Creation and the BeginningThis site has had so much in the way of creation. From ships and weapons to new species and ideas. There are days when I honestly feel that it shouldn't be called a Star Wars site anymore. But then i also realize that if we stopped calling it a star wars website that would give the crazies an excuse to start using more of their magic powers and less of the Force.
Turns out this is perfect for me. When I get board I start thinking about things. Random things, movies, shows, guns, ideas. Before I found this place, those thoughts would just bounce around for a while inside my head.
But then i came here. Some of you may know, or not know that Hock was originally the one who showed me this place. I had bounced around from RP site to RP site, not taking many of them seriously and never hanging out at one for more than a few weeks. I was like those random people who come here, post a lot for 5 weeks and then disappear.
But then Hock showed me the original
Ezekielrage.proboards100.com site. I hated it. I thought it was the most poorly designed, piece of trash RP site i had ever seen. It was so big, with the main stories and solo stories and other stories. Then there was that other board who's name i can't remember that was a lot like we have it now but with individually owned stores and you had to edit your own credits.
And don't get me started on the characters. We had people bouncing off the walls throwing lightning bolts and lightsabers and force pushes at each other. It was no more a star wars web site than it is now. Except back then it was closer to clash of the titans. Gods and demons with reality bending powers fighting each other for the poor, nameless mook NPCs that populated the galaxy. I left, rather quickly as a matter of fact.
I asked a few question in the FAQ thread but never bothered to check on their answers until a few days later. If the old site ever comes back you can go there and look at the old FAQ thread. I believe I posted the first question there. In fact I posted it under my real name on accident. my computer had an auto-fill feature and as soon as i typed in "M" it filled the rest out and i didn't catch it. The only reason i actually signed up for the site in the first place was because when i went back to check and see if my questions had gotten answered, i saw my mistake. I signed up so i could send a message to Cain and ask him to delete it for me.
(On a side note Cain, you never did, and you never responded to that PM. If i've caused you any trouble over the years just think of it as revenge for continued risk to my identity
)
But i did sign up, and i did explore some more, and I was bored and I told myself "what the hell. Why not. I'll show these guys a thing or two about real star wars."
My first character was Six. A stock character i had created some time earlier for other sites. A Gen'Dai inside a suit of powered armor designed and tested to fight force users when he didn't have any force powers of his own. I wanted the underdog. i wanted the guy nobody would bet on to get into a fight and kick ass, just to show these guys who were treating my beloved franchise like an anime punching back just what real star wars was about.
I had a bag of tricks, none of which were my own. Everything was stolen from book i'd read. Stun bolts being unblockable? That came from Children of the Jedi i think. Disruptor Bolts being a huge mistake to block came from one of the Han Solo adventure stories. I had a long list of tricks and cheats i had written down to help me, an immortal, nearly impervious character and the firepower to level several small cities. I like to think i held my own.
Then came Jor. Oh boy, did then come Jor. Started him out as a young, brash Jedi Knight. I never meant anything for him. He was just supposed to be the wizard member of Six's crew. The guy they turned to for Force advice. Six was supposed to be my main man. Everyone else was just his support crew.
Compare that to now. Six is an amusing little side character i pull out every now and then for giggles and Jedi Master Jor Halcyon is a key member to running the Jedi, despite Cain thinking he's just an NPC. His history is something of a life's work. Three years of writing has built up his character, most of which is actual RP history, not just some back story i wrote up for him.
Writing this now takes me back to the idea of creation. It's a unpredictable thing, creation. Back then I had no idea or intention that this side character I wrote up would turn into anything more than a side note attached to Six's bio. BHOD is a blank, limitless canvas upon which to draw, but you have very little control over what your drawing will look like once it's finished.
This extends to the New Idea's board. My baby. I remember a time when there wasn't a New Idea's board and i had to suggest one. Ever since then i've read every single post anyone has ever made on it, and commented on a large majority of them. My objections, my suggestions, my downright harsh criticisms are all just vain efforts to make that canvas fall into line and show what i'm drawing, how i want it to be drawn. I don't think i've ever been able to do that successfully, and i think the site is richer for that.
And thats my thoughts about RP sites in general i think, and why i'm against the practice of working out a story thread ahead of time. The greatness of writing in an RP site is that you don't know all the answers. You don't know how it's going to end and you don't know what your character is going to do one punch to the next because you don't know how the other guy is going to respond. Its not just about making a good story. It's about combining a 2, or 3 or 4 or sometimes 10 stories together into something good. When that happens, there's nothing better, no matter how much I bitch about it.
When I create a new ship, or weapon, mostly its because i want to use it in some particular way. I want it to fill a roll for me and me alone. But when everyone has access to the same idea, the same ship, the same weapon... stuff happens. It can get used in a host of different ways that i never intended it for. And thats part of the fun. Make something on BHOD, a character or ship or weapon or whatever, and watch it bounce around. Watch it change and adapt. Watch it live. In three years, who knows what you'll have.