Character Creation: Ganakagok

"Ganakagok" scans to "Mah Ná Mah Ná", so that's in my head now. 

 The Game: Ganakagok
The Publisher: Consensus Games
Degree of Familiarity: I just ran it, in fact.
Books Required: Just the one, plus a deck of cards.

 

As I mentioned the other night, this is all done with interpretation and dealing cards and so on. Normally we'd have a group and have already dealt out cards to established the situation of Ganakagok and the Nitu people, but there are a few examples in the book, so I'm gonna use one of those.

One of the examples has a great quake creating cliff of ice, separating the village from the rest of the island. In the ice, we can see artifacts and things from the Forgotten Ones. And folks have just returned with lots of food and whale blubber and whatnot, unaware that our troubles are just beginning.

So, my chargen starts with dealing 3 cards:

Truth-Vision: This card deals with why I know that something is changing in my homeland. I draw the Three of Flames - the walrus at rest. Means to be content amidst plenty. Hmm. I think my character was content after the hunting party got back, and then after a large meal, he saw something moving in the ice. Might have just been fire playing on the massive cliff, but he looked deep and realized that there were treasures to be had. And that lit a fire in his heart, to possess those treasures and share them with the People.

Change-Hope: This is what my character hopes the changes will bring. I draw Two of Flames, the cannibal-ghoul. To desire, wish or will. Ooh, that works. My guy wants. He's hungry for more. More trinkets, more shiny jewels, more food. He hopes that he can find a way to free the riches from their icy prison, even if it shatters the ice. I also start with 2 Good Medicine. Oy.

Change-Fear: This is what I'm afraid might happen due to the changes. Eight of Stars, two walruses battle. My guy is afraid that the riches will pass us by, that rival tribes - hell, let's name one. Let's say that the Nitu used to trade with a tribe called the Gray-Eyes. They were good crafters and furriers, while the Nitu were better at hunting and making stuff out of bone. And now my guy is afraid they'll to the rich stuff first! 8 Bad Medicine. That's not horrible; I might actually come out of a game with a happy ending.

Name and Identity: This isn't too hard. My character's name is Shuntuk. His identity is "greedy ice-climber."

Divide up points. I get 10 points to divide up between Body, Mind, Face and Soul. Minimum is 1, max is 4. I put 4 into Body (ice climber, seems appropriate), two into Face, 1 into Mind and 3 into Soul (Soul deals with luck). Looks good. Shuntuk isn't real smart, but that's appropriate.

Mana. I used Mana to actually compose my dice rolls. I figure he's better with tasks out on the ice, which is Forgotten Ones Mana. I'll put 4 in there. I'll put 2 into Ancestors (he's not incapable of dealing with village stuff, it's just not his forte), two into Sun and and two into Stars.

Gifts. I get three personal Gifts, much like traits in Dogs in the Vineyard. Well, Shuntuk has a set of bone ice-climbing picks and ropes. He's always been good at climbing up steep, slippery slopes of ice.

I decide that Shuntuk is recognized as having the eyes of a diving eagle (apparently there are ice-eagles here).

And finally, Shuntuk has boundless energy.

I can use these gifts to shift dice when they apply.

Burdens: And now of course, the bad stuff. Sins are one of the things you can use for Burdens, so I'll say that Shuntuk once ate before the chieftain, and is known for having a greedy appetite. That's just one point (unlike Gifts, Burdens are rated).

Shuntuk is also afraid of wolves. Silly of him; wolves don't attack people, especially in numbers, but wolf howls just freak him out.

Finally, Shuntuk has a scar. He was lashed for stealing his brother's food when he was younger and has the scars on his arms to prove it.

Now, normally I'd add relationships and stuff to the map, and with this character I'd definitely add something like a wolf hunting ground or a Spire of Ice or something, but all of that requires a group, and it's just me. So I'm done with Shuntuk, in fact. And headed to bed!

Character Creation: MSG

Add it to your Chinese food!

The Game: MSG
The Publisher:: johnheronproject 
Degree of Familiarity: None.
Books Required: Just the one. 

The game is written by my acquaintance and sometime fellow-WW-freelancer Wood Ingham. He actually asked me to make a character more than a year ago, and I didn't because Stew said he'd jump on Gtalk and make a character with me, and that never happened. I blame you, Stew. Michelle's doing it along with me, though.

Anyway, the game is a satirical and biting look at corporate life. You're a staffer for the Corporation, and what exactly that Corp is and does is less important than how they look doing it. There's murder and mayhem, potentially, there's risk of Resources. The game has something of a learning curve, yes, and it's been a while since I've read it, but character creation is pretty straightforward. 

No character sheet, because I don't have a pdf and Wood has apparently taken down the files. Blah.

Anyway, Michelle and I are doing this together, because it helps to have a group for chargen here, even a small one. But the first part doesn't.

Introduce yourself to the group.

Sure. Let's just jump right in.

"Hi, I'm Van DiSteffallo. I was all-state quarterback in college, and I graduated with an BA in Business last year. I'm not in as great shape as I used to be - that's what happens when you don't work out every day anymore - but I still have that high-level, almost scary energy that's really more appropriate on a sports field than in a boardroom. I'm broad-shouldered, I've got a TEAM NAME tattoo on my forearm. I keep my hair buzzed, and my teeth are freshly capped (just got 'em fixed with company insurance!). I'm totally a go-getter, in for the long haul, 110%! Go team!"

Define Who You Are: I can be an Asset or a Freelancer. I like the Freelancers' benefits better, but I think Van is more of an Asset. He's a lifer. Totally gung-ho about letting the Company hack his brain (that's literal, BTW, you've got tech in your noodle here). That means I can Edit my memory and Change the facts to suit me, and I specialize in IT Solutions.

I get two Expertises, so I'll take Human Resources and Professional Services. I figure Van's strength is in dealing with people in such a way that he scares them. That makes him a weird point of contact for salesman, but he's so darned earnest.

Relationships: I get an iLove (a person I really love), two iHates (two people...get it?) and a Secret Tragedy. Yay!

OK, my iLove is Morris, the janitor at the Company. Morris has an older version of the heADscape hardware, and as a result he's lost a lot of his cognitive functioning. He's slow, is what I'm saying. But he's awesome! Van loves him because he listens with rapt attention to all of Van's sports stories, and sometimes Van will make gestures and write little symbols on paper to make Van laugh! One time, he drew a symbol that looked almost like the word "HELP". Morris is so funny. He's a really cool guy, for a dummy (says Van).

My first iHate is Roger Burns. Roger was a classmate, and he tried to play football but he scrubbed. And then the coach had to let him on the team because his Mom blew the athletics' director or something. Seriously, fuck that guy (he shows up in Michelle's character, too, BTW).

My other iHate is Guy Freebush, a dude who works in shipping/receiving. He's a real tool. He's always moaning about how we don't get paid enough, how we work too many hours, how the Company is oppressing the poor people in Pigfuckistan or whatever. What a fruit. Bet he wears a beret.

My Secret Tragedy: OK, fuck it, let's get weird, here. Van is actually a twin. His identical twin brother Dan was also a quarterback, and played for Van's school as well. And when the Company bought their university, they scooped up Dan and made him a Freelancer. Dan is out there somewhere, and Van has no memory of him anymore, because no one does. He's been erased...officially.

USP: Finally, I get a Unique Selling Point, something that makes Dan - er, Van - unique and marketable. Van's scary-intense energy makes him a marketing go-getter, a rah-rah man of Sasquatchian proportions. His USP is "gives 110%!"

Resources: Now I get numbers. I have two pools, Compassion and Self, and the game recommends I use counters for these, because they change in play, but y'know. I get 11 points to divide up between those. I think that Van isn't exactly uncompassionate, he's just a blowhard and an athlete, so he punches shoulders just a little too hard. Let's go 5 Compassion, 6 Self.

And that's it, actually. Like I said, I'd put up a sheet if I had one. 

Character Creation: ICONS

I'm still in Arizona!

The Game: ICONS
The Publisher: Adamant Entertainment
Degree of Familiarity: None. I just read the book. But I do know a little about supers games.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, ICONS reminds me a lot of a stripped-down version of Marvel Super Heroes, actually. It's very four-color, the art is cartoony as heck, and the system looks dirt simple. The default chargen (and the one Michelle and I are using - yes, we are liveblogging chargen again!) is random; roll some d6s and then try and tie it all together. 

System looks simple enough: Roll 2d6, with one die "negative" and the other "positive." Subtract one from the other, wind up with +5 to -5, subtract difficulty, add modifiers. 0 or more is good. Also, interesting note: Only the players roll. The GM doesn't, so the players just roll reactions to the GM. Which would indicate that you don't need to stat NPCs, which is fine by me.

Phase One: Origin. I roll an 8, which means my powers are "Gimmick." I'm Iron Man, kinda; my powers come from devices or gadgets. I can increase one of my mental abilities by +2, which is redundant, but whatever.

Phase Two: Abilities: Now we roll for levels at our Abilities. Which, in this game, are: Prowess, Coordination, Strength, Intellect, Awareness and Willpower. Like I said, more than a passing resemblance to Marvel, except that PCSIAW is harder to pronounce than FASERIP.

Anyway, rolling once each on the Level Determination chart, I get:

Prowess 3
Coordination 5
Strength 5
Intellect 6
Awareness 6
Willpower 6

I can choose to swap any two of these. Let's see. Prowess is hand-to-hand fighting. Coordination is agility/dexterity for non-fighting things, and the rest are pretty self-explanatory. Really, I'm kind of cool all around. 6 is "ideal or maximum human," whereas 5 is "exceptional human." So apart from my low fighting ability, I'm kind of Batman-ish.

Phase Three: Powers: First we roll to determine how many we get. I get 2 powers. Balls.

For my powers, I roll: Mental: Illusion, at level 4. I roll Mental again, but screw that. Book says I can reroll if I get the same type again, so I shall. Movement. That's more better. Teleportation, can't take it, costs 2 slots. Try again. Swinging. Hmm. I have to assume that means, like, Spidey-style brachiation. I have it at level 2. C'mon, dice.

Now I have to wait for Michelle to catch up, since she rolled a bunch of powers.

Phase Four: Specialties. Skills, basically. I get 2 again, and these I get to pick rather than roll for. OK, I'll take Art (Digital Design) and Electronics. I got an idea.

Phase Five: Stamina and Background. My Stamina is equal to my Strength + Willpower, which is 11. My powers are sort of weak, but my stats are OK.

And then Background. Well, my guy was a computer graphics artist and minor-league engineer. He was obsessed with superheroes, in particular the sort of hero that worked on gadgets and whipped something off a utility belt. He wanted to design a way to lift himself up on a tow-line, but had trouble coming up with something that would hold him. He created a simulation that worked so well that it let him experiment with the variables without, y'know, actually jumping off buildings, and it took a friend to point out that that simulation generator was actually a pretty awesome power, too. So he miniaturized that and took to the streets, calling himself WYSIWYG (yes, the caps are important).

His real name is Christopher Volger, but call him Toph.

The tow-line works, and Toph is skinny enough that it doesn't break often. His problem is that he's a lousy hand-to-hand fighter, and he isn't quite coordinated enough to take best advantage of his Swinging power (hence the low rating). The Illusion power, however, works just fine - I think we need to take the Images option, though. He can't cause damage with it, but he can trick people into falling into pits and whatnot.

Description: Toph might look like a little geek, but he's actually pretty ripped. He works out daily or thrice-daily and is a strict vegan, and while it hasn't given him super powers like it did a certain evil ex, his healthy diet keeps him trim. As WYSIWYG, he wears a black-and-blue outfit with neon lights up and down the arms and legs, and a wiggy, warping, light-show patter on the chest. Of course, he can change that if it needs to, and he's not above altering his form with his Images power or keeping himself "stationary" as he ascends with his tow-line.

Step Six: Determination. Determination is a lot like Fate chips, really. In fact, I get Aspects that I can use to apply Determination, and Challenges that can earn me more. My Determination is 6 - number of powers (and every ability over 6 is a power). I choose to apply my +2 bonus to an Ability to Intellect (makes sense), so my Intellect counts as a power. My Determination is therefore 3.

I have to take at least one Quality and I can take up to five. I should take at least one Challenge.

For Qualities, I take Identity - Computer Geek. I also take Motivation - Self-Made Hero. WYSIWYG is kind of Syndrome as a good guy. He believes that everyone can be - should be - a hero, because the potential to act in the best interest of society is there in all of us.

Now, for Challenges, I take Weakness - EMP. A strong Electromagnetic Pulse shuts down his powers until he can reboot. Also, I want a Bad Luck Challenge, specific to the tow-line. My damn Swinging Power just never works like it should! Few more tweaks....

Finally, I want one more Quality. I take a Connection - Jack Abrahms, my best friend and the only one who knows that Toph is really WYSIWYG. Jack isn't superhuman or anything, but he provides a critical service in pointing out to Toph where the flaws are in his designs (and Illusions) and keeping him centered. Otherwise Toph gets a little obsessive about, well, everything. In fact, I'll take Obsessive as a Personal Challenge.

And I think that's it, actually. Oh, well, Phase Seven is GM Approval, but can't very well do that, so here we are. 

Character Creation: Beast Hunters

Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting...beasts, I guess.

The Game: Beast Hunters
The Publisher: Berengad Games
Degree of Familiarity: None. Just read it.
Books Required: Just the one.

 

OK, so, this is an indie game. Now, reading it, it looks really cool. There's a nifty backstory about a war between mages, how magic basically exploded one night, and that freed all the magical beasts that were once bound for service and warped people and animals into critters. There's some good setting for the Chel'quiri (which are the hunters you play), and then the system is designed around conflict and resolution. All good so far. Doesn't look like long-term campaign material, but so what?

Two niggles I have with the game. First, it's designed for two players, basically a player and a GM. I don't know how well it would work to alter it for multiple players, but I can't imagine it would be too hard. I just think it's an odd choice for an RPG, but then, I've never had trouble getting players.

But the other thing is something I've said before about indie games. It gets a little...well, fruity at times. Artsy-fartsy. Vox does it and manages to sound kind of cool at times, while Dark Aeons tries and fails. But Beast Hunters wants you to salute in when you play (no, really, like a special handshake, which the book gravely assures us is "not optional"). I dunno, I'm all for keeping the play experience intact, but c'mon. It's a game.

Anyway, I was really grooving on the setting until I got to the salute and the two-player thing, and then it kind of lost me. I might still give it a shot, but I'd want to find a fix that lets me have more players.

Oh, wait, now that I read a little more, it has rules for multiple hunters. OK, then.

So let's do this!

Name: OK, the book tells me that hard sounds like /k/ and /kw/ and /ch/ are common in this language. I imagine there are probably phonemes that employ different forms of affricates and velar...I'll stop. Anyway, I'll name my hunter T'kech, which has a bunch of those sounds and an apostrophe!

Hunter: That's me, which seems a little backwards, but whatever.

Initiative: I enter 1 in each slot. OK.

Your Parents: I get three traits from my parents. These are kind of like traits in Dogs in the Vineyard, in that you get more coolness if you say "Mom trained me to be strong" than just "strong."

OK, so I need to think concept a little. My inclination is always to make jumpy/flippy/throwy characters. But I haven't done a thrower in a while. I also watched Brotherhood of the Wolf last night, which seems appropriate for this, so I don't mind taking inspiration there. The Chel'quiri don't use steel unless they take it from fallen foes, then their society is matriarchal. Ooh, how about this? My mother wasn't crazy about having a son, and kind of left T'kech to forage rather than feeding him properly. He learned, though, that you can always find something to eat or use if you look hard enough. T'kech got good at finding and making useful tools. So I'll take "I Refused to Starve" as a mental defensive trait. I'll take "Nothing is Out of Reach" for physical offensive, and "My Sisters Taught me to Dodge" as physical defensive.

I also get two resources from my folks. I'll take "Clever Like My Dead Father" (I figure he was too smart for his own good and it got him killed) as mental offensive, and "Mother's Castoffs" - mom gave me all the bits of metal she took from her dead foes. That's physical offensive.

Now I raise an initiative by one - I'll raise mental. And then I add a light and medium damage box to the area in which my parents influenced me most. Hmm. I figure mental, really. T'kech survived by being smart, not physically tough.

Your Tribe: I get two traits and two resources from my tribe (or "nadan" - gotta say, reading this book makes me think of this strip). I need to name said tribe and think about what it was like to grow up with them.

Well, all of these guys are nomadic. I'm going to say that mom was a Beast Hunter, but that it's otherwise kind of uncommon in my tribe. Other nadans call us the "Dust People" because we've got this weird dusty-tan complexion and oddly gray hair, and because we bury our dead, rather than burning them (I'm just making shit up here). When T'kech got called up to be a Beast Hunter, it shocked the tribe, but it also elevated their opinion of me - before that, the question was "When's that T'kech kid gonna starve already? He keeps eating roots!"

So I'll take "Respect the Dead" as a social defensive trait, "Hunter's Patience" as a physical offensive trait, "Newfound Respect" as a social defensive resource and "Expert Warrior Sisters" as a physical defensive resource.

I'll add a point to physical initiative here, and a light damage box to social.

Your Enemies: Oooooh. Fun. OK, I get three traits and one resource. The book recommends that any enemies I name here are still a problem, and I'm fine with that. I think I've got a half-brother named Jejs (same father) who blames my mother for his father's death. Mom didn't kill dad, dad died because he figured he could outwit a rival tribe and he didn't bank on them being quite as fast as they were (the plan would have worked, but for dad's gimpy ankle, but that's not the way Jejs saw it). So I'll take "Jejs Wants Me Dead" as a social defensive trait - makes me paranoid.

I'll take "Cursed Blood of Kichea" as a social offensive trait. Kichea is my mother, and she's a badass enough that she's got some enemies. There are whole nadans that spit on the ground when they mention her, in fact.

I'll take "Never Forget a Slight" as my third trait (social offensive). I might be able to stab ya now, but I'll sure do it tomorrow.

And then I get a resource. Hmm. I took a weapon from an enemy that I killed - well, my sister really hit him, but I finished him off! "Enemy's Green Blade," pretty obviously physical offensive.

And then I get another initiative boost. Mental, I think. And I'll a light damage box to Mental, too.

Beast Hunter Training: This recommends I pick a weapon if I haven't, but I have that green blade. So I'll take "Expert Trapper" as a mental offensive trait. I'll take "Poisons Don't Harm Me" as a physical defensive (side-effect of my random diet). And, finally, "I Won't Die Like My Father" as a mental offensive - I don't want to miss the little details like dad did. Oh, wait, damn. I only get two traits here, not three. Well, I'll use the poison thing as a resource, and call it "Dried Herbs and Antidotes." Same idea.

OK, now I get another initiative point. Let's say...Physical. Also I get a light and medium damage box, so I'll put the medium into Mental and the light into Physical.

Assign Numbers: Now I assign numbers to my traits. I get two +3, four +2 and four +1. Hmm. Let's do this:

Nothing is Out of Reach +3
Hunter's Patience +2
Cursed Blood of Kichea +1
Never Forget a Slight +2
Expert Trapper +3
I Won't Die Like My Father +2
My Sisters Taught Me to Dodge +2
I Refused to Starve +1
Respect the Dead +1
Jejs Wants me Dead +1

Same idea for resources:

Clever Like My Dead Father +3
Mom's Castoffs +1
Enemy's Green Blade +2
Newfound Respect +1
Expert Warrior Sisters +1
Dried Herbs & Antidotes +2

And that's it, really. I don't get any Tattoos because I haven't done my first real Beast Hunt (that would be my first game). So T'kech is all ready to go trap him a Beast!