So, you want to make a PC. Here’s a checklist to make sure you’re ready!
1 – Have you NPCed atleast once at Last Hope? 2 – Have you read up on the lore to make sure you know what you want to play? 3 – Are you ready to select (at minimum) a Standard Membership for the events you want to play this PC? 4 – Since our loaner gear is reserved for NPCs, do you own all the gear and clothing you will need for your PC?
If you answered yes to all those questions, you’re ready to make your first PC!
Submission Deadline
The deadline for new PC bios is 2 weeks (literally 14 days) prior to the event you want to play them for the first time. Consider this rule to also apply for submitting Downtime Actions– your PC bio will be due 14 days prior to your Action due date. This gives staff enough time to review your bio before the event, and also gives you a chance to sign up to play the character before the usual Early-Bird Deadline for pre-registration.
However, if your bio does not fit the lore of our game, if your spelling and grammar is wildly off, or if something else needs to be changed about your bio and we have to send it back to you for those revisions, we cannot guarantee your ability to play the character at the event. The earlier you can submit your bio, the better!
Submission Template
The template below is a helpful guide for creating your PC bio. Want to use a different format, or leave some details out for drama and mystery? Go ahead! We encourage creativity when creating your PCs. Just don’t forget, we’re gonna need all the info in order to approve the bio. Have fun!
PLAYED BY: Your name
CONTACT INFO: Email. This will not be posted on the bio, but will allow Staff and Heralds to contact you when they are approving it. We need the contact info for the actual player of this PC as well, even if it was written by another player.
CHARACTER NAME: Your PC’s name.
GENDER:
PRONOUN(S):
CLASS: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, or Mage?
AGE:
RACE:
HAIR:
EYES:
OCCUPATION: What does your character do? A career, profession, trade, member of an organization, etc?
KNOWN SKILLS: Stuff your PC can do. Doesn’t necessarily have to be skills right out of the rule book, but a brief description of things your character is skilled at.
BIRTHPLACE: Where were you born? Contact a Herald for help on family/world history stuff.
APPEARANCE: What do you look like?
NOTABLE TRAITS: Unusual traits that someone would notice right away upon meeting you, such as blind, scar on face, etc
RELATIONSHIPS: What relationships do you have other PCs and NPCs?
RUMORS: If they gossip about you, what do they say?
BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY: Background info and notable events! This is where you will detail the story of your character. If needed, contact a Herald for help! If you can send a bullet list of ideas to lasthopelarp@gmail.com for approval, it will help you detail out your bio. You can earn 0-5 exp for writing a bio; the more detailed, thought out, well written, and spelling/grammar checked it is the better your chance at earning a full 5 exp. We expect players to think about their backgrounds and the personas of the PCs they intend to play, so please take this step seriously. Who do you want to play and who do you want that person to be? What relationships do you have other PCs and NPCs?
SECRET INFO: If you so choose, this is the spot where you can put down secret info that most players would not know about your character. This will not be posted to your bio page on the wiki, but it allows the Staff and Heralds to know things about your character to help with the character creation process. Did you murder someone? Did you steal something? Etc.
All PCs need a bio... a bio is a background story of your character, where they came from, and what their life is like. It is a little hard to role play a PC when you yourself have nothing to go on. It also makes characters believable since you have stories and experiences to talk about.
I want to be the hero, star, prophesized-son-of-the-emporer-king-ruler-man!
No. Star role heroes are reserved for movies, video games, and TV series. This is a live action role play... EVERYONE is a supporting character for the overall story. This is why the heralds and story members of Last Hope usually nudge people a bit more towards normalcy in their bios. We can't have people that are kings and nobles and super prophecy heroes all walking around, it would make no sense or make the overall story so restrictive. There is nothing wrong with being the son of a butcher who yearns for adventure but doesn't know how to sword fight yet... it gives you a solid and real base to BUILD your character from.
When I make my PC, I will create an awesome clan/tribe/kingdom for him!
While this isn't completely discouraged, we are taking steps to check with players to see if this can be downplayed a bit. If every single PC had an entirely new tribe/clan/kingdom made for them, we would eventually populate our entire LARP with all these "orphans" who have no family or common ties to other PCs. Check and see if there is a group of faction you could build your character into first, and then if you still have a new ideas for a group, get herald approval first.
I sent in my bio and it was rejected by a herald because of spelling and grammar… why?
Yes, it probably was. If you expect our herald team to take the time to read, tweak, help edit, and approve your PC bio then we expect you to take the time to write it out without spelling errors and with decent grammar. No, it does not have to be perfect, but it should be edited. You, as a player, are also sending in ONE bio and the heralds and staff are reading, editing and responsible for EVERY bio. Remember, if can't take the time to type the bio well then we won't take the time to approve it.
I sent in my bio, so it must be approved, done, and I earned exp for it, right?
No. Just because you sent in a bio does not mean it is approved. Heralds need to look it over, tweak it for errors, make sure it fits both our story and your original idea, and get approval from other heralds on different points of it. It is approved when a herald says it is approved and it is placed on the Wiki under the character bios section.
I sent in my bio but I didn’t get a response right away.
Please keep in mind that the heralds helping you with your bio are also helping other players too. They also have other projects, a LARP to help coordinate, and oh yeah... a life and jobs and stuff too. Please be patient and a gentle reminding nudge of "I wanted to check on the status of my bio" is much appreciated.
Whew! Luckily I stayed up late and emailed in my bio late the night before an event, so it should be all ready for tomorrow’s event!
Nope. It will not be ready. Why? Because the heralds and staff are busy trying to run an event and get props and plot and stories and their own gear together. If you waited until the last minute to send in your bio, it will not be approved the morning of. We want a good flow of communication between the heralds and the players and last minute stuff doesn't help anybody.
I have this base idea for a character, I figure I would send it in and the heralds can finish it for me.
Wrong. You are expected to take interest in your character and write out your own story. We can't jump into your character and role play it for you, you have to do that, and going through the motions to write a good backstory/bio is an important step.
Why do I need to read up on the game lore? I thought would be cool, so I made it up and included it in my bio!
It is very important that you take the time to read up on the races, their cultures, the existing character bios and different elements of the wiki. The in-game stories are fantastic reads too. Why? Because you are making a character and jumping into a living and breathing world with existing cultures, stories, and people. How do you intend to role play with them and know how your character would act/react to things if you have no idea what the world is about? Also, we have rejected a lot of stories because they tried to create new things in our game world that did not fit our style or existing story. They clashed and were rejected or went through heavy revision.
Playing a PC in our LARP is very rewarding and being able to build your own story and interact with other players is very fun. If you take the time to create a good background and make it believable, it will give you more of a base to role play from and to build on.
