Character Creation: Fear Itself 2nd Ed

Haven't done a Gumshoe game yet this year, and this is in fact the last one I own that I haven't done a character for (unless I have something on PDF that I've forgotten about).

The Game: Fear Itself 2nd Ed
The Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Degree of Familiarity: None with this particular game...oh, wait, that's not true, I played it at some con or other. Anyway, I'm very familiar with Gumshoe.
Books Required: Just the one.

 

Now, I made a character for the first edition of this game a while back. This version doesn't look all that different (the examples of campaign premise are actually the same). There's a sample campaign at the back of the book that involves all of the characters being in a drug trial for a medication that decreases anxiety and helps with focus (murdery hijinks ensue!), and that sounds fine.

Fear Itself sets itself apart from other "people encounter horror shit" games, like Esoterrorists and, to some extent, Chill, because the characters are explicitly normal folks without a great deal of expertise. That is, you're just folks thrown into the deep end. I like that, of course, provided that characters don't fail at every roll (and Gumshoe is pretty good at avoiding that).

So I need a concept, first of all. All I know about my character is that they would be willing to participate in this drug trial. I think this means my character doesn't have insurance, which doesn't narrow it down a heck of a lot. I'm thinking I don't want to play someone with any particular knowledge about meds or drugs, but that's easy to arrange in this version of Gumshoe. One of the example concepts is "fast talking dog trainer." I don't want my guy to be a dog trainer necessarily, but how about a dog walker?

We'll say my character is 23, college dropout, smart but just can't stay focused. He does a lot of odd jobs in the same vein as walking dogs - house sits, yardwork, temp office worker, and so on. He agreed to the drug trial because he knows he has focus issues and he did better on meds, but then his parents divorced and his insurance changed and he dropped out of school and gaah.

Risk Factor: Now, this is interesting. Whereas in the first edition, everyone had a risk factor and it was mostly your motivation for doing appropriately horror-movie stuff (like going into the dark basement), in this edition, the complexity of the Risk Factor is based on the style of game you're playing. To wit, if you're playing a one-shot, it's recommended that characters are very stock and stereotypical, while if you're playing a campaign, you need to get into the inner motivation a bit more.

Well, for my character, I think his Risk Factor is Lack of Danger Sense. For whatever reason, he doesn't really recognize risk well, and that leads him to follow other people into dark basements.

Right, abilities, then. If I were playing this game, I'm sure there would be at least 4 players, so I get 10 points in Investigative abilities. I'll put points into History, Humanities, Research, Social Sciences, and Trivia (he's had some college, after all). And then I'll put points into Computer Use, Bullshit Detector, Bureaucracy, Reassurance, and...hmm. Outdoor Survival, how about.

60 points into Generals, then. Oh, this is cute. Hiding and Fleeing are half price if Infiltration and Athletics (respectively) are lower. That's to reward folks who act like, well, normal people in the face of horrors.

Well, anyway, I get 1 free in Health and Stability. I'll put Health up to 6 and Stability up to 8, so I've spent 12. I'll put 5 into Driving, 5 into Mechanics, and 5 into Filch (spent 27). I'll put 10 into Hiding (but it only costs me 5 because I'm not going to buy Infiltration), and 8 into Athletics (which means I've spent 40). 20 left. Kinda running out of places to put them. Hmm. Well, how about we put 6 into Fleeing (costing me 3), 9 into Sense Trouble, and then I'll put three more into Driving. That leave me 3. I'll put them into Filch; it's not something he's great at, but he's got one good roll in him.

Next up is Sources of Stability. I have 8 Stability, so I just get 2. I'll take Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. R owns two Dobermans; they're mostly layabouts, but they do need walkies, and Mrs. R's hips aren't up to it anymore. He walks her dogs and chats with her about life, and doesn't mind that she tells the same stories over again because he tends not to remember them anyway.

For my other one, I'll take running. He has a habit of just running and then getting lost in it, so he kinda "comes to" across town. Even so, it keeps him in shape and it helps him find his zen.

I think that's pretty much it, other than a name and some description. Doing the latter first, this guy is lean, built like a runner, brown hair, blue eyes, wears jeans and t-shirts he bought second-hand. He has good-quality running shoes, though (his usual Xmas present from his folks). His name is Tyler Prell.

Fear Itself

Actually, given the context that this phrase is usually used ("nothing to fear but"), it's an interesting title for a horror game.

The Game: Fear Itself
The Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Degree of Familiarity: Some with GUMSHOE, none with this game in particular.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, this is a horror/slasher game. There's no given premise (indeed, the first step is that the GM gives us one), so I shall pick one from the list of example premises. Heh. "Regulars at a hipster coffee shop in a bohemian neighborhood." Sounds good. I like coffee.

I start with a concept. It needs to be easily distilled down to a two-word phrase, because these characters are meant to be archetypal. I'll say my concept is "overeducated barista." His name is Ross Landau.

I choose a risk factor. This is what motivates me to run into stupid encounters. What is Ross' stupid blind spot that's going to get him killed? "Curious" is tempting, but really, this being a horror movie, I think I'd rather play "Horny." Ross is smart, sure, but he's also using those smarts (and his badass coffee-making skillz) to impress the honeys.

Ooh, actually, I can take more than one. OK, I'll take Curious as well.

Right, now I choose the worst thing I ever did. Obvious for horror movies, I think; this is the thing that might get revealed and either embarrass or implicate Ross during the game. What's the worst thing Ross ever did? I think Ross robbed the coffee shop once. He's worked there on and off for a few years, and during one of the "off" times he broke in after hours, opened the office, and stole the day's take (they never took deposits to the bank until Monday morning). He feels bad about it - he's an ethical person, generally, and he did it more out of spite than need - but the worst part is that he carried a knife with him. He has no idea what he'd have done if anyone had caught him, and that scares him.

Now I buy Abilities. This works a lot like Trail of Cthulhu. I get 10 investigative points (I assume if I were playing there would be at least 4 people), and 60 points to spend on General Abilities.

For Investigative, I do this:

History 1
Humanities 1
Natural History 1
Occult Studies 1
Research 1
Trivia 2
Flattery 1
Flirting 2
Computer Science 1

Pretty spread out, mostly a college-educated dude. But really good at useless bullshit, and really good at making panties hit the floor.

Then General:

Athletics 5
Driving 5
Filch 4
Fleeing 5
Health 10
Infiltration 5
Sense Trouble 5
Preparedness 8
Scuffing 3
Stability 9

I get one freeing Health and Stability, and Fleeing costs half so my score is really 10.

Sources of Stability: I need three. I'll take the coffee shop as one (Grounds for Dismissal). Just being there, but especially slinging drinks, helps him find his zen. I'll take sex as another. Ross doesn't have a special lady at the moment, but he has lots of fuck-buddies and he's always looking out for more. It's be easy to see him as a player, but he's not - he doesn't lie to women about his intentions, and he's happy if sex results in a lasting relationship, he's just not broken up if it doesn't.

Last one: Guess I'd better give him a relationship. There's a professor at his alma mater who works in the history department named Sally Myer. Sally is a tenured prof, probably 20 years old than Ross, but they had an affair once. It lasted a few weeks during the summer, and they stopped sleeping together when school resumed, but they've remained in email and occasional lunch-date contact. Ross misses her, and sometimes toys with the notion of going back to school to pursue a PhD. If she wound up his adviser, so much the better.

Now, I consider What Do You Want. I need a personal goal for Ross. It's supposed to be mundane and it's good to tie it in to the premise, so I'll say Ross wants to be a manager at the coffee shop. The present manager, Tim Belanger, is boring and jock-ish, and seems to have some real contempt for the weirdos that come in after dark. Ross wants the place to go 24 hours, he wants open mics and movie nights, he wants Grounds for Dismissal to develop more of its own identity.

Last thing on the sheet is affinity and enmity, but those refer to other PCs, which of course I don't have. As such, that's me done!

This would be an odd horror game. A "last the night" in the coffee shop would be fun, but a longer story might also be fun if there's a creeping horror in the neighborhood that starts killing patrons. I'd like to play Ross either way.