passingmod | Applications

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applications

Applications

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APPLICATIONS ↓
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sample app how we review

WHAT TO KNOW

Applications are ALWAYS OPEN, and will be processed as they are received. They must be posted in the comments, NOT linked to.

Before applying, read the rules & setting page and this post in their entirety. Use the potential applications page or the FAQ if you have any questions about the process. There is also a sample app and an explanation of how we process apps if those interest you. The wanted characters list may also be helpful.

In general, however, we would rather have a shorter, better written application than a longer one, every time. That said, length is one of the least important factors in our applications. We look primarily at the voice samples, then the personality section and writing sample. The voice samples are by far the most important section, and we prefer that these be thread links, because they give us a sense of how you play the character rather than simply how you write an application for the character.

The application page from the former site can be found here.

MISC. RULES

We do allow challenge apps, but we wait the duration of the reserve for the other app to come in before processing them against each other.

Applications or parts of applications (such as the initial comment containing contact information) will be screened on request.

There is a one week grace period for dropped characters during which applications for them will be held pending. The former player can choose to pick up those characters at any time during that week without re-applying.

If you are asked for a revision, you have one week to submit them before your app will be automatically declined. You must resubmit your app in its entirety if that happens. Always feel free to ask us to clarify what we're looking for on revisions; we won't bite.

If you are rejected, we encourage you to re-apply. We like seeing players that have taken our critique and worked on improving their portrayal. The exception is a character rejected on the grounds that they would be difficult to impossible for others to play with. Playability is an important factor.

Our plagiarism policy is as follows: the first offense will be met without consequence. The second offense results in a one month ban from apping. Subsequent further offenses will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis but most likely incur longer bans, up to and including indefinite bans.

APPLICATION IN DETAIL

Your name:
Your journal: A sock is fine, or a commonly used character journal if you don't have a personal one. Just please be consistent with your identity for ease of reference.
Contact: AIM/plurk/email/etc., whatever you prefer to be contacted.
Other characters played at Passing:

Character name:
Character fandom:
Version: V1, V1.# or V2+ should be the only options.
Canon point: What point of their timeline you're taking them from.
Importing development from old game? If yes, where from?
Background: Link to the Wiki entry on it, or if the series has its own wiki, the character's page. A comprehensive fan site is an acceptable substitute. If you cannot find one of these that works well enough for us to get a good grasp of your character from a third party, please write out the standard 'history' section for this on your own. Please include this even if applying for an AU version of the character. OCs need the history section written out as well, obviously.

In general, though, this should be a link whenever possible and not a written history. We use it to compare an unbiased third party account against your represented version of the character. If you include a written history, we will ignore it completely and look up whatever is available for that character on Wikipedia ourselves.

Changes from canon, if AU: What it says. Detail here how the AU world is different from canon, or what events have happened in their previous game that have lead them to be different.

Personality: The meat of the application, and self-explanatory. We want to see that you understand what makes them tick. If AU, try to include explanation for where and why the character has changed from canon.

Abilities: What are they particularly good at, or if they do have superhuman powers, what are they? A bullet point list will suffice.

Writing sample: At least 200 words of your own writing in third person prose, preferably about the character you're applying for. Samples about others are allowed, in any setting. This is to gauge your writing style and technique, not your grasp of character. That's the next section.

Voice sample: You may either write 200 words of your character speaking to himself, or you may link to threads, or you may request to thread with a mod character.

Regular voice sample: If choosing option one, the standard first person sample rules apply. The word count applies only to spoken words, not action in brackets, and since 200 words is a lot for some quiet characters, more than one different samples are allowed.

Linking to threads: If you are linking to threads, make sure they are lengthy ones that demonstrate your understanding of the character. We don't need a million of them, but remember that this is as a substitute for a sample, and we will evaluate it the same way. Threads that took place in other games, museboxes, or

dear_mun are all fine.

Threading with a mod character: You may also request to thread with a mod character - please do so in the body of your application when you submit it, rather than contacting a mod privately. The first available mod will respond back as soon as possible and discuss with you who your character would be best suited to play off of of their characters, and then you will agree on a time to sit down and crack out a thread.

These will be 'quick log' style in brackets and not prose to make them go faster and keep the focus on dialog. These do not have to be masterpieces of wonder, but your application will not be judged until you have finished the thread (at least 20 comments on your part), so think carefully before choosing this option. The mods will make every effort to respond to your tags quickly.

BLANK FORM

Comment here with this!

APPS ARE NOW PROCESSED EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Your name: Lisa
Your journal:

minkylowlife
Contact: aim: lisacharly[at]mac[dot]com, plurk: hotpinkcoffee, email: patchyshec[at]yahoo[dot]com
Other characters played at Passing: None

Character name: Howard Bassem
Character fandom: Gone
Version: V2 (AU because of game import)
Canon point: Between Plague (#4) and Fear (#5)
Importing development from old game? Yes, from Trans9 and Winter
Background: Unfortunately, the Gone wiki is utter pants, so I will try and keep this brief but relevant.

Howard started off as an average 8th grade student in high school, one of the few black kids in a predominantly white community. Being small and crafty, he befriended the school bully for protection, Orc, and the two became inseparable. During the 'poof', in which all people over 15 years old mysteriously vanished and a giant electrical wall erected itself over their hometown, Caine Soren assumed control of the town, and unwilling to make waves with someone with telekinesis, Orc and Howard became deputy sheriffs to Drake Merwin. During this time Orc accidentally beat another child to death.

Afraid of Caine's response to a series of botched kidnapping attempts, Howard suggested defection to Orc. Orc was too depressed to want to take sides, and he and Howard decided on becoming neutral players in The FAYZ. After Orc and Drake Merwin battled and Sam Temple regained control of Perdido Beach, Howard and Orc were allowed back into the community, but not necessarily welcomed. Howard and Orc continued to work for Sam, and Howard became Orc's 'manager', arranging for Orc to work in the fields as a vegetable-picker in exchange for alcohol. At this point, Howard began to sell drugs to the other residents of Perdido Beach  .

Howard later sweet-talked his way onto the newly-assembled town council. During a fire on Sherman Avenue, Howard and Orc risked their lives to save as many children as they could, working tirelessly into the night. After they'd done all they could, Howard lambasted the other councilmembers for not helping to save the city they were sworn to serve.  

After another battle for Perdido Beach, in which they discovered that Brittney was not only a zombie, but the part-time reincarnation of local sociopath Drake Merwin, Howard and Orc agreed to incarcerate her in their basement. After Brittney/Drake escaped and Orc ran off on a drinking binge, Howard tracked Orc and found him only after Orc had accidentally killed another child. During the ensuing conversation, Orc broke Howard's nose and walked away, leaving Howard to dispose of the child's body. Howard was alerted to an attack that left Albert terrible wounded, and after some completely unnecessary deliberation, called on the healer to save his coworker. He later reconciled with Orc and joined Sam's pilgrims to the lake.

Changes from canon, if AU:

Game history from Trans9:

While on Stacy, Howard established himself as the 'resident junkyard packrat' by salvaging miscellaneous materials from unclaimed buildings in the city, and was trained as a Medic. Stacy sent him on multiple missions, many of which ended in him running around in terror.

He also helped pasteurize milk for the Chancellor in exchange for a cut of the ice cream, which he needed for midnight bingeing. He lived at the Susono Inn with his two cats, Sushi and Emergency Rations, and the other Inn residents. On the ship he began to develop close relationships with others and begin to recover from the traumatic experience of the FAYZ. He became close friends with a variety of characters, many of whom pushed him to become something of a better person.

He attempted to desert Stacy and start a new life with Orc on Agrestic. The Daligig apprehended him and Orc and attempted to publicly Punish them, but Stacy intervened.

Howard was later sent on a mission, during which he risked his life to save Cedric Diggory and ended up dying of blood poisoning…

Game history from Winter:

…and then waking up in the Garden of Eden! Since then he's mostly been dealing with the fallout of his own death and coming to terms with his sexuality.

Personality:

Howard is a small, usually cowardly kid with an intense survival instinct. He has no loyalty to anyone but himself and to his very small circle of friends, and will often switch sides depending on whomever looks like they're going to be the winner. Generally Howard isn't a cruel kid, though, and when duty really calls, sometimes he'll step up and risk his life to do the right thing; then again, sometimes he'll sink to the bottom and do the selfish, easy thing, and later blame the circumstances instead of taking responsibility.  

His foremost goal is always survival, and while he's never killed anyone himself, he's willing to lie, beg, steal, kidnap and send people to get tortured to get by. He sees no moral issue with selling drugs to children, claiming that he only gives them what they want. Oddly enough, he possesses a certain sense of democracy, and doesn't believe elected officials should lie to their constituents.  

Howard is abrasive, whiney and sarcastic, and often bemoans that nobody around him has a sense of humor. He tends to be a pessimist and assumes the worst of everybody. He's very clever and because he automatically distrusts his peers, he's capable of seeing through other people's motivations and getting at what makes them tick. He is very keen on personal space and does not like to be touched without warning*.

Howard's intense loyalty to his friends has led him to do some incredibly risky things, and he can be very nurturing and self-sacrificing if their situation calls for it. Due to insecurities, he is also very clingy and needy to those he is close to. When questioned about it, though, Howard is afraid to show or acknowledge affection for anyone, and talks about others as if they're game pieces, enemies, or resources to exploit. Over time, he's relaxed somewhat and become friends with a few other characters, and has made efforts to be more social and working within a community instead of just leeching off them*.

Howard tends to give people nicknames based on first impressions of them. He chews on miscellaneous items as stress relief and is prone to hoarding and binge-eating*.

*Headcanon or resulting from game CR.

Abilities: No superhuman powers. Howard is incredibly resourceful and good at building things out of garbage or improvising weapons or materials. He's a talented lockpick and pickpocket and has an excellent sense of rhythm. He has first aid training.

Writing sample:

Excerpt from a fic:

It was such a brilliant and pathetic idea that Howard was shocked he hadn't thought of it earlier.

He sat on top of the toilet seat, nudging the little candle into position with the tips of his fingers. The bathroom window was cracked open, and the screen pushed out and abandoned somewhere in the yard outside; this left just enough room for the fat grey moths to come in. Every few minutes, one would descend to investigate the tiny flame below, and if Howard reacted quickly enough he could trap it against the windowpane. And if he did this for an hour, that many moths might even add up to a snack.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He couldn't sleep with the zombie making all that noise downstairs.

As he waited for his next winged victim, Howard hugged his knees to his chest and watched the sky outside. Pitch black, as it usually was at night ever since the power went out. Candles were a rare commodity, but he'd managed to trade some Advil to a kid for this one. Just Advil – all the stronger stuff was used up ages ago.

In the morning, he would turn fifteen. He didn't know exactly when, since his birth certificate was a county over and somewhere beyond the wall. He just knew it was in the morning, this next day in December, sometime around dawn, and that his mother always blamed his small stature on how he was a month early, as if he'd had any say in the whole affair.

Howard smacked his hand against the wall and trapped another moth. It was still wriggling and fluttering when he ate it. Howard made a mental note to kill it entirely first next time; he didn't like living things in his mouth. The moth shed pieces of its wings on his tongue, leaving a powdery, dusty film all over the inside of his teeth.

Fifteen. Fifteen, the magic number. He watched another moth crawl along the edge of the windowframe and thought about escape, and runaway trains, and falling asleep. He thought about birthday candles and what the ninth grade would have been like and how nobody really cared about the fact that Christmas was around the corner, because there was absolutely nothing anyone could find to celebrate, much less the birth of Jesus Christ.

But mostly he thought about escape.

Thread samples:

You needn't judge all these threads. I just wanted to give you various examples of my breadth.

Action
Exploring
Dream Sequences
Fluff/Shipping
Angst
Network

You've been accepted! Welcome. :) There are a few things to go over.

ᘚ Please join the comms. These notifs haven't been working lately, so if a day goes by and you haven't been accepted into the communities, feel free to nag us.
ᘚ Comment to the taken page.
ᘚ Our activity requirements are 20 comments each month for each character, and please remember to tag every post your character comments on - this is how we keep track of activity for ACs.
ᘚ If you use plurk, you might also consider following the mod account, though this is not required.

Do all of that, introduce yourself on the OOC comm, and start playing!

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Applications

Howard Bassem | Gone | V2

ACCEPTED