Character Creation: Hobomancer

Been a while, but at least "been a while" is shaking out to be two weeks and not several months.

The Game: Hobomancer
The Publisher: Hex Games
Degree of Familiarity: None. I've read it and I've done some reading on hobo culture and history for unrelated reasons 
Books Required: Hobomancer and QAGS 2nd Ed, which I have in PDF

QAGS (or Quick-Ass Game System) has two methods of chargen; you can do point-buy or you can use the "Qik Start Rules" and do a bunch of it randomly. Since I did point-buy last time I made a QAGS character, I think I'll do it randomly this time. I start by generating some numbers by rolling a d20, dividing the result in half, and then adding 6, five times. That gives me: 15, 8, 12, 13, 6 (I rolled a 1 on that last one and you round down, so like, yuk).

I now sort those numbers into Body, Brain, Nerve, Job, and Gimmick. My Job is Hobomancer, obviously, so I'll put my 13 there. Now, I should think a little about concept.

My hobo's name is Slicer Beefcake McGrew (the name "Slicer Beefcake" has been stuck in my head for a few weeks now, and I think it came from watching Pacific Rim and thinking of rejected Jaeger names, but I don't remember). Slicer used to be a butcher in his old life, but then bad luck befell him. A couple of 'bos came by looking for work, which he was happy to provide (carcasses are heavy) and the three of them did a hard day's work slaughtering, moving, and breaking down some meat, and then they all sat out back and had a smoke. They only had one match between them, and so they all lit from it, and Slicer was the last one. Little did he know that if a match lights three cigarettes, the man who lit the last one will soon suffer an injury. (The 'bos did know that, but each of them thought the other was going to say something and by the time they realized, it was too late.)

Slicer lost his hand in a knife accident the next day, and as he had no family or close friends to help him out (the 'bos had already moved on), he lost the shop. He hit the rails, intending to go to the next town and find work, but he caught up with the 'bos that had worked with him and they felt right awful about what happened, so they took him on for a few states and taught him the Hobo Code. And somewhere along the way, Slicer had a chat with the Kind Lady and heard the Song, and here we are.

OK, back to numbers. I feel like butchers are strong, so Slicer's Body ought to be kind of high. I guess the immediate question is where to put that sodding 6. I think I'll put it in Gimmick, because although that means my Gimmick kinda sucks, it also means my Weakness is low (since Weakness starts equal to Gimmick). I need to think of a Gimmick, however, so I'll let that sit a minute.

For the other three, I'll put my 15 in Body, my 12 in Nerve, and my 8 in Brain. My Weakness is One Hand 6, so that's easy. His Old Job (which is actually "Old Life" on the sheet) is equal to (16-Job)/2, but the example characters in the book with Job 13 have Old Life +2, so whatever, I have Butcher +2.

Now I get 3 Skills at +3, +2, and +1. Skills are something that fall out of line with one's Job (or Old Life, in the case of hobos). I kind of want Slicer to be good at talking with folks and putting people at ease, so I'll take Chatting at +2. I'll take Knifeplay at +1, and for my +3 I'll take Harmonica (you can play it with only one hand, see).

Right, still need a Gimmick. Um. It's not gonna work very often, whatever it is; I'd have to roll under a 6 on a d20 (barring any help from Skills). I'll think I'll say that Slicer has the Devil's Attention - sometimes he can play the harmonica and Ol' Scratch will tune in. That's not always a good thing, but for whatever reason the Devil seems to want Slicer alive.

Cool, now I get a Hobo Power. There are a bunch of examples, and a lot of them are pretty cool, but I can make one up if I want. It's tempting to do something with knives or butchering, but that's Slicer's old life. I think, though, that something that familiarizes him with death or killing is appropriate, since he was used to that. I'll say that Slicer is a Haint Caller, someone who talks with ghosts and other dead-things and helps them to move along. I need a vow, too, so I'll say that Slicer's Vow is "Never Spill the Blood of a Man Who Has Done You No Harm."

Only number-related thing left is how many Yum-Yums I start with, which is 1d20/5. I roll a 13, so I get 2 (round down).

Now, three more bits of flavor: WWPHITM (Who Would Play Him in the Movie?), Tag Line, and Dumb Fact.

For the Dumb Fact, I'll say that Slicer keeps his own knucklebones in a bag around his neck (eek). For Tag Line, I'll say "How 'bout a tune, fellars?" And as for who'd play him...need someone kinda beefy. Someone with one hand would be ideal, but a quick search doesn't show me a lot of one-handed actors (missing legs seem to be more common), so I guess we're doing that with special effects. Ooh, but how about someone who actually plays harmonica? I'm gonna say Bruce Willis. Check this out, I think it'd work:

And that'll do it!

Character Creation: QAGS

Two chargen posts in a row, whaaaat. I have some time, and this'll put me caught up with my weekly character resolution. (Normally I'd stick a game prep post in there, but Night's Black Agents got cancelled yesterday and I already have my Feng Shui prep done.)

The Game: QAGS (Quick-Ass Gaming System), 2nd Edition
The Publisher: Hex Games
Degree of Familiarity: None. I don't think I've ever played this system.
Books Required: Just the one.

 
I got QAGS 2nd Ed in the Haiti bundle a really long time ago, and I've read most of it. It's near the top of my list and I think it's pretty simple, so that's a good choice for today.

My first hurdle, though, is that QAGS, like GURPS, is just a system. By itself it doesn't have a setting, but the book handily provides 10, and I just happen to have a 10-sided die right here (because Michelle didn't put her dice away after Promethean last week). Rolling, I get 2. The 2nd genre setup in the book is...cinema verite. Um, OK. Interesting setup for something as light as QAGS, but I'll give it a shot.

I want to point out that Heathers, "all that Danielle Steel crap," and outright porn are in this list.

The sample campaign they give you for this is Dude, Where's My Cape, in which all the characters are sharing an apartment, all of the characters are superheroes with secret identities, and all of them are hiding the truth from others. I think that's sort of clever. I also think that maintaining that beyond a one-shot would be really difficult, but hey, maybe with the right group? The setup suggests that one of the characters be a super-villain, and hey, you know, that sounds like my jam.

So, let's see how character creation works. First thing I need, as usual, is a concept. Well, with our fairly thin set-up, and assuming I want to be a supervillain in our weird sitcom-ish cinema verite thing going on, and wanting to keep things light, my villain is call the Pedant. He's not really concerned about "good" and "evil" per se; morality is relative and the free market will sort it all out. No, he just wants everyone to be right. Have you considered the data? Have you checked your sources? You'd better have.

In his day job, he's a freelance writer and editor (magazines, mostly), and he makes a living (like most sitcom characters, he has an unrealistically fantastic apartment), but he's always hurting for extra cash. Hence, robbing banks and pulling heists, which supervillains don't do enough of anymore.

His secret identity is Maynard Milton (folks call him "Milt", which he hates, but recognizes that "Maynard" isn't much better). His concept/archetype is "Know-it-all." QAGS lists archetypes, like from Campbell, and I think "Threshold Guardian" fits the Pedant pretty well.

Now I start doing numbers. I had to dig around a little; the GM would decide the number of Yum-Yums players get to make characters (I'm not making this up), but there's a chart in the GM's section, and apparently 100 YY makes an average character. I have to figure that despite our powers, these characters are going to be mostly "average", given the genre (runs in my head there was a super-hero movie that kinda fits this, The Specials maybe?). Anyway, 100 Yum-Yums. You got it.

First, Body, Brain, and Nerve. I don't picture the Pedant as being especially fit. 11 is average, so I'll just do that.

Brain, though, that's where I'm a Viking. I want Pedant's Brain score at the top of the curve. Max is 16, so let's do that. I've spent 27.

And then Nerve. I guess 13, better than average but not amazing? That means I've spent an event 40 points.

Next up, Job. Writer/Super-Villain, sure. I'll say that Pedant is better than average at this, so the score is 10, which costs me 20 points. I've spent half my points.

Now I get a Gimmick. A Gimmick covers a whole lot of ground, and it's probably where my super-powers should come in. I could take something like "Remembers Everything" but frankly with my Brain score as high as it is, I don't really need to. Hmm. I feel like the Pedant should be a mind-controller or other form of psychic? Or, hey. There was a power in Shattered Dreams called "Reality Check" that let you impose the rules of "real life" on dreams. I want Pedant's power to be something like that, except we'll call it "well, actually" - he can shut down other being's powers and impose "reality" on the situation by explaining it. Gimmicks have ratings, which measure how often they show up in a session. It starts at 10, and I've got 50 freaking points left, so I'll pump 10 points into this and take my rating up to 15.

Now I get a Weakness, which is just like it sounds. Pedant's Weakness is that he's Easily Frustrated, in all senses of the word. I'll leave it at 10.

And then I get Skills. Skills aren't covered by my Job, they're things I do as a hobby, basically. I have, what, 40 points left, meaning I could take a bunch (they're three YY for a +1 and then 1 YY for every additional +1 after that, so I could take, what, 10 Skills at +2? That seems absurd. Howzabout I dump 6 more points into my Job, making it 13, which takes me down to 34 points to spend? Sure.

Skills, then. I think "Defensive Driving" sounds good; it's not what Milt is trained in, but it's become necessary. I'll dump 4 YY there for a +2, which leaves 30 points left, my goodness. I'll take "Fisticuffs" at +1, because I'm sure it'll come up. 27 points to go. I see Pedant as being decent at hacking, so I'll take Hacking at +4, which costs me 5 points (down to 22). Wow, 100 is a lot of points (though of course I can't know if this makes for a viable character). Oh, wait, something I missed: If you raise your Gimmick it automatically raises your weakness, so I would need to spend 15 to bring my Weakness from 15 to 10. Shit, sure. That means I have 7 points remaining. That's more better.

Well, my HP starts at 11, but I can raise it, so I'll put it to 13 (4 YY), which leaves me 3, which is fine, because having a few in play is a good idea.

Now a few little quirks: My tag line is "Um, no." Dumb fact is on the sheet, but not actually mentioned during chargen (anyway, Pedant knows all the dumb facts). WWPHITM stands for "who would play him in the movie?" I think Pedant is pretty obviously played by Patton Oswalt.

And there you have it! I think episodes of Dude, Where's My Cape? should all end with the characters playing a board game in Milt's apartment, discussing the events of the episode while the credits roll.