Virtual Characters

The first step in virtual role playing...

This is the second in series of pages who's purpose is to bring role-playing to a new level. Role-playing in a chat room. With few rules and loose structure it makes to be the best battlefield for any campaign. Still, what I intend to do is on a far larger scale than anything ever attempted before. A collection of every game world or any idea ever conceived compiled onto a single level platform. Jedi will join the Federation, Sylvanesti will join forces with their Fyhndorn brothers, and magi-tech knights will learn secrets from the immortals. Some will fight, others will band together, but everyone will have equal opportunity to prosper. To view the already completed VCRefs go to the VCRef List.

Basic Rules

Although there are no "official" rules, there is a set that most web veterans go by. It is an expansion to standard "netique", and needed with growing amount of duels, skirmishes, and full-scale wars. It is needed to take these into consideration when creating a character.

No Auto-Deaths, and that means, do not say "I chop your head off and you die", such statements tend to ruin combat and detract from the total purpose. That purpose being to have fun. Also included in this is certain assaults that limit countering, "I pin you against the wall and you can't move", is an example of this. One should always leave an opening for counterattack, or once again it becomes pointless.

All immortals can be killed, although some beings do not die naturally, all can be effaced one way or another. Feyish immortality does not even grant any unnatural protection, Elves, Sprites, and fairies can be killed by any mortal. Gods and other deities can be killed by other immortals [see Essence Theory]. Also, all gods lose their power if no one respects them, whether this be through fear or worship.

Wait for a reaction, do not bombard an opponent with attacks. This becomes very confusing and also wastes time. It is especially important if a combat is taking place between more than two chatters, since each combatent is responding to multiple people and is even more prone to confusion and delayed responses.

Uniform Characteristics

Each virtual character has a standard set of aspects that make up his personality and demeanor. The Virtual Character Reference Sheet (VCRef) gives a regulatory structure to these attributes. Several versions have been tested and these are the current sections of a VCRef. Following is also an explanation of each section and some examples of what to put.

RACE: Obviously this is the virtual character's race. Since these are fictional being he can be from any culture, or planet. Most VC's are human, but there is also a high content of fey (Elves, Fairy, Pixie, Sprite, etc...). Dragons, Vampires, and small domestic animals also exist, so the race of a VC is purely up to the player. If you are still having problems deciding on this however it is sometimes useful to look in a favorite sci-fi movie or fantasy book.

AFFILIATIONS: Simply stated, these are the various organizations that a VC claims loyalty to. Some of these are spread far across the internet, such as Sporkism. Other groups are small, only having about ten members and is content in one particular chat area. Most organizations have some sort of initiation, so it is wise to contact them before you claim to be one of their kind. This also useful so that leaders can keep tabs on how many followers they have.

WEAPONS OF CHOICE: These are obviously the characters favorite weapons. They can be of any origin, type or size. Ballistic and melee are the two major groups. Pistols, shotguns, laser, phases, and basically anything that shoots is considered to be ballistic weapon. Anything that you'd hit your opponent with is a melee weapon. These include clubs, swords, axes, light sabers, and gauntlets. Magical weapons are allowed to some extent, Frogurt's Sporksaber allows him to sense the presence of others around him. Insanely powerful items, such as a sword of I swing it and you die, are not appreciated due to the fact they do not adhere to the no auto-death rule.

ESSENCE TAPS: These are the mystical powers that a VC has access to. The most common are such taps as The Force, Magic, Psionics, Schwartz, and Priestial. Others do exist of course, if the particular tap you wish to use is not on the Essence Theory page, contact Frogurt to discuss the terms of the new tap, and to see if it might already fit within the bounds of a preexisting one. It is also important to pick the schools, spheres, whatever your VC majors in within the tap. Jedi must choose light side or dark. Priests all get their powers from a specific being or object. Mages always specialize in one or two schools of magic. Again if you are unaware of the divisions of a tap, feel free to e-mail Frogurt.

APPEARANCE: Basically, this is what a VC would look like if in a picture, movie, whatever. It does not necessarily have to be identical to the player, if fact most of the time their is little or no resemblance between a player and his VC. Height, weight, hair color, ect. are standard things for appearance. Commonly carried items and armaments are also listed in appearance.

CHARACTERISTICS: These are the standard behaviors and responses of characters. If a VC is prone to insults or is strong of will, or if he will start fights unprovoked are considered to be characteristics.  This also includes who he will attack on sight and who will be defended until death.  The characteristics are what can be expected if someone were to meet the VC in a chatroom, or how he might react in a certain situation.  The latter reason would be used on a narrative web page if the author is unable to contact the owner of the VC who appears in it.

BACKGROUND: The character's background, is simply the character's background. Everything that has happened prior the last update will be listed. Anything that the VC did before entering the Geocities will also be noted, this is especially useful for new characters. Even if someone hasn't been around long enough to accomplish many things in the chat, he will still be able to possess some accomplishments so that he is not starting from a clean slate.  Even before Frogurt had entered Area51 that first day he already was fluent in magic and some psionics, since then he has mastered many taps and even helped to establish the Sporkish sphere of priestial.  As a character progresses in his career as a poet, merchant, wizard, bounty hunter or whatever he may be, major events the VC participated in as well as anything created by him should be added into the VCRef.  Frogurt has fought for the Spork several times and Magestaff taught Frogurt Magic, these would be put onto there respective sheets.  Frogurt is also creator of the Sporksaber and Essence Theory, while these are both wildly diverse topics, they would both go in the background.

GLOSSARY: The glossary is just a place to add all those links that are relavent to the VC. Any aquaintences mentioned on the VCRef will be listed.  Also any pages that the particular VC appears in could be listed.  Most of Frogurt's mentors either have a VCRef of there own or a web page.  It is best to add the VCRef instead of the page link when possible, becasue their VCRef will probably contain a link to the page anyway.  The Domain of Frogurt as well as the Deathboot are on Frogurt's VCRef, since he propriates both pages.  The only link that is mandatory is one to Essence Theory (http://geocities.datacellar.net/soho/lofts/5474/essence.html).  This is because every VCRef includes Essence Taps, and not everyone knows what they are.  It is also recomended to have a link to this page.
 

Example HTML layout

For easy creation, you may simply copy the following code and then paste it on an HTML file. Then fill in all the needed info. You can also just e-mail Frogurt the needed specs and he'll put it on his page.


I apologize for the inconvenience but due to HTML complications you'll just have to write out the codes yourself
  

Now What?

What is is the future of your VC is now only in your hand. He can be a rogue or king, chaotic warrior or pacifist priest. Many organizations for VCs already exist, the most common are Sporksters, No-Sporkers, Light Crusaders, and Abyssians. The character may take place in normal chatting or just exist in narrative web pages, such as the Death Boot. Soon empires will emerge, and civilizations will fall, and any one person can effect the flow of this.  A new thing that has just been added to the VRPG repretoire is questing on mIRC.



See the List of VCRefs
Go to Essence Theory
Return to Main Page 1