Character Creation: Nightlife

Before there was a World of Darkness... 

No, not Exalted. I don't even have that book anymore. No, tonight, I'm going further back than the WoD, to the game that could have been the WoD if it had been just a little better written, designed, promoted and fortuned. I speak, of course, of Nightlife.

(Also: I wrote 7700 words today. About Damn Time is done. Rule.)

The Game: Nightlife
The publisher: Stellar Games, based in Swanton, Ohio (just outside my hometown of Toledo), now long dead.
Degree of familiarity: Some. I ran it, but it's been a long damn while.
Books required: Just the core. I'm using the big thick version, but there was a little skinny one, too. Anyway, since I'm not making a sorcerer, I don't need any sourcebooks.

 
Nightlife. Yeah, the art is cheesy. Yeah, it has some really awful writing in places. Yeah, it's more poorly edited than any given White Wolf book. But you know, it's got some charm.

For one thing, it's damned inclusive. You can play pretty much any race presented, and that speaks well of system modularity. For another, although it's set in New York, it feels rust belt to me in a lot of ways (give you one guess why). I enjoyed these books, and it's a game that I'd consider dusting off and running someday, probably with some overhaul to the system.

OK, turning to page 10 of the book: My first choice is what race to play. My choices are: Vampyres, Werewolves, Ghosts, Daemons, Wyghts, Inuits and Animates. Well, I want to do something that I can't do in WoD, which kacks the first four and the last one. I guess I'll go with a Wyght. Always liked them. They're these ugly, stringy-muscled undead creatures. I dig 'em. You'll get a look at one, because the character sheet has some art on it.

OK, my next step is Abilities, which are randomly generated. I get 4d10 for each Ability.

Strength 15
Dexterity 18
Fitness 17
Intellect 20
Will 29
Perception 24
Attractiveness 30
Luck 19

Wow. I'm one hot corpse. I'll apply the Racial Modifiers, which change things a bit:

Strength 45
Dexterity 28
Fitness 27
Intellect 20
Will 29
Perception 34
Attractiveness 15
Luck 19

Much better. I calculate my Survival Points: Luck + Fitness = 46. My Hand-to-Hand damage is 9.

Next step: Edges. Edges are supernatural powers that Kin possess, and you gets them by lowering Max Humanity (which is different than Humanity). Humanity is a big deal in Nightlife. The more human my Wyght is, the less damage he takes from sunlight, silver and fire. But, I have to sacrifice Max Humanity if I want to be good at my Edges.

Every race starts with an Edge or two for free. In my case, it's "an Edge." I get Drain (youth). All Kin have drain; blood, youth, pain, raw flesh. Some Kin don't need to drain, but I have a Diet Restriction - I can only live on the youth of living creatures. My Racial Edges are Necropathy (talking to corpses) Reanimate Dead (exactly what it sounds) and Infection (making more Wyghts). Then there are a bunch of Edges available to all Kin. Hmm.

Looking over the list, I decide to grab the two corpse-related racial Edges, but skip Infection for now. My character loves his life as one of the Kin, but it's harder and he figures it's only going to get harder, so he doesn't want to chance being tempted to Infect (plus, he can do it any time he wants, really; manifesting Edges doesn't cost XP, just Humanity). I also pick up Photogenics (so I can appear on camera if I want) and Nocturnal Vision (seeing in the dark is good).

OK, the Acquisition Costs for those sets me back 28 Max Humanity. I don't feel the need to raise Nocturnal Vision, so it stays at the base equal to my Perception (34). Photogenics I'll raise because it's cheap and because it's not the roll I'd want to fail at. 2 Max Humanity buys it up to 49.

Reanimate Dead...ooh, suck. It's 1/1 for Max Humanity, and it starts at my Will (29). Not bad, but not great. I'll buy it up to 35, I guess. 6 more points. Ouch. Necropathy is a little better cost-wise (1/2) but it starts at my Intellect, which is low. I think I'll leave it for now. My character is new at this, and is better at calling them up than making them talk.

Finally, Drain. It starts at 27, which is my Fitness. I'll throw six more points into it, buying it up to 39. That's 40 Max Humanity spent.

OK, now Skills. I get 20 1d10 rolls, at which point I will add them into Skill ratings (this is the annoying bit about Stellar characters). My rolls:

4,10,3,8,1,1,3,6,8,7,9,7,5,6,5,9,10,9,3,8.

My Skills:

Club 67
Hard Martial Arts 50
Administration 35
Alertness 46
Computer Operation 36
Disguise 32
First Aid 40
Streetwise 37

Connections. I roll a 7, so I get 4 Connections, and one can be important. Cool. I'll take Willard Romero, leader of the Knights of the Living Dead. I love that gang. Also, I'll take:

Jenny Winters, a nurse at Bellvue (she knows my true nature; she's what we call "Crowley")
Tony D, a local dope dealer (he's a dick, but he knows things. He's Crowley, too)
Buzzkill, a Bugwalker and member of the Commune (he was a doctor in life, so I call him when I get weird corpses)

OK. That's all for the numbers, actually. Now we can talk character.

Luke Bailey was attempting to get into med school. It was the summer of 1968, it was hot, and he was frustrated. He was out of work and his resume just wasn't shining. He took a job as a intake clerk at a morgue in Brooklyn (Nightlife assumes NYC).

One night, they brought a corpse in that just looked awful. White, withered, stringy. Luke pulled back the sheet and wondered why the EMTs ran. And then the corpse grabbed him and Drained him dry. He aged 80 years in an instant, and died. The Wyght that Infected him did it by accident. It was badly injured and needed to heal, but it didn't care that it killed him. Luke collapsed to the floor, dying, just about the time that the Wyght's enemies showed up. Dawn was coming, and he was fully healed, so they just blustered a bit and he left - but that left the pursuers to deal with Luke. Fortunately, they were Commune Kin (pro-human), and decided to help him "go to college" (learn about the Kin).

Luke has kept the job at the morgue ever since; it makes a ready source of bodies for him to animate if he needs to. Feeding is tough, but he tries to limit it to animals rather than humans. He's still the intake clerk, but he uses a different name. There are rumors about why he looks like that, but he keeps the lights low and leaves the building when he wants. No one questions him (rumor is, last guy that did got a nasty phone call from the mayor to leave the "Old Man" alone. That was a favor called in from Willard Romero).

Other Kin called him "Doc" or "Hippie". He likes to wear his white lab coat out to Kin functions, but when he's not working he wears torn-up jeans or leathers, and a tie-dye shirt (reds and browns; looks bloodstained). He carries a heavy lead pipe, and he's know to be reluctant to fight, so if he does, he wants to put you down quickly. Luke's very much pro-human, and sometimes wonders if he should be in the Knights of the Living dead (violently pro-human) rather than the Commune (better with diplomacy). After all, that asshole who Infected him is out there somewhere, and while Luke enjoys his unlife, he'd really like to thump that fucker's skull.