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Adoptables vs. OC


Garmr
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Does anyone as a rule adopt preconceived characters they see on the forums they write on? If so, why and what were the pros and cons of your experience?

 

Reason asking is of all the forums I've been on with adoptable characters available I've never actually seen one picked up. I myself prefer going OC because of my own control issues. Beginning to wonder if its worth the effort of putting up Want Ads for them.

 

Also, apologies in advance if this topic has been done before. I did a quick search but didn't see it.

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When I join a board I normally pick up an adoptable/premade/canon first. The fun part about an adopted character is they come with free plot hooks. They are automatically connected to one or more members and plots and once it’s approved you jump right into playing where, at least for me, an oc can struggle to find plot. 

 

Im personally a wanted ad whore. That is how you rope me into an rp, start showing me the wanted ads. 

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I've been writing with my RP partner for over a year now. We could probably count on one hand how many days we've gone without posting. I say that, to get to the point of saying: We met because I picked up a wanted ad she had posted on Rpg-directory. 

 

For me, I am less likely to pick up an 'adoptable' that someone has put a lot of headcanon into. I like freedom. I want to play characters that are uniquely mine. I love want ads though, and as long as there is plenty of room for me to mold the concept I will consider playing the character. Like Morrigan said, they come with immediate plot hooks. Ways to get right into the game. Just keep your want ads broad and they're more likely to be filled. 

 

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I love wanted ads, but I rarely end up picking them up because most of them are a bit narrow for my tastes. It has become the norm at most places (in my experience, your mileage may vary) that people pick the play by they want the taker to use, and other details I personally feel I'd like to create myself or at least discuss with the person prior to creating the character. When it's a loosely planned wanted, with lots of room to make my character my own, though, you'll bet I'm jumping on it, for two main reasons: one, I'm helping someone getting a plot they want, and two, more selfishly, I'm joining the site with at least one plot/thread guaranteed to happen while I get my feet wet and branch out.

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I'll pick up loose wanted ads that don't dictate too much about the character. I'm not interested in playing as someone's barbie/ken doll to fulfill their every whim and want - which most detailed wanted ads turn into. There needs to be room to build and flesh out the character in my own form, otherwise what's the point? 

 

That said, I really prefer a mixture between the two - i.e. player A has a want ad out that I, as player B, can fill with one of my OC character. That could be a sibling, friend, enemy, villain that abducted them -  whatever scenario. =

 

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I can attest to Josie's technique. I always want to pick up her wanted ads, hell, my favourite character was born out of her wanted ad!

 

I do look at wanted ads, and did join a forum once solely on the wanted ad - I dropped it sadly though because the admin was kind of treating our characters like they were hers. She had expectations as to what would happen and why, and how the world was, and wasn't interested in other interpretations.

 

So my experience has been largely positive with wanted ads. It's just a matter of finding wanted ads that I find compelling.

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I tend to jump in on a new site by taking wanted ads, or canons if applicable, because there's connections that are already there. I've got teammates, siblings, or whatever it may be that already want to interact with my character. But I also don't mind doing a lot of legwork up front, and sometimes I have a character idea I'm just dying to try out. And if I'm one of the first members on the site, there's usually not any wanteds that hook me in anyway. I've never found it harder to get threads for OCs than canons, but that's just me, and it depends on the site and community, really. 

 

The only real negative I've found with taking want ads is that some people get possessive. Some will say you're never allowed to reuse the character in any way. Some will try to tell you that you're playing your own character OOC because it's not what they want you to do. And some people are just a pain in the ass. With one wanted, I told the requester that I was going to drop their wanted but keep the character. They demanded a list of changes down to his age, occupation, and sexuality. Including things I came up with entirely on my own! But those are rare and it's never stopped me from taking more wanteds. 

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I don't pick up wanted ads often. The types I see tend to write the character for me, including motivations and significant historical points. Although this may be needed for some types of characters, I prefer wanted ads that simply dictate the role needed and leave everything else to me.

 

"wanted, captain of the rebel army. Needs military experience in their history and be able to think strategically. Must be at least 25 in human years."
This made up ad focuses on the points needed for the role. Species, actual age, name, gender, everything that could be malleable in the role is left open to me, so the character is still mine if I take the wanted. Even if I lose the role for some reason, I could keep the character and they could be replaced. 

 

"wanted, romantic partner.  Mable fox, 23year old bi-racial female, met Bill at a party at age 18 and they hit off from there. She's studied medicine, and is on her way to be a doctor. etc..."

This made up ad writes a lot of the story for me. The character doesn't belong to me in that sense and I would not feel comfortable taking it. If I lost the role the next player of it would need all that detail plus anything significant that happened during my ownership of it.

 

I haven't found trouble with not taking wanted though. Even if I don't see or take wanted ads on a site, I soon see or sense needs that I could make a character to fill. A site may not have a wanted ad for a faction's medic, but if I see tat folks are getting hurt a lot I might consider making such a character to help cover that lack.

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I do take wanted ads or adoptables (because for me these are two different things). A wanted ad is replying to an ad for a character. An adoptable is a character who had been written before, the first writer left and the story needs continuity too.

 

I like both, because both help a story being written to completion. I find adoptables more challenging for my writer's skills, exactly because I have to take into account the whole continuity, but more rewarding, as I am a stickler for continuity and I adopt the character if I see wider potential for him.

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Really appreciating the input folks, I am seeing Want Ads in a whole new light. Special thanks to @Kit the Human for posting the helpful guide as well as @Kazetatsu for providing good examples. Additional thanks to  @Elena for pointing out the difference between adoptable versus a want ad.

 

I am actually going to attempt some want ads to see if I can lure in some interest for UnSeelie political shenanigans.

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UnSeelie political shenanigans, you say? 

Also, since everyone has commented on the wanted ads/adoptable thing, just some more advice - the more you have your wanted ad out there, the more people will see it. Post it on every resource site and ask all of your RP friends if they'd be interested in it. There is NOTHING more flattering than someone coming up to me with this idea they have and asking me if I'd be interested in playing it. Of course, it has to be someone that I really connect with, but if I do, there are no questions about it - I'd play it. 

I always try to pick up wanted ads when I join a site. Having a pre-established plot is phenomenal. Just make sure that you leave it open enough for people to develop the character into their own. A good wanted ad isn't just on the person requesting, but also on the person snagging it - make sure you find someone that's willing to put forth the effort to develop the character. My RP buddy took one of my wanted ads two years ago and she's built that character up to be the most important/influential character on the site through play. It's been a phenomenal experience to be a part of. 

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I have never picked up a Wanted Ad, but I have not been back in the forum play RPG world long. This is an entirely new concept to me (like shippers, trackers, plotters). I am rather clueless.

 

We do not have them at my two active game sites yet, but our membership is tiny. All plotting and planning tends to happen in Discord. However, once the swords and sorcery is up, we'll need to branch out and give it a try. We'll need dragons for our warriors and warriors for  our dragons!

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I'm much more likely to join a site with adoptable roles (a leader for x faction, a journalist type, a certain kind of power) because it makes me feel like the admins are aiming at having a nice site-wide story going with interconnected characters and roles. In these cases, I'll usually pick up an adoptable, and for me the vaguer, the better. 

 

I don't care so much for wanted ads when I first join a site, though. These are usually much more personal for the person requesting them, and I like to have a better feel of the community and the members before jumping in something like that! 

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I prefer OC or un made canons, simply because I make them how I want them with OC and then with Canon I can write the app to the standards I set for myself with them. So I've never done say an adoptable or any kind of premade character.

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I'm a sucker for adoptables and wanteds. I'd much prefer my first character on a site to be one of these as opposed to just some random person I make. I love having the pre-established connections and ideas. I also love having the opportunity to throw a character out there and potentially have someone take a role in their life and help them grow together.

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