This page should be considered obsolete. New players only have access to roster characters at this point in time. Experienced players will be able to apply for concept characters. Player-Chargen is not going to be available for a while.
Types of Character
There are three classes of character available to a new player: Roster, Concept and Self-Made.
Roster
A roster character is a fully fleshed character that will be part of a family group, have a purpose to serve within the game world, could be involved with secret plotlines and is likely to possess property ranging from clothing to land and housing. We generally believe that they are the best characters for a player to take but understand that they may not appeal or there simply may not be someone on the roster that suits you. The Roster characters will persist from player to player, ensuring a level of continuity to the community that would otherwise not be possible. Example Roster Character
- Membership of a family and all the resulting advantages.
- Involvement in game plotlines and may begin the game with an important position
- Character persistence. Roster characters ensure that your character has a history and you will inherit anything previous players have built up for the character.
- Detailed personality and background ensuring you have a character appropriate to the environment.
Concept
A concept character is a very basic version of the roster character. Many roster characters will have started their life out like this. Basically a concept character is a character with a set place within the game world that has not been fleshed out to any level. As such a concept character may be the parent or sibling of a full roster character, a character who will become a roster character should the player leave or a specific concept that we feel would be valuable to the gameworld. An example of a concept character would consist of name, profession, age, features, skill sheet and a single line or two of personality. They provide the greatest flexibility along with many of the advantages of a roster character. It will be expected that you upgrade the personality and background of a concept character so that they may be upgraded to Roster level. Example Concept Character
- Freedom to develop your characters personality, quirks and history around the basic premise.
- Membership of a family and all the resulting advantages..
- Character persistence. You will inherit anything previous players have built up for the character. Concept characters tend to be new and have less advantages in this respect than Roster characters.
Self-Made
If you really do not like any of the roster or concept characters it is possible to take a character through chargen yourself. This is the most time heavy option and has many disadvantages. Although the character will not have fewer starting points than the other options there is a risk that you will place attributes and skills in places that do not work as well as you had hoped. Self-Made characters will also start with no link into an existing family group and only a very basic equipment set. This means you will have to build the character up from scratch. It will be expected that you upgrade the personality and background of a self-made character once certain goals are met so that they may be upgraded to Roster level. Self-Chargen Details.
- Freedom to choose your characters personality, quirks, profession, history and features. (Notes for development purposes. Many of these things will be from lists rather than completely free.)
- New Face: Your character will be completely unknown in the environment leaving you to build them up completely.
- No family ties: This is generally a disadvantage. Please see Importance of Family for more information.
- Basic starting kit: The character will start with very little and are likely to struggle to survive.
All character types will be reviewed after a sufficient period of idleness and only placed on the roster if existing characters will suffer due to their absence. For example if a self-made character lives a solitary life and then the player leaves they will usually be left idle and eventually removed from the player base. If a self-made character has married into an existing House they will usually be added to the roster after an idle period so that the characters with relationships to the character retain access to that character in their lives.
The Plan
Phase One Character Selection
Roster characters and limited concept characters available. These will be because some important jobs need a consistent character such as any elected governors.
Phase Two Character Selection
As the roster grows in size we may determine that the rules on roster characters should be modified to encourage this class above others since new characters moving into the environment will be less desirable than roster or concept characters. This will be discussed if it becomes an issue.
