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.