You'll find the entrance to the Character Generation (Chargen) area in the OOC Nexus - Social Lounge room. Enter by typing CG. Once inside you will see a room description with instructions. We'll take them one by one.
Key[]
White: Step-by-step explanations and instructions
Blue: Commands to type into the game as you follow instructions.
Code Format: Actual Text from the Chargen rooms.
CharGen - Character Stats Setup[]
This is My personal set of guidelines - they may not suit everyone. If, at any time you feel overwhelmed, or need help, page a staff member. Some experienced players may also be able to help. We have an Information channel on the game you can use to ask questions.
If you find something doesn't work, please submit a +bug report.
Let's see what we see when we walk into chargen.
There are a few basic steps to character stats setup:
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Ready? Here we go!
Room 1 - Step One: Read the NEWS Files[]
1. Read the NEWS files, especially NEWS CHARACTERS.
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To read the MUX NEWS Files, type news. To read the NEWS CHARACTERS file, type news characters.
Room 1 - Step Two: Read Instructions and Set Stats[]
2. Follow the instructions in '+view'.
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Type +view to read the instructions. It will show you the following views (I've put them in an easier order to tackle):
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Type +view <viewname> to read that particular set of instructions.
+view Instructions[]
Each of the various +views set on this room represents a step of character creation. We suggest that you read over the +views before you attempt to complete your first application; there are some particularities of our system that are unusual, and you may find it helpful to plan out your app somewhat before proceeding. In particular, you may want to read over the "ability" +views and NEWS files before setting them: they look very complicated at first glance, but staff is very willing to help you set up any of your abilities.
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Instead of reading everything first, we're going to take this a step at a time.
If you want to get a grasp of how what you will be inputting here will look when finished, type the following to view the full information for Phoenix:
- +sheet Jean
- +f Jean
- +ab/all Jean
- +adv/all Jean
- +flaws/all Jean
- +bg/all Jean
Okay, now that you've done that, take a breath. DO NOT PANIC. It's easier than it looks.
+view +finger[]
Your character's +finger information is a snapshot biography of who they are, as well as including some OOC information you may choose to share. Required fields are:
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This is easy peasy, and shouldn't take you long. These are things you should know about your character off the top of your head. For example, for Oracle I typed in the following commands:
- name Barbara Gordon
- codename Oracle
- position Librarian/Info Broker
- age 22
- @sex me=Female
- race Human
(NOTE: NEWS RACES explains these.) - role Hero
(NOTE: Options are Hero, Anti-Hero, Villain, Neutral, Mentor, Civilian.) - city Gotham City
(NOTE: Spelling counts here!) - type DC FC
(NOTE: Options are: DC Iconic FC, DC FC, DC Support FC, Marvel Iconic FC, Marvel FC, Marvel Support FC, Original Character) - ¬e me=Barbara Gordon is the daughter of Commissioner James Gordon, of the Gotham City Police Department. She is a librarian and college student by day, but by night she is more. | | She fought crime for years as the vigilante, Batgirl. Then she was shot by the Joker, sustaining a spinal injury that left her a paraplegic. Wheelchair-bound now, she still fights crime as Oracle, a mysterious information broker and computer genius.
(NOTE: The | | is for linebreaks. they have to have a blank space to the left and to the right when you use them.) - +timezone CST
(NOTE: +timezones provides a list of world timezones and the code abbreviations.)
I also jazzed up my +finger with an additional field from +finger-setup:
&actor me=Emma Stone
There are many other options available for finger additions!
+view Attributes[]
Attributes are the basic physical and mental stats which everyone has to some degree. They are AGILITY, STRENGTH, TOUGHNESS, PERCEPTION, INTELLECT, and WILLPOWER.For information on attributes, review NEWS ATTRIBUTES. You can find the number scales of these attributes under NEWS <Attribute Name>.
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Move your hand away from that panic button. This isn't as tough as it looks. I promise. Let's start easy. Type:
+sheet
Pretty, right? And look, there are the attributes just like the room desc said. But what should you set them too? Well, lets start with Strength by reading NEWS STRENGTH. Hey wow, look at that! Nice neat quantifiable numbers. If you aren't sure what corellates for your character, Google is your friend, and staff will be glad to help.
So back to Babs. She's human, but she's very limited in how she can use what strength she has (upper body) because of a lack of leverage (no use of her legs). So I'm going to set her at a 0. Sure, she can fight better than that, but for lifting purposes, 50 pounds sounds right. I'll improve her ability to kneecap someone with an escrima stick later, in the abilities section. So I type:
str 0
I get:
[Strength set to 0]
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So now I repeat this process for the other five attributes, checking the scales in their respective news files first, before setting them as:
- agi 2
- tou 2
- per 6
- int 4
- wil 6
So another peek at my sheet now shows me:
Agility: 2
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Perception: 6
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Toughness:2
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Strength: 0
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Intellect: 4
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Willpower: 6
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VOILA!
+view Abilities[]
| <Ability Type>|<Description>'
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Ok, this sounds complex, but it's only complex if you want it to be. You already know what your character can do, now you just need to put it into terms that the MUX understands. So what goes here?
- All Powers
- Skills which have a rating which will be used in place of one of your base attributes (Such as a computer skill higher than your base intellect, which is due to training)
- Gear which replaces your attributes or will oppose the attributes of others (Such as Iron Man's armor, Batman's Batmobile, The Punisher's guns, Dr. Strange's Spellbook)
- Resources which adjust or replace an ability score when they are used or missing. (Such as Oracle's Clock Tower, Cyclops' membership in the X-Men)
+view ability scales will give you a basic overview of what the scales and abilities mean, but I leave that to you to read. I'm working on Babs still, and I want to start off with her Information Broker skills. The posted scales to help you figure out what level your ability is at are:
NEWS COMBAT, NEWS ARSENAL, NEWS SPEED, NEWS HEALING, NEWS HEAT, NEWS ELECTRICITY, NEWS SOUND, NEWS DISTANCE, NEWS ENDURANCE, NEWS PROFESSION
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I think the best fit is Profession in this case, so I type NEWS PROFESSION and see the scale there:
0 : Unskilled
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We know Babs is a internationally renowned, even a global expert at this. People seek her out worldwide. She is at the forefront of the field, and is considered a visionary and even a legend in circles. So I think we can justify a 10.
So I could input her ability as:
add/abil Information Broker=10|Skill|Oracle is part legend, part visionary in the field of Information brokering. With access to numerous satellites and high tech equipment, amazing hacker skills, the research proficiency of a librarian, and an entire network of operatives, she has no real match when it comes to locating, deciphering, and disseminating information.
However, I want to add a note that she needs access to her computer network to access most of her resources for this, so I'm going to add a note. So I type:
add/abil Information Broker=10|Skill|Oracle is part legend, part visionary in the field of Information brokering. With access to numerous satellites and high tech equipment, amazing hacker skills, the research proficiency of a librarian, and an entire network of operatives, she has no real match when it comes to locating, deciphering, and disseminating information.|Limitation-Oracle requires access to her network system, either remotely or in the Clock Tower, to be able to use this at full efficiency.
Now it shows in my +sheet with the name and rating, and my +ab/all shows me:
Skill: Information Broker (10) Limitation: Oracle requires access to her network system, either remotely or in the Clock Tower, to be able to use this at full efficiency.
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Now I can go through setting the rest of my abilities in the same fashion.
+view Advantages[]
Advantages comprise specialized skills, powers, and items. For information on attributes, review NEWS ADVANTAGES. To add an advantage: 'add/adv <advantage name>=<description>'
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All right, Abilities is the hard part, so it's smooth-sailing from here on out. Type: News Advantages to get a general gist of what Advantages are. These are very easy to add since there's no ratings to fuss with, and no separate notes. It's just a name and a description. If you think it needs a rating, it should be in Abilities.
Let's go back to dear old Babs. She has a few notable advantages I want on her sheet. For starters, she has a photographic memory, which is notable if she witnesses something in a scene, but her player has a brain-fart and can't remember later! So I type:
add/adv Photographic Memory=Anything Barbara Gordon sees, she remembers, with near-perfect recall of the visual of it.
There it is, showing in my +sheet now, and Typing +adv/all shows me:
Advantage: Photographic Memory
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So now I'll proceed to set the rest of her advantages.
+view Flaws[]
Flaws comprise specialized skills, powers, and items.For information on attributes, review NEWS FLAWS.
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This works just like Advantages, only for things that are bad mojo for your character. Type: NEWS FLAWS if you need an overview.
I'll use the most obvious example for Oracle. She has no use of her legs, and that is a pretty huge issue for her. So I type:
add/flaw Paraplegic=The Joker's bullet cost Gordon the use of her legs. She is wheelchair-bound and cannot get around without her chair or other assistance. She also adamantly refused to be cured unless the cure is available to everyone with spinal injuries. Her mobility and physical skills are hampered by her condition.
There it is on my +sheet and +flaws/all shows me:
Flaw: Paraplegic
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I proceed to add the rest of Oracle's flaws.
+view Background[]
Your character background is a brief writeup of the important aspects of their history. Please be brief but touch on the key moments for them.
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Background is easy. Be brief, cover the main points, and be obscure about any FCs who aren't absolutely critical to your character. Avoid describing relationshiops unless they are a core of your character, and then leave the current status vague, so no one picking up that FC is strapped into a relationshoip.
My background for Babs is pretty brief, so I'll only need one or two sections. I'll do two as an example. I type:
+bg/add Barbara Gordon was adopted at a young age by her Uncle, Jim Gordon, after the death of her parents in a car accident. As a young woman, she planned to join the police force against her adoptive father's wishes. She excelled in school, skipping several grades, and did well in athletics and martial arts training. Graduated from Gotham University with a Library Sciences degree and began pursuing her Masters.%R%R%T crashed a GCPD costume party as "Batgirl" to upset her father, and witnessed Bruce Wayne being kidnapped by Killer Moth. She prevented the kidnapping and, despite Batman trying to dissuade her, became a crime fighter as part of the Bat-Family.
This gives me a section 1 to my background. I have more to add so I type:
+bg/add At one point, she hung up her cowl and tried to live a normal life but, in an effort to drive Jim Gordon insane, the Joker shot her through the spine and tortured her. Although she would recover mentally after a long depression, she was rendered paraplegic, unable to use her legs, and would be in a wheelchair from then on.%R%R%TShe decided to use her skills to continue fighting crime as the information broker, Oracle. She also received training to become skilled in martial arts while wheelchair bound.%R%RShe set up shop in the Clock Tower of gotham, and serves as eyes, ears, and research for the Bat-Family and the Birds of Prey - a group of female heroes she brought together to fight crime under her leadership.
Now I have two background sections which can be read individually, or all at once. See +help +bg for reading commands. If can delete a section with +bg/del <section number>. If I make a small typo I can replace a section with +bg/set <section number>=<Revised Text>
Not too hard, right? Time to make sure we did everything right.
Room 1 - Step Three: Review Your Application[]
3. Review your application '+checklist'.
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Typing +checklist shows me the Stats Setup Checklist. If you've done everything prior correctly, you should see:
Stats..........Good to go.
You are finished with this stage of chargen. |
If you don't see all good to go's, go back to the section it's saying isn't done and make sure you have everything set.
Room 1 - Step Four: Move to Chargen Part Two[]
4. Move on to part two of chargen: 'next'.
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Type N to go to the next room.
Room 2 - Step One: Review The Questions[]
1. Review the questions in NEWS APP 2.
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Type NEWS APP 2 and read the questions. Formulate your answers.
Room 2 - Step Two: Answer The Questions[]
2. Answer each question (answer <#>=<text> & review <#>).
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These will only appear visibly on your submitted application job and here in CharGen with review #.
Ok let's look at question 1, with our favorite Gothamite, Oracle. Question 1 is:
1. Describe the character's identity. Who is this character? How does his/her history affect that identity? What are the character's most key, prominent personality traits? Even if various elements of this character were changed, what is absolutely essential to its core?
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I mull this over then type:
answer 1=Barbara Gordon is a woman who refuses to sit idly by and watch bad things happen to good people. Despite having been tortured and rendered paraplegic by the Joker, she persisted in fighting crime by adapting to her condition and using her brain. She is a genius, a detective, a hacker, and tireless in her work. At her very core, Barbara Gordon is not, and never shall be, a quitter. She will fight the good fight until her last breath in some form, even if she's 95 and just chairwoman of the Neighborhood Watch.
I can then double-check it with review 1
Looks good, so I'll move on to the other four questions and answer them in the same fashion.
Room 2 - Step Three: Set Your Desc[]
Set your description. (+help Multidescer)
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You can use the more complex multidescer if you want to, or you can just set a simple desc with:
@desc me=<desc>
I'll worry about making multiple descs for my character later, so for now I just type:
@desc me=%R%TThis young woman looks to be in her early twenties. She has red hair, pulled up into a messy bun at the back of her head, and bright green eyes which gleam behind a pair of glasses. It's hard to gauge her height, because she is in a wheelchair. %R%TShe's wearing a Superman logo t-shirt and a pair of jeans, with black Converse All-Stars high tops on her feet.
Now I need to add the four fields which the look command also reads. It's simple. For Babs I type:
- &size me=5'10"
- &skin me=Caucasian
- &eyes me=Green
- &hair me=Red
All done!
Room 2 - Step Four: Setting Tones[]
4. Set up your Tone preferences (+help +tone and NEWS TONE)
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There are six different Tones on HeroMUX, and you may want to be involved in scenes that revolve around all or just some of these. To alert the rest of the game to your preferences, set the ones you want to play with:
+tone/add <tone type>
I like all kinds of rp so I set them all with Oracle:
- +tone/add Classic
- +tone/add Heroic
- +tone/add Gritty
- +tone/add Angsty
- +tone/add Romantic
- +tone/add Comedic
All set!
Room 2 - Step Five: Review Your App[]
5. Review your application (+checklist).
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Here's +checklist again. It makes sure you've set everything in the second room properly. At this point you should see:
App Questions..Good to go.
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If not, go back and review the section that is not finished.
Room 2 - Step Six: Submit Your Application[]
6. Submit your application (+apply), and await approval.
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It's just that simple. Type: +apply
This will generate an APPS job in the staff jobs queue, and you can monitor, add to, and read it with +myjobs (to see all your jobs), +myjob # (To read a specific job) and +myjob/add #=text (To add a comment to the job.
Staff will try to respond to all APP jobs within 3 days. They will send you comments on the +myjob via @mail to ask for any changes.
Good luck with a you have a great time on Hero MUX!