Only a few games that begin with J, as it happens.
The Game: Journey Away
The Publisher: Purple Aether Games (apparently defunct?)
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one
Journey Away kinda falls into the same category as games like Babes in the Wood and even Fall of Magic; it's an entirely narrative game about, well, a journey. In this case, it's a fantasy-type world where magic has just popped into existence about 50 years ago. The characters are residence of a small village, and are leaving it for the first time to journey to the city of Idacora.
It's an easy and pretty compelling set-up. I don't know about the game itself, though. The only real mechanic is that when you feel like having something happen, the players assemble a dice pool based on their relevant traits and the GM does the same thing for situational or character traits that might work against the group, both sides roll, and you wind up pairing dice. Higher die wins, giving you either a boon or a bane, which the players then narrate. If I'm reading right, the GM is really just there to play NPCs and offer some description, and honestly I think you could do this GMless just as easily. Frankly the whole thing seems a bit thin - it'd be fun to play once with a good group.
Well, anyway, let's make a villager. This is all very freeform; characters are made up of traits in four categories (persona, tendencies, experiences, and quirks), each of which is assigned a die type (4, 6, 8, 10, 12). I can pretty much assign any die anywhere. The bigger the die type, the more important and obvious the trait is. Guess I need a bit of a concept.
While the premise of the game would seem to call for younger characters, nothing says that I can't make an old person who's never left the village up to now. So, sure, let's do that. My villager is named Hegel. He's lived in Iris Valley all his life, married, fathered children, taught them his craft (which I'll figure out in a minute here), saw them leave the village, some of them came back with family, and so on. Last year his wife Masha passed away, and he's spent the year working through that grief. But now he realizes that he'd like to see a bit more of the world, so he's planning a trip to Idacora.
I don't need any specific number of traits, but I think two per category is probably about right. In persona, then, I'll say Hegel is Old & Wizened. I picture him as being pretty physically capable for his age, so I'll say he's Surprisingly Spry.
Tendencies! This is kinda personality, but mostly it's about how Hegel approaches situations. I feel like he's likely to rely on his long years of experience, but of course he's never left his village, so I'll say he has Seen Everything (He Thinks). For his other tendency, I'll say What Would Masha Do?
Experiences! This refers to how Hegel spent his life before leaving Iris Valley. Since being a family man was clearly a big part of his life, I'll say he's a Paterfamilias (oh-ho, yes, he has spread his seed). I should probably think about how he spent his life from a career kind of standpoint. Iris Valley is a river valley and there's a lot of fishing that goes on, so I'll say that Hegel made his living weaving nets and making other fishing accoutrements. Maker of Fishing Supplies, let's say.
And finally, quirks. These are meant to be things that are unique, even magical, about the character. For my first one, I'll say Hegel Gets Seasick (this is why he made nets and stuff, rather than actually fishing). And I think some magic would be nice, so I'll say he Hears Whispers in the Wind.
And now we assign dice! I think the most important and obvious traits for Hegel are Old & Wizened and What Would Masha Do? I'll put a d12 and d10 in those, respectively. I also feel like Paterfamilias needs a d10. Maker of Fishing Supplies and Gets Seasick can both get a d8, since they kinda defined the trajectory of his professional life. Seen Everything (He Thinks) gets a d4 (because I'd want it to result in complications more often than not), and I'll put d6s in Hears Whispers in the Wind and Surprisingly Spry.
And that's about it, actually! Hegel is an old man, with some wisps of gray hair. He walks with a cane, but he only carries it because it was a gift from his oldest son and it's very well-crafted (no, really!). He still catches himself saying "wait'll I tell Masha" sometimes.
