Character Creation: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Four months is a long time, but that's not quite a Smiths quote.

The Game: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
The Publisher Margaret Weis Productions
Degree of Familiarity: Getting better. I'm running it currently and it's a lot of fun.
Books Required: Just the one.

So, I have, of course a lot of supers games, and even one from Marvel. This one, though, is nice in that you assemble your dice pool by looking down the sheet. You're usually rolling against an opponent, but sometimes against the doom pool, which grows as shit gets real. This is one of those systems that doesn't work for loosey-goosey, fake-the-system GMs. Like NWoD, FATE and curse the darkness, it's a game that only works when you let it.

But here's the thing I don't dig: There's no chargen system. It's designed for playing existing Marvel characters, which is balls. Who wants to play other people's characters? (I know some people do, I've just never understood the fascination.)

So what I'm gonna do is recreate the first character I remember making when I picked up the old TSR Marvel game. I'm doing this from memory, and the memory is...geez, 27 years old at this point? (OMG. I have literally been running games long than some of my gamers have been alive.)

OK, so what do I remember? His name was Shapeshifter. He was a mutant. He had a kickass black outfit with red accents. He had multiple limbs (yeah, weird, I rolled him up randomly), he could turn invisible, and I'm sure he had other shape-shifty powers, too. I don't for the life of me remember his real name, so let's call him Miles Farley. Seems a moderately dorky name.

That's a really weird power set. Let's work it! I'll make up the details I don't remember.

Affiliation: In the game, you roll an Affiliation die based on whether you're solo, with a buddy, or on a team. I think Shapeshifter would work best with a buddy. He's not trusting enough to be a true team player, but his powers are good support. I'll take Solo d8, Buddy d10, Team d6.

Distinctions: I get three of these, and they need to be potentially a help or hindrance. OK, well. As I recall, Shapeshifter manifested his powers when he was young and awkward and tweeny (much like me when I rolled him up), but I played him as an adult. So I'll split the difference and say he's in high school now, and give him the Distinction: High School Nobody.

For my next one, I'll need to make something up, because I'm drawing a blank. We'll say Shapeshifter is really self-conscious about his powers (the extra limbs, especially) so I'll take Desperate to Fit In.

Finally, since I need something that ties into my super-identity a little more, I'll take Hero or Freak?

OK, now Power Sets! I think I need two, because there's not a Power Set for "extra limbs" specifically. I'll take "Extra Limbs" as one set and "Unstable Form" as my other one.

For "Extra Limbs," I want Enhanced Strength d8 and Climbing d6 (he can use his extra hands to grab hold and steady himself). For SFX, I'll take Afflict (for Grappling). I'll also take the Limit for being a mutant (basically I'm vulnerable to certain attacks because I'm a mutie).

So then my Unstable Form set. I take Invisibility d10 (I want to be good at that) and Stretching d8 (allowing him to reach down an elevator shaft). I debate taking Shapeshifting, but it really only lets me mimic people unless I take it at d12, which I don't think is appropriate. Hmm. OK, well, how about we take it at d8 so I can hide my arms, and then I'll play with SFX and Limit.

I want Shapeshifter to be able to knock people back with his arms, and I think the Extra Arms combined with Stretching means he can hit multiple people at once, so I'll take Area Attack. I like Counterattack, too.

But I want a Limit to reflect Shapeshifter's low self-confidence, so I'll make one up. I'll say he's Freakish. I'll just use the system for Uncontrollable; same idea. His powers can go a little bonkers sometimes, or people just make fun of the arms.

OK, now Specialities, which are like skills. You only use them if you're really badass at something. I would like to take Combat Expert, but I don't see him being that good at combat. I will take Covert at Expert (he's stealthy as hell) and, what the hell, Acrobatics at Expert.

And finally, Milestones. These are kind of plot progressions for my character. I know I want one to be "Who Am I, Really?" He's suffering from an identity crisis because he's ashamed of who and what he is. So we'll say

• Gain 1XP when someone makes anti-mutant jokes or rhetoric around you.
  
• Gain 3XP when you choose not to accept credit (or blame) for heroic actions (that is, I bugger off invisible).
  
• Gain 10XP when you come out to your family as a mutant.
  

Good, that's one. Need one more. Hmm. I think it'd be fun to play with the notion that his powers haven't really solidified yet. How about "This Isn't My Final Form?"

• Gain 1XP when you use the Freakish Limit in an action scene.
  
• Gain 3XP when you use Shapeshifting to change your body in a new way.
  
• Gain 10XP when you alter a Power or Limit.

And that's me done! 

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.

Character Creation: Mermaid Adventures

I backed this Kickstarter a while back, and just got my copy in the mail, along with Kai's awesome t-shirt. So we're making characters! And by "we", I mean me, Gus, Kai, Will and Alisdair. Hoy.

The Game: Mermaid Adventures
The Publisher: Third Eye Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one!

OK, let's do it! Will has already decided he's playing a shark-folk. Let's see what the others choose! Kai wants to be an Octofolk, Al chooses Fishfolk, Sarah chooses Jellyfolk. I'll be an Eelfolk, 'cause I like me some prankin'.

I note down my free Quality (Cheerful), and now I get 5 points to divvy up amongst my Attributes. I give myself the following scores:

Body 2
Mind 2
Charm 3
Luck 3

Now, I roll for Hair Color, Style, Eye Color, and Fin Color. I get pink hair (with bangs!), amber eyes, and green fines. I'm kind of the lead singer of Neon Trees, only an eel.

Extras! Roll twice on the Extra Table. I get Weapons and Clothing. I wind up with a Lab Coat and Sharp Teeth. Neat!

My goal is Bravery. I get a bonus for doing stupid brave things.

Qualities, including magic. I take Nosey (whatchadoing? whatchadoing?), Royalty (I am a bratty eelfolk prince!), Water Bending (magic, exactly as it sounds), and Human Expert ("This is...a dinglehopper!").

That's it, but for a name. My bratty prince with the pink hair (which annoys mom; really it's the bangs that do it) is Prince Neon.

Character Creation: Chronica Feudalis

 I'm out in the wilds of Oklahoma, with a cricket army invading the house and a car that seems to feel this is a good trip to die (the A/C is fixed again, for now. I fully expect it to explode again long about St. Louis). But that is no reason not to do chargen!

The Game: Chronica Feudalis
The Publisher: Jeremy Keller, I guess. You can buy the game at IPR.
Degree of Familiarity: None. I've read it.
Books Required: Just the one.

This was a game I got in the bundle, and I never got round to reading it because the character sheet made it look complex. Really, it's a FATE-based game, meaning it's a system I know, and there are some interesting tweaks to it. The book is written "in character," the basic conceit here being that a bunch of 12th-century monks made up an RPG and wrote it in English because they didn't want to get in trouble with the higher-ups (and English was a language they shared). So that's silly, but whatever, my game's about shadow-controlling ideologues.

As with many games, we're advised here to make sure that our characters are compatible. That is, if we're playing knights, we should all be knights, or at least have a reason to hang out with knights doing knighty things. The example in the book is of a bunch of people on a pilgrimage, so I'll go with that.

First step: Pick Mentors. You pick three people who have taught your character stuff, and that gives you skills and items and whatnot.

Since getting good produce is difficult out here in the fucking desert, I'm gonna take Peasant as a mentor. My character grew up farming, and learned from his father how to take care of such peasant-like things. And then there was a disaster of some kind - let's say a flood wiped out our farm and we rebuild farther into the woods. And then I learned there from a Hunter, a fellow who already lived there and made his living off the land. Finally, after my father died, my mother took up with the hunter, and the hunter's brother, an Outlaw, hid out with us for a while. My character left with him when he fled, and he eventually ditched me, leaving me with this group going on pilgrimage.

Anyway, for Skills, I get:

Aim d6
Hide d8
Climb d6
Brawl d6
Hunt d6
Fitness d8
Sense d6

Mostly a physical character. I'm good with that.

So now I do Tools, also determined by my mentors. I get a bow and a quiver of arrows, a snare trap, a tool of my choice (I choose a hammer), a pair of shoes and everyone gets a purse. All of this gets a die rating, which I note.

OK, so, three Aspects. These are the bit that come from FATE (the dice system doesn't), so I want to do Aspects that can be both negative and positive.

So my pilgrim is a peasant that ran away from home after being mentored by a kind of unconventional family. I think I'll take an Aspect of "Pines for his forest home." That should give me the chance to use that Aspect when dealing with foresty kinds of things. So why did he leave? I'll say "Reward for his head." Again, makes him kind of badass (even if it's mostly by association). Finally, I'll take an Aspect "Penitent." He wants to go home, but he wants to make this Pilgrimage first. Figures God brought him here for a reason.

Now Backgrounds. These are weird. They're things that my character is good at, but that I don't want to see happen in the session. Like, if I wanted to avoid violence in the game, my character could be a fighting expert (as a Background, not an Aspect) and then we just take violence as read, I suppose. Weird. OK.

See, I keep trying to wrap my brain around this and I don't get it. If my character is good at something, then that's what I want him to be doing. If he's bad at something and that's part of his character arc, then cool, that should be a Background. I guess I just don't get the value of putting what I don't want to see on the character sheet. But whatever.

Oh, wait, these are optional. So that's good, then. Um. I can't really think of anything. I'll leave those blank.

I need a name. I think my guy goes by "Forrest." It's not his name, but his real name is attached to a wanted man, and all Forrest wants to do is find forgiveness from God and then go home.

Character Creation: House of Cards

We were supposed to play Song of Ice & Fire tonight, but Michelle was sick, so we hung out and watched The Devil's Advocate instead (post coming soon). As such, I'm not tired and I think it'd be fun to make a character. So here we are.

The Game: House of Cards
The Publisher: Parenthesis Press
Degree of Familiarity: Some. Just ran a game last week.
Books Required: Just the one, plus a Tarot deck.

You know, I like this game. It's nicely surreal, it has a fun, workable system (though I do have some niggles), and it's got a specific enough setting to be interesting while still be open enough to screw with if you were so inclined. Also, I like games that are ballsy enough to say "You need a Tarot deck" and not apologize for it. Maybe it's a gimmick, whatevs. It's a theme. We don't need more watered-down, generic games (with all due respect to Fablestreams and their revolutionary new game, GeneSys, which is sure to be totally not a gigantic flaming clusterfuck).

So. In this game you're playing the incarnation of one of the Major Arcana, but not the World, because the GM is the World (there is no World-Bearer). Each Arcana only has one Bearer at any given time, so if you're playing the Death-Bearer, you're the Death-Bearer. I like that a lot.

To make a character, we choose an Archetype. You can pick one if you feel strongly, but I don't so I'm choosing at random. Got my Rider-Waite right here. I pull out the World, and randomly choose...The Wheel of Fortune! Neat! (Actually, I chose the Lovers and the Chariot, first, but I wanted to do one that wasn't represented the other night.)

OK, so, Wheel of Fortune. My Bearer is Jesse Northup. Jesse is a garbage collector, but was once on the cusp of marrying into a vast fortune. Then his fiance got into a car wreck, and though she survived, the head trauma was extensive enough that her personality shifted, and was completely incompatible with Jesse's.

Jesse has "easy come" tattooed on his right arm and "easy go" tattooed on his left. He has a huge wheel of fortune tattooed on his back, and he has the symbol for "Om" on his chest.

Good start. Now I do five correspondences. I pick Triumph, Tragedy, Chaos, Probability and Randomness.

Then I do Motivations. I have to pick what Jesse loves, desires, fights for, and opposes and then split 10 points amongst them. Hmm.

Well, I think Jesse loves Fair Play. He wants to see people succeed because they should, because they worked to be their best rather than because they shot the other guy in the leg. It's not entirely in his nature as the agent of chance, but it's what he loves. He desires Victory. He loves watching the underdog win, the chips coming down where they "should." He knows that the house always wins eventually, but sometimes it doesn't, and he likes being there when that happens. He fights for Serenity. He wants people to accept what they get, rather than bemoan their fate (which is different than trying to change it). He opposes Fatalism. Nothing is ever, ever, over. The Wheel never actually stops. I'll put 4 into Opposes Fatalism and 2 into each of the others.

Now I pick a Greater Power. Well, I can pick one or I can make one up. There are three examples listed in the book. One lets me start with a "weird," but I didn't read those rules. Well, maybe I'll check them out real quick. Hang on. OK, it's like a geasa. I adhere to the rules, I get a card I can use that's committed to that, and I can use that card. Eh. I like the idea of the second power (I'm never surprised, I can always react as though I expected what was coming), but there's no system attached to it, and I've run this game now and I know that having a power that hooks into the system is a good thing. I think I'll go with Rota - I expend a card, then gather up everyone's cards, shuffle and deal them out evenly.

And that's me done, in fact. Nice and quick.

Character Creation: The Play's the Thing

Go Hamlet, go Hamlet.

The Game: The Play's The Thing
The Publisher: Magpie Games
Degree of Familiarity: Not much. I've read it, but haven't gotten a chance to play it.
Books Required: Just the one, though a complete of the Complete Works of Shakespeare doesn't hurt, either.

So, The Play's The Thing came out of the same Game Chef as our upcoming A Tragedy in Five Acts (coming soon from Play Attention Games, Inc!), which was Shakespeare-themed. It focuses on a troupe of actors putting on one of Shakespeare's plays. You make the actors first (so, kind of like It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show, in a way). Before actually playing you decide what play you're doing. The play...doesn't always wind up like it does in the script.

I like this game (at least in concept, though again, I haven't had the pleasure of playing it yet) because it asks something of the players. In this case, it asks that they know at least a little Shakespeare. I'm fine with games that are completely accessible to anyone, but I also don't mind games that ask for a skill set or reward a particular kind of play or are specialized.

'Cause see, here's the thing. There are a million games out there where the pitch is "roleplaying game in [genre] or [setting]", and that means, basically, you romp around, you get in fights, you follow a GM's plotline, but the mechanics don't support the game specifically. Instead, they model shit your character does, with the lion's share of attention on combat. This is the result of our D&D ancestors, and that's all fine, but y'know, we don't have to do it that way. I really feel like story games are a more evolved form of RPG.

Anyway. Making a character here requires I come up with a name and a brief description. I enjoy listening to Patton Oswalt, and I like his acting. He tells a story about bullshitting his way into the Batman Begins premiere and having Brian Dennehey tell him, "Character actors! No one gives a fuck if we're fat!" I want my character to be an older, rather plump character actor - fun roles for him would be Sir Toby Belch, Jacques, one of the two drunk dudes in the The Tempest whose names I forget (which is embarrassing), or, if he's stretching his theatrical muscles, Kent in Lear or Polonius.

My guy's name is Thom Orsino. It's a stage name; he was in Twelfth Night in college and his best friend played Orsino, and then died of an overdose a week later. His first name was Thom, so he took the stage name in tribute to his friend.

So now I do Acting Chops. I have a pool of six points, so I can split up 2/2/2, but what fun is that? I'll put 3 into Logos (which verbal acumen and control over the events of the play), 1 into Pathos (emotional resonance - not Thom's strong point, he'd rather make jokes) and two into Ethos (narrative understanding and setting of the play).

I get a Type, too. Thom's pretty clearly a Ham. His Offstage ability is I can spend a story point to compel another actor to call for him, and his Onstage ability is that I can yell "Cut!" without spending a story point. However, at Director's request, I must soliloquize, which fortunately I'm good at.

And that's it, actually, because the rest of the process would get done in play when we select the Play (and then make it the Thing, I suppose).

Character Creation: Tales from the Wood

There's a joke to make, here, but it's not appropriate because this is a family-friendly game.

The Game: Tales from the Wood
The Publisher: Beyond Belief Games
Degree of Familiarity: None, though I suspect I'll have to run it eventually.
Books Required: Just the one.

I picked up Tales from the Wood as part of a trilogy (Kids & Critters, which also includes It's a Dog's Life, in which you play prairie dogs). The game is about playing the woodland creatures of England, and the ones you play are the creatures of the Way, while the nastier creatures are those of the Bane.

Joining me today will be Kai, by the way. He has already decided he wants to play a hedgehog.

My first step: Choosing a Creature. I choose a toad, because I like the little brown hop-toads that live under my steps.

So, it looks like the way this works is that picking a creature determines your traits and skills right off, and then you get some customization points at the end. That's cool, especially for a kid-friendly game. So my traits:

Toughness 1
Sturdiness 2
Nimbleness 3
Craftiness 2
Fierceness 2
Alertness 2

...are set for now. Next?

I note my Abilities; I get Hide, Swim and Intimidate. Interestingly, Kai's hedgehog only gets a choice of Intimidate or Tooth & Claw. Not sure about that.

Anyway, now Lore. I pick between Marsh or River. I pick Marsh; toads aren't really great swimmers.

Now I get 5 points. Kai spends his on the Track Ability. I think I'd rather raise my numbers. I'll spend 2 and buy a point of Toughness, and my remaining 3 to raise my Craftiness.

So OK. My toad is name Gulper. Gulper lives in a marsh, mostly hanging around the edges eating bugs. He knows the marsh pretty well, but he's afraid of the lights he sees out there sometimes. He's heard stories from frogs (who he kind of idolizes for their athletic prowess) about lights that blind them, and then they're taken up, perhaps to a better place.

Sometimes when he sees the lights, a big brown dog comes to see him. At first he was terrified, but the dog always seems happy to see him, so now he thinks of it as his pet.

Character Creation: GURPS Cabal

I own three GURPS books (plus the Basic Set, 3rd Ed, which tells you how much use I have for GURPS). I've done characters for two of those books, and since I have some time this afternoon, I figure I may as well get the last one out of the way.

The Game: GURPS Cabal
The Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Degree of Familiarity: Some. I play GURPS about once a year when Karafa playtests his Origins games, though we seem to have skipped it this year.
Books Required: The Cabal book and the GURPS book.

So, GURPS Cabal is a book by Ken Hite about a shadowy conspiracy of supernaturally inclined folks who are divided up into lodges, a la Masons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians and any other such group you'd care to name. The book is really well done, pretty Eurocentric, but that's addressed and you get several options as to why that is. There's a lot of good stuff in the book, including a section on what kinds of characters would be fun to play. And the idea that jumped out at me was "Collector."

My character is wealthy, and started collected odd trinkets when he was young. He learned to detect magical stuff when he was a teenager; it gives him a buzz to hold it, though he has no other magical talent himself. He devoted his wealth to finding stuff that made him feel good to hold, and while he was on such a hunt, a Cabal member found him and nearly killed him to prevent him from grabbing a particular artifact. They made friends, though, and my guy joined the Cabal.

Good start. Now I get 100 points to build him. Oh, his name is Joost Visser, native of South Africa.

Attributes: Four Attributes, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Health. Average is 10 (and free) and just goes up. Let's see. I picture Joost as being in pretty good shape overall. Let's keep his Intelligence average, and up his physical stats:

Strength 12
Dexterity 14
Intelligence 10
Health 13

For a total of...95 points. Jesus. Well, let's roll Intelligence back to 9, that gives me 85 to spend. My basic Speed is (Health + Dexterity)/4, or 6 (round fractions off).

Physical Appearance. Joost is blond, blue eyes, in good health if a little on a slim side, and well groomed. I'll spend 5 points and make him Attractive.

Wealth and Status. I know I want Joost to be rich, so I take Very Wealthy. That sets me back 30 points, but my wealth is 20 times the average, which sounds about right. I've spent 120 points.

Reputation. I don't know that I need one, really, unless I want to take a reputation amongst the Cabal. I think I'll skip it; Joost isn't a political animal. If you know him, you know him, but he's not made a name for himself.

Advantages. Well, hell, I'm already 20 points in the hole. Fuckit. I'll take Intuition (15 points) and Magical Aptitude (15 points). I'll buy Cabal Membership for 5 points (Initiate).

Disadvantages. Hell, I need a bunch. I need 55 points just to bring me even and I haven't done Skills yet. I want Public True Name (Joost Visser isn't famous, but he's wealthy and that makes him easy to research). I'll take Skinny and get five points back for that. I'll take an Addiction to handling magical items. Those are legal, but Joost is totally addictive, and he has to spend time and money acquiring said items, so this addiction is worth 15. Going along with that, I'll give him a Compulsion - he has to follow leads about magical or weird items, even if they're flimsy or obviously a trap. Sounds like 10 points.

OK, I'm at 40 points back, so I need at least 15 more. Impulsiveness is 10, and that's fun to play. Overconfident is another 10. I need the points, so I'll take a 30-point enemy. Let's say Exodus 22 tried to recruit Joost to help them hunt down and destroy "cursed objects," but Joost refused. They figure he's not with them, he's against them (which he is) and the anti-magic group has a "kill on sight" order for Joost Visser.

That puts me to 35 points on the positive. Let's keep it under control, yeah?

Quirks. I like these. Joost's quirks, each worth a point:

• Habit: pops his collar when he's about to do something risky.
  
• Dislikes fried food, can't stand the smell
  
• Proud of his country and won't suffer people talking smack about it
  
• Always carries a bad with three random, jewel-sized enchanted things (no effect)
  
• Dislikes sweets (they make his teeth hurt)

Skills. Here we go. I have 40 points. I figure Joost is in his 30s, so there's no problem spending the rest of my points on Skills. I'll buy the Detect Magic spell, since that's really the only one I want for Joost. I want him to be good at this, so I'll burn 12 points and buy it at 15.

I'll take Jumping at 14 (1 point), Swimming at 14 (1 point), Brawling at 14 (1 point), Language (English) at 9 (2 points), Climbing at 14 (2 points), Occultism at 11 (6 points), Gambling at 9 (2 points), Savoir-Faire at 12 (6 points), Sex Appeal at 13 (2 points), Holdout at 9 (2 points), Lockpicking at 9 (2 points) and Stealth at 13 (1 point).

And, of course, normally I'd buy equipment, but eh. Looks to me like Joost is about done and ready to collect more shit. It occurs to me that I didn't take anything to represent the magical value of his collection, and I think that's because he locks all of it away once he's gotten high off it. Somewhere that collection is just collecting dust, and that'd be a fun plot hook right there.

Character Creation: Privateers & Pirates

Yarr, etc.

The Game: Privateers and Pirates
The publisher: FJ Gaming, which doesn't seem to have a website.
Degree of Familiarity: None, just read the pdf.
Books Required: Just the one.

I picked this game up in a pdf bundle, like, three years ago, which might give you some sense of scale regarding how long I've been doing these damn characters. I just read through it, and it's...well, it's a pirate RPG. They go into a lot of detail about life on a ship and the piracy of the time and so on, and I have no idea how accurate it all is (and I don't care), but...

...well, the game isn't about anything. Maybe I'm getting infected by all these hippie indie games I'm playing (and writing!), but the traditional model of RPGs is kinda meaning less to me these days. I like running NWoD because I'm really invested in it, but beyond that I'd kinda rather be playing games where the system is what it is for a reason. The old canard that "system doesn't matter" always secretly bugged me, because it felt like it should, but I never got into "builds" and the things that D&D and GURPS and Exalted found important. I'd rather play a game where the system moves the story and helps you create the game, rather than just be a way to resolve individual actions.

Anyway. I'm gonna get out of my own ass now and make a character.

First of all, I'm told, I should decide on a concept. Okey-doke. Since there isn't a default setting here (there's a range, and some talk about "early" vs. "late" campaigns) I'll assume I'm making a character for the sample scenario at the back of the book. That ship has a Spanish captain, but the characters in this game are assumed to be British. So OK, my guy is English, born middle class (dad was a doctor). He was expected to follow in his father's footsteps, but he was always fascinated with the sea and the creatures therein. He might have been happy as a scientist or oceanographer, but one night he had a fight with his father, got very drunk, and woke up on a ship. He's learned enough since to be a competent sailor, but he's got a reputation as something of a softie. But he can also play doctor when necessary, so it's a bad idea to bust his chops too much.

OK, gotta decide name, nationality, religion, age and gender.

Name: Homer Market, known on the ship as "Mark," both because it's short for "Market" and because he's utterly gullible.
Nationality: English
Religion: Oh, Church of England, I suppose.
Age: 22
Gender: Male

Now, social status. Middle class.

Next, choose a number of skills plus specialities equal to the tens value of your Age doubled. Which is a clumsy way to say (age/10)x2, rounded off. Or 4, in my case. Let's see. Looking ahead to the example of chargen (and thank you for doing one), it turns out that I don't get 4 Skills and 4 specialities, I get 4 total. OK. So I take Healing (no specialty, he's not that good at it, Science with a specialty in Biology, and Signalling (he always had an interest in ships and he learned how to signal). That seems like it kind of sucks, but that's what you get.

Next I take Flaws. I'll take Compassionate and Reluctant. Basically I have to help people in need and I can't spend Drama points in fights that I started.

I get two Distinctive Features (again, a 10th of my age), so I pick...missing fingers (his pinky and half his ring finger on his right hand - turns out sharks bite even after they're landed!) and a scar on his left cheek (he has no idea; he woke up on the ship with a nasty cut).

I have four Drama points (2 because I'm middle class and one for each Flaw). I have 95 pounds to my name, which seems like a lot. Bet they want me to shop.

Well, not really. I may spend money. I choose not to. Let's go get that gold ship!

I worry, in going through chargen, than it makes incompetent characters. Let's see. OK, so how this works is: You roll a d100 against a difficulty, and you want to roll high. If you have the skill and the specialty, you read the higher die as the 10s digit and the lower as the ones. If have the skill, but not the specialty, you state which is which before you roll. If you don't have either, lower is 10s, higher is 1s. I think this would make for frustrating game play, but I dunno, and I'm not really likely to get to play this game, either, so let's call it a day.