Character Creation: Shiver

Perhaps by making a character for this game, I will get this song out of my head. 

The Game: Shiver
The Publisher: Parable Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with this game, but I'm pretty conversant with horror TTRPGs
Books Required: Just the one

You know, I wanted to like this game. The production values are solid, and like, it's horror, and horror games have a very special place in my heart. It starts out with an introduction that makes it clear we're taking inspiration from horror movies and the mechanics incorporate a "ticking clock" - certain acts add to the doom meter or whatever and as it advances, the situation gets progressively more dire. All good things.

But then...I dunno. First of all, it uses proprietary dice. They're six- and eight-siders, so it wouldn't be impossible or even especially difficult to use normal dice and assign results to the numbers (this is mentioned in the book), but like...why? The idea is that every face on the d6 corresponds to one of the stats in the game, so if you're rolling on Grit, the dice need to come up "Grit" to succeed (there are other permutations and variables, but that's the gist). But that means if, on a standard die, "1" = "Grit," I have to rolls 1st to succeed. That's a 1-in-six chance to succeed unless there are other mitigating factors. That...kinda sucks. 

(Now, I hasten to add at this point that I haven't played the game, and the real test of whether a system works is at the table, but reading the system immediately made me think of how annoying it would be at said table to remember that "2" has no numerical value but instead means "Heart" or whatever, and how long it would take both me and my players to internalize that, and all the while we'd be thinking "why aren't we just playing Chill or something?")

The other issue is that the game uses classes and levels. None of that is a deal-breaker, it has just been my experience that those game conceits often don't translate well to horror. 

But, with all that said, the book looks really stylish (even though it's some mutant size that doesn't fit on my shelf), and the game definitely has some solid support, so that's good. So let's make a character. 

There's not a default setting, but there's a sample one in the book that's very reminiscent of Resident Evil (the movie, at least), so I'll use that. 

So, that means that my character works for Cornwell Consolidated, at the Hollow, their vast underground facility. Specifically, he works in "Rock Bottom," the place where careers go to die, according to the intro text. Groovy. So let's take inspiration from Willard and say that my character's grandfather was a close friend of the Cornwell family, and indeed, lent Cornwell some of the seed money he used to build his business concern into a global empire. That family goodwill didn't last, though, and all my character has is the promise of employment and eventual retirement. He doesn't have the promise of a good job, though, so he's a middle-manager in the Rock Bottom. His name is Absalom Jury, but everyone calls him "Abby", even after he asks them not to.

First thing in chargen I'm asked to do is pick an Archetype. This is actually a tough call. I can see Abby being a sad sack and/or comic relief, which would imply The Fool, though it would also be interesting to follow the Willard thread and pick The Weird. The Survivor appeals, too, because it's an all-rounder concept and I think Abby might not have much of a specialty. Hrm.

Well, The Fool is built on luck, and Abby is not a lucky person, so that leaves The Weird or The Survivor. If I were really playing this game, I would absolutely go with Weird, so that's what I'll do.

Archetypes have "trees" and "levels." Ugh. The one-shot says it's recommended for characters level 4-6, but the text doesn't tell the GM what level to have players make their characters at (and it gives sample character ideas, but not stats). Well, I'll go for the low end and say level 4. That means I can unlock four abilities on the Weird tree. Said tree has four...trunks? I guess? Eldritch, Spiritualist, Psionic, and Body Horror. Gotta look at these real quick and see which one makes sense. I'm leaning toward Eldritch, but we'll see. 

Yeah, Eldritch is about chaos and madness, and I can totally see Abby not realizing he has those powers until the shit goes down. So that means I get the first four abilities; unlike other trees, Weird has four separate ones rather than a branching path. 

Moving along! Weird also means I get a Talent Point in my Strange stat, a score of 5 in that stat, and 3s in everything else, except that I have to bust one down to 2. That'll be Luck, methinks. 

So next I pick a Background. Backgrounds are divided up by Archetype, but you can pair any Background with any Archetype, which is cool, but I wish they were categorized some other way because it really does read like you just pair Warrior with Warrior (or whatever). Ooh, but maybe there's a Fool Background that'll work well for Abby. Oh, no, wait, The Nerd is perfect. That means I Run Away real good, but I also get slow if I'm wearing armor 'cause I'm Weak. 

Next up, I need a Fear. I think Abby is most afraid of losing his job. Not because he likes it (he hates it), but because he literally lives and breathes this place and he knows nothing else, and the idea of trying to get another job terrifies him (not that the remake of Willard is great cinema or anything, but there's a scene when the titular Willard, played by Crispin Glover, is told that he can "start over" and he wails "Start over? I'm almost done!"). 

And that's it! Abby is about to come face to face with zombies and learn that he's capable of driving the people around him mad. Does his magic work on zombies? Probably not! But as we know, the real antagonists in zombie movies are the other people.