Character Creation: Sentients

Well, this morning's blag post was supposed to be a Tidal Blades session write-up, but then I had the worst POTS flare I've had in years last night, lost the ability to speak for an hour, and wound up hanging out with my friends watching Nobody instead. So our takeaways are: POTS sucks, I'd rather be a robot.

The Game: Sentients
The Publisher: Tedbot Games
Degree of Familiarity: None, but the system isn't a million miles from Forged in the Dark
Books Required: Just the one, but there's a dope-ass character builder on their site

In Sentients, you play robots who have become, well, sentient. The wording is deliberate, because while they've always arguably been sapient, now they can feel emotions. Obviously, this game hits a bunch of the same themes that Promethean: The Created did, so I'm very interested. Also, it's clean and easy to read, and the interstitial fiction is good and not any longer than it needs to be. I haven't finished reading the book, but I want to do 9 characters this month so I don't want to wait anymore. I'm definitely coming back to this, though, because I want to run it at some point.

Oh, the other thing I found affecting about this book is how uncomfortably topical the history feels. It's set in 2071, there's been a Second Civil War but it wasn't so much a war in the traditional sense as it was the MAGAts (they're not called that, but politically it's the same thing - brainwashed fascists licking corporate/billionaire boot while they literally die of disease and starvation) flat-out murdering anyone they deem "non-American." The USA has officially crumbled, and we're in the Archipelago, a string of city-states across North America. Cities have basically repopulated and become functional, except we just couldn't keep our greasy brains off of capitalism so there's still rich people. But now, helper robots!

"Arthroids", as they're called (because "androids" is gendered, which I get, but "arthroids" is harder to say and sounds like a deep-sea creature feature from the 90s - Arthroids, starring Brad Dourif!) are manufactured by one of several different companies and are used in all manner of ways as labor. There's a lively - one might even say violent - debate over whether arthroids becoming sentient is even possible and what the practical and spiritual implications are. 

OK, enough waffle, let's get to this.

I'm meant to start with some backstory. I don't have any particular ideas today (apart from "man I wish my head would stop spinning") so I'm gonna use the random tables. First one they give me is who manufactured me, for which I need a d8. Roll...1, Dynapse! They specialize in warfare and policing, but they're also one of the earliest producers of arthroids, so figure I have some room to breathe. 

There's a big list of potential robo-jobs, so using a convoluted method that would have been so much easier if I just told random.org to pick a number from 1-46 but then wouldn't have let me roll shiny math rocks, I get "bartender." I like that a lot, actually. There's absolutely an alternate universe in which I became a bartender; I like the craft of mixing drinks and I like listening to people. I think playing a robot mixologist would be fun.

(I've been into a Yubtub channel called "How To Drink" of late, and one of the things he did a while back was play with this machines that purport to mix cocktails for you. They were almost universally awful, but the video is really funny.) 

So let's say my arthroid was a birthday present for Mickey Campor. Mickey owned Sully's Bar, an Irish pub ("dive" might be closer to the truth) in some city with a large Irish-American population (first choice would be Boston). After the USA fell, after all those people died, after the Archipelago rose and things started to get back to normal, Sully's was still open (it dates back to the early 1900s, started by Mickey's great-great-great-grandfather). 

Mickey got wounded in the Second Civil War and wound up needing a wheelchair, which is fine, except Sully's isn't very accessible. Mickey's daughter Kiara bought him an arthroid (she clearly has some money, which is a plotline I'd be interested in exploring if we were playing this game) to help out around the place, and plumped for the "mixology software" package so it could tend bar. HH-827 ("HouseHold series, model 827", you see) became a fixture in the place, and eventually got nicknamed "Sully," because the locals like to joke that the robot owns the place. Mickey hates that joke, and he's not fond of the robot generally, but he has to admit that it never over-pours, never needs a sick day, and isn't going to knock up a waitress, so like, it's OK. 

And now we add Components! I get 14 Design Points to do so, and components change my base stats. This is where the builder comes in handy. Just a moment.

Well, I want Biosense Chemical Sensors, which effectively gives me a sense of smell. Not only is it useful to know if the cream has gone bad before you start mixing White Russians, but it's helpful to know if someone's barfed on the floor as soon as it happens. I'll take an Extended Mesh Adapter, which improves my access to the Mesh (basically this world's internet). I'll take a Coprocessor so my Neural Complexity is a little higher. That's probably enough in my head. What about a sleeve?

As much as I would love for Sully to appear human, I think it's more likely that he has some armor, both because he's from Dynapse and because he'll probably need to break up fights. So I'll give him the XR-9 Active Armor, which lets me reduce incoming kinetic damage at a cost of my charge.

Chassis? Arms? Legs? Well, a couple for Chassis - I want the Bioreactor (I can "eat" scraps of organic matter and turn them into charge, which means that when folks in the pub don't finish their wings or whatever they never go to waste), and improved haptic feedback (good for spinning bottles and the like).

That's 11 points, anything else? Yeah, I'll take Silent Servos (I feel like the noise would be something Mickey wouldn't like, and this lets me movie quietly) and Synthetic Flexors (improves mobility and agility). 

Cool, that's my points! Now I get 3 Processes at level 1. I'll take Take the Initiative (lets me suss out a situation quickly), Phase Precession (boost my Neural Complexity), and Stress Analysis (analyze a target and gain a boost on social actions). 

Imprints! These are behavioral and programming parameters that I have to obey (rather, if I try not to I have to make a Control check). I have to pick at least one, but I can pick up to 4. 

Well, I seriously doubt Mickey entered these, so what would his daughter put in? Obey Owner, clearly. Ooh, of course she'd want it to protect her father, so Protect Owner. And then I like Minimize Collateral Damage (these are just examples, I could make them up, too). I think that's good, though. I have to set a level at each of these, 1-5, so let's say Obey at 3, Protect at 5, Minimize Damage at 2. 

I start with 0 Stress and 2 Control, that's easy.

Patterns! These are basically Skills, and I get different amounts depending on the subcategory. Nifty. Can't go over 3 in any one Pattern.

Emotive Patterns: I get 4. I'll put one in Emotional Intelligence, two in Empathy, one in Expression. 

Core: 6 points. Awareness needs a bunch, obviously, so I'll put three there, and one into the others (Aim, Melee, and Dynamism).

Knowledge: 6 points again. Three into Local, of course. And then I think the other three into Humans. That's kinda what Sully is about. Actually, I want one in Science, so I'll pull one out of Local. 

Skills: 10 whopping points! Well, I want Deception and Persuasion to be at least 2, so let's start there. I feel like Sully should know how to drive, so I'll put 1 into Vehicles. I'll stick 1 in Stealth (I get a bonus from my silent servos). Oh, I need Medicine. I think just 1 should be fine? He's not trained to do surgery or anything. I'll stick one into Technology and one into Planning. That leaves one, I'll give myself a third point of Persuasion. 

Backstory I've kinda done. Significant Relationships are obviously with Mickey and Kiara (and would include other arthroids if I had other PCs to think about), Significant Locations is pretty much just the bar. 

And the only other thing would be equipment, but I'm fine without doing that. Oh, wait, I have to set Age and Affect. I'll say Age is 2 (Sully is a gen 2, so he's a little older, which might be why Kiara could afford him). His Affect is 4 (he's pretty emotionally responsive, which only makes sense).

Sully is obviously a robot - he can't pass for human. He's got dull metal parts covered in light blue plastic, and he takes good care of his hands (that's where the haptics are located). He's got an Irish flag painted on his back and his arms and legs have been painted green so often that they have a permanent sheen to them. He doesn't mind. 

Oh, now, this is annoying. The character builder doesn't generate a sheet, and there's not a fillable one. Do I feel like printing one out and copying everything over? I think I do not.