Character Creation
Grasp at Stars is an original role play setting, and as such, only original characters are allowed. You may not sign up as Mario, Harry Potter, or any other characters from an established canon or medium. You are free to use such characters as an inspiration, as a picture base, or as a jumping off point; Grasp at Stars is heavily influenced by comics, action films, and video games, and is no stranger to borrowing an idea or two. We just don't allow direct knock-offs. While we can't prevent you from signing up as a character you played on a previous forum or other RPG, we do heavily discourage this, as we're hoping to build a unique world with its own characters and stories--not just retread or extent stories from other sources.
The first step in making a new character is signing up for the forums, which are located here. Your account name on the forums should be that of your character's--preferably first and last name, standard structure and capitalization. If the character's name is an anagram or a robot model type or something like that, that's also acceptable. We just want to make sure characters are quickly and easily identifiable by all players involved (it might be hard to remember that Lux Hargrove is played by LOVEPENGUINS_420, for example). Any extra characters you make in the future should follow the same guidelines: a new account registered for each. There's currently no hard limit on how many characters you can have. You can play as many as you think you can handle!
In the Profile Archive section of the forums will be a stickied thread, with a new character template. Copy and paste that form into a new thread, fill it out, and wait for administrator approval! Once you're approved, you're good to go. Your character application also serves as your new profile page. You can edit it whenever you want to update the information, add new items or powers that you've accrued, or just to tidy up a bit. Updates presently work on the honor system, so don't go adding any items or powers that your character didn't actually earn, alright?
The first step in making a new character is signing up for the forums, which are located here. Your account name on the forums should be that of your character's--preferably first and last name, standard structure and capitalization. If the character's name is an anagram or a robot model type or something like that, that's also acceptable. We just want to make sure characters are quickly and easily identifiable by all players involved (it might be hard to remember that Lux Hargrove is played by LOVEPENGUINS_420, for example). Any extra characters you make in the future should follow the same guidelines: a new account registered for each. There's currently no hard limit on how many characters you can have. You can play as many as you think you can handle!
In the Profile Archive section of the forums will be a stickied thread, with a new character template. Copy and paste that form into a new thread, fill it out, and wait for administrator approval! Once you're approved, you're good to go. Your character application also serves as your new profile page. You can edit it whenever you want to update the information, add new items or powers that you've accrued, or just to tidy up a bit. Updates presently work on the honor system, so don't go adding any items or powers that your character didn't actually earn, alright?
Roleplaying
Grasp at Stars uses what's sometimes known as Pass the Baton, or the Campfire System. In most roleplaying games, you are in charge of your character, and your character only; to force actions on others is against the rules, or godmoding. We're a little different. When you post, you are in control of every character involved with the story. You are the director, the writer, and the actors, both NPC and PC. When the next person posts, they, too, are in charge of the entire scenario. The idea is to invoke the campfire tales of old: one person starts the story, and then everyone takes turns telling a new portion of it, with the narrative weight passing around the campfire until the story is finished.
This takes a great deal of care and cooperation! You want to respect everyone's characters as much as you do your own. Keep characters interesting, important, and consistent with their previous portrayals. It is not a competition. You are not trying to make your character look the best. The end goal is to tell a good story, whether your personal character is the forefront of it or not. Feel free to run wild with someone else's character! Don't be afraid to give someone else the spotlight if it makes for a more interesting session. Grasp at Stars has a specific forum dedicated to discussing role plays as they happen, so that people can have their characters portrayed in a proper, consistent fashion, and so that a conclusion can be reached that pleases everybody.
This takes a great deal of care and cooperation! You want to respect everyone's characters as much as you do your own. Keep characters interesting, important, and consistent with their previous portrayals. It is not a competition. You are not trying to make your character look the best. The end goal is to tell a good story, whether your personal character is the forefront of it or not. Feel free to run wild with someone else's character! Don't be afraid to give someone else the spotlight if it makes for a more interesting session. Grasp at Stars has a specific forum dedicated to discussing role plays as they happen, so that people can have their characters portrayed in a proper, consistent fashion, and so that a conclusion can be reached that pleases everybody.
Resource and Experience
Grasp at Stars uses two forms of fictional currency for improving characters: Resource ($), and Experience (XP). Resource represents money, trade goods, influence, and other tangible products that could be offered or bargained with. Resource is used to obtain new items, equipment, artifacts, and other such gear. The reason we're vague about it being generic resources instead of just calling it money (i.e., $50 worth of resources rather than just owning a 50 dollar bill) is that from an in character perspective, your character might not buy anything. If your blacksmith character hammers himself out a new sword, it would still be an expenditure of Resource. If you want your character to have grabbed some magical device in between adventures, it would be considered Resource. Any new object in your character's possession are picked up by trading in Resource for them. This also opens up story options, as a character might have $200 worth of local influence and owed favors, but be physically lacking in spendable money.
Objects purchased with Resource are permanent. If you buy a broadsword with Resource, that broadsword is now considered a narrative angle of your character and is assumed to be on his person for any given story in the future. If it breaks, he's assumed to repair it between adventures. If he loses it, he'll typically regain it at the end of the tale. The broadsword is on your character's profile; it is as much a part of your character as any superpower or spell might be. Of course, your character can grab and use narratively weightless items over the course over a story--grabbing an enemy's gun out of their hands, or stealing a car, things of that sort. Items obtained that way are temporary, though, tailored for the scene and in no way truly permanent. You can even use the equipment of your fellow party members, if the story calls for it! But at the end of the day, those things belong to them, and not to you.
Experience is a similar meta-game currency, but it represents the obtaining of knowledge and intangible power rather than any hard resources. Experience is spent on things like spells, psychic powers, and powerful sword fighting techniques--things that your character can do, rather than on things the character has. Unlike equipment, abilities bought with XP cannot be swapped around or loaned out--they're powers your character possesses, but can't be readily given away or quickly taught. The upside is that they're much, much harder to lose access to. An enemy can steal your sword or break your armor, but can't typically stop you from casting a spell or flying away of your own accord. Exceptions always exist, of course--if an anti-magic field or a recursive psychic barrier would be entertaining then feel free to go for it, it's just not something likely to come up all that often.
Objects purchased with Resource are permanent. If you buy a broadsword with Resource, that broadsword is now considered a narrative angle of your character and is assumed to be on his person for any given story in the future. If it breaks, he's assumed to repair it between adventures. If he loses it, he'll typically regain it at the end of the tale. The broadsword is on your character's profile; it is as much a part of your character as any superpower or spell might be. Of course, your character can grab and use narratively weightless items over the course over a story--grabbing an enemy's gun out of their hands, or stealing a car, things of that sort. Items obtained that way are temporary, though, tailored for the scene and in no way truly permanent. You can even use the equipment of your fellow party members, if the story calls for it! But at the end of the day, those things belong to them, and not to you.
Experience is a similar meta-game currency, but it represents the obtaining of knowledge and intangible power rather than any hard resources. Experience is spent on things like spells, psychic powers, and powerful sword fighting techniques--things that your character can do, rather than on things the character has. Unlike equipment, abilities bought with XP cannot be swapped around or loaned out--they're powers your character possesses, but can't be readily given away or quickly taught. The upside is that they're much, much harder to lose access to. An enemy can steal your sword or break your armor, but can't typically stop you from casting a spell or flying away of your own accord. Exceptions always exist, of course--if an anti-magic field or a recursive psychic barrier would be entertaining then feel free to go for it, it's just not something likely to come up all that often.
Going on Quests
Resource and Experience are typically obtained through quests. Quests are story suggestions with pre-assigned rewards, a list of which can be found on this page. In addition, some quests may have more specific, unique rewards, like items or powers that you can obtain just for being involved in the quest. Quests also have a minimum number of participants; you must have at least that many people involved with the quest to run it. Very rarely, if ever, will a quest be a solo endeavor; Grasp at Stars is meant to be a social experience with group role playing and shared narratives.
Most quests have something called an MVP Bonus. When a quest is finished, all of its participants are to PM the Administrator, and choose one player that you feel contributed the most to the session. It can be the person that portrayed your character the best, or whoever did the most to push the story along, whoever came up with the most interesting twists, or simply who you felt had the most entertaining writing. You may not vote for yourself! Whoever receives the most votes for that quest will receive the MVP Bonus. The MVP Bonus is incentive to play everyone else's characters to the best of your ability, and accurate to their ideals for the character. If you put the spotlight on yourself, or downplay and ignore other peoples' characters, they are not likely to vote for you. The basic rewards should be more than sufficient, and are given out just for participating; the MVP Bonus is just a little something extra for doing a really good job.
Most quests have something called an MVP Bonus. When a quest is finished, all of its participants are to PM the Administrator, and choose one player that you feel contributed the most to the session. It can be the person that portrayed your character the best, or whoever did the most to push the story along, whoever came up with the most interesting twists, or simply who you felt had the most entertaining writing. You may not vote for yourself! Whoever receives the most votes for that quest will receive the MVP Bonus. The MVP Bonus is incentive to play everyone else's characters to the best of your ability, and accurate to their ideals for the character. If you put the spotlight on yourself, or downplay and ignore other peoples' characters, they are not likely to vote for you. The basic rewards should be more than sufficient, and are given out just for participating; the MVP Bonus is just a little something extra for doing a really good job.
Core Abilities
Core Abilities help define a character's foundation. They're abilities that never really shut off! Due to how potent they are, Core Abilities are extremely difficult to acquire. At character creation, you're allowed to pick any two Core Abilities; obtaining any after that is a rare and special occurrence, so choose wisely. They should be Core Abilities that really shape who your character is, like racial traits or things that took years and years to learn.
Amorphous: The character's body is less than solid. They could be a sand golem, a slime, or other rubbery creature. The character can stretch and contort their limbs, moving their mass around and altering their general shape. Turning into specific objects or altering your size dramatically should be taken as individual powers.
Aquatic: The character can survive underwater and on land, able to breathe in both environments. The character becomes faster, stronger, and more agile while underwater, excelling to a level that is several steps above average human beings. The character may start to weaken if they're out of contact with water for an extended period, though, and begins to dry out.
Born Leader: You have a natural charisma, a presence that endows you with better leadership. Anyone under your command sees a general improvement in their performance. You receive one Minion immediately, for free (either a Major Minion or a Minion Mob, at your choice). Said Minion receives one Passive Ability at no additional charge. Whenever you purchase new powers or items for any of your Minions, the base cost is reduced by 15%. This bonus does not stack with coupons or other bonuses.
Chi Training: You have tapped into the world of the spiritual, and can sense the energy that flows within and around us. Because your body is imbued with chi energy, you are a little faster and a little stronger than most people. You can detect whether someone in your presence is substantially stronger or weaker than you, and how much life remains in their body. This Passive Ability is a prerequisite for developing more powerful chi techniques.
Cold Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to even the most extreme cold. Your character cannot be frozen, not even by magical means.
Day Walker: You are somehow empowered by daylight. During the day, you are substantially stronger, faster, and more competent than you have any reason to be. Your baseline ability to do pretty much anything sees a big increase in direct sunlight. You are never blinded by brightness, and can see well enough no matter how intense a light is. At night, your stats dip the other direction; once the sun sets, you become extremely weak. This cannot be combined with Night Stalker.
Electric Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to lightning. Electrocution deals no lasting damage to you, and you are never stunned by electrical attacks. Even magical lightning barely even registers to you.
Fast Learner: You are extremely quick when it comes to soaking in new knowledge. The cost of powers, techniques, or anything else purchased with XP is reduced by 20%. This cost reduction only applies to you, not to Minions in your employ; further, the cost reduction does not stack with coupons or other bonus effects. Fast Learner will always shave at least 1 XP off the base price, unless it reduces the base price to under 1 XP. When rounding with decimals, round in whichever direction is most beneficial.
Heat Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to extreme heat, fire, and lava. No matter how hot it gets, you don't even break a sweat.
Heightened Senses: Each of your natural senses are raised to an inhuman degree. With a little focus you can spy someone miles away, track a person by smell, or distinguish lies by the sound of a person's heartbeat.
Magical Aptitude: You have access to magic, either naturally, or through years of hard training and study. This allows you to do the most basic of entry level spells: you can make objects glow or float, clean or change the color of things, or make noises and distorted voices. This ability is a precursor to developing more powerful spells later on.
Mecha Pilot: You have been extensively trained in the modern art of driving giant robots. Because mecha are such complicated devices, this Passive Ability is a requirement for piloting one with any real, tangible competence. You are also given one mech for absolutely free.
Mutation: You are not a normal member of your species. Through intense radiation exposure, a genetic defect, or some other strange alteration to the base anatomy of your being, you have access to powers and abilities that you normally shouldn't. This may just be unusual (but purely aesthetic) features at first, but this can be an entryway into developing more honed and bizarre mutant powers later on.
Night Stalker: You grow stronger as the night surrounds you. Once the sun sets, you become stronger, faster, and more competent than one would expect of you. When exposed to moonlight, your capabilities are multiplied to a startling degree. You can see perfectly well in the dark, as though you had nightvision. Once the sun rises, though, your power vanishes; in the day time, you are almost helpless. This cannot be combined with Day Walker.
Psychic Potential: Your character is an esper, able to tap into the psychic abilities inherent to a strong mind. This starts off as very slight extrasensory power; you get a sense of dread when something bad is about to happen, for example, and have a more empathetic sense of other peoples' emotions. This Passive Ability is a requirement for developing more potent (and specific) psychic powers.
Regeneration: You can heal wounds in extremely little time. Smaller cuts only take a few minutes if you don't focus on them; with concentration, and without stressing yourself extensively for the period, you can heal even faster than that. You can even regrow limbs with enough effort, and recover from nearly fatal wounds without so much as a scar. Healing this way takes a lot out of you, though, and larger wounds will typically leave you exhausted. Regeneration ceases the instant you are actually killed; you cannot use it to come back from the dead.
Resourceful: You know how to get the most bang for your buck. The cost of buying items, weapons, and other equipment purchased with Resource is reduced by 20%. This only applies to you personally, and not to Minions in your employ. Further, the discount does not stack with coupons or other bonuses. Resourceful will always shave at least $1 off the base price, unless doing so would reduce the base price to under $1. When rounding with decimals, round in whichever direction is most beneficial.
Unliving: You are not technically alive. Golems, animated dolls, robots, undead and other such creatures could potentially count for this. You do not require food, water, or air to breathe, and you are immune to most poisons, toxins, diseases, and similar afflictions. However, you are also unable to heal naturally, requiring physical repair or manual replacement of parts to recover from injury. Curative drugs, healing spells and other things designed to benefit biological creatures do not help you.
Unusual Size: Your character's natural size is extremely small, or extremely large. Extremely small typically entails a pixie or insect size; unusually large is Kaiju scale, able to stand up to mecha and the like. Other characters may be able to achieve this with temporary spells or effects, but this size is natural to you and cannot be shut off.
Amorphous: The character's body is less than solid. They could be a sand golem, a slime, or other rubbery creature. The character can stretch and contort their limbs, moving their mass around and altering their general shape. Turning into specific objects or altering your size dramatically should be taken as individual powers.
Aquatic: The character can survive underwater and on land, able to breathe in both environments. The character becomes faster, stronger, and more agile while underwater, excelling to a level that is several steps above average human beings. The character may start to weaken if they're out of contact with water for an extended period, though, and begins to dry out.
Born Leader: You have a natural charisma, a presence that endows you with better leadership. Anyone under your command sees a general improvement in their performance. You receive one Minion immediately, for free (either a Major Minion or a Minion Mob, at your choice). Said Minion receives one Passive Ability at no additional charge. Whenever you purchase new powers or items for any of your Minions, the base cost is reduced by 15%. This bonus does not stack with coupons or other bonuses.
Chi Training: You have tapped into the world of the spiritual, and can sense the energy that flows within and around us. Because your body is imbued with chi energy, you are a little faster and a little stronger than most people. You can detect whether someone in your presence is substantially stronger or weaker than you, and how much life remains in their body. This Passive Ability is a prerequisite for developing more powerful chi techniques.
Cold Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to even the most extreme cold. Your character cannot be frozen, not even by magical means.
Day Walker: You are somehow empowered by daylight. During the day, you are substantially stronger, faster, and more competent than you have any reason to be. Your baseline ability to do pretty much anything sees a big increase in direct sunlight. You are never blinded by brightness, and can see well enough no matter how intense a light is. At night, your stats dip the other direction; once the sun sets, you become extremely weak. This cannot be combined with Night Stalker.
Electric Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to lightning. Electrocution deals no lasting damage to you, and you are never stunned by electrical attacks. Even magical lightning barely even registers to you.
Fast Learner: You are extremely quick when it comes to soaking in new knowledge. The cost of powers, techniques, or anything else purchased with XP is reduced by 20%. This cost reduction only applies to you, not to Minions in your employ; further, the cost reduction does not stack with coupons or other bonus effects. Fast Learner will always shave at least 1 XP off the base price, unless it reduces the base price to under 1 XP. When rounding with decimals, round in whichever direction is most beneficial.
Heat Immunity: Your body is naturally resistant to extreme heat, fire, and lava. No matter how hot it gets, you don't even break a sweat.
Heightened Senses: Each of your natural senses are raised to an inhuman degree. With a little focus you can spy someone miles away, track a person by smell, or distinguish lies by the sound of a person's heartbeat.
Magical Aptitude: You have access to magic, either naturally, or through years of hard training and study. This allows you to do the most basic of entry level spells: you can make objects glow or float, clean or change the color of things, or make noises and distorted voices. This ability is a precursor to developing more powerful spells later on.
Mecha Pilot: You have been extensively trained in the modern art of driving giant robots. Because mecha are such complicated devices, this Passive Ability is a requirement for piloting one with any real, tangible competence. You are also given one mech for absolutely free.
Mutation: You are not a normal member of your species. Through intense radiation exposure, a genetic defect, or some other strange alteration to the base anatomy of your being, you have access to powers and abilities that you normally shouldn't. This may just be unusual (but purely aesthetic) features at first, but this can be an entryway into developing more honed and bizarre mutant powers later on.
Night Stalker: You grow stronger as the night surrounds you. Once the sun sets, you become stronger, faster, and more competent than one would expect of you. When exposed to moonlight, your capabilities are multiplied to a startling degree. You can see perfectly well in the dark, as though you had nightvision. Once the sun rises, though, your power vanishes; in the day time, you are almost helpless. This cannot be combined with Day Walker.
Psychic Potential: Your character is an esper, able to tap into the psychic abilities inherent to a strong mind. This starts off as very slight extrasensory power; you get a sense of dread when something bad is about to happen, for example, and have a more empathetic sense of other peoples' emotions. This Passive Ability is a requirement for developing more potent (and specific) psychic powers.
Regeneration: You can heal wounds in extremely little time. Smaller cuts only take a few minutes if you don't focus on them; with concentration, and without stressing yourself extensively for the period, you can heal even faster than that. You can even regrow limbs with enough effort, and recover from nearly fatal wounds without so much as a scar. Healing this way takes a lot out of you, though, and larger wounds will typically leave you exhausted. Regeneration ceases the instant you are actually killed; you cannot use it to come back from the dead.
Resourceful: You know how to get the most bang for your buck. The cost of buying items, weapons, and other equipment purchased with Resource is reduced by 20%. This only applies to you personally, and not to Minions in your employ. Further, the discount does not stack with coupons or other bonuses. Resourceful will always shave at least $1 off the base price, unless doing so would reduce the base price to under $1. When rounding with decimals, round in whichever direction is most beneficial.
Unliving: You are not technically alive. Golems, animated dolls, robots, undead and other such creatures could potentially count for this. You do not require food, water, or air to breathe, and you are immune to most poisons, toxins, diseases, and similar afflictions. However, you are also unable to heal naturally, requiring physical repair or manual replacement of parts to recover from injury. Curative drugs, healing spells and other things designed to benefit biological creatures do not help you.
Unusual Size: Your character's natural size is extremely small, or extremely large. Extremely small typically entails a pixie or insect size; unusually large is Kaiju scale, able to stand up to mecha and the like. Other characters may be able to achieve this with temporary spells or effects, but this size is natural to you and cannot be shut off.