Home from work today (ouchmyback), so I figure I'll make a character. That's...really all I got, actually.
The Game: Heaven & Earth, 3rd Edition
The Publisher: Abstract Nova
Degree of Familiarity: None. I...jeez, how'd I get this book? I think maybe I traded with Michelle.
Books Required: Just the core.
Oh,
the game has some secrets, so if you're, like, playing it right now and
don't want to be spoiled, maybe don't read this character. Instead, go
read some of the other ones. Or just look at how long that list is. Seriously, the Haiti fund-raiser thing destroyed any chance of me ever being done with this project, which I'm fine with.
Well, the system is familiar: Same one as Exquisite Replicas and Alethia. In this game, though, you're playing a resident of Potter's Lake, a little town in which all kinds of weird shit happens.
The
"weird shit" in question is a lot of hauntings, but there are also
Vatican-appointed knights secretly living in town investigating the
supernatural. There's a cat lady to whom cats are drawn in public, but
who doesn't have any cats in her house. There's there bum named
"Meltdown" who is apparently immune to little things like getting hit by
trucks.
It's a fun setting just to read, with lots of compelling
characters (one of whom inspired my PC, as you'll see). The book
recommends you play someone who's either new to the area or who's been
gone for a long time, so you don't have to play someone inured to the
weirdness, and that's fine.
But what is the weirdness?
Well, it's like this. Jesus rebelled just like Lucifer, because Jesus
saw through the ineffable plan for what it was - shit. OK, I'm going to
come down here, suffer and die, which will make Dad happy (wtf, Dad?)
and then 2000 years later there's going to be a Rapture and only a
select few get to ascend, while people who are perhaps loving and just
but backed the wrong horse god get to burn for all eternity? Screw that, says Jesus.
Potter's
Lake contains the Trees of Knowledge and Life. Yeah, like, from the
Garden of Eden. That Meltdown dude is the amnesiac angel set to guard
it. And now it's just a matter of humanity figuring out that these trees
have the power of God and using it to become enlightened before God
does his whole "let's nuke everyone" routine.
I like this setting, partially because you don't have
to get into the religious stuff unless/until you want to, and partially
because it casts God as the inscrutable psychopath that the Bible
pretty much explicitly makes him out to be (Old Testament especially;
you can argue that most of the really psycho stuff in the NT is from
Paul. Anyway).
But beyond all that, I have a character to make.
And I mentioned that one of the NPCs in the book inspired me. That'd be
Ezekiel Cage. Father Cage was an exorcist for the Church for years, but
muscular dystrophy has left him wheelchair-bound and a ward of the
Church. He has a personal nurse to wheel him around and care for
him...which is the character I'm making.
My character is
nominally Catholic, but hasn't been especially devout since he was a
kid. He didn't figured out that religion is bullshit or anything (and of
course, in this setting it's not), he just didn't have time for it.
Between nursing school and his impending marriage to a fellow nursing
student, religion was an afterthought. He went to Mass on Christmas and
Easter, maybe once or twice a year otherwise. He consulted with his
local priest if something was on his mind, and as he did clinical
rotations and saw some of the gruesome realities of medicine, it was
nice to have someone tell him that people who died in horrible pain had
somewhere good to go.
Benjamin Yarrow graduated from nursing
school, got his license, and started working in an ER. Wasn't his first
choice, but the pay was good and he figured he'd work long enough to
make a dent in his student loans and get married. He got married,
anyway; he and his fiancee (Lisa) had a lovely ceremony at Rosary Cathedral in Toledo (what the hey, it's a city I know).
A
year later, his wife was dead from cancer. It hit and spread fast,
didn't respond to treatment, and killed her in less than three months.
Benjamin went to his priest again, looking for solace, but also
direction - he was too grief-stricken to work. His priest gave him a job
opportunity, being a personal nurse to an aging priest in a tiny town
in Potter's Lake, Kansas. The Church would cover moving expenses and
even pay Benjamin's loans over a three-year period, if he kept the job.
Benjamin agreed, and moved to Potter's Lake.
So, that's good for concept. Attributes!
We've got six to deal with. I have 14 points to split up, and 2 points is roughly average.
Coordination is hand-eye...well, coordination and agility and the like. 2's fine for now.
Strength. Duh. 2.
Fortitude. Willpower, mind over matter, resistance against fear and temptation. Benjamin's a little better than average here; 3.
Awareness.
Perception, wits, how into your surroundings you are. Benjamin's a
little self-absorbed at present, so I'll leave this at 2.
Aura. How persuasive you are, whether by charisma or intimidation. 3 points.
Knowledge
is wisdom you've accumulated. I want this at 3, but I only have 2
points left. Hrm. I'll swap out a point from Aura into Knowledge,
because it makes more sense.
Occupations: I get 9 points
to buy Occupations with, and they're rated by stars, just like in those
other games I linked. Interestingly, "nurse" isn't listed. "Doctor" is a
five-star occupation, while "Paramedic" is a two-star. I'll say "Nurse"
is a three-star occupation. Just buying that costs 3 points, and I want
it at Professional. That costs me 5 points total, so I've got four
remaining. I'll spend 3 more and buy "Student" at Rookie; Benjamin isn't
too far out of nursing school and remembers much of the varied
knowledge he picked up at the University of Toledo.
Unspent Points:
I
have one point left over, and I can use that to buy an Extracurricular
Skill or to buy a second point of Destiny (I start with one for free).
I'll buy the Destiny, I think; I don't see Benjamin as having a lot of
hobbies that aren't related to his field.
Defense Value:
It's my Coordination plus any relevant value from my Occupation. Since
Benjamin was never trained to fight, that total is 2, so my Defense
Value is Easy.
Goals: I need to choose at least one goal
that Benjamin has. I think the most important one is "Come to terms with
Lisa's death," and that's what eats his mental energy. Secondarily, he
wants to "Find a hobby". He misses having fun, but he dated Lisa for a
long time, and the notion of "fun" is so inextricably bound up with
"Lisa" that he has trouble being social, because it makes him think of
her.
Benjamin starts as kind of a blank slate, but he's ripe and ready for weirdness because he wants to get involved with something. Personally, he's the kind of character I like people to play.
Hobbies:
Oh, right. Forgot about this. Well, let's assume that Benjamin was an
avid movie-goer. He also enjoys simulation video games - SimCity,
SimAfterlife, Trauma Center, that kind of thing. Again, though, he's
looking to find something interesting to do with his time.
Finishing Touches: Oooh, a list of questions!
- What are the character's likes and dislikes?
Benjamin likes mornings, especially in fall when the air is crisp. He
doesn't like salad. Texture of lettuce bugs him. He takes vitamins
because he's not great about eating his greens. He does like walking,
though at his own pace.
- What are the pet peeves that really make the character's skin crawl?
People who don't get help when they're sick or hurt. Overweening pride.
Of course, he knows that modern medicine doesn't have magical answers,
but he also knows that his wife's case was a rare one. People who say
"I'll be fine" when they've got gigantic growths on their face - what
are they, idiots?
- Is the character outgoing or shy; is he social by nature or reclusive?
By nature, Benjamin is very sociable. He's still grieving, of course,
that makes him more reticent, but it just means that he doesn't take
initiative to be social as much. He'll still go out for a beer if you
ask.
- Does the character like his job, boss and co-workers?
His "boss" is a crotchety old ex-exorcist. Yeah, Benjamin likes him
fine. But he's starting to realize that there are just too many weird
local legends - every town has time, but Potter's Lake has one about everything.
And that's weirding Benjamin out, but also intriguing him. More
generally, Benjamin likes his work. It's easy and he gets to talk to
interesting people.
- Is the character compassionate or self-involved?
Both. Again, if he were more centered he'd be a much more extroverted
person, but at present he's too wrapped up in his own loss to be truly
out there. That said, "angst" isn't really what he's about. He takes his
oath seriously.
- Is the character an optimist or pessimist?
What, those are the only choices? I think more optimist than pessimist,
but that does mean that when he crashes, he crashes harder.
- Is the character a dreamer or a pragmatist?
OK, that's annoying. One can dream and still be pragmatic, you know.
Benjamin is focused on what's in front of him. He lost his dreams when
Lisa died. He needs to find new ones.
The rest of the questions I've already answered in my concept stage, so boo-yah, that's me done.
