Character Creation: Blood Red Sands

Kinda got out of my rhythm, here. I blame Subnautica. 

The Game: Blood Red Sands
The Publisher: Galileo Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Man, this game breaks my heart. Not because of any criticism I have of it - far from it, I'd really love to play it. The problem, though, is that it's GMless and competitive, and the only way it would work is if all players read the book, learn the rules, and (here's the biggie) take initiative. I have some players who could do it, but I don't think I could get them all into the same group, much less the nine times it would take to play through a Saga. Alas. Maybe someday. 

Anyway, Blood Red Sands is very much a sword-and-sorcery, kinda Conan/John Carter inspired sort of thing. It's meant to be violent and brutal, and players are encouraged to play to win. That's so uncommon in an RPG; mostly we're told that the story or the fun is paramount, and the rules should be jettisoned if need be. Even in PbtA games, where the rules aren't treated as optional but there's fewer of 'em, the game is a "conversation" and collaboration is key (one of the principles of most PbtA games is "be a fan of the characters"). 

Here, however, there's a winner and a loser, and if you lose a Saga you're outright told that you kinda suck at this and you get a penalty if you play another Saga. With the right group, I can see this being a lot of fun.

Anyway, I'm gonna make a Hero character. We start by building the Hero Component (everything in this game is made of Components, each of which is made of dice, each die has an Aspect and a Trait). I need to use six dice to make this Component, and I get a set of dice: 4d10, 4d8, 4d6, 4d4. 

Well, I need to have at least a little bit of a concept before I start, but at the end of the day every Hero is a lone wanderer looking to take revenge on one of the Witch Kings.

OK, cool. I want to play a kind of "Dark Wanderer" character, someone who can't speak. He's simply called "the Silent Warrior". Long cloak, hood over his face, walks hunched over so he's taller than he looks at first. Good start, now I can think about Traits. I need one of them to be a d4 because I get one Legendary Trait to start, and it has to be a d4, and I want to put it here rather than in the next step. It has to relate to how the Silent Warrior became an aimless wanderer. I think I want him to be the last survivor of an assault by one of the Witch Kings on his home, and because it's just me, I'll say that Witch King was Aedina, Eater of Magic. Her forces drained the life from the village, and my character was left breathing in the choking fog. He survived, but his voice was gone. I'll call that Trait "Stolen Voice." Needs an Aspect, which should pretty clearly be Fortitude (rather than Force or Finesse).

Right, that's done. Now, five more Traits! I want the Silent Warrior to be a grim, unrelenting warrior, and I think it'd be cool if he didn't usually use weapons, at least up close. Have a bow would be cool, though. I also want him to have no fear of magic (not to say it can't hurt him, he's just not afraid of it and resistant to it). Let's set up his Traits this way:

Relentless in Battle 1d10 Force
Needs No Weapon 1d10 Force
Does Not Fear Magic 1d10 Blessed (this is a Sorcery Aspect, so I have to discard my last d10)
Marksman and Hunter 1d8 Finesse
Terrifying Countenance 1d8 Force

Cool! Lots of Force. So now I get a Feature. Features are external things; weapons, mounts, and so on. I want a companion, a terrified old man that the Silent Warrior pressed into service to be his voice. For some reason that we'd probably want to explore in play, he can "hear" the Warrior's intent and desires. He's terrified of the Warrior and wants to be free of him, but feels he can't, at least not yet. His name is Greymoch. 

I need to give Greymoch 2 to 4 Traits. I'll say he Hears the Warrior's Heart (1d6 Soul Fused, so I discard a d6). I'll say he's Observant (1d8 Finesse). And I think that'll do for right now; I could give him more Traits, but I'd want to be able to flesh him out in play.

All that remains, then, is an origin story:

The Silent Warrior was once a simple hunter and villager. He brought back meat for his family and the others in his town, but none of them knew their town sat on a wellspring of powerful magic. Aedina the Magic Eater arrived one moonless night, and her forces came as a choking fog, killing everyone and everything in the village...except him. The fog burned his throat and his soul, destroying his voice, but also robbing him of any fear of magic. He took up his bow and began wandering the lands, but he had no focus until he met an unassuming man named Greymoch. Greymoch could hear the Warrior's heart, if not his thoughts, and he knew that what the Warrior truly wanted, above all, was to see Aedina choked to death on her own stolen power. When Greymoch voiced this, the Warrior nodded, and beckoned to the old man, and the old man followed.

And that about does it, actually. Everything else on the sheet would get filled in during the Ordeals, assuming the Warrior lived through them.