Character Creation: Whispering Vault

Mmm, fish. I had some tilapia for dinner that was good enough for Jehovah.

OW! ROCKS!

Anyway, while such a Biblical intro might seem to prep us for Archangel, I don't think tonight's the night. Let's see. I wrote about 3000 words today on About Damn Time (I'm not done with A Little Meatier yet, but close, and About Damn Time is due first). Not the 5000 I'd hoped for, but a grocery store trip was absolutely necessary, and now I'm feeling a little too bushed to get back into it.

I've been finding my writing groove more easily of late, though. I might actually be bummed when I have to get back into redlining next week. Certain people on my flist could help me with that by making their first drafts awesome. 

Anyway, let's make a character.

The Game: Whispering Vault
The publisher: Pariah Press, originally
Degree of familiarity: Not as much as I'd like. I ran it once, and tried to get a Donnie Darko vibe going, but it took a while to make characters, and folks were tired. I really don't remember much about that game, except I just found the character sheets.
Books required: Just the Whispering Vault book

 

The characters in this game are "stalkers" that protect the World of Flesh from incursions from monsters from the World of Essence. The cool thing is that you can be from any time period, and you've got your own home Domain, an entire dimension for yourself. It doesn't have a lot of game effect, of course, but to me, making that stuff up is fun.

OK, to start off: Where and where were you born? I've got an idea for a character. He was born in Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountains in 1925. When he was just a boy, his Dad started making hooch and selling it in town (Harrisburg, maybe). He never really understood what was going on, and he didn't understand when the men in suits came one day. He heard gunshots, and he ran into the woods. They caught up with him and took him away, told him his Dad was dead, and that he would be going to the city to live.

Fast forward a few years. He fought in WWII, but managed to make it back unharmed. Now 21, he went back to the mountains, and standing by a cool stream, he felt a sense of peace that he hadn't experienced since he was a boy.

That, unfortunately, was when the monsters found him. They boiled out of the mountainside like hornets from a nest, bent on taking his blood and soul. But he was pissed - he'd already been taken from this place once. He fought to his dying breath, and that gave a group of stalkers enough time to get there and banished the creatures. He joined the Circle, and has hunted the Unseen ever since. Among the Stalkers and in legends that speak of him, he's called "the Mountain Man."

(Actually, that pretty much answers the first four questions.)

What does your Avatar look like? The book advices considering who the character really is and letting that inform the Avatar. The Mountain Man is a creature of great love for the woods, but also great rage at injustice and invasion. He's humanoid, and looks a little like his Dad. Big, nearly 8 feet, huge bushy beard (red/brown). Overalls, flannel shirt, huge-ass boots. But kindly eyes, booming voice, easy smile. The kind of guy that would get between you and the bear.

When angered, though, he is the bear. The hand get clawed and gnarled, the girth and height increase, and that beard blazes with fire. The voice becomes loud enough to shake the trees, and the flannel develops bullet holes, dripping with blood.

What is your Domain like? It's an endless, mountainous forest. The trees can be tapped for sap (syrup), and there's plenty of berries and game. Somewhere in the dense woods is the Mountain Man's cabin, and there's always a roaring fire and a pot of a hot beverage with a hell of a kick. Near that is the stream, always cool, always clear.

Avatar Attributes: I get 22 points to divide between Awareness, Insight, Presence and Willpower. Each one determines a later stat, and since I know I want Mountain Man to be good at using Servitors, I'll jack up Presence.

Awareness 5
Insight 4
Presence 8
Willpower 5

Choose Disciplines: I get 5 Discipline slots (because my Awareness is 5). If I want any of them to be Mastered, that eats two slots. Let's have a look. I already know I want Mountain Man to be scary in combat, so I'll take Frenzy and Savage, both Mastered. For my last slot, I'll take Translocate - Mountain Man has a way of getting around.

Choose Servitors: This is cool - Stalkers can summon little monsters that do various things. Chronovores eat time, for instance, slowing mortals down. I get 8 slots, because my Presence is uber, same drill as Disciplines. I'll take Ferretters and Trackers, both Mastered - Mountain Man loves his bloodhounds. I'll take Rippers, also Mastered - those things can tear the Husk off a Minion, exposing them for what they are (and then, we activate Frenzy and Savage). I'll take Nightwings, because making everything dark sounds good, and I'll take Voidoids, because summoning up an energy-eating worm is awesome.

Sculpting the Vessel: This is the body I use when I go into the World of Flesh to kill Minions. My Dexterity, Fortitude and Strength all start at 3, and I have 5 points to spread out among them. 4 is impressive by human standards, and at 6 I can kill with my bare hands (to kill with bear hands, I'd have to use Savage). I wind up with:

Dexterity 3
Fortitude 5
Strength 6

Choose Skills: I get three primary skills, and then a number of secondary skills equal to my Insight (4), and then I get 4 more points to spread around as I see fit. Let's see.

For my primaries, I'll take Attack, Banish and Stealth. For my four Secondaries, I'll take Evoke, Intimidate, Mending and Bind. After spending my bonus points, I have:

Attack +4
Banish +4
Stealth +4
Evoke +2
Intimidate +3
Mending +3
Bind +2
Defend +1
Perception +1

The Five Keys: The Keys, for the Mountain Man, take the form of five literal keys. His Dad had a set of big, iron keys when he was alive, and that stuck in Mountain Man's memory. They can be Virtues, Flaws or Memories, and it's recommended that all three be represented. So I'll take Compassion (Virtue), Protection (Virtue), Rage (Flaw), Possessiveness (Flaw) and the Death of My Father (Memory). These Keys are what bind Mountain Man to the World of Flesh and allow him to channel Essence. If someone steals them, he's screwed.

And that's it. Last step is naming, but I did that. Whispering Vault is a lot of fun, and I keep meaning to run it at a con or something. Maybe someday. 

Character Creation: In Nomine

I considered making two In Nomine characters (angel and demon), but I think I'll just do the one for now. I might come back to it later and make another one, who knows?

In Nomine is an interesting game. It's about Heaven, Hell, angels and demons, yeah, but it's pretty light, especially if you check out the art. But reading the text, there are some heavier things at work. God, in the game, remains inscrutable, while Satan is a little more accessible, but that just makes sense, because, just as in the real world, if you want to make God understandable you eventually run up against that "He got the mustard out, but let a million babies die the tsunami" kind of issue. By making Him invisible, or least unknowable, you dodge that issue.

Demon: The Fallen did the same thing, incidentally. The options for angels who wanted (reasonably) to know why they were commanded to love humanity, but never reveal themselves, were "Come unto me and basically be vaporized" or "Shut the fuck up and do as I said."

One of these days, I'll do a post about presentations of God in movies and literature, because I think it's interesting how, in movies like Oh God! and Bruce Almighty, the first thing the character witnessing God does is ask for proof (which God then provides), while in horror movies that feature God Seventh Sign, The Reaping, kinda) we don't see Him, and he tends to go psycho.

Anyway. I'm making an angel character, because I think it'll surprise some people. And I promise he won't be speedy and flippy. 

The Game: In Nomine
The publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Degree of familiarity: Some. I played it when I lived in Toledo and ran a one-shot before I moved to Atlanta
Books Required: Just the In Nomine book. I have a bunch of sourcebooks that I got on the cheap from my brother, but I just pulled out the Angelic Player's Guide. 

 
OK, one of the things that bugs me about this game, as opposed to similar ones like Demon and Nobilis is that I can't play a word-bound starting character. If I wanted to play, say, the Angel of Solace...I can't, because I start out as a weakling. If you've been following, you know how I feel about that. But, let's begin.

My first step is talk my concept over with my GM. Moving along.

I flip through the choirs, and hit on Elohim. These angels are objective. They cannot judge any one thing to better than another - that's dissonant to them. They're incarnations of balance. Since I can't start off word-bound, I think this would be fun to play. I want an angel of objectivity, one that doesn't judge God's plan because that would require interpretation. He does what's required of him, and he doesn't argue the niggly bits - the world is what it is, it is that way because God wants it that way, God wants him to do what he's doing, so here we are.

As for a superior, I'm already picturing my character as a science-y type, and Jean, Archangel of Lightning, is perfect. As an Elohite of Lightning, I can create my own little handheld computer for 1 Essence. Neat! I mark down "Elohite of Lightning" on my sheet.

Now, let's do my Forces. As an angel, I get 9 Forces, at least 1 of each type. I'll skimp on Corporeal ones, but I want lots of Intelligence and Perception. I put 1 into Corporeal Forces, 5 into Ethereal and 3 into Celestial. I'm a smart fucker. That means I have 4 points to divide between Strength and Agility, 20 to divide between Intelligence and Precision (jesus) and 12 to divide between Will and Perception.

Corporeal: Well, given that Strength influences how much health I get, I'll go for Strength 3 and Agility 1. I'm clumsy as hell, which I think my angel compensates for by being extremely slow and methodical.

Ethereal: Divided evenly, I'd still be at Human Upper Limit for both Intelligence and Precision. Screw that. I'll do 12 Intelligence, making me so smart that other angels go "wow, he's smart" and 8 Precision, which is still impressive by Celestial standards.

Celestial: I'll actually divvy this one up evenly; 6 in each. That's average for an angel.

Character Points: I get 36 of these bad boys to buy skills, resources, Songs (magic) and servants. That's not nearly enough, but whatcha gonna do? I'll take Vessel at 3 (nine points), and I'll burn 10 points on my Role: Scientist. My character's body is that of a professor and researcher at the University of Wherever This Game is Set. He took on the role on orders from Jean, and set about doing research. He's not really able to dodge the acclaim, though (I mean, remember how smart this guy is), so the role just got more and more cemented, at the expense of virtually everything else. I think that's probably why Jean is tapping him now, saying, "Uh, dude, go further the cause of lightning some more."

Obviously, I need a Skill to back that up, but Skills are cheaper than Roles. Let's see. I'll take Computer Operation 2, Engineering 3, Knowledge (Physics) 2 and Electronics 2. Those numbers aren't real high...but they're all Ethereal-related Skills, meaning that even with just raw talent, I'm impressive.

All of this means I have 8 points left. Hmm. I think I'll take a level of negative Charisma attached to this vessel; my angel's scientist persona is just too cold and calculated to get along with people. He just doesn't seem to have a personal life, or any real opinions - it's creepy. That gives me 2 points back, effectively. I've got 10, then. Let's have a look at Songs.

I definitely want the Ethereal Song of Harmony - makes people incapable of fighting. If I have to get unpleasant with people, I'd rather not hurt them. I'll take Celestial Song of Entropy. Finally, I take the Ethereal Song of Form, which allows me to turn invisible. I'll put three into each of these, and put the extra point into Harmony (which is the one I'd really not want to fail).

From here, I figure out my Body hits (12 - suck, I better not get shot), my Mind hits (60 - don't mess with me in mental combat) and my Soul hits (18, I'm about average). Now all I need are a few notes.

I see this character as kind of obsessive. He does what he's told not because he's weak willed, but because he thinks that judging one activity over another is dissonant. All else being equal, he doesn't want to make waves. He's done research into physics, harmonics, computers and various other disciplines, but he's not passionate about it (which makes him a great co-author, because he doesn't grouse when other people hog the credit). Jean is thinking about "retiring" his role sometime in the future, unless he can do something with it to prove that he should keep it. That puts my angel in the strange position of having to fight for something.

His name, among humans, is Dr. Alvin Kohler. Folks on campus call him "Dr. Colder." His celestial name is Variel (I didn't consult an angel dictionary, I just made that up). 

Character Creation: Arcana Unearthed

Strangely, it was a good writing day. I say "strangely" because I didn't even start until after 3 this afternoon (rather, I did some redlining in the morning, but no writing). And then I cranked out 5500 words of A Little Meatier, which was astonishing. And, I'm happy with the stuff I wrote. I found a groove, and stayed in it darned well, methinks. Now, we'll see what Chuck thinks.

And so now, it's only about 10PM, and I think I shall make a character before heading downstairs for a snack some video-related entertainment (either movie, Law & Order or video game, haven't decided yet). 

The Game: Arcana Unearthed
The publisher: Malhavoc Press
Degree of familiarity: Some. A person I used to know ran a short campaign a while back. I like the world, I like the character classes. I don't like the d20 system, but you knew that.
Books Required: Just the Arcana Unearthed book, I guess. I mean, I'm sure there are approximately 40,000 sourcebooks, but I don't have any of them.

 

Well, the first thing they tell you is to come up with a concept. I'm not going to get overly snarky about the d20 system, I promise, but I will say that concept doesn't much matter in d20 games. Why? Because characters are so fucking gimped at first level that it's all you can do to stay alive until you kill enough goblins or whatever to make it to second level. Anyway.

One of the things I like about AU is that the classes and races have some depth to them. You're not just a fighter, you're a mage blade. That's pretty cool, actually. The sibeccai (I played one in the game I was in) have this thing going that they used to be servants, and there's this feral past to them that they don't want to acknowledge. Neat! Much better than "elf, which we totally didn't steal from Tolkein." So as far as concept goes, I want to play a character for whom level 1 makes sense. I want to play a guy who's just starting out, who sees the big, wide world as his playground. And if I were actually going to play this guy, I'd want the group to suffer through rainy nights with no warmth, getting the shit beat out of us by thugs, and generally the hard knocks that go with becoming "an adventurer."

But without ability scores, I can't go much father than that. So.

Ability Scores: I roll 4d6 six times, and drop the lowest die. That mind, I get: 13, 12, 14, 10, 11, 13. Wow, I suck. Nothing over 14? Jesus.

Well, fuck it. Let's look ahead to race and class and see what will fuck me the least.

Usually I play humans, but half the fun of this game is the races. Looking them over, the one that best fits the concept I have in mind is Faen. I can't play a spryte at first level, so that leaves me loresong or quickling. Of the two, loresongs are more magical, and since I always play magic users, I'll do something different and play a quickling. Now for class. Akashic looks perfect - these folks go out looking for new stuff to remember. For my starry-eyed Faen, that's a great profession.

Now to arrange my abilities. Hang on.

OK, I end up with:
Strength 8 (10-2 for my race)
Dexterity 16 (14+2 for my race)
Constitution 13
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 11
Charisma 12

I jot down my base saves, base attack, and my one lonely class ability. Now, skills. I get 36 points in skills. They're 1-for-1 for class skills, and 1-for-2 otherwise. But all skills are class skills for Akashics! Rule! I can have a max of 4 ranks in any given skill (my level + 3), so here's what I come up with:

Gather Information 2
Knowledge (Dangerous Beasts) 1
Knowledge (Faen) 2
Listen 4 (my experience has been that this is one of the few skills you actually use)
Open Lock 2
Ride 1
Search 3 (this one, too)
Sense Motive 1
Sleight of Hand 2
Sneak 4
Spot 4 (aaaaand this one)
Survival 1
Swim 2
Tumble 4
Use Magic Device 1
Use Rope 2

And now, feats and talents. I get two, one ceremonial and one talent or general feat. For my ceremonial, I'll take Intuitive Sense. I like the idea that I don't lose my (high) Dex bonus even if I'm caught off guard, because I'm a little dude and I don't want to get hit. For my other feat, I'll take Natural Archer. I don't see this guy getting into a lot of melee combat, not with that Strength "bonus."

I figure my hit points. My hit die is d6, my CON bonus is one, my HP is 7. Sigh.

Equipment! I roll 4d4, get 12, multiply by 10, that's 120 gold. I only spend enough to buy a bow, some arrows, and some armor. If I were going to play this guy, I'd buy other shit, but I'm tired and that's too much bookkeeping.

I do the other calculations, and now that I've got this guy's numbers down, I can figure him out a little more. I'll name him Houn (same dipthong sound as "rose") Stargazer. He's always been a bit of a dreamer, and he trained as an Akashic because the world is just awesome (boom-de-ada) and someone should remember it all. He's got very little real-world experience, though, and he's looking to change that. He suspects that some of the he "remembers" can't really be as bad as all that. He's in for some rude awakenings...

Possible character paths: Gaining levels of Akashic and becoming more stoic and reserved as he learns more. Maybe a long dark night of the soul when he sees some real atrocity (and when he has to kill for the first time, which is usually ignored in D&D). I doubt he'd metamorphosize into a spryte, but ya never know. 

Character Creation: Vampire: The Masquerade 2nd Edition

Vampire provided me with a lot of education about social interaction, believe it or not. And it introduced me to some pretty crazy people, but honestly, not more than any other game (the crown for quality of crazy over quantity has to go to the Mage game, but you've heard that story).

Anyway, I've written roughly 3000 words today, in addition to doing the art notes for 451, and I'm now done with that, yo (except for swapping out a section that I totally forgot I hadn't swapped out, meaning that Joe has a replacement file coming in the next day or so.

But regardless:

The Game: Vampire: The Masquerade
The publisher: White Wolf Game Studio
Degree of familiarity: Lots. I ran and played an awful lot of World of Darkness over the years, and I can't tell you how many Vampire games I ran or played in. I can tell you that I've played all of the main clans at least once
Books required: I have Vampire 2nd Ed, and the Players Guide handy, so I'll just use those. 

 
Seriously, this is going to weird me out. I haven't touched these mechanics in several years.

Wow, there are a lot of quotes in this book!

OK, it's time for Step 1: Character Concept. Now, it's been a good long while, and the temptation is to make something really ground in the OWoD. Garou kinfolk, ex-Pentex employee, Technocracy stoolie, that kind of thing. But you know what? Fuck that. Let's pretend this is my first Vampire character and I want to get into the whole roses-and-poetry thing that was so appealing before all the backstory flooded my brain.

I always liked characters whose concepts were more about their progression than their profession. So my character is a temp. He works (worked) a meaningless office job, and he refused to take his work home with him. His real life was in the clubs after work. He wasn't picky about which type of club - goth, gay, fetish, dance, karaoke, whatever. He loved the loud music, the smoke and being with lots of other people. And the sex, oh, hells yes. This guy never went home alone, and he wasn't real careful about what he did.

Let's assume that he was Embraced in the early 80s. Wedding Singer jokes aside, he lived in New York in a crappy little apartment, took the subway to and from work (and anywhere else he needed to go), and had very few real friends. His friends were club regulars, and none of them really knew him. He was the life of the party. He was almost completely invisible. And sometimes, on those rare occasions that he did go home alone, he'd wonder if anyone would miss him if he died.

When the vampire showed up at his door one night, just as he was about to leave, he had the chance to find out. The vampire's named was Bo, and he was beautiful. He asked my character (who at this point needs a name: nowadays (nights) he goes by Trick) if he wanted the club life (unlife) forever. No more stupid office job. No more donuts in the morning. No more rolling out of bed at ass o'clock for some stupid meaning. Just the clubs, the noise, the smoke, and the sex, forever.

Trick, probably not understanding what was going on, and absolutely enthralled by this beautiful person, agreed. And that was the last thing he did as a living man.

It wasn't until after Trick was Embraced that he learned the truth. Vampires can't have sex; rather, they can, but they don't really enjoy it. Now, sex was blood. Trick was furious, not because he didn't like being a vampire, but because he'd been conned. The consent wasn't informed. He told Bo to leave, and he did, one red tear on his cheek.

Trick didn't know it at the time, but he was HIV positive. Bo, a vampire of some standing and age, had watched Trick for some time, and decided that people would notice if Trick died, that the world would be poorer for his loss. Trick never found that out, and he never learned the truth of the circumstances of his Embrace.

OK, I think we've got a start. I write down "Unlife of the Party" under Concept. I think that Trick is, at heart, the Bon Vivant. He wants everyone to have a good time, and he wants them to do it with him. Under Demeanor, I write "Conformist." He's a social chameleon. For clan, I think he's a pretty archetypal Toreador, and I don't think I need to break from that.

Step 2: Choosing Attributes

The spread here is 7/5/3. Obviously, Trick's a Social character, so that's primary. It's a toss up as to what's secondary, but since he lived 20-hour days before his Embrace, I'm guessing he's got some Stamina, so we'll make Physical secondary. You know where that leaves Mental.

Man, so many dots! For Social, I put two into each, and the extra one into Charisma. Trick really is the life (unlife) of the party, and you'll notice him first.

For Physical, I'll put three dots into Stamina, and one each into Strength and Dexterity. He'll have a decent soak pool.

Holy hell. I don't miss that.

And, Mental. One each, average across the board.

Step 3: Choose Abilities

13/9/5 here, and the breakdown is Talents/Skills/Knowledges. I'm thinking Talents will be his big thing, followed by Knowledges, and then Skills.

OK, Talents. Obviously, I need good ratings in Acting, Empathy and Streetwise. That burns nine of my dots for a rating of three each. I figure he can dance, so I'll do one in Athletics, and he's a decent bullshit detector, so we'll do two in Subterfuge. Last dot goes into Alertness, because it's dumb not to.

Knowledges. Working for that nameless company gave Trick some skill to fall back on. I put two into Computer, one into Finance, one into Law, two into Bureaucracy, and one into Investigation. He gets one in Medicine because he knows what to do in case of drug overdose, and one into Occult because he's rented some vampire flicks since the Embrace.

Finally, Skills. One each into Drive, Etiquette and Music, and two into Stealth.

Step 4: Advantages

I get three Disciplines, five Backgrounds, and seven Virtues. My Disciplines have to come from Presence, Auspex and Celerity. Decisions, decisions. I'll take all three in Presence, because I really want Entrancement.

Backgrounds. I only get five, but they're dirt cheap with freebies. I like how NWoD does (almost everything, but specifically) Contacts better, because here I'd have name the Contacts and I don't feel like doing that. What I'll do instead is take three dot in Herd (various club scenes), one dot in Contacts (one of the city's Primogen, who's impressed at how smoothly Trick moves through various subcultures) and one dot in Fame (there's always someone around that knows Trick).

Virtues. Trick's not great in the self-control department, so I'll put three each into Courage and Conscience, and one into Self-Control.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

My Willpower starts equal to my Courage, so presently it's 4. My Humanity starts equal to Conscience + Self-Control, or 6 in my case. My blood pool starts at...hang on...9. Awesome. Trick got lucky last night.

And now, freebie points. You know, I rallied long and hard to include freebies in NWoD, and was ultimately voted down because if you want to make characters more customizable, you can, just add XP. But I always liked this step, and when I ran OWoD at cons, I didn't spend freebies so as to give the players some wiggle room.

Anyway, for Trick, I feel he is deficient in Willpower, so I'll spend four freebies (I always house-ruled this down to 1 freebie/dot) and raise it to 6. I'll spend two to get him Herd 5; that's six spent total. I'll spend two on a dot of Intimidation so that my pool for Dread Gaze isn't totally suck, and I'll spend five on a dot of Appearance because Trick really is a cutie. That leaves me two freebies...or does it?

Remember, I have the Players Guide handy. I can take up to 7 points in Flaws if my Storyteller isn't some Achilli-esque yob who likes restricting character options (Justin and I differed on our opinions of Merits & Flaws. Also beverage).

Well, first off, I'll take the Eat Food Merit for one point. He's a clubber, and that means knocking back shots and stuff. Helps to be able to keep it down. I'll take the Infamous Sire Flaw, too, but with a bit of twist - the dude is Infamous because of what Trick says about him. He trash-talks Bo a lot, and since Bo is kind of a cipher, it's come to reflect badly on the both of them. I'll take Deep Sleeper - Trick parties hard, and he makes a lot of demands of his undead body. One more Flaw: Selective Digestions. Trick can only take blood from people at parties or clubs. There's just something about the blood aroused by social interaction; he can't stomach the blood of the homeless, of losers, or of loners.

That means I have 5 freebies left (2-1+1+1+2=5). I spend them on a third dot of Perception. Gotta be able to notice what's going on in the room, especially with all that music blaring (and especially since I don't have Auspex).

I can choose Specialties for my Charisma, Appearance and Stamina, and since I can, I shall. For Stamina, I choose Tireless. Trick can go all night (used to go all night and then all day, but that's kinda out of the question now). For Charisma, I choose Captivating. He gets your attention and holds it. And for Appearance, I choose Sexy. Trick is sex in blue jeans (or whatever), and he knows a lot of ways to seduce.

And that's it. I think that in a chronicle, Trick would be the one to open doors that other, more martial or occult characters wouldn't be able to, but I also think that learning about the circumstances of his Embrace would really rock him. He would either lose his mind or rededicate himself (losing or gaining Humanity, respectively) depending on how he found out. I think his sire telling him right before being burned to death would be fun. 

Character Creation: Run Robot Red

 OK, now a character. Hmm. Oh, I said I was doing Run Robot Red, so what the heck.

The Game: Run Robot Red
The publisher: Wicked Dead Brewing Company, originally, but it's also out of print, apparently.
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read it.
Books required: Just the book.

 
OK, so, this game really doesn't flip my switch much. I mean, it's a Wicked Dead game, and it's a little game (as opposed to House of the Blooded, which is a big game), but I'm not a robot fan. But heck, I'll try anything once.

Basically, I'm a robot designed for a function, but I have a spark of creativity and that's bad. I'm trying to get off of Widenet YT and be free. I'm thinking of both Portal and "Chiron Beta Prime" as inspirations here.

OK, reading the book, character creation is really unclear. It says that you start out by determining size and shape, but what you should really do is determine what Factory you come from. I'll go with the Variable one, because I like a little spark in my bot. I guess.

I get 12 Giga-Credits. Because my bot is from Factory V, I'm built from spare parts, meaning that they're cheaper but I'll eventually asplode. Awesome.

First, I choose my size. I'll be Small.

For my movement, I choose "Hover" because I like the cool noise it makes (beeberbeeberbeeber). That's one point.

For my Processor, I'll take the 3000. My bot's pretty smart, but he's a little behind the times (not the 4000, in other words). That eats 5 points.

For Utilities, I'll buy Cannon, Jolt, Tool and Nimble. My bot's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, I admit. That's all my points, though. Because I'm from Factory V, I have to roll on a random accessory table. I roll...2. That gets me "Hot Hands." My temp spikes when I get stressed or upset, and that can melt plastic or catch flammables aflame nearby. Neat-o.

Now for the five questions:

1) I'm designated "CJNThov3000." But my bot-buddies call me "Hothead."
2) My job has been working in the narrow tunnels of Widenet YT, patching holes, fixing all the loose screws, stuff like that. No one's sure why I have that Cannon.
3) I'm trying to escape because I know that if the bots in charge figure out that I've got a cannon that I shouldn't and I set fire to stuff without meaning to, I'm totally going to be dismantled.
4) Outside, I expect to find a world that doesn't melt or burn if I get too angry or happy. I want a stronger world. A cooler world.
5) I got into ART because I melted my way into one of their auctions by accident. Since then, I've started making little sculptures out of melted plastic. My art can be refigured if I get bored with it. It's dynamic. 

Character Creation: ARRRGH MY BRAINS

Although actually, if something was eating your brain, you probably would no longer be able to complain about it. Makes you think.

The Game: All Flesh Must Be Eaten
The publisher: Eden Studios.
Degree of familiarity: Some. I've run it a few times, played it a few times, and done a little teeny bit of writing for it (part of Worlds of the Dead). I'd like to do more, but I don't know what their production schedule is like and I'm kind of spoiled by White Wolf, believe it or not (or maybe it's just that I'm familiar with their brand of chaos). Oh, I also wrote an essay about running AFMBE.
Books required: Just the AFMBE book, though I might use others, depending on what I decide to do.

 
OK, so this is the game about playing someone when the zombie Rise happens. Easy enough, yeah? Except that the game is set up with a zillion "Deadworlds," allowing you to play that Rise with lots of different kinds of zombies, and lots of different time periods. And because I already made a character for a modern, Romero-style Rise (here), I'll pick a Deadworld randomly. Hold on.

The core book has 11 Deadworlds, so I'm going to skip the first one (it's basically the Romero situation) and roll a d10 to determine which one I get. A 3 gives me...Sacred Soil. Basically, the Rise comes from a chemical fertilizer, and so it started in the country and spread to the burbs, rather than starting in the city. Food is becoming scarce, and you spread the love by burying the body, rather than biting (in some ways, this is similar to the Deadworld I wrote). These zombies actually bury people that they kill, making more of themselves. Yeek.

I have three choices for character type: Norm, Survivor and Inspired. As much as I love playing Inspired characters, this scenario is more science-y, so I think I'll play a Norm. I want to play someone who's been watching all of this happen with grim fascination. He was one of the chemists for OrganoGrow, the company that started this whole mess. Actually, he was just a lab tech, not a real researcher, but he's still got a good handle on the science behind it. His present mission is trying to extract the chemicals from patches of soil, so that new food can be grown. Oh, and not getting eaten.

Second step: Attributes. As a Norm, I get 14 points to divvy up between six Attributes.
I know I want this guy to be brainy, but not a total weakling, either. I'll do it evenly (2 each) and put the extra two points into Intelligence.

Next up: Qualities and Drawbacks. I get 5 points in Qualities, and I can take up to 10 points in Drawbacks. I could use Drawbacks to raise Attributes, but let's see what jumps out at me. Other than zombies.

Right off, I see a Drawback I like: Adversary. My character stole files and data fro OrganoGrow, and the upper echelons want it back (rather, if anyone's going to solve the problem, they want to, so that they aren't perceived as the ones who totally fucked the world). I figure they're big, but they've lost a lot of resources since the Rise, so I'll make them a 3-point Drawback.

Because I want to survive, I'll take 2 levels of Hard to Kill.

I like the Honorable Drawback, but I'll just take the 1-point version. My character won't lie to you if he likes you, but can lie to strangers.

Photographic Memory's good; that's probably how he remembered what files to swipe. And I'll take Resistance (Fatigue); lots of all-nighters doing research and filling in data. Finally, I grab the Showoff Drawback - he can't keep quiet about his stolen data, which is why it's not a Secret.

That's all my points in Qualities, and I've got six points in Drawbacks to throw around. Hmm. I'll do the next step, Skills first, and then come back to that.

I have 30 points in Skills. Perusing the list, here's what I come up with:

Bureaucracy 3
Cheating 2
Computer Hacking 2
Computer Programming 2
Electronic Surveillance 2
Engineer (Chemical) 4
Gun (Pistol) 1
Notice 3
Research/Investigation 2
Sciences (Biology) 4
Sciences (Chemistry) 5

Looks good. I still have six Drawback points floating around, though. I'll use three to raise my Perception to 3. If I take another 2-point Drawback, I can raise my Intelligence to 5. That'd be nice. Let's check One of the Living and see if there's anything cool there. I find Weak Stomach. I think my character was a vegan before the Rise, but since food is so damned scarce, he can't afford to be fussy anymore. The sudden change in the diet, though, has left him a little shaky. That gives me the extra points I need.

Last bit, I'll do my derived Attributes. I get 32 Life Points (because of my Hard to Kill Quality). I get 23 Endurance Points. My Speed is 8, and my Essence Pool is 16, not that it'll matter much (I'm not Inspired).

Thinking about my character, I picture him as skinny, blond, mid-20s, just out of college and was looking to become a real researcher in chemistry. OrganoGrow offered him a good salary, and he took it up. In between poker games with his mates, he dug into their protected files. When the Rise happened, he chanced across the memo (it started small, in the country) and swiped copies of a bunch of their data. Now he's on the run, with some other survivors. He's always talking about how he could cure this thing, if he just had the right materials. His name is Nick Houser. 

Character Creation: I'm Batman

I'm not actually Batman, lol.

The Game: Batman Roleplaying Game
The publisher: Mayfair Games, originally, this book is long out of print. You could get it from Amazon for a few bucks, though.
Degree of familiarity: I've read it, and I made a character (Countdown, actually, who was an NPC in my Silver Age Sentinels game) a long time ago. Never played it, never ran it.
Books required: Just the little ol' core book. Doesn't even have a character sheet, and I can't find one online. 

 
Anyway. Batman is much like any other supers RPG, except it's set in Gotham amidst Batman's many foes. Batman, of course, is kind of the benchmark of "uber" (whereas if you were playing a wider DC game, it'd probably be the Dick Himself). So, lower-powered, darker, grittier, etc.

I think I want to play someone who admires Batman. He fights crime in Gotham because he's got nothing left to lose. And he doesn't know it, but most of what he's lost...is because of Batman.

My character's real name is Joseph Robert Basel. Joe worked on the docks of Gotham, brining home enough money to keep his wife and son fed. He's a big, strong guy, doesn't ask a lot of questions, and tries to do the right thing. But when the company he was working for laid him off, he got snapped up by the Joker to do some henching.

Inevitably, Batman showed up, and beat down the henchman. Joe never even had a chance. He tried to pull the Dark Knight into a headlock, and Batman flipped him and threw him into the water. Joe washed up on the filthy Gotham shore hours later, vomiting up whatever foulness was in that water. The Joker was in custody, and Joe realized that he'd been spared being seriously injured or killed by sheer luck.

When he got home, though, his wife had already packed up and left. She'd seen the fight on television (helicopter news), and seen him fighting the Batman, just for that split second. He never saw her again. He sat down on his cold kitchen floor and started to cry...and then realized he was unable to stop. The tainted water of Gotham Harbor had done something to his body. For a started, it altered his tear ducts - once open, they stay open, and he has a constant stream of tears on his cheeks. But his body also keeps itself perfectly hydrated, and this resulted in superhuman strength and endurance, which he discovered over the next few days.

Joe lost the house (no income) and was living out of his van. He was trying to drum up work when he van was destroyed, this time in a crosstown chase between Batman and the Riddler. He was now utterly destitute. Instead of turning to crime again, though, he stays on the move, living where he can, taking food from other people's kindness, because he's inspired by the obvious goodness and strength of the Batman. He doesn't know that it was the Batmobile's guns that destroyed his van (getting it out of the way to clear a path), and he doesn't know that it was evidence provided by Batman that closed his employers down, forcing the layoffs. Who knows what he might do if he found out?

Whew. OK. Let's do some numbers! This is a point-buy system, and I get 450 points to build Joe, whom criminals have taken to calling "Crybaby."

Step one is Think Carefully. I did that.

Step two is Purchase Attributes There are nine Attributes in this game, and they (like everything else) are measured in Attribute Points. So, I need to buy APs of all nine Attributes, and they have different costs. I know I want Crybaby to be super-strong, and really hard to hurt. Mentally and spiritually, though, he's a little weaker. Let's go one by one.

Dexterity: Batman is 10, average for a hero is 5-7. Since this is what I use to land a punch, I think I'll go with 8. That costs 70 Hero Points.

Strength: I picture Crybaby as being able to lift cars. With Strength 8, I can lift 8 APs of weight, which is about 6 tons. That'll do. 60 points.

Body: Another one that I want high. I think I'll put this at 8, too, just to be consistent. Also 60.

Intelligence: Doesn't need to be quite as high. Joe's not dumb, but he's not a thinker. I'll stick this at 5, the lower end of the range for heroes. 28 Hero Points.

Will: Willpower and ability to draw conclusions. Joe will be in the middle; I'll put his at 5. 24 Hero Points.

Mind: Resistance to mental stress. Again, average, or a little below. I'll put this at 4. 18 Hero Points.

Influence: Power of personality and presence. Joe cuts an imposing figure, but he's crying all the time, and that's not quite as scary as, say, Batman's cowl and death-metal voice. I'll put it at 5. 28 points.

Aura: Magical power and ability to manipulate others. Again, not Joe's strong point. 4 APs, or 18 points.

Spirit: Resolve and ability to withstand mystical stress. Joe doesn't know from "mystical," but he's got enormous strength of character (which is why he's not fucking crazy). I'll put him higher: 8 APs, or 60 points.

Whew. OK, now on to step three: Purchase Powers and Skills. Let's do Skills first.

Now, unlike other games, Batman doesn't have a lot of Skills; you'd be making Attribute checks most of the time, I think. I'll buy Weaponry at 6 APs, but I'll only take the Melee Weapons and Missile Weapons subskills, meaning I pay like I was buying 3 APs. Total cost: 15 Hero points. I'll also buy Vehicles (Land and Water) at 4 APs, but again, I'm paying less, so I pay 15 total.

Powers! I don't see Crybaby as having much in the way of powers; most of his "power" is his super strength. But I do want him to be able to jump up buildings, so I'll take the Jumping power. I pay the buy-in at 10 points, and I buy 5 APs, letting him jump 300 feet in the air. That's a total of 42 points.

Next, I buy Regeneration at 4 APs. This lets me make healing checks more often; Crybaby's body repairs itself (hydration, baby). This costs 49 points.

I want Crybaby to hard to hurt. Skin Armor looks good, but it's expensive as fuck. Ah, what the heck. It's a 50 point buy-in, and if I buy 3 APs, I add 3 to my Body for resisting damage. My Body is already impressive, so that's good enough. Total: 66.

Finally, I take System Antidote. His body flushes itself quickly, so poisons don't really hurt him. It's a cheap buy-in (5), so I take 6 APs worth. He's hard to hurt with poison, which will be handy if I run up against Joker or Scarecrow. That costs 35 points.

A quick total check: 450 exactly, and I haven't hit Advantages yet. I'm doing OK, though; that's what Drawbacks are for.

Step four is Advantages! I definitely want City Knowledge - Crybaby lives on the streets. That's 20 points. None of the other ones really do anything for me, though.

Step five: Wealth. I'm poor as fuck. I take no Wealth, which supposedly still gives me an income, but maybe I'll take a Drawback to that effect.

Step six: Drawbacks. I'm at 470 points, so I just need 20 to take me down to even again. I'm going to wind up having to go back and spend points, as crazy as that sounds. OK, I'm going to take Uncertainty. Joe is still a little shaky on this "hero" thing, and he's so strong that he might hurt someone by accident. That's worth 15 points (see, I just need 5 more, but there aren't any worth 5).

Ooh, I got on. I'll tack a Power Limitation on his Regeneration. He can't regeneration except by drinking or being immersed in water, because it works by hyper-efficient use of hydration (that's pretty comic-booky). That nets me 35 points, meaning I've got a surplus of 30.

I'll add the Thief Skill at 5 APs. That's 30 total, and that takes me to 450.

Crybaby
Dex: 8 Str: 8 Body: 8
Int: 5 Will: 5 Mind: 4
Infl: 5 Aura: 4 Spirit: 8

Powers: Jumping 5, Regeneration 4, System Antidote 6

Skills: Thief 5, Vehicles (Land and Water) 4, Weaponry (Missile and Melee) 6

Advantages: City Knowledge

Drawbacks: Uncertainty, Power Limitation (Regeneration - only works when drinking or immersed in water)

Wealth: 0

Alter Ego: Joseph Basel

Description: Crybaby doesn't make an effort to hide who he really is, but he's not really much of anyone - he's not a millionaire playboy. He's basically a street person. He wears his dock worker's clothes, an oversized blue coat and a wool cap pulled low. He wears big, black, sturdy boots and carries a duffel bag, which holds his fear remaining possessions. He has a constant stream of tears running down his weathered face.

Character Creation: The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men

COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE. 

The Game: The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men
The publisher: Wicked Dead Brewing Company, originally, but it's out of stock both there and at IPR.
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read it. I like cookies.
Books required: Just the book, and ideally an oven.

 
The basic idea here is that for the 12 days preceding Xmas, all the little gingerbread men come to life and romp about the house doing stuff. They all have secrets, too, which vary from "the Mayor wears women's underwear" to "I know how to get shellacked and become an Xmas ornament." It's like Cat in a lot of ways, except that the characters have to contend with being eaten more often.

My first step in making my little cookie-man is to choose a Spice. This determines my personality, my raison (raisin?) d'etre, if you will. I'm going to choose Logic. My cookie was made by the Father of the family, and he's a nerd. I've got crisscossing lines of icing, yo, and the angles all perfect.

Next, I choose my Zen Cookie (similar to Reputation in Cat). My cookie, logical little fellow that he is, will be an "Ingredient Master." He knows what all the kitchen science is about. Watches Food Network, which is his Discovery Channel.

Now, I can add candies to my frosting. I can take a maximum of 12, which seems like it'd make a busy cookie, but hey. Checking them out, I pick:

• A blue M&M (becomes water when thrown)
• A green M&M (which should give me points with the lady cookies, but instead makes me invisible)
• An orange M&M (makes gas that makes people dreamy)
• A peanut (makes super-adhesive)
• A red M&M (makes a loud, rattling explosion)
• A yellow M&M (glows for 10 minutes)
• A starburst mint (lets me float on water)

And then I'll go back and take one more of each of those M&Ms. Those are all handy, and that gives me a kind of theme.

And, finally, my Secret. My Secret is that I know that the Father of the family is secretly a Child (that is, he believes in Santa). I plan to use that to get myself shellacked, so I get to be on the tree next year. And then, all those imperfectly-shaped ornaments will fall, and only I and the beautiful, perfect spheres will remain.

Oh, my cookie loves them balls.

What?

Character Creation: Vampire: The Requiem 1st Edition

I'm using the Daeva symbol, though I might not make a Daeva.

Anyway, without further adOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

The Game: Vampire: The Requiem
The publisher: White Wolf Game Studio
Degree of familiarity: Lots. Certainly more than some assholes think. I'd really like to run a chronicle, but the one I had planned out kinda fell through. Sigh. Anyway, wrote for the core book (the Ordo Dracul, back when they were called the Brujir) and wrote the demo, and for a bunch of the sourcebooks. Currently developing two of them, in fact.
Books required: The Vampire book and the World of Darkness Rulebook. Plus whatever else I grab.

One of the things that sometimes annoys me about Requiem is that the clan names didn't change (some of them), and that the brass at WW felt the need to shove in OWoD clans as bloodlines, kind of at the last minute. I could've lived my whole life without seeing the Malkavians again, no matter which vowels you change (and no, I haven't read Ventrue yet, because no one has offered me a trade).

That's especially true because the clans themselves did change. Look at Nosferatu. They were the smelly, skulky vampires, living dwelling in sewers, and now they're the real monsters, the ones that use fear as a weapon. So why does Scratch still look OWoD?

Well, I know the answer, but it'll sound snarky, so I won't bother. Anyway, Requiem is a great game, it just should've been more different from Masquerade.

Enough rambling from me. Time to make a character.

Step One: Concept. I'd like to make a character who's very much a product of the era he's from (some of the people reading this might know what that's on my mind), but I don't want to make an old character. My character was Embraced on July 20, 1969. He got evicted that day, and he stood there with his duffel holding everything he owned in the world, watching the moonwalk on a store television, and seething with hate for a society that was glorifying that bullshit while people like him got shit on.

He wasn't evicted because of anything he could have avoided; he lost his job, tried to make his rent, couldn't, and wound up behind. Fine print in the lease fucked him. He lost most of his possessions. He got thrown in jail that night for being drunk and disorderly, and wound up sitting next to a distinguished gentleman in the drunk tank. The man asked him if he came here often. "This isn't a bar, man," he replied.

"Au contraire," said the gent, "this is where I come to drink." And then everything gets fuzzy.

Now, on any other night, the gent would have just drained the guy a little and let him sleep it off, and then forced the guard to let him out. But something went wrong that night. The usual guard was sick, and the guard on duty was resistant to the vampire's commands. The Gent (the only name for his sire that my character ever knew) Embraced his victim in order to break out before sunrise. He needed the help of another vampire to break the hinges on the door.

That's a good start. Oh, I need a name. Just as my character's sire is only known as "the Gent," my character is known as "Salt." You spill Salt, you get bad luck, and his luck's been nothing but bad for years. His real name is Harold Torn. He's a Nosferatu, but I don't have a good sense of covenant yet.

Step Two: Select Attributes. Okey-doke. I think this guy did manual labor of some kind when he was laid off, and he seems more Physical than anything else. I'll put Mental secondary; he's bitter, not dumb. That leaves Social last.

Physical: Two into Strength, two in Stamina, one into Dexterity. No sweat.

Mental: I'll put one into each, and then the extra into Resolve. I see this guy as keeping his mind...

Social: ...but not his mouth. Two into Presence, one into Manipulation, leaving Composure at one sucky little dot.

Step Three: Select Skills. OK, let's mix it up a little. Mental is last; he doesn't retain information well. Social is first. Since his Embrace, he's become more socially adept, in certain areas. Physical is in the middle; he'll only have a couple of Skills, but they'll be high-rated.

Social: Four into Streetwise right off the bat. Being homeless will do that. Three into Intimidation; he takes this "Nosferatu" thing seriously. One each into Animal Ken, Persuasion, Socialize, Subterfuge.

Physical: Three Athletics, Three Brawl, one Larceny. Hmm. No Stealth, but that's OK. He's not that kind of vampire.

Mental: One each into Academics (he spends time in libraries in winter), Crafts (that uber-Skill!), Investigation (he knows how to observe a room) and Occult (he's a vampire).

Step Four: Select Skill Specialties. Three things that come to mind with this character. He's Intense. That's a good Intimidation Specialty. He's bitter over society's ills, especially how it wastes time on vapid bullshit while other people (read: he) are left to starve. How does that translate into a Specialty? How about an Academics Specialty in Philosophy? Finally, he's unlucky, at least he thinks he is. I'll specialize Occult in Omens.

Step Five: Apply Vampire Template. I've already decided on clan, and so I start thinking about covenant some. Immediately, I disregard Invictus (doesn't work at all for him) and Lancea Sanctum (I don't want to play one). As much as I love fun blood magic, Carthians just makes so much sense. OK, Salt's a member of the Carthian Movement, but probably not a terribly important one.

I get a free dot of either Strength or Composure. Tempting as it is to have Strength 4, I figure that his Embrace helped him hold his tongue a little - being a predator means being patient. Composure it is!

Disciplines are easy. I put two dots into Vigor (probably developed immediately upon his Embrace) and one into Obfuscate (for carrying his duffel into places he shouldn't).

Blood Potency starts at one. I might raise it with Merit points, though, especially since certain Merits are so cheap for Carthians.

Step Six: Select Merits. Hmm. No Haven (still homeless, or at least no permanent crash space), I know that. I'll put one dot into Covenant Status, at least. Honestly, nothing else occurs to me, and since he was Embraced in 1969, it's been almost 40 years that's been up. That's enough time for his blood to thicken without diablerie, so I'll just drop the other six points into raising his Blood Potency to 3. Officially, that means he can still only spend 1 Vitae per turn; I've house ruled that in my games, BTW.

Step Seven: Determine Advantages. Willpower is 5, Health is 8, Defense is 2, Speed is 10, Size is 5, Initiative is 4. Humanity starts at 7, but I'll drop it to 5 and take the 10 XP. I'd like to buy cheap Merits.

NOTE: Now, I know it says in the book that the cost breaks on Merits for covenant Status don't apply to Merits purchased during character creation. However, I interpret that as "using your seven Merit dots," not "using XP you get for Humanity." The XP you get for Humanity is supposed to represent things you've acquired at a cost to your soul, but since becoming a vampire, and there's no reason for it not to benefit from the covenant bonus. Plus, as an ST, I'd interpret it that way, so there.

Anyway, of my 10, I'll spend 3 to buy Herd two (normally would cost 6). Salt killed a slumming teen one night, and other Carthians gave him a dressing down and showed him how to feed from folks without killing. He's gotten good at it. I'll spend two to buy Contacts 1 (Homeless) and Allies 1 (Strippers). He's a fixture in strip clubs of his city, and he's got a kind of reputation as the guy to call if a customer stalks, threatens, harasses or (Heaven help you) harms one of the girls. That leaves me five points, which I'll spend on a dot of Nightmare.

Virtue and Vice. Definitely Fortitude. As much as he complains about his luck, he endures, and he's good at staying alive undead. Vice is trickier; I'd say Envy, but I see him as more immediately dangerous than that. Let's go with Wrath.

Step Eight: Spark of Unlife. For almost 40 years, Salt has stalked the city, never choosing a home, never really committing to anything. He spends the cold winter nights in the city's library, and the shorter summer nights underground in the subway systems (if the city has 'em). He's never chosen to join a coterie...until now. He got cozy with a stripper named Misha, who read his Tarot cards one morning after work, and in those cards, she saw the truth about him - yes, he was dealt a really raw deal...40 years ago. Yes, he's got legitimate reasons to be mad at the establishment. But he's not doing anything about it. He's just wallowing in bitterness.

This infuriated Salt, and he bit her, draining her dry (losing his second dot of Humanity, I think). He disposed of the body in the river as the sun was rising, and walking away, he grudgingly admitted that she was right. He could be doing more. He resolved to join up with some other vampires and see what he could do.

He swears he could feel Misha's eyes on him as he walked away from that river. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Oh, one more thing: Rolling a die, I get 9. Awesome. I'm not starting off hungry.

Character Creation: Dread

The Game: Dread
The publisher: The Impossible Dream
Degree of familiarity: Lots. Played it at Origins a few years back, had a moment of total OMG AWESOME, got a free copy because I gave them a blurb, gave that copy away, bought another, have run it several times. Love this game.
Books required: Now, here it gets tricky. Dread characters are made by filling out a questionnaire...and that's it. It's numberless, and every game has its own questionnaires. That means that I debated included it at all, since there's strictly speaking no way to just "make a Dread character." But, like I said, I love the game, so I think what I'll do is this...

On p. 33 of the Dread book, we find a sample questionnaire for a risen dead game. I'm going to make my character using those questions. Note that I'm going to answer these in third person, although the questions are addressed in first person; that's just my preference.

1) Before the apocalypse, what job did you hold at a dot-com company and what did you enjoy most about it?

My character was a code monkey. Fresh out of college, he got hired on to do coding, and over the next year, really let himself go. He'd come into work, code for 8 hours, go home, order pizza or cook bacon, and crash out watching movies or playing Xbox. He was good at his job, and now his skills don't mean a thing. At the time, though, he enjoyed being able to leave his work at work, to completely separate his "work time" from his "me time." As a student, he couldn't do that because of homework, projects, etc.

2) How do you think the others in the group treat you differently because you're the youngest in the group, other than the child?

Some of this would depend on what the other players say, but let's wing it. I think this guy is about 22, out of college for about a year. As such, he's young, but his real issue is lack of experience rather than lack of years. He hasn't really done all that much in his life, but he's educated, computer-savvy and fairly well-read, so he thinks that equates wisdom. The other folks in the group treat him differently because he's a twenty-something know-it-all (with apologies to any twenty-something know-it-alls reading this), not just because he's young. And they treat him differently by being short with him and ordering him around a bit more. In normal society, they'd probably be more patient and take a "someday you'll know" approach, but with the undead all around, that's not feasible.

3) What drug are you now addicted to and why do you keep it a secret?

Speed. On the day of the Rise, he found a stash of white pills in a (dead) coworker's desk. He's started popping them every other day or so, as it helps with the insomnia (insofar as it makes him not want to sleep). He keeps it secret because he knows that he'd have to share the pills if he let on that he had them.

4) Is the emotional impact of the apocalypse lightened by the fact that you are now more physically fit than you ever have been, or do you feel guilty for taking pleasure in that fact?

He's barely noticed. He never really noticed that he'd gotten plump and out of shape; he was still doing that Homer Simpson "What, I have haven't changed since high school!" thing. A fun moment in the game would be seeing a photo of himself before the rise and realizing how much weight he's lost - and how gaunt and haunted he looks now.

5) When you have trouble sleeping, what pleasant memory do you focus on?

The weekend after college graduation, he went with his then-girlfriend and another couple and went up to a cabin on the lake. They watched the sun set of the lake, and watched fish jumping and the sun on the water, and then drank beer and played euchre into the night. He can't explain it, but that was the best he'd felt in years, and he's never felt that way since. All three of those people are now dead.

6) Of all the family members and friends you lost to the dead in the first few days of the apocalypse, whom do you miss the most and why?

It's funny, but the lady across the hall from him in his apartment building is the one who's death truly troubles him. She was a single mom, but she always had time to stop and chat with him. He knew her kids' names and what grades they are (were?) in, and she'd give him leftovers when she cooked. She invited him over for dinner occasionally, but he always made excuses because he didn't want to leave his routine. He knows that she's dead (he saw her on the news shambling around outside the building on the day of the Rise), but isn't sure if her kids made it or not.

7) Do you let the others know about the thrill you get from the adrenaline rush that accompanies a battle with the dead, and how does this rush affect the fight?

He's pretty obvious about it. He's got no technique, but he's become strong since the Rise, and he gets off on swinging a bat at zombie heads. He's almost gotten killed more than a few times, and he accidentally cracked on of the others on the knee with his bat during a fight because he wasn't watching what he was doing. Now no one gets near him, which is probably going to get him killed.

8) You depend on the others for survival because of your lack of what vital ability?

He has very little in the way of basic lateral thinking skills, except where computers are concerned. He has no idea how electronics, machinery, cars, plumbing or other household items work, and he doesn't have an engineer's mentality (he coded mostly by rote). He's decent with language, but that's of little use now. He's still not sure how to clean a shotgun, even though he's been shown multiple times.

9) Whom do you feel closest to in the group, and whom do you feel doesn't like you?

I'm going to skip this one, because it would depend on other people's answers, and of course there aren't any.

10) What's in your pockets?

An Altoids box full of speed, a set of keys (apartment, car, office), some money (worthless, of course). That's it. He lost his wallet during an early escape from zombies, and it had all his pictures and so forth. Well, except the ones online...which of course, he can't get to anymore.

11) What part of yourself do you find most embarrassing?

He still whines he gets upset, hungry or scared. He can hear it, but he can't seem to do anything about it.

12) What do you think you are better at than you really are?

Fighting. He's gotten lucky so far, but mostly he just flails. He's watched too many movies and thinks of fighting in that context, but on the few occasions he's been in a fight without others present, he always ends up running after being overwhelmed. Like I said, lucky so far.

13) What is your name?

Eric Maholic.

Character Creation: Prawn

Man, I have not had this much trouble with a piece of fiction for WW in a long time. I just can't seem to get my brain to do what I want it to. So, I shall make a Prawn character in order to cleanse my mental palate.

The Game: Prawn
The publisher: Interactivities Ink, Ltd 
Degree of familiarity: None. A friend bought me a copy of the rules at Origins some years back, and I put it my shelf, planning to run it in my own pool. But then we got rid of the pool. Can't imagine when I'll get a chance to play it, but if I ever do...
Books required: Just the Prawn book.

OK, first up: Prawn is a LARP, but unlike most LARPs where you walk around with your arms crossed, speak in clipped, measured, faux-English, put unnecyssary y's yn wyrds, and basically try to get laid, this one's played in a pool. And you're a fish. Or some other kind of seafood.

They give you a bunch of characters for the game, but that's no fun. Character creation is a really brief affair (presumably to keep you from getting cold).

First, I choose my type of fish. The only rule is that I have to be seafood. Since I like sushi so much, I shall be a Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). That'll allow me to speak in a faux-Japanese accent in the pool, which would be amusing. (ETA: Please note that I made this character in 2008. I wouldn't do that shit now.) It would also allow me to end the game chopped up, barbecued and served with rice and soy sauce, which would be a first.

Next, I write up my history and background. Um, OK. My character was caught as a young eel (eel-ling?) and given to a small American boy as a pet. That boy named him "Karate", because little kids give their pets random names like that. So, Karate the Eel lived happily until he outgrew the tank the little boy kept him in, and was given away to the Tank. And here we are!

Next, hit points. I have seven hit points, unless I wish to buy more with a Fish Schtick.

No, really. That's the next step. Fish Schticks. I get either three from column A, one from B and one from A, two from B, or one from C and one from A. Hang on a sec.

OK, since I am mysterious and Asian and everything (look, all stereotypes are offensive, and I happen to find the "magical Asian/black/non-white dude" one particularly annoying, so I'd like to lampoon it a little), I'll take Clever Fish from Column A. That lets me ask another fish a yes/no question that he must answer truthfully, such as "Did you kill Da Squid?" I can only do that once.

I'll also take Slippery from Column C, since I'm a goddamned eel. I can escape the Hands once, allowing me to avoid being sushi for a little while longer.

And that's it! I'm not making a character sheet up, and one doesn't exist, so I'm off the hook there.

Ha-ha. See what I did there?

I will, though, give you a character picture. Here.

Character Creation: Cat

 OK, I lied again. I thought I'd have time to do a Vampire character before leaving for my folks', but, ironically, I've been developing a Vampire book all day and I didn't get to it. But lest you think I'm not serious about this "character a day" thing, I give you: Cat.

The Game: Cat
The publisher: Wicked Dead Brewing Company
Degree of familiarity: A good deal. I've run it a couple of times, and played in Jae's game at Origins a couple years back.
Books required: Just the Cat book or pdf. 

 

Right, so the basic idea here is that cats protect people from invisible monsters called "Boggins," and that they can enter our dreams to protect us. Also, dogs came up second in the contest to protect humanity, so while some dogs are OK with that, some are still bitter.

Basically, people have two approaches to this game. They make their own pet cats, or they find an archetypal cat and make that. Last time I played, I played Happycat of I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? fame, and spoke LOLcat the whole time, which was a lot more fun than I'd normally admit.

This time, though, I'll play the kitten I owned as a boy, all growed up. His name was Marshmallow, because he was all white and I was, like, 6.

Step One: The Traits. Cats have six traits. I get to prioritize one as Best, three as Strong, and the rest as Good. Let's go to work!

I want Marshmallow to be a clever cat, so I give him Face as Best. That means he gets a bonus of 5. I also want him to be pretty, so I assign Strong to Coat. Marshmallow is a runaway, so I'll put my other Strongs into Legs (for the actual running) and Tail (for magical escapes). That leaves Fangs and Claws at Good; he can fight, but he's not great at it.

Step Two: Names. Cats, as Mr. Eliot tells us, have three names. The first is the given name, the one that people use - I've established already that it's "Marshmallow" in this case. The second name is the cat name, that other felines use. Marshmallow is called "Fiend" by other cats. He's called that because he usually stays with a family long enough to solve a particularly nasty Boggin problem, and then he buggers off, often leaving a child heartbroken.

Hey, it's not his job to make 'em happy, just to kill the Boggins. You want to be happy? Get a dog. Want to be safe? Call a cat.

Finally, he has a secret name, but since Marshmallow never told me, I can't tell you.

Step Three: Reputation. Cats have titles, and these can give me bonuses in certain situations. I get seven points of Reputations, and no one Rep can start higher than three.

Well, the biggest Rep for Marshmallow is "Save 'em and Leave 'em." He's known for getting the job done quickly and then vamoosing, so he gets bonus dice when that would help him (say, convincing another cat to let him sleep over, since he won't be staying long).

Since he's a white cat and he stays so pearly, I put 2 points into "Never Dirty." And finally, since he's so businesslike about finding and killing Boggins, he gets a "Never Sleeps" Rep at 2.

What's interesting here is that he's got this rep for killing Boggins, but he's not that hot in a fight. How's he do it? (Hint: His name is Fiend. He can talk Boggins into anything, even getting into the dryer.)

Step Four: Lives. I have 9 lives, until something bad happens.

 

 

And that's it! Tomorrow I'll do Dread and Wednesday I'll do Prawn, since those are both basically sheet-less. Then Thursday I'll do Vampire. Friday I don't know that I'll be in any shape to do a character, but if I am, I will. 

Character Creation: Paranoia

OK, I know that yesterday I said I'd do Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men, but I'm not doing that today. Here's why (and it's nothing to do with not actually having cookies around, though that crossed my mind).

I don't have a printable character sheet for this game, and I don't have easy access to a free photocopier. As such, I'm going to wait until Tuesday-ish to do a character for this game, because then I'll be at my mother's house anyway and I won't have access to a printer or a scanner (for the record, I'll be doing Dread on Wednesday for the same reason).

That means today, I want to do a character for something that requires a sheet, that I have access to the sheet, and that isn't going to take me too long, as I'm tired. Hmm.

OK, I got it.

The Game: Paranoia
The publisher: The version I have is the one from West End Games, though Mongoose currently has the license.
Degree of familiarity: Some. I read this book back in high school, I've run it once or twice, played the Midnight Paranoia LARP at MarCon and played the Mongoose version once at Origins. It's pretty darned awesome, all around.
Books required: Just the Paranoia book. Surely you don't think the Computer would require you to spend your credits on unnecessary supplements, citizen?

 
Man, my copy's dinged up. It's all hole-punched and in a binder, that's how old and decrepit it is. I should buy the new version at some point, but I keep hearing that the new version doesn't have the light-hearted fun approach that the original did. Anyone know?

Anyhow, I get to design a clone living in Alpha Complex. A troubleshooter, you see, who informed on one of his fellow Infrareds and got promoted to Red. Which means he now gets to find trouble...and shoot it (I love that line).

This being Paranoia, I could get terminated if I don't proceed in the correct order, so let's start with Step One: Take a pencil, the die and a blank character sheet...

OK, well, I have a sheet, a pen and my online random number generator. Please don't shoot me.

Step Two: Choose a name. OK, this consists of a first name, the letter "R" (for my rank) and the three letters designating my home sector, and then my clone number (presently 1). So my character's name is Tyrannis-R-OUS-1. (What? You can call him "Ty" for short.)

Step Three: Attributes. I roll a d20 once for each attribute (of which there are nine) and then reroll the two lowest (which is Step Four). I have to assign them in order, apparently, so that's what I'll do.

Strength 15
Endurance 11
Agility 16
Dexterity 9
Moxie 2
Chutzpah 18
Mechanical Apt 19
Power 1

Well. Um. I think I'll be rerolling Moxie and Power, thanks kindly. 10 and 19, respectively. Much better.

Step Five: Carrying Capacity and other derived stats: My carrying capacity is 40, my damage bonus is 1, my macho bonus is nil. My skill bases are 4 (Agility), 2 (Dexterity and Moxie) and 5 (Chutzpah and Mechanical Apt).

Step Six: Service Group. A dude like me should really be in the Army. So, I roll a die and get...17. Research and Design. Awesome. (Actually, with Mechanical Apt that high, this makes sense, too. Not that it'll make a lick of difference in play, because I'm doomed anyway.)

Step Seven: Determine Mutant Power. I am an accursed, traitorous mutant. I roll 6, which gives me Energy Field. Rule.

Step Eight: Determine Secret Society. I am an accursed, mutantous traitor. I roll 7, which means I'm a member of First Church of Christ, Computer Programmer. BALLS.

I mean, praise the Jesus-Computer!

Step Nine: Choose Skills. Holy shit, I get to choose something? Rock! I get 30 points for skills. I get free points in all skills equal to the skill bases, and as a member of R&D, I can get special training in Jackobot Operation and Maintenance, Biosciences, Data Analysis, Data Search, Electronic Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. That means those skills can go as high as 14, while the others are locked at 12, max. Let's do it!

OK, first I'll bump up Biosciences to 10, because it's billed as "building monstrosities in Alpha Complex's labs", and that sounds like fun. That eats 8 points. I accidentally wrote '10' under Biochemical Therapy, and because I suspect I'd get laser'd if the Computer found out that was an error, I'll go ahead and spend the 8 points there, too.

I'm better with hand weapons than distance, so I'll put 5 points each into Neurowhip and Laser Weapons, for a total of 9 and 7, respectively. I'll throw my last four points into Data Search. That'll be a fun way to die when I fuck up those rolls.

Step Ten: Select and Record Equipment. I begin with a Red laser pistol and Red reflex armor. I also have 100 credits to spend on Red-level gear. OK. I'll buy a Gas Mask (50 credits), 10 meters of Plasticord (10 credits), a Smoke Alarm (25) a Flashlight (10) and a picture of Teela-O-MLY with a mirror on the reverse side.

And that's it. I'm now ready to be sent to my death, and I relish the opportunity to do so, O Great Computer!