Sample App Mei Hatsume

COMMENTARY IN BOLDED ITALICS

It is highly recommended you instead view the Google doc here instead since it's much easier to actually see things, and there's less of a chance of the formatting being screwed up there.

I didn't think I'd hate typing in something more than raw html

B. CHARACTER SUMMARY

Your Profile, Advantages, and Disadvantages (Flaws) are your face on the MUSH. They tell people who you are, what you can do, and what you stumble at. Please remove all examples before submitting the application form. (For example --> Name: Your character's name. 18 character limit, no special letters. <-- should simply read --> Name: Link)

1b. Profile

Name: Mei Hatsume

Faction: Paladins

Function: Genius Inventor

Series: My Hero Academia-1

The -1 is because there's no other My Hero Academia theme, so I can just use stick -1 to the end of it. If someone else wants to app their own version of the theme, then they could use -2 and so on.

Quote: Come, take a look, all you companies! Especially the big ones! Look at my super cute babies~!

Profile: A hero-in-training at U.A. High School (which doesn’t stand for anything), Mei Hatsume is an assertive and self-centered inventor with the innate power to see things from incredibly long distances. She stops at nothing to get her name out there when it comes to advertising her creations, even if it means coming off as extremely selfish and blatantly using other people for her own gain while pursuing any shiny new toys with a single-minded fervor. Although she doesn’t have much direct combat ability to speak of, she makes up for it with creative usage of her mobility-boosting inventions like jumping boots and hydraulic bars to avoid her opponents while wearing them down with gadgets like net guns and glue traps that restrain rather than harm outright. Her specialty, however, is coming up with new inventions to support herself and her allies, amplifying their strengths and mitigating their weaknesses while analyzing opponents from afar with her amplified sight range.

The U.A. would be theme jargon that should be explained even if it's a name, but it literally doesn't stand for anything except maybe a Japanese language pun. Otherwise, this covers her personality, her flaws, her advantages, and what little backstory she actually has.

2b. Character Type: What kind of character are you applying for? Categories are FCs (Canon Characters), OFCs (AU takes on canon characters), and OCs (Original Characters).

FC

3b. Advantages

This section is divided into three categories: DEFINING, SIGNIFICANT and MINOR. Some advantages have a minimum advantage classification. For more information, please refer to http://multiversemush.com/mw/index.php?title=Advantages For examples of already approved advantages, use +comply in-game and +advantages with the characters' names to look at their advantages. You can also view this spreadsheet for a more detailed breakdown of many common and (some uncommon) advantages.

3b-1. Advantages: Defining advantages are those that make your character unique; i.e., if they didn't have them, they wouldn't be who they are. They are the most often used and obvious part of your character's abilities. Your character has two of these.

Genius Inventor: As a student in the Department of Support, Mei specializes in building tools and gadgets used to support Heroes on the field. Her specialty is making gadgets that augment the user’s mobility: jet packs and jump boots to get airborne quickly without actually flying, wire arrows and hover boots to scale scale steep surfaces, and balancing wings to prevent unintentional falls. Mei also has multiple tools to augment the wearer's speed: rocket boots for raw speed, and hydraulic bars with movement sensors for quick bursts of speed to aid evasion even against attacks from behind.

Crafting with a tool/gadget flavoring that gives an idea of where the boundaries of this advantage are. She’s not going to be casting Final Fantasy spells to create these effects, but actually making stuff or pulling something out that mimics whatever function. Note that crafting is the physical gear variant of powershare, or allowing the character to use their advantages to benefit other characters for the scene. For other characters to KEEP those benefits from crafting/powershare, however, they still need to submit upgrade applications to do so.

Mentioning that her stuff doesn’t grant flight limits this to mobility-boosting gear.

Inspired Creator <Copy2>: Inspiration can come from anywhere, and Mei can see the potential for new inventions almost anywhere. By watching other people and analyzing their abilities and gear, she can eventually develop gadgets to imitate that function. She doesn’t always update and refine what she comes up with, though, frequently going back to the drawing board when inspiration strikes from somewhere else.

Copy2 with yet more tool/gadget flavoring! She could theoretically make something that heals people with nanites or whatever, for example, but that would require interacting with a healer and going through the necessary steps to get it via Copy2’s rules.

All together, this and Genius Inventor are the character’s BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT tools in her bag of tricks. She pulls stuff out to zip around fast and get around places, and she can make more GADGETY stuff to give to people.

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3b-2. Advantages: Significant advantages are tricks, powers and skills your character uses often, but may not be a part of the character's core identity. Your character has four of these.

Zoom: Mei’s Quirk (special ability) is powerful eyesight that allows her to see distant objects and people clearly as if her eyes were telescopes. This can be used to scout out potential threats from far ahead of her as long as her line of sight is not blocked.

Although this is the character’s Quirk (in-setting, their in-born special power), it’s really not a big deal for her. Other characters in the same theme would certainly get a lot more mileage out of their own Quirks, so they’d have those as Definings. For this character, though, it’s a secondary ability because her real focus and what she’s known for is making stuff.

Combat Tools: Although direct combat is not Mei’s strong point, she can still hold her own in a fight through her numerous gadgets meant for hindering enemies. She can impede movement by using net guns, glue spillers, and wire arrows fired strategically around a target or in their path. She can also halt someone more directly by electrifying her wire arrow (and cable) or shooting them with a taser to temporarily stun them, although this does not produce enough of a shock to be comparable to an actual lightning/electricity-based attack. Practicing with her net guns and taser has also given Mei some moderate skill with handguns/pistols, although she doesn’t actually own any real guns.

First things first: This is not something the canon character does as far as I am aware. HOWEVER, this fits with the character’s general combat style as shown in the series and makes it easier to actually get involved in scenes. It’s permitted to do this with characters if it means making the actual play of the character smoother, or even the opposite can be done where you excise parts of a character’s moveset to make things easier to actually play. You could even do that to keep some room open for future upgrades and character growth!

The bolded section was added in a revision because without that addition, it was not clear whether this was merely a non-lethal attack or if it could be a way of taking an electric/elemental attack, going over the 3 point limit per advantage. Thus, that part was added to make it clear that this is not intended as an elemental bullet. The breakdown was correct, but the writeup is what everyone ultimately sees and is actually approved. What the breakdown did was make it clear that non-lethal attacks were the intent, so the fix needed was to make this writeup clear about it not being an elemental attack as could be implied.

Support Tools: Mei has developed a whole host of support tools that assist her allies simply by being worn on their bodies. Arm and leg gear predict the wearer’s movements to help them move more efficiently and with less effort. This not only allows them to keep fighting and working for longer, but these parts also bolster the wearer's physical strength dramatically and help them to resist injuries.

Crafting in the above Defining advantage means that stuff in lower advantages, such as this one, can be used on people other than herself. Thus, she could wear these things to bolster her physical stats, or she could even let other people wear them (only for the one scene she’s in, not permanently without an upgrade application) to get a boost to their stats as well.

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3b-3. Advantages: Minor advantages are things that are useful to the character, but are generally only useful occasionally and lack potency. There is no limit on these, but please keep them to a reasonable level.

Support Department Resources: One perk of being a Support Department student at U.A. High School is access to raw materials for developing support tools and gadgets.

Flavor! It’s never going to be used to say that Mei has lots of money and throw resources at a problem to solve it, but it does give a concise image of how she’s able to keep making stuff.

U.A. Training: The hero academy's rigorous entry and training standards means that every student must be capable of handling themselves in a fight and in urban environments even without the aid of their Quirks. Mei knows how to throw a punch or five, she's fairly competent at getting around on foot, and she's in better physical condition than the average civilian if she doesn't have the right gadgets on hand.

Another example of creative license being taken with the character, much like Combat Tools in the Significant section. Since this is in a Minor spot rather than a Significant or Defining slot, it’s not going to get the same amount of sell as her using her gadgets against and Elite. What this can do, however, is provide another flavor of defending herself against mooks, or even provide a moment of dramatic tension when her other advantages are not available for whatever reason.

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3b-4. Advantage Breakdown: Explain the breakdown of your Advantages. As previously mentioned, each Advantage is allowed to have, at most, three well-defined tricks in it. This section is here to clearly define what you're asking for with each advantage entry, in simple bullet-pointed terms.

Defining

Genius Inventor

-Crafting (gadgets and mechanical stuff)

-Mobility items (no flight)

--Auto-balancer to not faceplant unintentionally

--Jump boots + jet pack for high jumps

--Wire arrow + hover soles for scaling steep surfaces

-Enhanced speed/reflexes

--Rocket boots for speed

--Hydraulic bars + movement sensors for reflexes

Clearly defines what everything does without getting into full writeups themselves. You don’t need to have the sub-bullets, but it might help in case one advantage encompasses a bunch of spells or different gadgets or something that all contribute to one general idea like mobility here.

Inspired Creator

-Copy2

Significant

Zoom

-See far

-Scouting

Combat Tools

-Debuff

--Slowing/restraining: Net gun, glue spiller, wire arrow

-Non-lethal

--Taser

--Electrified wire arrow

-Weapon skill (handgun/pistol style gunshooting)

--Does not actually have regular guns

Weapon skills generally come with the appropriate bare minimum required gear to let the skill function, so I’m mentioning that she does NOT have guns here specifically.

Support Tools

-Super strength

-Super endurance/toughness/stamina

--Predict user movement for more efficient movement with less effort

--Boost damage resistance

Superhumanity is one thing, but emphasizing specific things like strength or endurance gives it more narrative sell overall. Speed is not mentioned specifically here since that’s already covered in her Defining advantage, but it could be without actually “costing” another point since it’s a redundant and overlapping thing.

Minor

Support Department resources

-Resources to make stuff

U.A. Training

-Knows how to run around kinda/minor parkour

-Decent physical conditioning/minor superhuman

-Can punch okay

4b. Disadvantages

This is split into three sections: TROUBLE, SIGNIFICANT and MINOR. You must have at least one disadvantage in every category. Keep in mind, the idea is for flaws to be used and to generate RP, rather than simply a thing that justifies your characters powers; flaws that if exploited prevent your character from roleplaying are generally not good flaws. For more information, please consult http://multiversemush.com/mw/index.php?title=Disadvantages

4b-1. Disadvantages: A Trouble is a deficiency in your character's personality that can be exploited against them in almost any circumstance; rather than hindering your character in a crippling way, it should be something that other players can use to generate conflict in a scene.

Obsessed <Trouble>: Above all else, Mei is motivated by self-improvement. Her dedication to perfecting her craft and gaining renown, however, frequently supersedes things like common sense and prioritizing important objectives in favor of pursuing those goals. She'll dawdle around dangerous opponents for more time to show off her creations to onlookers instead of actively subduing them, and she’s much more likely to investigate shiny new toys, curious artifacts, and even impressive traps for invention ideas instead of pursuing actual mission objectives.

VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GOOD TROUBLE no really this is like one of the most important parts of the app. What you want for a trouble is to have a clear general trigger for when the Trouble works. It also needs examples of how this can affect the character, alternative triggers if they exist (generally a good idea to have more), and the reason why this all happens. Troubles don’t need to make a character wrong all the time, but it certainly helps! The general goal with flaws is to provide interesting ways for the character to get involved in things or create conflict, not just screw them over. This is doubly important for troubles since they’re based on the character’s personality and foibles which help flesh out the character as a real character. It gives you an opportunity to put all that work you used on the Personality section to good use! Having clear examples of how flaws (again, ESPECIALLY for Troubles) can be invoked also helps scene runners a great deal so they know how your character’s key character weakness can be brought into play to make the scene that much more interesting!

ALSO note the tags after the flaw name. This makes it easier for appstaff to process your app quickly once it’s ready for approval!

4b-2. Disadvantages: Significant disadvantages can be anything nontrivial that can be used against your character, be it physical, mental or something else.

Self-centered <Significant>: Almost nothing is off limits when it comes to coming up with new inventions and schemes to bolster her reputation at large. Mei has no qualms about taking advantage of individuals and making enemies to pursue her personal goals. Although she'll apologize and attempt to make amends later, she believes her actions are entirely justified and is incredibly unlikely to even consider that she did anything wrong.This makes it even easier for her to get on people's bad sides again and again, eventually finding herself in bad situations without backup or facing people that would have been her backup if not for her past transgressions.

Bolded section was a minor wording fix to make it clear that she’s going to try, but not that she’ll necessarily succeed. It’s not an issue that’s necessarily going to be fixed ever, so this is also a source of more RP to do things like generating rivals, antagonizing people, and so on. Remember: the goal is to generate RP with these flaws, not to just slap something in that technically works and isn’t actually interesting for other people to play with.

4b-3. Disadvantages: Minor are disadvantages that can be a little obscure, or that don't come up often, but are still an issue for your character; they can also be something that comes up often but is more inconvenient than an outright impediment.

Careless <Minor>: As meticulous as Mei can be when it comes to coming up with inventions and perfecting them, she can be rather hasty when it comes to little things like taking proper safety precautions. It’s not unheard of for her newer creations to malfunction at random, causing herself or her test subjects to get injured. She also tends to look at the broader picture than focusing on smaller details when it comes to following or making plans, meaning potentially important but seemingly small details can be overlooked in favor of doing something with as much flash and pizzazz as possible.

Bolded section was to help strengthen the Minor from being merely a quirk in her mannerisms to something that can generate more interactions between characters when something goes wrong, BUT HEY LOOK HOW COOL THAT WAS. It’s not something that’s going to cause as many problems as the other two flaws, but it is something that could come up.

5b. Themelisting

If a +themelisting does not already exist for your character, you will have to write one yourself. This should be a concise description of the setting from which the character comes, and if it is a modified/non-canon theme it should usually explain how it diverges from the original. Additionally, we'd be interested in knowing if there are any series -- preferably but not necessarily existing in our standing +themelists -- that you'd be interested in seeing your theme mixing with as neighbors in the Multiverse.

A Quirk is an abnormality in a human that manifests as a special ability. Although they had once been rare, they have now become common enough that those without Quirks have become the minority. In a world where superpowers both fantastic and strange have become the new normal, Heroes and Villains too have become an accepted fact of everyday life. Heroes, although heavily regulated, are rewarded handsomely for their efforts in neutralizing and preventing Villains from taking advantage of their Quirks to commit crimes against the less genetically lucky. Becoming a Hero is even a valid and lucrative career path in this new world!

Explains some terminology/jargon about the setting, the setting itself.

Numerous Hero Academies sprung up to account for the growing population of people with fantastical powers that would need proper guidance and training. U.A. High School, the top Hero Academy in the world, is renowned for its all-star faculty. All Might, the world’s greatest Hero, is among the school’s newer teachers dedicated to cultivating the next generation of Heroes. As more aspiring Heroes and Heroes-in-Training appear, however, so too have Villains seeking to make their own mark on society, whether for their own gain or for more nefarious purposes.

Gets more in-depth with where potential characters could come in from and some potential hooks whether someone wants to get involved with the theme or app into it themselves.

C. CHARACTER INFORMATION

1c. Personality

Describe your character's personality, in 500 words or more. We want an overview of their motivations, hopes, fears, and failings. For OCs, this is meant to establish their general character but isn't set in stone. For FCs, this is to demonstrate to us that you know the character you're asking to play. If you need help, take a look at Nathan Hall's personality guide. Note that 2c and 3c count towards your word count.

Mei Hatsume may appear to be selfish and overly obsessed with gadgets and finding investors with a lot of money at first glance, but that would only be half true. At her core, Mei is an inventor motivated by self-improvement rather than outright greed. Having investors means access to better materials and resources to perfect her craft, and perfecting her craft means developing better tools to help Heroes and police fight back against Villains and crime. To that end, she's more than willing to do whatever it takes to push forward with her craft and building her reputation among potential business partners even if it means taking advantage of other people she should be getting along with.

She really is obsessed with gadgets and technology, though.

Outside of the context of gadgets and investor, Mei is fairly straightforward and honest. She knows enough about proper etiquette not to make a fool of herself, but she won't mince words just to avoid hurting someone's feelings. She’d much rather have someone learn from something she says outright even if they get angry at her initially instead of dancing around the issue and letting it snowball later. Besides, if they get angry, she can always apologize later and then let them work it out later after they’ve calmed down.

2c. Factional Relations

Why is your character in the faction that they're in, or failing that, why aren't they in a faction at all? If you're in a faction, what sort of conflict might your character have with that faction's ideology, and how might it be resolved in play?

With the Paladins having the best public relations department of the three major players, there’s little question as to who Mei would naturally veer towards. Even without that, however, her home’s government is largely focused on regulating people with Quirks to make sure they don’t go overboard using them. She doesn’t actually have any sway over anyone back home, of course, but being raised in a RESPECT THE LAW environment means it’d be pretty hard for her to buck that inclination to make sure she colors inside the lines most of the time.

The Concord might be a source of potential on-off working relationships, though, since Mei can’t ignore that the Concord also has a shitload of resources she could take advantage of. She’d be pretty selective about potential clients from the Concord, though.

The Watch would be a very rare source of collaboration for her since being a vigilante is practically the opposite of what she’d want to do if she wants to maintain a good rep. Having her creations connected to a Watch operation gone bad could also tank said rep, too, so she’d be incredibly skeptical of working with the Watch without advance prep work (mostly filing off any identifying serial numbers).

Goes into all three factions so the choice of faction is clear. If you’re apping an unaffiliated character, this section is still very helpful so you and appstaff can have an idea of where the character’s going. It might even help you realize that a character might fit with a certain faction more than you realized!

3c. In the Multiverse

How does being in the Multiverse change things for, or about your character? What would motivate them to go out and interact beyond the borders of their own world?

So much PR. So many potential investors. Mei’s world is already full of people with Quirks, but the Multiverse has even more people with weird abilities to draw inspiration from. With any luck, there might even be something she starts working on that would be worth refining and perfecting over time. There’s also the draw of having an even broader audience to appeal to, especially if there hasn’t been much interaction between her home and the Multiverse yet.

4c. Background

Give us a brief, concise overview of your character's background. More thorough backgrounds are expected of alternate universe takes on canon characters, high-powered original characters, and some other special cases. Otherwise, keep this shorter than your personality section.

Mei makes stuff.

She’s in the Support Department of her school because her Quirk is kinda shitty but she’s good at making stuff.

That’s it that’s her entire backstory. She shows off a lot during the sports festival and uses a guy to show off her stuff for ten minutes instead of fighting, I guess.

Brief and concise is the name of the game here! We really don’t need a lot of stuff here, just the bare bones to know where the character is coming from. Granted, this section could be longer for more main character types, but it really doesn’t need to be all that long. This character just so happens to be more of a side character, so she literally doesn’t get much backstory in her own canon. Since I wasn’t doing an alternate take of this character, she’s also not going to have much embellishment there, either.

5c. Combat

Give us an idea of how good your character is in a fight, with emphasis on relative effectiveness and importance in their source material. Specific questions to answer: Do they have room to grow, and if so how much? Where do they sit in their setting-- are they the final boss, a recurring midboss, a one-off, or something else? If this is an OC, why is your character where they are in their hierarchy? Optionally suggest a PL or range you think is appropriate, but understand it's non-binding and by default not discussed with applicants.

She’s not really shown fighting in the series, but she does at least make SPEEDMAN look like a chump in the one fight she is in. She technically loses it because she steps out of bounds, but that’s after using him to show off how effective her gear is and making sure the investors can see it.

My take on her here would be more competent/actually fighty, but largely focused on the support role and going for secondary objectives instead of getting into slugfests with anyone. I’d probably peg her anywhere at a 28 or 30 at most.

She’s not a main character, and she’s barely even a combatant. Still, she does hold up well enough against someone who IS a combatant, so she’s definitely not useless. Otherwise, though, this section is subject to the general PL rules. Since I’m apping this character from early in the series AND she’s a non-combatant, 28 would have been fine. She was eventually approved with a PL of 30.