Character Creation: NCOK

First we make a character, then we dust. My life is exciting.

The Game: No Country for Old Kobolds
The Publisher: Steve Wallace Art
Degree of Familiarity: None; it's a PbtA game so I know the underlying assumptions
Books Required: Just the one

No Country for Old Kobolds is a Dungeon World hack that has the players taking on the roles of kobolds, those lovable (?) little dog/lizard people that get slaughtered in droves by first level D&D characters. NCOK embraces their limited lifespan, so players are actually taking on the role of a family more than an individual character (that is, you play one character at a time, but when that character dies, you'll make a new scion of that line). 

Like a lot of PbtA games, there's a lot of player-created background. If I were actually playing, we'd make a kobold village, which is really the lifeblood of the game. Also, we'd come up with neighboring Countries that make life hard on us. 

But, as usual, I'm not gonna do the backstory stuff because that's group work and this is just me. The good news is that to make a kobold, I really don't need the other stuff. So here we go! 

First I need a family name. I'll choose Pondscum. 

Now, looks, complete with the usual PbtA lists. I'll say that my little Pondscum (huh, that doesn't sound fun, easy to see why they went with ponies instead) has milky eyes, a short frame, green-tinted scales (hence the name), and stubby horns.

Stats! I get 1, 1, 0, 0, -1, -2 to divide up between the usual six D&D stats. After this particular Pondscum dies, I'd use his stats as a base but add one to one of them to represent the...evolution, I guess?...of the family. Let's put the -2 in Constitution, that'll make me die fast. I'll put the -1 into Strength, my 0s into Wisdom and Intelligence, and my 1s into Charisma and Dexterity. 

I get WIS+2 (so 2) Abilities. I'll play to my strengths, such as they are, and take If I Can't See Them..., allowing me to become invisible by staying perfectly still, and Voice of the Wild, allowing me to command animals to do my bidding.

And, finally, I roll a d6 for my hit points. I roll a 6! That means I start with 4 hit points, because of my shitty CON score (though 4 is actually pretty respectable for a kobold). 

My kobold's given name is Bloop (the Pondscum family gives birth in the swamp, and children are named after the first sound the make. Often it's some variation on "bloop"; it's kind of our "John"). His scales are green and tend to have residual algae on them, his eyes have a nictitating membrane that makes them look cloudy, and Bloop feels most comfortable in the water with just his eyes and horns visible. He looks a lot like a bullfrog when he does that...which is great, except that other species eat bullfrogs. Ah, well.

That'll do it!