[Guide] Beta Protocol

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Guide
  • Index
    • Sir Les Paul

    Sir Les Paul

    The Duke of Chords
    Moderator
    Supporter


    ... streetwise superheroes and even borderline vigilantes lending their assistance towards the greater good. -Prologue


    Index​
    Justice League — Βeta Protocol (known commonly as Beta Protocol) is a roleplay based on an alternate future of DC Comics utilizing a non-canon universe known as Earth 429. Beta Protocol is the faithful successor of previous roleplays on RPNation dating back as far as 2015. The original, and still preserved, premise of Earth 429 is a 'DC-based setting primarily involving characters that are the direct descendants of former characters within the DC continuity'. As the roleplay has trudged through various directions and hosted a large sum of characters as it was handed down, it has thus changed significantly since its original inception. No set standard for a timeline existed prior to Beta Protocol and its previous iteration United We Stand, and as such, different DC source materials have been used, ranging from the popular Young Justice animated television show, the Teen Titans animated television show and of course various comic book runs. As of the beginning of Beta Protocol, the present year is 2060 and uses a slightly altered DC Animated Universe timeline, including Justice League (TV Series), Justice League Unlimited (JLU), Static Shock (TV Series) and Batman Beyond (TV Series).


    Alright, we're passed the formalities. The year is 2060, the Justice League dissolved, the world realized that it needed a League and it was reformed with greater restrictions and involvement of the United Nations as the United League of Justice (ULJ) which is lead by the Hand of Justice, Joseph Waller, III. I, Sir Les Paul, attempted to rekindle this universe once alongside AnnoDomini and sitanomoto as Justice League: United We Stand. That iteration had all three branches active: Alpha, Beta and Gamma. While that iteration was mildly successful, the switchover to the 'new RpN' and the general stress of trying to push such a large endeavor ultimately ended with the roleplay being revised to Beta Protocol. Reason in short: the branches were created to organize characters based on their abilities and potential to make more suitable plots for individual teams and that resulted in three large-scale plots being active at any given time which required a lot of effort and communication from roleplay staff; scaling the RP down to just one branch allowed for significantly easier management while preserving the benefit of branches. That's the logic behind one of the largest elements of Beta Protocol: the character premise for heroes primarily being low-to-no power heroes.


    In summation, Beta Protocol is the successor to several previous roleplays and has a handful of 'veteran roleplayers' from those times, its active timeline begins in 2060, it now has a unified timeline of closest consistency to the Justice League television show, it has various characters adapted from different source materials, it focuses on low-to-no power heroes, and the premise is a 'DC-based setting primarily involving characters that are the direct descendants of former characters within the DC continuity'. If you want the tl;dr, there it is. Some other important factors to remember: the League is now officially the ULJ, not the JLU; the League is now under the supervision of Joseph Waller, III, grandson of Amanda Waller; and, the overall tone of Beta Protocol is considerably dark, emphasizing the struggle to rekindle faith in heroes that had failed the people time and time again.


     
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  • Index

    • League Council​

    Hand of JusticeThe Wall (Joseph Waller, III) — Joseph is a man of incredible talent and compassion for worldwide security. He is the grandson of Amanda Waller and, like her, he is a cold, analytical leader that puts the safety of the organization first. His career began as a decorated US Navy Seal before moving forward to special operations and being enlisted into some of the very programs his grandmother established. Joseph later became the leader of Task Force X and earned the title 'the second coming of the Wall' before ultimately inheriting most of his grandmother's connections and resources through her own devices when she retired. His time as a global mercenary, attempts to establish various task forces around the world and continuation of the Waller legacy made him a prime candidate when the UN voted on a leader for the new League; second only to one other whom declined.


    Representative of ThemysciraThrall (Myand'r Blake)— Thrall was once a rising star in the former League known as Blake. As the son of Starfire and Captain Comet, his potential even then was considerable. Not long before the Battle of Alcatraz, Blake (as he was known then) enlisted himself to Wonder Woman, becoming a servant of Themyscira with his goal to better himself. He spent the entire duration the League did not exist training with Diana on the island, having his pride and ego beaten out of him, until he emerged as the Warrior Prince, Thrall. Now, Thrall is arguably the most powerful, single member of the League with a warrior mindset, working often only on the larger scale problems that the League could face. Thrall is presently the official leader of Alpha Squad.


    Representative of KryptonSuperman— We had a superman at one point... but he did not transition over to Beta Protocol. This position is presently unfilled and/or null, but still exists... somehow.


    Representative of AtlantisTorrent (Nrældir'torm) — Torm is an Atlantean of incredible magical prowess and born as a rare Atlantean meta-human. With his magical potential so great that his uncontrolled emotions could rock the world with violent storms, he is considered one of the strongest wielders of magic alive. He is a former Aqualad, however, took the title Torrent upon Joining the League. While his motivation is somewhat askew, his drive to bring pride to his culture is tried and true and he does so through example. As history repeats itself, Torm is as much a soldier as Thrall is a warrior: a reflection of the relationship between Atlantis and Themyscira. Torrent is presently the official leader of Alpha Squad.


    Bat Family EmissaryNightwing (Jessica Grayson) — Jessica Grayson is the daughter of the late Dick Grayson. She is one of two living members of the Bat Family with enough indebted respect to call on the others, including Damien Wayne. While she is nowhere near a stand in for Bruce himself, she is chosen image of the Bat Family and the representative thereof. Through the strict training of her father, her close quarters combat skills are of the most elite. Despite lacking the impressive abilities of others on the League, she has honed herself to such a skillful status that her respect is earned as much as it is demanded. Due to the impact of her father, the Grayson name and Nightwing mask carry much weight in the League.


    Green Lantern EmissaryGreen Lantern (Milo Chandler) — Milo is the newest Green Lantern for Earth. As all Green Lanterns are chosen due to their incredible willpower, Milo is a reflection of that. While he is still somewhat new as a Lantern, he has seen Earth unravel with Alcatraz and the chaos that followed the dissolution of the Justice League. Despite his humor and charm, he understands the importance of governing bodies and authority. Milo primarily involves himself with the larger scale, looking after the safety and overseeing the impact of space endeavors of Earth and making sure they abide by the laws set by the Guardians. He is often the only line of communication between Waller and the Guardians.


    League Tactician Black Beetle (Terrence McGinnis, Jr.)— Terry is the son of the original Terry McGinnis, Batman Beyond, and the biological grandson of Bruce Wayne. After the death of his father, Bruce adopted him legally and took him in to be trained. Unlike Jessica, whom became one of the greatest duelists alive, Terry was shaped into the next Batman. His wit was tested, he was sent through all the same training Bruce went through when aiming to become Batman, and he was given the Black Beetle, a modified Scarab that would implant a simulated mind of Bruce Wayne inside him. With the Black Beetle, Terry has proven to be incredibly capable and provides a large some of the networking and tactics used by the League. Terry is presently the official leader of Beta Squad.


     
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    Events
    The Battle of Alcatraz

    "Dick. Dick! What happened down there?

    ...

    ..Dick... t-talk to me."    ​

    Alcatraz, or the Battle of Alcatraz, was a tragedy that occurred three years prior to the beginning of the roleplay. R'as Al Ghul lead an invasion force to the island-prison to retrieve someone or something held there. This battle included three major adversaries from R'as in the form of two lieutenants and his own Right Hand, Asura, as well as the bulk of his army against a majority of the Justice League. The ultimate outcome was devastating defeat for the League as R'as escaped with what he wanted with minimal casualties and potentially even more than he came for. So much was lost on Alcatraz that it is still unknown what or who he retrieved from the island. Many heroes attempted to save the lives of as many civilians as possible, but the island prematurely self-destructed to prevent many of the major meta-human threats from escaping. This event resulted in R'as Al Ghul regaining power and influence the League of Assassin hadn't had in decades, the escape of dozens of dangerous Meta-human criminals and the untimely death of Nightwing (Dick Grayson) whom was caught in the island explosion.


    This event played a major role in the "death" of the Justice League and started several vain attempts to replace it with various substitutions, ranging from elite mercenaries to worldwide task forces lead by individual governments. LexCorp, the architects of Alcatraz, even proposed a global threat neutralization force called Titanguard, however, its monetary cost and investment proved too large of a burden. Not to mention, faith in the legacy left by Lex Luthor had faded. Facing terrorism, soaring global crime rates and various threats from across every corner of the globe, the United Nations determined that in a world with inhuman threats, the Justice League was a necessity. Now under new sanctions, it has been reformed as the United Justice League. As of the year 2060, a new generation of the Justice League under new leadership are facing both new and old threats.




    Twilight Hour
    "When two godlike forces collide, there is no immovable object. Only a wake of destruction.​

    Years after the era of Blackest Night and Brightest Day, a third conflict arose: the Twilight Hour. While little is historically known about this event due to the efforts to 'erase' it and 'mend' it made after, what has been passed down was solely that it was a war. A battle, more specifically. A battle between the White Lantern, Kyle Rayner, and the then-Spectre. At that time, Spectre had determined that the frequent resurrections and abuse of the White Lantern powers were becoming an abomination and that the White Lantern power in and of itself was unnatural to the Order of God.

    At first, it was a simple confrontation. An argument. While Rayner was using the abilities for what he considered good, the Spectre believed that the emotional spectrum the Lanterns used were in part the source of evil. Not just the use of fear by Sinestro, but the abuse of the great power they held.

    That disagreement escalated into a battle between the two nigh-omnipotent forces that had three distinct results: the deaths of both the host of the Spectre and Kyle Rayner, the Shattering, and the Will of Life. The losses of Spectre and Kyle Rayner were in fact the only two losses of this battle as all those lost in the conflict and the collateral damage was later undone--as if it never happened. Three days of Earthly history nearly erased with few memories intact. The Shattering was an event that split the power of the Spectre, diluting it and requiring three hosts later called Eidolon, Wraith and Spectre. And, the Will of Life was a set of divine rules much like those placed on the Spectre that limited the powers and influence of the White Lantern.




    White Light Redemption
    "They say God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, those ways are cruel."​

    In the year 2032, one of only two White Lanterns--Emily Scott--broke one of the first tenants of the Will of Life: A White Lantern must not appear on Earth. This divine rule was set in place as the powers of the White Lantern were too great in potential on a planet like Earth. Emily spent only eighteen days on Earth and did not use her powers until the very final day. Instead, members of the League, occult and even criminals were pleading with Emily, telling her she must leave or face divine wrath as Kyle Rayner did.

    The irony is that neither Eidolon, Wraith or Spectre intervened. Instead, it was humanity. While little was remembered about the Twilight Hour, enough was brought to the surface that riots, threats and even attempts on the life of the White Lantern were made. On that day, White Lantern Emily Scotts indirectly caused the deaths of 346 civilians after a failed attempt on her life in San Francisco, California. At that time, Eidolon confronted her--but not for battle like their previous incarnates.

    Eidolon explained to her that the deaths that occurred were the Will of God. Eidolon told her that he nor the other Divine Spirits would save these people and that they were directly her fault. Had she never stepped foot on Earth, each one of them would still be alive. Emily, whom was only visiting Earth out of curiosity as the planet had become akin to a forbidden fruit to the Lantern Corp, was ridden with guilt. Primarily because she understood. With the raw power of her emotions fueled by guilt and sorrow, Emily resurrected 345 people--all save the one that killed the others. She then left Earth understanding the rules place on her.

    Those resurrected by Emily were energized with raw Life Force energy, resulting in a select few gaining unique abilities or passing down that energy to their children.

     
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    Standard Equipment and Training
    WTComms v1 are the communicators used by the League, being phased in after their development. Created to specifications by Waller, these devices have been optimized by the greatest resources available to the ULJ, including Wayne Industries and LexCorp. The communicators feature a simple two-button with a rotating dial around the buttons found in its center. The top button is the basic communication button. Holding it down will allow the user to speak and a triple tap will activate a live recording mode. The bottom button is a utility button with various uses, often used for translation. The dial allows the user to switch to up to six different channels. These communicators, while simplistic, are designed for the utmost security. Any single transmission is not sent solely through radio frequencies, but split into two signals. One signal is sent to the receiver while the other is sent to the Watchtower, which is then sent to the receiver using an advanced encoding-decoding process. Up to twelve different security measures are implemented in less than .08 seconds on average, all of which are required and no single manufacturer is responsible for creating all of these measures. On-the-fly changes, including simple adjustments like volume, are impossible. Software installed on authorized League interfaces are the only method of altering channels, accessing stored audio files and changing basic settings.


    WTBand v1 is an arm-mounted display with a variety of sensors and capabilities. On the simplest level, it includes a GPS, dual 3-axis accelerometers, a 3 axis gyroscope, heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, digital compas, barometer, altimeter, and microprocessor . One could compare the WTBand to a fitness tracker, but that would vastly undermine it. For agents that opt for it, the user can install various baroreceptors, chemoreceptors, electronic diagnostic tools and mechanical sensors inside of their body that the Band can read in real time and send back to the Watchtower. The band can do far more than any Fitbit could dream of and has various other tools, including frequency scanners. When using the WTBand and WTComms together, the WTBand can pick up various signals across a large spectrum and allow the user to receive them. This can range from simple FM radio signals of the user wants to listen to music to eavesdropping on low-level encrypted conversations that the Band or its link to the Watchtower can break. Additionally, the WTBand can provide secure access to wireless alterations to the WTComms, such as altering volume and other settings.


    Watchtower Approved Devices (WAD's) are a large variety of devices, often tablets, that are connected securely to the Watchtower network for members to use outside of the Watchtower. Each device is monitored by a member of the Omega branch technology department. Security for these devices is of utmost importance. No search goes unnoticed and all activity outside of the needs of the operator is reported through the chain. WAD's may or may not come equipped capable of providing software interfacing with WTComms and WTBands and/or interfacing with the Watchtower itself for control over certain approved, automated functions; examples range as far as opening doors to requesting food. A WAD can be more sophisticated, for example, the entire Black Beetle suit is a WAD. Additionally, the Commander is equipped with a WAD attached to his arm with his WTBand integrated more thoroughly into his body. WAD's are a keystone to team success and resource management, allowing them access to global assets ranging from databases to money transfers or even translation services.


    League Identification Badge is precisely what it sounds like. Equipped with a high-security chip to be scanned, a matching DNA sequence found randomly within their genome and a GPS tracker, these badges exist for security and, obviously, to identify their owner. Every member of the League has one and every member of the League is given their own code and number. Older members of the League, such as Wonder Woman and the original Superman, reserve their original identification numbers. League Badges also contain a three millimeter inserted chip which has access to significant funds across the globe. These 'chips' have effectively replaced credit and/or debit cards in security and safety and are most commonly found as inserts into phones (comparable to SIM cards), although they can be in other devices or security cards.


    League Training and ExpectationsWaller runs the League very comparably to a branch of the military. It is structured and virtually every member belongs somewhere. One of the most stressed factors of the system is that no one branch is more important than the others. This is generally not a problem for the active branches, such as Alpha, Beta and Gamma; but, there often exists a slight stigma against the Omega Branch. The Omegas are the noncombatants and/or non-field agents of the League. Their skills range from the technology departments to security to maintenance even to the cooks aboard the Watchtower. One of the primary expectations is that League members not discriminate against those of other branches. Furthermore, each active member of the League should be capable of passing the same level of basic training, including an adaptive CQC course, communications and systems training and physical conditioning. The League presently does have any level of true jurisdiction in regards to local governments. The expectation is to follow the chain of command using closed communication with superiors until a resolution has been reached. The reason for this are the conventions created by the UN in accordance to recreating the League. While League members hold no jurisdiction over any one law enforcement agency, it is expected that any nation that is a member of the UN educate their officers that if a member of the League with a badge intervenes, they are allotted precisely sixty minutes to have their superiors or their superiors' superiors all the way up to Waller himself resolve the situation by coming to an agreement with the agency in question. Other expectations include the mentality of the 'least damage possible', 'no casualties' and the 'good of public well-being over completion of a mission' acting as edicts for any one agent to keep in mind in the field. Members of the League are also expected to act ethically; turning in any potentially illegal actions or actions that would otherwise be a detriment to the League.


     
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    Posting Standards and Guidelines

    Posting requirements, in my opinion, are not necessarily high. A minimum of one post per four days with lenience to major events and illness. However, I don't necessarily measure posts by the individual roleplayer, but by the group one is in. I like to see a full post cycle, which means a single post from everyone in a group and/or scene, in roughly two-to-three days ideally. I stress the word 'ideally' as I know that isn't always possible, but that would roughly equate to two post cycles per week and with the average group being three or four players, that comes out to six-to-eight total posts per week per group. That keeps the scenes flowing smooth and the plot fluid. There is a minimum and there is an ideal, so it's effectively common knowledge that you should aim for and what you need to do to maintain activity in the roleplay. If you cannot meet the minimum, just message me personally. If it's short-term, you may allow me or someone else to 'puppet' your character. If it's long-term, which has happened, I will work around it, likely involving minimal character puppetry to logically remove them from the spotlight until you return. This is not a big deal and I will gladly do it as long as I am alerted to it.


    Before I move on to quality, I want to discuss structure because I feel it is more important. Beta Protocol will use a simple action-reaction narrative system. Unless called for by a sheet or some unique dynamic, there will be no dice. Instead, every post will treat all prior posts as 'actions' having priority over it and thus be reactive. In some cases, a discrepancy in continuity or preference may open up communication between players for editing, ie retconning, events to play out in a more preferable way. I generally do not mind this as long as it is within one or two post cycles of the post. If it goes back much further, I believe it's important for some type of GM intervention to keep everything clean. Each post then is part reactive and part active. Reason being, the post must first react to what has gone on before it, then must build off of that reaction to a new action for other posts to react to. This is allows for a constant stream of guided, yet still open-ended reactions for other players.


    Now onto quality. Across the board, there are hugely different standards and preference. At times, I have seen one-line replies work fine for transitions. Keyword: transitions. Even I am guilty of this, although it is normally when replying to a large group of people. Nevertheless, this should not be habitual. There are only two reasons I should ever see a one-liner: it's either an incredibly badass reply that justifies it or in its context more writing would just be 'fluff' material. While the former might get more lenience from me, I still don't want to see it often. Lessens the impact. For the latter, if you follow the action-reaction structure above, you should not often if ever be put in positions that result in fluff material to that extent. That all said, avoid one-liners, but I'm not going to hound you for using them in strict moderation. Onto real standards: bare minimum, I want to see two developed paragraphs per post--or at the very least, two paragraphs worth of information. In school, the rule of thumb was four complete sentences. This isn't school. I don't care if you're a block writer and your sentences are lengthy. Just make it coherent and logical, and I'll likely let it fly. The point is, I want to see two separate trains of thought: your reactive train and your active train. Essentially, show me how you're responding to what has happened and what you are proactively doing. I want to be able to see two well-constructed parts to a post minimum. As long as you have that, I'm fine with how you post.


    There are two obvious exceptions here: starting posts and transition posts. Starting posts don't 'react' to anything. In these cases, replace the 'reaction' portion of a post with a general 'description' portion of the post. When I think of this, Tuck Everlasting always comes to mind as it painted very vivid images in my head of the setting, but often did little else in the beginning. Instead of reacting, paint a picture of what's going on. Valid replacement. Transitions, however, are a little tougher. There are a few valid ways to do transitions. The cold cut method is to literally have no reactive portion to the transition and basically make a new starting post. This works, although it's not clean. A variation of this cold cut method is to use subtle hints, dialogue or some narrative technique to reference what happened in the gap. This is one of the more difficult techniques to execute, but one of my favorites if done correctly. The second method I see often is called the synoptic transition. This method basically replaces the reactive part with a short summary of what happened between the last post(s) and the current one, then does the scene description. This is less fancy, but it's just as clean and significantly easier. Also less room for error because it tends to be clear. Any method will work, but they are all variations from the action-reaction setup.


    tl:dr 4 day post requirement, contact me if you can't make it; 2 paragraph minimum, react to previous stuff, act out what you will be doing; one-liners should only be used judiciously if at all; new posts and transitions need to be done well.

    Addendum A rule for all posters is the inclusion of a side code containing your specific location (within a thread) and those that you would tag. You may add whatever else you want to it, but the requirements are as follows:

    Code: 
    [side=left/right][b]Location:[/b]
[b]Tags:[/b][/side]

     
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    Collaboration Guidelines
    It was brought to my attention that collaborative writing is somewhat foreign to most and may be difficult to transition to. I'm specifically referring to the use of Google Docs, not the onsite functionality nor the use of PM's back and forth. The first thing I want to bring up are the pros and cons of collaborative writing for roleplay. As pros go, one of the biggest is the level of detail and fluidity writing can get to. With a collaboration post, you are working closely with another writer/roleplayer to create a scene from start to finish and that will 'evolve' the writing in a way you cannot achieve alone. My second point trails from one I just made: start to finish. With a collaboration post, once the scene is finished, you have the opportunity to go back over it and 'optimize it' in the same way you would improve a rough draft. Some people find this tedious, some people love to see how they and their partner(s) can improve something they just made. Retrospective writing is a powerful tool. With collaboration techniques, you can also write a lot more content in a shorter period of time due to not needing to make whole posts back and forth. Smaller chunks of a large whole are more logical and fluid, leading to less filler and fluff and often more detail-oriented and action-packed results. Lastly, collaboration only gets better the more you do it with others, specifically if you continue to do it with the same people. It is a great way to establish rapport and strength friendships.


    Now on to the cons. Collaboration effectively requires schedule alignment. While you may not need to be on at the same time, if you don't have at least some time together, you won't be able to achieve the intimate level of edition and integration you could if you were there together. I have seen this overcome by first writing the 'large chunks' of replies similar to normal posting, then returning at a fixed time for a few hours to go over the gaps together. Even still, you need to establish that time frame. If you can't, it's likely better you simply post normally. Another con is the amount of time a proper collaboration post may take. With practice, you can have a week's worth of posting done in two days and it be up. But, if it takes six days to make a single post, then you put two people behind in posting and potentially hold up an entire scene for no valid reason. I have seen this overcome by people that like to collab post by simply waiting for parts of the RP that their posts do not affect others or to create 'bubbles' of time that they can insert past posts. I've done that before with people I enjoy collaborating with and it's fun, but it did require I was active with the same character in the IC at present time. Not a big deal for me, might be for others. The last con is probably the biggest one: writer incompatibility. Not every roleplayer/writer is going to work well together in collaboration. We're here to have fun and sometimes that is not achieved through collaboration. It's not personal, either, but our characters are very dear to us and things can get personal quick. I have seen collaborations be amazing creations with quality and entertainment value beyond what any individual could do alone, and I have also seen them dissolve friendships and interfere with roleplay. My suggestion: if you don't think things are working, cut the collab to an end, taper it off, post it, then return to normal posting.


    Now, if I haven't dissuaded you from collaborative posting, good! It can be an amazing thing that I encourage highly--if done right. I'm going to list a few tips to increase the chance for successful collaboration:

    1. Already have a working roleplay relationship with the person. This isn't necessary, but I have found that if you know how the other individual writes and enjoy it, you have a higher chance of succeeding in collaboration with them. Additionally, if you've roleplayed with them a long time, you both already have some idea of your dynamics and that can be a beneficial foundation for collaboration.

    2. Ensure timing and scheduling before you begin. I hit on this hard earlier and I will again. Aside from writer compatibility, this is the key factor to collaboration success. If collaborations become a time-consuming endeavor instead of a time-saving delight, something is wrong.

    3. Be willing to compromise. A collaboration post is not just your post. It is a split between you and another, although sometimes one player does run more of the post due to NPC's and setting. Nonetheless, there are times you will have to give a little to get a little and if that isn't your style, collaboration may not be right for you.

    4. Be willing to let another person edit/delete parts of what you have written. This works both ways. Each player needs to understand that a collaboration post is an open-editing system. Sometimes, a player will go back and overwrite what is already written to 'interject' or alter what was said for a change in pace, dialogue or continuity. I encourage discussion before doing this is some lines of communication. For instance, one person I have collab'd with insisted that whenever I wanted to discuss something, I put a '~' sign in his writing and we would stop to discuss. The benefits to this are more natural, fluid writing and a lot wider variety of techniques that can be used. Still, some people dislike this. I personally find it one of the greatest benefits to collaboration, but I know some people that still successfully do so without ever having another person edit their content. To each their own, but I encourage some level of flexibility. Google Docs has a setting to let you go back in the past to get back anything deleted if you want it back.

    5. Define when you're done. It is easy to get carried away with a collab. Just as I said before, one of the cons is how a collab can eat up a ton of time others could be responding to. Similarly, lengthy posts are less likely to be read, be seen as troublesome or stall out time. Break things up into chunks. Give yourself a break. Don't spend a week on a collab. If you're excited and have the energy, fine, but I find it important to know when to quit. I also find it important that even if you are collaborating, you need to keep the interests of the other roleplayers in mind as well. Enjoy yourself, but don't overburden others. Collaboration posts are some of the most fun to read, but if it's worth 24 pages, it's tedious and not everyone might enjoy it. Break it up into 4 parts and I assure you, it will receive better acclaim.

    6. Don't forget the action-reaction system. A collaboration is an approach to writing that requires more teamwork. Another roleplayer/writer cannot read your mind. While you can save time and details collaborating, events still need to be fleshed out enough that others can react to. This is most true when setting scenes, in combat or in high character engagement scenarios. I cannot stress this phrase enough 'the other player is not a mind-reader'; you have to provide sufficient detail for an effective response. Quite often, a collaboration cuts the action-reaction system down to a single sentence (or two or three) being the action and reaction combined. That is absolutely fine if done correctly. But, when condensing it down, you need to reread it and ask yourself: could I respond to this if I was writing for character X? If not, you need to elaborate more on what Character Y is doing.



    tl:dr if you're not going to read it all, then just don't make an attempt at collaboration posting. It's an advanced posting technique.


     
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    Character Creation Guidelines
    • If you have made it this far, you've either read through the bulk of text above to get here or followed the other set of directions and jumped down here to see what it takes. The first question most people ask is 'how much do I need to read'? Almost everyone asks that, don't worry. Unless you want to make current or recent events part of your character history, there actually isn't much of a reason to read the IC while making a character. Also, new characters are often integrated into the RP by the Mayor of a City. You can find that list on the front page of the OOC. The other great guy to ask is @LokiofSP! He's my official character adviser and has done some amazing work helping others. Anyway, no real need to read much of the IC (unless you want to), so what do you need? Well, this. I made this post to give you a good idea of how things are ran. The introduction at the top should give you a good idea of how the RP is setup, the Events only list major, recent, universal events that effect just about every character and the Standard Equipment and Training tab will get you up to date with what a proper League member should have access to and be capable of doing. The Council isn't honestly as necessary to read, but I did believe it served a better purpose on this particular post for the sake of completion.


      I guide most people through making a character, so I'm going to reiterate the top three things I hit all the time: 1) the setting is based on low-to-no power heroes 2) make a character that fits the themes you see and 3) make a character you will enjoy for a long time to come, not a spontaneous urge. Now, you may see some characters that are not low-to-no power. Most of those are either plot-oriented, like council members; villains; or, anti-heroes. Player character villains and anti-heroes are given a slight lee-way, but at the cost of danger to their own character; being a villain and/or anti-hero is a dangerous job that I take seriously. Character death or imprisonment is a reality in this RP.


      Alright, so you've got it stuck in your mind: low-to-no power, proper theme, something you'll enjoy. The next step I would take is which city? Something I haven't discussed before are the different cities. Presently, there is Star City, Bludhaven and Gotham. This is where I will tell you that, yes, there may be some reading needed. The first post of each IC city gives a general description of the city. You may want to read that, but honestly, your best bet is to just ask the mayor or other members. Nothing is quite as effective as getting the opinions of others for how a city runs or feels to play in, and do trust me, they all play quite differently.


      First two steps down, now I want to run into some of the problems I see. First is the timeline. The RP is set in 2060. Think through ages and generations. Moving on from that, the RP uses the DC animated universe timeline. This is not Teen Titans. This is not Young Justice. Both of those timelines are WELL off what this one is. Beta Protocol most closely lines up with Justice League and Batman Beyond. I took a long time fixing the timelines, so at least try to keep within flexibility of them. The other big issue I see a lot is wanting to be a descendant of a character already used. Now, this actually isn't a huge problem. In fact, it has been two generations since the first set of DC characters was active. The problem is that most people must share parents or at least be cousins, so they go on thinking their parent was an only child. To keep options open, that's not true. Easiest way to figure out just where your family tree lines up? Ask. Some characters haven't been used! Some already have cousins. Not a big deal and in fact I love the depth it adds, but it does need straightened out.


      Those three things combined are basically the biggest hurdles to character creation. After that, feel free to get creative. My suggestion would be to contact either Loki or I after you have a rough draft to get some input. We love to make sure characters fit Beta Protocol and that they are not just a character that YOU enjoy, but that everyone enjoys as an addition to this roleplay.


      Things to avoid: the Speed Force, most canon aliens (e.g. Kryptonians and Martians), gene-splicing, high-end super suits, highly-destructive capabilities...
     
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