No, not the colorful video game, but the Afrocentric Sword and Sorcery RPG!
The Game: Bastion
The Publisher: Khepera Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Bastion and the Mythic d6 core
Bastion is one of the settings for Mythic d6, and in contrast to the setting included in the core (for which I made a character here), it's a kind of tragic fantasy setting. The world is dying, the last human city is Bastion, and the PCs are "Fihankra", people who have dedicated their lives to going outside the walls and protecting the city, even though that's basically a death sentence. I like the idea of the game, so let's see how easy chargen is!
Starting characters are equal to level 3 in the Mythic d6 book, which I seem to recall is the basic default...ah, yes, default starting level for heroes, and gives you 125 creation points. However, Bastion tells me:
So clearly I need to pick a Profession Template first? Let's see. OK, Professions are one thing, Archetypes are another (and are from the Mythic d6 book), and then Bastion has various races, too. The character sheets have Archetype stuff filled in, so I really need to pick that first and then print the sheet off (ssiiiiiingiiiiinnnnng, "why ain't there an example of chargen, hidely ho").
Well, I think I'll do what I often do when I'm faced with a setting I don't know well, and pick some random bit of the setting chapter to inspire a character.
Ooh, OK. In the poor section of Bastion, called the Hedge, there's a shadowy thorn-bush kind of thing that the Umbari (shadow-people) are tending. I'll make a character who was part of the sect doing the gardening, and has been sent out to recover some botanical necessity - maybe a bee or a bat that can pollinate the shadow-bush! That's cool. That decides my race (Umbari) but not my Archetype. Let's see.
Scholar seems the obvious choice, although Rogue works, too. I think I'll go Rogue, actually. So I need to pick a Profession template next. Hmm. The Sikaotu are interesting (scouts), but I think that pairing this character concept with a priest (Nyame Dua) is a nice twist. Means I can bless others, which might not have been my first choice of powers for this character, but I can roll with it.
So then I get this array:
And then from Race, I get a couple of special abilities: Dark Sight (just like it sounds) and Into the Void (step into a shadow, pop out of another, dope). Race also gives me minimums and maximums for my Attributes:
Ooh, Sigil! These give me temporary powers when I spend Hero Points. I want Asase Ye Duru:
So, I suppose now we spend 93 additional points on stuff, which includes Attributes. I have to buy my REF up to 3D, but everything else is min 1. Let's see here. Each D is 4 points, meaning I have to spent 12 right off the bat for REF.
Well, seems like Knowledge should be decent for my rogue gardener/priest. Physique will also make my shadow-powers more versatile. If I put Coordination at 2D (average), Knowledge at 4D, Perception at 3D, Physique at 4D, Presence at 1D (secretive, whispery) and Reflexes at 4D, that means I've spent 72 of my 93, leaving me 21 points. I think that's OK.
Skills, meanwhile, cost 1-for-1, or 4-for-1 for specialties. I can't go over 3 in a Skill or 2 ranks in a Specialty at chargen, and of course I have a few Skills going in already, including Influence twice? Wtf? It's not like Influence needs to be specified. Maybe the second one is supposed to be Intuition? Yeah, probably. Let's assume that.
I'll keep most of my given Skills where they are, but I want to raise Investigation and Willpower to 3, which costs me 3 more points. Other Skills? Well, probably I should have some fighting, so, um, Fighting at 2D. I think Know-How at 2D, too. Athletics 2D, Resistance 3D, Movement 2D, how many is that? 14. I think that's probably good, and leaves me with 8 points.
Oh, wait, forgot Sneak. Better put 2D there. That leaves me 6 points. I'll spend one more and break it down into pips and add one each to Intuition, Movement, and Scholar. 5 points remaining, and I'll buy an Advantage (which lets me add 3D to a roll once per session when it's applicable). Shadow Gardener, I think, would let me add dice when I'm dealing with magical plants or other scary nature-things.
Disadvantages, then! Five dice to distribute, and we need one Relationship, one Internal and one External. (Once again, the character sheet says "Personal" instead of "Relationship," but eh.)
So, Relationships are people that can complicate things for my character. I definitely want a Disadvantage related to my dedication to the shadow-bush, but I don't know if it should go here or External (that is, is the Disad about the secret society or the quest itself?). I think it should be the quest, actually, so the relationship needs to be something else. I'll say there's a rich guy in Bastion who really hates the Umbari (he believes they're trying to rebuild their intangible shadow-realm, and in fairness, he's right), and he's able to make trouble for my guy. His name is Bediako. I'll put 2 dice in there.
I'll put one die into Bitter (Internal), and then my other two into Secret Mission (External), and that's that.
Derived stuff: Physique Damage is 2, BDV is 2, Passive Defense is 2, Corruption Threshold is 4. Normally we'd design our Company, but it's just me, so none of that, babe.
Just a name left, and there's actually naming conventions. Assume that he was born under the black moon, on Yawoada, and that means his first name is Tumyaw, his given name is Xoese (it means "Believe"), and his surname is Damte (named after the head of the Shadow Gardeners, let's say).
Xoese, like all Umbari, has black skin and is forever shrouded in darkness. He has silver tattoos on his arms, forehead, and hands, and he wears a hood, so typically you'd just see the glimmer of the tats from underneath it. He's bitter over the loss of his people's homeland, the incoming destruction of the world, and the idea that he has to go out in the world and look for a freakin' bee.
That'll do it!
