OK. Really doing this today. Woo!
The Game: Azamar
The Publisher: Wicked North Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one
So, I've tried multiple times to do a character for this game, and every time I open the PDF (I got it in a bundle years ago) I think, oh, that's a pretty cool cover, character sheet is nice and clean, maybe this will be fun. And then I start reading, get bored, don't keep reading it, and wind up switching to a different game. But today I'm gonna really do it! (Though I don't promise I'll read the whole thing.)
Azamar is a fantasy RPG, and I don't, offhand, see the "hook." But what I do see is a history of the game world (the titular Azamar) that goes through the past millennia but only takes a couple of pages, which is nice. Let's see. Right away there's a slight niggle - I'd really like a glossary. The history is cleanly written but it's using words like "Wyvine" and "the Fabric" and I'm not sure what those mean in context. Ah well, on we go.
OK, having read the history and current state of things, I'm still not hooked, but there are a couple of elements that make me happy. Magic gets a focus and some context, and there were dragons at one point that were one humanity's side, but they seem to have fucked off after big wars with Fiends and other Capitalized Things. Now they're getting coaxed back, which is cool.
Character creation starts by informing us that we can play beginning characters (Tyros) or veteran characters (no cool nickname supplied). Also that some characters are Blur-Touched and can thus use magic. OK, then.
Meant to start off with concept, but man, I got nothing, except that I want to be Blur-Touched. There's a handy "roll some dice, get a background" table, so I think I'ma use that. The roll gives me "instructed in secret, given the tools for survival." That sounds kinda fun. Let's look at the races and see to whom that might apply. Ooh, yeah, I'll be a Tre'uoall. They're kind of shit on by humanity because the Big Bad of the setting back in the second millennium was one (and humans bear a grudge), so it makes sense that a Tre'uoall with something special about him might be instructed in secret. I'll say my guy has golden eyes (mentioned as a rarity among the race, and believed to be magically delicious significant).
Guess I should get a little more specific about who trained me. Let's say that my guy was born to a Tre'uoall family in Azamar City. Tre'uoall who dwell in the human cities are considered not true Tre'uoall (kinda sellouts, y'know) but my character's parents saw his weird golden eyes and figured destiny might have bigger things in store. They secreted him away to Dorissit, or rather, the wilds outside Dorissit, where he was raised by his people and taught magic and harmony with the world. I'll say his name is Oza'meri ("Azamar" is a derivative of the Tre'uoall name for the continent, Oza'moora, which is pretty on brand for humans, I gotta say. Figure my guy's name means "of Oza'moora" or something).
OK, I think we can move along. I get 10d to split between the five attributes, and they get a free point already. 3d is average, so if I split them up evenly that'd be average across the board, but c'mon. Let's see how magic works, I want that to be good.
Oof. All right. One of the things I'm meant to have chosen during step one is "Trade." I was assuming, given that literally no attention is paid to this in that section, that it was basically part of concept, but it actually acts as a restriction later. To wit, you want spells, you gotta be a wizard. There's no goddamn index in this book, either. Blargh. Fine, I'm a wizard. Anyway, it looks like Willpower is the important skill for magic, and that's under Persona, so I shall dump three of my 10d into Persona for a total of 4d, I'll put one into all the other ones except...hmm, what's my dump stat? Aptitude, I think; I don't see this guy as particularly mechanically inclined.
Derived traits are next, and OH FFS. The book defines them, but doesn't tell you the fucking formulae. GUYS. Oh, wait they're on the character sheet. STILL.
Hit Points are 36, Move is 6, Initiative and Vitality start equal to their parent scores (3 in both cases). Now I get 7d in Skills. Skills start equal to their parent attribute, so I have 4d in all my Persona shit. Wonder if there's a maximum? I don't see one. There are Specializations listed, but no info on how or whether to take them.
You know, there are pre-gens, let's look at one! HA. They don't have Skill points spent. OK, well, I don't have all day. I'll put 2 points into Willpower, boosting it to 6. I'll put one each into Athletics, Dodge, Ranged, Sneak, and Survival, and that's 7d.
Next step is trying to tell me Hit Points is Str x 3. The character sheet says it's Str x 12. Moving along.
Fucking hell. The next steps are just the derived traits, which you told me to do in an earlier step. You know, this book has editors credited. What happened?
Anyway, I get 12 Cinema points (7 to start + 5 for my wonky background). I can use those to buy Features. Let's see! Well, Destined seems to fit. Once per session I can pick a roll and add a hefty bonus. That eats 6 of my points.
God, I hate these. There's one called "Snuffler" that means you sniff real good. There's one called "Gifted" that means you...are mechanically inclined. What even. Oh, and then there's one called Magical Aptitude that means you get a bonus with a "specific Magic." What does that mean? WHO KNOWS.
Well, spells have costs, so I assume you have to buy them individually? None of the pregens have spells, although some are Blur-Touched. Jesus, I'm so done. I'm gonna give my guy Purify, allowing him to remove magical effects and make food safe to eat, how bou dah?
The last step is to figure out starting money and equipment, but there's no guidance on how much I get and I hate shopping anyway. Fucking done.
Oza'meri is average height and weight for a Tre'ouall of his age. He wears a cloak with a hood and tries to keep his eyes hidden, but y'know, that's hard. He carries a bow for hunting (and, if necessary, self-defense), but prefers to keep his magic for purification. He doesn't want people to see him as hostile.
(If I were playing this guy, I'd totally use my Destined bonus for combat every session. Guess what your destiny is, sucker?)
