Character Creation: Little Fears

Well, it's earlier than I usually start working on this, but I'm kinda fried from writing Mage: Eww! Put it Back! all day, and I'd like to take my child to the playground.

He is, however, napping at present, and as any dad out there knows, you don't disturb the nap.

That in mind, I'll do today's chargen, and then go to the park. Which is appropriate, because today's game is:

The Game: Little Fears
The publisher: Key 20, originally, but their site is gone
Degree of familiarity: Some. I read it and ran a one-shot back in Atlanta, but I haven't played it or done anything with it since. In fact, I've studiously avoided reading it for about a year now because of my work on World of Darkness: Innocents.
Books required: Just the Little Fears book.

 
Little Fears is focused on children battling creatures from Closetland, and uses a questionnaire style character creation system. I really like the character sheet in the book, but I can't find it online and the one I got off RPGSheets isn't as cool. C'est la vie.

Anyway, as I work with kids, I'm going to make a character that would attend the school where I treat. I'll try and refrain from editorializing about the state of education in this country.

The first section asks me (my character) to talk about himself. OK, then.

What's your name?

My character's name is Luis Collazo (ko-YAH-zo, for those who don't speak Spanish). He's Puerto Rican, moved here when he was just a baby and grew up with his parents and siblings.

What do your friends call you?

They just call him "Luis." Sometimes kids call him "Tarto" because he stutters (tartamudez is Spanish for stuttering), but not his friends. Not often, anyway.

How old are you?

Fourth grade, so we'll say he's 10.

Are you a boy or a girl?

Boy. Duh.

How tall are you? How much do you weigh

Luis is tall for his age; call it 4'10''. He's skinny, though - 65lbs.

What color hair/eyes do you have?

There's a chart for this, strangely. Given his ethnicity, though, it makes sense for Luis to have brown eyes and dark brown/black hair.

Who are your friends?

This would be where other PCs would be listed, perhaps, but since I'm doing this solo, I'll say that Luis hangs out with Juan (his age) and Dylan (a year younger). Sometimes they'll skip school and play video games at Dylan's house, since his parents are never there.

Who is your best friend?

Luis like Juan better, partially because they can talk to each other in Spanish, and partially because Dylan acts like a baby sometimes.

Which adult can you always talk to?

The school nurse is a nice lady named Elaine. She can tell when Luis is just fooling around and when he's really upset, and while Luis gets mad when she sends him back to class when he's fooling around, secretly he's glad she can tell the difference.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Why?

Luis wants to go into the Army like his older brother. His brother looks really cool in his uniform, and he's got all this great stories about being overseas and shooting guns and stuff.

Who is your favorite person?

His brother. He just wishes he got to see him more. His brother's name is Esteban.

What is the most special thing you own? Why is it special?

Luis hangs onto a photo of himself and his brother. He had it laminated at school and keeps it in his pocket.

What is your biggest fear?

Luis is afraid that his stutter is never going to go away and he'll never be able to talk to people without sounding "retarded." He's also afraid that his brother's going to get shot, but that fear is vague - he knows it's possible, but hasn't really connected to the fact that his brother is at war.

What do you do do when you get scared?

Luis clutches his brother's picture and prays the Hail Mary when he gets really scared.

What do you do to protect yourself from monsters?

Luis' brother left a box of bullets in the house, and Luis stole a few. He doesn't have a gun, but he clutches the bullets tight. He might throw them if he got scared enough.

What is your homelife like?

Luis lives with his parents, two sisters and his younger brother. There's always someone at the house - friends, cousins, aunts, uncles - all hours of the night. Luis shares a room with his younger brother (Miguel, age 7) and they get along, but they never really bonded like Luis did with Esteban. His parents treat him nicely - they even bought him an Xbox 360 for Christmas!

Stats

OK, now I get to determine my five Stats. I get six Playaround Points (PaPs) to buy Stats and Qualities with, so let's start out with Stats. They all start at 2, and I can lower them to gain extra PaPs.

Smarts: 1
Muscle: 2
Hands: 4
Feet: 5
Spirit: 3

After that, I have 1 point left. My Soul starts at 10, my Fear at 0 and my Innocence at 4 (because Luis is 10 years old). I don't see a need to change any of that. Now for Qualities.

These cost 1 point each, but negative Qualities can give me points. I'll start by picking out some positive ones and balance it out later.

Things I Like About Me:

I'm Athletic
I'm Courageous
I'm Fleet of Foot
I have an Honest Face
I'm Multilingual

I didn't take "I have an older friend" because Esteban's in Iraq. OK, that means I need to take four negative Qualities to balance this out.

Things I don't like about me:

I'm the Class Clown (Luis doesn't talk out in class, but he does make trouble)
I'm Curious
I'm on Medication (ADHD. He needs it)
I have a Speech Impediment (moderate to severe dysfluency; partial word repetitions, syllable repetitions, secondary characteristics including...what? This is what I do!).

And that's everything for character creation, other than stuff. Apart from the photo of his brother, Luis carries a bullet (but not in his pockets at school - that's against the rules! OK, so not usually at school). He wears a pair of sneakers that costs entirely too much, but his shirt and pants are threadbare hand-me-downs. He brags about his Xbox, but of course doesn't carry it around.

And I think that's it. I'll be honest - I know this kid, and lots more like him. And I really wish I could make parenting classes mandatory. Anyway, if someone were to run Little Fears set in an urban environment, I'd happily play Luis. 

OK, good to go. I'm not going to have much time tomorrow, so if I do a character, it'll be for a really short system. Making really short characters. Short-lived characters.

Say it with me, people.

ALL HAIL KING TORG!