Character Creation: Overlight

The weather outside is monochromatic, but the game is so ecstatic...

The Game: Overlight
The Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Not a lot; I played it at Origins some years back
Books Required: Just the one

Overlight was on our shortlist to play recently. We wound up choosing Atlantis instead, but I think I shall have to put this into the rotation at some point. Fantasy RPGs are a dime a dozen, but Overlight has a strong aesthetic (kaleidoscopic fantasy!), some interesting new races, a system it unabashedly commits to, and (this one's important to me) does not care about shopping lists or equipment bonuses. 

So, in brief, the world has shattered into seven continent-sized "shards," stacked on top of each other, and hovering under the Overlight and over the Sea Beneath. Various Folk live on these shards; the Folk species are native to one shard or another, but travel is possible and the PCs are all Skyborn. That is, they're born with a sense of purpose and wanderlust, and don't quite fit in amongst their native peoples (which I freaking love, because it lets you play the race that are usually homebodies without an overly contrived reason to leave the Shire, as it were). 

Oh, one other thing I love about this book: The font is big enough to read easily and the graphic design carries the look of the game without fucking with readability. Moving on, chargen. 

Step One is Character Concept. I want to play a healer, but I want him to have a kind of sinister edge. Not necessarily be sinister, but just to come off as kind of strange. Kind of character who'd wind up getting accused of being a traitor and then it was actually the cute fluffy kitten or whatever. 

Step Two is to choose Folk. I already know I want him to be an Aurumel, one of the long-limbed, mask-wearing inhabitants of Veile. That gives me a Vigor rating of d8, Craft and Performance ratings of d6, and, optionally, the Mask of the Aurumel Gift. I'll come back to that.

Step Three is a Background. Each Folk has seven possibilities here ("seven" is very big in this game), and they determine backstory and occupation kind of stuff. I know I want my character to be a Jeweler Chirurgeon (it lets me heal people by sewing gems into their skin). It gives me a bunch of stuff related to that (scalpels, embedder's instruments, etc.), a Wealth rating of d10, 6 Wealth points, and the Flesh Shaper Gift. 

Step Four is Core Virtue. It can't be Vigor, because that's the Aurumel Virtue, and it has to be different than that (see above about being Skyborn). Hmm. It's kinda between Logic and Compassion, and I think Compassion makes the most sense for my healer.

Step Five is Character Points. I get 45 of them, but I need to make sure I don't spend them all. Well, to elaborate, any I don't spend become my starting Spirit Point pool, which would be important if I were going to play this character, so I maybe won't stress too much about leaving some. Anyway, I can boost Virtues, Skills, and Chroma (magic stuff!) with these. Let's see, what Skill do I use to heal? Oh, it depends who's doing the healing and how. Well, Craft, then, obviously. My Craft starts at d6, but I want that higher.

Buying a Skill from d6 to d10 would be 8 points (doing it from nothing to d10 would be 9), so I'll buy Craft up to d10. What else do I want? I've never regretted buying Athletics, so I'll spend 1 there. I guess Blades makes some sense, so d6. Intuition seems appropriate, and I think I actually want that at d8 so I'll spend 4. That's 14 spent. Oh, Machinery and Science needs some love. D6 for now? 

I think Performance; I'll spend 3 to bump it to d8. Inspiration, too. That's 22 spent. Think I'll leave off Skills and hit Virtues. Oh, wait, Perception. Erm. I guess I'll just bump that to d6? Maybe Resistance and Resolve, too? That's 25 spent.

OK, Virtues! It's 4 to bump a d6 to d8, 6 to go to d10, and 10 to go to d12. Well, I guess I ought to buy up my Compassion a bit. I can spent 10 and buy it to d10. I'd kinda like Logic at d8; that's only 4, I can do that. I'm fine with the others being d6. That leaves me 6 points left. Hrm.

I get one Chroma for free. It has to be either a Compassion Chroma or an Aurumel Chroma. Let's check 'em out. Ooh, I like Exile of Hearts. It's really an offensive power, but that's OK, I feel like I should have one. I'll take that. 

That leaves me...oh, well, still 6 points, because that was free. Hmm. I think I'll call it good and say I have 6 Spirit Points to start out. I have 10 Health, and beyond that, just need to do the name/description/flesh out thing. 

Kaelus was offered the mask of his grand-uncle, a great and renowned jeweler chirurgeon amongst the Aurumel in Sydor (the city where a lot of the mining takes place, so I figure that's where the jewelers might be). He turned it down - his grand-uncle was known for his amazing skill, but also for requiring the relatives of those he healed give him a slave, and it wasn't unknown for members of the patient's own family to volunteer if no one else was available. Kaleus felt that healing should never be worth money, but something incumbent upon the healer. He's happy to charge money for cosmetic surgery or other jewel-working, of course, but if called upon to heal, he refuses to accept coin or trade. 

Kaleus, like all Aurumel, is tall, with disproportionately long limbs. His mask is a stark, black thing with a red diamond shape on the forehead and white stripes on the side, obviously new and fresh (which among the Aurumel isn't really a good thing). Kaleus walks with a slight hunch, and it makes him seem to loom and stalk, which, coupled with his mask, can make him appear quite intimidating. It doesn't help that his voice is low and he stretches vowel sounds out.

Kaleus wishes to go to Banyan, as he understands that there are still fights happening there between the Teryxians and the Banyari. He doesn't understand the squabble, of course, so that'll be educational. 

And that'll do it. Merry Xmas!