And the winner of the most boring character sheet award goes to....
The Game: Esoterica
The Publisher: Fire Ruby Designs
Degree of Familiarity: None, and yet, I feel like I've played it
Books Required: Just the one
Esoterica is an urban fantasy/horror game in which you play Adepts, modern magic-users who can see past the Veil and arrange themselves in Cabals and fight against Hungers while putting their Stains in Soul Jars. This game is Very big on capital Letters, and that's just one way it feels like a 1st edition World of Darkness game! Others include: almost everything about the setting (modern day but with magic, secret societies, the real world is a lie), a dice pool system, and having a bloated, unnecessarily robust combat system for a game that doesn't really want to be about combat.
I mean, there are some pretty big differences, too. There are no splats to speak of - your character might belong to a secret society but the players make them up. There are enemy factions and Cabals, but they feel like examples rather than fleshed-out parts of the setting. Actually, while the game undeniably has a setting, it's very thin, as opposed to the overly detailed and lore-heavy worlds of World of Darkness (and Witchcraft, with which Esoterica also shares DNA).
But, it was nicely quick when I started reading it and the artwork is pretty cool. It uses a d6 dice pool system - the Open D6 System, actually, as seen in Masterbook games like Tales from the Crypt and Men in Black.
Well! I don't have a concept in mind, so I shall once again pop into my iTunes library and shuffle some shit.
Uh...sure.
That's "Does She Love that Man?" by Breathe. I'd love to scoff, but the truth of the matter is that this album was in pretty much constant rotation when I was in college. This song in particular was my breakup song with...everyone. I wouldn't call Breathe a great band or anything, but I do appreciate the storytelling in their songs, even if it tends to lack subtlety.
Well, anyway, obviously this song is about someone seeing a former lover with someone else, now happy, and kinda falling apart about it. I do like, though, that the song doesn't describe the narrator intruding upon her, or indeed her even noticing him. It's over, he knows it, it just sucks and he's hurting.
(I think I wrote a play inspired by this song, actually. Ugh.)
Anyway, our first step in character creation here is concept, so bearing the song in mind, I think we'll say that Sanders "Sandy" Coleman (for 'tis his name) had just about gotten over his former fiancée and was out doing some last-minute Xmas shopping, when he saw her with another man (and a sparkle in her eyes). Unlike the more good-natured narrator in the song, however, he followed her and her new beau (not, like, home, just around the district where they were shopping), and into a bookstore that he'd never seen before.
He didn't see them upon entering, but the old fellow behind the counter asked what he was looking for. Sandy said he was just browsing, and the old fellow said this isn't a place you browse. If you're looking, look. Sandy said "fine, I'm looking," and the old man held up a glass cube with the entirety of the world in the center of it, and Sandy saw past the Veil.
Turns out his ex (Candice) and her new boyfriend (Gerald) were members of the Order of the Triune Bloom. The order is obsessed with trinity - everything happens in threes. When they found that Sandy had followed them here and thus been made an Adept, they were thrilled - there's the third! Problem is that Sandy really hates being around them, because a) he's still in love with Candice to a degree he didn't realize, b) he feels like a third wheel, and c) Gerald is actually a really great guy.
OK, that is a lot more concept than is probably necessary, but what the heck, I already did my D&D prep and I don't have much else to do today except play more Stranded Deep.
So now we do Attributes. I get 8D to split up among Might, Agility, Wit, and Charm, but I can split dice into pips, too. Attributes can also have tags, which can allow a die reroll if they apply. This sounds familiar, did Summerland use this system, too? Ah, no, the tag system is similar, but not quite the same.
OK, anyway, I guess I should think about Sandy a little. Frankly he strikes me as a pretty average dude, so I'm just going to go 2D all around. I get to assign two tags to my highest Attribute, one to all the others, and one of them has to be negative.
Well, I already know his negative tag: Jealous (which I'll put under Charm, I think). I guess I should think about Sandy's profession a bit. I think he's a booker, mostly comedians and musical acts, but he's trying to branch out a little. That would imply a higher Charm than he has, actually, so I think I'll need to make up that up with skills.
Nothing says I can't put my negative tag in the same Attribute as my other "highest attribute" tag, so I'll give him the Charm tag "personable." For Wit, I'll say "planner," for Might, we'll say "fit", and for Agility, we'll say "graceful" (he and Candice met at a dance class).
And now we have 7D for Skills. I already know I want Diplomacy and Persuasion. I can also specialize further and get 3D for the price of one within a narrow field, so maybe Negotiation? Sure, let's put 1D into Diplomacy and 1D into Persuasion, and then 1D to give me 3D in Negotiation (which I think would key off Diplomacy). I've spent 3 of my 7D here (and I can hold on to dice if I want Perks, too).
Well, I feel like putting 1D into Bureaucracy makes sense, and then I'll put 1D into Dodge under Agility. And looking ahead, I don't actually see any Perks I want, so I'll 1D into Technical and 1D into Athletics.
No Perks or Complications, but there's no place for them on the sheet anyway. Wait, no, it's on the second page. This is a really badly designed sheet, lots of wasted space; it absolutely could have gone on one page. Anyway, on to Arts!
Now, I have to admit, this magic system doesn't thrill me much. The mechanics of it are fine, if a little wimpy; you can add your dice in your magic stats to rolls as appropriate. But there are only three Arts: Domination, Mastery, and Intuition. I dunno, I feel like a little more detail or diversity might have been interesting. Well, whatever. I get 3D, 2D, and 1D to split up however I wish (that is, one Art gets 3D, etc.). So what do I want Sandy to be best at?
I think Sandy is a pretty introspective guy, or at least he's become so, so let's put 3D into Intuition. I'll put 2D into Mastery for the same reason, and that leaves 1D in Domination.
The book lists Archetypes based on how dice are allocated, and the one for my distribution is Conduit, which I don't think fits. I'm gonna call Sandy's Archetype the Cipher. He's the odd man out, the third wheel. His Reveal (what happens when he uses magic) is a gust of cold, snowy wind. His Refresh (what he does to recharge his magic) is walk aimlessly for at least an hour.
The next step would be Gear, but eh. There's no place for it on the sheet (well, maybe it's on the second page), and I don't much care. I start with no Mysteries and no Rituals, so that's pretty much it for Sandy!
Sandy is a lean, fit guy with brown hair (which he takes good care of, thanks), and blue eyes. He's handsome enough, but not a knockout (hence no Good Looking Perk). He's a clothes horse; his apartment is a postage stamp but he really splurges on nice suits. He's got a nagging feeling that if anyone had come into that bookstore, they would have wound up being asked to join the Order, and what does that make him?
