Character Creation: Pirates of the Spanish Main

Yar, yo-ho, rum, mermaids, etc.

The Game: Pirates of the Spanish Main
The Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Degree of Familiarity: Some with Savage Worlds, none with this game.
Books Required: Just the one. Unlike most SW products, you don't need the Savage Worlds core. All the rules are right here!

 
Well, in the Explorer's Edition, the sample setting included is a truncated version of this game. So I really could skip this, having already made a character for that setting, but eh. What fun would that be?

Step One: Get Coffee Race. Human. Duh. I could choose nationality, here, but I've got nothing for concept yet.

Traits. Hrm. OK, well, now I need a nationality, or at least a concept. Looking at the handy list of concepts that the book provides, I like the notion of playing a duelist, someone who hires himself out to nobles to fight their duels for them. I'm likewise intrigued by the notion of making that kind of character just starting out. Inigo Montoya keeps popping to mind as an inspiration. Also Johnny Hardin as portrayed in Maverick. Young, not especially bright, skilled but unseasoned.

So, for traits, I get the usual d4 in everything + 5 dice to spread around. Obviously I want a high Agility; let's put that at d10. I'll leave Smarts and Spirit at d4, and boost Strength and Vigor to d6.

Skills. 15 points, as usual. I want:

Fighting d10
Boating d6
Riding d4
Notice d6
Guts d8
Taunt d8

Now, my Spirit is too low for this (needs to be a d8 to make the numbers work), but that's OK. I'll move a die from Vigor to Spirit (making it a d6), and then when I do Edges I'll boost it again, or take more Skills or something.

Speaking of which:

Edges & Hindrances. I get a free Edge for being human. I'll take the usual one major and two minor Hindrances, too. Heh. I'll take All Thumbs. There's a reason this guy uses swords, not pistols. I'll take Arrogant - this guy's the best and he knows it. And going with that, I'll take Big Mouth. Can't keep a secret, especially after lunch.

And then I'll take Two-Fisted with my free Edge. Going with that, I'll use two of my points to buy the Florentine Edge, making me even more dangerous with a sword(s). And then I'll use the other two to bump my Spirit to a d8, making my Skills legal.

Derived Traits. Pace 6'', Parry is 7, Toughness is 4 (ugh) and Charisma is 0. Yadda-yadda.

Also Fame 0, for that matter.

Now, normally I don't bother with Gear, but I want a sword. I'll buy leather armor (50p), a cutlass (50p), and a rapier (150p). I'm sure I'd want other stuff, but eh.

Details. Domingo Santiago de Compostla is the son of a nobleman, unjustly ousted from his lands by a corrupt lackey to the king. Cast upon the high seas with only his father's sword and a whispered prayer from his mother, he is searching for revenge upon the Spanish nobility (ptoo!) that wronged him! He gives half off on duels against Spaniards.

Actually, Domingo is the son of a butcher. His real surname is Carreras. His parents are alive and well and living in Compostela, and he sees them occasionally when he needs to hide out. He's only ever been in a few duels, none of them fatal. He is naturally gifted with blades, though, and could probably become quite famous and skilled - if his mouth doesn't get him killed first. 

Character Creation: MARS

Not sure if it needs women or not.

The Game: MARS - A Game of Savage Planetary Romance
The Publisher: Adamant Entertainment
Degree of Familiarity: None with this setting, though I played in a Spirit of the Century game that was kind of similar. I've got some middling experience playing and running Savage Worlds.
Books Required: The Savage Worlds core rules and the MARS pdf, and here we go!

The MARS core book gives us a good backstory - the planet started drying out, the Red Martians spent a thousand years building canals, losing virtually all of their culture and heritage in the process because they were so focused, and now that the canals are working there are several kingdoms and city-states. Red Martians fight with the Green Martians out in the wastes, and the White Apes up north that control the only jungles. It's an interesting and pretty well-thought out pulpy sort of setting, and I've got some ideas for a character already.

Step One: Choose a Race. Red Martian. That's easy. My character is a young Red Man from Callor. His family are farmers, but at a young age he figured out that he's got a nasty case of wanderlust. That got him in trouble a few times, but then on one of his walks he found a problem with one of the canals and was able to help fix it. Since then, he's kind of been given leave to ride up and down the canals, and off into the Green Wastes, making that enemies and other issues don't have time to dig in before they can be fixed. I'm kind of combining the Explorer and Defender archetypes from the book, here, in a way.

As a Red Man, I get a free Edge and a free d6 in Survival. Oh, and all MARS characters get two free Advances, which I'm not sure about, so I'll have to look in the Savage Worlds book. Ooh, awesome. I can buy more stuff.

Step Two: Attributes. I get a d4 in each one and five points to raise them (and then I can use my Advances, too).

I know I want my dude to be good at Riding, and if you're smart you shoot from Riding. I'll put Agility at a d8. I'll put Strength and Vigor at d6, and I'll use one Advance to buy Smarts up to a d6 as well.

Step Three: Skills. I get 15 points here. I want:

Riding
Shooting
Survival
Boating
Fighting
Guts
Stealth
Notice
Tracking

Survival and Guts both get free ratings (d6 and d4, respectively). I bump them both up by one die type, and then give my Martian a d6 in everything else but Boating, which gets a d4.

Step Three: Edges and Hindrances. I get two Edges free. Let's see. I'd like an Edge to represent a riding beast companion thingie. There we go, Beast Master. Only I need Spirit d8 for that. No problem, I have another Advance to use. My riding animal is called a Jalf, and it's this quadruped horse/goat thingie. The picture's actually pretty cool. Go buy the book.

Anyway, that's one Edge. Let's do Hindrances. Curious is a given; it's probably what drives this guy. The book says Enemy is a good idea in the name of genre emulation, but honestly I don't see with this concept - oh, wait, I got one. So, there are ruins out there. And my guy likes to explore them, right? But then one day he stumbled into what turned out to be a Green Martian holy site. And it still had a defender. Whups. I see them having a Storm Shadow/Spirit type of relationship - they hate each other and they fight, but they'll totally save each other's lives from less worthy opponents. And my guy doesn't really have anything against the guy, but also doesn't want to get stabbed. Minor Hindrance.

So I need one Major. Let's do Overconfident. My guy pretty much thinks he's always going to come out on top, and even if he doesn't, fuck it, we're all doomed anyway.

I'll take Luck, how 'bout, since I never do. And that means I have four "points" to throw about. I can take more skills, yeah? Howzabout I up my Riding and Fighting to d8, and my Vigor to d8 as well.

Step Four: Gear. Eh. Traveling clothes, food for my Jalf (my Jalf's name is "Digger," because it likes to paw at the ground if it's bored), a handbow (cool little one-handed crossbow) and a hatchet (handy for murder and for camping), basic "sleep outside" gear. There, done.

Oh, almost. Derived traits. Pace is 6, Charisma is 0, Parry is 6, Toughness is 6.

One more thing! My guy's name is Talh Matlash. His family is still farming, but he's venturing further and further out every time he leaves. I figure he'd stumble across an adventure already in progress and make a lot of cracks about how these folks aren't fit to be out in the wastes.

Character Creation: Dresden Files

Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, oh my.

The Game: Dresden Files
The Publisher: Evil Hat
Degree of Familiarity: A goodly amount. I've never run Dresden, though I have run Spirit of the Century and I've been playing Dresden for some time now.
Books Required: Just the core. 

 
OK, the first thing you do in Dresden is design a city, but that really requires a whole group. What's funny is that the example in the book is Baltimore, and we completely independently decided on Baltimore for our own campaign. But for purposes of this character, I'm going to go to the Baltimore as described in the book, both to differentiate it from our game and so you, if you've got the Dresden Files RPG, can follow along. Ain't I considerate?

Anyway. The book lists the town's trouble as "We're looking into the Abyss and it's looking back." I just read Blood Rites, and the notion of playing a White Court vampire is intriguing to me. It would also dovetail nicely with that theme. I think we'll set this at "Chest-Deep," since doing a vampire any lower than that would be difficult. I also need to find a character sheet. Hang on. OK, got it.

High Concept: I know I want to play a White Court vampire. I don't want to play a virgin, because I'd rather have the struggle be between me and my Hunger. Except...hmm. I don't want to play Thomas, and so I'm wondering if I want to play a WCV from a family that feeds on an emotion other than lust? I don't want despair or fear, mostly because I know those exist and I'm sure they get some face-time in later books that I haven't read. How about wrath?

I've been listening to this song by Eminem lately (if you don't like him, that's understandable, but I really like this song, mostly because it shows some self-awareness on both his and Rhianna's parts). The notion of making a character who's grappling with anger control, who can start a bar fight and then soak up the life as people beat each other to death, is really, really appealing.

But then, this guy has to be a PC, so he can't be an utter dick. According to the example city creation in the book, the White Court is having some power play stuff going on. The Lagios family is mentioned, but not much is really said about them. What is said, though, doesn't make them look real wrathy to me, so let's do this:

The Brannagh Family of the White Court is probably the smallest. They feed on wrath, and that means they are always spoiling for a fight, just like Thomas is always seductive. When you're among the supernatural, that paints a target on your head, and the Brannagh haven't been able to hold onto power that way the Raith and others have. They don't do manipulation as well as other White Court families do (though rumor has it their Indian cousins, nicknamed Rakshasa, are better at it). They're scattered across Europe and the US, and they typically show up as hired muscle or enforcers. Seldom leaders, and seldom bodyguards, because they're trouble magnets. In fact, more sophisticated vampires call them "lightning rods."

In fact, that's why the Lagios like having my character, Aidan Brannagh, around. His High Concept is White Court Lightning Rod.

Trouble Aspect: Well, obviously Aidan's biggest problem is that he's a vampire that feeds on people getting killing mad, and he's got no real problem with watching people fight themselves to death. Aidan's getting jaded, though, and he's tired of listening to abusers and thugs make up excuses. His Trouble Aspect (and it applies to him, too) is Everybody's Got an Excuse.

The Phases: Now, here again we'll run into some issues with not having a group, but it's actually easier here than in Spirit of the Century.

Phase One: Where Did You Come From? I think Aidan is a local product. Born in Baltimore and raised by his mother (his father, a White Court Vampire, died in a firefight with the cops, and is still a local legend in the area), Aidan got into fights at school, got suspended, got expelled, and finally said "screw it" and took up with a gang. He found, though, that the cops took a special interest in him (and still do), so he realized it was in his best interest to stay clean. My Aspect here is Daddy Was a Cop Killer.

Phase Two: What Shaped You? Obviously, here's where the "vampire" thing comes out. Aidan, working on the docks, ran afoul of the sons of one of the cops his Dad killed. Aidan ran, not wanting to take on all three of them, but they cornered him near the water. Their rage suddenly gained substance and flavor, and Aidan drank it down and left all three of them dead. He dumped them into the water and ran home to his mother. His Phase aspect here is I Always Have a Home With Mom. His mother's name is Colleen Brannagh, by the way.

Phase Three: The First Story. Title: Bloody Knuckles. Aidan discovers a bare-knuckles boxing circuit, and enters so that he can drum up enough money to pay off the corrupt detective, Jackie Monaghan, who's been threatening to investigate the three deaths on the wharf a little more. He wins a major bout against an opponent who's far stronger than he appears - and who threatens Aidan afterwards.

You know, as I think about it, it really seems like Aidan's major trouble is the problem with the cops. I'll change Daddy was a Cop Killer to his Trouble Aspect, and I'll make School of Hard Knocks my phase one aspect. For this story, I'd like to give him an Aspect he can tag in a fight. I'll make it Fight Till I'm Burger.

Phase Four: Next Story. Normally I'd guest star, but y'know. This story is called: Russian Roulette. Aidan joins up with a Russian mob cartel moving drugs into Baltimore Harbor. His mother kicks him out when she finds out, and Monaghan offers him the chance to become a CI, which would wipe away his problems with the BPD. Aidan refuses and sticks it out with the mob, knowing that sooner or later they'll fall to infighting and destroy themselves. And they do - with the participation of the ghosts of the young men he killed. Aspect: Baltimore Harbor Muscle.

Phase Five: Last Story. Again, should be a guest star. I think I want to give Aidan a love interest. Taking my inspiration from the video for that song, my girl is a minor talent, a low-grade pyrokinetic (so I can just stand there and watch her burn). Her name is Emma Desmond, she's a Baltimore harbor rat like Aidan, and they met at a church function (Aidan was attending again to get back in Mom's good graces). They're very much in love, but it's not peaceful at all - they fight, they fuck, they break up, they get back together. Secretly, Aidan suspects this isn't going to end well, but they've moved into her place together. The Aspect here is:  Everything Burns if You Get it Hot Enough.

Skills. OK. I like that there's a nifty chart that tells me how I can break these out. Let's do this for Aidan:

Fists (Superb)
Intimidation, Endurance (Great)
Presence, Might (Good)
Stealth, Craftsmanship, Burglary (Fair)
Contacts, Athletics, Alertness, Empathy (Average)

Easy-peasy.

Stunts and Powers. OK, as a White Court Vampire, I have to take:

Emotional Vampire
Human Guise
Incite Emotion
Feeding Dependency
Inhuman Recovery (Catch is True Peace)
Inhuman Speed
Inhuman Strength

And I can't do anything else, really, because I'm out of Refresh. Which sucks because I'd like to be able to Incite at range, but whatchagonnado?

I fill in my stress boxes, and that's me done!