Character Creation: World of Darkness: Innocents

Well, since I suddenly find myself with a lot more time today (Changeling quite suddenly canceled), I suppose I'll do my character for the day. Today's character comes on the same day as a review on RPG.net for World of Darkness: Innocents.

Yep. Sure is a review, all right.

The Game: World of Darkness: Innocents
The publisher: White Wolf Game Studio
Degree of familiarity: Very yes. I developed it, and I've run it a couple of times. Never anything longer than a one-shot, sadly.
Books required: Just the Innocents book. It's standalone, and adapts the WoD rules for playing kids.

I'll skip the inevitable comparison to Little Fears, because it's been done already. Not only that, but thematically, they're different games. What I will do is say that Innocents is designed for characters growing up in the World of Darkness, and playing through how they learn to look away - or refuse to do so.

With that in mind:

Step One: Concept

I'll go 180 degrees from Luis and make a kid more reminiscent of my own experiences growing up. That's not "Matt as a child," that's "someone with a childhood something like Matt's." Just to be clear. 

I'll make my character a third-grader, so that'd be about 9 years old. I think he's an only child, and he's got a large assortment of imaginary friends. He's got whole pantheons of superheroes that he talks to, some from real sources (you know, comics et al), and some he's made up. He's got "future gamer" written all over him. But, he has a hard time communicating with other kids his age. He just never got the knack for it.

I think he's a pretty healthy kid, never been hospitalized, no asthma. He's got his mother's blond hair and his father's weird greenish eyes, and he's got this habit of cocking his head to the side when he's confused or suspicious. He can't lie for shit.

He spends most of his time in the woods behind his folks' house. His parents got him one of those mini-cell phones that only dials home and 911, and they know he's not dumb enough to go off with strangers, so he's on a longer leash than some kids. His parents may come to regret that.

I like doing names up front, so his name is Jacob Timothy Behrent. His family and friends call him JT. He hates that (he prefers Jacob), but has quit correcting them.

Step Two: Select Attributes

Just like adults, we get 5/4/3 here. I think JT's primarily a thinker, so we'll go Mental, Physical, Social.

Mental: Primarily a thinker, yep. That makes Intelligence high. I wonder if I should put it to 4, so that I could take Mental Prodigy later? I think perhaps I will. Intelligence gets three dots, Wits and Resolve get one each.

Physical: At the risk of repeating myself, he's a dexterous kid. Dexterity gets two, the others get one.

Social: He's a little weird, but not enough to give him a single dot anywhere. Even across the board.

Step Three: Select Skills and Specialties

According to the chart on p. 47 of Innocents, I get 7/4/3 in Skills and one Specialty. I already know I want Mental to be primary, and I want this kid to be kinda active, so I think we'll follow the same pattern as for Attributes.

Mental Skills: OK, right off the bat I want to put four dots into Crafts. This kid is an artist (comic books, naturally), and a damned good one. His parents haven't really recognized it yet (they think comics are kid stuff, and there's no future in art, anyway), but his tree house in the woods is papered with these drawings. That's four out of my seven dots. I'll put the other three into Computer (NERD), Occult (NERD) and Study (NERD). He does his homework, often on the computer, and he reads crazy stuff about ghosts and vampires and so on.

Physical Skills: I'll put two in Athletics; JT's good at sports, but he'd rather climb trees. The other two go into Stealth and Survival, both the result of creeping through the woods.

Social Skills: Only three points here. I'll put one dot into Animal Ken (again, time in the woods), one into Empathy (he's not socially clueless) and one into Expression (good storyteller).

Now, for my one Specialty, I consider putting it into Crafts so that I can draw comics especially well, but honestly, my dice pool there is already ridiculous. I think I want my Specialty to play into his outdoorsy nature, so I'll put it in Athletics, as "Woods." He gets his bonus when climbing trees, running through the brush, that kind of thing.

Step Four: Select Merits

I get seven dots to put into Merits. One of them is already spoken for; I need Mental Prodigy to allow my high Crafts rating. I'll take Deep Pockets; JT's parents are well-off, and they sometimes substitute money for time. For my last four dots, I'll take Guardian Angel. I like the idea that one of the things that JT talks to is real, and it really loves him. What is it? Might be a changeling that disappears into the Hedge when someone comes looking. Might be a spirit (like an Imaginary). I'd let the ST figure out the specifics, but his "angel" is always half in shadow, humanoid, and speaks with a deep, soothing voice, rather like his Dad's. He doesn't know it's real enough to affect the world, and I imagine that'd be a fun scene to play.

Step Five: Advantages

Size is 4, Defense is 2, Health is 6, Speed is 9, Initiative is 5, Willpower is 4, Morality starts at 7 and I don't feel like lowering it.

Asset and Fault! Woo! Well, JT's Asset is easy: He's Creative. Maybe a little too much so; he finds complex, weird explanations for stuff that he just doesn't know about (which is why he doesn't have Trivia Hound; he'd rather make up his own answers).

As for Fault, none of the ones listed leap out at me. Dishonest, maybe, but I think I'd rather make one up for JT. It needs to be a personality trait, rather than a physical one. What's something that's a problem for JT? He's a bit of an escapist, but he's not hyper and he's not deliberately irresponsible. I think, though, that he tends to space out and get lost in his own daydreams. I'll say that his Fault is that he's Spacey - he regains Willpower in a scene in which he spaces out and starts drawing at a time where he really needs to be present.

And, I believe that's it for JT. Between one thing and another, he's could get into trouble in a chronicle. I think that 20 years down the line, he might be a police sketch artist who draws comics in his spare time, always hoping he'll meet his childhood protector again.