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Building a "DD"Well, first it would be prudent to define what we are actually talking about here. A Description Drop, or DD is a pre-constructed piece of text designed to show other what your character looks like without having images (Although some DD's are accompanied by image URL's). What does a DD contain? Most usually, it has details such as the character's clothing, general appearance, visible equipment and anything else worthy of note - an example of this might be "An icy chill that pervades the room when X enters the room". Things that a DD should most likely avoid containing are things such as "Was raped by her brother when she was 12" or "Was raised by a Shaolin monk from the age of 3". Information such as that is not at all necessary for a DD, even though the player might feel inclined to include it. This can basically be considered that the player is 'Blowing their own trumpet' or trying to make their character sound 'Kewl' or 'Tuff'. Information not related to how the character looks in the DD should be left for other players to discover IC (In Character). What else should one avoid when constructing a DD? One of the most notable points I have personally observed is conflicting information. An example of this would be "His dark skin is well muscled..." then information like "...his thin, pale features". Obviously if a character is dark skinned and well muscled, they are quite unlikely to have thin and pale features, unless they have used make-up or face-paint to achieve this effect. Another common fault is poor spelling. Once a DD is made, many players fail to check the spelling and continue to post the DD in a room over and over again, oblivious to their error. While a minor point, it becomes increasingly irritating to other players when a badly spelled DD is continuously dropped in a room. A quick spell-check will usually sort out this minor flaw in DD construction, or a quiet word to the player posting it if they do not have access to spell-checking software (Hotmail has a spell check for those who do not have software such as Word). Longwinded DD's are also not a great plan if you wish other players to read them. The longer the DD is, the more inclined other players are to ignore it, as it takes time out from their RP to toil through reading it. While it is fine to list all the jewellery and scars the character has - albeit briefly - it is not good form to list a complete study of the character from head to toe in minute detail. A good solution to this, if you wish to have other players know this information is to post a URL with a full description of your character, and have a cut-down version of it from your actual DD. Another thing to avoid is overly pretentious effects in a DD, such as "He exudes a physical presence that makes all in the room feel an automatic fear of him". Other players do not often wish to be subject to effects in a DD, as it encroaches on their personal role-playing, or they feel that their character is most definitely not subject to fear of this upstart fellow. So there are several points to avoid when creating a DD, but what should the DD include? Well, that is largely up to player preference, but it is useful to the other players to know a few things such as height, build, hair and eye colour, race, clothing and visible equipment. I for one like to assume a character is naked unless their DD states they have clothing on :-) Summing up, it is probably a good idea to avoid extraneous information on the character's past, conflicting information, poor spelling, long DD's and global effects. Other than these, type your little heart out and come up with a glorious DD that epitomises how your character looks. And just remember, none of this text is gospel, just a rough guide for beginning players and players that may feel they have problems with their DD's.
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