Inspire
05-08-2010, 11:54 PM
This is something that I worked on before I left and while I'm not sure it's necessary to finish I thought I'd throw it out there. I gave it to the newer players that I brought to the game recently and it helped their graphic minds grasp the concept of alters.
Basic Mechanics of Alters
Base Item
The basic item works on a 15/15/15 system. That means 15 characters, including spaces for each section, which cannot be divided and the last word must typically resolve to be the noun or name of the actual item.
Examples
>>a thin/gold /ring = 6/6/6
The above would be a simple formula of something that would work. However below is something that would not function.
>>a dark gold and/ brown zircon shard / ring = 15/20/5
The easiest way to start making your item is to come up with the base noun. Is this a barrette? Is it a longbow? Make sure that you are changing one item into something that it could feasibly be. Merchants will not change your cloak into a pair of boots and they wont change your dagger into a greatsword. Once you have the noun ready to go, try to identify the two most obvious things about that item, which is usually something about its appearance. Color and material are a good place to start; also shape helps a lot too.
"Tap" or Long Description
A tap or long description will allow you to ignore somewhat of the 15/15/15 in that you can manipulate so long as the base description falls in the 15/15/15 marker. You may notice this when these items are in your bag. The limit for most tap/long alters should be around 12 words but I think the hard cap is 15.
Examples
a thin gold ring fits into the 15/15/15
Though it may have "tap" or "long" description of:
>>a thin gold ring inset with brown zircon shards
In a bag it would appear just as "a thin gold ring".
a thin brown zircon shard-inset ring of dark gold
This item demonstrates a situation where other words can be added to ignore the 15/15/15 rule of the base. In a bag you would see the base as "a thin brown zircon ring" but the tap reveals an extra description inserted. Not all merchants/GMs will be able or willing to adjust items in this way so be aware of that when constructing your design.
Show Description
A show description takes a base description and adds detail to it that can be seen by LOOKing at it, SHOWing the item to someone or having them INSPECT it on you. The hard cap for this is 512 characters which includes spaces, to be safe though its best to stay under 500. This alter allows you to go into great detail but be careful that you are double checking for spelling and grammar, grab a couple friends and ask them to read it and make sure they can get a clear picture about the image youre trying to convey.
Examples
>>a thin gold ring: This is the base of the item.
The following would be how you would put a show on the item: "The ring is crafted from pristine gold formed into a thin band. A trio of tiny brown zircon silvers is inset into the ring, each erratically spaced from the others."
One of the ways Ive always worked to design is to either sketch out (which take heart Im not expecting people to be able to do this) or find a picture or something that I really like and then translate that into text as best as I can. This may be a good way to get started on designing more elaborate alters.
Feature Alterations
A feature alter is an alter that adjusts something about your characters physical attributes. This can at times be one of the most tricky to get a good grasp on. They arent really as limited to a certain number of spaces but they follow a lot of the basic design elements.
A couple of basics about this before I go into specific slots and how they work: Features, like most all good alters should never convey emotion or express something to a character that they may not feel. If you say your character has gorgeous black hair, which may in a way be Godmoding to characters who dont like black hair. Additionally, Elanthia is a wonderful word of magic and adventure, but that doesnt mean characters should have electricity shooting through their hair at all times, this goes for a lot of those fun anime colors too!
Eyes typically follow this guideline:
<quirk/shape> <color> eyes such as
>>drooping aqua blue eyes
This can be changed when dealing with two mismatched eyes
>>drooping mismatched aqua blue and sea green eyes
Hair works in a similar fashion but allows for more embellishment.
<texture> <length> <color> hair <quirk>
>>frizzy shoulder-length coal black hair messily parted down the middle
To add another note about hair, most feature merchants will not put extra items in your hair such as ribbons, beads, shells etc. You may be able to find one who would allow it but dont be shocked if you get denied. Thankfully if you are really interested in such you can always get a wig made or maybe get some scripted items that will not-permantely change your hair description.
Special Lines
You can change your character even further by adding additional features such as the shape of their face, their ears and such.
Example
>>He has a faint scar on the left side of his forehead.
>>She has a tiny pinched nose.
It's a good idea to remember that you may not want to get something unique done to your hands if your character wear gloves all the time. And avoid scars that wouldn't be seen by your character wearing normal clothing.
reply Reply
GREATFALLS
Materials
A material can say a lot about the item you want to fancy up. For example, take something as simple as a cloak. If you wanted to portray your character as someone who was a basic, salt of the earth type person you might want to go with a basic material like cotton or wool. If your character comes from a more well to do background, it might be appropriate to make it from silk. If it is for winter wear, something like fur or hide would be more appropriate.
It is important to remember that when dealing with the material for any kind of armor, weapon, or the like that it will 99% of the time need to remain that material. Unless you get a particularly tired/new merchant your vultite shield will have to remain vultite.
This is by no means an extensive list but far and away should offer some assistance with some different materials and eventually Id like to make this list include extensive descriptions.
Clothing Materials
Cotton, wool, linen, silk, satin, damask, bourde, hemp, jacquard, hide, fur, angora, batiste, brocade, broadcloth, burlap, voile, twill, tulle, tweed, velvet, felt, cameline, marbrinus, gauze, organza, chainsil, organdy, gauze, serge, moir, mohair, foulard, jacquard, dupioni, crepe, chenille, chamois, russet, fustian, samite, cambric, muslin, ermine.
Wood
Ebonwood/ebony, cherry, maple, oak, ash, walnut, rosewood, teak, pine, hemlock, fir, redwood, spruce, cedar, mahogany, holly, satinwood, birch, myrtle, zebrawood, bamboo, manzanita, mesquite, mulberry, olive, black/red palm, plum, sandalwood, willow.
>>Magical property woods items with magical property materials cannot be altered and may serve a specific purpose (IE illthorn is not able to manipulated into a bow):
Carmiln, deringo, faewood, fireleaf, glowbark, hoarbeam, illthorn, ipantor, kakore, lor, mesille, mossbark, modwir, ironwood, orase, rowan, ruic, sephwir, villswood, widdowood, witchwood, wyrwood, yew.
Metal
Copper, bronze, iron, steel, gold, platinum, silver, alum, laje, vaalin.
>>Magical property metals items with magical property materials cannot be altered and may serve a specific purpose (IE rhimar typically carries a frost-flare):
Alexandrite, bronze, coraesine, drakar, eahnor, eonake, faenor, glaes, glovern, gornar, imflass, invar, kelyn, krodera, mithglin, mithril, obsidian, ora (black/white), razern, rhimar, rolaren, urglaes, urnon, vaalorn, veil iron, veniom, vultite, zorchar.
Other types of materials
You should never shy away from getting creative think ivory, bone, feathers and hides. It is very possible that your character wouldnt have access to ALL the best items and materials, so think realistically about what kind of character you have and what they might have access to. A well-designed character outfit is usually 100% better than something that is fancy to the point of being ridiculous.
Color Groups
Next to what your item is made of the color is usually the most obvious thing about it. Some of these items can be dual colors, what I mean by that is coral can absolutely be either pink or orange. I've just listed it in one or the other, additionally there are thousands of unique items in Gemstone that lend their own color to something (IE - Despanals being a deep black-scarlet) that would an acceptable color term. Also please let me know if I have anything overlapping or an missing an important hue.
Red
Scarlet, crimson, sanguine, claret, cardinal, ruby, cerise, vermilion, carmine, burgundy, apple, blood, fiery, maroon, amaranth, rose, salmon, cherry, cinnabar, jasper, lava, strawberry, watermelon, tomato, wine, carnelian, garnet.
Yellow
Gold, banana, canary, citrine, corn, daffodil, dandelion, flax, poppy, goldenrod, lemon, mustard, sand, sunny, straw, blond, wheat, ochre, champange.
Green
Verdant, jade, viridian, verdigris, tea, pistachio, olive, olivine, moss, malachite, mint, lime, kelly, hunter, forest, fern, chartreuse, celadon, asparagus, apple, emerald, pine, peridot.
Orange
Tangerine, pumpkin, amber, apricot, peach, flame, sunset, carrot, persimmon, rust, sienna.
White
Ivory, ecru, eggshell, beige, cornsilk, creme, cloud, ghost, lace, porcelain, lily, pearl, snow, alabaster, pallid, milk, bone, chalk
Black
Sable, ebon/ebony, jet, stygian, onyx, obsidian, coal, charcoal, noir, midnight/night, pitch, raven, ink, licorice, dusky.
Purple
Amethyst, aubergine, cabbage, lilac, lavender, merlot, orchid, mauve, plum, violet, thistle, wisteria, heliotrope, fuchsia, hibiscus, magenta, murry, royal, grape.
Blue
Aqua, aquamarine, sky, cornflower, baby, azure, turquoise, capri, celestial, glacial, ice, cerulean, cobalt, cyan, iris, lapis, sapphire, navy, robin egg, slate, teal, ultramarine, indigo.
Brown
Auburn, taupe, bronze, umber, russet, chestnut, chocolate, sepia, copper, camel, fallow, chestnut, brass, fawn, almond, khaki, mahogany, sorrel, terracotta.
Pink
Salmon, rose, blush, carnation, cherry blossom, magenta, raspberry, fuchsia, grapefruit, peach, coral.
Grey
Ash, slate, smoke, timberwolf, silver, platinum, dusky, dove, oyster, pearl, taupe, charcoal, iron, ashen, cinereal/cinerious, lead, leaden, clouded, neutral, powder, argent.
Basic Mechanics of Alters
Base Item
The basic item works on a 15/15/15 system. That means 15 characters, including spaces for each section, which cannot be divided and the last word must typically resolve to be the noun or name of the actual item.
Examples
>>a thin/gold /ring = 6/6/6
The above would be a simple formula of something that would work. However below is something that would not function.
>>a dark gold and/ brown zircon shard / ring = 15/20/5
The easiest way to start making your item is to come up with the base noun. Is this a barrette? Is it a longbow? Make sure that you are changing one item into something that it could feasibly be. Merchants will not change your cloak into a pair of boots and they wont change your dagger into a greatsword. Once you have the noun ready to go, try to identify the two most obvious things about that item, which is usually something about its appearance. Color and material are a good place to start; also shape helps a lot too.
"Tap" or Long Description
A tap or long description will allow you to ignore somewhat of the 15/15/15 in that you can manipulate so long as the base description falls in the 15/15/15 marker. You may notice this when these items are in your bag. The limit for most tap/long alters should be around 12 words but I think the hard cap is 15.
Examples
a thin gold ring fits into the 15/15/15
Though it may have "tap" or "long" description of:
>>a thin gold ring inset with brown zircon shards
In a bag it would appear just as "a thin gold ring".
a thin brown zircon shard-inset ring of dark gold
This item demonstrates a situation where other words can be added to ignore the 15/15/15 rule of the base. In a bag you would see the base as "a thin brown zircon ring" but the tap reveals an extra description inserted. Not all merchants/GMs will be able or willing to adjust items in this way so be aware of that when constructing your design.
Show Description
A show description takes a base description and adds detail to it that can be seen by LOOKing at it, SHOWing the item to someone or having them INSPECT it on you. The hard cap for this is 512 characters which includes spaces, to be safe though its best to stay under 500. This alter allows you to go into great detail but be careful that you are double checking for spelling and grammar, grab a couple friends and ask them to read it and make sure they can get a clear picture about the image youre trying to convey.
Examples
>>a thin gold ring: This is the base of the item.
The following would be how you would put a show on the item: "The ring is crafted from pristine gold formed into a thin band. A trio of tiny brown zircon silvers is inset into the ring, each erratically spaced from the others."
One of the ways Ive always worked to design is to either sketch out (which take heart Im not expecting people to be able to do this) or find a picture or something that I really like and then translate that into text as best as I can. This may be a good way to get started on designing more elaborate alters.
Feature Alterations
A feature alter is an alter that adjusts something about your characters physical attributes. This can at times be one of the most tricky to get a good grasp on. They arent really as limited to a certain number of spaces but they follow a lot of the basic design elements.
A couple of basics about this before I go into specific slots and how they work: Features, like most all good alters should never convey emotion or express something to a character that they may not feel. If you say your character has gorgeous black hair, which may in a way be Godmoding to characters who dont like black hair. Additionally, Elanthia is a wonderful word of magic and adventure, but that doesnt mean characters should have electricity shooting through their hair at all times, this goes for a lot of those fun anime colors too!
Eyes typically follow this guideline:
<quirk/shape> <color> eyes such as
>>drooping aqua blue eyes
This can be changed when dealing with two mismatched eyes
>>drooping mismatched aqua blue and sea green eyes
Hair works in a similar fashion but allows for more embellishment.
<texture> <length> <color> hair <quirk>
>>frizzy shoulder-length coal black hair messily parted down the middle
To add another note about hair, most feature merchants will not put extra items in your hair such as ribbons, beads, shells etc. You may be able to find one who would allow it but dont be shocked if you get denied. Thankfully if you are really interested in such you can always get a wig made or maybe get some scripted items that will not-permantely change your hair description.
Special Lines
You can change your character even further by adding additional features such as the shape of their face, their ears and such.
Example
>>He has a faint scar on the left side of his forehead.
>>She has a tiny pinched nose.
It's a good idea to remember that you may not want to get something unique done to your hands if your character wear gloves all the time. And avoid scars that wouldn't be seen by your character wearing normal clothing.
reply Reply
GREATFALLS
Materials
A material can say a lot about the item you want to fancy up. For example, take something as simple as a cloak. If you wanted to portray your character as someone who was a basic, salt of the earth type person you might want to go with a basic material like cotton or wool. If your character comes from a more well to do background, it might be appropriate to make it from silk. If it is for winter wear, something like fur or hide would be more appropriate.
It is important to remember that when dealing with the material for any kind of armor, weapon, or the like that it will 99% of the time need to remain that material. Unless you get a particularly tired/new merchant your vultite shield will have to remain vultite.
This is by no means an extensive list but far and away should offer some assistance with some different materials and eventually Id like to make this list include extensive descriptions.
Clothing Materials
Cotton, wool, linen, silk, satin, damask, bourde, hemp, jacquard, hide, fur, angora, batiste, brocade, broadcloth, burlap, voile, twill, tulle, tweed, velvet, felt, cameline, marbrinus, gauze, organza, chainsil, organdy, gauze, serge, moir, mohair, foulard, jacquard, dupioni, crepe, chenille, chamois, russet, fustian, samite, cambric, muslin, ermine.
Wood
Ebonwood/ebony, cherry, maple, oak, ash, walnut, rosewood, teak, pine, hemlock, fir, redwood, spruce, cedar, mahogany, holly, satinwood, birch, myrtle, zebrawood, bamboo, manzanita, mesquite, mulberry, olive, black/red palm, plum, sandalwood, willow.
>>Magical property woods items with magical property materials cannot be altered and may serve a specific purpose (IE illthorn is not able to manipulated into a bow):
Carmiln, deringo, faewood, fireleaf, glowbark, hoarbeam, illthorn, ipantor, kakore, lor, mesille, mossbark, modwir, ironwood, orase, rowan, ruic, sephwir, villswood, widdowood, witchwood, wyrwood, yew.
Metal
Copper, bronze, iron, steel, gold, platinum, silver, alum, laje, vaalin.
>>Magical property metals items with magical property materials cannot be altered and may serve a specific purpose (IE rhimar typically carries a frost-flare):
Alexandrite, bronze, coraesine, drakar, eahnor, eonake, faenor, glaes, glovern, gornar, imflass, invar, kelyn, krodera, mithglin, mithril, obsidian, ora (black/white), razern, rhimar, rolaren, urglaes, urnon, vaalorn, veil iron, veniom, vultite, zorchar.
Other types of materials
You should never shy away from getting creative think ivory, bone, feathers and hides. It is very possible that your character wouldnt have access to ALL the best items and materials, so think realistically about what kind of character you have and what they might have access to. A well-designed character outfit is usually 100% better than something that is fancy to the point of being ridiculous.
Color Groups
Next to what your item is made of the color is usually the most obvious thing about it. Some of these items can be dual colors, what I mean by that is coral can absolutely be either pink or orange. I've just listed it in one or the other, additionally there are thousands of unique items in Gemstone that lend their own color to something (IE - Despanals being a deep black-scarlet) that would an acceptable color term. Also please let me know if I have anything overlapping or an missing an important hue.
Red
Scarlet, crimson, sanguine, claret, cardinal, ruby, cerise, vermilion, carmine, burgundy, apple, blood, fiery, maroon, amaranth, rose, salmon, cherry, cinnabar, jasper, lava, strawberry, watermelon, tomato, wine, carnelian, garnet.
Yellow
Gold, banana, canary, citrine, corn, daffodil, dandelion, flax, poppy, goldenrod, lemon, mustard, sand, sunny, straw, blond, wheat, ochre, champange.
Green
Verdant, jade, viridian, verdigris, tea, pistachio, olive, olivine, moss, malachite, mint, lime, kelly, hunter, forest, fern, chartreuse, celadon, asparagus, apple, emerald, pine, peridot.
Orange
Tangerine, pumpkin, amber, apricot, peach, flame, sunset, carrot, persimmon, rust, sienna.
White
Ivory, ecru, eggshell, beige, cornsilk, creme, cloud, ghost, lace, porcelain, lily, pearl, snow, alabaster, pallid, milk, bone, chalk
Black
Sable, ebon/ebony, jet, stygian, onyx, obsidian, coal, charcoal, noir, midnight/night, pitch, raven, ink, licorice, dusky.
Purple
Amethyst, aubergine, cabbage, lilac, lavender, merlot, orchid, mauve, plum, violet, thistle, wisteria, heliotrope, fuchsia, hibiscus, magenta, murry, royal, grape.
Blue
Aqua, aquamarine, sky, cornflower, baby, azure, turquoise, capri, celestial, glacial, ice, cerulean, cobalt, cyan, iris, lapis, sapphire, navy, robin egg, slate, teal, ultramarine, indigo.
Brown
Auburn, taupe, bronze, umber, russet, chestnut, chocolate, sepia, copper, camel, fallow, chestnut, brass, fawn, almond, khaki, mahogany, sorrel, terracotta.
Pink
Salmon, rose, blush, carnation, cherry blossom, magenta, raspberry, fuchsia, grapefruit, peach, coral.
Grey
Ash, slate, smoke, timberwolf, silver, platinum, dusky, dove, oyster, pearl, taupe, charcoal, iron, ashen, cinereal/cinerious, lead, leaden, clouded, neutral, powder, argent.