Character Creation: FiveEvil

Not one not two not three not four but FIVE! FIVE EVIL!

The Game: FiveEvil
The Publisher: Handiwork Games
Degree of Familiarity: Well...I know 5e OK, and I know horror very well, but I've never played this

Books Required: Just the one

I'm actually a little surprised I backed this Kickstarter. I was pretty skeptical of the premise, and I find the whole "referring to D&D as the world's greatest RPG" thing to be pretty wanky and not at all true besides. But I was interested to the see the implementation, and since I'm actually running 5e, I figured I'd be able to appreciate it, whether it was well done or not.

And...I'm weirdly into it. Like, the problem I have with 5e and D&D generally is that it's not about anything. It's a corporate-produced RPG with all the edges sanded down, and that means it's easy to run and pretty easy to play, it's easy to understand, but the mechanics are not just simple but basic. They don't play into a theme because there isn't any, and despite the game's insistence that it's focused on combat, exploration, and intrigue, it's not actually about any of those. It's about "combat" inasmuch as it's about war-game style tactics, it's about exploration inasmuch as you find things and the GM tells you about them, and it's about intrigue inasmuch as it's...a roleplaying game. But none of the mechanics actually enhance those themes and ideas.

And that's fine, I hasten to add. I have lots of games that are very theme-focused and honestly? There are downsides to those, too. When you specify, you lose flexibility and (sometimes) accessibility. 

Anyway, FiveEvil takes the basic framework of 5e and then actually asks "if we want to do a horror RPG with these bones, what do we need to do to make that work?" And it...does a pretty good job.

First of all, on a thematic level, it treats horror as distinct from fear. You can't make a player feel fear (rather, you can, but never reliably; if it happens it's incidental). You can create horror, because horror is external. The game views the scenario as a trap that the characters fall into, and it's very clear that this is not a "story" per se because you need to play through it and let what happens, happen. That's simple and pretty obviously if you've been a GM for any length of time, but it's useful to say and would have been really useful to me in 1992 when I started running horror games.

Second, the mechanics actually do support the theme, and the best change that I've seen is what it does with Inspiration. In 5e, you get Inspiration when you play to your personality traits and then you can spend it to get advantage on a roll. In FiveEvil, you can take Desperation anytime to get bonuses on rolls, but if that builds up (which it's supposed to) you wind up taking penalties and/or losing access to your personality traits (on a mechanical level) as you become alienated. 

And finally, it approaches "combat" as "terror scenes," and tries to lean into the chaos of a scene like that, rather than make it strictly a tactical exercise. (And that, my friends, is something I wish we'd have thought to do with Chill. We talked about it a little but I wish we'd leaned into that idea a little harder and built the mechanics around it a little more heavily. Ah, well, too late now!)

So...fuck me, I think I'd run this, and it's really rare that a generic horror game makes me want to run it. Let's make a character!

Now, we run into the problem of there not being a default setting, of course, but there are a bunch of scenarios in the book, including one that's a little reminiscent of Cabin in the Woods, so I think I'll use that as my jumping-off point. This scenario assumes we're all about 10 years out of high school, meaning we'd be what, 28-ish (that also means we'd be born in 1998 or so, if the game is set now). 

The game wants me to start with a concept, and the conceit here is that we'll be having one last fun weekend together before we all collectively try and get our shit together. I'm gonna say my guy fronts a band. He's been posting snippets on Tiktok and so on for a long time, trying to build up a following, and it's kinda happened? But he's not getting offers to tour with Connor Price or anything (first "musician I learned about from video shorts" that came to mind), and maybe it's time to throw in the fuckin' towel. Let's call him Tyree Caulder. Tyree is 27, male, Black, fronts a band called Boxcutter (I'm thinking kinda like Houses or Foster the People). 

So the first thing I do is come up with descriptions. I get one at +4 and one at +2, and these basically apply whenever that description would. The first one is meant to be job, occupation, career, profession (yes, these are all listed). In Tyree's case, I actually don't think it's the band. I think instead he's worked in infosec for a while and he's pretty good at it, but he mostly freelances because he's still trying to make the band happen and wants his schedule free in case Connor Price ever calls (if by some weird coincidence Connor ever sees this, hey dude, love your music, "Trendsetter" gets stuck in my head a lot). 

Anyway, that first description can be unfocused freelance infosec. My second description is meant to be more a hobby or vocation, so we'll call that wannabe indie rock band front man.  

Cool, now I get to pick two skills that my first description applies to and one for my second description. Well, I think for the first one, Knowledge/Recall and Investigation make the most sense. For the second, I guess Persuasion? Oh, maybe Grit. There's not a Perform skill here, and I feel like Persuasion is the wrong skill set. Yeah, let's go with Grit - lots of late nights and long drives.

Right, and then the same thing for saves, except I just get one for each that my bonus applies. Here, I think we'll go WIS for the first one and CHA for the second.

Now we have Personality Aspects. These are the things I have to play to in order to lose Desperation. I get a Habit, a Belief, a Flaw, and a Relationship. These are expressed as sentences. Let's see...

Well, my Relationship should be with the band. I think we'll phrase it as It might be time to let the band die. No, let's say "go," not "die." "Die" is too aggressive. 

For Habit, I'm meant to consider what we'd see Tyree doing in his first scene. God help me, I think Tyree is going to be checking his phone and scrolling Tiktok a lot. (At least I won't feel too bad when he dies in the movie.)

Belief is the thing that would cause an intense argument early in the movie. I don't want to make everything about the band, but we could still make it if we got a break is pretty good here.

That just leaves Flaw, which is what would get me in trouble at the midpoint of the movie. I think Tyree films everything reflexively. Like, anything interesting or just vaugely unexpected happens, the phone's out. 

Cool! Now we do Ability Scores. The recommended method here is to roll 3d6 seven times and drop the second-lowest. Sure, fuck it, let's see how this goes. 11, 9, 7, 12, 12, 8, 4. Yep, that's about right. That means I drop the 7. 

Well, I'll put my 12s into CHA and INT. I'll put my 11 into CON. I'll put 9 into WIS, 8 into DEX, and that leaves me a 4 in STR. Jesus, that's pathetic. Guess Tyree doesn't work out much.

And that's it! I rather suspect Tyree won't last long if things get scary. 

Character Creation: Harvest

It's a bear, it's a bear, it's a man, it's a man, in a cage/big wicker dude.

The Game: Harvest
The Publisher: Possum Creek Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Harvest was crowdfunded along with Grand Guignol, and I have to say, I think this one sticks the landing a lot better. It's much more focused and tells a three-act story with a defined break point between acts, and it has very solid media touchstones (two of which I was referencing at the start of this post). Coincidentally one of my groups was looking for a GMless game to play on Devil's Night, so I think we're gonna give this one a whirl. Which of course just means I should make a character to try it out!

(The chargen process is not at all complicated, of course, it's a Belonging Without Belonging game, I'm mostly just going to circle some things). 

Anyway, Harvest is a folk horror game that tells the story of the people on the Island (off the English coast), and the days leading up to the sacrifice. Like other BwB games, players can get tokens by doing some moves and spend them to do others, but unlike, say, Dream Askew where it's "weak" vs. "strong" moves, here you spend tokens to use occult moves and have your power (the otherworldly entity that you're involved with) do things for you. It's all pretty intricate and the story beats are timed around certain tokens getting spent in certain places, and I'm pretty keen to try it out.

So, first thing we do to make a character is pick a playbook. These all very much pass the Chupp test for me. I think I'm gonna pick The Stranger, because I know I won't want to play that when we actually play but I think it's a cool character (the archetype here is Sgt. Neil Howie in The Wicker Man, though Josh from Midsommar works, too. Actually a bunch of the characters from Midsommar work).

Starting off: Name, pronouns. One of the suggestions for "name" is "a dashing mononym." I think we'll call my guy "Kingfisher." 

Three things that people notice: naval tattoos, a commanding voice, hands scarred by violence. I think Kingfisher was a military man, but not an officer or a toff. Very much a working man (which is why I didn't choose "a sense that you're out of place"). 

Why can't I just leave? Oh, man, all good choices, these. I think I'll pick "there's a terrible storm brewing;" if I were actually playing I'd want to tie that in to the thing that happens if the sacrifice fails (one of the choices is "the island is swallowed by the hateful sea"). 

Three things I've brought with me: ooh, definitely a pistol loaded with a single shot. That's downright Chekovian, that is. Also "nightmares of carnage and blood on your hands" and "a well-thumbed Bible." 

Two things I left behind: The name my parents gave me, and...man, some great choices, but the one that keeps calling me is "my Christian faith."

Next would be ties to other PCs, but as always, just me, so I'll skip that.

My occult power is either The Church, The Crown, or The University. Pretty obviously not the last one. Eh, I think it's gotta be the Crown, the Church assumes I'm actually there to spread the good word, and I don't wanna do that. 

OK, so what's Kingfisher's mission from the Crown? I think it's "to make this place a bloody example." Someone in the government either knows what's going on here or has some other reason to think this place is doing seditious, pagan shit, and they've had Kingfisher come in to stop things, messily. Ooh, no, wait, I got a better one - "arrest the seditious ringleader!" Kingfisher is a kind of bounty hunter for the Crown, that's where he got the name (a kingfisher is a bird that catches fish). I note my three occult moves on my sheet; I don't get the other ones until I actually succumb to my power a bit. 

And that's it! Kingfisher is big, strong, rough, older gent, multiple naval tattoos on his arms and chest, but all above the elbows (they aren't easily visible when he's dressed). White hair, clean shaved, blue eyes - I'm trying to think of who could play him and I keep coming up with Stephen Lang, but that's not quite right. Actually, change the eye color and Djimon Hounsou would be fantastic. 

Character Creation: Starship Infernum

I kept thinking this was the second edition of a game I'd already done, and drove myself mad trying to find the first edition, before I realized I was thinking of Shadows Over Sol. 

The Game: Starship Infernum
The Publisher: Wicked Clever
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I picked this because it's a sci-fi/horror game, and I figured from the title it was like Mythos-adjacent or had demons or something. But no, it's a game where you're on a spaceship and things go to shit, and you need to figure out how to solve the crises (not a million miles from Hypersleep Terminated). The game mechanics are all based on blackjack, and I think it'd be pretty cool. There are some structural similarities to curse the darkness, too, and I don't think I ever ran it for the author (but I have met him, because he's a Con on the Cob regular). 

Anyway, the game looks pretty cool, and it does something I enjoy in that it gives the GM a way to quickly generate the obstacles and conflicts for the game (a little like TWAS, actually, but much less intricate). 

So let's make a character! Step One is Concept, and the game advises me to come up with a quick, two-word description (the examples are all recognizably from Star Trek, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that kind of thing). Hell, I dunno. How about terrified stowaway? My guy got on the starship at the last port and maybe hacked the cryo-systems, or otherwise has managed to avoid notice.

I picture him as being small and squirrely, with wild black hair - kind of like the hitchhiker at the beginning of Texas Chainsaw Massacre only not, you know, a cannibal murderer (WE ASSUME BOOGIE BOOGIE). Let's name him Lennox Randall. 

Step Two is Traits. Lennox gets three Traits, one at 3, one at 2, one at 1 (I can use these traits to alter my totals in blackjack, and they also act as my hit points). The book says "intrinsic qualities," but the example characters basically all have quotes trying to be funny or referencing things that are funny, so this is clearly pretty loose.

Well, I've mentioned that he can hack into computer systems, so I'll give him I'm already in the system as his 3-trait. For his 2, I'll give him life spent on the run, and for his 1, I'll give him freak out and punch everything. 

Finally, Step Three is Aptitude, which is a special quality or training that helps keep me alive. This one I pick from a list. Ooh, Engineer, which would make me useful, or Survivor, which is more on brand? I think I'll take Survivor, but if I were playing this character and no one else took Engineer, I might do that instead.

And that's actually it! Lennox is ready to (probably) die in space. He might be a sole survivor, I dunno.

Character Creation: Witch: Fated Souls 2nd Ed

Must be the season, I guess.

The Game: Witch: Fated Souls
The Publisher: Angry Hamster Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: I ran a one-shot of the 1st edition many years ago, but that's pretty different than this
Books Required: Just the one

Many years ago, in the Before Times, I wrote a review of Witch: Fated Souls, because I was doing one-shots and reviews of games by fellow IDGN members. That review was post on RPGnet, but their reviews seem to be all be down? And I don't seem to have the draft copy. Oh, no, wait, I do! Why didn't I do a write-up for my blog on the one-shot? That's weird. 

Well, anyway, having now reread my review, it's pretty much as I remembered: I was down on the game because it seemed like it was including trad systems for the sake of them, when the real innovation in the game was in the magic systems and using magic and dealing with our demons was clearly what the game wanted us to be doing. I'm happy to say that basically everything I mentioned as a criticism in that review got addressed, including that it needed a clarity pass (I don't for a moment take credit for anything, obviously, and I'm sure the people involved in making the game would as soon spit on me as look at me, I'm just saying I'm excited about the 2nd Ed). 

So what's this game? You're playing Fated, or witches, people who sold their souls to demons for magical power. There's a robust and intricate, though not complicated, system for tracking that descent into magical power via doing favors for a demon (the short form is that you can ask your demon for more power or just service and it trades you for something it wants you to do), and the magic system looks a bit more streamlined and...not homogenized, exactly, but the systems are bit cleaner. We're using d6s instead of d10s (and only d6s, the 1st ed used a bunch of other dice for combat), the mechanics are reminiscent of Blades in the Dark in some ways, and the writing is much clearer. 

Actually, this edition is a pretty good reflection of a particular school of current(ish, the game came out in 2025 but after a fairly long publication cycle) game design. That is, it clearly takes influence from PbtA and FitD games, and it spends a little too much time harping on safety concerns. Although on the other hand, maybe a game that straight-up has the PCs owe their souls to demons does need that. 

Anyway, I'm toying with the notion of pitching this game to one of my groups, so let's make a character and see how easy that process works. 

The first thing we'd normally do is build the coven, but as it's just me we'll skip that bit. Getting into character creation, I actually do have kind of a concept. If you've been reading my game write-ups for Chill and D&D of late, you'll note that djinn have figured in to both. I didn't do that on purpose, but it has kind of brought out the notion in my brain that having wishes is a curse, not a blessing. So I think I'm gonna make a character who is a djinni (that's one of the Fate options). They can grant wishes, kind of; they actually act as intermediaries between the wisher and the Quiet. 

So first, we say before my fating... I was bored. Spencer Cross, for 'tis his name, had an associates degree and a good, but boring, job (let's say shipping/receiving for some company, it hardly matters). And he was Fated because... I didn't believe it would work. One of my buddies at work had made a wish for lots of money (he's dead now, drug overdose) and shared with me the mechanism by which one makes wishes. Spencer, always the kind of guy that wants to take something apart and see how it works, dug a little too deeply and the Quiet made him an offer. He accepted because, like, what's a soul anyway? (Oops.)

My relationship with my demon is... Vague. The Quiet is barely a demon, it's more like the oblivion at the end of all things. As such, it doesn't really have conversations with Spencer, which unfortunately has the effect of making this whole situation a little less immediate. 

Today I am... Just doing my thing. I see Spencer as the kind of guy who kind of trips into an adventure rather than going out and finding it. Or, y'know, he grants a wish that blows up. (By the way, for every seven wishes a Djinn grants, he gets one of his own! I love that detail, it's amazing and insidious.)

It just occurred to me that I watched Obsession not long ago and that might be influencing my creative process a little. 

Anyway, Stats! I get 6 points in Core, but I have to put one in each, so really I get three. Um. I guess we'll go 2 across the board.

I get 5 points in Attributes, and these can be 0, which is good because there are nine of them. Let's see here. I think I'll put 1 point in Apply, Percept, Reason, Charm, and Understand.

Concepts are Gauze, Occult, and Aether, and they're equal to their core stat + the lowest linked Attributes, which means I have Gauze 2, Occult 3, Aether 3. No, wait, Aether 2. 

Vitality Pools (Health, Composure, Power) work the same way, except with the highest linked Attribute, so 2, 3, 3, respectively. 

Influence, I get 6 points to split between Contacts, Means, and Reputation. Let's put 3 in Contacts, two in Means, one in Reputation. Spencer knows a lot of people's names and has an extensive LinkedIn list (or whatever), though people don't necessarily remember him. 

Magic! I get 4 levels of magic stuff to split between Spells, Potions, and Rituals. I have to take Level I stuff before Level II, but I don't think I have to spend two of my points on a Level II spell (though there isn't an example of chargen, so I could be wrong). I can't take a Level III during chargen, but is that because it's mathematically impossible (which it would be if these cost their level out of my four points) or just a rule? Hrm. Let's assume I get four "things", I just have to take them in sequence and I can't go over II. 

Well, anyway, I get the level 0 "Summon Demon" for free, since that's how I got into this mess. I want the level one Dukhan spell Tacit, which lets me turn invisible. I'll take the level one potion Sacro; when someone drinks it they're compelled to go protect the thing or person they love most for 24 hours. I'll take Phase (also level 1 Dukhan), because it lets me go incorporeal and that's pretty cool. And I'll take the level 1 Sah spell Read, which lets me read a person's true desire.

And then I can take a level one artefact if I want. Ugh, I'll take a corpse tooth, and say it came from my rich buddy (let's call him Ian, just to lean in a little). If I put his tooth in my mouth, I can appear as him for an hour. Ew.

That's it! Spencer is in his late 20s, thick wavy hair, soft body, brown eyes. He wavers between being willing to grant wishes and thinking it's a real bad idea but kind of being willing anyway. Maybe the Quiet has its hooks in him deeper than he thinks.

Character Creation: Stokerverse

I have crossed oceans of RPGs to find you.

(Which is better than oceans of beef.)

The Game: Stokerverse RPG
The Publisher: Nightfall Games
Degree of Familiarity: I've read Dracula, but otherwise none
Books Required: Just the one

Stokerverse is a Victorian horror game. The gimmick, such as it is, is that it uses Stoker's works (including but not limited to Dracula) as a jumping-off point and that one of the creators is Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker. 

But honestly? That's a pretty good gimmick. The book is well-written, the production values are solid, and I don't hate the system immediately upon reading (I'm also cagey about how much I like systems until I play them, but it looks like a nice balance between a couple of approaches; very much a trad game, but that's fine). 

In fact, the only complaint I have is the rather baffling decision not to have a printable character sheet included with the book. It's the with Quickstart. Which is fine, I guess, but if I'd bought this in a store I'd be hella annoyed. 

Also, not to harp, but the sheet that does exist is kinda garbage. No slot for character's name, name of the game isn't even on it, and the design is just boring. By no means a deal-breaker, but eh.

Anywho, let's make a character! 

Step One is "the conversation," which is basically session 0 kind of stuff, so doesn't really apply here.

Step Two: The Stakes. Can't have a vampire game without stakes! (I'm hilarious.) Let's assume we're doing a standard campaign, so I get 4 Stat Points and 3 Skill Points.

The book says that I can allocate these points at any point during chargen, though to "maintain suspension of disbelief" I should do it before play begins. Not entirely sure what they mean there, but whatever. I'll do it as I go, how about that.

Steps Three and Four: Archetypes. This game has you pick two Archetypes, which I really like (Cairn does something similar). I could pick both, roll both, or do one and one. I feel random today, let's at least roll the first one. "Performer." Cool, I can get behind that. Shall I pick the second one? Nah, let's keep rolling. "Game Warden." Ooh, sure. My character works for a circus. 

(Side note: Yes, I am aware that Victorian circuses probably didn't have the best track record with regard to their treatment of humans or animals, but a) it's a horror game, b) this is just a chargen exercise, and c) who am I even talking to.)

Let's say my character's name is Armitage Kelk. Tall, big mustache, handy with a rifle, runs the animal acts in his circus. In his 60s, kind of avuncular, says things like "what what" a lot. 

It's an act, of course. His real name is John MacHenry, born in Scotland in 1853 (which puts him in his 40s "now", depending on when "now" is in this game). He joined the British Army and for some reason got sent to the Gold Coast just in time for the invasion of Asante in 1874. He was not down for that shit, deserted, and wound up in living with some African auxiliary troops who'd also decided the British army could eat shit. He hooked up with the circus when they sent some folks to collect exotic animals, and here we are! 

Step Five: Record stuff. Which basically means I get to synthesize all of this stuff, I think. Boy, it'd be nice if there were an example of chargen, he said for the umpteenth time. 

Well, putting both Archetypes together, we get: 

STR 1, DEX 2, KNOW 0, CONC 0, CHA 1, COOL 1, LUCK 1

(I think it's weird to have a stat called "Cool" in this game. When did "cool" start getting used to refer to a steady and calm demeanor? Feels anachronistic, but I don't know if it is.)

Anyway, I have 4 points to add to those. I don't have to have a rating in them (that is, they range 0 to 6). I feel like Kelk should have better CHA, since he's maintaining a near-constant charade. COOL, too, maybe should go up. Knowledge can stay at 0, but Concentration I feel like I should raise. I'll put two there, actually. 

Skills! Better just list out what I have.

Athletics 3
Diplomacy 2
Driving (Riding) 2
Education (Criminal) 1
Education (Pick 1 - let's say Trade & Craft) 1
Firearms 2
Fisticuffs 1
Observation 2
Profession (Game Warden) 2
Profession (Performance) 1
Stealth 3
Survival 3
Thievery 1

I note with some amusement that I have most of the skills I'd get as a Soldier, too. That's handy. I get three more points, so I'll put 1 into Profession (Soldier), one into Thievery, and one into Firearms. 

For Traits, I get Ambidextrous (um, sure?), Attractive, Contacts, Expanded Wardrobe, Good Vision, Poor Accommodation (Shack). 

Actually, that's a question. Suppose I had Game Warden and Aristocrat. One has Poor Accommodation and one has Accommodation (Grand Country Estate). Does the better one just win out? I guess it must. 

Well, whatever, my shack is the only accommodation I have and honestly for a circus performer that's about right. I think Kelk's Contact should be Military, someone from his past that knows who he really is but isn't going to tell because Kelk saved his life (if he hadn't intervened, that woman with the sharpened bit of guava might have seriously...). 

And that's actually it! I get a rifle or shotgun (rifle, please, military issue), a survival kit, a folding knife, and performing clothes. 

I think Kelk would be an interesting character in this sort of game, particularly if you had some malevolent force spooking the animals or followed up on the "wolves escaped from the zoo" plotline that gets mentioned in the book. 

Character Creation: Fiendgazer

Someone who gazes at fiends? Yes, actually.

The Game: Fiendgazer
The Publisher: Tremor Pings
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Fiendgazer shares some characteristics with Brindlewood Bay (beyond the system, I mean). It's set in a particular locale (Harrowplow, PA), it's a story of creeping supernatural dread and solving mysteries, but it's much more horror-forward. To wit, all the PCs (the titular Fiendgazers, or just Gazers if you're pressed for time) have some awareness of the Fiend ripping into our reality, and can gather Clues to figure out the truth and try to stop it. 

I actually think this game would be really cool to play, though I rather wish instead of giving us an example character for each of the Roles it would have given us an example of play. Like, we're supposed to get a Mark (which is a "narrative token") from each other player, including the GM. Here's where an example of chargen would have been really nice, because I'd love to see the giving of Marks in practice. There are example PCs, sure, but they don't have Marks, just backstories. 

But regardless, let's make a Gazer!

The first thing I do (though I do note that there's no real step-by-step for chargen, which I also find annoying) is decide what the Event was that made my character see beyond. I start with a Gaze stat of -2 (if it goes over 3, I'm consumed by the Rift and no longer a PC), which means I have some awareness of what's going on. Why? Well, I think I'll go to The Weird and roll on "Weird PC Backgrounds," seems pretty appropriate. "You've owned a puzzle box for years, but never been able to open it." Well, that's goddamn perfect. Let's say my character - whom we'll call Dane Zamora - has owned the puzzle box since he was a kid. 

You know, I keep thinking that name sounds self-chosen, so let's say Dane is a trans man, and couldn't open the box at all until he transitioned and chose a new name. That isn't to say trans men are more predisposed towards cthonic magic (I have read no studies on the subject), just that before he did that, perhaps he wasn't authentically him enough to get it working. Anyway, he hasn't managed to open the box all the way, but just a bit, and that was enough to give him the Gaze. 

Next up, jorb. My Job gives me four stats (and I really don't agree with some of them; like, why on Earth does Salesperson not have the Social trait?) and a special move. I think Dane is young, probably only 20 or so, so let's say he's a Staffer (he works at a drugstore in Harrowplow). The write-up for Staffer asks me to consider "what dream do you sink into to keep your sanity?" 

In Dane's case, I think it's that his boss, Sally, just shuts the fuck up. Like, he doesn't wish death or ruin upon her, just that she were struck dumb and couldn't ask Dane stupid questions or give him busywork anymore. 

As a Staffer, I get the traits Deep, Handy, Lore, and Network. I get to pick one of these to have a +2, one gets a +1, the others get 0 (but I still have them; everything else gets -1). Well, I think Dane should have Handy at +2 (it'll be a stretch to play, but it'd be fun), Deep +1, and that leaves the other two at 0. And then my special move is that once per game, I can appear harmless and negligible, and no one notices me until I act. 

And that's it, kids, because everything else would require a group. I think Dane wears loose-fitting shirts and pants (the shirts are to hide that he binds, the pants are just what he finds comfy). He's got a wallet on a chain, sturdy work boots, and a kind of Elliot Page haircut, though darker complexion (I think he's of Mexican extraction). Since he's opened that box, he finds himself fiddling with it without realizing it (it's small enough to fit in his pockets). 

Character Creation: The Slashers vs. Evil Game

It's October! Looks like we've got another groovy mystery to STAB.

The Game: The Slashers vs. Evil Game
The Publisher: James "The Geek"
Degree of Familiarity: I know my slashers pretty well, but never played this
Books Required: Just the one

I think this month I'll try and do 10 horror or horror-adjacent games, why not. Anyway, this one!

Slashers vs. Evil (or rather The Slashers vs. Evil Game, which is really unwieldy) is an RPG in which you play movie-style slashers who have bene recruited to fight a greater evil. When you're not on a mission, you're in the Darkness, basically in an empty hell, and then you get let out of your tube and sent out into the world, wherein you must resist your base urges (that is, to kill) long enough to fight said greater evil.

There are...some problems with this. I was talking with Cael about it just a moment ago and they referenced Monsters vs. Aliens, which I think is kind of an apt comparison. It's taking characters that we all know as villains or monsters and making them into the protagonists. Cool, the other Drac Pack cartoon did something similar. But in both of those cases, they were drawing on Universal Monsters and "horror" meant something very different then. 

Slashers, by contrast, playing on different kinds of fear. It's not the fear of the monster in the woods, it's the fear that another human being might be the monster and you won't know until it's too late (among other things). Slashers kill innocent people, often in really brutal ways, and even when it's done in a campy way (Freddy Krueger, Chucky, after a few movies), like, they're still killing people. I know from experience (World of Darkness: Slasher) that playing this kind of character is an iffy proposition, and we ultimately decided against putting PC rules in that book. 

Anyway, all of this to say, I'm not sure exactly what play experience we're going for, here. I get playing monsters, I even get playing monsters that kill people, but in a humor game? And playing characters who kill so directly and violently in their source material? I don't think it couldn't work, I'm just a little perplexed. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age.

Well, anyway, let's make a character.

Really couldn't fit all the chargen steps on one page?

I guess I need a concept, huh? Let's lean into the season and name my slasher Punkin' Jack. He's a big, Jason-style slasher with a jack-o-lantern for a head (or maybe that's a mask, who knows). His weapon of choice is a scythe, and he's got overalls and a flannel shirt. I think he can talk, probably with a kind of hillbilly-ish accent. 

Gender: Scarecrow. 

Age: Old as time. Or, at least since people have been carving pumpkins.

Attributes. I get to underline one (where I'm Focused) and cross out another (Unknown), while the other two are Unfocused. Well, I think Brawn is pretty much obviously my forte, and I'll make Wits my Unknown. That leaves Grace and Will as Unfocused.

Vocation. I mean...I'm a demonic pumpkin-headed slasher. What are you looking for, here? 

Oh, this is basically "what movie archetype do you fall into?" I'm gonna call Jack a Holiday-Themed Killer.

Skills & Abilities. As with Tales from the Terror Tomb (same author), I pick between 1 and 9 Skills and Abilities as Focused. The more I pick, the more focused I am, and therefore more specialized. I don't think I need Jack to be much of an all-rounder. Let's see, what's good...

Well, I want Chatty Charles, because I picture Jack monologuing in his West Virginia accent about Halloween and the dangers thereof (it occurs to me that Jack is basically Sam from Trick 'R Treat's big brother). Hack and Slash, obviously. I'll take Quiet as a Stalker (Jack is quiet until he decides not to be), and Regeneration (hard to hurt). And then I'll take the Tracking Skill. 

And then I need three Unfocused Skills. I can take Abilities here, so I'll take Nighty Night and say that Jack can breathe some kind of candy-flavored miasma at people and knock them out. And then I'll take Sneaking and Athletics here, too.

Focus. This is the number of Focused Skills I have, plus 1, which is 6. Easy enough.

Compulsion. This is basically "why I kill," and there's a lot of overlap between the examples listed. But for Jack, I want Cat and Mouse. He talks a lot about Halloween, but mostly he just likes chasing people down and scything them. 

Motivation. Isn't that what we just...oh, wait, no, this is why I'm still with the Keepers. I don't think any of the examples work, so I'm gonna Jack is Summoned and Must Obey. The Keepers called him up with a sacrifice of full-sized candy bars and blood, and now he belongs to them every Halloween. (And maybe on other days, too, per negotiation, but like, Twix.)

And that's it, kids! Interesting idea, but not something I'm eager to play.

Character Creation: Stone Punk

Ooga-booga. Zug-zug. Swobu. No, wait, that's orcs from Warcraft. 

The Game: Stone Punk
The Publisher: Planet Nine Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None, but it's pretty simple
Books Required: Just the one

I mean, it's...fine, I guess? It's an RPG where you play cavemen. Lots of attention paid to resource gathering, which is fine, but then there are tribes with weirdly sophisticated societies (even a currency, kind of), and it winds up feeling more like a fantasy RPG than anything else. 

Like, there's dinosaurs running around with the cavemen, and that seems like such a deliberate choice but it's never addressed. Even if you were to say "we know this is off by tens of millions of years, but dammit, dinosaurs are cool" or "we took inspiration from the 1982 cinematic masterpiece Caveman and dammit, there were dinosaurs there" but nothin'. 

And, not to harp on this again, but I have no idea why the -punk suffix is there. There's no establishment to fight against, there's no punk aesthetic. I dunno. I think there are cool directions this could have gone in and instead it looks like someone went "you know what would be cool? Cavemen" and then wrote a D&D setting. I don't mean to say this game is terrible - the artwork is cool, the mechanics seem well-explained and simple, and there are a bunch of scenarios. I just wish it was about something. 

And the fucking PDF isn't bookmarked. Blargh.

Well, let's make a caveman. We start by picking a species: I can be a Sapiens, a Neandrathal, or a Denisovan. Think I'll be one of those. They're equally luck as they are adaptable, whatever the hell that means. Anyway, it sets my Health 22, my Speed at 10, and my Luck at 4.

Now we pick a Class. Brute, Hunter, or Shaman. Um, let's be a Hunter. 

And now we pick a tribe! This basically cooks down to what biome we live in. Heh, there's a Beach Tribe.

I'm reminded of a bit that Trevor Noah does about how the reason white people tried to conquer the world is because the climate where they lived was awful. As evidence, he presents the idea of two guys on a beach in the Caribbean saying "we should make boats and go force everyone to do the Calypso." Anyway, I'll be Beach Tribe. 

And...I guess that's it? Wow, there's really no customization here at all, huh? How boring. Well, I'll name my guy Monda. Monda hunts fish with a spear, and has learned many lessons over the years, such as "if you throw your spear too far you'll lose it" and "if you see a fish that's bigger that you, it's time to go back to the beach." He doesn't trust those newfangled "boat" things some of his tribe-mates are talking about. You try standing on water, you'll fall on your ass, that's just math. 

Done! And hey, that's 10 for September. 

Character Creation: Under Hollow Hills

Insert creepy calliope music here.

The Game: Under Hollow Hills
The Publisher: Night Sky Games or lumpley games or Lumpley & Co. or all of the above
Degree of Familiarity: Never played it, but it's PbtA 
Books Required: Just the one

It's a pretty easy one to explain, actually. You're a troupe of fairies (and perhaps humans) in a traveling circus going through Fairie and the Mortal World. Go to a new place, sniff the wind, set up your show. The vibe is very fairytale-esque, in the old "blood, sex, and death" meaning of the word. It looks really cool and reminds me of some of the more interesting parts of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. 

As is often the case with PbtA games, we must first choose a playbook. Most of them are for faerie creatures, and while my inclination is to pick the Lantern Jack, I think I shall go a different direction and choose the Chieftain Mouse. The Chieftain Mouse is a kind of small warrior; I suppose Sir Didymus might fit into this archetype, though of course Labyrinth isn't quite the right tone. 

I'm meant to start with a mousey name, but a name suitable for a mouse of distinction. I think we'll name my mouse Mushka the Proud (just rewatched Coraline not long ago). 

Now we pick aspects of summer and winter; we start full summer, but things can happen in play to make us step toward winter. 

For summer, Mushka gets: Apples, sober little face, rufus red, fancy clothing, and charming. For winter, these become wind in tall grass, bright eyes, smoke grey, worked mail, mannish. I think Mushka's pronouns are he/him regardless, though.

And now we assign numbers to plays. Plays are basically what most PbtA games would call "moves," but unlike most other such games, we don't have stats that they attach to. Instead, each play gets a modifier, but as we step toward winter (or summer), these numbers can shift, which I think is pretty cool. 

So I get +2 (x3), +1 (x5), 0 (x2) and -1 (x2) to put into the obvious plays (that everyone can do) and the four Chieftain Mouse plays. Let's start at the bottom: What is Mushka not so good at?

I think open up to them and sniff the wind are his weak point. Mushka is a mouse of action, and his long service in the Mouse Army (not the Mouse Guard has made him more a solider than a talker).

For the 0s, I'll put them into sit counsel with them (I'm loathe to put low scores into my Chieftain Mouse moves, but it seems to make sense) and size them up. 

Jumping to the other end, we'll put our +2s into summon the Mousey Clans, waylay them, and confront them. That means everything else gets a +1. Mushka is pretty good at the aggressive, even violent stuff, but I think as he moves toward winter he falls into a more decadent, social, and fun-loving aspect. 

And that's it, folks, because everything else would require a group. Mushka is a little red mouse (I debated whether he was actually mouse-sized, but I think it works better if he is). He's got a very smart waistcoat and pantaloons, a mouse-sized sword that stings disproportionately to its size, and a cart drawn by a very small pony (that he refers to as a warhorse). 

Character Creation: Coven & Crucible

Huh. Must be the season of the witch. 

The Game: Coven & Crucible
The Publisher: 13th Moon Games
Degree of Familiarity: Many things about it seem familiar, but no, haven't played it
Books Required: Just the one

I don't know if I'd actually run this game; the system seems deceptively simple (roll 2d12, try to roll under a difficulty) but the more I read the book the more confused I became. Like, there's "degrees" and "formula" and "level of success" and "math", and it's all very janky. The system reminds me of OWoD, not so much in the specifics (as that's a dice pool system and this really isn't), but just in some of the ways it's presented. 

Also, as long as I'm bitching, we could have used an editor for clarity. Lots of passive voice and some funny typos (the GM in this game is the "Storyteller," further cementing the OWoD connection, but there's one place where they're called the "DM" and I thought, "whoops, I know where you started!"). 

But there's also a lot I like about this game. I like the setting - in very brief, it's the modern world but magic is real and an accepted part of society. There are witch hunters, but they're crazy terrorists because hating "magic" is like hating "cooking." Magic is depicted as a skill that anyone can do, if they're willing to put the time in, and most people who want to use it will pay someone else to do it for them. 

There's also a lot of John Wick in here (that's actually one of the stated inspirations) - witches have their own currency called "Pentacles" that don't have a fixed value so much as carrying more or less weight depending on who's spending them. There's a chain of witch-only hotels called the Continental Crucible where violence is prohibited. If you wanted to sum the game up as "what if John Wick but find/replace 'assassin' with 'witch'" you'd be in the right ball park. 

The game was created by a married couple and their daughter - the wife did the setting/world building, the husband did the mechanics, and the daughter did the art (which I have to say is really dope, so hats off to Art Goblin Charlotte. They did a revised version recently and I didn't back it (I rarely back new editions of games I haven't played), but actually I think I might have to grab a copy at some point, especially if I can find more info about the mechanics.

My point here is that the inspiration and setting foundation of the game are solid, and, in reading it, I can see how to run it. That's actually a big deal, because I read so many RPGs, and a lot of them I read and think "eh" or "I could make this fun for the right group, but it would be a lot of work." This actually pokes at my brain a little more, and not just because I'm an ex-Wiccan myself. So let's make a witch!

I don't have a concept handy, so let's find a theme song. Just a moment. And the randomness gods have given me..."Killing Boys" by Halsey!

I really like this song, for multiple reasons. First, it samples Jennifer's Body, so like, good start. It's a song about revenge, but unlike similar songs ("Before He Cheats," f'rex), it seems to refer to the old adage that someone seeking revenge should dig two graves. So I don't think I want to make a character who is after revenge, how about someone who got their revenge and now gets to live with it? 

So, my character is Devin Dowling (not a superhero, despite the alliteration). His little sister Denise was killed by a drunk driver when he was 17 (she was 13), and the guy got out after doing 3 years (so Devin was 20). Devin wound up at the same coffee house as the guy one winter evening - this was after Devin had already done quite a bit of therapy and tried to let go of the anger he was facing. The guy (let's call him Ben) was chatting with some friends, and one of them asked the terms of his parole. And Ben said, "oh, I'm not allowed to drink."

It was the way he said "drink." It wasn't "I'm not allowed to drink, because I killed someone while drunk and that's understandable" or "I'm not allowed to drink and that sucks because I miss it", the tone was more "I'm not allowed to drink and that is an imposition." And Devin lost any progress he'd made, and went after revenge. 

He tried to hire a witch to hex the fucker, and he couldn't find one who would. Hexing people is ethically shaky at the best of times, and there are laws about it in any case. So Devin started studying magic to do it himself. He did, got his revenge (I'll get more specific after I figure out what exactly Devin can accomplish, magically speaking), and now he's got that hanging over his head. And he's still angry. 

Whew, that's bleak. Now for Attributes! I start with 3 in each of them (Will, Body, Agility, Magic, or "WBAM" for short. "Wa-Bam," maybe?) and then I get 7 points to split up. I think Devin has put a lot of time into learning magic, so let's max it out (the max is 7, so that's 4 of my points). And then I'll put two points into Body and one into Will, leaving Agility at 3. 

Skills! There are nine Skills, I start with 4 points in each one and I can split up 13 points betwixt them. The maximum is 13, so if I want to be really specialized I could pump 9 freaking points into one Skill (but I do not think I wish to do that). 

Let's just take these one at a time. Academics, I'm inclined to leave at 4, but I might put a point or two into it. Magical (there's an Attribute called "Magic" and a Skill called "Magical", no way that gets confusing at the table) should get some points, so how about we put 3 into it for now? Strategic includes sub-skills (that's next) involving planning and executive function, and actually that's something Devin should have some ability for, so let's put 3 points there, too (6 spent, 7 remaining). 

Artistic and Martial can start at 4. Technical might be something Devin is good at...Athletics I'd normally raise, but I see Devin as not the most physical of guys. I'll put 2 into Technical for now.

That leaves Social and Underworld with 5 points remaining. I'll put them all into Underworld; Devin has spent a lot of time learning to do shady shit. 

And now, sub-skills. Each Skill has seven of these, meaning that there's 63 of the fuckers. Fortunately, they're all pretty intuitive, although that's a lot, it's not nearly the most ridiculously granular I've seen. I get 63 points to throw around, but I don't start with any points in anything. I also don't seem to be capped by the controlling Skill, so that's nice. My max here is 7, so if I wanted to be really shit-hot at 9 sub-skills, I could. 

Right, well, let's just list the ones I think Devin should have some ability in:

Lore
Hexing
Occult
Summoning? 
Awareness
Espionage*
Intelligence Analysis*
Investigation*
Tactics*
Ranged
Traps
Stealth
Deceit
Forced Entry**
Larceny**
Lock-Picking**

*There seems to be considerable overlap between these sub-skills.

** These too. 

Well, I could put 3 into each of those and have 15 points remaining. Do I wish to do that? Sure, let's do that. Using my remaining 15 points, I shall bump Hexing to 7 (11 remaining), Stealth to 5 (9 remaining), Occult to 5 (7 remaining), Awareness to 6 (3 remaining), Lock-Picking to 4 (2 remaining) and Investigation to 5. 

Traits! These are basically Merits & Flaws without the Flaws; there's some mention of some of these applying negative modifiers but it all seems to be in service to the player. So I get 7 points' worth. Let's see. 

Definitely not Common Sense (I note, with some amusement, that it's basically the same as the Merit of the same name in OWoD, which we always used to joke was underpriced at 1 point). Let's take Criminal Mind at 2 points, Devin has spent the last few years thinking about how to crime at someone. Similarly, I think Contacts makes sense - Devin has been looking to find someone to hex this guy for a while and I'm sure would have talked to some people. Each instance of the Contacts trait gives me a bonus to rolls with a given group (meaning I could level 2 with Vampires but level 3 with one of the witch Houses). Let's take level 1 with House Strega, and level 1 with Vampires. That leaves me 3 points. 

Let's just put the last 3 into Single-Minded (which gives me a bonus on almost any action as long as it's focused, but makes me shit at multi-tasking). 

Derived stats! 

Health is 13 + (Body x 2), or 23 for me. Base Initiative is Will + Agility (7). Potion Tolerance is 7 (I can drink 7 potions in an hour before suffering "negative effects"). Alcoholic Beverage Tolerance (no, seriously, it's a thing, though I'm not sure why)...I can have 5 strong drinks in an hour before negative effects. 

Speed is (Body + Agility + Athletics)2, or 22. Sprint is Body + Endurance, so 5. Magic Resistance is Magic + Magical (see?) + Endurance, or 14. I get 2d12 Pentacles (roll...14). And that's it! (I ain't filling out the back of the sheet, it's a bunch of stuff that would be useful in play but not for chargen.)

Devin is just shy of 6' tall, very skinny, maybe a touch of asthma. He's got his sister's name and dates (birthdate - death date) tattooed on his right arm in red ink. He's got blond hair and green eyes, and he never stops moving his hands when he's talking. 

The big question - did he kill Ben? I think he didn't, I think he made him drunk by hexing him and had him arrested for parole violation. And again, it didn't help. 

Character Creation: Full Send

Today in "oddly specific RPGs," we have a game about mountaineering. 

The Game: Full Send
The Publisher: 12 Pins Press
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

I got this game in the mail (I backed the Kickstarter) recently, but I picked it up to read because I'm planning my next Chill case and I thought maybe it'd give me some mountaineering-related inspiration. It didn't, really, but I'm really glad I read it. 

Games that are this niche in their subject matter are frequently mechanically weak. That is, someone bolts a cool idea onto a basic-ass system (roll d6s and count 4s, whatever) and the result is perfectly serviceable but the mechanics don't really do anything interesting. 

This game, the system is custom-designed to deal with not only the physical realties of mountaineering, but also the mindset that it takes to climb a goddamn mountain. It's a Tarot-based game, you make your "mountain" by pulling several Major Arcana (or using a pre-designed mountain where the cards are decided for you). Each card represents an obstacle, and the number on the card tells you the number each player has to beat with their cards to bypass said obstacle. That means that some cards (The Magician, The High Priestess, and so on) are so easy that basically any card gets you by them, but some (basically The Wheel of Fortune on up) are going to require some choices. 

The mountain can absolutely kill you, and that's handled well, too. I have no idea if I'll ever run this game, but I kind of want to because I think the system is really cool, and that's rare. So let's making a climber. 

Step 1: Name and pronouns. Let's name my guy Jorge Morales. He's Puerto Rican/Cuban, but grew up in western North Carolina (his parents had a long and winding road from their places of birth). 

Step 2: Class, Drive, Flaw. My Class is much the same as in other RPGs, it's what kind of thing I can do in the context of climbing. For Jorge, I want to pick The Newcomer. That means I get to mulligan my hand once at the beginning of a summit, and if I come in last with Glory Points at the end of a summit, I get an extra 500. 

For Drive, I'll take "I idolise another, more experienced climber in the group. I want to impress them." (Obviously I'll leave that unspecified, as it would be another PC.) For Flaw, "I tend to forget about long-term-goals in favor of short-term gains" sounds fun. I note, with some annoyance, that there's no slot for these on the character sheet. There's plenty of white space so it wouldn't be hard to add them, but grr.

Step Three: Relationships. I get one worth 3 points and one worth 1 point. These have to be maintained during downtime, but they degrade in play if I run out of Luck (at which point they act like hit points, kind of). For Jorge, I feel like he's close with his dad, Arturo. Arturo still lives in Shelby, NC and Jorge visits him a lot; he still works in a machine shop, but those days are coming to an end. For the other one, we'll say Jorge is dating a woman named Amiya. They haven't been seeing each other very long, but Jorge is pretty smitten. 

Step Four: Lifestyle. I think Jorge is Getting By. That'll cost me 800 GP between summits to maintain. I get to pick an advance now, I'll take Package Holiday Pass (basically I can pay GP to improve relationships during downtime). That'll be costly, but y'know, dream big.

I get 3 Hand Size and 5 Luck, and that's it, y'all, ready to climb! I think Jorge is about 25, maybe has a business degree or something equally dull, but used to skateboard and do similar sports when he was younger. He still likes to be active and he loves being outside (which Amiya does not get), and he fell in with this group after meeting [whoever it is I'm fixated on]. Jorge is Hispanic, obvs, black hair, brown eyes, has a few tats above the elbow because his mom would freak out if she knew (she already knows). 

That's it! So quick n' easy, especially in contrast to yesterday. 

Character Creation: Children of Eriu

Cén t-am é? Tá sé in am do chargen!

The Game: Children of Eriu
The Publisher: Pendelhaven Press
Degree of Familiarity: I played Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok a long-ass time ago, but never this one
Books Required: Just the one, but it's like 500 freaking pages

Children of Eriu is basically "hey, what were the British Isles doing during Raganarok?" It works on the same weird (or should I say "Wyrd?" Ha-ha! That only works if you already know the game terminology) "draw runes from a bag" system as Fate of the Norns. It looks pretty cool, it's got a very thorough and actually pretty accessible setting, there's just a lot of it. 

I remember thinking, too, that chargen in Children of Eriu vs. Norns wasn't as easy to follow, but I dunno. I guess I could pull out that game if I need to. Here we go!

I don't have a Norn, of course, but that's fine. The book says that starting level for PCs is typically 8-12, so let's split the difference and say 10. First thing we do, then, is split those points between Essence and Destiny. Essence is the number of runes in the bag, while Destiny is how many runes we draw when we "Wyrd" (that is, draw runes from the bag), so it's basically a choice between depth and breadth. Essence is 1-for-1, Destiny is 2-for-1. Let's split the difference again, and say 4 Essence, 3 Destiny.

Right, so now I need to wind up with four runes. I can pick them entirely randomly, pick one of each type (Physical, Mental, Spiritual) and then pick the last one randomly, or just pick them. I think I'll do the second one.

From left to right, that's Thurisaz (Barrier), Gebgift (Gift), Ing (Achievement), and Hagalaz (Storms & Chaos). Sure, let's move along. 

Right, now we do Characteristics and Lifepaths. I do like Lifepaths! But we'll get there. We start off with Personality, and the book says to Wyrd once for each table. But does that mean draw one rune? When this character Wyrds, they'd draw three runes (equal to Destiny). Well, I don't want to be here all day, so I'll just draw one per. An example of chargen would be REALLY SODDING NICE HERE, GUYS. 

Anywho, personality. I draw Jethe, which would give me...Egomaniac. Um, no thanks. I'll use that one for Motivation, let's say, which means my motivation is Joy of Life. Redrawing for Personality, I get Mann, which gives me "Defender". I can live with that. I don't think these are too important, anyway, as there's no slot on the sheet for them.

Early life! I need four runes, here, because there are four tables. I get...my old pal Thurisaz again, Uruz, Fehu, and Ing (again). Arranging these in a way that I find pleasant, I get: I was born in Cashiel (no idea why it's spelled that way), I have three surviving family members, a Faerie owes me a favor, and I was once left for dead. I'll keep all of this in mind as I move along. I'll skip the Brushes With Power tables because that would all be Norn-decided...actually, no, I'll Wyrd for Divine, because it'll play into my "favor from a Faerie" thing. 

OK, my draw indicates that I got attacked by a bunch of Coblins who thought I had stolen some relic. Turns out I did have the relic, but I had it because a Faerie slipped it into my pack. I eventually fought off the Coblins and the Faerie got its thingie back, and was pretty grateful that I hadn't lost it or died, so it owes me one.

Dweller relationships I can skip, as it's just me. Social Connections, I'll draw for that, sure. I know the chieftain of a clan, someone who oversees a small kingdom. My guy gets around. 

Social standing is my occupation before shit got fucky (also known as "Celtic Twilight"). I get...Liberated Thrall. Um, sure, that's fine. I bought my freedom and worked myself up from nothing (you know, I may have been a thrall when the whole "coblins" thing happened, and my Faerie patron may have nudged things in my direction). I get 125 skatt, but there's no place on the sheet to write that or gear, so that must not be important, either! Moving on. 

Choose an Archetype and specializations! There are five Archetypes to choose from (really seven, but two of them aren't available to starting characters) and each one has three specializations. Just a moment. Oh, sure, let's pretend we're playing Werewolf and pick Fianna. For Specialization, I like Ceithernach - ambushers that command packs of dogs, that's pretty cool. That binds my Void rune to Mental, and gives me several abilities that I'd love to write on the sheet, but the font is set to "ant footprint". (Seriously, guys, invest in some fucking sheet design?)

Now I'm meant to map my runes onto the abilities, so I wind up with all of my runes mapped to an Active Talent, a Social Talent, a Skill, and a Passive Talent. These are laid out in a grid, and I seem to recall that in Norns you had to pick adjacent powers? I don't see that mentioned, here, but I'm probably going to do it just to keep things simple. Man, I hate it when 500 page books can't be bothered to explain how the game works. I just checked and Norns actually did explain this better, though I fucked it up in the character I made (but I'm not going back and changing it). 

OK, let's go. Active Powers first. I will assume I need to go adjacent and not diagonally. I'll start with Uncanny Ambush, because I really want the one below that (Wild Faol Shape, so I can turn into a goddamn wolf). I'll take Roll Out of the Way, and I'll take Uncanny Disarm.

Social powers! I'll take Chime-In (standing up for my friends, as I'm a defender), Encourage Ally, Timely Distraction, and Growl. 

Skills! Survival Wilderness, Hunting & Trapping, obviously. Perception, you never go wrong. Sneak sounds good, too.

Passives! Companion in War sounds like it fits with the wolf-pack thing I have going. Woodland Run lets me take full Move in the woods, that's good for a hunter. Uncanny Opportunist is fine, but I really want Awareness of Danger, so that's my four!

Last thing would be to set starting equipment, but you all know how much I care about that (and there's no slot anyway). So instead, let's just describe my guy!

Irial is lanky, lean, and hairy. He's not dirty, but kind of looks like he should be (he's just got very dark hair and it's all over the place). He's always got a few hounds nearby, and has a habit of pricking his ears up as they do (though not nearly as noticeably, of course). Irial has learned the value of persistence and tenacity, so he's always going to defend himself and others, but mostly he's just in it for a good time.

There, done. I hate it when the game makes it so hard to sustain interest in the chargen process. 

Character Creation: The Watch

I should say up front that I'm doing this game now because the...sequel? Second edition? I dunno is Kickstarting and, as of today, not quite funded. I should also say that I'm quite sure the author would as soon spit on me as look at me, and fair enough, but I'm still impressed with the game and Mars Watch looks pretty cool. 

The Game: The Watch
The Publisher: Peach Pants Press
Degree of Familiarity: None, other than the fact that it's PbtA 
Books Required: Just the one

I don't feel like going down the rabbit hole to figure out where in the early incarnations of PbtA this game came out. I'm actually only interested in that at all because it's one of the "create the threat facing the group" - there are a lot of those, but this may have been one of the earlier ones? Anyway, the basic conceit here is that the Shadow (whatever that is in your game) has infected the land and driven the men - just the men - to violence and despoilation of the world. The Clans (which are enumerated, but not given a lot of detail) broke apart, the civilization fell back, and you're playing a member of the Watch. That is, a woman or enbie task with driving back the Shadow and protecting the people remaining. 

Why the gender strictures? Because the game's about toxic masculinity, which is something I know a little bit about. Without wanting to get too personal, I actually had a very good model of masculinity, because my dad was a gentle, patient man, not prone to outbursts or macho chest-thumping (my mother was another matter, make of that what you will). I, on the other hand, while never having been particularly prone to demonstrative macho-ness, have absolutely been prone to anger and even violent outbursts, and it's something that took me a long time to get over. (And that's all the self-analysis you're getting today.)

 

Anyway, the idea is: 

You can read in the Mars Watch Kickstarter how the author's notions of all this have evolved since coming out as trans, but I'm just rolling with what I have. 

As with a lot of PbtA games, we're starting with a playbook. Here they're all animals (rather, they're named for animals). The game also does something I really like, which is give a list of the playbooks with a one-sentence blurb and a "this playbook is good for players who X". 

Now, if I were actually playing this game, I suspect I would lean toward Bear or Wolf, because I like playing support characters (Wolf also has some interesting relationships with violence that, at the right table, would be fun to explore). For our purposes today, however, I think I want to pick the Fox.

So, starting with name, gender presentation, and demeanor. Gender presentation is, of course, important in this game. I don't mind playing cis or trans women occasionally, though I'm generally more comfortable playing men (which isn't an option here, obviously) or, failing that, non-binary folks. The Fox playbook is very much about moving between worlds (living and dead, or physical and spirit, mostly), so I think I want to lean into that and have my character's presentation be "fluid." I'm gonna name them Teka (it's a choice off the list, and the lists of names are actually constructed to give some thought to the phonology and consistency of the language at work here, which I appreciate). 

Completing Teka's look, I think we'll say they have a, arresting face, ragged clothing, and a distracted demeanor. I like the notion of being half "here", but that means I'm also half "elsewhere." 

Gear! I get a symbol of my clan, which should probably wait until I pick that. I get a token, mark, or scar that shows the price I paid to talk to spirits. I think the fingers on Teka's left hand are permanently crooked, like half-curled into a fist. When they learned to commune with spirits, the left side of their body was possessed, and they managed to get it out, mostly. 

I get a spear, sword, bow, shield, and armor. I get to pick two options off the list to make my gear unique. Let's see here. I'm gonna say my shield is covered in spikes (I just kind of like that imagery), and that my bow is famous for killing the Three Kings. The Three Kings were a pride (pack?) of hyena/lion creatures that were picking off Watch members. The got the nicknamed because the horns on their heads looked like crowns, from a distance. Teka killed them with arrows over the course of three nights, took their horns, and use them to adorn their shield. 

Rank...I can be a recruit, initiate, warden, or corporal. If I were playing this, we could only have one corporal, but of course that doesn't matter here. I feel like Teka is more experienced than a recruit or initiate, so let's make them a Warden.

Normally, here I'd do Ties that Bind (establishing history with the other PCs and giving and getting Camaraderie), but y'know, just me, so moving on!

Clan! I get to pick one, but they aren't given much detail, really just a profession. Clan Dothas are mystics, which would make sense, but I think I want Clan Sharn (hunter/gatherers). Going back to the symbol of my clan, I think it should be an empty basket. The thinking here is that Clan Sharn knows that people are always consuming, and if you're going to keep your people fed, you must treat that basket as if it's always empty.

Stats! I get Cunning 0, Luck 2, Training -1, and Valor 0, and then I get to add 1 wherever I want. I think I want Training to not suck so bad, so I'll bump that to 0. 

Moves! I get two from the playbook. Let's see now. The obvious one is spirit walk, which lets me (as the name implies) walk in the spirit world and do a number of things, but I actually think Teka's experience with possession made them a little gunshy about actually going there. Instead, I'll take eyes in the sky (I can mark an animal and then see through its eyes) and spirit bond (I can open up, the basic social sort of move, with my Camaraderie with that person rather than using Valor, as long as I teach them about spirits).

And that's actually about it! I picture Teka as kind of on the smaller side, but oddly shredded in a "damn, that skinny guy can run/fight/lift" sort of way. Their armor is light, but the shield is heavy, especially with those horn-spikes on it. Teka has black hair and green eyes, and while they don't know it, their left hand flexes while they're sleeping. 

Cool, that'll do it!