Character Creation: Between Clouds

It's always nice when a game you've looked forward to lives up to your hopes.

The Game: Between Clouds
The Publisher: Andi Makes Games
Degree of Familiarity: None yet, but the game engine feels pretty familiar
Books Required: Just the one

The elevator pitch here is "found family of Symbiotes living on an immense flying creature" and that's pretty much when I'd say "stop drillin', you hit oil!" But the game is actually even better. It's post-apocalyptic in much the same way Wildsea is; yes, there was a Collapse, yes, that society's influence is still present, but enough time and strangeness have passed that it feels less about mourning or preserving that world than exploring and protecting this one.

And "protecting the world" is explicitly a facet of the game - your family is going to wind up rescuing and protecting other Kirin (the aforementioned flying beasts). It strikes a nice balance between family drama and risky exploration, and the "biopunk" vibe to it really grew on me (like a nourishing fungus) after reading into the book a bit. So let's make a Symbiote!

The first thing that would happen in actual chargen is that the group would make a Kirin, but since that's as much the territory as the Storyteller I'm going to pick one of the sample Kirin and make my Symbiote from there. There are six and they're all pretty cool, so let's roll for it! 

My roll gives me...River!

Pardon the random tail at the bottom, there

Aw, she's like a chihuahua Kirin, kind of. The Symbiote process is thus:

Sidebar isn't really relevant here, but it felt weird to cut it in half

So, Step One, we choose a role. I think I want to make a Duelist. So let's fill in the "play to find out" questions: Where does your honor stem from? Is violence a necessary evil? Are you different from your enemies? (See, these are often the conflicts I find interesting in capably violent characters.)

Step Two, we pick some options from several categories, starting with "gender." Gender, here, isn't really gender like we'd think of it, more a vibe or an essence (much like how it's used in Sleepaway, come to think of it, though it's better explained here). I think my gender is Hawk. I picture my duelist soaring above the clouds, serene, quiet, until it's time to swoop in and strike!

For trinket, I'll take a hand-wrapped katana. For look, I'll take single-shoulder cape. For past, I'll take "I was trained by a lone master who betrayed me." And for dream, I'll take "I will train a pupil of my own." 

So, as some backstory, I think my character is from an island - that is, a mountaintop jutting above the cloudsea. But what no one knew is that the Below was creeping higher and higher, year by year. My character learned to be a swordsman and warrior from Old Gogh, but did not recognize how crazy Old Gogh was getting as the fumes from the Below seeped up into his house. By the time Gogh went truly round the bend and attacked my character, it was too late, and I had to kill him.

Oof, bleak. Next, Step Three, we record my core mutation, which is Talons. I get to pick a second one, and I think Bestial Eyes makes sense here. River's eyes are big and friendly, and so are mine, even if that's a different vibe than the rest of me gives off.

Step Four, I get to select a power. There's a list of recommended ones for each role, though I'm not required to choose one of those. I think I will, though, because Subzero looks really awesome. I can freeze things with a touch or a breath (I like breath, I think). 

Step Five is stats. My Might starts at 5, and I get 2, 3, 4 and split between the others (Poise, Style, Focus). Hmm. Think I gotta put the 2 in Style, the 3 in Focus and the 4 in Poise. 

Step Six lets me mark three levels in skills, specifically my key skills (Command, Duel, Aim, Move, Force, Modify) and my unique skill (Improvise). Improvise lets me use my environment in combat, which is pretty cool, though I think this particular character is much more regimented in how he fights. So I'm gonna put skill points into Duel and Move...actually, yeah, I'll put the third one into Improvise, but let's say that's something he's learned to do on his own, rather than from Old Gogh.

Step Seven is my name, but also my Bond and Support (how I Bond with River and how I support my other Symbiotes). Let's say I get a Unity Point when I teach a family member something, and I Bond with River when I sharpen her claws so she's ready for battle.

I picture my Symbiote as being stern-faced. He has stark white hair, cut short, and wears a single-shoulder cape and loose-fitting trousers, but often goes shirtless or just wears a wrap. He has big, black eyes that seem somewhat out of place for how tight and taut the rest of him is. He doesn't wear his katana for day-to-day stuff, only when he's expecting trouble. His name is Rise.