Character Creation: Scion: Hero 1st Edition

Last character of 2008. Who knows how many more years this will take!

The Game: Scion: Hero
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read parts of the book, read some reviews, and I know the general premise. Heck, I remember when this book was in the hands of the first developer.
Books required: Just the core.

 
The basic premise here is that the characters are children of the Gods. Pick a pantheon, you could use it. I know that there have been pantheons added to the game after Hero came out, but I don't have them (I only bought this one because, again, Tom said he was going to run it, and so this character might be one that I get to play someday).

Anyway, my idea is a musician, some kind of cross between the Pied Piper and fella who sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads (if you haven't seen O Brother Where Art Thou?, you really should). I know I want a scion of one of the voodoo Gods, so let's look that up. OK, my basic choices here are Kalfu and Legba, and I don't want the evil vibe I get from Kalfu (I picture my character as being more benevolent than that). Legba it is.

Step One: Calling. This is basically "Concept." My is "Bewitching Guitarist." I mark in my favored Abilities (which seem to be determined by God, not pantheon, despite what the book says). For Nature, I choose Trickster. He might seem benevolent, but that's just in comparison to scions of Kalfu.

Step Two: Attributes. The usual White Wolf prioritization, with an 8/6/4 spread. Definitely Social, Physical, then Mental. It's not that he's dumb, he just doesn't think his way through problems. He prefers to feel.

Social: Four into Charisma, three into Manipulation, two into Appearance. He's no Adonis, but he gets by on pure charm.

Physical: Four into Dexterity, one each into Strength and Stamina. For those blinding guitar riffs.

Mental: Two into Wits, one each into Perception and Intelligence.

Step Three: Abilities. 30 dots to divide up. As an interesting note, Scion seems to do away with the notion of Specialties for any given Ability, reserving it for stuff like Art and Craft that are too broad on their own. I can't go over 3 dots here, so that makes my life a little easier. I take three dots in Art (Music), Awareness, Command, Empathy, Marksmanship, and Presence. Not sure where the Marksmanship thing came from. I just picture him being a good shot. Anyway, two dots into Athletics, Investigation, Larceny and Occult, and one dot into Animal Ken, Fortitude, Integrity and Stealth.

Step Four: Advantages. I get five dots to split between Birthrights, which requires I read them. Oy. Weird. OK, I'll put four dots into Relic - my guitar. That allows me to access three different Purviews, which are coming up next. That fourth dot in Relic allows me to access my dot in Followers. I can play my guitar and bewitch up to five people (normal folks) standing around; they get their will back at the end of the scene.

Now I get 10 dots to split between Epic Attributes and Boons. I need to make sure that none of the Boons end up higher or equal to my Legend rating (presently 2, though I'm reliably informed I'm stupid if I don't raise it). So let's look at Boons. There's no cost difference between in-pantheon and not here, though that changes if I buy them with bonus points.

OK, I want the Eye of the Storm Boon, allowing me to remain untouched in chaotic circumstances if I'm playing my guitar. So one of my Purviews is Chaos. I get two more. I like Psychopomp, and it's associated with my God anyway. I'll buy Unerring Orientation. And, finally, I'll take the Cheval Purview, and I'll dump three points to take the first two Boons, Rada's Eyes and Petro's Hands. Why the hell is Petro's Hands a Control roll? Anyway, that officially means I'm going to have to bump my Legend to 3.

Moving on. I've spent five of my 10 points on Boons, so I can spend the others on Epic Attributes. I can only take two dots in any given Epic Attributes, since my Legend isn't going higher than 3. I also get a Knack for every dot of Epic Attribute I take, so I could conceivably have five Knacks. Moving on.

I'll put one into Epic Dexterity, and take the Untouchable Opponent Knack. I don't know how the systems work and I don't have time to read them, but it looks cool on paper. I want Epic Manipulation (two dots), so I'll take the Knacks Blurt it Out and God's Honest. I'll take one point in Epic Charisma and the Inspirational Figure Knack. Finally, one dot in Epic Wits and the Social Chameleon Knack.

Virtues: I get five dots to divvy between Harmony, Order, Piety and Vengeance. I think Vengeance is a big deal to him, as is Harmony, not so much Piety or Order. Three into Vengeance, one each into Harmony and Piety, screw Order.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Why would they put bonus points after all the other calculations, since spending them can change said calculations? Ah, well.

Seven of my bonus points go straight into Legend. I need to buy some Control, since it's the dice pool in my one Boon...actually, you know, the more I think about it, I just don't see Marksmanship as a focus for this buy. I'm shifting those three dots into Control. He's a good driver, and that makes some sense to me. Since not have any combat skill is a bad idea, though, I'll spend four points and buy two dots of Marksmanship, and I'll spend the other three on a dot of Occult and two dots of Command.

My Willpower is the sum of my highest Virtues, or 6. My Dodge DV is 7, based on my Knack. My Parry DV is 3 (yuck). My Join Battle pool is 6. Far as I can tell, I don't get lethal or aggravated soak, and my bashing soak is 2. My Move is 6, my Dash 13, my Jump is 4. And that's my numbers! Now the fun stuff.

Gibbs Richard Boxer was born in Missouri, and he never knew his father. Rather, he knew his father was a proper man, an educated man, because his mother told him so. It wasn't until he was grown that Mama told him how proper - his father was the God Legba, come to his Mama riding a cheval and granting her a child. He learned that on the day a black leather guitar case, plastered with stickers from all over the world, showed up at the crossroads as Gibbs was walking home. He picked up that guitar, and he played it like he'd been born to. And instead of going straight on through that crossroads, he turned left, and he's never been back since.

Gibbs is a manipulative, opportunistic guy, but he also knows that until it's time to lie, you tell the truth. He's not as clever as some folks, but he knows that many people equate "smart" with "untrustworthy", and the inverse is true, too. He's happy to play whatever role he needs to in order to get where he wants to go, but where he wants to go changes from day to day. He's a wanderer, a trickster and a fox in the henhouse. He's just as quixotic and unpredictable as many loa scions, even considering his father's serious duties as guardian of the crossroads. Someday, he might grow into those duties, but for now...any requests? 

Character Creation: Werewolf:

I thought about doing Scion today, but I haven't really read it (I bought it because my buddy Tom teased me with a promise to run it, and then changed his mind), so instead, I shall do a game with which I am highly familiar.

The Game: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: OMG. I honestly can't remember how many times I've run this game, much less played it. My longest Werewolf game ran more than a year of weekly play. That'd be To End All Wars, the premise of which was my topic for chronicle creation in the Revised Werewolf Storytellers Handbook.
Books required: Just the core. I have both the first edition and the revised core, so I'll be using the latter, thanks. I still have quite a few of the sourcebooks (seeing as how I worked on every second book for the line after Revised), so I might grab one or two.

 
You know, I don't miss the eco-crusader angle in Werewolf, but that's only because I got so much play-time in with the game the first time around. By the time we were ready to start on Forsaken, I was ready for a change. But I still love OWoD Werewolf, and if someone ran it, I might play. Wonky-ass system and all.

Step One: Character Concept. Well, I honestly don't have much in mind. I could choose randomly, but...well, let's do it this way. I made a lupus character for Dark Ages: Werewolf. I made a human-born character for Werewolf: The Forsaken (not that there's another choice, though it might interest you to know that in the original design of the game, we kept the breeds; they weren't removed until we decided that the template system was more important than that particular wrinkle). So I'll make this character metis. That means I'm the cursed spawn of two werewolves, and that I'll need to pick a deformity. Since it might inform the rest of the character, I'll do it now.

OK, I got it. My deformity is Tough Skin. The character's body is covered with this leathery, unpleasant-to-touch scabby kind of stuff. In human form, it looks like he's got a skin condition (which he does, I guess), but in hairy forms, he's missing a lot of fur and looks kind of mangy. His parents were both Glass Walkers, and were both of the opinion that there needs to be more soldiers for Gaia now, and screw the Litany since it's holding us back. And along came little Reynold (as his parents called him), or "Skin Deep" to other Garou. I think he joined his parents' tribe, but he's bitter about the fact that a lot of Glass Walkers are rich, sleek and beautiful...and then there's him.

Auspice...hmm. I could make a case for any of them, really. I'd like for Skin Deep to be struggling to gain any respect among the Glass Walkers because of his deformity, and that kind shoots Ahroun out the window. Let's go with Galliard. Skin Deep wants to be a storyteller, but he's fuck-ugly, and among another tribe that might not matter. Among the Glass Walkers, though, it's a pain, what with their Armani suits and all. Fuckers.

OK, that sets my Rage at 4, my Gnosis at 3, my Willpower at 3, and my Renown at 2 Glory, 1 Wisdom.

Step Two: Select Attributes. I'll make Mental secondary, Social tertiary (it would be secondary, but I don't have to spread out the points as much since I can't put dots into Appearance) and Physical primary.

Physical: This guy's tough. Soaking machine (man, I don't miss soak rolls). I'll put two dots into Strength, one into Dexterity and four into Stamina. I'll specialize Stamina in "Tough."

Mental: Two into Perception and Wits, one into Intelligence. Skin Deep isn't dumb, but he's not great at deduction. He's pretty good at noticing and assimilating details, though.

Social: One into Charisma, two into Manipulation. I think he's good at words, which is a shame, because with his looks he'd be better as the "howling" kind of Storyteller.

Step Three: Select Abilities. I think we'll go Talents first, then Knowledges (his parents' influence), then Skills.

Talents: Three into Primal-Urge (he's metis, he should have it) and Brawl (Dad's an Ahroun). Two into Athletics, Expression and Intimidation, and the last one into Alertness.

Skills: One into Animal Ken, Drive and Performance, and the other two into Stealth. Mom's a Ragabash, and showed him how to get around sneaky-like.

Knowledges: One into Computer, Enigmas, and Science, and two into Investigation, Occult and Rituals. Well-rounded education, courtesy of mom and dad homeschooling their ugly son.

Step Four: Select Advantages. I get 5 Backgrounds, but I can't take Pure Breed, Ancestors or Mentor...that's fucked up. Why can't I take Mentor? Weird. As an ST I'd houserule that. Anyway, if I were doing the pack thing, I'd take Totem, yadda yadda, but since I'm not: Resources 2 (parents gave him a trust fund), Rites 1 (and maybe more with freebies), and y'know what? I can't think of a single good reason not to take Mentor. So I am. Screw the book. Two dots, for now (I'll need more, because the Mentors are, of course, my parents).

I get three Gifts, one breed, one tribe, one auspice. I'll take Sense Wyrm (both parents probably agreed it was too handy not to have), Perfect Recall from Book of Auspices, because I wrote it I think memory is something Skin Deep would struggle with, and Control Simple Machine (because the other Glass Walker Gifts just don't fit this character).

Step Five: Finishing Touches. I'm rank 1, and I've got 15 freebies to throw around. No Merits & Flaws in this book and I don't feel like digging out the PG to the Garou, so there.

I'll put four points into Gnosis to bump it up to 5, and three points into Willpower to bump it to 6. I'll throw three points into Mentor, because I reckon Skin Deep's parents take a keen interest. I'll buy a dot of Streetwise for two points, and put the other three into Rites, for a total of four dots.

OK, for rites, I'll take Cleansing, Binding and Voice of the Jackal. The first two his folks taught him. The last one...well, Skin Deep is bitter, and he's always looking out for an excuse to get called up to perform the rite on a sept-mate, one of the fuckers who mocked his appearance.

And that's it! I think Skin Deep would be a fun character. His story arc would probably involve rebelling against his parents and then learning how much they've really helped him. I can see him "rebelling" by becoming a real purist for the Litany (which they broke, deliberately, by having him), maybe even changing tribes.

And that's me done with this'n. 

Character Creation: Marvel Superheroes

When I was 11 years old, my mother bought me a copy of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes Roleplaying game (Advanced Set) before we went on vacation. We always went on vacation late in the season, so there weren't other kids around to hang with, other than my brother. I'd play Marvel once or twice at summer camp, and I was looking forward to creating my own superhero...which, really, I'd been doing since kindergarten or so.

Oh, baby.

That was my intro to gaming, and it was just combat for a while. But there were plotlines. They were intricate. I can't really remember much of them, but I remember my brother's character (Oriole), who was a member of a strange, non-human race. He could shoot webs from his hands that changed color over several rounds, and then exploded! Awesome!

Anyway, I made up lots of heroes (and villains) over the years, many of them modeled on existing characters, many more modeled on obvious tropes (there was the luck-controlling Leprechaun, f'rex). But some were just weird, and that was OK. I introduced everyone from babysitters to girlfriends to gaming through Marvel, and so it remains one of my favorite games.

And so, without further delay:

The Game: Marvel Super Heroes
The publisher: TSR
Degree of familiarity: See above.
Books required: Just the Player's Book is required, but I have the Ultimate Powers Book and I'll be using that. 

 

OK, we've got seven steps. I'm going to do this largely randomly, because I enjoy the challenge it creates, but I reserve the right to say "that sucks" and alter a die roll if need be.

Generate a physical form. I roll a 27, which means "Induced Mutant." That is, I started human and then something happened to make me a superhuman. That's fine. It also means I can take a +1CS to any primary ability when we come to that.

Generate an Origin of Power. A roll of 84 means I got my powers from Chemical Exposure, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Generate Primary Abilities. FASERIP. Stands for: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition and Psyche. And in case you don't know, stats in this game get descriptors as well as numbers. For instance, Thor has Unearthly Strength, while Spidey has Incredible Strength. I roll for Primary Abilities on Column 1 (determined by my physical form), so here we go.

The rolls: 72, 6, 53, 20, 48, 26, 81

Fighting: Remarkable (26)
Agility: Poor (3)
Strength: Excellent (16)
Endurance: Typical (5)
Reason: Excellent (16)
Intuition: Good (8)
Psyche: Incredible (36)

OK, so far, my best stat is Psyche. That measures mental endurance. My Agility sucks rocks - I'm not going to be dodging or throwing anything. Strength isn't bad; I can bench about 800 pounds without much strain. Endurance, though...ouch. I have a free +1CS to up a stat. I think I'll boost Agility to Typical; that gives me better than 50/50 odds to make FEATs with that Ability, at least.

Generate Secondary Abilities. Health is how much damage I can take before I drop: 52. Not much. Karma is a measure of my experience, and it's used to alter rolls (though it'd be the first thing I'd house-rule): 60.

Resources is how rich I am, and it's a die roll: 46 gives me Excellent Resources. That's not shabby.

Generate a Weakness. Every hero has a weakness. Mine, besides my low stats is...Energy Allergy! Which means what? Checking the Effect and the Duration, I get...Fatal. Ouch. Duration is Limited with Contact, which means I take damage from a specific type of energy for 1-100 turns after initial exposure. I'm going to refrain from naming the energy until I know a little more about this guy.

Generate Powers. Here's the fun bit. I actually generate Powers, Talents and Contacts here, but let's do Powers first. A roll of 46 on the table nets me 4 Powers, which is respectable. I roll on the Power Class chart, and then on the individual Power table, and since some of these eat two slots, I'll do my Powers one at a time.

First, I roll 19 - Energy Emission. A 44 on that table gets me Kinetic Bolt. Let's look that up. It's basically what it sounds: A bolt that does damage based on the Force table. The only problem here is that it's going to rely on an Agility roll. Well, I'll deal with that later. Let's see how tough it is: 95! Holy shit! That's an Amazing-ranked Power. Awesome! I could knock down walls with that shit!

Ahem. Next power: 86 means it's Power Control, 5 means I get Control. This means that I have some control over other people's Powers. It's not a bad power, but it does eat two slots. I'll keep it, just because it'll be interesting. First off, I roll for a Power rank: 16. Good. Yuck. Well, OK. A roll of 92 (now I roll high) on the "Power Control table" means that I have Power Control - Negation, which means I just totally turn off the target power. If the roll succeeds, which considering it's a FEAT based on the target's Psyche, ain't likely. OK, moving on.

Final power: 50 gives me Matter Conversion. OK. 38 gives me Disintegration...which also costs 2 slots. Damn. I'll reduce my Resources by 2 ranks (down to Typical) to take this, because I've got an idea about where this character is going. A roll of 47 gives me Excellent Disintegration. That means I can affect 16 cubic feat of solid matter in a turn, which isn't shabby at all. My range is 6 areas - which means (hang on) good lord, an area is 44 yards. I think we'll drop the range down to Typical (2 areas, still fine) and bump the Power rank up to Incredible. I can Disintegrate 36 cubic feat of material in a turn.

OK, moving along to Talents. A roll of 68 gets me 2 Talents. First Talent: Chemistry. Second Talent: Detective/Espionage. Eeeeexcellent. It's all coming together.

Finally, Contacts. I have 2 of them. For my first Contact, my hero has a buddy in the security team where he used to work, before "the incident." The buddy, Duncan "Donuts" Billings, is now a staff supervisor for the night shift at the place, and so can sneak his ol' pal some gear every now and then.

For the second Contact, I want a street-level contact, basically a scumbag who doesn't really hurt anyone (he steals cars, that kind of thing). He snitches to my hero in exchange for not getting his ass busted. His name is Jimmy.

Give your character life. OK, time to tie it all together.

Hans Holmer was a security guard for a big chemical firm, not much more than a merc (or a mook). One night, while he and his buddy Duncan Donuts were making the rounds, some whacko in powered armor blew a hole in the wall and started laying waste to the place with these force beams. Donuts ran to sound the alarm, but Hans got stupid and tried to shoot the guy. The guy turned his blasters on Hans and put him through a wall, straight into a room full of experimental chemicals. Hans steeped in the stuff, unconscious, for hours until the attack was over and Donuts found him. Over the next few weeks (in the hospital), Hans changed. He found he was able to turn solid matter into sound with a glance, and that he could project a blast of invisible force at a target. This last was devastating, but hard to aim - as it happened, the chemicals and the trauma had done some cortical damage. Hans used to be a crack shot. Now it's all he can do to type straight.

He didn't learn about his third ability until after being discharged from the hospital. He saw the whacko in power armor again, flying across the city like nothing was nothing. Glaring, he reached out to the systems allowing the armor to fly and shattered them. The whacko (actually an eco-terrorist named Earth's Avenger) crashed to the ground. Hans disintegrated the ground around him as he tried to stand, and kept him down with his force blast. The cops arrived and subdued the terrorist, and Hans was taken away and debriefed.

He was given the opportunity to work with other heroes, but he hasn't made up his mind yet. He's still bitter about what happened, and he's not sure if he's really cut out for life as a costumed clown. He's got the costume, though - his old uniform from the chemical plant was stained from light gray to a deep purple, with irregular black and blue patterns, almost like an acid wash. Hans put it on and hit the town, solo, a few nights later, interrupting a drug sting that was about to turn into a bloody ambush on the cops (Jimmy told him what was up). He disintegrated the bad guy's guns, watching them disappear in an ear-splitting crash, and blew the drug dealer's cars upside down with his force blast. When the cops asked who he was, he said, "Call me Fragment."

Hans doesn't bother with a secret ID; he didn't have any family to begin with. That sets his Popularity at 20. Fragment has a gained a following in the city; club kids are starting to wear shirts with his suit's pattern on them.

Oh, I should detail his weakness, that form of energy that can kill him. Fragment is vulnerable to harmonics, sounds that are perfectly blended. The right kind of machinery can generate these sounds easily, and if he's exposed to them, the chemicals in his brain that were altered in the accident (the ones that allow him to break things with a glance and a gesture) turn inward, breaking him down instead. 

 

Character Creation: Crap Game Friday

OK, here we go.

The Game: Archangel
The publisher: Visionary Games (their website is now defunct, which implies they've gone under, thank god).
Degree of familiarity: More than I want
Books required: Just the core. To my knowledge, nothing else was ever released.

 

I posted the review I wrote (ETA: though it's probably not accessible anymore), so let's just get to it, shall we? Sooner I'm done, sooner I can go make coffee.

All right, so first up, I create a class. Since the game covers a large span of "history," and there's no GM, there are a lot of variables here that I can't account for. I think, therefore, that my character will be an angel. More specifically, I'll make an Avenging Angel, since they can "harness the power of God to bless others and summon dark spirits."

I guess we'll do Attributes next. I have 110 points to divvy up. I can't go higher than 20, and going higher than 17 costs extra. I could do 11 each with a few left over, but I figure my angel is stranded on Earth with only a vague idea of what he is supposed to be doing (God's a dick that way). His body is also a little weak - it's in good health, but not terribly fit. So. I'll put 8 points into Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, 12 into Constitution and Intelligence, and 15 into Focus, Appearance, and Charisma, and the other 17 into Awareness.

Skills! Oh, hell. I'd forgotten how annoying this was. OK. I get 65 points, but it's not one-for-one. It's...well, let's consider my Investigation skill. I want my angel to be good at Investigation, because that will mean that I can ferret out the enemies of God more easily. Or something. Let's say I want the max skill level I'm allowed for Investigation, 7 points, which grants me a 35% chance to succeed (roll 65 or better on a d100, higher is better).

For skill levels 1 through 5, I pay one point each (5). For skill levels 6 and 7, I pay 2 points each (4, 9 total). So I pay 9 of my 65 skill points for Investigation 7.

Seriously, you see what I'm up against, here? Palladium makes more sense.

OK, making some stab at concept, here, my angel basically woke up on Earth without a clear idea of his mission. He knows he's good at figuring stuff out (Investigation), and has some middling skill in sneaking around (Sneaking and Shadowing), fighting (Brawl), and tracking (Tracking). I'll divvy my points up among those four skills...wait, can't, the points don't work out even. OK, I wind up with scores of 7 for those four, and I'll take ratings of 4 in Disguise and Language (Apollyonal, a demonic language). And then with my remaining 12 points, I'll take my max in Gaming and 3 in Speaking. There.

I get Faith 3 as a free Perk, and I have to take Code of Honor, but since those are the only Perks and Flaws I'm allowed to take, that's that. My Health is Con x 3 (36), my Courage is 16 + 10 for being an angel, my Willpower is 27, also +10 for my angelic pedigree, and I have Holiness 13. My Vitality starts equal to my Holiness. I get a +20 bonus to Initiative, since my Awareness is high. I don't start with any money, just a bronze weapon, a leather breastplate and one set of regular clothing. I swear, I'm not making this up.

I'm a messenger angel (level one, which means I suck). I get to choose an element to "control", and I'll pick water, for the heck of it.

Oh, and I need a name. I think that among people, he's called Gad, and he doesn't use his angelic name.

OK, I could figure some of the other derived traits, speed, shield levels, but that would entail reading this book some more, and you know what? Screw that.

DONE. Now to go play something clever and highbrow like KAMB to cleanse my brain.

Character Creation: Fireborn

Why, you might ask, are you doing a lengthy character rather than writing? Well, it's like this. I have two active contracts presently. One is due "by the end of December," which is next week, and I'm about half done. The other is due in late March, and I have no intention of starting it until February or so (I will, at the point, require playtesters). I could be writing the thing due next week, but I'm crashing and I have no idea why. It's not as bad as it was last week when I actually felt dizzy and unwisely drove home (I was fine, people), but I just feel tired. And I totally feel like writing something, but I don't much feel like writing this. Normally, in this case, I'd suck it up and get my wheels going, but I want this stuff to be good (since I'm only doing one draft, AFAIK), so I'll wait.

Running around doing errands this morning might have wiped me out a little, I guess. Ah, well. I can certainly write the rest of this by next week, probably even by Friday, even with the holiday. And since my developer isn't responding to emails, I have to assume that he's not exactly champing at the bit to get this draft in (probably offline for holidays himself), so you know, I'm not concerned.

Ooh! Also, I don't have a contract. So why am I sweating this at all? Geez.

The Game: Fireborn
The publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read the Player's Handbook and most of the Gamemaster's Handbook (having purchased the former at Half-Price Books for about $5 and become interested), but never played it, despite my best efforts to find a game at a con.
Books required: The core and, if you're lucky, the Lost Lore thingie with the errata (which I have).

 

OK, this is an interesting game with a system that just leaves me dizzy. The idea is that magic has returned to the world, mostly in London, apparently. The Fireborn are reincarnations of dragons, and you're meant to spend a few sessions in your human form remembering your past, at which point you create your dragon self. Eventually, you get powerful enough to turn into a fucking dragon. Some scenes are told in flashback, and flashbacks can be triggered at any time. When you flash back you play a scene as your dragon-self, and then jump back to "now", hopefully having just remembered some vital piece of information.

Here's the thing, though: The combat system, in particular, looks so complicated that I can't imagine doing a "quick" combat with it. I mean, OWoD was weird, but once you had it down it wasn't horrible (the trick was getting it down, and even when everyone at the table knew it, Werewolf combats still took forever, but I digress). I seriously considered running Fireborn, and then my eyes glazed over every time I tried to read the combat stuff. And it's billed as an action-type game, so combat would probably be important. Maybe someday I'll get up the nerve to try it, but I'd much rather play it. But, again, I've never found anyone to run it.

Anyway, I want to make a character who just bulldozes his way through life. He's not a pugilist, but he's pushy, domineering and direct. That's not all bad, though. I think he's damned good at his job, whatever that is, because he doesn't take "no" for an answer. People just don't call his bluffs, because they know he doesn't make bluffs.

So what does a guy like that do? I'd say law, but the legal system is different in England and I wouldn't know how to approach it. On the other hand, playing someone like Nicholas Angel (in Hot Fuzz) might be fun. But I think someone who is up in the ranks of the police force a bit more, someone who can make some decisions, is more in keeping with the concept. OK. Looking up some Wiki pages, I find that this character really should be an Inspector or Chief Inspector. I'll go with the former, but say that he's a Detective Inspector (DI).

Detective Inspector Robert Henry (he's heard the "Bobby" joke too many time, thanks all the same) lives for the job. He's not sure what drew him to police work - he identifies with the criminals as often as not, he despises lawyers and their ilk, and he's not crazy about some of the scum he has to protect. All the same, like any good detective, he hates a mystery. His idea of paradise is someplace flat, someplace where no one can hide. He's got a fixation with birds of prey; he has an eagle tattooed on his back, the imprint of a hawk stamped on his wallet. The notion of swooping down and snatching up prey makes him salivate, and he insists on being in on every major sting operation his department performs. It's not that he wants the credit; he lets his Inspectors take that. He just likes the look on the criminals faces when the realize we're for it now.

Henry was married, but his wife left him. When they got married, she loved him for his strength. She came from a family of domineering men, and here was a guy who would stand up to her father and brothers. The magic ended when she realized he was just like her father, and she found the strength to walk out. Henry, in that moment, suffered his only real defeat. There was no way to just barrel through that - fixing his marriage would have required something he wasn't prepared to give. In retrospect, it was probably just as well (given that he's actually a dragon), but he still loves Estelle. He keeps tabs on her, and they talk from time to time. Woe to anyone that hurts her (hey, GM! There's your hook!).

OK, I think that pretty much knocks out concept. What's next? Step Two: Aspects.

Huh. For the second time recently, I've got these elemental aspect thingies. I get 28 points to divvy up among the four aspects.

Fire and Earth are definitely Rob's strong points. I'll dump 10 points into each, for a score of 5 ("extreme human capability), and split the other 8 points between Air and Water (for scores of 3; "average human capability").

Now, Step Three: Choose Background. Background gives me Wealth, primary and secondary skills, a list of edges to choose, and fighting style ranks. Let's have a look. I think it's pretty clear I'm a Cop, so I'll take that background. That gives me Wealth 2 (Poverty, WTF? I'll need to raise that), 4 ranks in my primary skills (Knowledge: Law, Knowledge: Street, Melee and Ranged) and 2 in my secondary skills (Interaction, Senses, Trickery and Travel).

For edges, I can choose from Aggressive, Daunting or Network. Let's look those up. Hmm. They all fit, but I'm going with Network (police). Rob's got a rep as a stand-up (if hard-nosed) cop.

Step Four: Choose Sire. My Sire is a dragon of myth that acts as my scion's spiritual example, whether or not he knows it. Looking at the list, Hydra and Typhon look interesting, but they don't really touch on the hunter aspect that I want. I finally choose Cernunnos, the Horned One. Adds an interesting touch to someone who could just be a brute. That gives me 4 Fighting Style ranks, whatever the hell that means, 1 bonus Karma, and my choice of Aggressive, Animal Affinity, or Brutal edges. This time, I'll take Aggressive. I get a a free re-roll for one skill of my choosing. I'll save that choice until after I do my bonus points.

Step Five: Dependent Traits and Finishing Touches. OK, first off, dependent traits. Seems these are based on aspects, which apparently you can't raise with bonus points. Hopefully I'm right. OK, my Number of Moves in an active sequence is 5 (equal to Fire), in a reactive sequence is 3 (Water). My karmic range is 3 (Air). My karma pool is 25 (Earthx5) plus 1 from my Sire (26).

My initiative is 8 (Fire+Air). You know, there's nowhere on the sheet to write most of this, but since you can shift dice from one aspect to another, this shit all changes anyway.

Health. Here we go, this is on the sheet. OK, based on my Earth of 5, I get 5 minor wound boxes open. And then you needed 3 wounds to even hurt me (Water of 3). I think I got it right.

Bonus points! I can spend a number of bonus points on my physical skills equal to Fire + Water (8), and, coincidentally, on mental skills equal to Earth + Air (also 8). I can't raise my primary skills (they're maxed at 4), so I'll spend my physical points on Athletics (2), Stamina (4), and Quickness (2). For mental, I'll buy Will (4, since that's for intimidation), Ka (2) and Research (2).

Now I get one bonus edge. 'Scuse me a moment. OK, there are a few that work, but I'll take Forceful Will (Gaze), giving me 1 reroll on social tests when Rob can fix his scary-ass glare on someone. Also, while I'm thinking about it, I'll put my Aggressive edge toward Melee. I also get 1 in Group Mind.

Fighting Style Ranks...geez, here we go. I get 6, altogether. I'll buy Street Fighting (looks vicious), which costs me 2, and I'll burn my other 4 on Gun-Fu, because, y'know, bad ass.

This would have me go through possessions and so on. I know I want Rob to have a gun, but I also know that guns aren't as easy to come by in England because British people don't have a Constitution like we do. That'd be something I take up with my GM, but as I don't have one, we'll just move briskly along to...

Dragon Phase!

My brother and I made up a game for OWoD about dragon-human hybrids. Jon, we were ahead of our time, and we should have fucking published. Oh, well.

Step One: Concept. I'm going advanced, BTW, and making a dragon from scratch. Anyway, I think my dragon was like Rob in one important way - implacable. But he was more graceful, too, swooping down to pluck his prey from the earth. He preferred to hunt across plains, because there's no way to hide from him there. He's aloof, menacing, hungry, but fair. "Fair," of course, comes with recognition that he's the dragon and you aren't, so maybe you shouldn't bitch if he eats your sheep a little. The dragon's name was Belatucadros, a name for the horned god of war. I think that he was available to fight on your side, if your cause was just. He wasn't so into being bribed, because he figured he could just take what he wanted anyway.

Visually, I see Belatucadros as a huge, sleek, blue-green dragon with big ol' horns. Definitely wings, and I'm thinking that swooping down and clawing the shit out of his foes was his primary attack.

Step Two: Aspects. As above, but 40 points to spend. The distribution's going to be a little different here. I'll give myself Water 6, Fire 5, Earth 3 and Air 5. Belatucadros is less durable (pound for pound) than his human scion will be, but he's faster by far. I also get 15 points to give myself superhuman aspects. These superhuman points get subtracted first when penalties come round, which I assume is good. I can't go higher than my base score, so I'll put 3 into Earth, Fire and Air and 6 into Water (fast and hard to hit).

Step Three: Choose Outlook. Adventurer isn't bad, but I see Belatucadros as more focused than that. He's a hunter, a mercenary but also a judge. Let's go with Warrior. That gives me 6 ranks in Athletics, Melee, Quickness and Will, and 3 in Ranged and Stamina. I get 14 Style Picks, whatever that means, and 2 spell picks, and 2 Hoard.

Step Four: Choose Breed. Now the fun bit - making the dragon itself. For his dominant breed, which determines overall body shape, I'll go Drake - not quite as massive as Beast, but with some capacity for fine motor control. For minor breed, I know I want something with a high Flight rating. Oh, I want Horns, too. That'd be Noble Dragon, then. I get these powers: Alternate Form, Nobility, and any other two powers. I get to prioritize these with 5, 4, 3, 2 ranks, so I'll give myself 5 ranks in Nobility (I'm scary and I inspire my friends), 4 in Heightened Senses (3 into Sight, one into Hearing), 3 in Gaze of the Predator and 2 in Alternate Form (human and hawk).

Step Five: Choose Legacy. I'll take Storm Lord. I like the idea of Belatucadros swooping out of a tornado, calling down lightning on his foes, and generally riding the winds. Awesome.

Step Six: Dependent Traits and Finishing Touches. As before, mostly. For bonus points, I can start with skills higher than 4 (clearly, since I have a bunch at 6), so I'll g'head and spend my 11 points thusly: Travel 5, Melee 2 (for a total of 8), Stamina 2 (for a total of 5), Quickness 2 (for a total of 8). My 8 points in Mental...hmm. I guess I should take some Casting, so I can actually use magic. OK, I'll put 1 there, 1 into Interaction, 3 into Knowledge: War, 2 into Ka, and one into Senses.

Evidently, I also get 5 ranks in edges. Wait, actually, I get five Edges, ranked 5 to 1. Boy, I'd never have figured that out if it weren't for Stew's character. Weird. OK, I'll put Casting at 1. I'll take Stealthy (hide and drop, same principle), I'll take Follow-Through at 3, Survivor at 4 (I'm a dodging fool) and Aspect Affinity (Fire) at 5.

I get 2 spell picks and 14 style picks. Yi. I'll take Cat's Eyes and Sidestep for my spells. For Fighting Style picks, I'll take Crushing Mass, Ravager, Archangel and Swift. Belatucadros is fast, and can rip you apart. Rar!

Now, thinking about Belatucadros' lair: I think he took over a village in the mountains, after he killed off the inhabitants as part of an agreement with another faction of humans. He left the houses, such as they were, standing, and lived among them, dropping stuff he hoarded off in barns and whatnot. Getting there without flying is hard - the mountain is always stormy, and Belatucadros takes invasion of privacy very seriously.

Character Creation: Orpheus

OK, I know I said I was doing Fireborn today, but then I made this icon over here at the Coraline movie site, and my mind took that image and merged it with "Empty" by Del Amitri, which isn't on Youtube else I'd link it (ETA: here it is), but here are some lyrics:

Don't get so distressed
If the good life won't arrive
You've been reading s.o.s.
When it's just your clock reading 5:05
And why are you so possessed
By the thought that she got free
And why are you figuring who's the best
When just your luck ran out
And she chose me

We do not lie side by side
And mock the thought of you
And i don't take her hand and ask
Is this what he used to do?
'cos i just want to free her from
Your jails of jealous dreams
'cos at least a house when it's empty
Stays clean

I won't pretend
That i was simply swayed
It was a two way thing not a
Three day fling
No secrets kept, no truth betrayed
And here's the house that held
The nightmare that went on
And you're sitting there wishing you'd never been born
With that self-inflicted crown of thorns

We do not lie side by side
And mock the thought of you
And i don't take her hand and ask
Is this what he used to do?
'cos i just want to free her from
Your jails of jealous dreams
'cos at least a house when it's empty
Stays clean

I won't pretend
That i'm the saviour of the innocent and bad
But put two withered old blooms in a couple of rooms
And they'll behave like lunatics
And crave what makes them sad

So here's a card that says
Happy twenty-second birthday and i wish you were dead
And here's a house that held
A bevy of devils and an angel as well
And you want what i've got
When all i've got is guilt
And a room that won't stay still
Filled with pockets full of crumpled up money and
A mantelpiece littered with bills
'cos at least a house when it's empty
Stays clean

Anyway, I like the song because it conjures up images of an empty, oddly dust-less house, and a man walking through it wondering what went wrong. And the image of that man having buttons for eyes - that he's given away his sight and had it replaced with something else, strikes me as appropriate for Orpheus.

So!

The Game: Orpheus
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: Lots! I worked on most of the line, developed two of the books, and ran a long chronicle that I didn't log, so it feels weird and faraway. 
Books required: The core, but if I feel like grabbing a Background from one of the sourcebooks, I shall. 

 
Step One: Character Concept. You know I've never played Orpheus? WW didn't really promote this game; at Dragon*Con...whatever year that was...I was the only one running a game of it. But I enjoyed the chronicle I ran, for all the craziness that surrounded the creation of the game.

Anyway, concept. Well, the concept I have is a ghost, no question. Yeah, I made a ghost character here, but Orpheus is kind of a different animal. I want to make someone who's working for the Orpheus Group, post-mortem. Brayton Smith (people call him "Smitty," and that's better than "Brayton") was an insurance adjuster, not especially happy about it, but putting his business degree to use, at least. He had a girlfriend that he really loved - Emily. Blond, blue eyes, thin, young, smart, funny, etc. And then she fell for another guy, someone slightly older and definitely more...interesting.

Smitty kind of lost it. He went and confronted the guy, and the dude, rather than get angry, calmly put Smitty in his place. It wasn't about Smitty, he said. It was about Emily and what she needed. She felt bad about breaking it off with him, but the relationship wasn't doing her any good. He needed to move on, find someone that he could really work for.

He might have, who knows? But instead, Smitty started doing a drug called pigment. Black heroin. He lost his job inside a month, and six months later wound up wandering through his empty house (he'd sold almost everything to pay for drugs). He laid down that night and died, a combination of malnutrition, drug overdose, and hypothermia (no gas, after all, and this was the middle of winter). He haunted the hell out of the place, and out of Emily, when an Orpheus Group crucible showed up to put him to rest. They managed to bring him out of his post-death haze, instead, and Smitty joined the group. He's terrified of moving on, because he figures he's bound for Hell because of what he did to Emily and her beau (nothing permanent, and they're actually adjusting fine, but it wouldn't be the first time Smitty's inflated his own self-importance). At present, what he's getting out of Orpheus is a sense of purpose, and companionship of his crucible-mates.

So I need to choose a role, Shade, Lament, Nature and Demeanor. Well. Lament is hue, we've nailed that down already. My role isn't important system-wise; "Office Worker" sums it up. Nature...hmm. I think that, by Nature, he's a Bumpkin. He doesn't do theory very well, and he's baked his brain with drugs enough that thinking two steps ahead is hard. His Demeanor is Penitent. He's playing up "look what I did" as a way to seem interesting. That'd change in play, I'm sure.

Now for the hard one: Shade. I don't see Smitty as very subtle. Actually, I think it plays into his simplistic nature to make him a Poltergeist.

So, plug in the numbers from these traits, and on we go! Oh, hey, look at that. Between my Shade and my Nature, my Vitality is 7, but since I'm a hue, I can't go higher than that. And, as a hue, I get to bring out my Stains for free. Whoopee-fricking-do. The Stains system wasn't well thought-out, and we never really used them when I ran it.

Step Two: Select Attributes. Your basic WW thing. 6/4/3, since these guys are mortals. Mostly. Well, I'm going Physical primary, Mental secondary and Social tertiary, and that shouldn't be any surprise.

Physical I make an even 3 across the board. That's not because he was in great shape in life, but because self-image makes you what you are in death. Mental, I throw one into Intelligence and Wits and two into Perception. He noticed that Emily was acting different, but couldn't figure out why. Social, even across the board. He's unremarkable, even in death.

Step Three: Select Abilities. 11/7/4, nothing higher than 3 here, and look at that! No Dodge! How'd that happen! Why, it must've been because the author of this section talked to me and got my brother's rationale for excluding it!

Don't mind me. Moving on. I think we'll go Talents, Skills, and then Knowledges.

Talents: Three into Streetwise, two into Alertness, Awareness and Brawl, one into Athletics and Subterfuge.

Skills: Three into Melee (Orpheus training), two into Stealth, one into Technology and one into Drive.

Knowledges: One into Academics, Bureaucracy, Finance, and Computer. Training from the living days, but he's forgotten most of it.

Step Four: Record Advantages. I get the Helter-Skelter Horror for free. And now Backgrounds...OK, wtf? Two "normal" ones and two Orpheus ones? That's it? Weird. OK, whatever, let's get to it. Actually, since I'm a ghost, there are Backgrounds I can't take. Let's look over the choices, along with the ones in Shades of Gray. OK, I'll take Personal Trainer for Melee and Firearms (another Orpheus op teaching Smitty to be a badass, since that's what Poltergeists do), and the other two dots into Destiny. I can reroll two failed rolls per session. Always a good idea. And, finally, I get three Stains. Yuck.

OK, most of the Stains in the core book suck. They're totally out of place with the game, IMHO. They make ghosts look like...orcs, or something, and reading them, stuff like "Bat's Ears" and "Carapace" doesn't say "ghost" to me. It says "demon", I guess.

Oh, by the way, there was a Stain in the first draft of Orpheus called "Toad Stool". You excreted foul-smelling poo. I'm not half kidding. Fortunately, that one got cut. Wish I still had the files, I'd post it.

Anyway, I like Withered. When he manifests this Stain, Smitty looks dessicated and decayed, but he can spend as much Vitality as he wants and not tip Spectres off. That's kind of useful.

Ah. Now, looking at the Stains in Shadow Games, I'm much more impressed. These feel ghostlike. Most of them, anyway. Since I know I want Smitty to have big, black buttons for eyes, no matter what he does, I'll take Hungry Eyes (his gaze can sap Vitality) and Hypnotic Markings (or make people especially suggestible).

Step Five: Finishing Touches. I already recorded starting Vitality, Willpower and Spite. Now I get 15 freebie points.

Well, I know I want to sink 7 points into buying Congeal, my other Horror. I'll also spend five on Backgrounds, buying Personal Trainer up one (adding Brawl as something to train) and buying Haunt 3 (the aforementioned house). That leaves me 3 points. I'll throw one more into Backgrounds and buy Memorial 1 - folks at the office still pass by Smitty's old cubicle and shake their heads, wondering how he just let himself go like that. And, I'll spend the last 2 to buy Security 1. He can make lockpicks with his hands, but he's gotta know how to use them.

And that's Smitty done and ready to go a-hauntin'!

Character Creation: Nephilim

There were giants, in those days. It took them a long time to make a character. 

The Game: Nephilim
The publisher: Chaosium
Degree of familiarity: Not much. I read the book and made a character (during a Literature class in college, IIRC), but that was more than 10 years ago.
Books required: You only need the core, but as Stew mentions here, there's a sourcebook that improves things. That'd be Chronicle of the Awakenings, which I have, so I'll use it. 

 
OK, in this game you're playing ancient elemental beings that reincarnates through the ages, all on their way to a mystical state of fulfillment called Agartha. During the periods awaken, Nephilim...shit, what do they do? Hang on. OK, they've all reawakened "now" (1990s), and aren't sure why, but something big is on the horizon. In the past, they've done various magicKy things (fucking extra "k" - hey, just like gimmicK!). Oh, and they possess people when they reincarnate, so your first action upon awakening is stealing someone's life. Rule!

Step One: Ka. Ka is the magical lifeforce of the Nephilim. It's divided up into elements: the four classical ones plus Moon. Now, since I need to decide my dominant Ka element, that means I should also decide on my Metamorphosis - that is, what kind of elemental being I am. Let's see. Reading the element descriptions, I ditch Moon (last character I made had it), Air (Stew did one), Fire (eh). That leaves me Earth and Water. The more I think about it, the more I think I'd like to play a Pan-like character. Not so much focused on the "fuck everybody - literally!" aspect of being a satyr, but more the "monster brooding in the cave" aspect. Yes, that's challenging to play and not resort to "I slink off by myself," but I like a challenge. OK, so my element is Earth, and my Metamorphosis is Satyr.

Now, Ka starts at 22 and goes down by 2 for every incarnation you've had, including the present one. I don't want to be here all goddamn day, so I'll have two incarnations. That reduces my dominant Ka by six, for a total of 16. My two favorable elements are Moon and Fire, and because I want to play up the mysterious, crazy side of the Satyr, I put Moon as my major neutral (13). That leaves Fire at 10. My major opposed element will be Air, because I don't see this guy as terribly incisive (3), and that leaves Water at 6. All of this also gives me some modifiers to some stats:

Earth 16 (Constitution +4)
Moon 13 (Charisma +4)
Fire 10 (Strength +3)
Water 6 (Dexterity +2)
Air 3 (Intelligence +1)

Step Two: Metamorphosis and Major Arcana. My Metamorphosis, I've already chosen. Note, though, that in the core book, your Metamorphosis traits are linked to physical characteristics: Head, Hands, Odor, Skin, and Voice. As of Chronicle of the Awakenings, they are linked to emotions and personality traits, which then cause physical changes as they increase. I'm using that sourcebook's rules. As a Satyr, my traits are: Angry (horns on head, steam from nose); Destructive (fingers meld into claws, cloven hooves); Indulgent (high tolerance for booze, food, sex); Unpredictable (lots of body hair and musk); Vengeful (some undefinable aura makes me impossible to forget). I get a number of Metamorphosis points to spread out, but I do that later, after past lives.

Now, for Major Arcana, my initial impulse was Hermit or the Moon, but both of those make for lousy player characters. Instead, I choose Temperance. My Satyr is devoted to helping other Nephilim, and when he's "on the job," he's functional. It's just that left to his own devices, he's a monster, a destructive, unpredictable beast. I like that.

Step Three: Past Lives. And thus begins the real headache of chargen. I have two past lives. My first one determines my Stasis object (the thing my soul chills out in between lives). Lots of potential eras in the core book, but a lot of them are ancient and I like more modern stuff. So using the sourcebook, I'll pick my first era as The Americas, New England, 1650AD.

First up: I pick a Simulacrum. This would be the body I stole upon awakening. I'll just roll for it, since I don't have a strong idea. A roll of 33 makes me a farmer - perfect. A roll of 3d6x5 means he incarnated into a man at the tender age of 20, which, in turn, gives me 80 points for skills.

Hide 20
Fist/Punch 15
Farm 30
Religious Lore (Puritan) 15
Life Experience (Colonies 17th c.) 20 (I get this free)

Weaksauce. OK, now I get 80 more points to spend on languages. Weird.

Speak (English) 50
Speak (Native American) 30

Let's see how long I lived as a Nephilim: Ooh, another 65 years. Died at 85. He hung in there. That means I get 130 Occult Development points, which lets me buy magic. It also sends me back to the core book, because fuck if I remember how magic works. OK, got it. I can take difference magic techniques, which allow me to cast spells, but unless I Inscribe a spell on my soul, I need a material component. Likewise, I can take Temperance Lore to indicate how down with my Arcana tribe I am. Before I do that, I make a couple more rolls, and determine that this incarnation died of starvation, and my Stasis item is a felling ax (which I assume is used to fell trees, not people).

OK, a picture emerges. My Satyr started living la vida Temperance during this time. Humans were crazy and Puritanism meant that the sexual side of him as a Satyr didn't get much play. Instead, he tried to help other Nephilim, what few there were, and wound up getting run out of town for his trouble. He died starving the wilderness, clutching his felling axe, hoping an animal would get close enough to whack.

Magic-wise, I put 30 points into Temperance Lore, 50 into Black Stone Alchemy (which means I have to go and figure out an Athanor, dammit) 30 into Lower Magic, and I'll Inscribe two spells. Hmm. I'll take Balance the Humours (allowing me to cure disease), and the Freezing of the Living Stone, allowing me to make someone's feet too heavy to lift.

And that's one incarnation done. Now, to move forward in time, when he awakened again in...Scotland?!

Yep, the Scottish Rebellion, 1745AD. Let's see who he was. He was a government soldier. How'd he get the felling axe? I think that someone found it in the woods and rather liked it, and it passed through a series of hands before being traded to a sailor headed for Jolly Olde Englande. It wound up being lost in a card game to a solider who was being sent off to clear the highlands...and said soldier wound up a Simulacrum. The Satyr was probably horrified that people were still gleefully killing each other. At the time of incarnation, the solider was...Jesus, 75! So, obviously not a young dude getting sent off to war, but rather a very old dude who hadn't died or retired, for whatever reason. OK, I can work with that, not least because it gives me 300 freaking skill points.

Life Experience (Britain 18th c.) 75 (free)
Fist/Punch 50
Melee (Sword) 50
Ride 50
Rifle 50
Scan 50
Survival 50

Speak (English) 40
Speak (Scots Gaelic) 15 (continuing the trend of picking up a little of the local language)

Nephilim age: The fucker lived another 90 years before dying. Good lord. I'm sure someone noticed that. That also gives me another 180 Occult Development points for magic. OK, I'll put 40 into Black Stone Alchemy, 50 into White Stone Alchemy, 20 into Temperance Lore, 30 into Lower Magic, and with the rest I'll Inscribe four spells. I'll take Via Robust (ups my Constitution, and explains a lot), the Mutation of the Hell Hound (because it's awesome), the Chemycal Webbing of Androgyny (makes me a little servant) and the Darkening of the Seven-Shaded Walls (smokescreen).

Death: Died of disease, but honestly, he could have cured it. I think he died because he wanted to, and just didn't bother to cure the disease. He would have died around, what, 1840-some, and I figure he was just out of excuses for why he was still alive.

And that's both incarnations. Taking a break for lunch, but you won't notice a thing. See that? I'm back, watched two episodes of Tru Calling and there's no noticeable break for you.

Anyway, that puts us at Step Four: Simulacrum. The current one, anyway. First, I choose a Simulacrum template. Without knowing where a hypothetical GM wants to set this game, I'll assume that the felling axe that was in the soldier's collection of stuff eventually got put into a collection of Colonial stuff and shipped back to Massachusetts. In a museum in Salem, almost anyone might be walking by when the Satyr reincarnated again. So I'll choose...Brewer.

Richard Stokes was in Salem visiting some friends, and they decided to go to one of the witches museums, for a lark. Looking at the axe, mislabeled as "an axe used to break in the doors of suspected witches," Richard felt something...a deep and abiding pathos, a sadness and rage he'd never felt. And then he just stopped being Richard altogether. Instead, he was Lone, the Beast of the Cave.

OK, so I transfer the characteristics from the Brewer template to my sheet. That means:

Constitution 16+4=20
Charisma 12+4=16
Strength 11+3=14
Dexterity 10+2=12
Intelligence 14+1=15

Nice that I incarnated into someone smart. That Con bonus is neat, too. I get 50 skill points to spread around (3d6x10, so 50 kinda sucks), in addition to skills my Simulacrum already has. So I'll buy Listen and Hunt, both at 25. Weak, but actually, the template's existing skills work nicely. He plays violin, he bow-hunts, he makes beer. I see him as having a small, somewhat ramshackle house out near the edge of town, sitting on land that the city would love to rip up and develop. But it's not a place of solitude - his friends come out and drink his beer, listen to his music, and so on. Good life.

Except now he's not Richard anymore. He's Lone, and that means he's not happy around people. He wants to help other Nephilim, because he knows that people don't like them and that magic in general isn't welcome in most places. Slowly but surely, he loses ties with humanity. And that's safer for humanity, anyway. Lone's dangerous when he gets mad. Or drunk.

One thing I am changing: The family relationship of this dude assumes he has a devoted wife, but I don't necessarily want that much angst. I'm going to bump his Family rating down to 12, and assume he's got a close circle of friends, but no living family that he's close to.

I multiply all of my meta-characteristics by 3 to get my percentages, and I port in my skill numbers from my incarnations. Almost done. Gotta do the Stasis object, and then the Athanor. Yeah, gotta make headaches for myself. OK, the system for creating an Athanor is whack-a-ding-hoy. It looks like I subtract the points from my Stasis to put points into the Athanor, and I guess that's what we'll do. So, I roll a d20 for each of the elements in my Stasis object: 4, 6, 8, 8, 18. After I assign them to elements, I transfer some points over to the Athanor. Which, considering I made it in Colonial New England, I think looks like a snuff tin. It was once engraved, but it's all covered in burns, scorches and symbols now.

Stasis:
Fire 3, Air 4, Water 2, Earth 10, Moon 4

Athanor:
Fire 1, Air 4, Water 4, Earth 8, Moon 2

Weak Athanor, but what are you gonna do? I have 20 hit points, 3 actions, +1d4 damage bonus, and...weird. According to the system, I should have 20 Ch'awe, but it only goes to 18 on the sheet. Oh, well.

Oh, one last thing: Metamorphosis. I have 16 Metamorphosis points. These are these traits I mentioned above (Angry, etc.) and one can be Directed, which is a little like a Specialty. It functions as 3 points higher in applicable situations. I'll definitely direct something; right now, the points look like this:

Angry 4
Destructive 2
Indulgent 2
Unpredictable 5
Vengeful 3

My "Unpredictable" Trait will be directed towards "Drunk." Lone's a crazy drunk.

And apparently that's it! Wow, lengthy. 

Character Creation: Let's Get This Over With!

UGGGGHHH FIIIIINNNNE.

The Game: Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition
The publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Degree of familiarity: Some. Played in a few campaigns, two of them (both abortive) run by Justin Achilli hisself. Never got the taste for it. D&D, I mean, not Justin.
Books required: Just the PHB, as long as you just want to make up bare-bones. I'm also using a handy character generator.

 

Well, the last character I made was a nobody, a tracker and a vampire-ish sort. Before that, we had a gunslinger, and then a tinkerer (not counting the Late Show guy I made). So this time...wait, what am I saying? Doing concept before Abilities is cart-before-the-horse, as I discovered here.

Step 0: Check with DM. N/A, obviously.

Step 1: Ability Scores. I use the character generator and come up with this:

Strength 11
Dexterity 14
Constitution 11
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 13
Charisma 14

Jesus, I suck. This is why I hate random chargen.

Step 2: Choose Class and Race. Now, what makes playing non-humans interesting isn't their animalistic features or their body hair, as some people seem to think, but their culture. But, again, we have only the barest glimmer of that, in absence of a setting, so I'm going to go with human and leave it at that.

Class-wise, I suppose I should play to my strengths and pick something that my "high" stats might benefit from. Because of my hunger for something resembling character development at this stage, I'll play a cleric (I also like playing magic-y characters, and this allows me to do that and not be utterly fucking useless until about 5th level). I also pick my alignment now: I'm neutral-good, meaning that I dole out my assistant as I think people need it. My character worships Boccob, the god of magic. He views magic as, ultimately, a force of nature like fire - it can happen to people, or be used as a tool. He likes to think he uses it responsibly.

Moving on. I get no racial modifiers because I'm human, so Step 3: Assign and Adjust Abilities Scores, doesn't mean much. On to...

Step Four: Review the Starting Package. Feel free to make the obvious joke; I did. Well, at 1st level, I get a +0 attack base, +2 to Fort and Will saves, I can turn/rebuke undead (not that I've ever seen it work), and I get 1 additional level 1 spell, for a total of 4 level-0 and 4 level-1, one of which has to be a Domain spell. For my Domains, by the way, I get two, so I take Knowledge and Magic. Trickery, to my character, is playing a dangerous game with magic - magic might be a force of nature, but there's still a god attached to it, so better to play it straight.

Step Five: Record Racial and Class Features. Nothing for race, and class is just the weapons proficiencies.

Step Six: Select Skills. Ah, now it's getting interesting! Kinda. I have 12 skill points. I put 2 into Heal and Concentration, 1 into Craft, 1 into Knowledge (Arcana), 1 into Knowledge (Religion), 1 into Listen, 1 into Spot, 1 into Spellcraft, and that's it, because some of those eat two slots.

Step Seven: Select a Feat. Actually, I get two, because I'm human, baby. I'll take Combat Casting, because since my Strength is jack shit I'll be needing to cast spells in combat, and Iron Will, making me less susceptible to magic that fucks with my mind.

Step Eight: Review Description. I did alignment already. Now we get into a little bit of personality and background. OK, sure. My character's name is Os Brao. Born into a family known in its town for its piety to Pelor, the god of the sun, Os just wasn't having it. Pelor makes moral judgments (he's a neutral good god), and while that's kind of the way Os leans, he's not crazy about gods taking sides. Besides, magic fascinated him. He just wasn't smart enough to "get" magic, not the way his wizard friend (assuming somebody makes a wizard) did. So he kind of found a back way - he took up worship of Boccob, the god of palindromes magic, and learned to throw a few spells that way.

Now, why's he adventuring? I'm not sure. I think "learn about magic" is a potential motivator for Os, but I think that something happened to him to spur him on the way. Without a setting, that's iffy, but OK, let's do it this way: He was witness to some of the awful shit that evil magic can do. What, exactly, I don't know - I'd ask for DM input here, but if anyone takes up my suggestion and rounds out the party, go for it - but probably something involving necromancy or magic-for-murder or something equally awful. Shaken by the concrete demonstration that magic is a tool and Boccob (called the Uncaring by his followers) didn't really seem to give a fuck, he decided he needed to learn more about magic, about how it's used and abused, and most of all, if it really is as impartial as he thinks.

Physically, Os is thin. He always ate like a bird, but he's quick. He's got sandy brown hair and a concerned look on his face. He's only 18 - barely old enough to be out on his own, or at least that's what his folks think.

Step Nine: Select Equipment. This nifty program allows me to buy shit, too, so hang on. I know I want a quarterstaff (Boccob's favorite weapon), but with my higher Dex bonus, I should take some darts or something, too. Oh, hell, I'll just take a light crossbow. Some bolts. Bedroll, candles, ink, pen, paper. And, hell, I'll splurge and buy a guard dog, just because it's not something you see non-druids do. His dog's name is Abi, and he's trained to bark his fool head off if anyone he doesn't know comes around.

Step Ten: Record Combat Shit. I'll let the program do that. I also won't bother with picking spells, as I'd probably wind up defaulting to Cure Light Wounds all the time anyway.  

Character Creation: Aberrant

Not a title that tells you much, but I think it's pretty cool nonetheless.

The Game: Aberrant
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: Some. I've played it a couple of times, I ran it in Atlanta. It's what I like to call the larval Exalted system - about halfway between OWoD and Exalted
Books Required: Just the Aberrant core, but I have the Players Guide if I feel I need it.

Our first phase, just like Adventure!, is the human one.

Step One: Concept. Looking over the list, I like Nobody (not coincidentally, I started reading The Graveyard Book last week). My character's name is Victor Ford, but no one has called him by name (except maybe at the DMV) in a long time. He worked as an archivist, record keeper and general paper-pusher at a government agency, and the events of 1/1/2000 kept him employed (in this game, the Y2K problem really was a problem). The world thinks that the novas of Project: Utopia got them through it unscathed, but guys like Vic, willing to sit in a dark room and sort papers so that records could be properly archived again, sure did their part.

Vic is a taciturn and maudlin guy. It's not that he's depressed or even sad, he's just slow to move and speak, and he doesn't smile much. He's tenacious and helpful, but not cheerful, and it annoys him that folks seem to want the latter more than the former. For his Nature, I think I'll take Bureaucrat. Vic wants to follow the rules. It's the only way he ever felt safe.

Allegiance, I'll work for Project: Utopia. They follow the rules, they're making the world a better place. Vic is too boring-looking to go all glamorous and work for Team Tomorrow, but his skills make him useful for the organization.

Step Two: Attributes. The old 7/5/3 split, noting that if any Attribute goes to 4 or better, I need a quality for it. I know I want Vic to be perceptive as heck, probably pretty strong, but weak in social graces. That shakes out to Physical primary, then Mental, then Social.

Physical: I throw three into Stamina and two into the others, and pick the "Tenacious" quality for Stamina.
Mental: Three dots into Perception and one into the others, with the "Incisive" quality.
Social: Even across the board.

Step Three: Abilities. Nothing higher than 3 just now. No categories, just 23 points. I put three into Stealth, Bureaucracy, Awareness and Investigation; two into Academics, Computer and Rapport; one into Might, Legerdemain, Engineering, Arts and Biz. On we go.

Step Four: Backgrounds. Seven points to throw around. I think Attunement is always a good idea; 2 dots. I know I want Cipher 5, so I'll just do that now and buy any other Backgrounds I want in phase 2.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Willpower 3 as a base, Quantum 1, and the other stuff might change in phase 2, so I'll leave it alone. 15 bonus points...hmm. Backgrounds are cheap, so I'll start there. I'll take Backing (Project: Utopia) at two dots - Vic's not very important, and certainly not public. I'll dump 5 into Dormancy; if Vic doesn't want you to know he's a nova, you won't. And as I recall, Node is a good idea, so I'll put 2 dots there.

Six more points. Damn. I'll buy Willpower up by 3, and that's phase 1 done.

Phase Two: NOVA!

Step One: Eruption. Vic got laid off from his job in 2001, after new technology made paper-shuffling even more obsolete than it had been. Walking home, bitter, he started thinking about the bastard responsible, whoever that might have been. His head started to pound...and a short time later, Vic was outside the door of a mid-level bureaucrat who felt Vic's job was expendable. Vic never confronted him. He was too terrified by the fact that he had just sought the guy out, almost reflexively. Ever pragmatic, he started searching for someone who could help, and wound up hooked up with Project: Utopia.

Step Two: Nova Points. Clearly Vic's a bloodhound. Let's see. I get 30 nova points to kick around. I'll first put a few points into Attributes and Skills. 2 into Attributes jacks my Dexterity Intelligence to 3 and Strength and Wits to 4, my Perception and Stamina to 5. For Abilities, I buy Brawl 4, Athletics 2, Stealth 5 (from 3), Intrusion 1, Streetwise 3, Interrogation 4, Awareness 5, Investigation 5, Intimidation 1, Subterfuge 3. That's 4 Nova Points, 6 spent altogether.

Now, I'll buy Mega-Perception. I think since this is Vic's forte, I'll put it to 3 dots (9 Nova Points, 16 altogether). I'll take the Quantum Attunement enhancement, since Vic's job for Utopia is tracking novas. And I'll spend 3 more for a dot of Mega-Wits, and take Enhanced Initiative. I'll also take a dot of Mega-Strength, with the Enhancement Crush. If Vic grabs you, you're hurtin'. 19 points spent, 11 to go.

I'll spend 5 to bump Quantum to 2, and now with my remaining 6 points, I'll have a look at powers. I spend 1 to buy Intuition; I don't think I need it at a level higher than 1, given my Mega-Perception. And then I'll take Quantum Leech, a level 2 power. I like the notion that Vic can drain off other nova's energies - helps calm them down if they're newly Erupted, or take the wind out of their sails if they're hostile. But it doesn't hurt them.

Ha. I'll take that power as Tainted. That halves the cost, but gives me one dot of Taint per dots purchased. I shall purchase 3 dots tainted, and then a fourth without Taint. That puts me at 0 Nova Points, dunnit?

Step Three: Finishing Touches. My Quantum pool is 24. I need qualities for my remaining Attributes above 3, so I add those in by pen, since there's nowhere to do it on the pdf. Also, I decide Vic doesn't have a nova "code name", at least not yet. If asked, he might say that's because no one told him he needed one, but the truth is that people generally don't use his name. In a world where novas are growing more numerous, Vic is somehow growing more anonymous (which I'd totally play with in a series with this guy).

Character Creation: Shadowrun 4th Edition

Slot and run, chummers!

The Game: Shadowrun Fourth Edition
The publisher: Fanpro, and now Catalyst, I guess
Degree of familiarity: My brother and I made characters, I think, back in Toledo, and then I recently played in an aborted campaign. Might have been different editions, though.
Books Required: Just the core. I have a book on magic...wait, I had a book on magic, didn't I? Where the heck did that go? Oh, well. Having played a shaman in the above-cited game, I'm not going to make one now, so it's moot. Could've sworn I bought that Street Magic book, though...

 
Like I said, I played a shaman once before. This time around, I'd kind of like to play an ork. I couldn't say why. They just kind of appeal to me, as presented in SR4. In fact, I really like the notion of playing an adept, because I like the art on p. 95 of the Gunslinger Adept. So maybe we'll go that way.

The game doesn't start with a series of conceptualizing steps, it pretty much says "If you want to just start building with points, do that, if you want to conceptualize first, do that." I can dig it. I picture my character as being "proud to be ork." T'kor (non-orks called him "T") is from a large family - 10 brothers, four sisters, and he's right in the middle. His parents both earn respectable livings, but it's a lot of mouths to feed, and they don't object when he comes home with money that he doesn't want to account for.

Somewhere along the way, he hooked up with a charismatic ork shaman named B'nai (I don't see any information in the book about how the Or'zet language is structured, so I'm making it up). B'nai saw magical potential in this young ork-turned-thug, and steered him away from what he was doing (beating people up for money). He awakened T'kor's potential as an adept, and other members of B'nai's following (you could call it a "cult" and not be unfair) trained him in real combat. B'nai probably intended for T'kor to join his faction full-time...but T'kor is a family man, and his family kept him a bit more grounded than that. He left B'nai's "church," and he's been on their list ever since.

But not "hit list," per se. B'nai wants him back.

OK, enough backstory for now (and anyway, a large part of this game is the group of runners - I can see T'kor having trouble fitting in with non-orks, but I think I'd play it for drama and entertainment rather than being a cock about it). Numbers!

Being an ork is 20 of my 400 BP right there. The Adept quality eats 5 more. Oh, and this part is mathy. I am, however, using this neat thingie to help with that.

OK, Attributes. I put my Agility up to 6 because I want my guy to be a badass with guns of all types. I put Body at 6 as well, but that's not quite so pricey because it starts at 4 (since I'm an ork). My Reaction is 5 (need to be quick on the draw), but my Strength stays at the minimum 3 (T'Kor is skinny for an ork - his hands are strong, though). Charisma goes to 3 - I don't want to play a complete social loser, after all. Intuition is at 5, and I might raise it later; T'Kor should be able to trust his gut. Logic is only 3 (never great at schoolin'), but Willpower is at 5 (headstrong). I don't raise Edge, but I do jack Magic to 4 so I have Power Points to play with later.

Letting the computer do the work for me, that means 275 points spent on Attributes. Now, Skills!

I know I want the Firearms group, so I just go ahead and blow the points to put it up to 4. I also buy Blades at 2 and Unarmed Combat at 2; I figure B'Nai's people taught T'Kor how to fight with things besides guns (though he'd prefer to shoot). I take a point of Escape Artist (for when the Man gets you down), Heavy Weapons and Throwing Weapons.

I put 4 into Dodge - a successful gunfight is one in which you don't get hit. I put 1 into Pilot Ground Craft (he can drive, he just doesn't much). One into Climbing, 2 into Infiltration with a Specialty in Urban, 2 into Assesning, one into Computer, 2 into Perception.

For my Languages, I take Or'Zet as my Native and 2 points into English. I put 3 points into Street Knowledge - T'Kor knows the ork section of town quite well.

And now, on to Qualities. I already have Adept. I take Home Ground (ork-town) for another 10. And it seems like there's no "Enemy" negative quality - wtf? There sure should be. Well, that in mind, I'll make one up! You figure that if having a SIN is worth 5 points, having a gang of orks who would like to brainwash you should, too. I'll do that, and take Sensitive System (T'Kor reacts bad to cyberware). Going along with that, I take Simsense Vertigo. T'Kor is at his best in the real world, with a gun in his hand. Last negative one: I'll take a Mild Allergy to Seawater. I think this ties into the thing with B'Nai - T'Kor never had this problem before he left the cult, and then afterwards, the sea just fills him with dread. (I took this as a Common allergy since I'm assuming Seattle, but if we're landlocked, I'd just change the focus of the Allergy but keep the backstory.) One more positive quality: Ambidextrous. John Woo, baby.

OK, now Connections. T'Kor is chummy with an ork gang leader named Lucky Strike Mike (named because that fucker can throw a knife from across town and hit a target). T'Kor doesn't really like Mike all that much; he's a little too human for T'Kor's taste. But they get along OK, and Mike is no fan of B'Nai and his loonies. I put his Loyalty at 3 (Acquaintance) and his rating at 4 (he's a gang leader, but he's not the only one or even the most important).

Gear: Hoo-boy. I have 8 points left. I'll dump it all into money so I can buy some cool shit. That gives me 40,000 nuyen. I flip to the appropriate section to go shopping!

I buy 3 months at Low Lifestyle (because I live with my folks and give them most of that money), first off. Now, weapons. I buy five shuriken because they're quiet and look cool. I'll buy two Fichetti Security 600 pistols (900), and one Yamaha Sakura Fubuki - you know, the Cherry Blossom Storm (2000). 2 Ares Predators (heavy pistols - 700), one Ceska Black Scorpion (550) and one AK-97 Carbine (400).

T'Kor hasn't had much call for longarms yet, but he's got a Mossberg AM-CMDT for special occasions (1000). He's got his eye on the HK XM30 with all the trimmings but he hasn't been able to afford it yet.

Now, accessories. I want the Concealable holsters for all of the pistols. That's 75 each, no problem. I love Taxi Driver, so I'll buy the Hidden Arm Slide for the two light pistols (700). I'll buy silencers for the pistols, too (1200 total). Ooh, clips. I'll dump 200 into spare clips (they're cheap) and 2000 into ammo.

I'll buy a Lined Coat with Nonconductivity (1300 total) for armor. Good 'nuff.

I need a Commlink, but as T'Kor isn't crazy about Matrix-related stuff, I'll keep it cheap. I'll get a Sony Emperor (700) and a Reraku Ichi OS (600). I definitely want a subvocal mic (50).

Contact lenses (50) with the image link (25), the smartlink (500), Vision Enhancement 3 (300), Flare Compensation (50), and Ultrasound mods (1000). I could do all that with cybereyes, but I'd also be fucking myself, since that would eat into my Essence.

Finally, I'll sink 14000 into a Mercury Comet Sedan. That leaves me 5175 nuyen left, which is good walkin' around money.

OK, last not least, I'm doing Adept powers. Rule! I have Magic 4, so I get 4 points to play with. These are fun!

I'll take Attribute Boost 3 (Agility), Improved Ability 2 (Pistols), Improved Reflexes 1, and Rapid Healing 1. That's my 4 points, then.

And that's it, in fact! Wow, spending money takes a long time.