Character Creation: The Secret of Zir'an

This is one of those games that I read (on a plane, so hell, when was that? January?), meant to make a character, then set down and forgot about. But I have some time today, the kids are napping, Michelle's working (well, presently on break playing Dead Island), and we've got 3 more hours until Changeling.

Stew did a character for this game a while back, and it looked interesting to me for a lot of the reasons he mentions. It's a fantasy setting that isn't hugely boring, and it has lifepaths, which if you remember a couple of my other characters, are things I enjoy. So let's do this.

The Game: The Secret of Zir'an
The Publisher: Paragon Games, published through White Wolf's ArtHaus imprint
Degree of Familiarity: None. I've read it, once upon a time.
Books Required: Just the corebook.

Well, no sense mucking about. Step One: Choose a Race. As I've mentioned, I generally gravitate towards human unless something really intrigues me. The brief descriptions in this book don't really sway me towards anything, so I'll say my race is Ianer (which is basically "human").

Choose an Origin. OK, much of this book has this annoying artsy lettering behind the text, and it's really hard to read.

Anyway, because I'm Ianer and I'm adaptable and stuff, I get lots of choices here. Where would I like to be from? OK, I like Edyss. The country is peaceful and forward-thinking, and they tutor their kids carefully to make sure everyone is productive. It looks like it'd be a little smothering, but it doesn't have the same push (from what I read) for excellence that makes the way that China raises their kids a troubling prospect. Also, I like the benny I get - every session I can take temporary skills to represent shit that I learned a snippet of growing up. My native language is LaVas, my base Physique and Mass are 3, and my based Intelligence is 6, and my base Acuity is 5. My base Aptitudes begin at 1, but I can put an additional point in Mental or Social. I think I'll make that choice later once I know a little more about my character.

I start at age 16, but since this game has lifepaths I assume I'll get older as I make the character. I get Basic skill proficiency in Area Knowledge: Edyss, Area Knowledge: Zir'An, my choice of a Lore, my choice of a Science, my choice of an Artisan, Awareness, my choice of an Occupational Skill, Conversation, Connections (Professors, Adventurers, School or University). And then I get two points of Practice to put wherever I want. Well, hell. Guess maybe I should start thinking about this guy some.

Well, looking at the Lore skills, there's one for Aircraft. And you know, I haven't made a pilot character, I don't think. That might be fun. OK, I'll take Lore: Aircraft. (Oh, shit. Am I making Lord Flashheart?)

I'll take Science: Aeronautics. Just makes sense. For Artisan, I'll take Painting. Occupational Skill...hmm. Can't take Pilot, as that's covered by another skill. I'll take Dyer, making me adept (somewhat) at working with clothes, dyes and fabrics. For my Connections, I'll take Adventurers, why not. I'm not sure where to put my Practice points...hmm. How about into Aircraft Lore and Painting?

And now I'm into Step Three: Distribute "freebie" points into Primary Stats and Derived Stats based on campaign Power Level. Let's assume we're in a Heroic Power Level, because that sounds like fun. I get 12 Primary and 4 Derived stat points, and later I'll get 75 CCPs, whatever that means.

Well, I have four base Attributes, so if I divvy it up evenly, that gives me Physique 6, Mass 6, Intelligence 9 and Acuity 8. But while Edyssians are bred to be smart, I think my guy is quicker on the draw than that. So I'll knock Intelligence down to 7 and put Acuity up to 10.

Now, for Derived traits, without any points added they look like this:

Reaction 8
Speed 10
Perception 8
Shadow 8
Hand to Hand Damage 3

So now I get 4 points to add onto these. Um. Well, without knowing how the system works it's hard to say. But I figure Reaction and Speed would be good for a pilot. I'll put two into Reaction to bump it to 10, and actually I'll put the other two into Perception. There, 10's in the first three.

Step Four: Purchasing Skill Packages. I have 75 points, but I have to save some for other stuff, I think. These are the lifepath bit, so I'm jazzed. I can choose a skill package from somewhere not Edyss, because Ianer are travelers and all adaptable and stuff.

Well, so let's think about this guy. Assume I started off in Edyss and had an affinity for art and cloth - kites, paper-folding, stuff like that. My tutors figured I'd be good at engineering, but that all went away the day some buddies and I made a hang-glider. I learned theory, but only so I could get near an aircraft.

Following that idea, I'll take Gier l'Avonce Nacionall (Edyssian National Defense). He joined up to try and learn to fly aircraft. That eats up 27 of my points, 4 years of my life (I'm now 20), gives me two Aptitudes, 1 points in a language (common), 14 Skills. Hang on, let's see how this works.

OK, each Skill can normally only get one point per Package, and that point either buys a level of Finesse (Basic, Advanced, Expert, or Elite, though I can't go over Expert) or a point of Practice (though you need at least B in the skill to begin with). So I get 14 points here, and I want:

Empyriar (B)
Pilot (B)
Lore: Military (B)
Athletics (B)
Awareness (A)
Melee: short (B)
Ranged Weapons: Small (B)
Ranged Weapons: Medium (B)
Ranged Weapons: Heavy (B)
Security (B)
Stealth (B)
Survival (B)
Unarmed (B)
Connections: Edyssian Military (B)

Oh, and with 4 Aptitudes points I put two into Personal, one into Knowledge and one into Social. Oh, and I think I'll put that extra from before into Knowledge.

Next up: I figure my guy left military service and fell in with some disreputable sorts. I'll take Mercenary. That costs 19 points (so I'm up to 46 spent), takes up the next two years (I'm 22), and gives me an uncommon language (I'll take Dorralinath, since it's a technical language). Two Aptitudes; one Personal and one Social. Skills! I get 10 points.

Dorralinath (B)
Athletics (A)
Melee: Short (A)
Ranged Weapons: Small (A)
Ranged Weapons: Medium (A)
Ranged Weapons: Heavy (A)
Survival (A)
Unarmed (A)
Connections: Mercenaries (B)
Intimidation (B)

After running with a dangerous crowd for a while, my character got arrested. He was part of a gang, and he was smuggling some stuff he shouldn't have. So he did some time. Mostly, I just think it's cool that there's a Prisoner lifepath. This costs 8 points (54 spent), and eats 1d10 years (hang on...3). Two Aptitudes. Well, hell, Personal and Social, I think. Four Skills.

Athletics 1PoP
Awareness 1PoP
Melee: Short 1PoP
Intimidation 1PoP

Moving on. After getting out, my character decided to leave behind his life of petty crime...but reputation follows you. He went to Arivonne, where they appreciate good pilots, and followed his dream of finally getting to fly free. 13 points, 2 years. 1 Aptitude (Personal). 7 Skills. This, by the way, counts as my "outside my native country" pick for being Ianer.

Lore: Aircraft 1PoP
Pilot: (Ex) (I can increase it two steps here)
Ranged Weapons: Fixed (B)
Connections: Pilots (B)
Mechanics (B)
Awareness 1PoP

OK, I'm down to 8 points left, so I better quit with the lifepaths. That puts me at 27 years old, which might alter my stats somewhat. Nope, I'm an adult, by Ianer reckoning, so my stats are what they are. Moving on.

Step Five: Pick Positive and Negative Valdreyr. Valdreyr are Merits and Flaws, basically. I get a 4-point positive one for free for being Ianer. I can take negative ones to give myself more CCPs, if I like.

First things first: My freebie. Well, shit, Daredevil is pretty much perfect. Sign me up.

I'll take Enemy. My character stole some powerful stuff from a powerful man, and said man is still pissed. My guy only did 3 years in jail, but that was only because he got caught outside of said enemy's reach. The enemy still wants my character to suffer. I get 10 points for him.

OK, now, this is annoying. I want a plane. There's even one I like: The Ballinorian Tramp Flyer. But all aircraft is Very Rare, which means I need Connections at Expert to even think about it. I have no Connections above Basic, and frankly it's not reasonable that this character would be Wealthy...though hang on a minute. I have an idea.

I am, in fact, going to take another Lifepath. I'll take Life of Debauchery. Bear with me. That costs 7 (meaning that, with my Enemy, I have 11 points left) and eats 1 year. I Aptitude, which goes into Social. 4 Skills.

Connections: Pilots (A)
Connections: Zir'an Hedonists (B)
Seduction (B)
Socialize (A)

So here's what happened. He learned to fly (better) in Arivonne, and he met lots of pilots and became well-respected. He bought an old Tramp Flyer (I'll explain how later) and spruced it up to look pretty, and basically started a pleasure flight: Rich people pay him to fly them wherever, and they can fuck on the plane and so on.

Back at Valdreyr, then. I have 11 points. I'll take Wealthy. Here's why: When my character was a Merc, that smuggling job paid off better than he thought it would. The plan was to split the loot five ways (him and four of his partners), but then they got pinched after they hid the stuff. My character, by chance, was sent to a different prison, and the prison the other guys were in mysteriously burned to the ground, killing all the prisoners (my enemy? maybe). My guy got out, found the illicit goods, and is living high on the hog.

But here's the thing: He's bored. He pretends to be loving his high-flyin' life, but really, he's getting the itch to fly free again (Hand of Fate, which is this system's name for the GM, there's your cue).

Anyway, with Wealthy I get to raise the Finesse level of any two Connections. I'll raise Pilots (since it'll allow me to get my damn plane) and Zi'an Hedonists (duh). We'll get to what that means momentarily.

OK, I got 1 point left. I can take more Valdreyr, but I think the total can't exceed 28 (my age, and I assume it means absolute value, since the total at the moment is zero). So actually I can only take 8 more points. I'll take Dubious; I just feel like a crook (-1). I'll take Minor Disability (-4). I'm deaf in one ear (cannon went off while I was in the military, I wasn't wearing my ear protection). And, finally, Curious (+2), giving me +4 to any Awareness test where I'm searching or investigation something of interest.

I have four points left. Supposedly I can spend CCPs on Battle Arts. How? Oh, they're in Chapter 10. Well, shit, they're all multiples of 3, and I have four points. Argh. I'll take Trick Shot, anyway. That lets me shoot cigars out of mouths and other such things - sounds appropriate.

That leaves me with one more point, but buggered if I can find a way to spend it. Oh, wait, my math is wrong. I've got 27 point sin Valdreyr, and I can have 28. Fine. I'll take Luck at one point.

Now, Equipment! Oy. I wouldn't bother, but this actually kind of fun. OK, so I have five Connections: Basic, Basic, Basic, Expert and Advanced. That means I get, effectively, 18 Common items (1 Very Rare = 2 Rare = 4 Uncommon = 8 Common).

Well, I'll burn 8 to buy my plane. I want an Iberta (an Edyssian pistol), so that's 2. I'll take a dagger (1)...actually, hell with this. If I were playing him, I'd pick all the shit he has on his plane, but mostly I just wanted to make sure he got the plane. Oh, wait, should take some armor. Full leather, probably. And I've got the money, so I'll pay 2 Commons and make it custom-fit, which halves encumbrance (and, more important, sounds like the sort of thing this guy would do).

I figure out Movement and Vitality and shit, and now I just need a name. Actually, it occurs to me I'm more like Han Solo than Flashheart. Just as well. I couldn't be as awesome as Flash if I wanted to.
So my character's name is Gui Mellenae ("gwee"). And I think that about does it.

Speakin' Out With My Geekin' Out - Part 2

Cooking!

I've always loved food. I understand that there are people who'll pretty much eat whatever - they have the attitude of the daddy rat from Ratatouille (whose named is Django, by the way). Food is fuel, and as long as what you're eating keeps you going, it doesn't matter what you eat.

I, however, am not a rat, nor am I unfortunate enough to be in a position where any nourishing food is acceptable. I do recognize that millions of people live in conditions like that, however, and that's maybe a good thing for a foodie to reflect on occasionally. My favorite cooking show, Chopped, is promoting No Kid Hungry at present, so maybe slide over there and have a look?

Anyway: Cooking. I never really paid attention when my mother was cooking, I just sort of marveled at the result. In fairness, she didn't really ask for my help or offer to teach me, either, and mom can be a little...off-putting in the kitchen. That's her space, and she flies around, busy, a whirling dervish of culinary activity (she's slowed somewhat in her later years, but only the pace, not the level of intensity - seriously, you should see the stuff she makes for our parties), but it's a hard environment to learn in. Some of that is because she has trouble talking about what she's doing while she's doing it.

So I learned to cook gradually. I lived on my own and would occasionally throw stuff together rather than make Hamburger Helper, but I was largely winging it and I didn't know any technique. Even for the first several years of my marriage, I would cook dinner, but it would safe stuff, stuff I knew how to make. And I'd call mom for help, and I made a lot of easy stuff like casseroles.

And then Chopped came on. If you don't know, Chopped is a show on Food Network wherein four chefs compete for $10,000. They each get a basket of three or four ingredients, then they have to make an appetizer for three judges in 20 minutes. After that, one of the chefs leaves the show (is "chopped"). Repeat for dinner, and then dessert, last chef standing gets the prize.

I don't know how I got into the show. I think that it probably came on before or after some cupcake show that Heather was watching and I got sucked in. I used to love watching Iron Chef, and this hit some of the same buttons - improvisation and working under pressure is sexy. But what I discovered as I watched was that the basics of cooking aren't that hard. You have to know some things about your ingredients and you have to know some basics (learning to make a good roux was one of the best things I ever did), but mostly, cooking successfully is about creativity, time management, and having a good palate. Which, apparently, I do.

So with that in mind, I had Heather and Kai choose four ingredients and I made dinner (I did not, however, hew to a time limit). I don't remember offhand what that first dinner was, but I remember absolutely loving what I was doing. Solving a problem, being creative on a deadline (because although I don't restrict myself to 30 minutes for dinner, I gotta get it done in enough time to eat before bed!), and making sure that it tasted good - these were challenges that I wasn't used to.

A couple of years later, I'm still doing these "Chopped dinners" a couple of times a week (doing one tonight, in fact). Michelle chooses ingredients most often, though Sarah, Heather, Aaron and Kai all contribute. My players in my ongoing Misspent Youth game consistently bring ingredients, as do players in my other games, occasionally.

I generally blog these dinners over at my LJ, but I'll do one here, just so you can see what I mean. Last weekend, I was to Lima (Ohio, not Peru) with Sarah to visit her mama. Her mama had come to visit and had dinner with us once before, and enjoyed my cooking, and so I wanted to cook for her again, with her choosing the ingredients. After her initial protests about making me work (c'mon, this ain't work), we got some ingredients picked.



My ingredients here were: trout, strawberries, moscado, cream crackers, and brussel sprouts.

Now, I've cooked with all of these things before, except the crackers (but I tried one, and it was just a cracker - like a thick saltine with no salt). I knew from experience that brussel sprouts play nice with bacon, so I got some bacon, fried it in a pan, and used the fat to sautee some onions and scallions. When those were getting soft, I threw in the brussel sprouts, cover the pan, and let them soak in the delicious bacon.

Strawberries are sweet and the moscado is a sweet-ish white wine. I knew they'd go well together, but I also didn't want to make a sauce, necessarily (I always seem to do that with fruit). Instead, since we needed a starch, I got some jasmine rice and made that, and then I boiled the strawberries in the wine until they got soft. I fished out the berries and mixed them into the rice, which was perfect - sweet enough to counter some of the bitter from the brussel sprouts, but not too sweet that it didn't go with dinner.

The fish, well. I love trout, and I like to keep fish simple. I brushed the non-skin side with egg white, mashed up the crackers to act as a kind of crust, salted the fish, and put it in the skillet in some hot olive oil. The trick with fish is letting the skin-side go until the skin gets crispy, which winds up cooking it most of the way anyway. Then I flipped it and let the crackers get cooked (fortunately, not burned).

Wound up being a good dinner, but the brussel sprouts came out really exceptional. Bacon makes everything better.

Anyway, bottom line, here is: Cooking is easy and fun. Try it. Stuff that you cook yourself just tastes better.

Speakin' Out With My Geekin' Out - Part 1

Oh, I know, I don't really update here anymore. But blackhatmatt.com is out there as "my website" in a lot of places on the web, and I'll post this to my LJ as well as to Facebook and everywhere except Twitter ('cause I don't, not yet). But anyway.

Monica Valentinelli came up with this idea following on the heels of some pretty egregious nerd-baiting. The idea is: This week, post about how you geek. And I can get behind that. So I'm-a gonna talk about three of the ways that I geek. Ready? Go.

#1 My Kids: Best for last? Eh. I'm putting 'em first because they are.



Kai was born in October 2004, and keeps getting more awesome every year. He's internalized what I've told him about paying attention, about being kind to people, and about being curious. He loves listening to stories, telling stories, and generally interacting with the world (though, of course, he's as susceptible to the glowing lure of the Idiot Box as anyone - don't blame your kids for this, folks).

Last week, Kai was playing soccer on her munchkin team and a kid on the other team got knocked down. Kai immediately stopped, asked if he was OK and moved to help him up. This behavior, this kindness, which took me years and deliberate cultivation to achieve, is instinctive for him. I'm often surrounded by people who claim they don't like people very much, and so it's balm for my soul to be around my kiddo, who does.

And then there's this monster:



Cael (born June 2008) does not have his brother's intrinsic regard for life and kindness, it's true. He's not a mean kid, just...enthusiastic in some ways. But he is scary smart, articulate and he has this cherubic smile that I know is going to get him in trouble one day. My biggest hope for him is that his resemblance to my father bleeds over into his temperament, because Dad was seriously one of the most respectful and well put-together men I've known. And Cael's a dead ringer for him.

At the same soccer game, Cael was hanging out with me while I watched Kai play (Cael's munchkin team played before his). He started head-butting my chest and I said, "What are you, a billy goat?"

Without missing a beat: "No! I'm a silly goat!"

Cael wins.

I geek out about my kids because I'm a parent. Most parents will geek about their kids given half a chance, and folks without kids will sometimes bag on us for that. That's fine. You don't have to get it. You don't even have to listen. Just understand: Literally everything in my life is less important to me than my kids, and that's not to say that other things are unimportant. It's just to say that when my eldest was born after that long night in 2004, I fell in love, and then it happened again three-and-a-half years later.

Part 2: Cooking coming later!