Character Creation: Girl by Moonlight

Been sick, haven't been able play any games, and haven't watched the next movie on the list because it's Midsommar and you kinda have to be in the right mood for that. So!

FOR THE FIFTH GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-FIVE, 
GIRL BY MOONLIGHT! (this works in the cadence if you put the emphasis slightly on the last syllable)
FOUR ELDER GODS,
THREE TITTED BIRDS,
TWO CORVID COURTS,
AND CAIRN CAIRNY CAIRNY CAIRN CAIRN!

The Game: Girl by Moonlight
The Publisher: Evil Hat Productions
Degree of Familiarity: None, but it's pretty close to Blades in the Dark in its presentation
Books Required: Just the one

"Magical girl" isn't a genre I know a lot about (it's primarily Japanese), but I didn't feel while reading the book that there was a lot of cultural baggage I was missing. Themes of coming of age and queer identity, yeah, I can roll with that. I was young once, and I'm queer now. Girl by Moonlight also benefits from coming out after Blades in that it clarifies some of the things in its parent game that were a little murky. It was actually one of the games I considered pitching to the group that wound up playing Wildsea (that campaign kinda petered out, but that wasn't the fault of the game. And hell, maybe we'll pick it up someday). 

Anyway, the wrinkle here is that, as with Thirsty Sword Lesbians, which this game resembles in some ways, Girl by Moonlight requires a bit of creative work by the players up front to determine the particulars of the series. There are four playsets (and I have to say, they all pass the Chupp test, because I was thinking about how to run all of them), but all of them contain a lot of questions and choices that the group would make. But I like the game too much to exclude it, so let's see what we can do.

There are a couple of running examples of play in the book. They never go through series creation in fine detail (I mean, the examples don't; the text makes it real easy), but I think I can use either of them as enough of a springboard to make a character. I think I'll use At the Brink of the Abyss. I like the notes of redemption and hope, and I like the idea of monsters with hearts.

Looks good. Never watched either of those touchstones, but they seem among the most accessible of the ones listed for the series blurbs, anyway. Assuming the same group of people as in the example of play, the Enigma, Outsider, and Harmony playbooks are already taken, so I'll pick one of the others when it comes time.

OK, I'm not going through the entire series creation, as mentioned. I do, however, need to pick a role. Roles are kind of the narrative hook for the character, as contextualized through the series. I know a couple of them get mentioned by the example PCs in the text, so I'll try and find one (or two) that aren't. Hmm. Suppose we go with "lowly servant" and "fledgling mystic?" I like the idea of someone who has power or status that they aren't supposed to. But more specifically, how do we apply that to university students (which is the backdrop for this particular series)? I'll noodle that. 

Oh, hey, it's actually the next step. NOODLING COMMENCE. How about my character is an intern or a TA? TAs are usually grad students, though, which is kinda at odds. Hmm. Ooh, suppose I'm staff? My guy is in classes part time, working as a janitor or something at this university. That's not bad.

So now we pick a playbook that reflects that, out of the remaining choices, which are Stranger, Time Traveler, Guardian, and Unlikely Hero. Well, Stranger doesn't work at all, and I don't think Time Traveler has the right vibe. Leaning towards Unlikely Hero, but let's look at Guardian. Yeah, no, that's all about living by a code. Guess my guy doesn't have magic yet, which fits.

(Oh, and I'm saying "guy", but I don't know about gender yet. Though the game is Girl by Moonlight, you don't have to play a girl. I might still, haven't decided where this character lands.)

Action ratings! I get a dot in confess and forgive right off the bat, and then I get one more dot to put in...seems low. I know you can get more from series stuff, though, maybe that's how it balances out. Well, regardless, I think conceal makes the most sense for my other point. (This does have the effect of making my character very squishy, because the attribute you'd roll to resist physical consequences, sun, starts at 0 for me.)

Abilities! Normally I would get to pick a transcendent ability, but the whole thing about the Unlikely Hero is that I can't transcend, at least not at the start. I get the only mortal ability, which is basically setting up the "can't transcend" thing, but when I save one of the other protagonists from certain death I can trade it in for hero's destiny and come into my own, magically speaking. Doesn't matter much for chargen purposes, though. I get one more ability, and I shall take...hmm.

Believe in me, which makes links more versatile, is very much my style of move (that is, it's not mechanically complex and it's good support). But I think I'm gonna go with worth saving because it rewards rushing in without thinking, which moves the game along and is often fun for the whole table.

Next up is secondary characters, but there doesn't seem to be a slot on the sheet for it. Ah, OK, it's on the series sheet, that makes sense. Well, I'm gonna say my character is the youngest of a large family and their parents were pretty much overjoyed to get them out of the house, and have since moved elsewhere. There's a big split in age between them and their older siblings, but their next-oldest brother, Still, has been their best friend and motivator since they were a little kid. 

And then I want someone at the university, so let's say my character's boss, the head of maintenance, is Mr. Fustan. Mr. Fustan insists on being called exactly that, he's always on campus but never around (but has a habit of popping out from around corners if the staff takes a break), and is generally not a good time. 

Name! Characters here have a mundane name and a true name. But do I know my true name? I think it'd be cool if I didn't (and maybe in play when the transcendence happens for the first time my brother is like "I knew you were [whatever] all along," I dunno), but for my mundane name the suggestions are "an innocent name" and "a pretty name." One of the suggested names for the series is "Talc," and I kinda like that - talc is a mineral used in cleaning products, especially baby powder.

The next step would be introducing Talc to the other characters, but alas, they are but words on a page and would not hear me. The step after that is promises, which is a system I really like - you write down a promise involving one or more of the other characters that you're meant to fulfill sometime during the game. Mine are "a naive promise" and "an impossible promise."

Hmm. On the one hand, I'd love to think about Talc and what kind of promise they'd make, but promises are pretty tied into the dynamic at the table. I think I'll skip it, it's too group-focused.

That actually puts me done, then. I picture Talc as about 18, thin, androgynous (I've been using they/them pronouns for Talc, and actually that seems like where I'd want to go), unobtrusive. Just waiting to learn the magic inside them!