Seer Application Help

So, you decided to become a Seer. Great! We are really happy that you found your way to this page! Below you will find some useful hints and information for your application – and your future Seer. We are aware that the application form looks tough at the first glance, but on the other hand it helps us to keep our high standard. Fill in the form with thought and all should be fine.

If you are having any additional questions not answered in this guide, please feel free to contact sunrise@endeffect.org at any time! Don't be shy – we love to help you!

What is a RPC?

Don't worry if you do not know this yet, most people do not. In fact, RPC is a self-created term, and it stands short for “Role Played Character“.

Each of our Seers has control over one of those RPCs (namely his own), they are so to say the “inofficial“ form of Seers. Additionally to your main RPC you are free to create as many “side-RPCs“ as you want – those are usually characters that appear during a quest.

Your RPC will stick with you for quite a while, and therefore it is very important that you put some thought into the creation of your new alter-ego. This is also one of the reasons why we ask you to create one before we accept you as a Seer as well.

Your main RPC will visit towns and players, he will work and live and the lands of Britannia. RPCs are there to add more role-playing flavor to UO, they are the center of quests and fiction. RPCs interact in their characters with other players, short: they roleplay with them. Often you will find a way to send a player on a small quest, or maybe you will just prefer to have an ale or two with different players.

RPCs ideally become part of the history of EndEffect, famous and well-known people just like, for example, Lord British or Lord Blackthorn. They will be part of the living and breathing world of EndEffect, they will write history and, most important, they are brought to life by you.

Help in the Creation of RPCs!

Never forget that your RPC is the catalyst for adventure, he will be there to engage players into roleplaying! Therefore he cannot be the hero. RPCs are no heroes, at least not in the common sense. Also, it is not very close to life if the most powerful mage Britannia has ever seen asks the local blacksmith for help. I am sure you get the idea.
Create a full and detailed history for your RPC! The more you can think of, the better! History is what makes a character, certain happenings and experiences have a very huge amount of impact to our personalities and lives. What are the goals of your character? What kind of adventures did he go through already, if any? What does he like/dislike? How did he become the person he is today? Those are just a few very rough ideas you can use as a jumping-board, possibilities are endless! Show us that you are creative!
Of course, the personality of your character is also very important. Please keep in mind that it will be easier for you if your character is outgoing and friendly against strangers. If you decide to play the grumpy lone-wolf you will have to find a creative way to address the players nevertheless. I do not say that this is not possible, of course! So, try to think of your personality, and try to think of something that you think you can play well. Is your character jokingly or serious? Strict or flirty? How does he respond to certain situations? Is he outgoing or introverted? Trying to draw attention or avoid it? Does he enjoy nice company? Again, try to come up with as much as you can – feel free to be creative, because this is all being a Seer is about.
Avoid common cliché characters! A cliché is a theme that is used very, very often. Cliché characters often tend to be dull and boring, and we are trying to avoid them as good as we can. Below you will find the most common clichés. If you think that you cannot live without using one of them because it would spoil your character, do not worry! If you really want to use a cliché this means that you will have to be more creative with your history, but, as said, nothing is impossible.

Cliché 1: Death of a family member/Revenge theme. It is amazing how many roleplayers tend to (ab)use this cliché. Seemingly the whole world consists of orphans whose parents tragically were killed/captured/tortured by an unkown/powerful/wizard/warrior/undead/orc/dragon, and now the main character strives for revenge. This is such an old hat, please don't do it! Allow your family to live and visit them in the weekends!

Cliché 2: When the character was still very young his/her village was raided, and burnt down, again by the unkown/powerful enemy/a group of mercenaries/chaos guards/orcs. Most of the inhabitants died (including the char's family, most of the time), and the character was left to die. He, of course, wonderously survived. (Plenty of space for the revenge theme again)

Cliché 3: You are the last survivor of a dead race, and still are trying to find your roots.

Cliché 4: Your character is the omnipotent superhero/mage who only uses his powers for good/evil. Good characters have strengths and weaknesses, a character without flaws is boring.

At all costs, avoid fiction breaking elements. Your character only exists in Ultima Online, he does not know the outer world. Britannia is all he knows, he will not accept the existence of anything that does not exist in UO. For example, he will not know that he is caged in a PC. He will not accept the existence of any races that are not there. He will not believe that things like cars exist. His world is Britannia, and he cannot know about anything that does not exist in his world. He can, of course, be superstitious and believe that there is a tooth-fairy or something.
Please read the section about the creation-rules carefully. All applications that do not follow the rules will need to be edited.
If your character is not born in any of the existing towns you cannot create a new town (because it does not exist, then). The little unnamed village is fine, of course, but do not specify the location too much. For example: a little village some daywalks east of Skara Brae is fine, while the village at [some coordinates] would not work out.
Please prove-read your application carefully. Also try to write about your character in the format of a story. Entertain us a little! If you manage to entertain us this will let us know that you will be able to entertain the players as well!

Limitations and Rules for the Creation of RPCs.

Stats/Skills: Only one skill may be at GM-level (100), two additional skills may be between 90 and 99, three skills may be between 70-90. No individual stat may be higher than 100, the total must remain under the cap (225).
Appearance: your appearance should be described according to the character you will play. For example: the jolly sailor will not wear a full bone armor, the local wizard not a heavy plate mail,….try to think about the strengths and weaknesses of your character.
No other races than humans are currently allowed. It is also impossible for a RPC to become a different race after death. This rule might change when a new race is introduced, but at the moment the only playable race is human. Please, no half breeds too.
No special colors! For the only exception see below. You will be a normal citizen of Britannia, and you should look like that.
Every RPC should have two uniquely hued and named items. Those items are there to allow the players to identify you as a Seer and can be everything: clothes, jewelry, armor, weapons, etc. Ideally you explain why you own those items in your history. (Hint, hint!)

Some General Hints

Be creative and don't be shy. Also, don't be frustrated if you are asked to edit certain parts of your application. This is not meant to be negative, it is meant as advice and constructive criticism.
Please try to show knowledge about the lands of Britannia.
Also, please try to use proper English. Writing and a good command of the English language is very important for a Seer, maybe even more important than for a Counselor. Don't worry about the random mistake – nobody's perfect. Nevertheless, you save us a lot of time and anger if you use punctuation, capital letters and format your text a little.
Put a bit of thought into your character and your plot/quest samples. Originality and creativity are important, but a story containing too many lose ends (where they could easily be avoided) or elements that simply don't make sense cannot develop into something good (usually).
When setting up your quest/plot samples please keep the limitations of UO in mind. You cannot add anything to the world that does not exist yet, and it is unfortunately not possible for us to code in a huge amount of new things for every little quest. Try to keep things simple.
The main difference between a quest and a plot is that a plot lasts longer (it could also be described as a series of quests). A quest will usually be over within one playing-session, while a plot won't. For example: Go to dungeon xyz, meet the daemon and rescue the princess is a quest. Now, you could rescue the princess, and she would tell you that there was an ancient evil, and that you would have to find a wizard to find out more about how to fight it. The wizard sends you to fulfill another task to prove you worthy of getting the magical crystal you need for ….continue endlessly. I am sure you get the idea.
As said already, feel free to contact sunrise@endeffect.org at any time if you are in need of help! Also, you might want to visit our IRC-server – feel free to ask our active Seers for advice! The only stupid question is the question not asked. We want you to pass the application process, seriously, and we will try our best to encourage and help you with it.

Well, I guess that's it for now! Good luck for you and your application and may the muses kiss you! We are looking forward to welcome you in our great team in the near future!