Character Creation: Westward

Last character of July. Normally that would mean only a week or so before going back to work, but who fuckin' knows anymore.

The Game: Westward

The Publisher: Wicked North Games

Degree of Familiarity: None

Books Required: Just the one

 

I backed this game on Kickstarter waaaaay back in 2012 or so, and just never got 'round to flipping through it. It's billed as "steampunk western", but reading it, it's got a lot to do with survival in a hostile world (which plays in to western, I suppose) and big ol' steampowered mechs. Which, sure, sounds good. The writing didn't hook me, but life's like that. I'm sure it's perfectly playable, uses a d6 dice pool system. 

 

Anywhichway, let's see. Three methods of character creation. Hey, these look familiar. Basically, pre-made (although it's characters the GM makes, not pregens included in the book), templates, or build from scratch. Well, I'm going the third route, thanks.

Very weird couple of paragraphs about naming characters, including a note that some players play the same character (or use the same name) in every game, which makes me itch, and then a note that maybe you'll be famous someday and the character sheet with your name on will be worth something. Man what.

The first thing I'm apparently meant to choose is trade. There's a list of examples. Now, does having a particular trade mean anything, mechanically, or is it purely conceptual? Looks like the latter, since you can make them up. Well, I think I'll go with "blaster," someone with an interest in explosives. Mining is a big deal around here, so that could be a kind of career trajectory. I'll name him Olaf Blom, sounds like a name you'd associate with things going "boom."

"Race." All of them are human, so is "race" the word we want, here? I dunno. Well, kinda, because "misanthropes" have mutations that set them outside the human race. But the book also says they're killed on sight, so are they really a playable character type? Weird. Anyway, Olaf is a Settler. He lives outside the walls of society and out on the frontiers.

10 dice to throw around in Attributes, 7 dice in Skills. And the Skills are printed on the sheet, hallelujah. Where should my points go to be a blaster? Well, "Demolitions" is a Skill under Aptitude, so evidently I want some points there. I'll put four points there, boosting it to 5 (Attributes start at 1), two points into Intellect and Persona (I want Olaf to be crusty but genial), and one point each into Dexterity and Strength.

Now for Skills. Obviously I want Demolitions. Oh, wait, all of the Skills under a given Attribute already have ratings equal to that Attribute, so I've already got a 5 in Demolitions. Well, I'll put two more there. One each in Engineering, Survival, Willpower, Stamina, and Throw (GRENADE!).

And now I have seven Cinema Points, which I can save for use in play (nah) or use to buy Features (yah). Mostly I think I'm looking at Creation Only or General Features, just because the other types tend to be too costly.

Well, I think I'll spend 3 and take Gizmo, which gives me a +7 to Aptitude Skills. I'll spend 1 and take A Way with Words (+8 to Languages), just because it's something you wouldn't necessarily associate with a dude that blows things up. And I'll spend the last three on Calibrate; I can make an Engineering roll and then get a +12 to any roll with technology for 3 rounds.

Beyond that, just gear, but I'm not getting into that. I'd want Olaf to have explosive equipment and mining gear, maybe a map with some potential sites marked off.

So, background stuff. Olaf was raised in a mining town, and demonstrated an aptitude for engineering and chemistry, but also a good ear for dialect and language. When he was small, he picked up on a stranger's quirky turns of phrases and identified him as a Colonial spy, looking to help the bigger cities move in an absorb the town's mine and resources. Rather than expose the guy, though, he blackmailed him into helping him get some formal training in blowing shit up, and then exposed him anyway, and then legged it the hell out of town and left everyone to figure out the mess on their own. That's a situation that might very well come home to roost one day, but Olaf is over 40 now and he's never seen anyone from his own town or anyone come looking for him, so he figures it blew over.

Olaf travels, selling his services to towns that need mines opened up or obstructions removed. He's crusty-looking, has a big old beard and a full head of hair that won't cooperate, but anyone thinking him a crazy old prairie coot has another think coming. Olaf is shrewd and attentive, and he finds that people tend to assume that crazy old prairie coots don't lie, which he's happy to play to his advantage.

That'll do it!