Character Creation: Fireborn

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dragon Phase!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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