App Tips

Applications Tips

Writing up an application for XMR can be a daunting task perhaps due primarily to the fact that it's not a stat-based game. Stats are easy. Set them and you know very clearly what your character is capable of doing or at least you let the dice-roll decide that for you. On XMR, you have to clearly define in paragraphs what your character is capable of while making sure that consent is taken into consideration, as well as limitations to make it fair for everyone else on the game (so your character isn't too powerful either in powers or specs).

So the question remains: how do I do this?

The application staff is working on an example application but in the meantime, hopefully the following tips might help you out.

• Don't be afraid of detail. For those of you who worry about 'saving' the application staff's collective eyes, please don't sweat this. Some of the applications we've seen and have approved have been 10 pages in Word or more, so we're really not worried about being spammed! The more detail there is, the clearer the concept should be because it will be well defined and hopefully nothing will be missed. While we don't have a 'minimum length' for applications, we can usually tell by the length whether or not there's enough details (we DO read through, however, just in case!) and chances are, if it's a page in Word, it won't be enough. (We just ask that lengthy entries be broken up into smaller paragraphs with space between them for ease of reading. Thanks!)
• Let the bg tell us about your character. Some people feel short and sweet is the way to go, but if it's too short, we won't be able to get a feel for your character. Tell us where they grew up, who their folks are, if they have siblings, what type of school life they had, what type of home life they had, when and how their power manifested (if you're playing a mutant) and how people around them reacted (including themselves), major incidents in their life, their goals and aspirations, how they got to NYC, what they think of the 'mutant problem', etc. This can be done in stream-of-consciousness from their POV or in a more story-like style. Be inventive and we're sure it'll fall into place.
• Powers ~cannot~ be unlimited. Whether you're planning on playing an original character or canon-based character, keep in mind that characters cannot be all-powerful nor can their powers be unlimited in scope. This is a Year One game, so even the most powerful of canon-based characters need to be drastically scaled back to balance out the game. All powers should be defined by the nature of the ability, what the character can do, what range the power works at, the potency of the power, how it affects them, how it affects others, how long they can keep it going, if there are adverse effects upon themselves because of it, etc. Limitations and restrictions are paramount when writing up powers for a character.
• Unknown to your character does not mean unknown to you. Even if your character has amnesia or doesn't know how their power works or the limits/boundaries of their power, you (the player) should (and staff should). It needs to be written out in case it ever comes up in RP, as is suggested in the powers write-up page.
• Specs and flaws should not just be a list. If you have flaws and specs, then you need to flesh each one out fully, not lump them together in a point-form list. We need to know that not only are they a black belt in karate but that they can take on three untrained, unarmed men or 1-2 trained or potentially armed men. We need to know that they can split cinder blocks with their head. Have a driver's license? Let us know in what state/country and what kind (car? motorcycle? what?). Have asthma? Are they on puffers at all? What happens if they don't get their puffers? What are the triggers for an asthma attack in your character's case? Did you mention that your character was involved in gymnastics in the bg but haven't listed it in specs? You should and we'll ask for it after we review it!
• Powers flaws should be flaws, not limits. This is a harder one to differentiate and is often confused by applicants. A restriction on a power is a restriction and should be in the powers section. So if it's that your character's power only works via touch or only works on certain people or that people with stronger wills are immune to it, these are limitations or restrictions. If your character's power causes migraines or temporary blindness, or tires out the character rapidly, consumes an excessive amount of calories, dehydrates them, etc., these are powers-based flaws. Remember that if it is a detriment to the character, it's a flaw. If it's just a restriction or limitation, it's part of the powers definition.
• What is this Misc section for? This is a 'free' space for you to tell us something about the character (if you desire to) that the rest of the application might not cover. Want to aim the character at a specific team? Let us know there. (But remember only Xavier's School and Independents are free for apping right into them at this point in time.) Care to tell us where you'd like to see your character's powers progress to? Feel free to add that here. Anything.
• There is no personality segment on the +char sheet or web-app... for a reason. We don't want to make people be tied down to a personality they wrote up prior to getting into gameplay. We, as players ourselves, have found that personality often shines through opposite to anything pre-fabricated for a character sheet once a character gets into gameplay. So why limit it at this point? So if you're looking for a spot, we don't have one. If you feel there are personality quirks and attributes you simply ~must~ add, feel free to add it to the flaws or specs area depending on what it is (i.e. strong-willed, over-confident, etc.), but it is not 100% necessary. See Problem Stats below for more on this.
• Be sure to provide 'outs' for those who non-consent. If your character's power or special ability directly affects others (i.e. a throwing ability that has 'deadly accuracy'), be sure to write into the stat some way for it to fail in case someone OOCly decides they don't want their character affected by it.

Problem Stats

The following is a list of stats we've denied or only made extreme exceptions for in the past either due to the difficulty or near impossibility it would be to play them in a MU* setting or simply because they're too 'open-ended' for a non-statted game.

• Precognition does not work well in a MU* setting. (Power) There are other powers which work similarly but something like precog really only works in a table-top environment or on a game where plot staff can be around 24/7 and have their hands dipped into EVERY aspect of the gameplay -- which is nearly impossible for a MU* environment. As such, we won't likely approve precog.
• Feral and Angry Characters (Flaw). Often, these character types are over-applied for. Everyone wants to be the 'feral kick-ass Wolverine' type character or the 'angry Hulk smash!' type of character, it seems, when in reality, these sorts of characters don't always do so well in a MU* setting where they're going to be interacting reguarly with other characters; essentially, it might limit their RP so much that the character becomes unplayable down the road or RP's the character into a corner that the player doesn't like.
• Sociopathic Tendencies. (Flaw) This often has the same type of effect as feral or angry characters. So see previous point.
• Major Villains. (Concept) The problem with this is that most people seem to see a major villain as someone like Apocalypse or Mister Sinister where they're independent agents who wreak their havoc and get off relatively scott-free. XMR encourages a somewhat more realistic approach than the comic books. Villains (such as the Brotherhood) are more or less seeing things from the other side of the coin. There are no absolute evils. Everything is more of a shade of grey. Lines are fuzzy and confused and sometimes muddled enough that it's hard to tell who the 'good guys' are versus the 'bad guys'. Are the 'bad guys' really bad or just misunderstood or misled? So we don't allow 'major villains' as a general rule. No one should be working solo on that sort of level on the game except staff-run NPCs for the purpose of plot advancement. If you'd like to be on the 'bad guys' team, the Brotherhood does accept people straight from application.
• Anything on the 'news characters banned' or 'news characters restricted' lists.

(more will be forthcoming)

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