Character Creation: Orun

"Orun" kinda sounds like the phonetic transcription of a mid-transformation British werewolf's howl. Anyway.

The Game: Orun
The Publisher: New Agenda Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None yet!
Books Required: Just the one     

Orun is a space-opera game, billed as "post-apotheosis, Afro-centric". It was delivered not quite three years after the estimated delivery date on Kickstarter, but whatever, better good than timely. And it's good, too. The book is beautiful, the artwork is amazing, and it's already hooked a couple of my players with its weird-ass alien races. I mean check this out. 

You can play one of these walking piñatas.

System looks simple enough, and I can very much see the influence from Atlantis: The Second Age and other Khepera games. The backstory to the game is well-written and immersive, but not so long and detailed that it makes my eyes glaze over, which is always a neat balance. 

My only issue is that it doesn't scream "run me," and I'm not willing to write it off for that, because I think it would just require a bit more effort on my part to get into the right headspace to make it work. And y'know, I think that all things considered that's probably appropriate. So let's make a weird alien critter who is in fact a Luminary touched by the Orisha. 

So, character creation technically begins with choosing a species, but I don't have a concept in my head, so instead I'm gonna randomly pick a homeworld and go from there. 'Scuse me.

Oh, that's handy, there are 20 of them. I'll just roll a d20, then. A 14 gives me Ayé Ina Afefe.

Oof, that's bleak. And that's basically all of the info on it. That would seem to imply that I have to make an Igi Eniyan character, but I think all that means is that they're the only ones that can deal with the erratic weather, or at least that's how I'm gonna interpret it, because I don't know that I want to play one of those (but maybe, lemme check). 

Ooh, OK, I got one. My character is an Alimnuro, a being composed of superheated ionized gas. He was part of a monastery of sorts, a spiritual retreat for his people on Ayé Ina Afefe built after one of them had a vision leading her there (Alimnuro are highly religious and devout beings; they worship an unnamed stellar being). We'll say he was actually "born" there (Alimnuro do reproduce; each parent contributes gas and spark to create a new being), and left after receiving a calling of his own.We'll call him Aeolian (one of the sample names, but I like it).

OK, that's good for a start. Being an Alimnuro means I get +2 Light and -1 Harmony, and my key skill is either Learning or Weapons. Well, I think Learning probably makes more sense. I get one level in both Skills, but Weapons isn't a Key Skill, whatever that means.

And then I get to add 1 level to Interface or Repair. Interface is dealing with computers and such, so I'll take Repair. On a world like his, seems like being able to fix stuff would be important. I get +2 Reputation with the Merchant Houses, -1 Wound (presumably because I ain't got a body), and then Tier 1 in the two Talents listed for my Species. There is no place on this sheet to write Talents. Booo. Oh, wait, there's space on the second page of the sheet. Yaaaay.

Well, anyway, any energy or fire damage I take is halved, and if I do take damage from such an attack, I do +1 damage for the rest of the round. Neat! And then also, I can communicate through electronics within 10km. 

Right, next up, I choose a Background to represent my pre-Luminary life. I think Minister makes the most sense. I get +1 Light and -1 War, and I get to pick a Key Skill...oh, hang on. Learning or Medic. What if I want double Learning? Oh, I get another +1 to it. Secondary Skill is Adapt or Culture, which I need to look up. Oh, Adapt, totally, that's dealing with harsh environments. 

I can take a +1 Rep with either the Ministry or the Union. Hmm. I'm thinking the Union...although, the Ministry has a dogmatic focus that's pretty in-line with the backstory I've generated. Yeah, sure, we'll take the Rep in Ministry. 

I get 1 Agile Armor, non-combat gear, and 5 RP to spend, which I'll do later. And then I get two tiers of talents, which I assume means Tier 1 from both trees under Minister? (An example of chargen would not have gone amiss, guys.) 

Now I do Homeworld, which I've already picked, obviously. Ayé Ina Afefe gives me +1 War and -1 Grace. I get Motion as a Key Skill, and a +1 to either Learning or Adapt. Um, Adapt, I think. I get +3 Rep with the Oro Lords, and I get the two Talents here, too - bonus to defend a location and bonus to quickdraw a blaster. 

And now I get to put all these numbers together! Going into the last bits of chargen, I have:

+3 Light, -1 Harmony, -1 Grace, +1 Repair, +2 Learning (Key Skill), +1 Weapons, +1 Medic, +1 Motion (Key Skill), +2 Adapt, +3 Rep Oro Lords, +2 Rep Merchant Houses, +1 Rep Ministry, and Tier 1 in Energy Immunity, Crafty Communication, Galaxy's Healers, Spiritual Favors, Hold the Fort, and Where's My Blaster. 

I get two Auras at level 3, two at 2, and one at 1, along with my modifiers. I think I'll put my 3s into Grace and Harmony, because I take penalties there and I don't see Aeolian as being especially weak in either dexterity or social stuff. I'll put my 2s into Light and Spirit, giving my a 5 in Light with my bonuses. That leaves my 1 in War, which is fine, Aeolian isn't much of a fighter. 

Skills! I get 8 levels to spend, and they're one-for-one (thank you so much for that). Max is 6, or 8 for Key Skills. Let's see now. 

Of the Skills I don't have, I think Aeolian needs Culture (though not much), Inspect, and probably at least a level of Rapport. So let's put 3 into Learning, one into Culture and Rapport, two into Inspect, and the last one into Adapt. 

Wounds! I start with Wound points equal to War + Motion + 2, and then -1 because I'm an Alimnuro. So that's 3 Wounds. That's...not many.

I'm walking a Path based on one of my Auras, basically seeking to reach perfection in that particular area. Which one I'm walking probably needs to reflect the circumstances of leaving my home planet and being called to be a Luminary. I'm thinking probably Harmony or Spirit, honestly. Let's go with Spirit, I think a bit of mysticism is a pretty good way for Aeolian to begin his journey. That means I get +4 in some type of Passive Defense, and I can spend a Spirit Agbara to remove all negative Status Effects from myself or someone else. Well, that's pretty dope. 

Talents! I get three more Tiers. Tiers 1 and 2 cost 1, but Tier 3 costs 2. There are the Talents I got from various bits of chargen, and then Universal ones and several other types. Good grief. 

Oh, Gaseous Puppetry is pretty awesome. I can imbue an object with some of my burning gas and animate it. I don't know, though, it doesn't feel like this character. Environmentalist, however, is perfect (spend Light Agbara to reduce environment penalties). Two more. I'll bump Spiritual Favors up to 2, and ooh, do the same for Energy Immunity. I'm now immune to fire or energy damage. Fuck your blasters.

Now, Reputations. I get 2 more points to throw around, and 2 free points in Rep for the Union. I'll put them into the Ministry, because they oppose the Merchant Houses, and I feel like Aeolian might blame them for how badly his homeworld is fucked up. That means I get a Faction Skill from all four factions, and a second one from Ministry and Oro Lords. I'll take points in Learning, Culture, Repair, and Motion, and then a point in Inspect and Covert. 

I also get two Contacts (one from Ministry, one from Oro Lords). I don't have to detail them right now, let's just say I know a Scholar from the Ministry (yeah, that's kind of doubling up on my own skills, but we'll say he's a mentor, probably still on Ayé Ina Afefe), and a Pilot from the Oro Lords (gave me a ride off the planet and we kinda hit it off). 

Gear! I have 5 RP to spend. I'll blow 3 to make my armor Sanctified, so it works against cursed weapons, and I'll take a Canary Drone (seems like something that would be common on a dangerous world). 

And I think that's everything! Aeolian is a gaseous being, primarily yellow and red. Unlike many of his species, the brightly burning "head" on his body is usually covered by a special hood, something that the folks in his monastery developed. It's less to hide the face (which they don't really have) and more to protect their gases from being blown around. Aeolian knows how to use weapons in a kind of theoretical sense, but at the moment he's a strict pacifist. I say "at the moment" because he's got some rude awakenings about the true nature of the Ministry coming, and he's gonna have to walk the Path of War at some point...