Character Creation: Midway City

Nyah, see?

The Game: Midway City
The publisher: Z-Man Games
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read the book, that's about it.
Books required: The Midway City book, which I got from Andrea. She got multiple copies in a grab bag of RPGs she bought.

 
Well, let's get to it.

Step One: Character Concept. One of my first choices is race. I can play a human, a blank (artificial people bred for labor), a flip (a mutant), a Kyrhee (the aforementioned bizarrely Asian aliens) or a Gazer (a human/Kyrhee hybrid).

OK, I don't want to play a Kyrhee or a Gazer, because I find them a little annoying. How about we make a flip? Flips live in their own section of the city, pretty much, and are very big on family (and yes, that means they're mobbed up). I think I want to play a flip from a Mob family, but who tried to go straight. He tried to take a job that put him in contact with humans and Blanks and so on, and go treated like a freak. He's not in good with either his family or anyone else just at the moment, a down-on-his-luck flip who's just looking for any break he can get. Sounds noir enough for me.

Step Two: Perks & Traits. There are 30 traits, that look a lot like skills. I start with 30 points, and I've got a rating of 0 in all of the Easy traits and -3 in the Hard ones (0 is about average). So what would I like to be good at?

Well, my flip is from a tough family, so he learned how to fight (Brawling) and how to shoot (Gats). He can drive when necessary (Driving), and he's pretty smooth (Finesse). I think I'll some in Knowledge. Literacy, sure, Moxie, definitely, Perception, Etiquette, Streetwise. Let's see what that looks like.

Brawling 2
Gats 2
Driving 1
Finesse 4
Knowledge 2
Literacy 3
Moxie 5
Perception 3
Etiquette 3
Survival 2
Streetwise 3

I could, if I'd like, lower other traits to give myself more points, but eh. This looks good for now. I would buy Perks from the same pool of points, but none of them interest me much.

Step Three: Sugar. "Sugar" may be one of the weirdest names for a game stat I've ever heard. Anyway, it's kind of the drama point/fate point mechanic. I start with 2 points.

Step Four: Hooks. As in, plot hooks, for the GM (called a "Narrator" in this game) to use to get me into the action. OK. I can pull 'em off a list or make some up. I have some ideas. Hooks have the game effect of giving me Sugar (baby) when they come into play, rather like Flaws in NWoD or, in a way, aspects in Spirit of the Century. And I like that system, yes I do.

I can have up to three hooks. I'll take Stigma (he's a Flip, and it's caused him some problems in the past). My next hook I'll call Black Sheep (he's kind of spurned his family, and when that closes doors with other Flips or mobsters he gains Sugar). And then I'll take Nemesis. When he worked in the central district among all the swells, he pissed someone off. He doesn't know that he did it, but he did. I see this as being kind of a "Martin Blank kills the dog" kind of scenario - it's not really worth the effort that the nemesis is going to put in, but it's still going to make my guy's life very hard.

Step Five: Starting Money and Purchases. Am I the only one who really doesn't enjoy spending money for characters? Any, I start with $50 in my pocket. I can't even afford the Poor cost of living, and that makes me homeless. Sod that. I'll go back and lower my Stealth to -1; my character just isn't very good at staying hidden, that's part of his problem. I'll bump my Numbers up to 1, which means I now have $100. I can afford the Poor cost of living ($75), and I've got $25 left over. I'll spend $5 on a set of brass knuckles and pocket the other $20 for now.

Step Six: Finishing Touches. Here's where I get to pick flips and flops. Flips are positive mutations, while flops are...not. They all have point values and they need to balance out (or else I either get the difference in trait points or pay the difference in trait points, which I don't have). Let's do flops first.

I'll take Burnout. Now, that means I make a Moxie roll when things get stressful or I pass out in a fit. This might seem like I'm gaming the system (note how high my Moxie is), but I figure it's because he's always had these problems that his Moxie is so high. His will is nigh-unshakable, but that's a pretty important "nigh." I'll take Decreased Trait, lowering my Stealth to -2 but getting me 2 more points. My character's skin shimmers slightly, and his fingernails and teeth glow with even the slightest amount of light present (like under a blacklight, you see). That gives me four points to play with.

What the hell, I'll take Wings. My guy can fly at twice his walking pace (so not fast, but being able to fly is awesome). He can't keep it up for long. I think his wings are patagia, rather than actual wings; he has to take off, or at least open, his shirt to use them. He's embarrassed by them, but they do come in handy.

For the remaining point, I'll put it into the Sense of Direction perk. He always knows which way is downtown.

Now I think about appearance and other details. His name is Nevin the Sparrow. Nevin grew up in a family peripherally related to Snake Eyes DiCarlo (a notorious mobster). When he learned to fly, the family figured he'd make a great scout, maybe even assassin, but Nevin wanted none of it. He wanted to go to the central district and be somebody.

But wherever he went, he was Nevin the Sparrow. Poor, skinny, ugly, hunched-over, Nevin. And no one really liked him or respected him. Too late, he realized he could have been respected if he'd stuck to his own kind, but he felt he should be allowed to make his own way. But after getting arrested for vagrancy (again) he went back to the family. He's still useful, but the DiCarlo family doesn't forget a slight, and they don't give him any respect or pay him much mind until it's time to have Nevin swoop in and check things out.

But Nevin the Sparrow is stubborn and patient. And he knows his way around Midway City. He'll find some way to get noticed, oh yes, he will.