Fandom Peace Sign Academia Approval Guidebook

[Idea]

Below you will find a set of instructions for the use of the co-GMs and reference for others, as means to review new characters coming into the roleplay. This review guidebook is not being written for that reason alone, however, as I also hope that it helps new players have a better idea of what to do or avoid, and helps renew trust with some of the members with whom I have more...disagreements let's call it, and others of course, by means of bigger transparency about the reasoning and criteria of the reviews. Hopefully as this guidebook is unveiled, I can also expand the authority of the co-GMs, and allow me to delegate some of the responsability over to them, thus in turn allowing me to focus on other aspects of the OOC and IC and allowing new characters to come in even if I find myself too busy to do so myself.

This version of the approval guidebook is still, however, a first draft. The intros are awfully written and the whole thing is kind of rush. It's missing much of the nuance and some of the parts are not yet clear. A second and third versions will be coming out soon, with the second being the first with which co-GMs will experiment. However I will be posting this one first so that people can start getting used to it's format. As the new versions come out, I may be conducting a revamping of some of the rules too, to accomodat realizations I made while producing these.

Edit: The below is the second draft of the approval guidebook and can now be used by co-GMs to approve characters

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Approval Guidebook​

 

[Idea]

PSA Approval Guidebook (1st Year)

Rules of the Guidebook:

1.The PSA approval guidebook is a public tool, available to my co-GMs and myself to aid in reviews, to the members of our roleplay who are making characters and want to narrow the chances of spending a long time in review or increase those of being approved right away, and to anyone who wants to draw from it to inspire either other works like it or even as a basis for reviews within one’s own roleplay.

2. The guidebook is always subject to change, especially during production.

3. The usage of the totality of the guidebook is mandatory for co-GMs for their reviews.

Terminology of the Guidebook:

TBA

How to Use the Guidebook:

The PSA approval guidebook is a tool for usage within the PSA roleplay. While one certainly can take from it to extrapolate into other roleplays, it is designed specifically for the aforementioned roleplay. I do intend to one day produce a more universal one for all my roleplays, but at the moment this one is crafted specifically to be used in the Peace Sign Academia Roleplay.

While reviewing, one ought to consult the guide for each part of the CS, strictly following the guidebook’s criteria unless otherwise demanded by the GM due to any particular exceptional event. The rules in the “general” category apply regardless of which section of the character one is currently going over. Any criteria that refers to a different part of the CS than the one being looked over should also be taken into account while reviewing that part of the CS, even if not present in there.

In terms of content, the guidebook offers four kinds of it for each part of the CS. The function is what the part of the CS is supposed to contain, for example, the name section has the function of being the character’s real name. As such when one fills the CS, the name section has to contain the character’s real name as it’s content.

Next the Guidebook has “importance”. This specific section is meant to help deal with nuances or doubts during the reviewing process as often one may find themselves in a case where they can’t tell clearly whether the criteria applies. While it is, as a rule of thumb, recommendable that one asks me for clarification, the importance may also be referred to to justify lenience or harshness in one’s judgement. It refers to the point of having a particular element in the CS and to how this element should manifest itself in the IC roleplay. If there is doubt of the thing question being accepted or not by the criteria, so long as it is without doubt something aligned with the point of that element in the CS, then it should be alright.

The guidebook’s central piece is the criteria. Criteria are statements that describe the contents of a proper CS. So long as a CS fully matches the criteria here given, it is alright to approve. Otherwise, a CS cannot be approved. In the criteria one is gonna find examples and exceptions as well. The examples are usually found within the criteria itself, but the exceptions are marked separately. It is important to note some criteria are subjective or very nuanced in essence, that being one of the bigger difficulties in developing this guide and something that made me hesitate to ever make it, as it is often within that subjective vision that the biggest differences in vision clash. Sometimes a criteria will contain an additional longer description beneath it, pertaining to further clarification about the criteria or a justification for it, but such is not necessary.

Lastly, there are the footnotes. Footnotes will often either express an ideal scenario that should be promoted, an abhorrent but allowed scenario that should be avoided or some other instruction for reviewers or players regarding that element of the CS.


Review Rules:


A)General-

Function: Rules applying to all sections of the character or the character as a whole

Importance: No need to describe this for this one

Criteria:

1.Rules are not optional, and are therefore subject to be changed. However, they are also to be followed, complemented (never replaced) by the common sense and gut of the reviewer.

2. In case of an error with a review, should the error be anything of significance or gravity, one may have to request the further editing of the character to correct this error, as well as any IC where that error was relevant.

3.Nothing not present in the CS is considered approved. Nothing edited into the CS post approval and without specific confirmation of being approvable is considered approved. Nothing already retracted by any change to the RP in general or prior rule is considered approved. All of these can be rejected if they show up IC regardless of circumstance.

4.All parts of the CS not written as “optional” must be either be present in the posted CS or be sent by PM to the reviewer and to me (the latter if they are part of the secret system). Hiding anything or “I’ll figure it out in the RP” or equivalents are not permitted.

5.A CS marked “WIP” should not be reviewed.

6.Reviewing a character implies the responsibility to reveal the secrets when and only when the appropriate conditions are met.

Exception: Secrets can be discussed with me and with the player in question at all times, and they can be revealed to everyone should the player attempt to go against the information in them or lie in an IC-impacting manner.

7.In case of doubt or dispute over the contents of this guidebook, I am to be consulted. Furthermore, a player has the right to request I review their characters instead should they believe they are being treated unfairly by the reviewer or want a different perspective. This right does not exist backwards.

8.Any particular character has 1 month for review. After that it’s rejected with the possibility of the player being banned. If they are not able to fill a character sheet in a month, it’s unlikely they will be able to keep up with the roleplay at all.

Exception: Players who have already proven to be active with another character are simply making a new one without abandoning that other character are permitted a longer period.

9.This guidebook refers only to the first year of the PSA and it’s students and staff members, however it may contain relevant details regarding the PSA’s second year.

10.If part of the CS is misplaced, the reviewer ought to instruct the player to move it to the correct location before reviewing that part of the CS.

11. Players are allowed to alter the code, order and even add content to the CS if they so please, provided they are aware of the potential consequences that may cause and that new content is not exempt from review. I am to be called should one have such content in their CS.

12.The approval guidebook is a tool, an abridged version of the process and principles used to review characters. It’s existence and the conformance to it’s words do not necessarily exempt one from being rejected or kicked by me, as it can be defective by my mistake. On that note, the criteria of the guidebook is subject to change should I realize some part of it is wrong or ultimately something that harms or threatens the RP to a bigger extent than it’s supposed benefit.

13.As per the introduction of this version of the guidebook, players shall no longer require re-approval post editing a character, provided they inform myself and at least 1 co-GM of the fact AND all edits made are approved by me. No edits like these can contradict past information given IC by me or by the player’s themselves. However, specific players will instead be banned from editing their characters at all (none at the moment of implementation as this is a new system), with this list being comprised of players who have recently had disruptive behaviour to the order of the roleplay.

14.Every written part of the CS has to be legible and possible for the reviewer to understand. If any part is difficult or unclear, the reviewer ought to ask about it.

15.While it is permissible for the players to have a CS where they indirectly express the CS’s contents or do so via the mouth/eyes/mind of a character, as of the introduction of this guideline those must be accompanied by an equivalent in the regular format of CS. That equivalent can be anywhere so long as it is in the character section and the reviewer is made aware of it. References to a fandom for explanation have to be perfectly understood by the reviewer and myself.

16.The CS’s contents cannot self-contradict nor contradict the established lore, plot or IC.

17.Character’s cannot have any abilities or powers of any kind outside of their quirk.

18.No character and no part of a character ought to be directly taken from a fandom. Similar concepts or aspects of a character may reassemble that of a fandom character, but no elements of a fandom’s universe, reference to or insinuation of that fandom’s universe as existing, or plagiarism of a character from that fandom are permitted.

Exception: Players are allowed to mention and incorporate fandoms if they remain fandoms, this is, if they are in-universe also just fandoms with no other implications beyond perhaps being a fan of it or something similar.

19.Magic ought not to be present in any part of the CS. Magic is characterized by a potentially physical process having an effect outside of any physical process. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, applying a cause and effect that don’t connect in any way between two physical processes or a physical process selecting something that can’t be a physical factor (example: a quirk creating a sword from a legend can’t be done because the legend is a cultural idea, not anything physical. Creating a sword with that other sword’s properties may be possible, however, provided one can make it into a single quirk)(example2: ). Outside of quirks anything outside of what would be possible normally is to be considered magic.

20. Any ridiculously small CSs can be banned without any reason beyond this (but of course the person ought to be informed this is the cause)

21. If, within the same section of the CS, two phrasing convey synonimous notions about the character, they are considered the same for counting purposes.

Footnotes:

N/A


B)Name-

Function: The character’s real name

Importance: A character requires a name for their identification. New names can be created by other characters for them, or they may even take up an alias, but one needs to know what their real name would be for matters that regard them in a more personal or official manner.

Criteria:

1.The name ought not to be silly or offensive to the readers.

This is your character. A real person. And we, the other players, are also supposed to take it seriously. But it’s not easy taking you seriously if the first piece of info about your character is their name is “Dumb Dumbo” or something along those lines. As for what consists of a silly or offensive name, that is what the reviewer finds to be a purposefully joke name or purposely offensive name. If the reviewer gets that impression, at the very least they can assume others might take it that way as well, even if they don’t automatically assume the person actually purpose made a joke or offensive name. If they don’t get that impression, then it should be ok to let it pass, for example when the joke is in the meaning of the name in Japanese.

Exception: If the point IS to explore the character having lived with this silly name (and such is evident by the rest of the CS) and it is an active part of the character, then it is ok to pass it regardless. The same does not apply for offensive names however.

2. The name ought to be conceivable within the cultural context.

This is a much simpler criteria that merely states if you have parents of a certain country, were raised in that country with values of that country and such, then you would not have a name from a different country. I myself may have missed a few of these, but in the future, this criteria shall be implement with more care.

3. The name here specified has to be the birth name, the one they currently go by (nicknames aside) and the one on the records as their official name. If they are different all names ought to be specified and labelled according to which they are.

In roleplay and in real life alike, name changing is a real phenomenon, as is hiding one’s identity. This is fine, but it doesn’t mean one’s real name and in particular their official name are not important (by real name I here mean the one they were born with, whereas the official name is either that or one they have changed it to by legal means), much less to me the GM. For the sake of consistency, identification and lessening of confusion, all these relevant names must therefore be specified.

4. A character’s name cannot be the same as another character’s.

It can be extremely confusing and logistically troubling to have two characters with the same name in the same roleplay.


Footnotes:

N/A



C) Nickname-

Function: Alternative names a character is typically called, calls themselves, go by or which they have been called in the past and are significant to them.

Importance: An alternative name that can make it easier to name the character in post, be used to recognize an old or new relationship or otherwise hold personal significance at an emotional level.

Criteria:

1. Cannot be offensive

The nicknames given cannot be offensive to the players, in the same way they couln’t for the name. However, they can be silly, unlike the names.


Footnotes:

Nicknames are very free and can be given IC as well, then added into the sheet with edits.


D) Hero Name-

Function: The hero name is the hero attributed to you by the masses after you begin doing hero work.

Importance: The hero name is an important aspect of one’s image as a hero, as well as the namely legally responsible and meritable for one’s feats, both in victory and loss, as a hero. They are also often used to designate a hero instead of their real names, possibly due to the relative ease of calling someone “Deku” instead of “Izuko Midoryia”.

Criteria:

1. A hero name does not require an epithet, but if they have one, then that epithet is part of their hero name as well. Do note that this regards the hero names in the roleplay, not the ones from the show.

2. The hero name must not be taken by anyone else, including characters from the show and including the epithet if they have one.

3. A hero name, while it can sound a bit menacing, it must not scream “villain!”. This respects mostly teacher characters as student characters don’t actually have the name yet, but overly obvious cases are to be pushed back as well. Whether a name falls into this criteria is up to the gut of the reviewer.

4. Apart from the Epithet, a hero name ought to be three words or less.

Footnotes:

*While you may register a different name or go by a different name, in the end of the day your reputation as a hero will be solidified only under that name the masses give you. So, work hard on those first impressions I suppose!

*It is important to note, therefore, that until you start doing hero work, as an actual hero or sidekick or as a student in an internship, your hero name is not guaranteed nor attributed. You don’t have a hero name before then. On the other hand, after you are a pro for a while, you can’t change it either. And in there therelies the difference between students and teachers. The students are merely hoping for specific hero names while the teachers are stuck with them regardless of liking them or not. Keep this info in mind when reviewing the backstory as well.




E) Age-

Function: The time since the birth of a character

Criteria:

1. Students are to be between 15 and 16 years old, and teachers between 23 and 50.


The students of the PSA are just entering highschool, at a new hero academia no less, so they ought to be of the right age 15 or 16 years old. As for teachers, something along the lines of 23 would be the absolute minimum, with about 50 being the maximum. The teachers have had a teacher together and they must know at least the principal or someone connected to the principal directly, as they were invited and helped construct the PSA. They must also have had enough time to establish themselves as hero failures, however, they mustn’t be so old they would be aware of the hidden facts of society, the presence of All for One and his time, for example.

Exception: There are two exceptions to the student age boundaries, one which allows them to be younger and another which allows them to be older. However, I will not be making explicit what these are in this guidebook for fear it may incentivize people to take these exceptions when they are supposed to be extremely rare cases.

2. Players may add a date and time of birth, however, this is not mandatory.

Footnotes:

N/A


F) Gender -

Function: The official registered gender of the character

Importance: Many logistic and in-universe aspects require a distinction of genders, namely the dorms.

Criteria:

1.Characters can only either be male or female, and this must correspond to their physical gender

Exception: Sometimes, a character’s physiology may prevent them from having a regular gender. In this case, the character will still be assigned either the male or female dorm depending on which you register for, though these characters risk being moved or kicked out of the PSA should their motives for this be found to be perverse. In the CS, these characters are to have both the explanation of what their gender actually is and the one they are registered for in their gender section.

Footnotes:

N/A


G) Chosen Extra Class-

Function: The PSA provided course your character chose to take by the side of just the usual hero course

Importance: I want to create the possibility for failure and create additional diversity. These characters are coming to a second-rate hero school and ought not to be the kind who’d be at UA to begin with, so naturally some are expected to fail to become heroes in the end of the day, and these classes do give them the opportunity not to success but still not be totally lost. In addition to that, the different classes may provide different benefits in battle from what one learns or does in them.

Criteria:

1.All students must pick one and only one of the extra classes assigned to their year

2.If there is a 10 person gap between any of the classes, that class is to be considered locked and no one can be approved for that class until that distance is of four or less.

Exception: The general studies class, due to having multiple teachers and later splitting into more than a single class, is permitted to have up to twice the amount of the class with the lowest student count. When that happens a similar lock will be put in place for general studies until the lowest counting class has at least 2/3rds of the general studies class count.

Footnotes:

N/A



H) Staff Role-

Function: The profession within the school or task they are in charge of within the school

Importance: Teachers having different roles helps us divide the work between the classes, and justifies the sheer amount of staff that would come out of our ideal distribution, not to mention just making sense in general for teachers to have specific roles in the school.

Criteria:

1.No staff roles can be taken that were neither currently available nor approved by me beforehand. Staff roles are considered to unavailable if at least 1 person took it. The exceptions for now are the general studies and security guards, as well as one cooking role.

2.Staff roles cannot overlap with one another in the subject they teach, for now.

3.There are three available general studies spots at the start, each with their own broad specialty within academic matters that they teach in general studies. This specialty must be indicated and it can’t overlap with another subject either.

4.Security Guard Roles currently have no limited numbers, but they must be largely unqualified as heroes, even way more so than other teachers

5.There is one cook role available as the head cook is the NPC. Another one may open in the future.

6.Taking the role of a staff members means you are willing to make a character who actually performs those functions. Those who do not will possibly see their character banned.

7.Staff roles apply only to roles within and for the PSA as a school

Footnotes:

*Previously known as “what they will teach”

*The PSA has a rotating teacher system, where a teacher for the first year class will remain with them for all three years, thus a first year teacher will be a second year teacher the following year. The current first year teachers are the first to teach at all, though other teacher may already be making themselves available and preparing.



I)Appearance-

Function: A representation, written or visual, of how your character looks.

Importance: A character’s appearance helps a player envision a particular scene and sometimes carries important details about the character that wouldn’t be found (or could be but just aren’t) in other areas of the CS, especially when these aspects are quirk-related.

Criteria:

1.Hopefully it won’t come as a shocker that these images must be strictly under RPN rules. When in doubt, it’s not.

2.No boku no hero cannon characters (this includes every part of boku no hero, namely the spin-off, OVAs and original manga) as pics!

3.Only anime pics, pics drawn in an anime-like style or pure descriptions! Mixes of the previously mentioned also allowed.

4.Any part of the image not directly described and accepted is not necessarily considered to have been approved even if the character has. So if the character has a giant claw in their hand in the pic, unless such is specified elsewhere in the CS and is approved, the character is considered to have a normal hand.

5.Any changes to the appearance of the character not directly related AND resulting from the quirk cannot bear a functional purpose and must be merely aesthetic

6.Any differences from the used pic and from a normal human being have to be reported in a description

7.The appearance must actually lets us see how the character looks, in particular the face, not just their attire, accessories, masks or whatever else may be covering them

Footnotes:

N/A



J)Hero Costume-

Function: The equipment your character wears and/or uses as a hero costume and/or to perform any hero activities or hero training

Importance: One of the requirements to be a hero is to have a hero costume. However, sometimes hero costumes bear extraordinary capabilities or can improve a quirk to a dangerous extent, and so they require regulation.

Criteria:

1.The absolute limit of technology is light power armor, a suit from weak metal (like really weak metal) whose mechanisms exist only to help support the wearing of armour and continuing to be able to move. In fact, as norm, any and all tech ought to be at minimally related to one’s quirk, even if it’s not a direct connection.

Exception: Technology directly related to one’s quirk (either by allowing or directly complementing it’s use or by being outright made from a person’s body thus sharing a use of the quirk) can also exist in small amounts, either focused (example: Bakugou’s gauntlets) or spread out (example: Mirio’s costume made from his hair).

2.Unless directly spawning from one’s own quirk and limited to only a concentrated location (example: Bakugou’s gauntlets) or thinly spread out (example: Mirio’s costume which has his hair and thus can phase when he does) special materials are not allowed for a student’s hero costume.

Exception: If one needs to make up a material for the pratical usability of the quirk, this may be allowed, however they must be approved by me directly.

3.Any and all weaponry whose intuitive purpose is to cause anything that falls into permanent damage or is likely to in it’s average use (even in conjunction with the quirk) is banned.

4.Very resistant armour is only permitted in specifics parts of the body.

5.The Hero Costume Cannot be Magic

6.The hero costume cannot expose censor-demanding amounts of skin

7.The hero costume musn’t be able to alter how a quirk actually functions, only help fuel it’s usual function if that.

8.Students are allowed to request a hero costume be attributed to them instead of them choosing one. If the player wishes to do this, as of this guidebook’s posting, they can write [random] in the hero costume section. However, if they do so, they will have to accept whatever hero costume they are attributed, no going back on that decision.


Footnotes:

*The hero costume is more than just some random armor, it’s a tool and an expression of yourself all rolled into one. Even as a tool, the impression it makes may be more relevant than it’s utility within the mindset of boku no hero. As such, in it’s ideal, the hero costume ought to be an expression of one’s style or image, of the kind of hero they wish to be for others or that they see themselves as or wish to become



K)Height and Weight-

Function: The character’s maximum standard height and average weight

Importance: Height and weight can not just affect interaction between characters and create particular dynamics but they may also be relevant to particular concrete limits. Introduced by community vote.

Criteria:

1.A character must be able to fit within the dorms without having to be bent all the time.

2.A character’s weight should be given a reasonable weight regarding their height and other aspects of the character, namely age, physique and quirk. I realize this is a very subjective way to put it, but this really is one part I must leave to the reviewer’s discretion.

3.Height is to be measured in feet or using the metric system. Weight is to be measured using either kilograms or pounds.

Footnotes:

N/A


L)Personality-

Function: how the character behaves, thinks what they try to do or be, their aspirations, tendencies, traumas, qualities and faults...

Importance: Not only does the description of the personality help get an idea of who the character is and what interactions may come out of them, but it also allows me to better design situations that will believably challenge your character, help them grow, put them to the test or even make them fail at a goal in a believable and organic manner. I cannot underestimate how important failing is, in particular, as without it there will not be progress, just stagnation.

Criteria:

1.A character’s personality cannot be in constant radical change nor self-contradict. They are, however, allowed to have slight differences for certain different circumstances regarding specific traits, but those circumstances must be concrete, mentioned and justified. In other words, if your character acts in one way in a particular circumstance and in another way in another I must be told what exactly causes that change and why it is changed.

2.While a character’s facade does go into the personality, it should be in minority by comparison with the description of their real persona. The same goes for any unstable part of a character’s personality.

3.Skills, backstory, relationships and perceived notions are not personality traits. I don’t care how good you are at something, that’s not your personality. What happened in your past is not your personality. Who you get along with and how is not your personality (though tendencies to this can be) and how others see you is not your personality. All of these can have an influence in your personality, but none is part of it.

4.One’s goals and beliefs are part of the personality, but they should not constitute the bulk of it.

5.If the entire personality can be summed up to one idea or simple sentence without leaving any major detail out, it’s considered a one-dimensional character and needs to be expanded upon.

6.A personality should contain a bare minimum of five sentences, however the larger and more detailed personality, the better, so increasing one’s personality ought to be encouraged.

7.The minimum amount of serious flaws a character needs should be more or less proportional to the amount of qualities they possess. The definition of serious flaw can be found in the first page of the OOC. Any contradiction of the flaw, justification for when it is applied (by which I mean justifying that it is for a good reason, like if a character is only unforgiving when the other person is “truly evil”) or wording suggesting mildness such as “slightly”, “maybe” or “sometimes” is grounds for disqualification.

Exception: If the character’s own qualities are extremely mild or practically nonexistent, a two-thirds approach is better as for the number of required flaws, as the character is already not exactly a shining paragon.

Exception2: If the justification for a serious flaw is explicitly stated to be only of the character’s perception, and not a real justification, then the flaw may still be accounted as a serious flaw.

8.In extremely rare cases, a character may be overflawed. These cases are when the character is a bundle of serious flaws with only one maybe two weak redeeming qualities. In these cases, one is to request the adding of more qualities.

9.A personality cannot encourage the breaking of regulations, as this both risks breaking the plot and would get the character kicked almost immediately.

Exception: Accidental playful troublemaking is ok. So long as a character is responsive to threats from the authority, is not actively trying to break the rules (in particular for the sake of it) and is just being a little careless here and there or accidentally breaking them in the process of making a small prank on a colleague, then it’s fine. This exception does not apply for teacher characters.

10.Students characters should not be overly experienced. You’re playing a kid, don’t try to make some wise old man or hardened by battle though guy. Not to say either of those archetypes are completely banned, but it should come across why your character, a kid, is acting that way either in the personality or the backstory.

11.Personalities ought to be human personalities. Depending on the upbringing or quirk, certain inhuman tendencies may manifest, but ultimately they still ought to be human. They need to have emotions even if they don’t express them and they need to be able to communicate and act within society instead of being completely bestial, and so on...

Footnotes:

*Characters are always magnified. There is no helping it. You can’t condense an actual person into writing, especially something so short as a CS, but characters, while close to people, are still fundamentally different from them. More important than matching the exact idea of being a person is the character having the potential to be one and being expressed as an individual that adds to the roleplay rather than just being a proxy



M)Likes, dislikes, fears and mannerisms-

Function: Things which your character greatly enjoys or utterly loves, which they utterly hate, something they are completely terrified of and their simple everyday habits and quirks (not the superpower kind)

Importance: They are a nice complement to the personality, as they not only make character feels more like individuals, but they can also help to humanize them as well. In addition to this, much like the personality, the likes, dislikes and especially the fears are helpful tools in interacting with the characters and for me to get certain effects out of them if the plot needs it, without it seeming too out of character

Criteria:

1.One must have the mandatory minimum amount of each (four likes, four dislikes, two fears and 1 mannerism), though there is no maximum

2.Putting anything in one of these means you are compromising to take it all the way- not just make it a mild thing.

3.Skills are not mannerisms, likes, dislikes or fears, nor is backstory

4.Likes, dislikes, fears and mannerisms mustn’t contradict the personality or any other part of the character for that matter.

5.Should not be something that is in cycle or repeated (having multiple instances of the same thing does not count as multiple, and if something is inherently and object of absolute hate, for example listing “people they don’t like” it’s to be rejected)

Footnotes:

*The likes, dislikes and fears ought to be appropriately intense for their mention. If a character has something listed in likes, they must absolutely love it. If they have something listed in dislikes, they must absolutely hate it. If they have something in fears, it should be something capable of sending them into a panic right away.


N)Backstory-

Function: Every event, action, thought, state or period of any relevance to the character and/or their presence in the roleplay

Importance: A character’s backstory is the tying point of their character. It’s what connects and justifies every other part of the CS as well as what ultimately expresses the relevance of particular details to how the character is at the start of the RP. It also places the character in the context of the world and story, giving them grounds to relate to other characters and experiences, to have goals, aspirations and biases, serve as a basis for future character arcs or even subplots and to further settle this world as large and diverse.

Criteria:

1.A backstory needs to be consistent with common sense (being a little pretty doesn’t automatically translate to being actively persued by rapists, for example) , with it’s own internal logic (if it’s established that X refuses to work with Y, don’t have them work together unless you give them a really good reason, for example) and with the world of boku no hero, as interpreted by this roleplay from all it’s expressions (manga, spin-off, anime and so...)

2.Characters who are criminals, secretly or otherwise, are not allowed.

Exception: A falsely convincted teacher character who had a period of redemption under the wing of a hero. There is one more exception but it is a secret and so only I can approve that type of backstory.

Exception 2: Minor infractions from a character aged 10 and below, such as the usage of one's quirk despite that being outlawed, will be starting from the introduction of this exception, no longer considered as breaking criteria N2. This exception does apply if the characters acquires any actual skills or training from it, however.

3.No cannon characters are allowed to be present in the backstory

Exception: If there is no actual interaction of any kind (including but not limited to bumps, conversations, family ties, etc...) between the cannon character and the OC, nor any action they weren’t specified to have done in cannon (if this action was done in secret, then it counts as not having happened in cannon for the purposes of this criteria), then the character may be present in the backstory.

4.There shouldn’t be any gaps, uncertainties or hidden information in the backstory, even if the character’s themselves don’t know that information. Of course, not every detail needs to be put on the backstory, meaningless events without character relevance or impact in the world can be left out. Do note that being meaningful doesn’t necessarily imply it will have an impact in the RP, but rather it means that it was meaningful or one would expect it to be, for the character. Also, even if not all events have to be specified, generalized periods where those events occurred should still be recgonized and noted on the backstory.

5.A backstory can be edited post approval in the formation of new pre-established relationships. The character then needs to be re-approved, however, so I and/or a co-GM need to be notified of this action. It cannot take place, however, if the two characters already met.

Exception: It can take place after two characters already met should this relationship have been impossible to know for both characters (example: siblings separated at birth). However this relationship needs to be approved prior it being implemented anywhere, including IC.

6.In their backstory, teacher characters need to explain how they know the principal, that they were invited to come build the PSA and to work there, and that they did take this proposition and in fact do it.

7.The presence of edgy or dramatic elements, in particular those that would be out of the ordinary in this society such as random bullying, parental abuse or which remove a potential important benevolent NPC like dead parents, yet don’t appear to shape any particular aspect of the character’s personality or have a significant impact on the rest of the backstory (this is, if their removal would mean a significant unavoidable change for the CS), then the reviewer ought to warn the player that their backstory is being overdramatic and recommend they change it, however letting them know that even if they keep it as it is, they will not be rejected for overdrama.

Exception: If a character’s backstory is nothing BUT the aforementioned elements, it can nonetheless be rejected for overdrama.

8.A backstory may contain elements that are not, seemingly, related to the character so long as there is some form of justifiable connection and it isn’t so confusing the reviewer can’t understand it.

9. A backstory must have at least 7 sentences, however larger and more detailed ones tend to be better and ought to be encouraged.


Footnotes:

Even more so than the personality, a character’s backstory needs to be consistent and befitting the ambient of the roleplay. Otherwise one risks the backstories leading astray and being parallel to the roleplay itself, making the characters themselves isolated in turn, either from the roleplay or from their own backstories. While not as ever-present as a personality, likes, dislikes, and so on, the backstory ought to still be kept in mind as one roleplays their character for any event IC could draw from it.



O)Relationships-

Function: A list of relevant interpersonal relationships of any kind, romantic, rivalry, parenthood, etc...between the character and any other, including NPCs

Importance: Relationships bring us closer. Not just with our characters but also as players, by providing us with a reason to talk and discuss our characters with each other, create more hype by connecting our character and pre-loading them with relationships, and form new friendships with people you might’ve otherwise barely talked to. In addition to this, relationships also lets you register any important relationships to your character, from family to childhood friends, to those they admire or hate.

Criteria:

1.Parent’s quirks must respect how quirks work (specifically that the child’s quirk will either be inherited from one of the parents or will be a mixture of the two). If no quirk is mentioned one is to assume the parent’s fulfil this criteria. Other family member are also subject to similar criteria.

2.No cannon characters are to be featured in relationships

Exception: If the cannon characters are admired, and meet the appropriate requirements presented in the backstory criteria for cannon characters being present there, then they can be featured here.

3.Any relationships involving any character another player made can be present if so agreed by the other player.

4.Relationships ought to have already been established in the backstory.

Exception: Players are allowed to register new relationships they form in the IC.

5.Relationships may only include real sentient beings (Example: fictional characters or objects, even if those of one’s own making like imaginary friends, can’t be included in the relationships section)

Exception: Non-sentient animals may be included in relationships

Footnotes:

N/A


P)Reason Why they Became a Teacher-

Function: The goal, reasoning or ideal that led the character to become a founding member of the PSA and working there as staff

Importance: The teacher character’s have one thing in common, they were low-rate heroes who ended up being invited to help build the PSA and become staff there. Of course, abandoning how you previously lived to such a shift should not be done without some semblance of a justification, justification that might inform how you are as a staff member.

Criteria:

1.It must be something that would actually drive the character

Footnotes:

N/A


Q)How they helped build the PSA

Function: The character's contribution to the construction of the PSA, direct, indirect or after-the-fact

Importance: Every teacher currently at the PSA is a founding member, who helped build the PSA. However, not every one of them would be qualified for the same tasks.

Criteria:
1.It must be feasable that they would have done the chosen method

2.The method should be unique to them
Exception: Some jobs would require multiple people performing them and thus multiple people can have them in the same proportion.

3. The chosen method must be compatible with how the PSA was constructed: Entirely by the staff themselves

Footnotes:
*This section while it should have previously existed, is only now being added into the CS


R)Notable Feats as a Hero-

Function: Any relevant and/or major accomplishments the character contributed to as a hero, and how they contributed

Importance: Before becoming staff members at the PSA, teacher characters were actual heroes. And while they were certainly nothing to the calibre of the top heroes, they might still have a few minor or otherwise feats as a hero, which would of course be public knowledge, thus making it relevant towards their identity and some potential plot points that these are acknowledged here.

Criteria:

1.No cannon characters or events ought to be mentioned here

2.No feats that would make your character a super popular or top hero are to be here

3.They should all be possible for the character

4. All of these must concist of hero work or hero-related activities (examples: shooting a commercial under your hero name counts a hero-related activity)

Footnotes:

N/A


S)Hero Style-

Function: The primary methodology or approach of the character to how they go about doing their hero work, in particular dealing with villains.

Importance: A character’s hero style ought to be determining how they approach battle initially, thus it helps me better attribute fights or more organically bring in appropriate challenges.

Criteria:

1.The hero style cannot be copied from any other character in the boku no hero universe

2.It must be at least somewhat influenced by one’s own quirk

3.The description of the hero style must consist of a methodology, not results

Footnotes:

*Every hero is unique. With their quirk, hero costumes and so on, naturally their way of going about their hero work, in particular combat, would be different. In fact, with so much of a hero’s career hinging on the theatrics of their performance and their own personal image, it couldn’t be in any other way.




T)Quirk-

Function: The quirk a character possesses

Importance: It might not be an exaggeration to say that quirks are the centrepiece of this roleplay. It could hardly be called a boku no hero roleplay without them.In addition to this, due to the importance of quirks for characters and the society they live in, often defining status, power and even appearance or personality, a character’s quirk can creep into almost any part of them. In addition to this, a quirk being a superpower in essence runs the risk of breaking the roleplay in more ways than even I could imagine, so they need effective regulation.

Criteria:

1.As usual, no part of this section can be hidden from the reviewer. This is especially important in this section.

2.Quirks are to be judged based on what they are capable of doing, not what a character or player might be intent on actually doing with the quirk.

3.As a rule of thumb, for every quirk, there ought to be an accessible way for any completely unarmed quirkless character to be beat any person with a quirk, with that person being in optimal conditions and will to win. This doesn’t imply it will happen or is likely to, but it has so be possible within those conditions.

4.Second Rule of thumb, when in doubt more regulations, bigger limits and worse weaknesses top the alternative. The player can always later upgrade themselves with QEP. Again, this is in case of doubt, not as a default.

5.Weaknesses given to quirks can be only be accounted for in terms of power balance if they are explicit (not only are they mentioned but they are actually stated as a weakness or downside), if they are accessible (anyone can do it without a specialized resource or circumstance), if they are universal (as opposed to only being present in particular conditions or times) and if they are final (however weaker they make the character, it’s not up to debate).

6.Quirks cannot be able to cause permanent damage as a standard. This goes for property permanent damage (heavy damage to the PSA facilities), mental permanent damage (as defined by the community vote to be anything impairing a target from functioning as a person in any way) and physical permanent damage (baseline any effect that would leave a scar or cause bone-breaking equivalent of internal damage). A certain degree of anime logic can of course be applied here, such as an extremely strong punch not outright crunching someone’s body like cereals dipped in milk. This rule also applies to any quirk that would require this permanent damage be inflicted onto others (example: Stain’s quirk requires him to ingest blood from others, therefore making it so he needs to perform those heavy cuts).

Exception: Permanent damage caused to one’s own self is permitted so long as there is no actually permanent permanent damage (example: death, deadly sickness) as a standard.

7.A quirk should not be able to access areas outside of the plot’s location or interfere with distant NPCs.

8.A quirk cannot put someone in a position where they cannot fight anyone with the first move or without a very difficult set up on which the other player is given actual choice without having to be completely unrealistic.

9.Banned quirk types (meaning automatically rejected): Accumulation (any quirk capable of accumulating power over time); Teleport(moving oneself or another instantly or at blinking speeds or with little chance of interception of any kind); Mental Control(any quirk that can directly or by secondary means influence the behaviour of another character against their will) ;Meta (any ability involving out of universe elements, like 4th wall breaking) ;Copy (any quirk that can attain the abilities of another);Manipulation(any quirk that uses the word “manipulation” or could thus be described) ;Magic ;Emotion-based (any quirk fuelled by or whose conditions are based on an emotion in any way), over-scientific (quirks involving overly science fiction or overly advanced science elements, usually present at an universal scale, such as time-space continuums, parallel universes/dimensions, etc...), quirks that are transmissible or have been in any way trasmited to the user

Exception- While these are banned from being approved by co-GMs, an appeal can be done to me instead. However, this doesn’t guarantee approval.

Exception2- An accumulation type quirk is permitted if the time is extremely short, and the buildup is merely energetic/stat-related and up to a reasonable cap

Exception3- Transmissible quirks are allowed if the transmission is temporary and if the actual quirk remains on the original owner in a strict manner

10.A quirk’s concept has to be reviewed before it’s specific attributes, namely concrete limits, are reviewed. This method will both spare the player’s and the review’s time as some quirks just don’t work in concept and thus would be out of bounds regardless.

11.Any particular quirk is allowed to introduce only two new concepts (examples: a previously non-existing material or phenomenon) that are completely unique to it. Existing concepts that happen to be exaggerated or not scientifically accurate do not count towards this limit.

12. Any particular character is only permitted one quirk. A singular quirk can always be boiled down to a single effect, a continuum (one thing leads to the next and they are all connected) of one begging and one end, both constant as well as the journey, in what happens, should the circumstances remain the same. If circumstances change and the effect changes as well, a quirk can only change and remain one quirk if it is only changes in regards to what it’s singular effect calls for.

Exception: Specific limitations or weaknesses may sometimes alter the effect of the quirk without actually making it into a separate quirk altogether. These exceptions are to be dealt with by the reviewer’s gut.

13. Quirks similar to another’s are permitted, but not complete copies for now, nor quirks with the same name. A person attempting to make a quirk similar to another ought to be warned by the reviewer that another quirk of that type already exists.

14. The reviewer of the quirk ought to request for all information regarding any changes provoked by the quirk (for example, if the quirk is creating an object, the reviewer ought to ask about the speed and placement of the creation, about the object’s faithfulness to the real thing and it’s durability, alongside any other conditions such an object might have)

15. The reviewer cannot approve a quirk whose consequences they are unable to forsee (example: if a quirk is too vague about what it can create, it might create an object that wouldn’t be approvable)

16. Regarding measures, they will be added here in better and more concrete detail once the table of powers is complete. So I will have to stick with the general if somewhat vague rule that the measurements should be those that at once respect all the other criteria, but on top of that, those which create a decent gap between one’s goal and one’s objective. (example: If my quirk creates stuff, then the objective of creating stuff to block something should not be instantly accomplished, meaning that either has to prevent it’s spam or there has to be a delay between starting to create and finishing creating in which the opponent has a real chance of hitting you)

Footnotes:

*Since quirks are essentially superpowers there a lot of ways in which they can really be problematic. Even more so considered how important fights are to the roleplay itself. As such, they naturally need heavy regulation, but at the same time, they one of the hardest, most nuanced parts of the whole review. A lot of it is found in the details and possibilities, so different perspectives may results in very different approvals.

*It is common courtesy, I believe, to request permission from someone with a similar quirk to use one as well.

*If in doubt about whether a quirk is one or more quirks, request that a player attempt to phrase the effect into a single concise and simple sentence. As a rule of thumb, if they can’t, then it’s likely they have multiple quirks.

*Measuring overall power is pretty much impossible using any specific metric. However, as reviewers it is in our task to tackle this impossible problem. Therefore we ought to attempt to think of every potential application of the ability we can- from the most mundane of situations, to the most situational combat.



U)Special Moves-

Function: Particular named techniques resulting from the focused used of a particularly intense and focused aspect of their quirk.

Importance: A hero’s special moves are an important part of their performance, as not only can be quite powerful, but they are often well-known parts of their arsenal, since a hero ought to say the name of the special move before using it so that the audience can learn it and be enticed and given hope by seeing it in action. Much like the feats as a hero, this is an important part in one’s identity as a hero. In addition it’s an important tool and aspect of the quirk, meaning it requires similar regulation.

Criteria:

1.Special quirks should generally follow the same rules as the quirk that produces them.

2.Special Moves are supposed to be memorable and easy to pronounce, so no mouthfuls allowed

3.Special moves must allow you to say their name right before or during their execution

4.Special moves have to be a particular application of the quirk, it pushed to it’s limits, or a particular mildly deviating effect from the effect of the quirk.

5.Special moves have to be very limited or risky in their use (for the user obviously)

6.Special Moves cannot be aimed to cause permanent damage outside of what a regular quirk would allow. They can, however, still be able to cause that permanent damage as a side effect or mere consequence, if there is an appropriate chance and means to avoid it by the part of the target.

Exception: Permanent damage with actually irreversible effects is still not permited.

Footnotes:

N/A


V)Items-

Function: Any object and/or possession one has that was brought to the PSA.

Importance: Items, while not something you can bring to combat in classes, can end up being relevant in the solving of particular plot points or even to boost the character’s everyday life experience, perhaps even just to speak of the kind of character they are.

Criteria:

1.An item cannot be something that would conflict with the shop.

Exception: A player may appeal to me directly for lenience towards a particular item, however this is not guarantee of that item’s approval but merely a safeguard before a future update of the guidebook that will feature the exceptions with more detail.

2.An item should not belong in the hero costume

3.An item’s relative size should not be bigger or heavier than what one can carry on their own arms.

Exception: If an item is registering multiple items (example: a bag of clothes), then this criteria is to be applied for each individual item on the bunch.

4.An item cannot infringe rules regarding permanent damage

5.An item should not be able to communicate with the outside technologically

Exception: Laptops will be permitted, however their internet functions will be removed.

6.An item ought to be something that could conceivably exist in the world we live in today

7.Consumable items will not be automatically replenished and must be numerically accounted

Footnotes:

N/A


W)Skills/Talents-

Function: Particular activities or skills a character is greatly proficient at, by birth or training

Importance: Skills can serve purposes such as aiding with interactions or aiding with dynamics or even allowing a character to be useful in a particular situation whereas in others they might have been subpar.

Criteria:

1.Skills ought to be meaningful. If a skill has no impact or is too mild to be anything to stand out from the crowd, it’s not a skill.

2.Mental skills, namely any that involve another behaviour, metagaming or one’s own intelligence (examples: being really smart, lying, sweet talking, being able to figure out another’s weaknesses...) are banned as they would force other players to change how their characters act to suit the skilled character.

3.Skills cannot provide instant winning

4.Skills ought not to be supernatural in any way. They aren’t quirks.

5.One should only have a reasonable amount of skills, as they supposed to be talents one is exceptionally gifted with or skills one has mastered particularly well

Footnotes:

N/A


X)Theme Song-

Function: Music that either represents your character or would fit well in a scene they were in

Importance: The first optional section, meaning it doesn’t need to be filled at all. Theme songs are just elements to complement a character or to put in IC posts to help complement their scenes or really any other purpose you want to give them that is related to the character.

Criteria:

1.Must be admissible by RPN rules

2.A character may have more than one theme song

3.A character’s theme song ought not to be shared another active player’s character

Footnotes:

N/A


Y)Favorites-

Function: Your character’s favourites among any specific groups of things (example: favourite color is X , favourite animal is Y, etc...)

Importance: The second optional section. May help characterize a character and humanize them further

Criteria:

1.More than one group or favourite per group is allowed

Footnotes:

N/A


Z)Voice-

Function: How a character sounds as they speak

Importance: Hearing how a character sounds like may help envision the scene and some character dynamics

Criteria:

1. Description is permitted but the recommend method is the linking of a video or MP3 with the envisioned voice

2. Only 1 voice is allowed

3. Only voices taken from anime, possibly cartoons.

Footnotes:

N/A