OK, anyone out there seen A Serious Man and would be interested
in engaging in some discussion? Because I'm having some pretty
significant "wtf" going on, here. Seeing it as a retelling of the Book
of Job in the same way that O Brother Where Art Thou is a retelling of the Odyssey helps, but I'd love to hear other folks' thoughts.
Anyway, obviously I didn't get to do a character yesterday, so I'll do one today.
The Game: Dawg the RPG, 2nd Ed.
The Publisher: Kenzer & Co.
Degree of Familiarity: None. Read the PDF, that's it.
Books Required: Just the PDF.
John, when he was still cool enough to be doing this chargen thing, made a Dawg
character (I'd link to it, but I can't bloody find it), and I asked him
what the heck this game was, so he pointed me to the pdf, and here we
are.
The game is a lot like Cat, except of course you play a dog ("Dawg," for PCs). There's not the same degree of magic and dream-walking as in Cat,
although one of the adventure seeds does have Cerberus running away
from Hades and the Gawd of the Underwurld hiring Dawgs to get him back.
Anyway, I like doggies and this is quick game to make a character for,
so here we are.
Step One: Choose Lineage. The temptation
to make Leo as a Dawg is great, but I don't know if the intelligence
statistic goes into negative numbers. I do want to make a Lab, however,
because I lurvs them. I shall follow the same tactic I took when I made
my above-linked kitty, and create one of the doggies I grew up with. He
was a black lab name of Threedy, and I swear I did not name him that.
Threedy
was an older dog, kinda lanky, and wasn't above being gruffy sometimes.
I think as a Dawg he's got a real "I am smart and wise but please don't
take any liberties, you pup" attitude about him.
Well, for
Lineage, Threedy isn't exactly a purebred; he was all Lab, but he had no
papers. I'll go with Crossbreed Cur; it's not exactly accurate, but
it'll do. I start with Canine Compulsion 10 and 70 Building Points,
whatever that means.
Step Two: Choose Lifestyle. Pet,
obviously. My Canine Compulsion goes up by 10, I have to abide by
Good/Bad Dog rules, and I get a Pet Perk. I'll take a Tug Toy - it's a
tug o' war toy, but I can use it to open doors by "accidentally" getting
it caught on the handle.
Step Three: Choose Breed.
Threedy's a black lab, and that makes him a Hunting Dawg. This sets my
various stats at their levels, but I'll get into that when I use
Building Points to up them. It also gives Threedy the Mighty Sniffer
trick. He can sniff his surroundings to get details about what's
happening.
Step Four: Size, Dodge and Hit Points. Based on the size chart, I think labs are Medium. That starts Dodge at 45 and HP at 25.
Step Five: Select Disadvantages.
I can take up to two, and they each give me 10 Building Points. Let's
see if any sound good. Sure, I'll take Happy Tail (my big ol' tail
clears tables) and Neutered (well, y'know). I'm up to 90 Building
Points.
Step Six: Learn Tricks. I get one for free and I
can buy more with BP, if I want. I pick Roughhousing; allows me to smack
other dogs around without really hurting them.
Step Seven: Building Points. Yay! I buy stuff now! I have 90 BP. Let's start with Traits.
Brawn
is how tough and strong I am. Starts at 40. Threedy is strong and
skillful in a fight. I can boost this to 50, which would cost me 20
points. Sounds good.
Hustle is how fast and nimble Threedy is. He's an older Dawg and has hip issues. I'll leave this as-is (40).
Dodge starts at 45. Threedy, again, isn't especially fast but he's good in a fight, so I'll boost this to 50 (10 points).
Alertness.
Pretty much what it sounds like. Starts at 40, I can't go higher than
50. Another 20 points here, I've spent 50 total.
Human Handling isn't Threedy's strongest point; he's better with other dogs. I'll leave it at 40.
Animal
Magnetism. Despite being Neutered, Threedy is pretty good with other
animals, but mostly through intimidation and being all smart and snarly.
I'll spent 20 and boost this to 50.
Canine Compulsion is the stat that can make you chase a SQUIRREL! I want it low, so 20's fine.
That leaves me 20 points. I'll buy the Tough Dawg trick, which boosts my HP to 30.
Step Eight: Heading Out. A little more background? All righty then.
Threedy
was born in a house in the woods in Indiana. His Mama-Dawg, Pearl, was
shot by a hunter when he was just a pup, and while he's come to love his
Master and the Family, he knows that humans are short-sighted at best
and downright stupid at worst. He likes other dogs better than humans
(Master excepted, of course), and while he does his best to be a Good
Dawg, there are days that he just doesn't want to come inside, and he
knows darned well that Master isn't going to be able to catch him. His
bones are starting to ache as he gets older, and sometimes that means he
gets challenged or roughed up by younger pooches, but ol' Threedy has a
trick or two up his...collar, and he's happy to lay the smack down on a
Dawg that needs it.
S'pose that's it, then.
