Live and learn.
The Game: Arcanum 30th Anniversary Edition
The Publisher: ZiLa Games
Degree of Familiarity: More than I thought, I guess, but still not much
Books Required: Just the one
I started playing RPGs in 1985, and it was pretty much all Marvel Superheroes (from TSR) all the time until maybe 1987 or so. At that point I started buying (well, obtaining, since it's not like I had much of a revenue stream at 13) other RPGs, and my criteria for buying them was mostly: 1) does the cover look cool? 2) Does the back cover text sound cool? and 3) Does this game require me to buy a gazillion books? It's that last one that kept me away from GURPS, D&D, and even Vampire for a long time (I mean, not Vampire in 1987, obviously, but the principle was the same in 1994 when I started looking at WoD games).
All of this to say: I probably saw Arcanum kicking around Mind Games in the mid/late 80s or early 90s, if I did, the plain black book with the big pentacle on the front might have turned me off just because it didn't mean anything to me. (Also: Man, ballsy move to publish an RPG with a fucking pentacle on the front as the Satanic Panic was still going on!) And now I have this 30th Anniversary Edition as part of some bundle or other, and started reading it this morning.
And I was surprised to realize that Arcanum was the precursor to Atlantis: The Second Age! (I mean, it's mentioned in the Atlantis book, but it's in a sidebar and it's easy to miss.) Khepera owns the rights to the Atlantis setting, but there's still a lot of stuff in Arcanum that looks familiar (some of the races, the geography, the history...).
But man, this book. It's 366 pages. Four (4) of them are setting. Well, in fairness, the race and class sections do give us a little setting, but mostly this comes off as "here are some races and classes, go play D&D." There's no attention given to style or genre of play, and the mythology basis for the races that are included are all over the place (dwarves! Elves! Selkies! Aesir! Halfings!). But then there's also shit like this:
I mean, minor in the scheme of things, but wtf? That's not even counting the rules for addiction and abuse of drugs. But my favorite "huh?" moment in the book is this one in the "what is an RPG" section:
The word "schizophrenia" appears nowhere else in the book. It's not contextualized in a later paragraph any better. The only thing I can think of it is that it's a clumsy way to say "the GM wears a lot of hats lol" but like...what a shit way to say that. Oh, also, that "what is an RPG" section is 3 pages. The setting section, remember, is four (4).
OK, well, this character ain't gonna make itself, and I want to do game prep for Pugmire.
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OK, first we choose a race! Hmm. Oh, I don't know. I love selkies, but these ain't selkies. They're just aqua-people (seriously, why the hell call them "selkies" if they don't have any of the mythological underpinnings?). Let's make a Zephyr. They have wings, that's pretty dope.
Oh, you know, it occurs to me that when I made a character for Atlantis, I made an Owl-Man assassin. Well, I'll stick with Zephyr, but I'll pick a different kind of profession, how 'bout. Anyway, for being a Zephyr I get:
I can see fine details within a mile, good grief. Next up, we pick a Profession. I'm limited to the ones listed, which is stupid, but whatevs. Let's not do Warrior, Bounty Hunter, or Hunter since those are a little too similar to my Owl-Man...oh, hang on, Necromancer? I do love me some necromancy. Oh, wait, hang on, they're evil by default. So why are they PC options? Jesus.
OK, well, what's that leave? What's "Enchanter?" Can I summon up fire without flint or tinder? Maybe. Ugh, but I don't know if I feel like fucking with the magic system. What's that leave? What about Corsair? Eh, pirates, and they really lean into the "rogue" side of things. Blah. You know, I think Shaman would be fun. I have visions of my guy kind of flying up to meet the sunrise, silhouetted with the wings outstretched. That does mean I have to do magic, but I'll figure it out.
Next we choose an alignment. As a shaman I don't have restrictions there. I often lean toward Chaotic Good, and for a nature-focused character that makes sense anyway.
Background. Doesn't seem like these are restricted, so could I pick City Dweller? Seems like I could. Sure, Shamans seem like Barbarian would be a better fit, but I'd like to mix things up. So we'll say my guy was raised in a city, but somewhere along the way he had a "Constantine on the road" moment, left the city, rededicated himself to the deities of the natural world, and moved out into the sticks. I get two Skills from the City Dweller list, so let's take Language and Haggling (this guy maybe ran a stall in the city's market or something).
Renown...hrm. It says I start with 1-4 Renown, but there doesn't seem to be a way to determine that. In the example of chargen, the GM has the player roll a d4. I don't see this guy as having much, though, so let's just say 1 and move on with our lives.
Attributes! Oh, lort. I get 2d6+100 points to throw around (thank you so much for slimming this down, Jerry). I roll a 4 on 2d6, ugh. 104 points to throw around.
OK, so, I can't go lower than 6 or the Profession minimum (whichever is higher), and I can't go higher than racial maximum. My max in Str and Con is 14, but everything else has high maximums (18 or more). I have to put at least 12 into Intelligence, 15 into Will, and 14 into Perception. Let's start there. That's 41 right there.
15 is the break point for when you start getting bonuses, good to know. Let's start at the top. I'll put 12 into Strength (53), 15 into Dexterity (68), 15 into Speed (83), 14 into Con (97)...ooh, hell, too much. OK. Let's bump Strength down to 10, Dex down to 12, Speed down to 12. That gives me 89 spent. 15 left. I'll put 13 of those into Charisma and bump Perception to 15 and Intelligence to 13. That gives me:
Strength 10
Dexterity 12
Speed 12
Constitution 14
Intelligence 13
Will 15
Charisma 13
Perception 15
Hit points! Con + 2 because I'm an untrained fighter, so 16.
Saves! I get a +1 to Will and Perception saves. Easy.
Encumbrance! Fucking seriously? 50lbs, because I'm a zephyr and they're weak.
Wealth! Roll a d100 and that gives me...Flourishing! 10d10+200 monies! Jesus. 258.
That's really everything except the "details," you know, that pesky backstory stuff that got shunted to the end. So sure, let's do that.
Hylee Mellezho was a zephyr living in Atlantis, and was doing very well buying, selling, and trading goods. He never did anything really illegal, but wasn't above making shady deals. And then one day he made a deal that was a little too shady and wound up getting grabbed and stuffed in a box on the riverfront while some very tough Nethermen decided what to do with him.
The box he was stuff in was facing east and had airholes in it, and so Hylee watched the sun rise over the water. And in doing so, he felt a sense of peace that he had never felt before. The scents and sounds of the city were gone, and he watched the sunlight burn away the morning mist. When the Nethermen eventually let him out (it was all a big misunderstanding), Hylee liquidated his goods and left the city. He traveled in the outlands for weeks, and finally met a shaman greeting the sun. Hylee asked her to take him on as an apprentice, and spent the next four years living under her tutelage.
Hylee has coppery skin, flaming red hair (it used to be dull and brown, but has gotten brighter as he's lived outside), and brilliant yellow eyes. He's not interested in violence - he'll hunt, sure, but he's most focused on reverence for the natural world. He has, let's be honest, an unbearably naive view of the wilds, even after his apprenticeship, and his mentor has never quite managed to instill the whole "red in tooth and claw" thing into him, but she's now released him to go and find a path. So he'll figure it out, or something will eat him, either's good.
Done!
