Backgrounds

[Sarah]

So, I just received a spam email from the forums here, requesting my background for my characters...

Now, I understand not having Leo's...

But I sent Ny'rani's and had it approved on Halloween of last year. I even still have my little "yup received!" email with the date on it and everything.

So, color me confuzzled.

I also see in the email that the "price" for histories has gone down from 60 GS to 30 GS?

 

[Seattle_Dave]

You're on the list of people we have backgrounds for. And it's AT LEAST 30. More if it's done well. And it's not really spam... ok, it kind of is. But is *is* the fastest and most effective way to reach the entire registered user base of the forums.

 

[Sarah]

The email goes on to say you can get more if you do more than what is required. AFAIK, backgrounds are *always* optional. I don't see why I should have to do more than what is "required" when it isn't something that's required at all. Let alone there's no outline for what is and is not "required" in a background.

 

[Seattle_Dave]

either way... you got yours already.

 

[Saephis]

There's standard backgrounds, and then there's elaborate backgrounds that include all sorts of juicy details that 95% of the backgrounds don't have.

For a background to be accepted, it has to meet certain guidelines (Like, say.. names of people, locations, etc). If someone decides to write a book of a background, they should get more credit than Steve "the 2 Paragraph" Wonder.

No, I'm not saying you need to write a book. Its an example.

 

[Alavatar]

What if the background you have was written at the age of 16 and now, at the age of 24, am no longer satisfied with it?

i.e. My background was sloppy and maybe a little over a page long. Can I re-write it to flesh it out more and add detail?

 

[Alavatar]

As a note, the message sent out does not say who to send the stuff to. Is it plot@alliance-seattle.com? Do we just send a PM to Dave? Should we post it on the forums? Should we direct it as a musical? etc.

 

[Seattle_Dave]

if you PM it to me, I will post it to the plto discussion forum

 

[Saephis]

What if the background you have was written at the age of 16 and now, at the age of 24, am no longer satisfied with it?

i.e. My background was sloppy and maybe a little over a page long. Can I re-write it to flesh it out more and add detail?

Definetly. It'd fall under the "What you do" clause, but if you're looking at a good amount of info and detail and such, you'd likely get a like amount of goblin stamps. Oh, and plot. We like plot.

As a note, the message sent out does not say who to send the stuff to.

Is it plot@alliance-seattle.com?
Maybe? I know I don't have access to that.

Do we just send a PM to Dave?
Probably? Likely current plot members would all be great targets to PM it to.

Should we post it on the forums?
I should say no, I should say no, I should say no...

Should we direct it as a musical?
Definetly.

 

[jpariury]

Can players submit backgrounds that they do not want plot from and still receive equivalent credit? I ask, because I once submitted a background many, many moons ago with the caveat that I specifically did not want Plot to involve it in any way. They then immediately decided to produce plot involving the background I wrote up. This made me less than enthused.

Do you expect players to include game-time events in the history? If so, should they be marked off as such so that you know not to hold back approval based on those events?

 

[Brewer!]

You can send the history to either me or dave. If you don't want personal plot developed from it then let us know cause the more detail then the better the story can be writen. I'ts not a requirement to send us one, its a way to get a little extra for yourself.


Nick Brewer
Head of Plot

 

[obcidian_bandit]

Should we direct it as a musical?

I'm actually taking auditions for my character history right now. Not saying for which character, but if you want to stand a chance of making the cut, you should be confident in your ability to retain motor skills while under seven cubic meters of tangerine smoothie.

 

[Sarah]

either way... you got yours already.

Like I'm never going to write a background for another character ever again...

 

[Saephis]

either way... you got yours already.

Like I'm never going to write a background for another character ever again...

Clearly, that's the spirit.

 

[Maxondaerth]

Should we direct it as a musical?

I'm actually taking auditions for my character history right now. Not saying for which character, but if you want to stand a chance of making the cut, you should be confident in your ability to retain motor skills while under seven cubic meters of tangerine smoothie.

I'm gonna start working on my elbows in anticipation of "Kerjal and I" or "West Side Gypsie" whichever working title gets used.

 

[Seattle_Dave]

Polare'! I just met the hobling, Polare'!

 

[Avaran]

That's what she said.

 

[Maxondaerth]

I'm glad you guys are doing this, and the posting was helpful, Dave, but it caught me in a fickle mood and as I'm reading through the questions I kept thinking:

What do you do when not saving the world? I'll let ya know when it happens.
What is your daily life like? See previous.
Is there anyone you have a friendship/partnership with in the town you live in? These yabos? Right.
Is there a special someone in the populace?How is your day divided? Yes, me. Into hours, minutes, seconds....
What do you eat? What have you got?
What did you have for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Yes, yes, yes.
Where do you buy food? Me? Pay?! ROFL
Do you have any hobbies? Not that anyone else would understand.
What do you do for a living? "Dying ain't much of a living, boy."
What kinds of tasks does that entail? Work work work.
What kind of education do you have? Hard.
If you have a trade, how did you learn it? I got ripped off a few times, now I know.
Do you get time off? For what reasons? Good behavior , so no.
What do you do in your free time? How many hours a day do you work? I charge for all my time, and all of them.

 

[Saephis]

I lol'd. Odd looks from co-workers, but it was funny all the same.

I've only gotten one submission so far, yous folks can send them to multiple persons just to be safe. The earlier this stuff gets sent in, the better.

Plot's got a meeting coming up in a little over 2 weeks away for the April event, so if you're doing anything more advanced than buying a loaf of bread (Hmm...), get those requests and submissions in as soon as you can!

 

[krieger]

definitely should be a musical, or perhaps an opera...something akin to that...the phantom of the wine bottle for alavatar....

Polare and the amazing technicolor dream burns
Rats! instead of cats for myself

and speaking of backgrounds, I was wondering if I could get a copy of mine for my records... I have gone through three computer systems since I wrote it, and don't have a copy.

As for backgrounds, and story, it behooves everyone involved to take time and care with peoples backgrounds to see what works, and how...some of us write short stories, some can barely crank out a page...but most of these characters that are created out of our imagination have some meaning to us, or are special in some way, and though we may not mourn their "deaths" seeing the character twisted can be unpleasant...to quote some movie heads...and you can take this with the bit of salt it is meant to come with..."it is all a creative process". That's the caution side of it...be prepared for the storytellers to ask you some tough questions...I turned in mine, and had a 4 hour "interview"...where I was grilled...but at the end of it all, there was a really, really good bit of awesome story help you flesh some stuff out, and get a feel for your character, and plot a feel for what drives you...it can be alot of fun.