Character Creation: Slugblaster

Radical! Cowabunga! Turtles!

The Game: Slugblaster: Kickflip Over a Quantum Centipede
The Publisher: Wilkie's Candy Lab
Degree of Familiarity: None, sadly, but it's basically Forged in the Dark
Books Required: Just the one

OK, now, I know the title of this thing sounds like someone had a stroke, but it's actually a pretty dope little game. Shades of Misspent Youth here, but the tone is less dire (not that Misspent Youth is necessarily always dire, but there's a harder edge to it than this). Slugblaster has you taking the role of teens in Null, a dimension that is perfectly livable but just kinda bland. Fortunately, dimensional travel is now a thing, and you and your chums can zip through spots where the barriers between worlds are thin and like do sick ollies and stuff.

So yes, there's a big skateboarding aesthetic here, and the vibe is very much 90s, so the game occupies a weird quasi-nostalgia - I remember the 90s, of course, but I was in college for most of it so it doesn't have the same feeling for me as a game set (or reminiscent of) the 80s. 

But this game looks like a good time, and it has hands down one of the best examples of play I've ever seen, nicely threading the needle between "this is how a game session feels" and "recreating every stupid comment everyone at an actual game session makes" (look at you, Rockopolis). So let's make a slugblaster!

First up, we pick a Personality. Wouldn't it be nice if we could pick that? Anyway, Personality is basically your playbook here. 

Hmm. I was leaning toward The Grit, but then I note that The Chill has a trait called "Um, Guys?" meant to represent noticing shit that others don't, and that's just too cool to pass up, so I'ma be The Chill. 

As part of this step, I define Look, Family, Bond, Vibe, Traits, and Gear. Some of these have random tables and you know I love those! Let's roll for Look! This is a d66 roll, and I can take as many as I want. I roll 2 and 6, which read one way gives me "provocative" and another way gives me "glasses." I'm fine with glasses, but provocative isn't my usual jam. Actually, sure, let's say that my guy is annoyingly, effortlessly hawt, tends to dress in short shorts and tight tees (with safety padding, of course, when he's slugblasting), and just kinda manages to make it look like he is dtf. He actually kinda isn't - I suspect he's not opposed, but it's not his priority. But jesus. "Either kiss me or put some clothes on" is something that's been said to him at least once. (His response is probably "huh?") I think he wears round glasses with gold frames, but he forgets them a lot.

Family! Another two dice roll (not quite d66, because there aren't that many options). Possibilities come up "poor" or "supportive," and I think it'd be cool if he lived with his aunt. He's not sure where his parents are; she told him they died when he was a baby, but he has some vague memories of parental people? But maybe that was his aunt and a boyfriend or something? Probably not important. We'll say she's both poor and supportive.

Bond! This is normally something that would interconnect with all the PCs, but it's just me, so let's say we're all (roll...2) mutual goals! Huh. Not something that goes with The Chill easily, but I dig it. He and the other members of his crew all want the same thing, which implies that we have some shared history, and I think it'd be neat if it involves my character's parents in some way. Hell, maybe we all have the same dad and we didn't know about each other until we were all teens, and we're trying to find him and have a Talk. 

Vibes! No tables this time. Oh, wait, no, there is one, it's just with the Personality write-up. Cool! "Always eating a bag of chips." I'm down. I think they're sun chips or something kinda grainy like that, stuff that doesn't have a lot of flavor on its own, but really, dude, if you eat fifty or sixty they start to taste kinda good! I think an ongoing bit would be "where are you keeping those?" ("huh?")

Traits! Actually "trait," as I just get one to start. I already know I want Umm...Guys?

Stuff! I get a raygun, a phone, a hoverboard, and one special personality item. Oh, it's "something I found on the way here." Let's say it's a bottle of some kind of drink, bottlecap still on, but the label is in a language we've never seen. I also get two pieces of gear from a list. And they're helpfully printed on the sheet, nice! I'll take a mask and a spacetime amp. 

I get to roll stuff for a raygun...but do I want a raygun? This guy seems pretty nonviolent. Maybe I'll say it just doesn't do lethal damage. Rolling some dice, I get "maser projector", and I'm good with that. My "raygun" looks like a toaster with a handle and a trigger, and it sends out infrared or microwave beams. It could do real damage to a living thing, but only if you stood there and let it cook you. Mostly it just makes a beam of uncomfortably hot energy. Great for driving away things trying to eat you, or even disguising one's heat signature (which I seriously doubt my guy has thought of). 

Board! I get a hoverboard. Let's start with make and shape. Rolling 3.6 gives me a wave, which is huge and looks like a surfboard. I'm game. Grip color: Either classic black or clear. I like clear, and I like if my guy is always losing it. But there's a mosaic pattern carved into it, not inked or colored. You can only see if there's light behind it and you're staring right. It's got a spirally pattern that makes you think, man. (Or gives you a headache, depends on the day.)

And that's it, basically, other than name. Let's say his name is Armand Lambden, but his buds call him Waves. Some of that is because he's got more of a surfer than skater vibe, but some of it is because he'll wave at everyone. Friend, stranger, ravenous beast, s'all good. His crew has learn that if you want Waves to not give away your position, you need to tell him, probably more than once. 

Waves is blond, built like a swimmer, and is really, really pretty. He always has a bag of those chips, and no one's really sure where he's keeping them. No one ever seems to see him pull a bag out of anything, but if you look away from Waves you'll hear cronch in a second. 

That'll do it! I do like this game, I'd love to run it at some point.