Character Creation: Gods of Metal: Ragnarock

SQUIBBLEY-FLABBITY-DOO! It's a sleek Lamborghini! Thanks, Night Ranger. 

The Game: Gods of Metal: Ragnarock
The Publisher: Hunters Entertainment
Degree of Familiarity: None, I've read it
Books Required: Just the one

So I'll be honest, I've never really liked heavy metal as a music form. I mean there are bands and songs that I kinda dig, but honestly it was always on the...I dunno, loud side for me? But it sort of depends how you define it, I suppose.

The aesthetic, though, I can very much get into. The loud (in a visual sense), busy, bombastic, maybe dark and maybe not style of metal album covers I can totally appreciate, and the attitude of Gods of Metal: Ragnarock is something I very much enjoy. Also, the game is a labor of love, and it completely shows. It's peppered with "other RPGs might do this," but it's not in the patronizing "and we're real games" or "but they're not art" way of the OSR or the most pretentious of the indie crowd, respectively, it's more a caricature of both, and it works because it takes the piss out of itself. 

Also, the mechanics reflect the tone, and that's something a lot of games don't bother with. If you and a Bandmate act on the same initiative (sorry, "activation") you can Harmonize, which allows you to share successes and failures during that action. It's actually pretty intuitive.

Now, the book is a little rough at points. It needed another editor pass, and there are a few places where what's being discussed just kind of...stops. But with that said, I'm much more interested in playing this somewhat janky but absolutely fun-looking game than I am, say, Marks, which is much more polished but doesn't feel like it's about anything. 

There's a whole scenario for chargen, which I would use if I were acting as GM (sorry, "Metal Maestro") but since it's just me I'll just use the chargen section proper. 

So the basic setup here is that in Mundania, the Executors grind you down and force you into boring, soul-crushing tasks to build up Tedium and Suffering. But in the heart of every person thrums the Chord of Creation, and sometimes people embrace that music and find themselves in Ragnarock, the realm of Metal, as demigod-like Avatars! (guitar riff) 

An aside: one of the things I really love about this game is that it calls out the fact that Avatars aren't like other Denizens of Ragnarock. They don't really need to worry about eat, sleep, and so forth, they're here to grow their legend and rock the proverbial house, slay monsters and kick ass! Also when you take gear from slain foes, you can absorb it into your own gear and make it better. I dunno, I just enjoy when these obviously game-y bits are actually folded into the setting and system. Moving on.

So first I must decide who I am in Mundania. It's not like I'll never go back; if you "die" in Ragnarock you get booted back into your boring-ass life, but if it happens too many times the Executors will, um, un-person you. (Side note: Does anyone else get a real 1984 newspeak vibe from the whole "saying 'unalive' instead of 'kill'" thing that people do on Tiktok and such?)

What's the most soul-crushing job I've ever had? That's easy. I was a telemarketer for a cemetery for about a month in the 90s. I had to call people up and offer them a free burial plot, and try to get them to agree to someone coming out to their house to sell them on a mausoleum ("smile and dial and get us a lead!"). I hated that job. I only last a month because a) I sucked at it and b) I got mono and had to quit. So let's say my Mundanian has a similar job - he has to call people up and give them Mandatory Surveys of Productivity. Nothing kills your productivity like having to stop and take a survey, but you dodge the call at your peril. But Scott, for t'is his name, dreams of using his calls to prank people, to yell at them in a melodic kind of way, to urge them to rise up, or maybe just invite them to dinner, I don't know. 

So then Scott gets pulled out of his job and into the Umbilical Descent to Ragnarock. I think one day he just snapped while he was on the phone with someone - she was answering the questions in that bored "OK let's finish this up" tone and he was asking them in that pseudo-chipper "the bosses are probably listening" tone, and finally he said "HEY. One last question: This whole thing is UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT. Agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree?" And she paused as the universe teetered and finally said. "Strongly. Fucking. Agree." (bass chords begin, walls fall away, drums kick in...)

OK, next we pick Tone, the god of Metal that Scott-in-Ragnarock follows. Oh, now this is fun. In the printed book, the gods sections in this part of the book liken each one to a subgenre of metal, but in the PDF it's been updated to include example bands. That's very helpful.

Hmm. I think Scott is a follower of Fenrawr. I like the tenacity and the unshaking belief that we can beat this wall down with enough raw effort. I get a dot of Brawn (or "Brawl" if we're looking at the sheet), and a dot of Wildz (or "Wyldz" if we're looking at the sheet - told ya, needed an editing pass). I get a Power Move, too, but I'm not gonna print the second page so we'll just take that as read. 

Skillz! All 12 Skills get a free dot (which could have been filled in on the sheet, but never mind), and then I get 13 more. I can't go over 4 at this point (rather, 4 + Notoriety, which is 0 for a starting Avatar). I already have a free second dot in Brawl/n and Wy/ildz, so at the end of the day I'll wind up with 27 dots in Skills.

Well, Cram allows general knowledgey things, and at the risk of playing to type too much I think it might be something Scott is good at (he does talk to people a lot, you pick things up). So I'll put a point there for now. Feelings is very much appropriate to him, so I'll put two dots there and jack it to three. Legendsmithing is also probably in Scott's wheelhouse, so I'll pump that to 4. Pharmacopia sounds useful, I'll put a dot there. Oh, shit yeah, Stunts. I'll put two in there. Streetz (streetwise, basically) also seems like it'd be helpful. I'll put one in there. That's 24 dots, I have 3 left. I'll bump Brawl and Cram to 3, Wildz to 2, and Stunts to 4.

Position! This is basically the character class. Scott strikes me as somewhere between a straight-up warrior and a bard, pumping everyone else up (though everyone can do that to a degree in this game). Ooh, I think Blüdgard makes the most sense. Very much keen on helping out Bandmates. I can dig it. (I like playing support characters.)

Gear! I get a Weapon, an Outfit, and an Accessory. They can be essentially anything I want. As tempting is it to have Scott's weapon be a phone cord or something, I think I want to divorce him from his Mundanian existence. Flexible weapon still sounds good, though, so how about a flail! Sweet! Ooh, maybe it should like snap into a solid shaft (lol) to be used as a bass guitar, too.

Outfit! I think Scott dresses mostly in beige and creams in his real life, so here in Ragnarock he wants contrast and color. So black leather, baby, pants and jacket, with a sparkly shirt that reflects light and changes color depending on the angle. 

Accessory. This helps me react in combat and helps me stand out. Hmm. For Scott, I think it's the rings. He wears a bunch of silver rings, all with different emblems and symbols and patterns. I think I'd probably tie these in to Power Moves and stuff as he advanced.

Speaking of Power Moves, I now get three, in additional to Furious (which I get from Fenrawr). I gotta take one General, one from Tone, and one from Position. But my options are limited at Notoriety 0, sadly (I've always found that in situations like this where you get some starting powers, you want more variety to start and less variety with later-level powers, since you're not likely to get as many of them.)

Anyway, I'll take Imbue Primal Energy for my General one; I can imbue an attack with Sky Energy. For Blüdgard, I'll take Blessings (I can give an extra die to a Bandmate), and for Fenrawr, I'll take Wild Child (lets me see in the dark, always generally useful). 

Last step is how I found myself in Ragnarock, but I answered that already. In Ragnarock, though, Scott is known as Lash (going with the flair, y'see). 

And that'll do it! This looks fun.