Character Creation: How We Came to Live Here

Sure, why not.

The Game: How We Came to Live Here
The Publisher: Galileo Games, though they're no longer selling this game (see below)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one.

 

So, addressing the elephant in this particular room, How We Came to Live Here has received criticism for appropriating Native American culture, and so Galileo Games has pulled it from their catalog while they revise it. And that's probably a good thing; I did find as I was reading it that I kept thinking "boy, a white guy wrote this, huh?" Which, like, fine, we grow, we learn. It's still got a chargen system, so here we are.

The game deals with the People, who belong to clans, and then within them also belong to kiva societies (basically religious/mystical sects; they're also gender based). There are monsters out in the dark, too.

Making a character starts with making a Village, which of course would be a whole-group kind of activity. There's an example of character/village creation, though, so I'm gonna use that. The name of the village is Shelter Bay. We've got badlands and a beach. Good!

And then I choose clan. My birth clan is the clan of my mother, and then there's my father's clan. I get traits from both. 'Scuse me while I reread those clans. I'm gonna say mom was from the Red Earth Clan (potters and shapers, also associated with blood) and dad was from the Knife Clan (warriors).

Neat, then I get traits from both. These are effectively Aspects, except they're purely positive (and then there are failings, which aren't). I know for my birth clan failing I want "bleeds easily." As traits, I'll take "a thousand cousins" (Red Earth Clan is numerous) and "hands stained with hard work" (they're skilled potters).

And then from dad's side of the family, the Knife Clan, I'll take "warriors die young" (dad died shortly after my character was born) as the failing, and "skilled at evasion" (if you bleed easily, don't get cut).

Step Three is to choose a gender, but I did that. Step Four is personal traits. Hmm.

Well, I want my character to be comfortable getting his hands dirty - crafting, fixing, or manipulating the world around him. Red Earth folks tend to be warm and friendly, and he is; he's a good listener but he's cagey because vulnerability is hard (because he's used to bleeding more for his trouble). So I'll say that his personal failing is "does not trust people". For his traits, I'll say he "always finishes his work" and "knows the village and the lands" (raw materials, you see).

Step Five is to assign pools. Skill, Strength, Faith, Spirit, and I get to assign 4, 3, 2, 1. Hmm. I think Spirit can be my lowball, I guess. I'll put my 4 in Skill (it include Artistry), my 3 in Faith, and my 2 and Strength.

Next I choose a name. Names in this game are kind of faux-Native deednames, like "He-Fools-The-Wolf" and whatnot. I'll say his name is He-Shapes-The-Stone (there's rock around here, I can carve it). As a child, he was called "He-Bleeds-For-Hours."

Step Seven is to choose a kiva society that I've become an initiate to. Hrm. A lot of them involve cutting as part of the initiation, and like, I don't see my guy really going for that. Let's say that he joined the Talking Society...oh, wait, god damn it. There are prescribed traits for all of the clans and societies. That is not clear from the text, nor is there a "list of traits are on p. 121", for fuck's sake. Grr. Bad design. Also these are boring.

OK, hang on, gotta print out a new sheet. Grr again. So for my Red Earth traits, I'll take "great crafter" and "can be trusted." For my failing, I'll take "must get his way." For Knife Clan, I'll take "brave" (yawwwwn) and "proud" (also yawn).

For my personal traits, I'll take "refuses to be cut" and "cagey," and for the failing I'll take "bleeds easily."

OK, back to the kiva society. The trait I get is "touched by spirits," and I get Spirit Channeling as an ability.

Step Eight is to build a village web, but I'm gonna skip that because it's just me. Step Nine is Ambitions. I'd pick one per session we'd plan to play, and they fall into one of four categories. I think I'll take two, Community and Renown.

For Renown, my ambition is to "win a fight with a stronger opponent without taking a scratch." For Community, it's "craft something that all the village can use."

And that's it!