Character Creation: Arthur Lives!

No, not that one.

The Game: Arthur Lives! Second Edition
The Publisher: Fainting Goat Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with this game, but I know Fate Core and I've read Camelot 3000
Books Required: Arthur Lives! and Fate Core

Some time ago, I made a character for a game called Corporia, and there were comparison to Camelot 3000 there. And then I read this game, and I kinda regret making that comparison, because this game is really Camelot 3000 the RPG. Sure, it's not set in the year 3000, but you play an Arthurian character reincarnated into the now, complete with all of the commensurate struggles of reliving some aspect of your previous story. And you don't know you're a reincarnate until something happens to trigger those memories (if you're an Arthur incarnate, you might be pulled something out of something - not meant to be suggestive, though it's not like the Arthurian stories were exactly chaste). 

Also, other incarnations of the same character might exist, and they all have a kind of changeling/fetch sort of relationship (if you're at all familiar with Changeling: The Lost). It's an interesting game, so let's make a character! Forsooth n' shit. 

So, the first thing I should do is think about which Arthurian character I want to reincarnate. As with Corporia, I'd rather go with one of the comparatively minor folks, so I'll pick Accolon. Accolon kind of had a rough go of things; Morgan Le Fay gives him Excalibur and tricks him into fighting Arthur, and then he loses and gets mortally wounded for his trouble. The aspect that I think would be fun, in a tragic kind of way, to play is someone who is being blinded by love (or lust) and being led into doing terrible things by his intended. 

So, I'm gonna say my character is Frankie Minor. Frankie grew up in the city, and his family was never exactly well-regarded. His older brother went to college and then got busted for embezzling, his dad did time here and there for theft and assault, and his younger sister was selling drugs by the time she was in middle school. But Frankie was just kinda...there. It's not that he didn't steal stuff or get in fights, but nothing was particularly memorable, which ironically kinda made him the closest thing in the family to an upstanding citizen.

And then he met Kayden. Kayden was...well, let's say that Frankie had always figured he was straight until he met Kayden. Kayden was beautiful, mysterious, smart, poetic, and he always has a plan. And Frankie was happy to take part in those plans, but then the plan ended with Frankie holding the bag and doing 8 years. 

Frankie is now out, and Kayden just made contact. And Frankie figures this time will be different. At least he's optimistic. 

So we start off with Aspects. Frankie's high concept needs to refer to his narrative status as the reincarnation of Accolon, so we'll call it Small Time Criminal with Big Dreams. His Trouble Aspect is Fool for Love, clearly.

The Phase Trio is a little different in this game; we start with a Past Adventure (something that happened when Frankie was Accolon), and then a Past Connection (which normally would connect to another PC, but y'know). And then Present Adventure and Present Connection, same drill. 

Let's say that when Morgan gave Accolon Excalibur, before the duel with the "mysterious swordsman" (Arthur) he entered into a battle to become familiar with the blade. A cadre of bandits had been raiding farms, and Accolon took them on and defeated them easily with the magical blade. Another of Arthur's knights witnessed this and recognized the blade, confronted Accolon. Morgan scrambled Accolon's perceptions and Accolon saw the knight as just another bandit, and cut him down (but didn't kill him). 

So for my Past Adventure Aspect, let's take Unstoppable Warrior With a Stolen Weapon. For the Past Connection, we'll say Nearly Killed Sir Kay (I just kinda picked a knight that sounded like a good fit). 

And then the Present. I'll use the story I already made up, and say the aspect is Did Hard Time Like a Man. The Connection Aspect is Anything for Kayden. 

Finally (for Aspects), I have a Nemesis Aspect. Some characters have a clear nemesis, and for me obviously it's Arthur. Since I don't know who "Arthur" would be, though, I'll call this Aspect Kayden Says I Have to Kill You, to reflect that when the battle happens it won't be Frankie's idea.

And now Skills! Standard pyramid, except they changed a bunch of them around and added a bunch (which I think is unwise, but whatever). For my Great skill, I'll take Confidence (they split Will into Confidence and Willpower; aggressive and defensive mental skills, respectively). Frankie is nothing if not headstrong.

For his two Good skills, we'll take Brawling and Physique. For the three Fair, Burglary, Stealth, and Athletics. And for the four Average, Contacts, Provoke, Rapport, and Willpower.

And then stunts! I want one to reflect his time in the prison system. We'll call it Grad School for Crooks: +2 to Create an Advantage using Burglary when using a trick I learned in the joint.

I want one based on his undying love for Kayden, so we'll call it You Got It, Babe: Spend a Fate point to inflict a consequence or increase the severity of a consequence I inflict when acting on Kayden's orders.

And, finally, I like the Armor of Faith stunt for Confidence, but I think I want to tweak the particulars a little. Let's say it's Love Conquers All: Use Confidence to defend against any physical attack, as long as Kayden is in the scene. If he rebukes me, this stunt doesn't work. 

This all makes Frankie very focused on Kayden, but I think that's appropriate.

And that's basically it. Once Frankie goes through recognition and learns who he is/was, I suspect some of his stunts and aspects would shift. The real question is, is Kayden a Morgan reincarnate or just the "Morgan" that Frankie has latched onto? And if the latter, what if he meets his actual Morgan?