Character Creation: Predation

I was not expecting to enjoy this game as much as I did, but I also never expected to groove on the Cypher System as much as I do, so.

The Game: Predation
The Publisher: Monte Cook Games 
Degree of Familiarity: Never played this particular game, but I've been running The Strange for a while and I agree with the author's thesis that dinosaurs are awesome
Books Required: Predation and theoretically the Cypher System core, though I don't know if the latter is strictly necessary for chargen

 

The central idea of Predation is that time travelers went back to the Cretaceous and set up shop, and a couple of generations later, time travel just...stopped working. PCs in the game are the children or grandchildren of the original time travelers ("Commuters"), and everyone is mighty worried about this whole extinction-level event asteroid thingie that's probably due any year now.

But, everyone gets a companion animal, so that's freaking cool.

Characters are, as is the usual for Cypher System, defined as an [adjective] [noun] that [verbs]. I actually start with the noun, or "type." I've got four choices, here: Karns (warriors), tecs (sciencey types), pteryx (explorers) and osteons (social folks). I think I'm gonna lean in to my predilections for a game like this and be a pteryx. As such, I start with Might 10, Speed 9, and Intellect 9, and six points to divide however I wish. I believe I shall put 4 into Speed and 2 into Intellect.

Oh, and some of my stuff is taken from the Explorer type in Cypher, so I guess I do need to grab that book. OK, here we go. Effort 1, Might Edge 1, 2 Cyphers at a time, practiced with light and medium weapons. I also get the Discover Dinosaurs ability, I get a choice abilities from the Predation book, and I get a companion, but that'll happen later. For my abilities, I'll choose...Extra Edge (gives me Speed Edge of 1, which is good), Trained Without Armor (I'm trained in un-armored Speed defense, or "dodging" as it's sometimes known), and Physical Skills (balancing and climbing).

I also get a Background Connection, and since I don't have much sense of this character yet I shall toss a d20. Oh, perfect. I grew up inside a concrete and metal compound, rarely saw the sun, and now I don't go inside if I can help it.

Now we do Descriptor, the adjective in our little sentence. I can pick from the ones in either book, so I gotta skim through. Hmm. Daring is fun, but I think I'll lean into my Background and pick Naive. My character is just out of his compound. I'm trained in perception, Intellect defense, and I get +1 to recovery rolls, but I also have an inability in seeing through deception.

I also pick an initial link to the starting adventure, but for Naive they're all pretty basic, so I'd probably just go with "Sounded like fun!" and leave it there.

(Side note: I like characters that join adventures because adventures are awesome, but something I rarely see at the table is that character realizing that parts of the adventure aren't fun - someone bleeds, folks are hungry, things are scary - which I think would make for a good RP moment.)

Focus! Oh, man. There are so damn many. I think, though, that I like Explores Deep Waters. I figure that being Naive and doing that makes sense, considering the aquatic dinos that are happy to try and eat you. I can dive from 100 feet up and withstand pressure up to 100 feet, I can hold my breath for 5 minutes, and I'm trained in a bunch of water-related stuff.

Nice! Just need to do equipment and pick a companion. I'll say my guy (who's name is Third Morning, or Termor for short) has a set of strangely clean and well-kept clothes, a spear tipped with the tooth of some fearsome aquatic dinosaur, and a SATI rebreather that lets him function underwater. Ter-Mor was part of a SATI program to try and reconnect with the time travelers by making some kids believe that they were still in the future, a kind of temporal harmony thing. Who knows if it would have worked; the secret was blown very early, and Termor and his friends found a drain that led into the river. Most of them were too scared to go after they saw the carnosuchus, but Termor stole the rebreather and kept training, eventually plucking up the courage to swim to the surface, where he was picked up by a fishing boat.

Now, as for his companion, I would love an aquatic or amphibious dino, is that doable? Sure, because I can make something up. My companion is an gaviaraptor, a species of raptor bred to defend people on the riverbeds from the carnos and other aquatic (people say they were bred with duck DNA, but really they're more closely related to loons). They have slick, black and yellow feathers and they're more streamlined than other raptor species, able to swim swiftly by undulating their bodies. My companion is named Odette (after the main character in Swan Lake, because gaviaraptors make their weird songs and Termor has read about swans and their songs, so...yeah).

Raptors normally are trained in all sneaking-related tasks, but I'll say that Odette is trained in all swimming related tasks, including underwater combat. I'll also say that the first time Termor met Odette, she took a snap at him, but they've worked it out. Oh, and Odette's Disposition is Curious, so I get an asset in perception tasks when she helps me search, look, or listen.

And I think that's it!