So I'm beginning to realize that a lot of people have some really deep stories behind their characters which is awesome. The issue I'm having is the only way to get them is to go reread years of promos. Which I understand is probably the best way to get a character but I'm not sure there is always time. Not picking on Fern but after reading his promos this week I realized there is a lot more to him than hashtags. Now I could of (and probably should) go reread his promos to find it but the problem is he's produced a ton and its hard to find the bits I want ya dig? I also ran into the problem with Ginger but that was very much my fault

Now I'm sure if I pm'd Fern he'd give me an awesome rundown but I think there are probably a lot of people here who have similar stories and from what I've seen on the roster pages most people don't have a ton of detail on the development they've done since they've been here.

Now I see this as a bit of a problem for new guys getting involved. I think everyone would enjoy promoing against people if the people really got their character. It's gotta be irritating having to explain yourself every time someone doesn't know you.

I'm not exactly sure of the best way to fix this. I think the simplest way would be to suggest that people fill out a section on their roster page that gives a bit of their development (even linking promos).

We could also use this thread as a running thing where people post run downs of stories they've told as they tell him before adding them to their roster page.

I'm open to talk about this. Which is why I'm posting it here.

I'm really not faulting anyone because I know you guys have been here and watched people develop so there isn't a need for summaries for most of you. I'm just saying that for new people it'd be a really useful thing to be able to see where a character came from.

I also think it would encourage people to go read the stuff that's important.

I was actually speaking to Luca about this yesterday with people assuming his and Fernando's characters are just hashtags and joking around, because most people weren't here when they first started and don't really want to sift through a bunch of old promo material, just because of the size of it.

There used to be a section where people could summarise their storylines and character development, but it got removed because not many people used it.

Tush was originally created as a competition ran by Shane to use a roided up Carrot Top in an RP for some xbux which I won by creating this illiterate drug dealer to annoy a guy called Gator. I continued and made a separate account for Tush eventually and somehow he got paralysed by another guy while guest refereeing a match. I then rolled with it and made him have Stephen hawking' pic base. When I came back I decided to completely revamp Tush and make him credible so I changed most things about him, though they technically aren't considered the same people, this Tush only debuted a couple of months ago.

Glad I'm not in the wrong here. I was worried I'd just be told to go read all the old stuff which I don't really have a problem with doing but hell it's a lot, and I feel like there will be long stretches of story that isn't really important to where a character stands today.

And I mean, it's a little unfair to a new guy. Again I'm not faulting anyone because I don't think it's intentional but new guys walk right into a trap with a lot of you because they don't realize the backstory.

It's also gotta be boring for Luca and Fern to have to reexplain every week that they're more than hashtags and memes.

We used to have a forum specifically for characters' back stories. I don't think anyone other than Frodo actually utilized it though.

I really think just updating roster pages every so often would be the best idea. I know that that's the first place I go when I see the card. If there was a little backstory section I'd devour it, and if it had links to the important storylines, and I enjoyed the guys writing I'd definitely go read em.

Everyone puts a lot of work into creating their characters. It'd do the work justice to make sure everyone could find/read older important stuff.

I don't read every promo every week. I'm sure I'll develop favorites that I'll follow (Fern and Luca will probably have my attention from now on.) but I don't think I'll ever read everything that gets posted, so I'm going to miss important story stuff. It sucks, but I feel like it's the nature of the beast. I also don't think I'm alone in not reading everything.

A fix would be really useful

We also have backstage passes, like mine which you can click on the bottom of my sig.

There's no real 'right way' to use those, mine just lists every match, but they could help.

(04-06-2016, 01:47 PM)LoverboyVinnieLane Said: We used to have a forum specifically for characters' back stories. I don't think anyone other than Frodo actually utilized it though.

Would making it something that was required work? I don't mean that people have to post their entire stories but doing a synopsis wouldn''t be hard.

I just think it's really important. I guess Shane would have to weigh in but I'm curious what he thinks of this.

(04-06-2016, 01:52 PM)LoverboyVinnieLane Said: We also have backstage passes, like mine which you can click on the bottom of my sig.

There's no real 'right way' to use those, mine just lists every match, but they could help.

I didn't even know the backstage pass thing existed. I've got signatures turned off.

I don't really know how it could be enforced.

Some guys have been here for years, like Peter. Expecting him to go and do something like that would be asking a lot.

Maybe just a synopsis of important events or something.

All I meant should be enforced is guys keeping it recent. asking a guy to go back and find every promo that explains his story is way to much to require of someone who has been here a long time. But if (a guy like) Peter could give a synopsis, keeping it up to date wouldn't be difficult.

I'm also of the opinion that you don't really need to know a lot about the other guy. Some things, sure, but a couple of minutes of research should usually be sufficient.

I think most of us do a pretty good job of expressing who our characters are in our writing. If you were facing me, for instance, you'd know Vinnie is the champ. You could see his title history, his win-loss, etc, and say okay, Vinnie is the top guy. The rest you'd probably b able to easily get from whatever recent things I've written.

A lot of guys are of the 'gotcha' mindset, where you want to prove the other guy wrong - to me that's never been fun. Some think it's the way to go though.

I'd use it as much as needed but if people posted in it I'd be all over reading that.

I only used you because I was against you this week and seeing you had a past I went to try and read up on it and ran into the great wall of fern

Ask him about his hot dog stand.

Sorry, I don't read your work.

(04-06-2016, 01:55 PM)Travis McCoy Said: I didn't even know the backstage pass thing existed. I've got signatures turned off.

*Crowd boos wildly and throws rotten eggs at Travis*


Yeah we used to have a section similar to this and I've been tinkering with the idea of bringing a revamped version of it back so people can keep others up to date with their stories IC but it might serve more purposes than that when we put it up. This will probably be implemented shortly after a certain big announcement that's coming in the very near future.

I'd leave signatures on if people didn't have them perma on

maybe someday ill do an rp talking about peter's upbringing and his stuff in Japan

SUCK... MY... DICK!

3X Star of the Month
Former 3x Hart Champion
Former 13X Xtreme Champion
Former 6X Tag Champion
Former 2X Trios Champion
Former 2x Heavy Metal Weight Champion
Former Universal Champion

I guess a part of being new would be not knowing much about your opponents. And them not knowing much about you. I try and keep my rps about myself and let people get to know me. In time as I come across rivalries and what not I'll learn about the people here. If you're here long enough you'll learn everything you need to know.

(04-06-2016, 01:13 PM)Travis McCoy Said: Not picking on Fern but after reading his promos this week I realized there is a lot more to him than hashtags.

And this is about the time I jump on the thread with that Hallelujah playing loud and proud.

But in all seriousness I've been thinking of linking to RPs that are (more or less) essential to understanding the character of Luca Arzegotti on my backstage page for a while, but haven't gotten around to it because reasons (see: laziness) so I totally get this idea that to read everything I've posted would be insane. Shit, could you imagine if Austin "14 RPs a week" Fernando had been around as long as I've been? Talk about archive panic.

And I won't say it gets old reiterating that there's more to Luca than memes and hashtags because more often than not, because of the character's personality, I really don't even try. Due to the stipulation, there was some of that this week, but normally it's Luca laughing about how he can get away with giving himself stupid nicknames and posting RWBY gifs in place of talking and shit like that, because the character's a fucking douchebag who'd brag instead of defending himself.

That said, for anyone who wasn't around when these were first posted, here's a series of RPs that, while full of callbacks and references to past events, gives an accurate summation of Luca Arzegotti:

The Claridryl Dreams Series.

Plus a quote from another RP, which gives a direct summation of him through the eyes of Zane Kingsley III

Bite the Curb Said:Sure, he's framing this in a way so that it looks like a pragmatic move. Something that just comes with fame but there's one thing that always drives a celebrity to undertake the process of writing a memoir.

Fear.

He thinks he's losing it. That this is his last leg. He isn't going to roll over the XWF like he thought he could. He's breaking.

He wants to cling desperately to the last bits of relevance he has because that's all he does this for. The attention. Poor Luca. Poor murderer, drug dealer/user, mobster, arsonist etc. etc. Product of a broken home; a father who cared more for his other family than him; a flighty mother; and the man who shaped him into who he is today.

Luca Arzegotti; this is your life.

The one you're running from. The one you have been running from ever since you figured out that was an option.

What about Natalya, Luca? Does she still think you're dead? Is the last image of her brother, burned in her memory your dead, bullet riddled body?

What about this Minka woman who claims to be your sister? I won't ask you directly about her because she's never been brought up. You'll claim she's a delusional fan. A nutcase. Like you aren't. You won't give a straight answer. I'll have to do some more research on the Arzegotti family tree.

Poor little psychopath. No, you aren't a psychopath.

You're a destroyer.

You've killed every chance of happiness you've ever gotten.

This hell you're in? It's your creation.

Maybe that's why you used to call yourself the Dream Killer.

I smile at Luca once more, assuring him in my own special way.

"Alright then. I'll get in contact with a ghostwriter in the next couple days.

He stares at me quizzically for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"Thought it'd take more convincing."

"Not at all, Luca."

You've convinced me enough already.

The Backstory Board really should be brought back. It'll make trash talking your opponents much easier. While I'm here, I might as well try to summarize my backstories.

Nico LaVey is the youngest son of the late Anton LaVey, the infamous founder of the Church of Satan. Despite the name of the church, it was more like atheism with a satanic theme to it. Nico disagreed with what his father taught from a very young age, nearly leading to Nico being disowned. To prevent this, Nico pretended to agree with his father's teachings, eventually becoming the primary heir in Anton LaVey's will. Nico went after his father's back after he died and used the money he received to start a separate church, in which a more "traditional" form of Satanism is taught. Traditional meaning violent, hedonistic, selfish, and carnal. The Church doubles as a crime syndicate, with drugs sold, sacrifices made, and souls written away for personal gain. Nico himself is a brutal sociopath who hides behind a friendly facade. His many years of wrestling and MMA training have made him an efficient wrestler, while his height, muscles, and tattoos make him an imposing figure. Nico is both out-spoken and well spoken, easily able to correct logical flaws and fallacies in any given argument.

Ophelia LaVey was born Ophelia McDowell to what would be described in the 50's as the perfect family. Despite her Gothic appearance, she was always friendly, sweet, and sporty. Very sporty. A mixture of good genes, volleyball, softball, and gymnastics left her with a jaw-droppingly curvaceous figure, including her most prominent asset, 64 inch hips. While she was proud of her womanly body, she didn't particularly enjoy the attention it received, often being asked out for her booty alone. At first, she was flattered, but as time went on, she became increasingly more annoyed. She became more and more introverted and depressed. Nico was transferred to her school on a day that would change her life forever. Three boys who she had rejected in the past ganged up on her with the intention of disfiguring her and possibly raping her. Despite having her mouth taped shut, Nico heard her and came to her aid, easily dispatching all three assailants. Nico became her best friend, boyfriend, and lover all at the same time. She eventually became a satanist and they were married the day after their graduation. As Nico gained more and more power, she was given more and more luxuries. She became inhumanly flexible, lost the need to work out and eat right to keep her body shape, gained excellent computational skills and sharper focus, and even had her nails become a semi-permanent glossy black so she wouldn't have to paint them. After being introduced to Satanism, she became more flirty, promiscuous, and seductive. Nico has compared her behavior to that of Morrigan Aensland, a fictional succubus who is the main character of Darkstalkers from Capcom.

Jerkbeast's full name is Jerkington Beastley Crocker-Hines IV. He was born from a bowl of brownie mix and grew up in the Fire Pits of Hell. Upon turning 17, he left Hell to go to Seattle because he felt like it. There, he met Sweet Benny the Idiot Manchild and Marty while smoking nutmeg behind an Arby's. Not much else to it.

Overall Record: 2-8-1.

1x Federweight Champion.

Shitlist: Izzy Ravenwolf, Nate Higgers.

“We have never heard the devil's side of the story, God wrote all the book.”
― Anatole France