Character Creation: Haiiiii-Ya!

My hands are lethal weapons.

The Game: Haiiiii-Ya!
The Publisher: Goodman Games
Degree of Familiarity: None. Just read it.
Books Required: Just the one.

Please excuse the big ugly "PDF" in the corner there

So, it's really more of a board/minis game with some elements of role-playing, but hey.

Step One: Make Your Basic Fighter. That seems like more than one step, but OK. I get to divide 10 points between Muscles, Mind and Moves. Seems pretty simple. Minimum one, maximum five. Because I like playing fast-moving dudes, I put 5 (the maximum) into Moves, 3 into Muscle and 2 into Mind.

This makes me an "Olympic sprinter and a ballet dancer all in one." Sounds good.

Choose a side. Baked potato.

No, wait. I can be Good, Bad or Ronin. Since I led off with a story about a Good Guy, I shall keep that going and choose Good. This allows me to flip a coin in round 5 of a fight and shake off damage.

Choose Martial Arts Style. I can pick from Karate, Kung-Fu, Judo or Tae Kwon Do. Let's do Karate. That gives me +1 Offense.

Devise Fighter's Signature Move. Ooh, this sounds like fun. This is an attack that does +10 damage per word, up to seven words. Ahem.

"Rising Noble Sunburst Rain Of Punches Assault!" How it can be "rising" and still a "rain" is beyond me, but hey. The book says the exclamation point is optional, but c'mon, no it ain't.

Assign Motivation. The author gets cute here, reminding us that serious games (tm) have a Motivation (tm). I can't tell if that's too smarmy for me or not. On the one hand, I'm fine with taking the piss. On the other, even stupid, silly games (HoL, Toon) benefit from a little attention to character outlook. But whatever. The available choices are all plays on "kicking my opponent's butt," but rather than choose one of the options, I shall say, "It is my destiny to kick my opponent's butt."

Choose your power. I want Weird Warping of Space. Once per fight, I can reflect any damage I'd take back on my attacker.

Oh, well, hell, there's a system for making your own powers later in the book. Eh. I like this one fine.

Choose a name. I picture this guy as kind of Ryu-ish; Japanese but looks white in the art, black hair, brown eyes, wears a ghi when out on the town. He has a great big sunburst tattoo on his chest, and he was born at dawn exactly - and came out of the womb punching (ew). His signature move is a leap in the air, a turn where he's always mysteriously silhouetted, and then he drops on you and punches you a lot (in the most noble way possible). He doesn't really want to get into fights...but he must. It is his destiny.

My fighter's name is Rays. Yes, if it were just "Ray" it would sounds like a normal name. I don't wanna be normal.

Character Creation: Deadlands Reloaded

Yee-haw! A zombie! 

The Game: Deadlands: Reloaded
The Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment
Degree of Familiarity: Probably the longest Savage Worlds game I've run so far, and I played the original a bit.
Books Required: The Player's Guide and the Savage Worlds book.

Yeah, I did a character for the original Deadlands game, but that was three years ago tomorrow.

Good lord. I've been doing this chargen thing for more than three years. I started just over a month before Cael was born.

BWAAAAAAAA.

And I'm nowhere near done.

Oof. Anyway, yes, I did a character for the original game, but this one's different, the backstory is different, the system is different, and I just got through running it, so screw it.

Well, Step One is race, but "human" is the only option. I can do some concept first, though. I want to play a mad scientist.

Dr. Charlie McDermott graduated with a degree in Chemistry. The day after he got his degree, though, the whispers started. He just had this weird urge to go west, out in the disputed territories, looking for...he wasn't sure what. He's used up the money that he had saved getting here (in style), and he's kind of gullible and susceptible to the blandishments of women of dubious virtue, but he's here, and he's hoping the whispers will stop.

They haven't. They've gotten worse. And they get louder whenever he sees the sunset. He fears that his final stop might have to be the Great Maze.

Good start! Attributes! Obviously I want Smarts high, so I'll put that up to d10. I'll put Spirit and Vigor at d6, because making soak rolls is important.

Skills! I need Weird Science, obviously. And I want Knowledge - Chemistry. That eats six points right there because I want them at d8. I'll skip Guts, because I don't mind Charlie being a tenderfoot, but I'll take Notice at d6, Shooting at d6, Investigation at d4, Persuasion at d4, Riding at d4, and Repair at d6.

Special Abilities. That is, Hindrances. I want Pacifist (Minor). I'll take Lyin' Eyes - untruth just don't come easy to ol' Charlie. And because I think it'll be funny, I'll take Grim Servant o' Death. I get a bonus to damage rolls, but I also run the risk of killing my friends with my gadgets (coupled with Pacifist, I find that amusing).

I would take Alchemy, but I only get one sodding power anyway. Eh, what the hell. I'll take that as my free Edge. I still get my four points to play with. I'll buy Fighting at d4 so my Parry doesn't completely suck. For the other Skill point, I'll buy my Weird Science up to d10. I'll take the New Power Edge so I have a little bit of choice in the matter. That also makes me crazy to start with, but I'll get to that. Last point, I'll buy Notice and Investigation up one level.

I get 20 power points, 10 of which I can use in Alchemical preparations. For my powers, I pick Boost/Lower Trait and Stun. Either of those makes sense as a chemical effect, and I figure Charlie has a medicine bag full of little vials that he can quaff and make himself stronger, faster, charming or whatever.

As usual, I get some money to spend, and as usual, I can't be buggered to do it. I think I'd spend it on a good horse (as opposed to a bad horse, some fancy and impractical clothes, and of course, some glass vials to brew powders and potions in.

Character Creation: Leverage

Let's go steal a...chargen, I guess. 

The Game: Leverage
The Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
Degree of Familiarity: Hell, I'm not even caught up on the show. It's awesome, though. I've played some Serenity, but that's about as familiar as I am with the game.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, first thing I'm meant to do is get myself a blank rap sheet, but MWP doesn't have one available for download (FAIL). There are some here that look pretty spiffy, though, so I'll use one of those.

Second step is to consider your background. OK. My character had a fairly normal upbringing, except that he had amazingly acute allergies and asthma, and wasn't really able to run around outside. As such, he spent a lot of time playing video games, and that really became his great passion. He invented an MMORPG called Rooftops, which had probably the most advanced character-control-movement system ever for a game of its type, in which you jumped across rooftops all parkour style (yes, I'm going back to the parkour well, fuck you, it's my birthday). Anyway, the game became amazingly popular, and my character was approached to be lead animator on another game. His non-compete clause didn't allow it, though, and he dutifully refused their offer...only to see the boss' son, who didn't officially work for the company and had no such contract, take the job and use my character's work (which the company technically owned).

He quit and crashed their servers in spite, but word got out that he did it, and now the Internet kind of hates him. He's legally changed his name and everything, but he took away the lesson: powers corrupts, and the corrupt are often short-sighted and stupid. His name (now) is Oscar Kimball.

OK, sounds good. So now, we assign primary role. I think it's obvious he's a Hacker.

Next, we assign secondary role. That's what I'm second-best at doing. One of the things I like about this book is that they give you interpretations of each of the primary/secondary pairings, so a Mastermind/Hitter is a "Field General."

So what is Oscar good at? He's a programmer, and I think he's kind of sheltered, so Grifter isn't a good pick. He was pretty sickly for most of his young life, but you know I love parkour, and there's a temptation to make Thief his secondary for the acrobatics. Not Hitter, though; I like him sheltered and violence isn't his thing. Yeah, let's say Thief.

Assign Attributes is next. I think I'll do the Versatile spread, which is a d10, four d8s, and a d6.

I'll put the d10 into Intelligence. Just makes sense. I'll put the d6 into Vitality. Everything else gets a d8.

Choose one Distinction. Sure. A Distinction is just an asset kind of thing, based on how others see you. I take "Sheltered Upbringing."

Now, at this point we'd usually play through "The Recruitment Job" and finish the sheets, but we don't have time and there's only two of us, so we'll just pick the rest of the stuff. I get two d4s and a d6 to fill out my Roles, so I put the d6 into Mastermind (he can plan, it's just not what he's good at) and the d4s into Hitter (he thinks violence should be cooler than it is) and Grifter (most of his social interaction has happened online, which will fuck anyone up).

I get two more Distinctions, so I'll add 256 Toothpicks (he can count with almost savant-like skill) and From the Internet (should be self-explanatory).

Specialties! I get two, based on Roles. I take Graphic Design (Hacker) and Parkour (Thief).

Talents! I get two, and at least one has to be a Hacker Talent. I could make one up, but eh. I'll take Over the Shoulder Hacker (I can look over someone's shoulder as they log in and then do it later) and Perfect Timing. I'd like Aerialist, but I think that'll be something to aspire to.

Finally, I do a description. Oscar is tall, thin, and pale. He's got black tattoos on his forearms and shoulders and back, and he dyes his hair pink, green or blue when he's not on a con. He's always got a sci-fi novel in his pocket, and he speaks in 'net code.

That does leave the question of how Oscar hooked up with Alexandra Roarke (Michelle's character). She probably found him because she needed a hacker for her first Job (clearing her brother's name), and Oscar, frankly, is a softie for that kind of justice.

Character Creation: Dying Kingdoms

 So, why not! Let's challenge ourselves.

The Game: Dying Kingdoms
The Publisher: No idea. 
Degree of Familiarity: None. Honestly I don't even remember where I got the pdf, and it doesn't have a cover.
Books Required: Just the one.

Dying Kingdoms is a LARP, apparently of the "boffer" variety. There's apparently a following for it, but since I know next to nothing about LARPs outside of Rising, I can't tell you much. But I have the game, and it has chargen rules, and so here we are. What it doesn't have is a character sheet, but eh.

OK, so, it's basically a fairly standard fantasy sort of setting. The backstory looks interesting enough to get folks into this kind of game jazzed up. I'm not, especially, into this kind of game, so I read it and think, "Yeah, it's a fantasy game," but that's fine. One thing I do appreciate is that the human cultures are listed in the chargen section, along with some real-world analog, so if I'm the kind of player who can't play anything other than Scotsman, well I can play someone from (hang on) Culberra, and there we are!

I usually like to play magic-users in fantasy games, but I think I'll go against type and play a warrior. I'd be playing to my size, here, and therefore kinda to my body type. I think I'll even get really weird and play a troll. Fol rol de ol rol.

So, step one, I decide on a name. Trolls are mainly solitary creatures, and they aren't amazingly fond of people, ordinarily, but that doesn't mean they're entirely anti-social. Just not fans of crowds. My troll's name is Kurg.

Now, I pick role and history. Kurg is a troll chef. Yeah, that's right. They like good food and comfort, according to the book, and I think playing a character that looks all mean and tuff and stuff but can totally make a badass stew. Probably uses big chunks of stuff, since dexterity isn't his strong point. Anyway, he grew up with his parents and a few siblings, and he used to help out the family by flavoring the dinners with roots and herbs and stuff that he'd find. He's decent in a fight, but only because he's learned to hunt.

His parents are older now, his siblings have left and formed their own hollows, and Kurg is young and interested in the world. Not so much the big cities, but even there, he can generally find a small group of people to be social and cook with. He's found that even when he doesn't share a language with someone, he can give them food and at least be accepted. His motivations are basically, "see the world and learn its recipes."

I chose a race already (why isn't that before "role?"). My favored Skill is Mining, my favored weapon is cudgel. Guess I couldn't expect "rapier."

Now I purchase advantages and skills. I get 10 points with which to do so. I can also take flaws or drawbacks or whatever they're called to get more. I'll take Might as my Characteristic, why not. I'll take Sharp Smell and Taste as an Advantage. I'll also take the Troll Hide Advantage, since I can.

None of the Disadvantages really interest me, but let's see how Skills look. Ooh, Alchemy. I'll say that Kurg just learned some Alchemy from a dude in a city recently. Level 1 costs 2 points, and I'll need to look at another chapter to figure out what I can do. I'll take Footwork - even a troll should be able to keep his feet (2 points). I want Hunting 3, which costs me 6. Herbalism 3, costs 3. I'm over, I think. Yep, 13. Finally, Track 2.

Oh, hell, I still need combat. Just Cudgels, I think. That's my "favored" skill, but I don't know what that gives me. Either way, I'm 9 points over. Disadvantages!

Hrm. I'm starting to suspect I'm too far over. Let's strip Hunting down to 1, that'll buy me 4 points. Now I've only got to make up 5 points. Better. Hell, let's drop Herbalism to 2. Now I just need 4.

I'll take Slow Healer. Seems to make sense that a troll would do stuff slow. And then I'll take 2 points of Mystery, which is basically "let the GM screw with me, a lot." Finally, I'll take Vulnerability 1 - there's a spice that's very common in a lot of human cuisines, but makes Kurg horrible ill.

Kurg, Troll Chef and Gourmand
Characteristic: Might
Advantages: Sharp Smell and Taste, Troll Hide
Mundane Skills: Alchemy 1, Footwork 2, Hunting 1, Herbalism 3, Track 2
Combat Skills: Cudgels
Disadvantages: Slow Healer, Mystery 2, Vulnerability 1

And that's it! Gotta go cook!

Character Creation: Hunter: The Reckoning

We picked up some games at Michelle's parents' house in Oklahoma, one of which was Hunter. I figured that what with V20 coming out soon and W20 being announced, it was a good time to get all nostalgic and shit and do an OWoD character. So here we go!

The Game: Hunter: The Reckoning
The Publisher: White Wolf
Degree of Familiarity: Some. I wrote for a couple of the sourcebooks, and I ran it once or twice. I played in a really bad game of it in Cleveland, and then another really bad game of it in Atlanta.
Books Required: Just the Hunter book, but I happen to have the Players Guide and the Visionary Creedbook, in case I want them.

Michelle is doing this with me, as she occasionally does. 

So, Hunter. Like a lot of people, when the game came out I assumed, based on the ads with the cool-looking dude walking into the camera amidst flames and shotgun shells, that this was going to be about normal people hunting monsters. The word "Reckoning" implied some big event that would precipitate this, but beyond that, I wasn't expecting what we got, which was people tapped by God to go kill supernatural beings. No, really, that's the explanation, based on some of the redlines I got when working on Moonstruck and Nocturnal. God.

Well, whatever. I like everything in the game right up until the powers. I like the notion that the Messengers tap you to be a hunter ("Imbued") by sending a message - you suddenly see words reform into "KILL THE BEAST" or whatever. And then based on your reaction, you get a creed. If you do nothing, you're a bystander, someone aware of the supernatural but too chickenshit to do anything about it.

I didn't like the powers because they were, like Minnie Mouse, fucking goofy. You exhale death-fog? You glow with white light? They're not all stupid or anything, but if the name of the game is "normal people are tapped by Divine to fight monsters," then the Divine makes you awfully supernatural. I guess I would have preferred something more like Frailty, where the Divine works in subtler ways. But here I am saying "subtle" about an OWoD game, what's wrong with me?

Oh, and, you can only get level-5 edges if the Storyteller gives them out. And then they pretended that was a feature, not a bug, of the system. Argh. See, a lot of the higher-ups at WW then (and now) weren't gamers, and so the notion that you present a power and then jerk it away somehow didn't read as "dick move." I still think the game was, in large part, an exercise in missed potential. I also really regret that I didn't run a longer chronicle of it, because I suspect it might be fun. But I have Hunter: The Vigil, now, which has all of the awesome of this game plus a zillion more (and if a Hunter Translation Guide ever comes up, I'll...wave to Chuck, because if there's any justice in the world he'll get it).

So anyway, Michelle and I have decided that our characters met online, went to get coffee, and wound up Imbued. Let's see. My character's name is Samuel Lawrence Callahan ("Sam" is fine). Sam is barely Internet conversant, but he does type well, so he doesn't come off as a total boob online. He met Lila (Michelle's character) on a dating site, and they decided to get together.

Sam is 35, and was married for a few years and then divorced. He's a line worker for the electric company, gets to go up on the lines and try to fix them. He was generally happy enough, but lonely since the divorce, and a buddy said he'd had good luck on dating sites. Sam isn't sure what he wants out of life - he's a very in-the-moment type of guy, and asking him about long-term plans makes him get sleepy. Ask him if he's up for going bowling (or whatever) right now, and he's good with that. I think that makes his nature Conformist. His Demeanor is Survivor, at least it is now. He has a dog, and he built a kennel so his dog could get exercise while he's at work. Collie, I think. Named Hooper.

So, Sam and Lila met at a coffee shop (that she picked out - Bravissimo! It has free parking and good lighting). And there they were, when suddenly...! A werewolf crashes through the front window and flies into frenzy, starts tearing up the place. And Sam, starting to lose his mind in panic, looks up at the menu board and sees the letters change to KEEP YOUR HEAD. USE WHAT'S AT HAND.

Sam grabbed the cinnamon canister and opens it, and gives the werewolf a snoot-ful of cinnamon. While he's distracted with that Sam starts stabbing it with forks, trying to drive it to the door (Lila, meanwhile, gets people out of its way). To me, that suggests Sam is a Visionary.

Afterwards, we wind up at my place, where we get online and find hunter.net. Sam makes an account as "cherrypicker227". He didn't realize how dirty that sounded at the time.

OK, so, Attributes! We're doing 6/4/3 since we're still mortal. I think Physical is first, then Social, then Mental. Sam is average across the board, mentally. Two dots in Manipulation and Appearance, but one extra in Charisma - Sam's a likable guy. Three across the board in Physical. Sam works out and keeps himself fit.

Abilities! 11/7/4, here. That's not enough, but I can bump stuff up later. I figure Knowledges are last, so I'll put one into Bureaucracy, Computer, Investigation and Science.

Skills are first. Two in Animal Ken, Crafts, and Technology (he's not useless with tech, he's just not so online savvy). Demolition, Drive, Melee, Security and Survival all get one.

Finally, 7 dots into Talents. Two each into Alertness and Intuition, and then one each in Awareness, Brawl and Athletics.

Step Four: Advantages. Let's do Backgrounds. I'll take Exposure 2 because of the little coffee-shop incident. Two into Destiny because you're dumb if you don't. Last one goes into Resources.

Now, Virtues. I get three dots, Vision is my primary which means that the others can't exceed it. I'll put one into each, because I see Sam as a fairly open-minded guy.

Edges. Oy. I "spend" my Virtues on these, meaning I need Vision 3 to take a level two edge (because I'd need a level one Edge first, and that eats one point, and then I'd need points 2 and 3 to buy the level-two Edge. See what I mean about level 5 Edges being unavailable? The math doesn't add up!). Anyway, I want Foresee, the Vision Edge from the core book. The focus is the taste of coffee; Sam chews coffee candy when he uses the power now.

For my Mercy Edge, Hide doesn't sound like Sam and Demand sucks unless you've got a high Mercy. I'll take Bluster, letting me "dodge" attacks by shouting.

For the Zeal Edge, I remember Impact, from (I think) the Avenger book. Because I think I want an offensive Edge, I'll take it - lets me do more damage throwing stuff. I can't find the system online, though, because all Google does is find shit about the video game. Eh.

Moving on. I get 3 Willpower and 3 Conviction.

And finally, 21 freebies. I have a feeling they're going into Abilities.

Well, first I'll spend 3 and buy up Willpower to 6. I'll buy my starting Conviction up to 5; that's 5 spent. I'll spend 10 and buy up Wits and Perception to 3. That leaves me with 6.

I'll put them into Athletics and Crafts, for 3 dots in each. Any Flaws I want? Nah, screw it. I never liked the Flaws in the Players Guide anyway.

And that's it!