Character Creation: Fae Nightmares

I'm putting together a collection of games to pitch to my group that recently finished a Blades in the Dark campaign, and this was one of the ones I considered and rejected.

The Game: Fae Nightmares
The Publisher: Dark Smile Games 
Degree of Familiarity: Never played this particular game, but I've got plenty of experience with Savage Worlds and urban fantasy in general
Books Required: Fae Nightmares and Savage Worlds

I backed this game on Kickstarter a long time ago. There were delivery issues: the estimated release date was May 2014 and I got my book in January 2019 (though I got the PDF before that). But hey, it got released, that's the important thing.

I have to say, though, reading it is a little disappointing. Not because the concept isn't solid - the general idea is that there's a war between the Fae going on and you're playing someone that starts human but gets progressively Fae-er as the game goes on, which is cool. I did find, reading it, that I wasn't hooked. The basic ideas are fun, but they don't have a lot of pop, and there was nothing that really caught my interest and said "ooh, run this." With that said, I did think things like "I could run this, with a little patching," so that's not bad.

(Also, there are five credited editors on this book but evidently none of them know the difference between "loose" and "lose," which is kind of a shame.)

Anyway, let's get to it. The game assumes I'm a member of the Court of Roses, which is at war with the Court of Blades (an aside: I really like that the game doesn't default to "Seelie" and "Unseelie"). I need to choose one of four Origins: Gifted, Changeling, Sighted, and Precious. I want to play a Gifted. They have a magical item that they won/stole/tricked from a faerie, and now they're stuck with it.

Last night Michelle and I watched a truly terrible movie called Wolvesbayne, written by someone who clearly has played a WoD game or two in his life (the phrase "a world of darkness" was used at least twice). I kind of want to play a character who stumbled into the supernatural much like Russell Bayne in that movie, but I think I can do better on the name.

So my character is Carlo Gates (that name literally came from a random generator and it's better than "Russell Bayne"). He's rich - he inherited some money from his father and then he invested in apartment buildings, which made him richer. He recently acquired a new building and was doing some work on it one evening (his buildings aren't exactly luxury, but he keeps everything up to code and he prides himself on being able to do a lot of home repair at least semi-competently) when a bunch of people arrived and went into the basement. He followed them down and one of them got in his face, and he said he owned the building. He heard the word "eclipse" being thrown around (in-setting, an "eclipse" is neutral ground), and he told them all to piss off. They left, and he shoved the last guy out the door, but his ring got caught on a chain around the guy's neck. The guy fell over and everyone gasped, and the guy looked back at Carlo and said "fine, keep it. Much joy may it bring you." Carlo realized he was holding the guy's chain in his hand.

Since then, Carlo's life has been...a little weird.

OK, good start. I begin with the standard 5 points to spend on basic stats, and I'm thinking Carlo's Smarts and Agility need to be his higher ones. I'll put two into Smarts (d8), one into Agility (d6), two into Spirit (d8), and that leaves Vigor and Strength at a d4, which is probably unwise, but maybe I'll be able to find points to raise them later.

15 points in Skills, and why aren't they on the sheet grr. Anyway. There's one new Skill (Trickery), and the rest are Savage Worlds standard. Well, I'll take Driving at d6, Gambling at d4, Intimidation at d6 (white man from town), Investigation at d6, Knowledge (Law) d4, Notice d8 (he's started pay attention more of late), Persuasion at d4, and Repair at d8. Note the complete lack of combat ability.

Next up, Hindrances n' shit. I have to take a Bane because I'm fae-adjacent. I'll take fire, meaning if I touch flame I'm Shaken and it does extra damage. Dunno, just seems appropriate for some reason. Bane is a Major Hindrance, but it comes from my Origin, so I guess it doesn't count against what I can take for more points. I'll take Can't Tell a Lie, because it feels punitive and that's appropriate. And then for my Minors, I'll take Greedy and Stubborn. Oh, wait, no, Can't Tell a Lie is Minor (that seems wrong). I'll drop Greedy, then, and I'll take Overconfident instead.

Now I get a free Edge (for being human, more or less) and I have four points to play with. Well, I know I want Rich. I also like Can't Fool a Trickster, which gives me a resistance to being tricked, but it requires Trickery d6, so I shall put two points there and then two points for the Edge. Good.

The next thing is my Gift. I get three powers, and I know I want Small Target and Subtle (it's hard to hit and hard to notice), and Last Breath (if it breaks, it explodes and does a bunch of damage, but not to me).

Derived stuff: My Pace is 6, Glamour and Charisma are both 0, Parry and Vigor are both 4 (that may be unwise). There's a slot on the sheet for Fae Lord, so I think that's the guy whose necklace I stole. His name is Amarlek, and I'm not his only Nightmare. The fact that he adopted me at all is a little weird, but he's encouraged me not to give up my mortal life, which makes some folks think that the has need of my money...or my properties.

Physically, Carlo is in his 30s, fit, slight paunch, short, neat beard, wire-rimmed glasses, and favors jeans and t-shirts, but keeps a button-down and a blazer in his car. He keeps the chain around his neck, usually tucked into his shirt. He's got blue eyes, but they've gotten steadily grayer since all this started going down.

And that's it!