Character Creation: They Stirred

It's not about baking or soup, though that might have been better.

The Game: They Stirred
The Publisher: Dry River Gaming LLC
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I admit that the bar to getting me to back a Kickstarter for an RPG is pretty low. Basically, not D&D, subject matter that appeals in some way, not made by someone who falsely accused me of something. It's where most of my disposable income goes. And that's fine; I love RPGs, I love playing and reading new ones, and I love being able to support the creative process in a way that doesn't hurt anyone by having to put my tainted name on a book. 

That does mean, though, that I often back a game and forget about it for the 13+ months it'll take to get the book (that time spans varies widely, of course). So if you asked me today why I backed They Stirred, I'd probably tell you it sounds like a cool horror game, but I don't remember anything about it. But based on the title, it might be able a chthonic god or demonic race awakening, yeah? Who are the titular "they" and why do they deserve the title spot? Must be something compelling?

Well, no. It's a pretty bog-standard zombie apocalypse game, in about half of the PbtA system (I say that because, while it uses the "roll 2d6, add a stat, 6- is a miss, 7-9 is a hit with condition, 10+ is a hit" thing, it doesn't actually use a lot of the philosophical underpinnings of what, to me, makes a great PbtA game, but that's something you can go to a better blog for). It's not as bad as, say, Dead Scare, and it's looks perfectly playable. There's an interesting "trouble" mechanic - every so often the trouble rating goes up, and when you roll less than the trouble rating a trouble happens (or the GM can choose to add one to the trouble rating and let it ride, which I appreciate as an option - sometimes the moment isn't right). 

There's also a kind of minigame for multi-step plans that involves writing shit on scraps of paper and pulling them out of a hat, and that one baffled me a little. Not only is it a departure from the overall resolution mechanics of the rest of the game, it's a departure from every mechanical framework of the game. And that kind of thing can be really brilliant (see also Dread, which, side note, that Dread character is also for a zombie apocalypse situation) but here it just comes across as weird because it's not the focus of the game, it's just a thing you do sometimes.

I don't know. I can't say I expected more because I don't remember expecting anything. I get games in the mail sometimes, I read them, I make characters, and sometimes I get fun stuff like Fight Item Run or WILD, sometimes I get utter crapola, and sometimes I get stuff like this or Liberté where there are one or two interesting ideas, but overall I can't shake the feeling that if I was going to run something like it, I have better implementations (for this, offhand, Zombie World, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, or, hell, curse the darkness, which has something a little like the trouble mechanic, now that I think about it). 

Anyway, that's enough blather, let's make a chather! Um, character!

OK, no table of contents and the PDF isn't bookmarked. Not off to a great start, here.

Actually, I like the world creation step of this game. It involves picking options from a list, which is something I've seen in other games. I just think the game overall could've done with a little more flavor; it's basically a weak broth and a list of suggestions of things you could stir in. Well, yeah, or I could just make my own soup or use one of these premade mixes that's a lot less work for a lot more reward. Weird analogy, I know. 

Anyway, first step of chargen is to pick a background. This sets my stats and gives me a couple of questions to answer. Let's see here.

I think I'll set "cop" as my background. I know, ACAB, but nothing says good characters can't be bastards. Also, it'd be interesting to play a cop that knew about the corruption, the systemic bias, and so forth, and convinced himself he was "changing things from within", but now there is no more within, so does that mean he's a better person? He can do all that "help people" stuff he always said he wanted to do? 

That to me says I'm taking the second option:

(The other option is rookie.)

I get a service revolver or a fire ax. My guy must be old school if he's still carrying a revolver. 

The only other step to chargen is "backstory," which in this case means I come up with a character or group I owe a favor to. I get a special move called authority figure, but there's no place on the sheet to write that so it must not be that important.

Anyway, who do I owe a favor to? Let's say that my character was a homicide detective, a couple of weeks from retirement. He almost went into IA, but his uncle (also a cop) talked him out of it, because fuck those snitches, have your brothers' backs. He almost blew the whistle on a bunch of cops who were running a coordinated grift, taking money and valuables from evidence, but when he went to talk to his captain, he spotted a money clip on the captain's desk that he knew he'd seen in lockup the week before. And so he just did his best, or at least he did what he could, trying to get to retirement. He told himself that when he retired, he'd blow the lid off. Write a book. Do a blog. Say it was horrible. 

And then they stirred, and shit went south (and at this point, the decisions that the group made about the apocalypse would be relevant, but it's just me, so). A lot of the cops in his city died (just like a lot of the cops everywhere), but some of the remaining ones, including a bunch of the fuckers stealing from the lockup, holed up in the station and have formed their own little boys' club. And my character's uncle is the one running things over there. 

So at some point, the infected nearly pinned my character down in a blind alley, and three of the guys from "The Last Precinct" (as they're calling themselves, because they don't know their sitcom history) jumped in and saved him. So he owes them a favor. 

My guy's name is Corey Vanter. Yeah, he's a 55-year-old guy named "Corey," so he goes by "Van." He's a little hunched over from too many years peering at a screen without his glasses (they make his nose itch). He's got thinning brown/grey hair, and he tried to grow a beard once, but it made him look like, to quote his old partner, "a hobo with the mange." Now it's growing back in, because it's not like shaving cream and razors are in great supply. 

That'll do it!