Examples of good Spec Apps and Role Apps

[Gentleboy]

Hi all. I was just wondering if we can have past examples of great apps somewhere. I know I struggle with the format, with what would be easiest to read. Even if it was a made-up dumb meme, I'd love to see 'successful' spec app or role applications.

Specifically ones that can help new(ish) players with:

-pacing
-when is enough, enough
-good questions to put in
-negotiation tactics.


If this isn't a good idea, so be it. Was just wondering if anyone else wants the same?

[mansa]

Here's an example of two special applications that I would put in:


Special Application #1 - Applying for a character above my karma level
Hi,

I'd like to apply for a character that has the 'touched whiran' subclass.  I've
never played a magicker before, and I'd like to try it out.  He's going to start
out without knowing anything about magick, and eventually will have a
manifestation of some sort, when I think the time is right in his story.

Name: Jobb
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: Fighter
Subclass: touched whiran

Sdesc: TBD
Mdesc: TBD
Background:
Jobb was born in the commoner's area of Allanak, and grew up with a large,
rough-and-tumble family that mostly stuck together.  His father happened to be
an old mercenary who managed to retire after an injury to the knee.  Jobb has a
couple brothers, of which they formed a small gang of ruffians, bullying anyone
who bothered to take their things.  When the trio became old enough, they took
their father's old weapons and practiced with it, getting surprisingly good with
combat.
Eventually, Jobb found a few jobs grebbing outside for obsidian and other goods,
saving enough to purchase a mount and had a goal to eventually join a
professional mercenary crew, like his father.



Special Application #2 - Applying for a character with some added perk
Hi,

I'd like to apply for a character that has 'Read/Write Sirihish'.

The story is, Baccit has always been adept at picking up languages, and was
taught how to read and write by an old Bastard from House Sath that was removed
from the house, and was apparently assassinated.  (That bastard survived, and
lived the remainder of his days in the 'rinth as a beggar and gossip mongerer.

Baccit, a half-elf, was sometimes a whore, and was sleeping with that old
Bastard, who nearing the end of his life, offered to trade knowledge for a romp.
Knowing that knowledge would be something that never goes away, she agreed and
was a quick study, and learned as much as she could.



Name: Baccit
Race: Half-elf
Sex: Female
Class: Miscreant
Subclass: Linguist

Sdesc: TBD
Mdesc: TBD
Background:
Baccit is a thief, scoundrel, whore, and murderer, born and raised in the
Labyrinth, the northern quarter of Allanak.  She was raised by her human mother,
and never knew her father.  When she wasn't old enough, she learned to use a
knife, and how to steal to survive.  She wants to make a name for herself in the
shadows of the city, as an expert thief.

The story is, Baccit has always been adept at picking up languages, and was
taught how to read and write by an old Bastard from House Sath that was removed
from the house, and was apparently assassinated.  (That bastard survived, and
lived the remainder of his days in the 'rinth as a beggar and gossip mongerer.

Baccit, a half-elf, was sometimes a whore, and was sleeping with that old
Bastard, who nearing the end of his life, offered to trade knowledge for a romp.
Knowing that knowledge would be something that never goes away, she agreed and
was a quick study, and learned as much as she could.



If you notice, I didn't include my sdesc or mdesc, as those things aren't necessary or have any affect on the success rate of my special applications.
(unless I applied for a two-headed half-giant)

[williamson]

Hi all. I was just wondering if we can have past examples of great apps somewhere. I know I struggle with the format, with what would be easiest to read. Even if it was a made-up dumb meme, I'd love to see 'successful' spec app or role applications.

Specifically ones that can help new(ish) players with:

-pacing
-when is enough, enough
-good questions to put in
-negotiation tactics.


If this isn't a good idea, so be it. Was just wondering if anyone else wants the same?

Hi Gentleboy,

I thought I'd share with you one of my successful role applications. Feel free to use my format and I included the discussion with the staff so you can see "negotiation tactics" to use your words. For some background, I was currently playing a runaway mul named Kroh (AKA Seven and later known as Captain Hawk of the Silt Verrin). Kroh was one of my all-time favorite characters, and even though I wanted to play a Dasari noble, I also wanted to play out Kroh to his natural end. I believe I'm complying with all the GDB rules when sharing this. The character has been dead greater than one year, the clan is now closed, the city is now closed, the character's guild no longer exists, and the staff I worked with now gone. I have removed all important IC information to avoid any spoilers.

Williamson
2013-04-17 10:46:44PM (2941 days ago)

Dasari Noble Application

Name: Ivor Mammon Dasari

Guild: merchant/physician

Background:

    Without knowing the history of House Dasari, this is a little difficult. However, Ivor will recently come of age and is ready to begin his career within the House. His training and education will be focused on mercantilism, healing, and experimentation. His focus will be to increase his position within House Dasari by increasing the knowledge of the House and expanding their influence throughout the city. He hopes to develop a complex laboratory through experimentation and invention. Additional details will be included after reading the House Dasari documents.

Personality:

     I hope Ivor will become the Zalanthan version of Baron Harkonnen. He'll begin as a handsome, muscular man. As the years pass, he'll become increasingly heavy and obese. He'll be a homosexual, wearing the finest perfumes and kohl. He'll have no interest in women and find the possibility of being married quite horrible. Internally, his personality will be hedonistic, self-centered, spiteful, and malicious. In historic roleplaying terms, he'd be described as "neutral evil." However, Ivor will be completely devoted to both House Dasari and Tuluk. Externally, he will try to appear friendly, charismatic, and fun-loving. He will be fearful of magicks and consider anyone with such "abominations" as a threat to be reported to the templarate. He will work tirelessly to build and maintain a large laboratory to conduct a variety of vile experiments on humanoids.

Short Term Plans (1-6 months):

Hire hunters to fetch herbs and poisons. Catalog the locations and uses of the plants.
Find a person suitable to sponsor within the Circle of Inrofel.
Hire an aide/researcher to assist in experimentation
Learn and document the uses of every spice
Become a regular spice user, buying from a PC Kuraci.
Become acquainted with the templars/nobles/GMH members in Tuluk
Seek hunters suitable for patronage

Medium Term Plans (6 months - 1 year):

Use my hunters under patronage to gather distant exotic beasts and rare plants
Plant spies within the GMH's to learn and document how they craft things
Abduct southerners for experimentation (such as overdosing on spice or trying to surgically attach a rantarri claw to a forearm stump)
Find Cenyr
Import rare Cenyr glass to craft into beakers, distilleries, centrifuges, dispensers, etc.
Establish a laboratory filled with rare reagents, plants, poisons, and chemicals.
Get my underlings addicted to spice to increase their loyalty

Long Term Plans (1+ year):

Try to develop a cryothermic reaction to freeze water
Try to develop an elixir that removes spice withdrawal
Successfully perform a surgical procedure
Maintain a large library detailing all Ivor's experiments and findings
Become so obese Ivor requires a tracheostomy to breath easily


Familiarity with Tuluk:

     Somewhat familiar. In the past, I've played in Tuluk quite frequently. However, all of my recent characters have been played in Allanak, Red Storm, or the wilderness. I've read all the documentation. I've had experience with successful leadership roles in the past such as Medichi Kadius, Kane of Kohmar, and Monsulla Oash. Each of these characters living over a RL year.
     If accepted, I'd like to defer starting this character until after my current character dies. He's currently the target of frequent assassination attempts, so it might not be too long from now. If rejected, I'd appreciate any suggestions on what I can do to improve my odds in future Dasari applications.

Thanks for your consideration!

Addendum: The first time I applied I did not receive an email and the application didn't appear in my request list, so I've applied again.

-Williamson

Nyr
2013-04-21 17:37:53 (2937 days ago)
Williamson,

Okay, I'm going to have to have a little chat with you here...

Given how you have played Kroh and given your account history, I'm very much inclined to take you for this role, if you're willing to give it a shot!  We've got lots of training stuff we can put you through, and an endless amount of fun (as you are definitely the epitome of what we would call a self-starter).  I'd also say that your experience is exactly what we need for this kind of role, especially at this time, so it makes me happy to see such a great application.

However, you have Kroh, and still have Kroh.  You'd like to defer this until Kroh is dead, and Kroh is great, but...we are in need of a Dasari sooner rather than later.  We can wait a couple of weeks, but after that, we'd really need someone in there.  You say Kroh is the target of frequent assassination attempts, but what if no one gets him?  If we store him with no discussion with [REDACTED], we might run into some issues where [REDACTED] assumes Kroh got yanked by the Templarate and we inadvertently start a war.  That's cool, it's just not exactly the kind of war we want to start (we'd rather have it be a deliberate thing, you know).

It's a bit of a conundrum and I am hoping you might have some ideas on how we might proceed.   Ideally, we could craft a suitable ending for Kroh and then shift you into this role, should you still be interested.  Alternatively, we could make it known to [REDACTED] that your PC is actually storing and still exists virtually, though that would not really be the most ideal solution (it doesn't provide much of an IC answer).

What do you think?

Nyr
Producer
ArmageddonMUD Staff


Williamson
2013-04-22 20:48:19 (2936 days ago)

Greetings,

Thanks for the feedback and opportunity to play within House Dasari. I'm very interested in playing inside House Dasari. I really liked your role call in December with the Breaking Bad theme. After I saw another chance, I thought I'd send you my sales pitch. However, I feel Kroh is a once in a lifetime type character. Whenever possible, I really like to play my characters out to their death. Kroh's in a pretty unique position. He's wearing a [REDACTED], planted [REDACTED] inside House [REDACTED], and avoided numerous attempts to kill him. If I store, I feel like I'm not giving the PCs pursuing Kroh the fun of finally getting their mul. Not to mention, I want the players that kill Kroh to get to enjoy all Kroh's loot ([REDACTED]). Also, I don't want to bail on [REDACTED]. I think he's one of the most interesting characters I've seen in a long time. Ideally, I'd like Kroh to be around if [REDACTED] actually learns to [REDACTED] and wants to escape to [REDACTED]. Hopefully, Kroh will help him get his next [REDACTED]... Sorry for the verbosity, but I want to give a full explanation for wanting to play him out.

That being said, would you consider taking two Dasari nobles? Perhaps it could be a family role? The nobles could be a pair of siblings. I'll call them Noble A and Noble B. Noble A could be the older sibling and start immediately (perhaps an off-peak player?). I'd play Noble B the younger sibling. Noble B could have a young starting age, perhaps the Dasari coming-of-age minus 3 years. If Kroh dies sooner rather than later, I could still play as the younger sibling learning to become a noble. If Kroh lives several more years, I'd start play more mature and ready to assist my older sibling.

Let me know if you think this might be possible?

Thanks for your consideration!

-Williamson


Calavera
2013-04-29 21:59:15 (2929 days ago)
Williamson,

Okay. It's official. Your sexy, flabby fleshbeast has smothered all the competition! Congratulations! We want you in Dasari for sure!

That said, we understand that Kroh is Kind of a Big Deal and we are absolutely okay with letting you continue to play him to his natural end. There are definitely a lot of plots that would falter if he were to suddenly vanish into the ether. The fact that you understand and acknowledge this is a sign of your maturity as a player, so kudos to you.

We had an idea regarding your concept for family roles, and we're going to extend the offer to 'partner up' as direct relations to both you and our other accepted Dasari if they feel so inclined.

Would you be able to type up a small one-paragraph "what you would know" about Ivor that we could send to our other accepted Dasari? She's going to be a female, and if she is okay with the family thing, I'll let you guys determine which exact relations you'd like to be.

We will be bringing our other Dasari in immediately, so that way you don't need to feel rushed about things with Kroh.

If this is all okay to you, let me know and fire off that paragraph and I'll send it on over to our other prospective.

I'm stoked to have you (eventually) on board Team Tuluk!

Calavera
Storyteller
ArmageddonMUD Staff


Williamson
2013-04-30 18:17:32 (2928 days ago)
Awesome,

I'm really pumped to play my first Tuluki noble! Thanks so much for selecting me. Enough celebration, on to business...


Here's my paragraph/idea for Ivor and his female relative:

Hi!

I was asked by the staff to give you some basic information about my Dasari. In addition, I'd like to talk about our potential in-character relationship. My Dasari isn't starting immediately and will start after yours at a later date. I'd like to play your character's younger brother. If this is alright with you, I'd be 15 years old when you begin play. I'll adjust this age to match the time that passes between now and when he actually enters the game.

If I'm playing your younger brother, here is what you'd know.

Name: Ivor Mammon Dasari

Background from your perspective:

Your younger brother, Ivor, has always looked up to you. Even as a young child, he seemed to be mesmerized by your activities and followed you tirelessly around the estate. As he grew into a teenager, you taught him how to choose perfume and apply kohl. You helped teach him to appreciate the finer foods and develop his palate for wine. You've learned that he has a great love of his House and of Tuluk. He's always enjoyed gossiping and dining over weapon training. Ivor's always confided in you and you've realized he's yet to develop much of an affinity for women. As far as his personality traits, you've seen him act with incredible coldness to non-Tuluki, especially southerners. At times, Ivor can be quite self-centered and spiteful but never to his family. He also has a near phobia of magic. Currently, you know that Ivor is undergoing lengthy training to become a physician and will be more available after his training is complete. As we begin play, Ivor would be quite amiable to his older sister and see her as a confidant and mentor.

This isn't set in stone, and I'm will to modify things if there are any problems or changes you'd like to make.

See you soon...

Calavera
2013-05-08 18:18:51 (2920 days ago)
Williamson,

Just checking in to let you know we're still hashing things out on our end, but your app as-is has been approved and it will be good to go as soon as Kroh goes to the big silt skimmer in the sky.

Calavera
Storyteller
ArmageddonMUD Staff


Other by Nyr
2013-05-13 08:36:01AM (2915 days ago)
Williamson,

Your Role Application request has been resolved.

Going to go ahead and resolve this to clear it out of the queue for now.  When we get to that point, let us know!

Nyr
Armageddon Staff

Kroh ended up living for 7 more real-life months before hopping on the big silt skimmer in the sky. When Ivor started his sister was already gone    I thought this was a pretty solid application and felt pretty confident about it. However, just like the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results. I actually thought I had a better application for the last templar role call, but I wasn't selected. So don't feel bad if you miss out and try, try again. To use a baseball analogy, sometimes designated hitter strike out and sometimes pitchers hit home runs. Just keep swinging for the fence!!!

I hope this is helpful...

Warmest regards,

-Williamson

[Bogre]

My biggest advice is to write a great hook for the staff and get them interested. You want them to want to see your character realized in game. This also forces you do do a lot of in depth planning and thought in evoking the characterization - which is really good as background research and character building pre game anyways. You'll want to explain your character, of course, but also your OOC goals and maybe some tentative in game plans and activities. My OOC goals have always been pretty broad, but generally with some sort of gameworld or atmosphere improvement - such as 'I'd like to revitalize the north, or bring teeth to the labyrinth, or explore the intricacies of social roles with a backstabbing, scheming madman, etc." Having some sort of plan and goal to push forward separates the 'here's a neat character idea choose me' from the 'holy shit, we want X player leading the flagship on this.', IMO.

Here's one of my applications to a shaman-role of the Al'seik:
-----
A hand of fine red grit rubbing through his calloused fingers, the stocky man rises from the ground. The ground is thirsty, he feels, and today will see its desires quenched. Turning from the canyon wall, to the ranks of slash-inked followers behind him, spears bristled in the air, adorned with beads and every sharp-pointed armament bearing the black feather.

"We are the people of salt and sand! From this land gave the blood of our fathers and mothers! Cast out - but their spirits yearn for our return. Hear them, my blood! Heed them- for today: our spears speak for them!"

And give answer they would. A cadence from the hollowed bone and shell drums, picked up by the butts of countless spears indenting the red sands with a growing staccato. The man turns, letting the fiery sun beating down on his face and the jagged tattoos there. His own spear, beating the ground. He, too, can hear the spirits, carried far in their feather-fetishes by his people, he can feel their hunger to return. He whispers to them, then, bids them their duty, feels the rush of lust as they take to the earth. The red grit, beneath his sandals, vibrates the staccato of the spears, the staccato of his beating heart. Adding the thrumming of his voice, he faces the canyon wall, staring up at its height.

Where a crack begins to sunder open across its craggy face- inviting his people homewards.
===================================================



I am Assail of the Al'Seik.

I was born as the blood moon sunk beneath the sands, in the year that the slavemasters within the white walls call the Desert's Vengeance. The moon of absence, the ghost of our lack, stood silent, vigil, as I too, sunk beneath the sands beneath Sho'saie's hips. The graceful flower of the three absent, for it had found happier people to smile upon. In silence, my mother struggled, in silence she wept. In silence, my mother lay still. Alone, as the apathy of our people stirred no souls.

Alone, in the dark, I trembled to shatter that silence.

I struggled to scream.

The sands drank thirstily of the birth blood. It remembered, whispered, stirred the slumbers of the past. The ancients gathered, drawn by the bindings of memories past and the scent of life anew. They begged, pleading to be heard, abandoned as so much detritus within the sands. Broken tools, left behind as the camp is broke. Split shields and shattered weapons, forgotten with the corpses of battle left behind.

"Soon we will slumber, but there will be no rest for you."

Their voices of the ancients, their desperate cries I cannot remember. But something far older within me stirred - to give answer to the demands.

I screamed.

I had found my voice.

====================================================


Assail is my application to the Stone Braxat role call of the Al'Seik. It's the next big concept I have been yearning to play for a long time. And so, it seems like the perfectly opportune time! The concept is to primarily play someone who will start things rumbling within the tablelands (no pun intended). The 'Seik and the Arabeti are besieged and beset - but they cannot find their way alone. They must listen to their past, and their ancestral spirits, for guidance. They must reclaim what was their birthright, what the long years and deprivations of the city-dwellers and gith have taken from them. Tuluk closing its gates leaves a power vacuum in the Gol Krathu - one that the Al'Seik need to take advantage of to shift themselves from their course towards extinction.

I would be drawing heavily upon the in game lore to build the mysticism of the tribe and the role. A lot of the flavor-styling for this concept is inspired - and perhaps be reminiscent of the Wickans and the tribes of the Awl'dan from Steven Erikson's Chain of Dogs and Reaper's Gale - where the magic of tribal clans primarily comes from their ancestral spirits and primitive gods, embattling the encroachment of empires on their ancient lands. 


Hazy, blood red sunsets in the future?

I was born in blood.

I am Assail of the Al'Seik.

I give answer.

-----------------------------------------------

Here's another one, answering one of those vague rolecalls from the Staff. I had not much to go on, other than it was secret!

->
"Secrets are like worms inside a ginka fruit - they just like to wriggle free."

The man across the campfire slides the rasp down the black bone blade as he recounts our accomplishment. Our long history, our success. His scalp, tattooed, glints dully underneath a days worth of stubble. The warmth I feel is not only from the fire.

"Just think of the what we did here today. The House won't ever think the same way again. But I can't feel as if we've been entirely honest, you know, with one another...:"

Another long, scratching rasp against the blade.

"Everyone's got secrets. But where's the fun in that...?"

He titters, then, an oddly-placed, hollow sound, reaching over with the blade to cut at the gag stuffed in my throat, over the rest of the waiting burning bone pokers.


---------------------------------

Howdy, Ren!

I can keep a secret! This is my role app!

-Bogre
--------------------------