How to join!, You need to apply as a guest!

So you want to join our little community? GREAT! But, before you go about registering an account, you need to get to know us, and we need to get to know you. Every new player takes effort to teach, help, and guide through our game so that they can actively play with us. It’s something most of us don’t mind doing and even enjoy as long as the new applicant is ready and willing to learn and, most of all, doesn’t just skip off after a few weeks. Putting in some serious time and effort to teach somebody and seeing them leave is not only frustrating, but also takes the fun out of teaching and turns it into a chore. The way we try to counter this is to get players to do some research before they apply so that their application show us what they’ve got.

When Strairy, a Sr. Validator, first joined, he spent days searching the site and still had over fifty questions that demanded answers before he could continue. We didn’t have a nifty shoutbox back then, so all he could do was search for what he needed. Unable to find the answers to what ended up being, essentially, trivial questions, he made his application. This post is in an effort to make sure people can get their first taste of the site and have a clear picture on what to do so they’ll have the best chance of not being overwhelmed and, almost as important, not overwhelming our current player base with the same questions as he, and many others, have had.

Writing
First off, you have to realize that this is a writing game. If you love DBZ but don’t enjoy writing this place might not be for you. Most of the useful things in this game require you to write a story (a Roleplay or RP) of at least 3,000 words or more before you even qualify for a grade for your story. For instance; if you ever want to become a Super Saiyan you’ll have to write a story of at least 7,000 words.

Now, you don’t need to be a world-class writer, but you do have to have WANT to write. We have people here who write in excess of 25,000 words without breaking a sweat; we also have people that struggle to even write RPs of only 3,000 words (that would be me, the creator of the game! So, don't be discouraged!). Both types of people are accepted here, so don’t worry about which one you are.

Looooooooooooooooong time
Secondly, this is a slow game. The days in game are equal to the days that pass in real life. So if your character starts an activity that takes seven days, the next activity will be a week from now in real life. Everything takes a looooooong time and even fights take a minimum of a few days of real life time before they end (and sometimes it takes weeks). We try to speed up things as much as we can, but don’t expect things to go as fast as any computer game or even tabletop RPG you’ve ever played.

Wanna Play?
So you’re eager to write and willing to curb your impatience at times? Well then the rest of this post will walk you through what you have to do.

Where to start?
The first step to joining is creating an application and the first step to creating an application is deciding who and what your character is.

What am I?
Are you the powerful Saiyan, the smart Namekian, or the Human that dies at the drop of a hat? Anything is possible here. The most important rule we have on the site is: YOU CANNOT BE A CHARACTER FROM THE SHOW/MANGA! We want unique and interesting stories here, not a retelling of Goku’s stories.

So your first step is what race are you? We have most races from the manga and cartoons defined here.
Look through them and choose a RACE and a SUB-Race for your character. If you want something truly unique, or a combination, this is possible. There is one HUGE catch though; the first three months of your time here, you’ll not have any racial bonuses AND we want a rough outline of what you’re aiming for. After those three months one, or more, of us will help you define your racial abilities to make sure they’re balanced with the rest of the game. As you’ll probably notice it takes a LOT of effort to create a custom race and ensure it is balanced; to be blunt, we’ll not put in the effort if you can’t prove that you’ll be around for more than a few months.

Do keep in mind; we are constantly updating the racials to balance them all and make them a unique playing experience, so there might be some tweaks to your character’s racials as the game moves along.

Who am I?
A pretty loaded question this, but it’ll define who you are to us, and to yourself. The first step is also the simplest. Your character has an alignment and this alignment will be an indication of who you are. It will guide you through your RPs a bit. Choose the alignment that most fits your character from here.
This would also be a perfect place to think of how your character acts and what they looks like. Also, think about your character’s history. Why dot hey act the way they do? What happened to them that is the most defining thing in their life? How do they wear their hair? What do they wear when knowing a fight is imminent? And when there is not? Where did they learn to manipulate Ki? Who trained them? If you’re having trouble, take a look at the active playerbase here for examples (just don’t copy them).

Now write down a few lines about what your character looks like. Just remember that a description that says "Just like Goku, Mr. Bean," or "The Hulk" or something like that is NOT what we want and your application will be rejected on that description alone. Actually describe what they look like and use at least a few lines to do so. A picture can be added IN ADDITION to the description, but our decision will be based on the description, not on a picture.

Then add a bit of history that actually brings your character to life a bit for everybody. Your goal should be to sketch out your character’s personality and history in words. Actually giving your character a name at this point would also be a good thing.

I can write!!
Now, like I mentioned before, this is a writing game and we would like to see some of your writing. Do your absolute best on this, because it will show us what your level of writing is. It can be any RP you’ve ever written or it can be a new piece about your current character. To get a good feel for your writing skills we'd like to see at least a fair length, but don't go over a few thousand words. Don’t forget to proofread and use a spell checker.

Am I done?
Well, you’re close. You need to copy the application form below and fill it in. Then create a new topic AS A GUEST and use your character’s name. Finally, simply paste the entire, filled-in, form and post it. People will comment and, once it’s been found satisfactory, you’ll be told that you can register a real account as your character's name and you can get started on your first real playing experience.

What is the experience?

Well, you’ll receive a welcoming PM as soon as your account has been approved, but sometimes this takes some time so I’ll lift the curtain a bit.

Your first activity is a Legacy Quest. This is the only time in a character’s existence that you’ll be able to do this quest and the rewards are substantial. The legacy quest is, simply put, any story you want to put out there. Most people use it to flesh out their character a bit more and describe where they’ve come from and where they might be going. The better (and more) you write, the higher your rewards (check out the writing rewards below).

This Legacy quest activity will take 4 days from the moment your account is approved and you should be done by the 4th day. The quest itself doesn't need to be about four days and it doesn’t have to be posted each day. Most people write their RP and post it in three or four parts.

IF you’re wondering what kind of quests there are you can find them here:
The Basic Quests.

The Special Quests.

Finally, if you’re thinking of putting in the extra effort to write something truly magnificent, check out the Writing bonuses. It’s worth it.

You can also have a look over the techniques here. You always start with all the starting techniques and at least seven basic techniques. If you’re starting later in the round you’ll get even more.

This forum is where you’ll find most of the information about how to play.

This post has been edited by Takeshi on Nov 17 2012, 01:19 PM