a fugitive there. Are you an alien that has just passed through and heard this? A bounty hunter looking to collect? He's wanted for attempting to destroy one of the local Palaces in one of his home planet's cities. The planet's name is Phaeron.

Stuff like this is important for giving -everybody- a reason to talk to one another. Knowing just one person through a connection like this can open up doors to the rest of the community as well.

,...i like this idea, small ties like that lead to big rp.

I hereby declare that if you post in this thread, you must give your own little tie.

Just kidding, but if you do post, please do!

Hmm. I like this idea greatly.

Steam Runner is a free runner and all around nice guy who befriended an old British man in his hometown. The man (on his death bed) revealed himself to be the Golden Boy, a hero mantel passed down since the 1800's. This was the last Golden Boy, blaming himself and his predecessors for failing to stop things like WWI and WWII. He didnt want the mante to come back, it was failed to him. But he saw potenial in the young man and old him where to find his old equipmet. The man took up the mantle Steam Runner. (he is basically a steampunk Iron Man). Would your character have known any of the older Golden Boys? (I'm sure there are alot of heroes with ties to WWII) Maybe Steam contacted you to make some new equipment, hes no inventor.


Ifyou have anymore tell me. this seems like a fun way to interact with people.

Monkeyhead and I have collaborated to create a new tool in RP -- RPHooks! (Currently a WIP while Monkey and I get all the kinks worked out, but still usable!)

RPHooks, while not a necessary addition to your article, will be vastly useful for helping yourself and others find RP based on a small blurb inserted after the RPHooks tag in your article. By inserting this small blurb in your article, you open up a nigh-infinite realm of possibilities for roleplay!

Since all community projects should, well, involve the community, I encourage you to go ahead and add in the =(([[RPHooks]]))= tag somewhere in (typically the bottom of) your article, followed by a blurb that details some sort of plot hook or detail that other characters might know/recognize/remember them by!

#2082463 Runo wrote:

Monkeyhead and I have collaborated to create a new tool in RP -- RPHooks! (Currently a WIP while Monkey and I get all the kinks worked out, but still usable!)

RPHooks, while not a necessary addition to your article, will be vastly useful for helping yourself and others find RP based on a small blurb inserted after the RPHooks tag in your article. By inserting this small blurb in your article, you open up a nigh-infinite realm of possibilities for roleplay!

Since all community projects should, well, involve the community, I encourage you to go ahead and add in the =(([[RPHooks]]))= tag somewhere in (typically the bottom of) your article, followed by a blurb that details some sort of plot hook or detail that other characters might know/recognize/remember them by!

Don't forget to also add your [[Category:CORP]] tag as well. Rather than debating which should be phased out, let's try and make them synonymous.

#2082545 PFCDoofles wrote:

Don't forget to also add your [[Category:CORP]] tag as well. Rather than debating which should be phased out, let's try and make them synonymous.

I'll add a blurb on that in the RPHooks page!

EDIT: Added!
Please be sure to put the Category:CORP, Category:RPHooks and =(([[[RPHooks]]))= wraparound tags in your articles if you wish to support CORP and the RPHooks tool!

Thanks. The CORP tag is really just a category, and the RPhooks asks that you go a step further and add an actual RPhook to your page, but I think the intent is the same: to foster RP within the community.

#2082351 Sir Leetsepeak wrote:

I hereby declare that if you post in this thread, you must give your own little tie.

Just kidding, but if you do post, please do!

,...okay fine!

Heat screech is pretty open on his real name and went to college in Mil city, someone may have known eddie thane in a class or somewhere on campus.

He's manimal and viper aligned, folks who work there could know em, have talked to em, etc.

i'll think of other toons later

Small girl (usually, though she's in a bit of a bind right now) is always looking up to older heroes and loves to hang out with people waaaaay more experienced than her.

Defendroid is on patrol almost all the time, and you have probably seen one or two wandering around the city.

Stronglaw is a corporate shill and a registered hero. She can be assigned to people's teams at a moments notice.

Shiny shiny.

Watchman is a high profile public figure, as voted by the public. He's essentially a police officer in a supersuit, though, so he won't exactly tolerate time wasters when on duty.

Wrought crashed to Earth near the end of the Qularr invasion and spent his early years on the planet cleaning up the destruction, much to the confusion of the public.

Springheeled Jack is a wanted vigilante, once a regular of Hudson City, but has since moved to Millenium after making an enemy he'd rather leave behind...

Wizard is an age old spellcaster that has left a subtle trail on alot of major events in the past. He held a seminar on magic at a few universities across America, before settling into his current quiet position.

I'll give you one:

Arcadia and Sam were both results of an illegal PRIMUS Project called Project Centurion. the project was shut down 10 years ago but Sam went on the run, Arcadia - at all of 10 years old and with unfinished enhancements went into a military hospital. Sam spent her 10 years building a fortune as a mercenary in brushfire wars and what not while also starting and funding a Super Soldier Liberation Front operating out of a Cargo ship called the Holdout ( which is a bit like the Oregon from the Oregon files). Possible connections would be Other Centurions who were in the field at the time the project was busted, mercenaries with a grudge or something and Super soldiers looking for a way out.

Update: I have added my list of characters to the RPTags information page at Primusdatabase.com. In addition, I've tagged all of my entries with [[CORP]] and [[RPTags]] and changed my RP Notes at the bottom of every entry to RPTags. Those of you reading, please go check out what we're doing on the Database.

I think it's a useful tool to help move ideas around, and also to look first-hand at things like writing styles. This is a very effective tool for "screening" RP candidates, I think. You can tell by how the page is written, as well as the ideas they are presenting, if this is someone you want to RP with. In any case, check it out before you log in tonight. I know it doesn't seem like much, but adding tags and hooks only takes a few minutes, and if we start actually using the hooks, this game will open up into a fully-realized, organic, and fun online shared world.

My two RPing characters are polar opposites in this regard.

Shjade, for most intents and purposes, has been around forever and involved in some way in most major wars in human history. She travels like it's an addiction and she's always looking for ways to pass the time. She could have run into just about anyone anywhere over the years...though, uh, whether she'd actually remember you is another story. One of those "For me, it was Tuesday" types.

Rook, on the other hand, wouldn't know anybody given that much of her life was spent in her "temple" communing with her lord and she's only just turned eighteen a few days ago, so...lacks hooks of that sort.

It's cool if your current characters don't have any hooks in them, or don't want to link to anything we're doing right now. But, when Altitus strikes, as it will, before you hit the character creator, swing by PrimusDatabase and see what's there. You may get a great idea that takes your alt in an unexpected direction.

Then: contact the person with the hook. Let them know what you want to do. It's fast and easy. I did my first tie-in during the game, via PMs. Took all of five minutes.

You can also use the site as a great trial run when you're looking for like-minded RP'ers. Consider their entries as writing samples...

Hmm, I like the sounds of this post.

Ok, my main RP toon is Nightstar Link and I am still trying to hammer out her personality and just in general get use to RPing....have not really done it before online.

RPHooks

* At first Tasia felt a sort of fatalism about her oncoming death due to her powers but has since changed her mind due to a hero named Radion. Since then she has been quietly seeking out help to try and cure her condition. Is your character a scientist, genius, or skilled at genetics? Maybe she has heard of you or you've heard of her and are curious about the oddities of her genetic makeup.

* She currently works with Unity so there is the possibility that she has bumped into you there.

* Is your character an alien? Tasia possess knowledge of many different alien races thanks to her Dro'Xaeri heritage. Too bad her memory is on the fritz. However, random information does bubble to the surface now and again. Maybe she can remember something about your race, something that is not common knowledge to outsiders? She'll probably be just as confused as you are if she starts to spew out random bits of information about your race.

* Tasia is always on the look out to gather new information. Extra-dimensional? Time traveller? Alien? Mutant? There can be any number of reasons why Tasia has tried to get a hold of you to unload a barrage of questions.

Well, I really only have one character I play atm, but when I get back home I have a few I want to make, so look out for them. Anyway, my one functioning character:

The Harlequin spends almost all his time in West Side, so if you hang out there a lot you've probably at least seen him. Also, he occasionally gets onto the news - he's an attention seeker.

Bumping the thread.

I've got all of my characters online at www.primusdatabase.com, now. Anyone interested in linking up, please let me know. I see people online all the time who are desperate for some RP interaction, but not in a team, don't want the soap opera, what-have-you.

This is the way to do it. It'll work. We just need some folks, actively doing it.

Bullet Points has been put up.