Character Creation: Majus

This is me, finding job satisfaction in Paraguay.

The Game: Majus
The Publisher: Goblinoid Games 
Degree of Familiarity: None, but I've played lots of modern occult/fantasy games, and of course the system is pretty much identical to Chill 1st Ed
Books Required: Just the one

Majus is from a company that produces "old school" RPG products, and while I don't want to go on a rant (hell, even using the word "rant" feels wrong, because I don't actually care that much), I've never quite understood the appeal of "old school" games.

Don't get me wrong, I get nostalgia for games that one played in years of yore. I get why you'd want to pull out your old D&D or GURPS 1st Ed or whatever, but like, games got better. Games made in the 70s and 80s, and even into the 90s, were often not just problematic but clunky in a lot of ways. So, again, I get wanting to play them again out of nostalgia, but what I don't get is making new games that ignore 30 years of progress in the art form and then saying "look! This is better!" No, it ain't.

Anyway, all of this to say that as I was reading Majus, I was struck by how it managed to make a genre and some source material I really liked (urban fantasy and hardboiled detective, and Dresden/John Constantine, respectively) and make it just kinda ehh? The book is dry, the art is lackluster, and I never get a sense reading the game that this would be a fun way to embody modern-day magic-slinging detectives. Which is a shame, because a game that did that would be awesome.

But, I am, of course, gonna make a character, and it's going to be quick because a lot of it is random. To wit:

Steps One and Two of chargen are pretty much gimmes; Step One is "get your shit together" and Step Two is "make up some background", but I find that in systems with random chargen it's not always a great idea to do background before numbers, so I shall skip ahead.

Step Three is Skills. I get Occult for free ('cause I'm a Majus), and then I roll a d10 and get a 7, which means I get 5 Skills. By default, they're all at Specialist level, though I can sacrifice a slot and take one at Expert. I think, however, that I shan't do that, because the skills are granular enough that I suspect I'll want my slots (or maybe that's just combat skills, I'll check).

I think I'll take: Stunt Driver, Pilot, Martial Arts, Disguise, and Humanities (Literature). My character is (or was) a stunt performer in films, but has always had an abiding interest in magic. While laid up with an injury, he hit the books and began practicing actual magic.

OK, now Basic Stats. I need to roll 3d10, multiply by 2, add 20 (what the shit). I get: 58, 54, 68, 72, 56, 44, 58, 58. Not bad, actually. Now I just need to slot them in.

Well, I don't want my Luck to be low (stunt man), so I'll put one of my 58s there. Stamina, Strength, and Agility shouldn't be terribly low, either, so I'll put 68, 58, 58 there. I'll put my 56 in Dexterity, my 72 in Willpower (it's all mental, son), my 54 in Personality, and that leaves 44 as my dump stat in Perception.

My Unskilled Melee is the average of my STR and AGL, which is 58 (that was easy). Penetration bonus (what is this, FATAL?) is +5. STA recovery rate is 5, and I have 14 Wounds available.

And now I finally get to do some magic shit! I get three "adits," which are basically broad magic effects. They're broken down Specialist/Expert/Master like Skills, with different effects available at each level. There's no place on the sheet for them, but I guess magic isn't all that important. In this game about magic. Hoody-hoo.

Anyway, I get three, or I could take two and then take a Paranormal Talent. It's kind of in-concept to do that, maybe, but let's see.

Well, I think Blessing is pretty appropriate and nicely straightforward. Healing, too, seems like something this guy would find useful. Oh, and then there's a Paranormal Talent called Ignore Pain, perfect!

Figure out my scores, easy enough. Most of my actual scores, once bonuses are applied, are in the 70s, and I can live with that. Beyond that, just background stuff.

So: My character's name is Rod Arlington (it's a stage name). He came to LA at 18 with dreams of being an actor, but he's actually not very good at acting. He's handsome enough and has a decent film presence, but mostly he's good at the physical stuff. He got work as a stunt man, and over the years he's learned to stunt-drive and even to fly helicopters and small aircraft. He also lived with a girl his first couple of years in LA who was heavily into magic - like real-actual magic, not woo shit.

She moved out and left behind some of her books (she said she didn't need them anymore and books are heavy), and Rod, always an avid pleasure reader, started picking his way through them. The principles therein always made a weird kind of sense to him, and he was able to apply those principles to shut off pain while working, but he never had the time or patience for the really impressive stuff. And then he missed a landing pad doing a falling stunt and broke his shoulder and his arm, and spent the time while healing to actually get into casting spells.

Rod is still working on movie sets, but there's also a deeper occult world out there and he's very interested in seeing what it's all about. After all, Maji are probably the bookish sort, and probably they could use a meathead like Rod, right?

Rod is tall and heavy (he put on some chub while laid up, but it's coming off). He has brown hair and brown eyes, and no matter how much he tries he can't quite shake his Alabama drawl.

That'll do it!