Character Creation: Wyrd is Bond

Bring da motherfuckin ruckus.

The Game: Wyrd is Bond
The Publisher: Key 20 Publishing (now defunct; you can get this game used but it's pricey, or you can just download the PDF from Scribd or something)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

So, the basic idea here is that magic ("slinging") has always been the province of the underclass, and in the modern day (this game came out in 2003, but the vibe is pretty 90s) its been largely adopted by hip-hop culture and gang culture and then brought into mainstream visibility. Like, there are several different slinger gangs with various goals, some of them have record labels, some of the important people do very visible things like starring in Spike Lee joints. There's a good dose of magical realism in here, but the game is squarely urban fantasy. 

The premise is mostly solid; I have some niggles with the idea of magic being fundamentally a poor man's practice, but by far the biggest issue with this game is that it's a game about gang culture and rap written by a bunch of white people. There are snippets of lyrics from the various NPCs in the game (folks like "Wee-Lo Fortune" and "Summonin Syrkle"), and let's just say it sounds like a white game designer trying to write rap. What kept coming to mind when I was reading this was a lyric from, perhaps ironically, Mackelmore (who is very much a white dude writing rap but at least he owns it): "it's rooted in authenticity/something you literally can't learn."

There's the obvious stuff like the sidebar about the n-word that advises that you can use it at your table or not, depending on whether it makes people uncomfortable, and the fact that a lot of the "magic" that these folks use is rooted in European traditions (Hermes Trismegistus and so on). I suspect that in today's parlance, much of this game would be considered "problematic." 

But with that said, I think it's got some interesting ideas. It definitely would have benefited from some more diverse eyes and perhaps some rhymes that don't just follow ABAB patterns, but the game system (rolling 3d6 and assigning them to how powerful your spell is, how fast it is, and what the Wyrd gives you as a bonus) is pretty cool. I don't think I'd run this game because there are few things more cringey than a group of old white people pretending to be young urban Black youths, but I appreciate it for what it is.

So let's make a character! I kinda have a concept in mind already. 

This game relies heavily on splats ("gangs"); they inform your magical style, goals, the "aspect" of your slinging, and so forth. One of the gangs (the "D-Men") are literally demons in human form trying to destabilize humanity. I don't want to make one of them, but I do appreciate swinging for the fences like that. Anyway, one of the gangs, the Crows, are materialists, sensualists, focused on the here and now and what they can get. (They take their cues from "The Alley Star" - yeah, Aleister Crowley.) But what kind of got me inspired was that their write-up mentions that they've started moving away from the obviously devilish/demonic imagery because the D-Men kinda have that locked up, and they've started adopted more Chinese and otherwise Asian imagery. It got me thinking about a bit in Ronny Chieng's standup special in which he talks about how Chinese people love money (here's part of it), and how that attitude might fit in with the Crows. 

So: My character is gonna be half Black, half Chinese. His mother was a Chinese woman, his dad's a Black man (they were never married or really even together; he wound up living with his dad after about age 10 when his mother was deported, just to keep things kinda topical). His name (officially) is Zavius Johnson, his mother called him Zhang Yong. As a slinger, he goes by ABC. 

OK, so ABC's gang is the Crows, obviously. Now we pick two positive Traits and two negative Traits; these are just adjectives or descriptors that help define the character. I want ABC's mixed heritage as a negative Trait (not because it's "bad," obviously, but just because I think it'd cause problems for him). Not sure about his other one. 

For positive Traits, I think ABC is quick and a smooth talker. For his other negative trait, I think he's small (kind of short, pretty skinny). 

Man, the layout of this sheet is garbage. Lots of wasted space. Anyway, moving on. Relationships! I get Allies, Enemies, Lover, and Rival (as many as I want under the first two, but only one each for the last two). Probably just do one of each, though. For Allies, I think Luke J, a fellow Crow, kinda took a shine to ABC and has helped him navigate and stuck up for him. For Enemies, there's a guy in Chinatown named Din who dimed out ABC's mom to INS, and he's not sure why, but he's damn sure gonna make Din answer for that some day.

For Rival, there's a Hungry Ghost (another gang) named Xia that has battled ABC before, and while they respect each other's flow, sometimes Xia makes a little too much of ABC's parentage (as written in the book, "Rival" is meant to be someone you'd kill without thinking...but like, that's not what "Rival" means. That's what "enemy" means. Words have meanings, guys). And for Lover, ABC has a girlfriend named Tania. Tania is kind of gang-adjacent, and I think to ABC she might represent "normal", which means the GM should absolutely turn her into a Blood Queen or something.

Moving on: Skillz (no, really). I only get one, despite the pluralization, and it's meant to be specific and something ABC is legit good at. I don't want to make this about him being part Chinese, I don't think, so what else might be good here? I'm gonna ABC knows the underground party scene - Crows generally are very into sex, drugs, and...well, maybe not rock-n-roll generally. So ABC knows where the party's at on any given night.

I get a d6 in Juice to start with, I start with 10 Beats, Wyrd 1, and that's it, folks. I picture ABC as, like I said, short, light-skinned, keeps his head buzzed (not shaved), favors very large black trousers and shirts with silver embroidery. He's got a bunch of gold and diamond rings he wears with Chinese characters and English letters, and there's always some meaning to the combination, which he might or might not explain. 

That'll do it!