How to get a Master- Feb 2017

[Jsc]

It is now 2017 and I'm still seeing a lot of new members making the same old mistake. IE:

"I'm looking for a Master."

...The end.


Yep. That's it. Nothing. No links to their character profile. No attempt to communicate their schedule or expectations of leadership. No list of skills they'd like to pursue or archetypes they want to master. No list of threads they've done and no idea what alignment their character is. Nothing. Just, "Hey I need a Master." ...The end.

Usually posted in like, ten different places across the forums all at once. A post for a Master in the LFG. A post for a Master in the New Members forum. A post in a dozen Major Factions and maybe even two little words in Discord. "LF Master". Then they log off of Discord. (For a week) Lulz.

Okay. So let's help out some of our new people who are currently LFG Master Plz. Ladies and gentlemen of Chaos. What advice do you have for new members looking for a Master? What has worked for you and what hasn't?

 

[Voices of The Deep]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

Preach.

 

[Jsc]

I'm going to start with my main here. Okay, here is what I look at when browsing students.

• Who is their writer
• How many alts do they have
• Is this character their 70th unused alt
• Have they done any threads yet
• What does that thread read like
• What does their character profile look like

That's just the first 10 minutes. If I'm interested and have time to actually train them? Then I PM them,

• Heya, let's talk about your goals and dreams for your character?
• What is your posting schedule like?
• Would you like to do an RP together and see how our character's mix?
• Do you feel comfortable joining a Faction?
• Do you feel comfortable joining a Dominion /Invasion /Rebellion etc?
• What is your opinion about Jedi /Sith philosophy?

That takes us to our first IC thread. Where I'm looking for,

• Do our characters fit?
• What is this person's writing level compared to mine?
• Is this character a broken fit for the organization they are attempting to join?
• Are they open to change?
• Can they complete this first thread or will they disappear three days from now?

If we do good. Then that writer has gained a full-time, long-term Master for their character. No problem. But did you notice how many questions I asked? How much I wanted to learn from this person before we even started? Did you see how much work when into just selecting a student. Yeah. It can be a lot. Especially if they are a new member. Then, you are also offering advice, tutorials, links, and your own experience to them as well. That can take days of Skype chats, Discord messages, and PMs to accomplish. Just think of what happens when you have more than one student too? Wow. That's a lot of posting to do.

No joke. Sometimes getting a Master is hard. People are weird. Just look at me. ^ That's a lot of stuff. So... If you are looking for a Master for your character? Get ready. Because it takes two to tango. You're gonna need your dancing shoes.

 

[Syn]

That is a big criteria

glad I am easy

Still if you need a master, I'll generally offer it and try to make it enjoyable. It is fun to train and do threads with new people or for a new experience and then when they get promoted their knights can train my low level ones. Make it a circle of helping and they generally teach others.

 

[Klesta]

I usually ask people doing LFGs for a master what they would like out of their FUs in the long run: if they are more Force-intensive, I might be a better fit (as a writer; the two active FUs I have that can technically take students are both these kinds of FUs) than for those who are more lightsaber-intensive. And also not be complete IC idiots.

 

[Matreya]

[member="Saint Monica"]

Train my char senpai

 

[Jsc]

[member="Saint Monica"]

Train my char senpai

2 sexy 4 me

 

[Varus Ren]

[member="Syn"] ur a bad teacher anyway.

 

[Jsc]

[member="Syn"] ur a bad teacher anyway.

No emoji?

Mean.

 

[Vi Grir]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"] [member="Saint Monica"]

Well, my Writer is also a character I've mostly left because of certain reasons, just ended up dying out. I did put a lot of effort in him, but it was little things. As a LF Master, it's on a new character with few threads and also some quirky strengths/weaknesses which I'm sure would make people think twice.

Then there's also my chosen career path; Sith

Either Sith Masters have enough apprentices, or they don't train unless absolutely useful.

I do, however, try and put as much information and make my profile look decent, although I've come to thinking I put too much emphasis into images and toned it down for this character. And... Why would we need to link the profile? It is like, linked under the avatar. Not trying to sound lazy, it just feels like putting up two highway signs on a dead end street, haha.

I think my writing level is fairly well, although I personally prefer matching my roleplay partners as I always have done. I'm flexible in writing and like meeting a variety of people. Also my schedule is open because of certain reasons so I can be around at almost any time, although I am EST, I stay up very late.


Not any particular skills I'm looking for, maybe train up the ones I partially have, or learn new tricks of the trade my character has never even heard of! Looking to learn Alchemy, though.



How was that for information? Honest question, my first Sith character and my first EVER force sensitive! I've never done anything like thing. I usually prefer playing the ancient and mysterious

 

[Jsc]

How was that for information?

Glorious, remarkable, willfully persistent, and completely unsolicited. I loved it.

Now. You must go forth and rub elbows with as many Sith compatriots as possible. The magic is in the making. Do RPs, solicit some duels, PM some potential mentors, chat up some love bunnies and get looking for luv, and generally just get into as much IC trouble as possible. Eventually somebody of Rank will take notice and say: "Hey. You freaking rock my socks. We should RP yeah."

Boom. Master. Done.

 

[Garza]

The one thing I always ask people who want to train is, "Why would you want me (IC and/or OOC) over someone else?"

If I am going to train someone, I want them to come to me because they feel like they want to actually RP with my character, and be trained at the same time. Make a bond between characters if possible. If they are coming to me just because I have some power that they don't have, then its not going to fly.

Over my time of training others, I have found that those who I made a real connection to, were the more successful people. And even then, the training wasn't just a "Master/student" relationship. It could literally be us meeting for one instance, and I throw some wisdom your way that changes your entire characters view on the world, the force, or life.

The real question isn't what we can do to make it easier for them, but what WE can do for EACH OTHER. I don't come here to further everyone else's characters. I come here to RP mine, and make friends along the way. As selfish as that may seem, its completely true on every account.

If you want me as your teacher, You need to show the willingness to go further than just one thread about how to learn some power.

That is what makes or breaks a training relationship for me.

 

[Ellie Mors]

What advice do you have for new members looking for a Master?

Have a general idea of how the two characters will meet.

Yes, this is a free-form sandbox RP, but for many of us we like to try to make things make sense - and small stuff like "where and how do we meet?" make a simple opening post much more difficult because it requires a lot more thinking and frankly it puts a lot of work on whoever it is that is starting the thread when they don't really know what to do. This might preemptively push away master and knight rank force users who already know how this has worked out for them in the past, and for the apprentice looking for a master they might find themselves without the willpower after the first post to really continue - why? Because things tend to become awkward and difficult to navigate.

Great, we've met - and "here" - what's next?

Have some kind of a general idea of what you want out of their meeting, maybe even talk over what the first thread might entail. Are you out to learn a specific set of skills? Do you want more RP with skirmishes/invasions/dominions/fights or do you want training threads? And if you have an end goal for this relationship between master and apprentice, it's probably a good idea to share that.


I don't really need your bio except to know what species you are and what you look like, and I don't need to know why you need a master - the former can easily be asked for, and I won't fault someone for not thinking about it, and the latter is self-explanatory. What I do need to know is how you plan to interact with my character, how close you want that master/apprentice relationship to be, and what you want to learn and the circumstances in which you learn.

 

[Jsc]

The real question isn't what we can do to make it easier for them, but what WE can do for EACH OTHER. I don't come here to further everyone else's characters. I come here to RP mine, and make friends along the way. As selfish as that may seem, its completely true on every account. If you want me as your teacher, You need to show the willingness to go further...

Bravo! Well said and bravely. Excellent stuff Atheus.

What I do need to know is how you plan to interact with my character, how close you want that master/apprentice relationship to be, and what you want to learn and the circumstances in which you learn.

All the yes.

 

[Vi Grir]

[member="Atheus"]


I almost look forward, actually, to no special relationship. Like the way the Jedi's trained Padawans, they usually were always ready to let go of them. While looking for Sith, I want my character to be manipulated a little, with the guise of caring. Bring their full potential out but don't prosper any possible weaknesses. Although, I'm not looking for power or a rank. I'm looking for Vi to learn self control and encouragement. I want the training to develop her out of her fragile egg shell, so there will be humos along the road which we, together, get past.

I want to do many threads, on my partners time since I'm so free. Perhaps create experiences along the way, have understandings of other peoples lives outside Vi's only one.

 

[Garza]

[member="Vi Grir"],

Make a bond between characters if possible.

I mentioned to make a bond if possible. And this could be IC, or OOC. I understand that some want no relationship between characters and be Jedi like. But Obi-wan and Skywalker grew close to one another when they shouldn't have as Jedi. Obi-wan was blinded to the fact that the newly named Darth Vader could kill younglings. Thinking that it was false when he went to the temple with Yoda. To quote him. "You were my brother."

As for me, I like to have a connection in character. This bond doesn't have to be one of respect, or of brotherly/sisterly love. It can be just the opposite. It could be where the two argue with one another all the time, and hate each other's guts, and bicker like a parent and a child. *to which end the character is, I won't say.* Or even have arguments like a married couple. Stuck together, but still somehow get along.

 

[Vi Grir]

[member="Atheus"]

Oh, I get you about the bond. It's not that I don't want a bondzor want to be like the jedi (or be like the Sith and kill my Master), but if a strong bond does develop, it'll turn into a crutch for Vi, and it's not something she'll be able to live without. Showing too much care or comfort will deadlock her in to staying by them, which she woukd probably decide to give up on her dream. Although that doesn't mean love or any similar relationship, more like a strong admiration to desire approval from her Master so much she stays by to try and gain more.

 

[Voices of The Deep]

No one has ever asked me to be their master...

Perhaps for the best. Shay is not the most merciful of beings.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Either Sith Masters have enough apprentices, or they don't train unless absolutely useful.

When you get into more niche groups, like trying to vie for the attention of Sith Lords or Witches, you'll have to try to fit in more in order to attract their attention, or otherwise be really lucky. Many Sith and other non-Jedi groups have very specialized skills and it makes it a lot harder to find a master if you aren't looking for those abilities or very generalized skills (almost anyone can teach you how to swing a lightsaber, but very few can teach sith magic, and so on). Finding a Sith master might boil down to the ideology your character prescribes to - a Rule of Two sith acolyte might find trouble with a master when so few buy into that bit, and being more Chaotic or more Lawful (as silly as that sounds) might net you entirely different groups of writers interested in training you.

 

[Vi Grir]

[member="Braith Achlys"]


Yeah, I went with a Chaotic Neutral with a passion for the dark side, really. Vi is an Archivist/Librarian or Scholar/Prophet. She's not the warrior type unfortunately, which is the biggest reason I find it hard to find someone, sadly