Character Creation: Dialect

Talking about language is called "metalinguisitics," and talking about metalinguistics is called...metametalinguistics, I suppose? Turtles all the way down, man.

The Game: Dialect
The Publisher: Thorny Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one, and also the card deck, I think

Dialect is one of the games that I initially had on my "project excluded" list. The game looks really cool, but I wasn't sure that it had a chargen system that worked for this project (much like Fiasco and similar games). But then I took it with me to...the dentist, I think, while one of my kiddos was getting stuff done, and read through it, and lo and behold it does have a chargen system! On we go!

OK, so making a character requires that we have an Isolation (a setting, basically), and there are a bunch in the book. However, the one that's really fleshed out is the one used in the running example of play (insert whatever heart emoji is most appropriate here), so I'm gonna make a character for that one. It's a Mars mission that's been cut off from Earth, there's big ol' sandstorms, and long-haul trucking runs. It's a pretty cool setup, actually. 

So my Facilitator would normally deal out three cards, so I'll do that (and remove the ones that the examples players chose). I got Protector, Celebrity, and Magician. Hmm. I believe I shall go with Magician. 

So, I pick one of the Aspects to identify with. Said Aspects are: Martian Sandstorms, Space Freight Truckers, and We Are Running From Our Past. I think I want my character to be a kind of quasi-priest or shaman. He's been known to stand in the sandstorms without a helmet, just a rebreather, and listen to the winds. He claims to be able to suss out which way the storms are going to head and how long before the next one, which most people think is absolute bunk, but he's right often enough that sometimes folks come to ask his advice. Clearly, I'm identifying with the Martian Sandstorms Aspect. 

After that, I'd do an Introduction, which is basically explaining my character's name (including a name that only a few people use), his role in the Isolation, and how he feels about the Aspects. 

So I'm going to say that most of the Isolation calls him Old Man or the Weatherman. He doesn't use his real name and no one knows it (we're all running from our past, after all). Some folks, the folks who believe he really can predict the storms, call him Crow (short for Stormcrow, maybe? Maybe it's his name?). 

Old Man's role in the Isolation is pretty much what I've said. He takes stupid chances with the weather and somehow he's still alive (though I'm gonna say he's blind, so when he goes into the storm it's with his eyes open). He's a good campfire story for the long-haul truckers, too. I think one of the questions about him is: Does he really believe in his "powers?" If this is all some kind of con, then what's the endgame? 

Old Man is weathered, scarred, and stooped. He manages to stand up in storms (so they say), but otherwise he walks slowly and with a hunch in his back. His eyes have the worst of the scarring, and he wears a cloth over his eyes around town so as not to upset people. He's missing most of his teeth and his hair is matted; he doesn't like to let anyone cut it. 

I think that's it!