IMNEWS STANDARDS PERSONAE

XIII Standards for Character Setup: Personae The persona is in many ways the most important of all the setup that people have to do. Because with it they indicate what everyone in the valley knows about them as a matter of course. When players are setting up personae, try to encourage them, if they have not already done so, to arrange for already existing relationships. If not parents, at least brothers, sisters, childhood friends and enemies, mentors and teachers, and the like. Getting them hooked into relationships with players both introduces them to the social scene in the valley and gives them ready-made hooks to build their RP around. Often players look for excuses to know nobody because they don't know anybody OOCly. It's up to us to make it easier for them to know people around the valley. The persona should do more than just describe their personality. Any friendships or relationships they have can be mentioned in the persona, as can any odd little incidents for which they became famous, along the lines (in the Shire) of Frodo's having stolen mushrooms from Farmer Maggot as a lad. Make sure they read the standard help file, +imnews generalpersona Next: +IMNEWS NEWBIEHELPING SOS