Character Creation: The Electric State

ZAP.

The Game: The Electric State
The Publisher: Free League
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Evidently The Electric State is an art book. I haven't seen it, but the Kickstarter for the RPG looked cool and I know Free League games are pretty solid, so here we are. (I have not seen the movie with Chris Pratt but I'm reliably informed it kinda sucks.)

Anyway, The Electric State is a post-apocalyptic game in which the USA had a second Civil War in the 80s, balkanized, it's now the 90s, and by default we're in the nation of Pacifica (most of what is now California). The book briefly touches on the rest of the country and how it's split up, but makes no mention of my area of the country or anything east of that, which is weird because, like, there's a lot of stuff on the east coast. 

Either way, corporations, or more specifically Sentre, run everything. They've put out a product that lets people jack in to an augmented reality, and ever since Mode 6 came out people have been get steadily more addicted. They starve wearing their weird little helmets or the just kinda become zombies, stumbling around as their brains deteriorate. 

But the game has you undertaking a journey from Point A to Point B, and the length of the Journey is determined by how many Stops you make. Honestly it reminds me a lot of The Last Caravan, but it doesn't seem quite as tightly designed. The production values are amazing, though (as is typical for Free League) and it looks perfectly playable, and I think with the right group it'd be fun. 

So let's make a Traveler! This is...jesus, 17-step process. Some of them involve the group, though, so I shan't do them here. Step One, however, is to choose an archetype, and I can definitely do that! The Archetype write-ups all have a movie quote, which includes the character's name but not the movie, and I take issue with the one they used for The Artist because it's from Batman (1989) and it's attributed to Jack Napier, but it's from the scene in the art museum where he's talking to Vicki Vale which is clearly after he becomes the Joker. 

Anyway. I'm not gonna be an Artist. I'm gonna pick...Runaway Kid. Grant Pimer and his parents and uncle lived in a small town in northern California. He was born in...let's see, if we want to say he's 16 now, and the "now" of the game is 1996, I think? That means he was born in 1980. That's during the Second Civil War, so he probably has vague memories of it. Anyway, his town went into a steep decline, his parents and uncle got hooked on neurocasting, and when Mode 6 came out they just never unplugged. Grant tried to unplug them directly once, and his uncle kicked the shit out of him and told him to mind his business. So Grant left. 

There's, that's appropriately fuckin' bleak. Now for Attributes. I'm meant to roll a d6 for each one, rerolling any 1s I get. 3, 3, 3, 2. Well, I am a kid. I'll put the 2 into Strength, I guess. On the plus, side, since my total is less than 15 I get an extra Talent. Health is the average of Strength and Agility, rounded up, so 3. Hope is the average of Wits + Empathy, so also 3, but I can raise it if I take the Dreamer Talent so I'll hold off on that for the moment.

Speaking of which, that's the next step! There are three recommended Talents in each Archetype, but y'know, I have a pretty solid concept going so I'll pick. I get two, recall, since my stats suck. 

I don't think Dreamer really fits the character, but Hardened, which gives me a better chance to resist trauma, might. Likewise, Neuroresistant might explain how he avoided getting hooked along with his family. Nah, I think I like Hardened, and then I want something a little more physical so I'll take Stealthy.

Next up, we roll or choose Dream and Flaw. One of the options on the Archetype is "find a new home," and I think that's pretty good. I don't want Grant to be angry all the time, though I think that might be part of his arc (otherwise I might pick "smash the Electric State!" as his Dream). I will, in fact, take "anger issues" as his Flaw. 

Favorite 90s song! There's a list, and I note with some amusement that "Runaway Train" is not on it. I could take that as my favorite song, is that a little too on the nose? Nah, it's actually perfect. 

Describe your Traveler! OK, Grant is skinny and wiry because he doesn't eat much. His teeth are bad and he's going to need a dentist before long. He carries a backpack but tends to wear it in front, because that way no one can grab it if he has to run away. He's got dirty brown hair that's probably going to need to be shaved rather than untangled. 

Next step is name, but I did that. Neurocaster model...um, none, thanks. I'll take a knife as his personal item. I get d6 x $10 starting cash...hey, $50! That's pretty good in 1996 money.

Everything else would require a group, so that's Grant done! Feels like he should be getting somewhere.