I said I'd give you a tutorial on data file writing, now seems good a time as any, you up for learning the art of creating and maintaining data files without completely tipping your hand to your foes :war:

Okay so were do we start?

With the basics good sirrah.

Post up a typical data file you would make and we'll work out the kinks from there and I'll toss in a few examples here and there.

Kay I need to get one first. I left my revised editon of Bloodfangs file at home. I'll post it as soon as I get home okay.

Sounds like a plan, spiderman :war:

Okay well the past week was hell I had five days of work in a row. so I didn't get much done on this but heres what it is right now.

Host Name: Bloodfang
Code Name: Dragon fighter.
Type: Guyver merged with ancient power of dragon.
Height: 10' 4
Weight: 200 pounds
Age: early 20's
Physical appearance (human): about six feet in height, this human is well built while being well muscled he is also lithe. Long dirty blonde hair, icy blue eyes, a long scar that cuts diagonally from the top of his left eye to the bottom of his right cheek. No one knows how he got this. Seems to have a strange thing for wearing Japanese school uniforms.

Appearance (guyver):Besides the normal spike on the head there were two long flowing ribbons of bio material that went down to his back and stopped at his knees, The Face would have been perfectly normal if not for the extra breather vents and four sensory preceptors, the color was a light blue with a multicolored dragon winding it's way around his chest arms and legs, No vibro swords but spiked fists, the legs were as normal as any guyver's except for the two addiontal gravity orbs on the outer left and right forelegs.

Strength: Guyvers strength is hard to determine since it holds back. But highest recorded has been over 1000 men. Durability is easily noted. Units armor is denser then normal armor and seems to be able to rebound from impacts. In that it bends in then pushes back out. Regnatration: Guyver heals at 5 times the rate of a Gigantic guyver. His head tendrils seem to gorw back even faster then this.
Powers: Guyver has enhanced weapons of a normal guyver. Being twice as strong as a guyver gigantic weapons. Unit has three Gravity orbs one at the waist and two just below the ankle and possess the same powers as the waist orb. But can also create a pressure cannon that wraps around the feet making them two very dangerous battering rams. Unit can use all weapons to enhance fists. Unit can also pump his mega smasher into his hands. No vibro blades but spikes on fist that fill the role. Guyver also has two tendril like attachments on back of head that act like whips, they can also be powered up by channeling weapon energy into them.

Well it's more then nothing, isn't too bad just a few touch ups here and there.

First thing's first.

Spacing.

Don't cram everything so tightly together, put spaces between things to allow for the eye to get a better hold of it. Also, I personally like to bold headings, it catches the eye and makes things look a lot better to find what you're looking for.

As for actual attributes, list them individually under their own sub heading. Like so:

Strength

3x stronger then a standard Guyver.

Then include the other attributes in the same fashion: strength, speed, agility, hypersensory range, durability. That way when a person goes to look for it, it's right there and they don't need to hunt for it.

Weapons would be done in a similar fashion, with a Weapon heading then subheadings for each individual weapon.

Any questions thus far?

Just one about the Order of things. Which goes first?

For the order of those attributes, it's up to you.

Some like to go:

Strength

Speed

Agility

Durability

Hypersenses

So long as you cover all of them, it really doesn't matter which way so long as it's there to find.

Always be sure to relate strength in terms of either men or woman, depending on your gender, or in terms of Guyver whether it be 2.5x or something like 45x.

As for speed, it can be in MPH or KMPH or if you get really quick use the speed of light as a benchmark.

Agility, tend to rely on the similar system of strength, with reference to Guyvers.

As for Hypersenses this can be tricky. It can be related in either a distance variable or based on Guyvers, with other stipulations included in there, whether they can detect cloaked opponents or track things through various layers of space and dimensional stuff.

Onward to weapons then?

Yes please. I have a Mega-powered charcter I've been toying with for a while but theres no RP that has anyone his level. Wait the gathering there's bound to be a lot of crazy powered guys in there. Anyways on to weapons.

Ah weapons.

First thing's first, make a heading for it, spaced out so that everyone knows that this is the section to see what guns you've got in your arsenal.

Basically, the best thing for weapons is to describe them along a guyver level, if it's a Guyver RP that is. So if you pull a weapon from some other anime and include it, be sure to make sure the description of the weapon is easily understood.

An example would be as follows:



Burst Shot
Tyrant is capable of tremendous Trans energy manipulation and therefore is able to summon a tremendous amount of raw Trans into a single sphere of unholy power. The size of the sphere is determined by charge time and is capable of reaching sizes of nearly 11 feet in diameter. The Burst Shot is only capable of striking one target and is unable to track it; therefore it must be a stationary target or be used to destroy the environment around him. It is rated at 45x that of a mega smasher.



This is one of Tyrant's more high powered attacks and if you know anything from ZOE 2, you'll note it's pretty much the same thing, down to the name. But as you can see, its power rating is described in guyver terms for all those familar with Guyver weaponry to understand its power.

Now then, for actually describing what each weapon does, I tend to like writing about them, but that's just me. However what you need to do is give a name to the weapon, and at least a brief overview of the weapons' strength, abilities and all that. Granted for the "basic" guyver weapons you don't need to, but if it is modified or buffed up, you do need to mention that.


Another example:


Plasma Cannon

A Pressure Cannon modification that allows the core of the Pressure Cannon to contain extremely high levels of plasma molecules encased within the standard gravity based energy. Upon impact the gravity shell breaks and delivers standard pressure cannon damage but also forces the plasma particles to undergo a contained fusion reaction producing an extremely powerful discharge of energy. Believed to be triple the effectiveness and speed of a standard Pressure Cannon.



This pressure cannon has been modified so it has plasma energies in it. Thus it is described as such in the overview. At the end it illustrates the power modification in words, though usually it is better to use numbers, since they seem to stand out better. Shame on me :heh:

So any other specific questions for weapons?

As for mega smasher guy, I'm sure he'd be okay in the gathering so long as he's not something like 200x or anything of the sort.

Well I'll post his data here when were done. And as for power he can make Dreadnought his bitch. Couldn't think of a better way to put it. And I have to ask if special skills go under weapons.

Ah yes, special skills.

Typically there'd be a seperate section for them, called whatever you like, Special Skills, Unique Abilities, or whatever suits your fancy.

The tricky part is seperating abilities from weapons, that's usually left to your own whims to sort out. Best way to think of it I suppose is, if it's a unique talent then it's a "special skill". Or conversely if it's an ability, say, to wrap an opponent in a coil of energy, it could be devised to be a weapon but if its main purpose is directed more towards entangling rather then killing, it could also be considered a "special skill".

So really it's up to you, but typically specialized talents go under a different heading then weapons, like the ability to teleport, cloak, and other things along those lines.

Ready for the next part?

Sorry Kaiser. I know Fang's your pupil here.. but I have to add something...

Fang, Try to avoid comparing characters against WarriorGuyver characters. We have nothing against warriorguyver, as they gave us a home to rpg on for over a year.. but now that we're no longer with them we tend not to involve them at all.

No comparisons... No warrior technology.. Nothing.

Granted there are a few jokes running around involved Lair vs WarriorGuyver grudgematches.. but they're just for giggles.


Besides.. we're here to help you write out your datafile.. right? What good is "he can make dreadnought his bitch" to someone who's never even HEARD of warriorguyvers?

Thanks for that Blood...I think.

Another key thing to note about data files, do not define your character by means of others. Not only do you run the risk of someone not knowing that particular character all that well, but it also illustrates a sort of lack of originality and imagination.

That and it also forces that person to go look up the other person to figure out just how tough ya really are.

Any queries, comments, concerns, or are ya ready to get into the nitty gritty stuff?

Okay how about this he's really really really strong? I was just using the strongest guyver I knew of. And Kaiser I thinks that all I need to know I'll redo Bloodfangs file and make a new one for the mega power guy. Unless theres something else you can think of.

Well you've got the basics, I was just gonna give you some tips on the more in depth stuff of plotting out the evolution of your character in the data file sort of way, but it's your call.

And yes, I think Blood would prefer the really really really strong bit ^_^' :heh:

Kay fire away. I like the in depth stuff.

Well first of all there's the evolution factor of the data file. Depending on the RP, most characters grow and become stronger, or weaker, that being said, one has to anticipate what they want to put into their data file.

Attacks are always preferred to be added, when adding, take into account the fighting style of your character, if they're up melee/close quarters combat types, typically long range attacks wouldn't be heavily favoured unless you're rounding your character out. The same would apply for the reversal, if they lean heavily on long range combat, adding in a slew of close quarters stuff wouldn't really make much sense.

Thus when you first make your data file for an RPG, leave yourself room to expand. You don't need to be a perfect killing machine right out of the gate. If you're already "perfect" where's the fun in improving?

That being said, other things to make their way into data files are those special skills/unique abilities. Start off with one or two and build up on them, slowly expanding it outward. The same applies to adding weapons, you don't necessarily need that many, but could improve upon them as the RP goes on, making them quite formidable.

So basically leave yourself room to play around with different upgrades, new toys and abilities.

Thanks when I get home I'll redo Fang's DF and fix it with what you said. Also Fang is a close-quarters combantant if you didn't notice. So his evloution would foucus on hand-to-hand.