Like you may have seen us discussing before, we will soon have a need to party up some of our characters, rather than sending them off solo, or in a singular, huge, impossible-to-coordinate crowd. Now would be the time to consider who you want your character to hang with for now, if you haven't already, and maybe discuss it amongst yourselves. The plot will probably carry them in different directions... but until we have some general idea of who's going with who, it's hard to be sure of what those directions will be.

The way I've always seen it, there are different kinds of characters. I'm sure there are better, more professional, maybe even literary terms for them, but I call them:

• Soloists, who either choose not to work with others, or have no desire to be a part of the action, and thus only show up in the story at certain key moments, and may fall out of involvement easily (Official examples: Shadow, as well as any solo antagonist, like Eggman)
• Participators, who follow along and participate in the action, lending their abilities and personalities to add more to the scene (Official examples: Charmy, sometimes Amy or Knuckles, etc.)
• Facilitators, who bring some significantly useful knowledge, resources, talents, plot devices, or general plot importance to the table (e.g. Tails, who flies Sonic around in the Tornado, provides necessary gadgets for his friends' progression, etc.)
• Drivers, who propel the story along through their goal-oriented determination, charisma, vendettas, or whatever else, and usually help direct and unite the above character types, even if they aren't de facto leaders. (e.g. Sonic, Vector)

In light of the above, think about what kind of character it is you play, and what he or she can add to a given group. This shouldn't be some end-all straitjacket that binds a character into a specific role, but something that will hopefully help you see a way to better utilize and involve your character in the story. The main thing I want to do is make sure no one ends up feeling aimlessly shuttled around, or like he or she doesn't serve a purpose, or have a convincing reason to be around.

So, if you have any questions, ideas, or anything remotely related to this to discuss, feel free to do it here in this thread, or privately amongst yourselves, or with me, or whatever floats your boat. I want to try to make sure everybody's involved in a good way. And no, that isn't... easy, but I think it can be done!