I'm planning on sticking with canon Evas here, so no, probably not. The stuff I'm planning on being different are the personalities of the characters themselves, way some of the battles play out, the stuff that happens between fights, and possibly the ending, which Unit 00's pilot might influence.
edited 16th May '13 5:48:13 PM by CombatC122
I will at least guarantee that I will not simply abandon this RP and leave everyone hanging once it gets off the ground, but the ending of this thing would be such a ways off from the beginning that I honestly don't know if unforeseen commitments would come up, or people won't post, or whatever. I'll definitely keep people posted in the discussion thread once it goes up though.
And wow, I didn't expect there to be anyone jumping at the bit for those mission control spots, though I must say it's a pleasant surprise. I think the adults can be more fun to play than the kids after all
. If we don't have a tactical officer soon though, I might recommend a retool, as that character is essentially head Bridge Bunny.
Don't worry, I'm really not too interested in the accuracy of the more militaristic aspects anyway. Just be able to spout occasional Eva-style technobabble and you should do fine.
Also, don't be afraid to be just a little irreverent, especially towards the beginning when we're still in the lighthearted action arc. My usual character in these things is a bit of a Deadpan Snarker who makes a good straight man in some of the more comedic scenes.
I mean, the character I have planned takes his duties seriously too, but in his case that's more of a coping mechanism and he tends to let his guard down more when he's off duty, especially when he's around people he feels he can trust. I feel like that contrast is what makes him interesting and fun to play (especially if we can get him flustered every so often).
But yeah, I dunno, I know NERV is supposed to be a military-like organization with a very serious, important mission, but I really don't want to turn this into straight up military fiction with a bunch of adult player characters who take their jobs really, really seriously and don't really have strong characterization outside of what they do. No one is really like that in the actual series except for the really, really minor characters who mostly exist as cannon fodder.
Sorry, I guess what I'm trying to say is it's fine to give your character a military background, but that should not be their defining characteristic because not all character development is going to be earned in battles in this RP.
edited 17th May '13 11:25:09 AM by CombatC122
Alternatively, my guy can be mission control by accident and has no idea what he's doing. Maybe... ooh! Maybe the guy is a social services agent type person and so is tasked with looking after the kids, and thanks to having relatives in high up positions and an accident that gets their current mission control guy killed... winds up in the appropriate position and does an okay job.
Well... that might be pushing things too far in the other direction. I think what made our NERV squad in the previous RP work so well was that they were all competent, yet quirky in their own ways. Moerin could probably back me up on that since her character was a big part of that, as was Atomic's aforementioned Akagi underling.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the adult characters would likely be old enough to remember Second Impact, so keep that in mind when you're writing their backstories.
edited 17th May '13 3:47:14 PM by CombatC122
Alrighty then, one massive copy/paste coming right up...
Name: Gabriel Scott
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Occupation: Sync Ratio Specialist/NERV 2nd Lieutenant (Basically a Bridge Bunny, but he'd probably dislike the term if he was called that in-universe)
Appearance: Short blue hair (think stylized black, like Misato's, not vaguely inhuman albino like Rei's) and blue eyes. Distinctly Caucasian in appearance; people can tell he's not native Japanese by looking at him. About 6'4'' with a thin and gangly build (slightly above average height among his American peers, but sticks out even more in a Japanese crowd). Slight permastubble.
History: Gabe was born to scientist parents in a small New England coastal town, where he spent most of his early childhood, and is an only child. He had a mostly normal early life, but this all changed when his parents took a fateful research assignment in Antarctica at the dawn of the 21st century. The rising tides of the Second Impact left Gabe's hometown underwater and forced him to move further inland to live with his grandparents. In actuality, the move was arranged by Gehirn officials who secretly kept a close eye on him through his adolescent years, though Gabe himself is unaware of this. This trauma didn't affect Gabe's performance in his schoolwork but did turn him into a bit of a loner in his early adolescence, really only snapping out of it when a teacher suggested he try some sort of after school activity for his own good. Deciding to try out for baseball for the hell of it, Gabe discovered he had a decent enough arm to make the mediocre team as a relief pitcher, and the experience made him a few new friends. As he matured into young adulthood, Gabe decided to follow in his parents' footsteps and study Metabiology at MIT, eventually earning himself a postgraduate job at NERV's First Branch through his faculty connections. After a couple of years helping to oversee experimental A.I.s and contact and dummy system experiments with Eva 05 (and 06 at the Second Branch in Nevada on occasion), his superiors send him to Tokyo-3 for reasons as of yet unknown to him.
Personality: Gabe was old enough at the time to remember the loss of his parents and the horror of Second Impact. While he sees his job as necessary for the future of the human race, he has a guilt complex over the use of young parentless children to fulfill NERV's goals, identifying with them just a little (although he might have a little difficulty relating to them on a personal level, especially with the culture barrier). This is something that could send him spiraling into full on depression should he end up blaming himself for something particularly horrible happening to one of the pilots, but for the most part he likes to keep these particular worries hidden under a facade of professionalism and rationalism. This can cause him to come off as emotionless and impenetrable at times despite being known to make sarcastic quips on the job, but he will be more relaxed, casual, and even somewhat talkative off duty around people he trusts, which sometimes surprises people getting to know him. Coming from a scientific background, he isn't yet used to the more militaristic aspects of NERV culture (owning a sidearm, wearing a uniform instead of a lab coat, etc.) His hobbies and interests skew towards stereotypically geeky American stuff (comics, tabletop and video games, movies, maybe the odd anime that he's seen), but he does have an affinity for the game of baseball, and the Red Sox in particular, thanks in part to it being one of the few constants in his life that he feels ties him back to his parents when they were alive. He's also a bit of a Covert Pervert (with standards; he won't be ogling any 14 year old girls in plugsuits, but let's just say he appreciates that the female officer's uniform includes a miniskirt). Also hates being called by his full name, preferring Gabe to Gabriel.
Skills: Gabe is very scientifically-minded, tech savvy, and intelligent, although he isn't much for coming up with tactical ideas on his own, owing in part to his tendency to overanalyze options and not think well on the fly. He knows this is a weakness of his though and prefers to defer to the man or woman in charge during combat situations, helping iron out their existing plans. He is very good at appearing to remain cool in high pressure situations, rarely becoming externally flustered (although you can be sure something has just deeply affected him if he does show any outward signs of emotion in these situations). Also, given his awkward physical frame, he has a slightly inexplicable ability to throw palm-sized objects with decent speed and accuracy, however this really hasn't done him much good since his high school playing days.
Gabe is a native English speaker but also fluent in Japanese, a requirement for him to work at the main NERV base in Tokyo-3. Any words or lines he has in English will be differentiated with red text.
Also to be clear, I do still expect the majority of the other characters to come from a more Japanese background. Gabe's just kind of an odd duck.
If we're already throwing sheets at this...
- Name: Kei Namikaze
- Age: 14
- Gender: Female
- Occupation: Pilot, Unit-04
- Appearance: Kei is short, and slightly built, with long black hair normally kept tied in a single tail, and dark brown eyes.
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- Personality: Kei has a fairly major inferiority complex, mostly as a result of her father practically ignoring her while she was growing up in favour of her brother, and disparaging her when he could be bothered to give her any attention, at least until he died when she was ten, forcing the two of them to move in with their uncle. Whilst she has mostly repressed this as she's grown up, helped in part by the fact no other members of her family shared her father's sentiments, certain things may trigger it resulting in anything from mild anger to flat out rage.
- History: Kei had a fairly troubled upbringing. Her mother died in mysterious circumstances when she was barely able to walk, and her father was, more often than not, drunk, leaving her to be raised by her brother. The problem with that arrangement was that when her father was sober enough to care, he often went out of his way to heap praise on the boy whilst virtually shunning her; something which neither of them enjoyed. Thankfully for both of them, he was killed in a car accident, forcing them to move in with their uncle in Tokyo-3.

Welcome to the Neon Genesis Evangelion sign up thread! Please read the following guidelines before submitting a character.
The basic premise for this RP is simple: we play through events based around the original Evangelion TV series with our own original characters. Characters from canon might make appearances but would generally be relegated to background or NPC roles, if they appear at all. The sequence of Angel battles would generally be similar to the series, but might have the potential to play out in slightly or even radically different ways. Between the fights, the characters would have the opportunity to interact and develop. To start, here are a few guidelines for specific character types:
Lastly, a couple of general guidelines. As I am sure you are well aware if you are familiar with the series, Evangelion isn't exactly known for the mental stability of its characters, and I would expect character profiles to reflect that, but do keep it within reason. I'm not looking for characters who are completely psychotic or unable to function (even though character development might tend towards that direction as things get dark). That said, we probably need at least one or two characters, especially among the pilots, who tend to be more extraverted. I certainly expect to have depressive, introverted characters along the lines of Shinji as well, but if everyone is like that, the characters will just kind of keep to themselves by default and nothing interesting will happen outside of the Angel fights.
Anyway, thank you for reading through this opening post, and above all, have fun!
Discussion thread here
RP thread here.
edited 20th May '13 7:09:15 PM by CombatC122