Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Main | Battling | Buying Zoids | Damages and Repairs | Factions | Getting Started | Modifications | Organoids | Rewards and the Point System | Teams | What is a Zoid? | What is Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero?

Getting Started

Introduction: So, you've found our website, one way or another. Perhaps you've already taken a look around, or perhaps you came straight to this section. What matter is you're here, and we're happy to have you. If you're thinking about making a character on the forum, this section details the character creation and submission process, as well as providing a few helpful hints and tips along the way. If you're new to the site, and are a feeling a little lost, don't worry. This section will also give you a couple of pointers and links that will get you on your feet. Either way, welcome to Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero.

First Thing's First: If you just found the site, and you haven't the faintest idea what's going on, try starting with our What is Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero? section. If you've never heard of a Zoid before in your life, or you only have a vague idea of what one is, the What is a Zoid? page might be able to help you out a bit. If you've read both of those or already understand their content, but want to know more about the site, try browsing around our Info Section and Zoids Database, either or which might provide you with a little bit of a broader view. Either way, before you start trying to make a character, make sure you understand how Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero operates. We're an RPG, not exactly a fansite.

Creating Your Character: So, the questions "How do I become a character?" and/or "How do I make a pilot?" have probably come to mind. Start by opening a word document, or other word processing program with a spellchecker. I'm not kidding, spelling and grammar are very important in your character bio, so I strongly recommend a spellchecker. If your character application is hard to read, I will send it back and ask you to clean it up before submitting it. That being said, here is the basic application form to fill out:

Character Name: Board Name: Character Gender: Character Age: Zoids: AIM Screenname: Referred By: Character Description and History:

Now, there are some reasonably strict rules regarding what you put into each of those slots, so please continue reading this section and think before you type. Don't just assume that you know what you're doing, even if you're some veteran Zoids RPG player. Once again, put all of this down in a word document and revise it before sending it to me.

Your Name Here : The very first slot to fill in on this application is your character's name. Chaotic Age Zero is extremely flexible about what kind of name that you give your character, but we do have a few restrictions. Firstly, you must have some kind of name that a mother and father would give their child. If your name is a number or a vague-sounding title, or a word, I will probably reject your application immediately. Secondly, your character's name or surname cannot be the name or surname of any canon character, nor can your character's name be that of any character from any other anime. Other than that, name away. It just has to be a plausible name that your character would have actually received at birth. Feel free to include a nickname in quotations, as well. Thus, following all of these rules, the names "Matthew 'Fade' Korimeer" and "Robert White" would be acceptable. "Yugi Moto", "Benjamin Cloud", "1337 Zoid Pilot", and "Xqwzxq" would all be unacceptable. Also, as a general rule, don't use the name of a real-life celebrity as your character name (even if you are that celebrity, I don't care, it's generally a bad idea). As a matter of security, you may not want to put your real name as your character name. Lastly, technically you may use a long and complicated japanese name, but it may get some people mad at you when they try to spell it.

Your Name Here (Take 2): The second slot to fill in on the application says "Board Name". If you're wondering what that is, it's the sign-in name you'll be using on the Chaotic Age Zero forum board. You can postpone this decision until later if you'd like, or you can open a new window, go to the Chaotic Age Zero home page, and click on "forum" button on the side menu. Once there, click on the "register" button in the upper left-hand corner, just below the ads panel. It's pretty self-explanatory from there; just put whatever username you picked in this space on the application. There aren't any particular rules about your username, just make it easy to remember, and not obscene, disturbing, or insulting. Many use their character name as their board name to avoid confusion.

Character Gender and Age: The third and fourth slots ask for your character's gender and your character's age. Is your character male or female, and how old your character. Just put down the answers (hermaphrodites are prohibited), and get on with it. You may want to postpone decision on your age until you've completed your character history and description, but gender should be pretty straight forward. If you create a character of the gender opposite your own just to be promiscuous, I will ban you so fast it will make your head spin.

Zoids: All starting characters are allowed to pick two Zoids, each between levels 1 and 4, to start the game with. If you haven't already, now would be a very good time to look through the Zoids Database. Choose your two starting Zoids carefully, because they'll probably be with you for a while. Think carefully about what kind of pilot you'd like to be, and what kind of person you are. If you're really into dogfighting, a Dark Horn may not be the best starting Zoid to pick. Conversely, if you're into to frontal assaults, a Dark Horn might be a much better choice than a Helcat. These two choices you should really spend some time on, as they might prove to be very important later in the game.

AIM Screenname and Referral: Both of the two next slots to fill in are optional, but can be extremely important. For Chaotic Age Zero, it is strongly recommended that you have an AOL Instant Messenger account, so that you can participate in AIM chat battles. While we don't force it on you, you'll essentially be crippled as a pilot and limited to fighting in the Coliseum without an AIM account. If you have one or have made one for the site, put your screenname in this slot. If you don't have one or don't want to give it to us, just leave the space blank. Referral, the next slot, should contain information regarding how you heard about the site. Linked from another site, told about it by a pilot, found us on Google... anything. If you don't want to tell us, just leave that space blank too. It's not all that important.

Character Description and History: All of the previous parts of the form that you've filled out have been just a short soundbyte: one or two words, maybe a phrase. The Character Description and History is at least a solid paragraph, usually more. This part of the application is free-written, but Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero has some rather specific things to say about the form. I'll just tick them off before I explain the section. You may not be a canon character, you cannot be a relative of, a friend of, or otherwise related to a canon character. You may not be a character from an another anime or book, nor can you mimic another anime character and just slap a different name on it. You cannot be a friend or relation (or otherwise related to) another Chaotic Age Zero character without that other character's permission. You may not be named after a celebrity. You cannot be from Earth, you cannot be an Ancient Zoidian, you cannot be a time-traveller. You do not have superpowers, and your character must fall entirely into the bounds of what is humanly possible and relatively normal. Also, you cannot start in a factional armed force, but you are free to join one after you create your character. You are also free to include the armed force in your history.

Now, with that out of the way, here's the summary of what you have to put in this section. Answer the following questions: Who is your character? What does he or she look like? And what's his or her story? A few optional questions to answer include: What are your character's motives for becoming a pilot? For joining an armed force? Does your charater idolize the canon characters? Or does he or she hate them?

The first three questions were the bare minimum, and have to be answered with good grammar and spelling. This is where a word processor's spellcheck comes in pretty handy. You're free to write anything reasonable that comes to mind, just remember that your character is essentially a new Zoid pilot. When you're writing be sure to remember the description as well as the history. Think about how tall and heavy your character is. You might describe your character's general appearance, or typical clothing. Hair and eye color are other items of note. Distinguishing marks and personality traits might also be helpful to include. History is entirely up to you, write away. As long as its plausible, I'll take it.

"I'm Armed!": So, there is one other, slightly important aspect of your character's biography. Some prefer to carry weapons, and you're absolutely allowed to. Currently, the possession of firearms and other weapons is legal in all nations, planet-wide. There are a few restrictions on what you can start with, though. AZ Rifles and other personal Anti-Zoid weaponry are strictly prohibited. Heavy weaponry, such as rocket launchers, full machineguns, miniguns, grenade launchers, and all personal armaments in that general category are also prohibited. Hand-held personal Laser Blades, personal E-Shields, personal Optical Stealth Shields, and personal Energy (beam, laser, or other) and Charged Particle weaponry do not exist on Zi and are hence forbidden.

Aside from that, go nuts. Assault rifles, pistols, knives, and anything else you can think of (within reason) are all valid. Note that armor-piercing ammunition is considered military issue and is restricted by all of the major factions. If you're not into lethal weapons, go with a dart pistol, a tazer, or a stun baton. Some of the Samurai-wannabes out there may grab katanas. Take them, if you'd like. Just remember the old saying: "Don't bring a sword to a gun battle."

If your personal weapon has a backstory or some sentimental value to you, feel free to include it. If you want to take body armor, generally a Kevlar vest is the best that a civilian can get his or her hands on. Also, don't let being caught up in weapons make you forget about other gear. Tell us about that electrian's kit you always take along, or the grappling hook that means so much to you. We're all ears. Just don't go overboard with anything, and you're well on your way to having a character.

Submitting The Application: In order to submit your application, you must have a Board Account on the forums (which you needed to fill out the application anyway). After obtaining that, look over your application one last time, run spellcheck, and copy the entire document into a PM (private message). (Once logged in on the board, go to you Inbox by clicking on the link in the upper right-hand corner. Then compose a new message.) Send the PM to me ("Halen"), with the title "Character Application - <Your Name>". I'll respond with either a welcoming message or a notice of denial. If the former is the case, your acceptance will be announced in the Chaotic Age Zero news. If its the latter, fix your application based on my comments and try again. You should have your response with a week at the most, and within minutes at the least.

All Men Are Created Equal: That goes for women too. Once I accept you to Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero, you're a pilot. That will only change if you do something so offensive that you're banned from the site, which is unlikely. However, everyone is accepted to the site equally, completely regardless of backstory. That means that you're considered to be no better of a pilot than anyone else, and you start with the same priveledges and resources as everyone else. If you were an expert Lighting Saix pilot in your bio, you won't be treated any differently in a battle than someone who professes to be an amature. If you say you were the richest man alive in your bio (and you weren't rejected, for some reason), you still start with the same amount of money as everyone else. Your bio doesn't influence how you fight. The only thing that really matters is your choice of Zoids and how well you handle them when it comes down to it. (The only exception to this is personal weapons and gear, which may become relevant in very rare situations in unsanctioned battles.) However, your bio is useful in role-playing. You can have millions of dollars in your RPs, but be flat broke as far as official funds go.

Welcome Aboard: You start with your two Zoids, completely unmodified. You also have a Gustav (a transport) with two trailers (capable of housing level 1-4 Zoids), which are gifted to you by the government when you become a Zoid Pilot. You have $20,000, and you are Rank E with 0 points. To gain more money, a higher rank, better Zoids, and a better transport, you need to fight and win battles. (That or be a very shrewd businessman, but Chaotic Age Zero isn't about how well you can haggle.) But this all you start with, and this is what they're is. You're now a character, and there a limitless possibilities for you. Stick with sanctioned Zoid Battling, or join one of the several armed forces around. Become a bandit, and exclusively fight unsanctioned Battlemode 0999 battles. The world is full of possibilites; go explore them. It's all up to you.

Your Signature : As one, final note, there are a few requirements about what you need to have in your signature. You need to someone indicate in your board account's signature your character name, his or her rank, funds, team, record, and Rank Points in sanctioned Zoid Battling. If you've got an AIM screenname, throw that in too. Also include factional information (faction you've joined and rank), as well as your Zoid Roster. Each Zoid you have should its type (Rev Raptor, Blade Liger, ect.) and its modifications noted. Lastly, you need to have your transport noted somewhere in your signature. If this seems overwhelming, here's a simple form you can fill out:

Character Name: AIM Screenname: Rank: Funds: Team: Record: (Wins/Losses/Draws) Rank Points: AIM Screenname: (Optional) Faction and Rank: (If any) Zoid Roster: Transport: (Include type and name, if any) Zoid 1: (Include type and name, if any) Mods: Zoid 2: (Include type and name, if any) Mods: (And so on.)

Feel free to throw in other things as well, like individual records for each Zoid, or notes about your character. Otherwise, that's it. Good hunting.