Character Creation: Dream Askew

Like View Askew, I guess? Not really.

The Game: Dream Askew
The Publisher: Buried Without Ceremony
Degree of Familiarity: I've actually played this! Just once, at Origins 10 years ago
Books Required: Just the one

Dream Askew is a "Belonging Without Belonging" game, meaning it's diceless and GMless, and meant to tell stories about a marginalized community. The community is as much in the spotlight as individual characters and with the right group it's a lot of fun. I remember really enjoying it when I played it (reading that above-linked write-up is painful, of course, because it's part of my life that is over and mentions a lot of people that I miss, as well as few that I absolutely do not).

Anyway, Dream Askew and Dream Apart are included in the same book, so I think I'll do Askew today and Apart tomorrow. They're both pretty quick, chargen-wise, since they're both built on Apocalypse World. 

Askew is a post-apocalypse game, kinda, but it focuses on the "apocalypse" happening in stages and unevenly, which is a notion that I really enjoy. It's also very queer-focused and brings up some of the same re-envisioning of gender as a concept that you see in games like Sleepaway. 

First thing I do is pick a playbook, of course. Most of the setting will go undefined, since that's a full-group thing and this is just me, but I think the overall vibe is firm enough that I can make a character. I played the Iris when I played this at Origins 2014. Today I will pick the Tiger.

Rar

And the rest is picking stuff off the lists from the playbook, which is pretty easy.

Name: One of the ones listed is "Blues," and I like that. Maybe my Tiger is playing sad songs on a harmonica sometimes? That might be a bit more wistful than I want. Actually, let's say that when the Tiger showed up, they were wearing dress blues - a police uniform. Were they a cop? Let's keep going.

Look: Tough face, tattooed arms. I'm picturing sleeve tattoos that have faded and mottled and been damaged by injuries so much that it's really hard to tell what - if anything - any of it ever meant. 

Gender: Gargoyle. Blues is the patient, almost grotesque, guardian and protector. The sort of thing that people look at and think is a monster, but really they're there as a preventative, a protection against even worse things.

Wardrobe styles: I'm meant to pick two of these, so I'll pick leather and militant wear (the latter being the dress blues that they're known for). The uniform isn't kept up well, though, it's pretty tattered and it doesn't quite fit. 

Gang trappings: Again, picking two. We'll go with chains & rusty pipes and riot gear. Blues is not a healer. They don't swoop down from the dark to stitch you up or make you feel better. They do it to hit the things that want to hurt you, repeatedly. 

Gang's flaw: The enclave isn't entirely on board with our vision. We're not about restoration, we're about protection and, failing that, retribution. The enclave worries about the violence, and like, yeah, that's a fair worry. But the truth of the matter is that if someone is causing hurt, you can try and "fix" them, sure, but are we qualified to do that? Is anyone anymore? And if you know someone is causing hurt and you waste time trying to fix them, doesn't that make you at least a little culpable if they hurt someone else? 

Key relationships: I'll pick my hungry-for-blood sibling and my poz support crew. Blues has been HIV positive since they were a young teen. Meds still exist, but are running low, and they're not taking them anymore. If the support crew finds out, they'll probably be pissed, but Blues figures other folks need it more. As for their sibling, if I were playing Blues this is the kind of thing I'd want another player to consider picking up, but as it's just me I'll say Blues' sister Libra is also part of the gang, and she doesn't warn, caution, or even speak most of the time. She just jumps right to the chains. Blues is all about preventative violence, but Libra is taking it to some bad places.

And that's it, because the last bit is questions to ask other players and I ain't got none of those. I think Blues would be a fun character to play. Maybe played by a younger Charles Bronson.