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.: Bio Rules :. |
- Do not lift chunks of your bio from Marvel Directory or anywhere else. This is plagiarism, and it is wrong. If we discover you did it, we will reject your bio and boot you. Also, do not use Charles Xavier in your bio, anywhere, unless you have already talked to his player and gotten explicit permission for everything you have in mind. If you use Charles without permission, we will ban you. One more time, for the hard of reading, plagiarism and abuse of Professer X are bannable offenses right out of the gate. You will not get the chance to fix these things. You will get an email telling you you're not welcome in DEM. End of story.
- DEM is once again totally OC-friendly. You may come in new and submit an OC.
- Do not post an incomplete bio as a work in progress. You would not apply for a job by turning in half a resume and coming back the following week to complete it. If you cannot finish a character bio in the ten days you may hold a reservation, then you do not have the time to play here.
- Use this form! (The one in the link, not this bio help layout!)
This seems self-explanatory, but we won't accept any bio that isn't in that exact format. We want the information requested the way we requested it.
- That also means do not change the format we went through all that trouble to make pre-coded for you. Do not change underlines to italics, or bolds to underlines, etc.
- The title for your application should read: alias - character name. That's it. If you don't have an alias, just the name.
- If you do not have anything to put beside a line, put n/a. Don't just delete the line.
- Don't stick a character picture in your bio. You may link to your character picture in the 'other' section, but we do not want to see graphics in your bio.
- Don't use your own special colors or fonts when submitting a bio. You may use colors and fonts, with restraint, while posting, and you may use colors when updating your bio with new information.
- Put the information beside the section title, not beneath it. "Description: information here..."
- Double space between paragraphs. Double space between sections. Indenting things doesn't work on the Internet. Tabs are useless, spacing over five times is an even bigger waste of your time. It's just going to make your work look like long run-on sentences.
- Read your bio after you post it to make sure that you have the tags in right and you didn't screw up your formatting. If you screw up your formatting, you will be told to fix it. If you mess it up again, because you feel the need to express your individuality as a beautiful and unique snowflake, it will be fixed for you, and it will be locked to save you from yourself.
- You will be able to come back and update your bio, and we encourage you to regularly keep it up to date with the current storylines. It's not necessary, but it will be a great reference to someone looking to join and wanting information.
- Character Name
Please, go easy on the unique or uniquely spelled names. Ask yourself if you really want to spell this with a y or x. It may not be grounds for outright refusal, but you might be sent back to the drawing board if it's really awful. Not that we should have to say it, but you may not skip this line for any reason. Character amnesia is not an excuse to leave out information. Even if they don't know their name, put it down, and supply the detail that they are unaware of it.
- Alias
This is the only part of the form that you may fudge. Some characters may not have an alias yet. 'None yet' is an acceptable answer.
- Occupation
If you are one of the X-Men or a member of the Brotherhood, you would class yourself as an adventurer and list your affiliation. Just about anything can be valid as long as it's backed up in the history appropriately. If you'd like to be something like, say, a ninja, we'll understand, but please have an extensive backstory about how your character was raised in an environment that precipitated this. Original characters may not begin as a member of the Brotherhood or X-Men, although we encourage you to change your status in your bio if you do join one of those groups. Canon characters may come in as part of a group, but they must first contact the head of the organization, and must have a reasonable backstory for their absence thus far.
- Age
We accept the reality that 98% of our characters will be under the age of thirty. Age carries some restrictions with the X-Men, but being a student at Xavier Institute for Higher Learning doesn't have the same age limitations as a regular school. Students under 18 will likely attend regular classes, stay in gender segregated dormitories and share rooms with other students, and will not participate directly in missions often. 'Students' over 18 are typically mutants who have made a commitment to working with the X-Men. They may live in the mansion in small private rooms or have a tendancy to come and go--it really depends on how deeply enmeshed they are with the group. The space in the mansion is, for our purposes, limitless. These students will be more involved with training and learning to use their powers to defend themselves and others. The Brotherhood will take anyone, any age, so long as they're for Magneto's ideology.
- Height
Numbers, please. Metric units are also acceptable.
- Build
Try to give a good mental picture, adjectives are helpful. If he's slender, is he scrawny? Blade-thin and quick?
- Hair Color/Style
This is just a good general detail, not life or death, but we do request that you try not to have a character with extraordinary attributes without justification such as a connection to their power. So maybe they have blonde hair and just dye it a funky color. Yes, we know that Marvel has created characters with unusual hair color for no reason, and yes we will accept bios for them because Marvel established them this way. Original characters will have higher standards.
- Eye Color
Same goes for eye color. Please do not use the floweriest possible description of the color of your characters eyes. We might let you get away with sage green or something like that, but we're really feeling quite strongly about things like, "ocean blue" and "cerulean blue" and "azure blue" and "cobalt blue" and other such stuff, especially pertaining to blue eyes. Really, light blue is okay. Dark brown. Violet, even. No one is going to be impressed by whatever lame modifier you use in front of your eye color, especially staff, so spare us this silliness if at all possible.
- Detailed Personal Description
There is a two paragraph minimum here for personal description. We want to know what your character will look like from head to toe. We want to know their faces, their tics, their gestures. We want to know if they have blemishes or flawless skin, if they have birthmarks, if their fingernails are dirty or bitten and ragged, if they wear blue nail polish. We want to know how they walk, how they move. Do they talk with their hands? Are they graceful or clumsy? Are they withdrawn and rigid? We want to know how they dress, what will we see them in most often. We want to know about the necklace they always wear or the way they lace their boots. We want a complete, thoughtful description about your character and everything someone will see on their surface. It seems like two paragraphs is a lot to take up for the description, but considering the quality of the information needed, it's not really asking much. One thing we don't want to see is any description that involves other people's reactions to your character, like "women are hopelessly attracted to him" or "men stop and stare whenever she walks by." You wish. Do not put in any detail that assumes other people will perceive your character the way you want them to be perceived. Get back to describing your character and leave the reactions to them to the other characters, thanks. And, on another aesthetic note, god help you should you turn in a pretty girl who is somehow unaware of being pretty or never works at being pretty, or has a stupid butterfly tattoo or belly piercing for no good reason, or has a signature t-shirt with a cute or kitschy saying, or any other detail that feeds into how adorable and precious your little girly character is without actually accomplishing anything in the way of telling us about her as a person. You might as well scrawl "I do not belong here" at the top of your bio. For more on why this is a problem, you might read the Mary Sue Essay.
- Family
We're certain that orphans and castoff kids will abound, but sometimes you can open a lot of room to play with the human parents or siblings of your mutant character. You are not going to play the relative of an established character unless it has been agreed to by the player of that character. If the character you wish to be related to is not in play, you may not be their relative. The only exceptions are characters like Havok--canon characters that are established as being related to existing characters in Marvel. If Cyclops was not being played, it would be acceptable to play Havok as his brother. If Cyclops was being played, anyone who wanted to play Havok would need to touch base with his player before they could be accepted.
- Ability/Mutation
Two paragraph minimum. Character powers are always the stickiest part of a mutant RPG. Sometimes it's just tough to think up a power, and we understand that sometimes a character has a power you think is unique, but is shared by a lesser-known canon character. We will accept original characters with powers that bear similarities to that of another, as long as they are well fleshed-out and I don't get the feeling you're trying to sneak around not being able to have the character you wanted. It's also possible to have a power that is apparently useless, or just a physical mutation that comes with heightened abilities. Also, if your character has a secondary power unrelated to the first, you will have to convince us of why we should allow it. For instance, mild telepathic powers can be hereditary, or often accompany another mutation, but the ability to fly and teleport will demand an explanation. No character should have more than two powers, and we mean one main power and possibly a small secondary power that is greatly limited. Your power should not be the biggest feature of your character.
- Weaknesses
Some players believe that weaknesses and limitations on a character power are the same things. They are not. If a character can use his power only in full sunlight, or if your character's power is debilitating only when they use it, that is not a weakness; it is a function of their power and goes in the section relating to that. A weakness relating to the power is a deformity or handicap caused by their powers, ie, Rogue cannot touch others, Nightcrawler is obviously unable to get along in normal society because of his appearance. This is a good place to flesh out the humanity of your character a little more, discuss their fears and their physical limitations. They most likely have normal human weaknesses--and when listing "normal human weaknesses," do not redundantly add "can be stabbed, shot, drowned, etc." We know what it means. They may have a terrible deformity as a result of their mutation. They may have a disease or a dependancy. They may have a phobia.
- Personality
Two paragraph minimum. Don't make a list of adjectives here. Tell us about your character's mentality, how they react to people, their general disposition, their likes and dislikes, their attitude towards challenges, their religion, their politics, their social status, what makes them angry, what thrills them. You should know your character well enough to go on at least two paragraphs about who they are and how they come across. When writing your personality, keep in mind a few things, namely that everyone has some trauma in their life and we do not all become total basketcases or pricks because of it, and that just about every mutant has a backstory full of angst and yours is not special or interesting. There are a lot of sullen, sulky, bitchy, attitude-loaded OCs and even canons running around, because their players think being sullen, sulky, bitchy and attitude-loaded is an interesting, unique way to be. We do not recommend making characters that are not team players and then trying to insert them into teams, or characters that are personally unpleasant and then wondering why no one wants them around. Further, do not submit a bio that includes a detail about how you want your character to be perceived, ie, "People are always taken in by his charm," or "she always gets her way with other people." You wish. This is an advanced RP and everyone else is perfectly capable of reacting to your character in their own way without your interference telling them how to play with you. Your job is to provide as much information as possible and that's it. Let them figure out what to do with said information.
- History
Six paragraph minimum. Be as detailed as possible. This is the part where you explain everything. We want to know everything that's happened to your character before they showed up in this game. Your history should be sensible, story-like, and realistic. It should be coherent with the rest of the bio--the behavior of your character throughout their history should reflect the personality you gave them. Remember that your character should have disappointments and rejections like anyone else; as nice as it would be to always be the winner and always be loved and accepted, it's not realistic, and people won't identify with your character if they've never been hurt. When writing your history, think about how you use other characters, like your character's friends or enemies. Don't make them behave weirdly to move the story along...a "stable, loving home" is not going to callously turn their beloved child out into the street just for being a mutant, for instance. There would have to be issues under the surface there. Don't conform other characters around your character. Allow your character to experience heartbreak and loneliness, especially if they deserve it. Swallow your pride and let them deserve it. Let them get dumped when they cheat, or be ostracized because they're snobbish or annoying. But don't do it for no good reason. Don't show us your character being victimized by others without cause or it won't ring true, it's fake misery to make us take pity on your character and readers don't respond to it. If your character has enemies, think about their real motivations. Don't make them cardboard cutouts who are just there to create some static for your character. Whether you're bringing in an original character or a canon character, do not use any of the other characters in your history or any other part of your bio unless you have express permission from the player. Do not use a canon character that is not being played and thus cannot give permission. This should be followed regardless of the canon history of your character. This is a version of NPCing, and it's against our rules. Everyone deserves complete control over their own character. The players, not Marvel, and not you, will decide who their character is friends or lovers or enemies with. This applies especially to Professor Xavier. Jean Grey isn't your best friend, you aren't dating Kitty Pryde, you were never rescued by the X-Men or Charles Xavier, and you are not one of his prize students if it has not been agreed to by all the players involved. Even if it's canon, don't do it. You are free, even required, to make up new history.
- Other
This sections is for miscellaneous information, details about what your character is up to here, OOC information, reference pictures, anything you like.
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