PlagueOfUndeath

step one is listen to Kyzock, the guy's good.
Step two, uh...
Be mindful of limitations. Having a character too powerful or with too convoluted a backstory (or too convoluted with too powerful a backstory...yes that can happen...how many kids does Satan have running around Paragon City now? Dude gets around) can be detrimental.
Also it helps if you think from a character's perspective, or 'write what you know'. For instance, I don't just use Japanese characters because I like anime (which I do, believe me I do LOL) I love the country and the culture, and try to use my knowledge to add spice to any given RP...at least as much as I can. The myths and legends, as well as cultural mannerisms, can add depth to a character. However, I would not make a Middle Eastern character, since I don't know enough about the region to justify using it as a backround, and any attempt would be two dimensional at best.
So, if you know a lot about a certain topic, try to incorporate it. Like, if you, hypothetically, know a lot about baseball, a baseball themed hero might be worthwhile. Silly, but worthwhile.
Homerun Hans! With the power to hit any ball! (Much more powerful than it sounds if you take enough liberties )

Woooo Saturday night was FUUUUUN
I just wish I hadn't stuck my camera in box in my garage =x
Given the full day of comic-con+the aubergine party+a small furry creature at my house that likes to wake up at 5 AM, I was a zombie all day Sunday ^_^;
It was so awesome being able to meet the players and place faces to the various names, even though it seemed there was a virtual cherry-pick of different people from different servers (I swear I met one person from each server, and no one really from my server...though to be honest I'm not surprised LOL)
Kythera doing the sketches of the signature heroes on post-it notes was fun to watch or maybe I'm just easily amused by artists since I lack any discernible talent (even my handwriting sucks :P) Her drawings were still really, REALLY good, though.
Well, since I just turned 21 a few months ago and most of my friends are a little younger than me, this was also the first time I've ever actually been in a REAL bar/nightclub (in the U.S. at least ) so it was a great experience for me in more ways than one. Also it was the first time I ever danced in public...so yeah I sucked but that's not what matters!! FUN IS WHAT MATTERS!!!!

Anywho, good meetin ya'll, hope we can do it again!!

[ QUOTE ]
((I know you said that technology was gonna be awkward at times (lol get it?), but i'd like to make an android to help you guys out if that's OK))

[/ QUOTE ]
(OOC: Keep in mind you won't be able to use a lot of your technology-based powers)

"Ancient race? No, ancient is a word I prefer not to use, since it has no meaning to someone such as me," the Lad said.
(OOC: We'll begin the travel this evening, giving a chance to nab a few more people maybe)

"Now that someone has mentioned Ouroboros, I should assure you all," the Lad said, "That I have no ulterior motives or deep dark sinister plans involving working the timeline to suit my own needs. If I really wanted to do that...well actually I did do that once, ruling the universe is a little tiring, and not nearly as rewarding as working to maintain it and ensure my species gets their fair shake in the universe...interpret that how you will."

(OOC: Don't worry Rebel, I knew you weren't, that was the reaction I had planned for the first person to pipe up about how they felt ripped from their timeline It IS a natural response, after all.)

"Ah yes, the time traveling warshade with the intimidating voice, things are certainly more fun with you around, or they will be...or were...it doesn't matter. This...'Coming Storm' Ouroboros and friends warn about...oh how people worry their pretty little heads over it," the Lad chuckled slightly to himself, "Not knowing that there will be 'fun' before, after, and during...well I think I remember during...that are just as panic-worthy, albeit for different timelines. I think we both remember what happened when that 'Silos' fellow sneezed on Caesar Augustus."

"Ah, yes, a kheldian...shame what happens in some of the time lines, but that's nowhere near the point. Why can't you just beat me up and be on your way? Hm, well that sounds interesting except," his expression darkened and an amused smile crept across his face, "I probably wouldn't have brought you here in the first place if there was a high probability of you attempting to harm me, and even if you did try...well...three...two...one..."
Several loud clankings and sputterings, followed by a few surprised gasps filled the room as every gun in the room immediately disassembled. The Dapper Lad smiled brightly after seeing this.
"What, you didn't think I'd let you keep high tech weapons in 'rip roaring time travel adventure' now did you? If fact I'm fairly certain this demonstration was the very reason I brought you at the specific time you were holding those weapons. Though Miss Kheldian doesn't seem to have any such weapons, I would certainly hate to demonstrate on her," a look of sadness crossed his face and passed, replaced with his old cheery look, "Anyway, where you're going isn't as important as when, and when you're going is soon. Ho Ho ho....right. I'll tell you once a few more questions have been answered."
(OOC: Yes he can godmode a little, just to keep the plot on track though. Time travelers of his type tend to do that.)

Tick tick tick tick tick...
The ticking of the numerous clocks mounted on the wall serves as a humble background noise to the large open room. The room and clocks look different to each person, to each time period, depending upon the whims of the owner. This time around, the clocks and architecture are decidedly vintage nineteen hundred, a fitting time period for what the owner had planned.
Except for the clocks and some choice stone pillars for ambience, the room was undecorated, with only a raised dais against one of the walls offering any semblance of direction in the strange room. Alarmingly, there were also no doors or windows, not that the owner needed them.
In the center of the dais, an elderly gentleman with a prominant moustache stood, decked out in a fancy suit and monocle, with a bowler hat to complete the look.
None of the occupants of the room knew how they got here or why they were brought here, but this man looked like he had the answers.
Suddenly, all the clocks sounded off their clangs and chimes and bells and whistles as their hands united at the the 12 mark, and the man spoke.
"Yes, yes it's time to begin now, though I suppose I could wait, or have started sooner, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm fairly certain you and you," he pointed to two seemingly random members of the small crowd, "are going to ask where we are and why, and I assure you the answer will come in due time. Or maybe I already told you...I can't remember sometimes. Anyway, if you haven't heard the explanation I suppose I'll start from about 60% through the story, because that's the important part, the part you need to know.
"I am the Dapper Lad. I'm known by many other names but those of you in this room will address me by that name when we meet again after all this, so I suppose that's what I'll introduce myself as. Though I suppose 'Old Man' and 'That Guy' will suffice as well, since some of you are wont to call me that, or will be at least.
"That's neither here nor there, however. This place I've brought you all to is my space. A place sitting snugly between two epochs and an eon. Don't ask how that's possible it'd take me that long to describe it, and most of you won't live that long anyway. Time doesn't flow normally here but reversing aging beyond the time I spend explaining and answering questions is a large hassle, one I'd rather not deal with. Or rather, I have dealt with it, and for some of you it won't-or wasn't-pretty.
"Anyway on to the reason I brought you all here: I've run into a couple...snags in my journeys through the timelines, a few events I can't-or couldn't-deal with myself. Thirteen or fourteen timelines have fallen victim already, and a few more are pretty close. I figure I should get this one right, at least. Or rather, I did get this one right, though it will be difficult. There will be fighting, and some detective work, and the risk will be great but I'm absolutely positive you all will succeed. Or at least, this is the configuration with the highest probability of success.
"Now, any questions?"

(OOC: Basically everyone is going to be on a time travel adventure, mostly on Earth so PLEASE choose human or human looking heroes/villains. Also don't expect technology to work as well in the timelines where they don't exist. The Dapper Lad probably doesn't want to go through the effort of sending a fully armed spec ops group back to medieval times, for instance. As for the method in which you enter the room, it just sort of 'happens', like one millisecond you're sitting drinking tea and the next you're standing in the room. The first trip will be to a wild wild west setting, btw.)

[ QUOTE ]
((where'd everyone go?))

[/ QUOTE ]
((Still here kekekeke))

[ QUOTE ]
You trying to mock me? Heh.

[/ QUOTE ]
...no, quite serious actually

Haruhi: A girl with psychosomatic powers she's unaware of that believes she's an anime character.

Shioh took the card in her hands, flipping it around, sniffing it briefly.
"I'm Shioh, I serve Arachnos," she blurted out proudly.

...turtle shadow?
...barrel shadow? 0_o

[ QUOTE ]

Giving an amused smirk at Shioh’s show of reflexes, she returns her attention to the girl phases through her head, “I don’t miss sweetie…a good sniper only takes a shot if they are sure that it will end in a kill”


[/ QUOTE ]
Shioh grinned slightly, "In my line of work, we have to plan for the unexpected. One time I had to kill this guy with a crazy healing factor. I unloaded three clips from an SMG, two grenades, and thiry-seven cuts from my claws, and the guy still got up. So I strapped him to a garbage truck and drove it into the ocean, and fished out the body later."
Her eyes hazed over, a rather disturbing look of nostalgia creeping over her face.

[quote
“Well dear, I prefer to kill my targets in one go by inflicting the maximum amount of damage….aimed perfectly” silk smiles and then blows into a straw and shoots the straw wrapper right at Shioh’s heart.


[/ QUOTE ]
Playfully, Shioh grabbed the straw wrapper mere centimeters before it hit, crumpled it up, and flicked it back at Silk.
"Well, what do you do if that doesn't work?" she asked.

Shioh cocked her head at Silk's description of the arrows.
"So, if you were to die, or somehow get separated from your arrows, or if someone STOLE one of your arrows...what would happen?" she asked, "Shiomi-nee always says to me to 'never use something that will leave a trace."
As she said this, she closed her eyes and pointed one finger in the air, acting like a teacher of some sort. On close inspection of her finger, those gathered around her might notice a distinct lack of definition present in her finger. (OOC: No fingerprints)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Eh, don't sweat it," Harry said, waving it off. "Yer always gonna get one fly in the ointment at some point. You were pretty crazy with that bow, though. Some really cool tricks ya had there."

[/ QUOTE ]

“Thanks hun! I have been training for a long time. I only wish you had had more to look at” *wink*

[ QUOTE ]
"Nihaoma!" Shioh said loudly, clasping Silk's hand.
(OOC: If you don't know Chinese, Shioh just said 'hello'. She speaks English, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian. Three guesses as to how she learned Italian

[/ QUOTE ]

(in Chinese)
“Wow, Finally someone that speaks Chinese! So where are you from? My family is from Fujian!”

((to soviet, i'll be writing up a "searching for the resonator" post later tonight just fyi))

[/ QUOTE ]
(OOC: From here on out, since I just established Shioh speaks multiple languages, C=Chinese, J=Japanese, I=Italian, and since I'm frickin lazy, no notation means English)
"(C) I'm from St. Martial, the Rogue Isles," Shioh replied, "Where's Fujian?"
Shioh cocked her head to the side, genuinely unaware of even basic geography beyond the Rogue Isles. It was easy to think she was more worldly than she actually was, given her flawless aptitude with languages. However, her source for these languages was...unconventional...to say the least. She learned Italian initially, and when Shiomi-nee and Asuka found out and asked why, her demonstration (since she couldn't explain how it worked to save her life) caused her to pick up Chinese and Japanese from the two of them, respectively.

In the old days, there was a weapon called a cestus, which was basically a bar with three or more spikes about a knuckle's length apart. Since they required basically no skill to actually use, they were considered to be just as if not more deadly that a knife, and since they were made to be concealed in the hand...
Somewhere along the line, people figured out that having three blades on one hand was pretty cool.
Soooo claws are a great natural/technology origin power, just say you're holding em

"Yeah," Shioh said, "The new movies try too hard to be accurate...but real accuracy isn't as interesting...sometimes."
[ QUOTE ]

Silk was tired of her games of cat and mouse so she walks out of the arena for good this time moving back to harry, “Damn that was annoying! Sorry it was so dull.” Looking over at Shioh, “Oh hi I’m Xian shi Ying But you can call me Silk” She extends her hand with a friendly smile.

[/ QUOTE ]
"Nihaoma!" Shioh said loudly, clasping Silk's hand.
(OOC: If you don't know Chinese, Shioh just said 'hello'. She speaks English, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian. Three guesses as to how she learned Italian )

[ QUOTE ]

"Oh, I know what ya mean there," Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Always been a fan o' skill and all. But knowing the outcome, for me anyway, doesn't really take away the fun of watching. I mean, I KNOW how some movies are going to end, but I still re-watch them. Of course, I seem to be more easily amused than most so maybe it's just different perspectives."

[/ QUOTE ]
"OO what kind of movies do you like?" she snapped up and put her face close to his, "I like comedies and musicals and kung fu movies and Super Sentai movies and horror movies!"

[ QUOTE ]

"Now c'mon," he said to Shioh. "Tell me THAT wasn't impressive."

[/ QUOTE ]
"Impressive and fun are two different things. Watching people do things means I'm not doing them myself. I'm a doer not a watcher, especially since watching means I know the outcome of any 'gambles' they take. I know it sounds really, REALLYreallyreally weird, but I prefer to watch battles that don't involve explosions and weird metahuman powers," she pointed a thumb at the guy who strolled through the attack as she said this, "The more actual, raw skill like martial arts or even sword fights involved, as long as they're not flynning , the more interesting it is. I'd still prefer to fightfightFIGHT than sit around and watch, though."
Harry would probably find her 'slideshow' of movements as she described fighting and metahuman powers entertaining in the way one finds a mime entertaining. Or a clown. Or an acrobat. She'd been all three.

(OOC: Nice sketches ))

Shioh leaned back, her belly full from consuming what was probably half her weight in hot dogs.
"Now I'm bored! Boredboredboredboredbored BORED!" she announced, throwing her hands up, losing her balance, and falling backwards onto the floor.

"Sort of but not really, most of my psychic abilities were 'awakened' when I was a member of the Carnival. Shiomi-nee says since I was exposed to so much psychic energy, my mental abilities got jump started," she said, musing and devouring another hot dog.

"No no it's really cool! Lemme show you," Shioh picked up a hot dog and displayed it for him.
Unexpectedly, her eyes glowed strangely, her normally brown eyes shifting to a shining gold color as they locked on Harry's eyes.
"Now as long as I've invoking my power on you, you'll see these hot dogs as hamburgers," she said, her eyes still locked on his.
After a few seconds, she blinked and began massaging her temples as she shut her eyes tight. The 'connection' was broken.
"Unfortunately I can only make it work while I have eye contact with someone, and it hurts if I do it for very long. I just broke my record right there. Changing the way someone perceives something doesn't really work if they can't see it without looking away from my eyes and breaking the connection. I guess it's kind of like being able to turn invisible only when people aren't looking," she chuckled.

[ QUOTE ]

"Well, I guess not all superpowers can be flashy." Harry studied the pandomonium inside the cage for a few seconds. "Long as it's useful I s'pose. I mean, what if you had super-powers, but it was somethin' like the ability to change the color of someone's clothes just by lookin' at 'em."

[/ QUOTE ]
"I wish I could do that...it'd be neat to turn guys' shirts pink. But before I left, Shiomi-nee was teaching me about this one mental technique that lets you perceive colors differently, kind of like a 'mental greenscreen' she said," Shioh said, giggling at the possibilities of color changing.

[ QUOTE ]

"But training and fighting," Harry continued, turning back to Shioh. "Secret missions and a mysterious Lady? Yer makin' me feel mundane over here. Can ya tell me who 'the Lady' is, or would ya have to kill me afterward? Cause I don't think I want to know THAT badly."

[/ QUOTE ]
Shioh giggled, "I don't want to kill you, you're funny. The Lady is Belladonna Vetrano, you probably know her by her codename though: Ghost Widow. And yeah...I guess you could say I'm a metahuman, but I won't be throwing tables and chairs around or creating distortions in reality in order to suck people towards me so I can stab them with shards of ice. Fighting is kind of boring for me unless whoever I'm fighting is really, really good. When I play chess I can see exactly what the opponent will do for the next two turns, but Chess masters think ahead three or more turns. Unfortunately there aren't many chess masters out there. At least, that's what Shiomi-nee always says."