Character Creation: Corvid Court (Aviary Edition)

FOOOOOOOR THE SECOND GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-FIVE,
TWO CORVID COURTS,
AND CAIRN BUT THE OSR ONE NOT THE ANIMAL ONE!

The Game: Corvid Court (Aviary Edition)
The Publisher: Gila RPGs
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

There was an earlier edition of this game, for which I did a character. I thought the system has changed more than it did, but it still uses the Resistance System (much like Spire and Heart). That said, I said during that first chargen post that the game felt more like an ashcan than a finished game, this one, while still slim, definitely feels run-able. 

So! There's not a step-by-step for chargen, but it makes sense to start with Background (also it's the first thing presented in the book as far as character traits go). I'm feeling sinister today, let's go with Cultist. That gives me the Glide Skill and the Occult Domain, and asks me about the cult - beliefs, goals, does the Corvid Court know about my connections? I shall ponder this. 

In the meanwhile, I pick a Class, and I know I want Shrike. Shrikes are assassins, so there's some overlaps with Crows, but you call a Crow if you want someone to meet with an unfortunate accident and you call a Shrike if you want their head nailed to someone's door. I've always liked shrikes (I even made them a totem for a lodge in Werewolf: The Forsaken). I like the idea of a cult that had some pretty violent and unsavory practices and then got broken up before "the apotheosis." 

As a Shrike, I get Murder and Swoop (Skills) and Crime and Worship (Domains). Hmm, no double-ups so no Knacks. Ah, well. Once per scene I can put hands on someone and pin them in place, which is dope as fuck. I get an ability off the Shrike list. I think I'll take Impaler. I can summon a giant thorn that punches through anything (but I take 2 Claw Stress for my trouble).

And then Bonds! First, I was supposed to kill someone of the Court, but didn't. Let's say her name was Carmon, and she was a member of the same cult as me. And then I was hired as an assassin by a VIP of the Nest. Let's say that a Jay named Laramie hired me to kill his former business partner. He tried explaining the nature of the beef, but it bored me to tears. Secretly I hope someone hires me to kill Laramie, too.

And that's it, actually! My Shrike's name is Toller. Toller is surprisingly small, but scrappy and quick. He carries darts and thin blades, and his victims tend to look like pincushions when he's done (assuming they aren't jump impaled).

That'll do it. CAW.

Character Creation: Corvid Court

That's a lot of alliteration. 

The Game: Corvid Court
The Publisher: Gila RPGs
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Corvid Court is a quick little game in which you play "birds" (are they actual birds or people in a bird-themed cult? The game is deliberately vague on the point and it'd work either way). It's built on a stripped-down version of the same system that Spire runs on, and there's very little setting - hell, the whole game is barely 20 pages. It's in the unfortunate position of being perfectly playable, but like, Blades in the Dark is right over the there, and Spire itself hits a few of the same notes (without the birds, of course).

That said, it reads like an ashcan version of a game - something that could get fleshed out into something really cool, but it would probably play just fine as-is. Let's make a birb! (This is hella quick.)

First thing we do is choose a class: crow, raven, jay, or magpie. I'm thinking raven. Ravens are distance fighters (as opposed to the up-close-and-personal crows), and comfortable with tech. I know I go in for snipers and marksman and throwers a lot, but y'know, caw. 

And now I pick one of the three abilities on the sheet. Hrm. Unlock doors with a touch or burst into a flock of ravens and fly away? Think I gotta go with the latter, that's just awesome. 

Then I pick three pieces of equipment, which don't have a mechanical effect, necessarily. I want a huge, bulky, tattered black cloak, a long-barrelled telescopic one-shot rifle, and boots that can clamp to a surface. 

And that's actually it. I pick this guy (I'm assuming not actual birbs here, obviously) is a tatterdemalion, but without the color. His cloak looks a little like the black coat that Bruce Campbell wears in Darkman (yes, I know Liam Neeson stars, Campbell shows up in the last scene and that's the look I'm going for), and he keeps his face wrapped in coal-black rags. His rifle fits together in a rather janky way, and whatever the hell it uses to fire doesn't sound or smell like normal gunpowder, but he can shoot it accurately and the thing on the other end tends to die, so what's the difference? The Bird Court knows him as Ramshackle. 

And...done!