A Guideline to Sign-Ups

[AiedailEclipsed]

So, you're wondering how to create a sign-up that gets enough information but hooks people at the same time right? Well, I'll try to help you

Lets take a look at the KPU sign-up:

[noparse]Username: Place your username for BMGf!

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Name: Character's name
Nickname: Character's nickname -- optional if character doesn't have one.
Age: Character's age -- as this is a University type RP, we encourage characters that are 17 and above.
Gender: Character's gender.
Trainer Orientation: Good, Neutral, Bad (the nine alignments can apply here, too)
Birthplace: Where your character was born/raised.

Starter Pokémon: What Pokémon did your character start off with? This doesn't have to be a traditional starter from the trios given away by regional Professors.

Pokémon On Hand: Maximum of two. Mini-Pokémon profiles have to be included as well -- how does that Pokémon act? Is it loyal, is it naive, does it not like it's Trainer? Minimum of three sentences for each Pokémon mini-file. Remember that this can be edited later to better fit your character when the RP continues. Also, please include an estimate level for each Pokemon (level 30 & below), we also have a 2nd evolution chain and below clause.

Appearance: Your character's appearance. Please be detailed and provide at least two paragraphs.

Picture (Optional): Have a picture of your Trainer? Post it! Delete section if there is no image that you have of your Trainer.

Personality: How does your character act and interact with other people? What sets off those personalities? Minimum of two paragraphs.

Major: You're in "college" now, what will you be studying? Please choose from: Sciences (Scientists, Engineers, ect...), Arts (Historians, Coordinators, ect...), and Tactics (Battlers, Police, ect...) You have to choose the category! Not the actual jobs and such, like Major: Arts; Minor: Sciences and Tactics.

Minor: Pretty muchly the same as above. However, the ones NOT chosen are automatically your minors.

Personal History: I wanna know about your character! What was he/she like when they were growing up and before it was they became a Trainer? Minimum of three paragraphs.

RP Sample: Let me see what you can do. RP sample needs not to be of the character you're applying for.[/noparse]

The bare minimum for any sign-up should include name (character name), age (character age), gender (name's can be confusing), Pokemon (with a short [3 sentences maybe] history on each), appearance (character appearance), and history (character history.) You're going to need enough information to use for the RP, so here's a template you could use!

[b]Name:[/b] [i]Your Character's Name[/i]
[b]Age:[/b] [i]Your Character's Age[/i]
[b]Gender:[/b] [i]Your Character's Gender (due to the confusing nature of some names)[/i]
[b]Appearance:[/b] Your Character's Physical Appearance (perhaps 3-4 sentences)
[b]History:[/b] Your Character's History (perhaps 3-4 sentences)
[b]Pokemon:[/b] Your Character's Pokemon (the one's he/she will be using anyway)

So, now you've got a good base sign-up sheet to use, you might want to include a prelude to the actual plot as well as some other information, as this is what people will generally get 'hooked' by AND edit the sign-up to reflect what YOU need. Now, that you've got your sign-up ready and any other information, make the thread! Give it a catchy title like "Wisdom of Legends" or something and make it. As a note, it is no longer necessary for the thread title to include "Sign-Ups" due to the division of the forums.

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So, lets look through the mirror and think about that person who wants to know HOW to sign-up. Well, lets use my character from KPU as example.

Username: AiedailEclipsed
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Name: Brittany Anastasia Knight
Nickname(s): Brit
Age: 24 (Born on: April 14, 2036)
Gender: Female
Trainer Orientation: Chaotic Neutral
Birthplace: Born in Mahogany Town, but the primary Knight family lives near Ecruteak City.​

Starter Pokémon:​

Ivy ~ /Venonat/
At the age of fifteen, when she had only been in Kanto for about a year she was out observing nature and Pokemon with her grandfather, a young Venonat wandered out in front of them. Shy and curious, the fuzzy little creature wandered right up to the duo and nuzzled against their legs. The pair continuing on their excursion left the forest, and continued onto the meadow-lands, presumably leaving the young Venonat behind. As they finished the journey later, and headed home, upon their arrival they found the young creature sleeping on a chair outside on the porch. Upon questioning her grandmother about the Venonat, she responded with “The poor girl has been here since noon, it was waiting for you I think.”

Her grandmother, in her wise nature, told her it was high time that she had caught her first Pokémon, and gave her a very special Poké Ball to do so with. A very special Poké Ball that commemorates special events, a Premier Ball. After the success in the capture, she decided to venture out on her own Pokémon adventure in a few years time.

Spoiler

Appearance:​

Her normal attire consists of a green skirt, which ripples down and splits slightly above her left knee and exposes the calf muscles of said leg. On her feet, she normally wears golden yellow sandals that seem to shine out with the light of the sun. They are also said to change according to her mood, and that they would shine brighter if she was happy or darker if mad or sad. For a top, she uses a pure white keyhole top that exposes a bit of the upper part of her skirt and travels up in two strips and wraps around her neck. To compliment her outfit, she has two necklaces, one is a simple necklace with three diamonds that hugs her neck and then the other, is a red pendant that sits roughly in the middle of the opening of her keyhole top. To tie off both her top and bottom, she wears a light blue satin corsage wrap, which fits snugly around her waist, and also conceal her Poké Balls. On her arms, she wear pink slip-on sleeves that flare out and fall about two inches from the tips of her fingers. Her hair seems to ripple down her back in a light brown cascade and seems to wave eternally, without the affect of wind; however, there is always one thick strand of hair that covers her left eye. Her eyes seem to match her shoes for the most part, looking like the color of molten gold.

Personality:​

Ever since her childhood, she has always been a bit of a "free spirit" or the rebellious one in her studies. As she matured, she learned to control her emotions more and use them to her advantage. She can go from one emotion to another in a matter of seconds and then go back without any difficulty. However, when she was called upon to head the new University, she learned that restriction to her emotions might not be the best idea, so she lets them go a bit to bond. However, for a person in her position, she is very calm and collected at most times, but is known to fly into a rage at a student doing something stupid or foolish in the extreme. However, no matter how foolish or stupid, she will still think of them no different being a very accepting person due to her own emotions. As a battler, she is known to be ferocious and spiteful, but kind and generous at the same time; however, as a coordinator, she is always cool and collected, never loosing focus on the event at hand. One of her unique traits, however, is the ability to use Aura to a small extent, due to excessive training with her Lucario, Aurora, which gives her the ability to communicate soundlessly with some bonded Pokémon, and the ability to sense the emotions to an extent within people. There are some limits and drawbacks to this, however, she can only read the emotions of one person at one time or she would get very confused, and reading the emotions in large crowds could potentially overload her and send her into a coma-like state for a short time (the longest time she was ever in one was only a few hours.)

History:​

In the year 2035 D.A. (Dopo Arceus), in the region of Hoenn, the wealthy and aristocratic family of the Knights was fully formed, by the news of the conception of a baby girl. Conceived to Anna Saucier, the daughter of Gary Oak, a noted Pokémon Professor and Solidad Solyra, a famous Pokémon Coordinator; and Chad Knight, a gifted technologist but shoved aside due to disbelief in his abilities by colleagues who simply discredited him by claiming, "He could not accomplish anything due to bad blood." At the time, the couple were doing research in Sootopolis City on the Cave of Origins and the connection to the Legendary Pokémon and the moment of creation, several months later, they flew out to the region of Orre, to research the sudden decline of appearances of Pokémon in the area which surprisingly had been at an all time high.

About eight and a half months into the pregnancy, and the day of the flight back to Johto and their hometown of Ecruteak City, a freak maelstrom rushed up from Sootopolis City and collided with a extremely cold, cold front that came down from Wintown in Fiore, which promptly reversed direction and started heading directly towards the Johto region. The pilot was forced to land the plane in the nearest town instead of the destination of Ecruteak. As they descended the from high altitude, the unthinkable happened; Anna went into labor. The pilot, nearly crashing the plane doing so, landed the plane mid-flight and rushed the her to the PokéCenter, where a doctor was unfortunately not available immediately due to the conditions. Forced to the extreme, the resident Nurse Joy helped her through the primary stages of the birthing process, in which, the doctor finally arrived and finished the procedure.

As the doctor checked each of them over, nothing was noticed out of the ordinary, except for the baby being extremely quiet not crying nor squalling. The couple with their newfound joy christened her Brittany Anastasia Knight. Brittany, for Chad's grandmother, and Anastasia in an altered version of her mother's name. The doctor assured the couple that nothing was wrong with the baby physically or mentally, but he was worried about her emotionally. She never expressed any emotions, not crying, not laughing, nor grinning. She was simply there, a being without emotions or feelings. The doctor expressed these fears before the couple left Mahogany the next day, and the couple, stated that they had noticed it as well. Fearing for the worst, they took their daughter to the best doctors in the world, they all gave the same prognosis, that nothing was wrong, she was just quiet. Giving up on the normal methods, they began their own search for answers, going out to their one place of hope.

In their research, they had found that at the moment of creation, the Divine Creator had let loose three beings containing the energies by which people exist. Knowledge, Willpower, and Emotion, each had hidden away, guarding their sacred power. It had been said that they had hidden away at the bottom of one of the three lakes in Sinnoh: Acuity, Verity, and Valor. After undergoing extensive research, they had determined that the Being of Emotion, was residing at the bottom of Lake Verity in Verity Cavern. As they approached the lake, the parents where filled with emotions hoping the best for their child, who had turned one year old on that very day. For hours and hours, they waited, and with each passing moment, they lost a bit more hope. Saddened, at the seeming fate of their only child, they turned to leave.

Suddenly, in a blinding flash of red light which seemed rush past them in a great wave, they heard a peculiar sound, a small tinkling sound, like a bell. Looking down at the source of the sound, they saw Brittany peering around her mother's arm smiling and pointing at the lake. Turning, they only say a dim red light receding back, back into the depths of the lake. Smiling and thanking the Being of Emotion, the couple and their baby girl left the lakefront, and headed back to their home which was a small distance from Ecruteak City.

As they settled into their new life, the child seemed to be like any other normal child. The events that a normal child would experience and take time to master took her little to no time to gain. She had started walking and mastered it within a week and began running soon after, she mastered being able to eat on her own. As the years, went own, the couple slowly noticed the child's aptitude at things such as words and talking, demonstrating an advanced vocabulary for her age, and reading books easily beyond her reading level.

Realizing her possible potential, her parents started educating her in all of the arts and sciences in which they where skilled. At the age of fourteen, her parents felt that they had exhausted what they could teach her, so they sent her to the Kanto region to study under her grandparents, learning about the various nuances of Coordinating and the facts behind Pokémon sciences. Three years after arriving in Kanto, Brittany left her grandfather's ranch, on her own Pokémon journey. Going far and wide seeking out her own path, and making her mark on the world. Then, many years after journeying through the various regions her mother and father called her back home to Ecruteak, for something had begun to stir throughout the Pokémon World, and it seemed that it was time for them to return a favor.

Pokémon on Hand:​

Ivy ~ /Venomoth/
Level ~ 78 / Gender ~ Female​

See Starter Pokémon After only a short while of their journey, they came upon a tough challenge brought upon by an older lady, who challenged them with her Roserade. They accepted the challenge, though doing so reluctantly. As the battle progressed, it became apparent that this woman was no ordinary trainer and was very experienced, then as their defeat was nigh, Ivy took upon a cloak of white energy and metamorphosed into a Venomoth. However, even with the power of the new found evolution, they were unable to best her, and as she walked away, the lady called out to her, and gave her an Egg. She said, that this would be the start of her own journey and she thought that it should start with a bang.

Moveset: Signal Beam / Bug Buzz / Psychic / Energy Ball / Morning Sun / Twister / Ominous Wind / Swift / Agility / Screech

Beauty ~ /Milotic/
Level ~ 69 / Gender ~ Female​

Caught as a Feebas in a small pond found not far from her house in Johto, she cared for the Pokémon even though it wasn't the most beautiful. When, she started to see the Feebas' inner beauty instead of its outward appearance, it evolved it the beautiful Milotic that it is today. After its evolution, Brittany began working with the Milotic almost constantly to bring its power to match that of Ivy.

Moveset: Dragon Pulse / Water Pulse / Hydro Pump / Aqua Tail / Aqua Ring / Ice Beam / Whirlpool / Hidden Power / Light Screen / Confuse Ray

Aurora ~ /Lucario/
Level ~ 57 / Gender ~ Female​

Given to her as an egg from a mysterious old woman, from the very first part of her journey, it hatched soon after she had arrived in Johto and caught Beauty. After it hatched, it was revealed to be a young female Riolu. Together, they both worked to help Beauty evolve, and together they became close friends, and Beauty and Aurora even more so. Almost, at the age of 21, the Pokémon evolved, into a powerful Lucario with power unmatched in the ability to communicate with her friend, Brittany.

Moveset: Aura Sphere / Dark Pulse / Focus Blast / Flash Cannon / Protect / Earthquake / Blaze Kick / Dragon Pulse / Shadow Claw / Giga Impact

Princess ~ /Gardevoir/
Level ~ 41 / Gender ~ Female​

The newest member of Brittany's team, and often quite arrogant because it beat Aurora rather easily and nearly beat Beauty but succumbed to a powerful Dragon Pulse attack. She can be unruly at times but will obey any order if the situation is dire. She really loves each of her teammates but doesn't show it, and would die to protect them.

Moveset: Psychic / Hidden Power / Hypnosis / Dream Eater / Shadow Ball / Charge Beam / Will-o-Wisp / Shadow Sneak / Teleport / Fire Punch

Obviously, most people aren't going to have the same amount of information as I have here. However, I think that you can get the gist of what I'm trying to say. Basically, if you've found the RP that you want to be a part of, and create a character that is an extension of yourself and your interests. Don't make them ultra powerful without any flaws or then, you've gone and created a Mary Sue. Give them something that makes them unique but still human. Either way, keep this in mind, you're doing this to have fun

When in doubt, look at examples! Here's the sign-up thread from one of my past RP's, The Order of Ancients or here at the KPU front office.