Character Creation: Mummy: The Resurrection

IMHOTEP. IMHOTEP.

The Game: Mummy: The Resurrection
The publisher: White Wolf.
Degree of familiarity: Not much, really. Mummy came out in 2001, before I moved to Atlanta or shortly thereafter. In any event, I wasn't involved in its writing, though I did write a bit of the Mummy Players Guide. I've played Mummy once, I ran it once (John Chambers' character from that game, in fact, appears in the Players Guide), I always liked it but never got a chance to do much with it. Anyway.
Books required: The Mummy book, plus some version of the core rules (I have Werewolf: The Apocalypse handy from this character). I have the Players Guide, too, though I don't recall it being especially useful for starting characters. I could be wrong, though.

 
One of the things I liked about Mummy was that it had a hopeful mood to it. So much of the OWoD was "the world is actively out to get you/grind you down/corrupt you" (as opposed to NWoD, which is more "the world is a dangerous place, but it's less dangerous if you don't go looking for trouble"), and having characters that were really about life and redemption was neat. I have nothing in the way of concept, so I'll skim the splats (called Amenti) and see what jumps out.

OK, the way this works is this: The character is a merger of a dead person and one part of an Egyptian mummy soul-component thingie. Which component determines your Amenti, and your general outlook, powers, etc. Different Amenti are attracted to different kinds of flawed people; the character I played on the one occasion I got to play Mummy was a kickboxer who let himself get beaten up in the ring (he was a kher-minu; they go looking for people who didn't take care of their bodies).

This time, I have something a little different in mind, but I'll get to it via the chargen process. In a kind of foreshadowing to Aeon games and, eventually, NWoD, we've got two stages here.

Stage One: The Second Life. As in, the life of the mortal that the mummy-spirit-thing bonded with.

Step One: Concept. I want to play someone who was basically a nihilist, but who wasn't miserable about it. He just didn't have much self-identity. Unlike the last unperson that I made, this guy had a thriving social life. It was all just vapor. He was a filler, a face in the crowd, and no one really knew him because there was nothing to know. He worked in Los Angeles as a personal assistant to some celebrity or other - really, he was an assistant's assistant. And when he died, a lot of very famous people sent flowers, with generic greetings. His name, during his second live, was Tommy Briggs.

How'd he die? Well, he was leaving a party and walking home when someone came up behind him, whacked him over the head, took his wallet and his watch, and dragged him into an alley. He died of his injuries. His attacker had no idea who he was, and by the time the police got around to investigating, the trail (such as it was) had gone cold.

But something was watching. A ba spirit (responsible for guarding the soul in the afterlife, enabling resurrection of the body) saw the Briggs was lingering, opened his caul and asked if he'd like to continue on. And Briggs, honestly, said he didn't care. He'd had nothing to live for, and if the alternatives were existence as a ghost or life as a mummy, at least as a mummy he would have a body. He agreed, half-heartedly, and the ba spirit merged with him, becoming a Khri-Habi (Scroll-Bearer).

He woke up in a funeral home and changed paperwork around to make it look like he'd already been cremated. And then he fled to Egypt on his Hajj to complete his resurrection.

I'm meant to choose Nature and Demeanor as part of this process. For Demeanor, I think the tem-akh didn't influence him much. He's still the same Bon-Vivant he always was, at least outwardly. But inwardly, his lack of a real personality has been filled by the ba-spirit's quest of spiritual rigor and fortitude. He's become a Visionary. I see this character as careful in a practical sense, but unrestrained creatively and intellectually. He's smart, and he doesn't have a lot of baggage from his Second Life getting in the way (because that person - Tommy Briggs - just wasn't really there that much).

I also choose my Inheritance here; that'd be who the tem-akh was before it died. I think it was a scholar, a person versed in medicine, but with very little in the way of people skills. It wanted to be part of the crowd around it, but couldn't find a way to slip in, socially. The opposite, then, of Briggs, who was quite adept socially but brought nothing interesting to the table.

Step Two: Attributes. The usual deal, 6/4/3. Since I'm creating Briggs, here, I'll make Social primary, then Physical, then Mental.

Physical: One each in Strength and Dexterity, two in Stamina. Briggs kept himself in shape.

Social: Two in each Attributes. Slightly above average across the board, but nothing truly exceptional.

Mental: One each, for ratings of 2 across the board. Staunchly average, and therefore almost invisible.

Step Three: Abilities. Same drill; 11/7/4. As a matter of interest, Mummy adds a bunch of new Abilities, some of which aren't on the damn sheet. I really like the NWoD approach - these Skills, now and forever amen. Anyway. I think probably Talents first, then Knowledges, then Skills.

Talents: Three into Carousing (one of those aforementioned "not on the sheet" Abilities), two each into Alertness, Expression, Streetwise, and Subterfuge. Mostly the results of living in LA.

Skills: Two into Etiquette, one each in Drive and Technology. Again, he knows how to function in his vapid world, but little else.

Knowledges: One into Academics (he went to school, after all), two into Bureaucracy and Computer, and one into Investigation and Law. Just stuff he's picked up chasing celebrities around, doing the grunt work.

Step Four: Backgrounds. Three points here on stuff appropriate to Tommy, but stuff that survived his mortal existence, and there's not much of that. I think I'll turn his cipher-ness to my advantage, here. Two dots of Resources (offshore funds) and one dot of Contacts (an agent who was never informed that Tommy was dead).

Step Five: Details. Five freebies. I'll blow it all on a dot of Perception - Tommy had to notice who was in the room, after all.

Stage Two: The Rebirth

And now, Tommy-as-mummy. He'll need a new name eventually.

Step One: The Second Death. We went through this already. Tommy died as he lived, anonymously.

Step Two: Attributes. I add two dots to Attributes, anywhere I like. This is to represent the ba's influence on Tommy, so they pretty much need to go to Mental stats. I'll put one in Intelligence and one into Wits - the ba spirit started him thinking as well as noticing.

Step Three: Abilities. Five more points into Abilities. Again, this is stuff that the tem-akh brings to the party. I'll put two into Medicine, two into Occult, and one into Science. And there are really too much Abilities in this game.

Step Four: Advantages. Magic stuff! Yay! As a Scroll-Bearer, I get a dot of Alchemy, and then two more dots in Hekau. Hang on a sec. OK, since I have a "power stat" (Balance) that has to equal or exceed my highest Hekau rating, and I don't think I'm going to have a lot of freebies handy for raising it, I'll take a dot in Effigy and a dot in Celestial. I think the mummy-Tommy enjoys the challenge of formulaic magic, but hasn't had the guts to branch in Nomenclature yet - the notion of erasing something from existence frightens him, since he knows how close he was to oblivion. For my rituals, I'll take Simple Elixir (Beloved of Ptah), which raises Dexterity by one for an hour for Alchemy. For Celestial, I'll take Simple Weather Magic; I'm tempted to take Hanging the Stars, but that really requires other rituals to make it useful. For Effigy, Command Simple Implement. Allows him to gain a bonus to actions using a given simple object.

Now I get 2 more dots in Backgrounds. I know I'll wind up blowing a bunch more of these with freebies, so for now I'll just put them into Memory.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. OK, first off, I get a Balance rating of 1. That's not changing. Then I get Willpower 5, which is nice. My Sekhem, which is my magical juice, starts at 1 (my Balance), which sucks. I can't have more Sekhem than Balance - geez, a little more attention to mechanics, here, guys? I mean, if you've got a trait that is so crucial to the character that the character isn't viable without it, you make it basic to the character. (This is mostly done in NWoD, though Wyrd is pretty darned crucial to Changeling characters.)

Anyway, freebies. I want a high rating in Memory, since I think his tem-akh kept most of its knowledge. What the hell, we'll put three more dots there. I'll put two dots into Ba, meaning that I can attempt resurrection after 70 days dead (without it, I'd need a year), and two dots into Ka, so I've got some spiritual protection for my physical body. Finally, I'll take a dot of Arcane - he's not as invisible as he used to be, but he's still not real impressive. That's 8 of my 10 freebies. I'll put the other two into Vessel, since I'll need it. My vessel is a vertebra from an ancient corpse, slightly deformed. My tem-akh, in life, found it interesting and kept it on him, and Tommy-mummy was able to recover it during his Hajj.

Would I like some Flaws? I would, but reading the ones in the book, they don't really fit. I could jigger in something like Hunted, but it doesn't fit the character's concept as an unperson discovering the world. Anachronism would work, but I want him to remember his Second Life - there's just not much to remember. I guess we're good as-is. Some more concept-type stuff.

Tommy arrived in the Web of Faith, found the Vessel, and completed the resurrection. He learned of Apophis and the destruction of the Dark Kingdom of Sand (this is all Mummy and OWoD backstory), and realized that he was in the unique position to help. He'd never been in a unique position before. He's waiting to get hooked up with a group of mummies, but in the meantime, he's asked to return to LA. He's planning to hook up with his old agent buddy (under a different name, of course) and try and get some work on a set. Not as an actor, but maybe as a script doctor or something. Something that would allow him to change the way the world is perceived. He'll need to build up his Expression to make that work, but in the meantime, he's a would-be screenwriter sitting on a great story - his. He just has to figure out how to tell it, death and all. He's dumped his old name, of course. Nowadays, he's called Scott Byrd (a nod to the ba-spird, symbolized by a bird).

I think an interesting scene in a chronicle for this character would involve someone recognizing him from the Second Life. He's not real careful about going places and associating with people he knew, because, well, who would ever remember him? But someone would. Maybe the guy who killed him, maybe just some other assistant that was taken with him (and that he never noticed).

Character Creation: Dreaming Cities

I stayed up too late last night, and now I'm feeling pretty wiped out. I suspect I shall do this character, and then hit the proverbial sack.

The Game: Dreaming Cities
The publisher: Guardians of Order, now sadly defunct.
Degree of familiarity: None. I know the Tri-STat system well enough, but I have no direct experience with this particular game. Which isn't a big hurdle. See below.
Books required: Just the core. 

 
Dreaming Cities, like Silver Age Sentinels and Ex Machina, isn't so much a game in and of itself as a genre attached to the Tri-Stat system, along with a few chapters of possible settings. It's urban fantasy, and it spends some time talking about the genre, how to run it, examples in literature, etc. I don't think it did the job as eloquently as either of the other two games I mentioned, but it could just be that I do so much with "urban fantasy" by way of White Wolf that I've got expectations.

Anyway, there are three settings in the back of the books. One is very much like the World of Darkness, so I'm skipping that. The other is pretty cool - it invites you to make characters based on faery tale archetypes (including Red, the little girl who's out to kill Hans Woolver). But the one I'm interested in is The Small Folk, in which you're asked to create house-fae like characters, each about 7-10 cm high, who live in family groups and have to deal with being tiny people in a big person's world. Some of that involves dodging cats and other animals, dealing with the politics of the Small Folk (there are courts and suchlike), and defending their homes, founding new communities, all from the "ground level", as it were. Small Folk are arranged into kiths cliques, which look a lot like White Wolf-style splats, down to the sidebars with "here's what we think of the others" stereotypes.

My character is going to be a riff on Captain Quint in Jaws, only he hunts cats, not sharks. Cats are nasty critters where Small Folks are concerned, and it takes people like Noond, Cat-Hunter, to keep them away from the young'uns. The trick is, of course, that you can't kill the beasties, because the humans that own them tend to get scared and then they fumigate. No, you have to train them to stay away. Ayup.

Step 1: GM Discussion. N/A.

Step 2: Character Outline. I did that up there, mostly, but to expand: Noond grew up living in the walls of a crazy ol' cat-lady's house, and he knows that cats are deadly, vicious, sadistic and sneaky. He remembers the night that a storm made the ceiling collapse in one room, and most of his colony was attacked by the cats. It was horrific. This all happened in Indianapolis (see what I did there?).

Noond tries to pretend he's all business, but in truth, he hates cats and he wishes he could kill them. He likes dogs precisely because they chase cats (or should) and he's not above using dogs to help him when he can. Mostly, though, he likes luring cats to climb onto things and then breaking their footholds somehow. Noond is greedy, too, and his services can always be bought. He likes shiny coins, wire and big pieces of wood. Never you mind why.

Step 3: Assign Stats. Tri-Stat system using d6, 75 points to build characters, 20 Skill Points to start. Each of the cliques have a template that costs some points, and looking them over, the one that works best for Noond is the goblin (only I wouldn't play him as talking like a white guy trying pathetically to impersonate a gangsta. Seriously, there is some poorly-written and borderline offensive dialogue in this section). I have three Stats, Body, Mind and Soul, and I want to be above average across the board (I see Noond as having Skills rather than Magic). Making all three Stats have scores of 6 would cost 36, over half my points. Oy. Let's bump Body down to 4, because I know the template will raise it up again. That's 32 points, a little better.

Consider Template and Assign Attributes. OK, my template costs 30 points, and nets me the following:

+1 Body
+2 Highly Skilled
+1 Speed
+5 Curse of Breaking (Special Attack: 40 damage, Penetrating: Armor x2, Targeted: Non-living matter, Undetectable, Slow x2, Static)
+5 Telekinesis (Activation Time - 1 round, Concentration, Diminutive)

This all means I've spent 62 of my 75 points. I'll also buy Combat Technique: Accuracy, Judge Opponent, Lightning Reflexes, Portable Armory, and Steady Hand. 5 points

I'll take Heightened Awareness at 3. 3 points

I'll take Sensory Block. Noond has mastered making a really annoying noise that deafens anyone in the immediate area. He has to concentrate on it, but it's good for disorienting cats. Level 1, Area PMV 3, Concentration drawback = 3 points

Divine Relationship. Always a handy power. 2 points.

That's 75 exactly, and unless I feel the need to tweak things or take more than the 40 skill points, I don't need to do much else. Let's check.

Er...hang on.

OK, the points on this template are either way off or I'm missing something. The totals actually seem to give my 34 points, not 30, and the Skills are totally whack-a-ding-hoy. I'll be changing some stuff around.

Back to Attributes, the Telekinesis power that goblins wield is supposedly controlled by breakdancing, for fuck's sake. Nah. I'll dump it entirely. Let me reconfigure my totals.

34 points on Stats (Body 5, Soul 6, Mind 6)
Highly Skilled 2 (2 points)
Special Attack: Curse of Breaking. Level 5, (40 damage, Penetrating: Armor x2, Targeted: Non-living matter, Undetectable, Slow x2, Static) (20 points)
Combat Technique: Accuracy, Judge Opponent, Lightning Reflexes, Portable Armory, Steady Hand (5 points)
Heightened Awareness 3 (3 points)
Sensory Block: Hearing (Area PMV 3, Concentration Defect -1) (3 points)
Divine Relationship 2 (2 points)
Diminutive (-4 points)
Blind Fury (-1 point)

Total: 64. I've got 11 left. I'll throw 6 into Attack Combat Mastery 2, and 4 into Defense Combat Mastery 2. With that last point, I'll buy up Highly Skilled to 3.

Step 5: Select Skills. I get 20 points, plus 30 more for Highly Skilled. The skill totals on the template are wildly fucked, so I'll do my own.

Acrobatics (Tumbling) 2
Animal Training (Cats) 3
Burglary (Desks) 2
Climbing (Furniture) 2
Intimidation (Dogs) 2
Melee Attack (Whip) 2
Unarmed Defense (Cats) 1

Hmm. 3 points over. Better take another Defect. I'll take Less Capable: Charisma (Noond is kind of a dick, pushy, greedy, etc.). That gives me a -3 on Soul checks that involve being charismatic. Also gives me 7 more skill points (since buying a fourth point of Highly Skilled gives me another 10, and I only needed three). I'll buy a second point of Unarmed Defense (6 points), and a point of Heavy Weapons (Slingshots). That's a pretty cool image, actually.

Step 6: Select Defects. Already done.

Step 7: Calculate Derived Values. My Attack Combat Value is 7 (the average of my Stats plus my Attack Combat Mastery). My Defense Combat Value is 5 (my ACV minus 2, plus 2 for my Defense Combat Mastery). My Health is 55 (Body + Soul, times 5).

Step 8: Earn Background Points. That is, describe your character and get some love from the GM. Well, Noond is about 8 cm high and 10 grams. He's grizzled-looking and has a nasty scar on his face from a kitten attack. He has a tattoo on his shoulder of a cat's face, fangs dripping with blood, and "1887: Never Forget" underneath (that was the address where he lived during the massacre). He wears a pair of cat-skin pants (very comfy!) and matching boots, and a coat he snagged from an old Paddington Bear doll (and the hat). He carries a dizzying variety of gadgets and widgets, and can whip up a goblin-sized slingshot at a moment's notice. He carries a whip he made from a cat's toy coiled around his hip.

And I think that'll do!

Character Creation: Scion: Hero 1st Edition

Last character of 2008. Who knows how many more years this will take!

The Game: Scion: Hero
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read parts of the book, read some reviews, and I know the general premise. Heck, I remember when this book was in the hands of the first developer.
Books required: Just the core.

 
The basic premise here is that the characters are children of the Gods. Pick a pantheon, you could use it. I know that there have been pantheons added to the game after Hero came out, but I don't have them (I only bought this one because, again, Tom said he was going to run it, and so this character might be one that I get to play someday).

Anyway, my idea is a musician, some kind of cross between the Pied Piper and fella who sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads (if you haven't seen O Brother Where Art Thou?, you really should). I know I want a scion of one of the voodoo Gods, so let's look that up. OK, my basic choices here are Kalfu and Legba, and I don't want the evil vibe I get from Kalfu (I picture my character as being more benevolent than that). Legba it is.

Step One: Calling. This is basically "Concept." My is "Bewitching Guitarist." I mark in my favored Abilities (which seem to be determined by God, not pantheon, despite what the book says). For Nature, I choose Trickster. He might seem benevolent, but that's just in comparison to scions of Kalfu.

Step Two: Attributes. The usual White Wolf prioritization, with an 8/6/4 spread. Definitely Social, Physical, then Mental. It's not that he's dumb, he just doesn't think his way through problems. He prefers to feel.

Social: Four into Charisma, three into Manipulation, two into Appearance. He's no Adonis, but he gets by on pure charm.

Physical: Four into Dexterity, one each into Strength and Stamina. For those blinding guitar riffs.

Mental: Two into Wits, one each into Perception and Intelligence.

Step Three: Abilities. 30 dots to divide up. As an interesting note, Scion seems to do away with the notion of Specialties for any given Ability, reserving it for stuff like Art and Craft that are too broad on their own. I can't go over 3 dots here, so that makes my life a little easier. I take three dots in Art (Music), Awareness, Command, Empathy, Marksmanship, and Presence. Not sure where the Marksmanship thing came from. I just picture him being a good shot. Anyway, two dots into Athletics, Investigation, Larceny and Occult, and one dot into Animal Ken, Fortitude, Integrity and Stealth.

Step Four: Advantages. I get five dots to split between Birthrights, which requires I read them. Oy. Weird. OK, I'll put four dots into Relic - my guitar. That allows me to access three different Purviews, which are coming up next. That fourth dot in Relic allows me to access my dot in Followers. I can play my guitar and bewitch up to five people (normal folks) standing around; they get their will back at the end of the scene.

Now I get 10 dots to split between Epic Attributes and Boons. I need to make sure that none of the Boons end up higher or equal to my Legend rating (presently 2, though I'm reliably informed I'm stupid if I don't raise it). So let's look at Boons. There's no cost difference between in-pantheon and not here, though that changes if I buy them with bonus points.

OK, I want the Eye of the Storm Boon, allowing me to remain untouched in chaotic circumstances if I'm playing my guitar. So one of my Purviews is Chaos. I get two more. I like Psychopomp, and it's associated with my God anyway. I'll buy Unerring Orientation. And, finally, I'll take the Cheval Purview, and I'll dump three points to take the first two Boons, Rada's Eyes and Petro's Hands. Why the hell is Petro's Hands a Control roll? Anyway, that officially means I'm going to have to bump my Legend to 3.

Moving on. I've spent five of my 10 points on Boons, so I can spend the others on Epic Attributes. I can only take two dots in any given Epic Attributes, since my Legend isn't going higher than 3. I also get a Knack for every dot of Epic Attribute I take, so I could conceivably have five Knacks. Moving on.

I'll put one into Epic Dexterity, and take the Untouchable Opponent Knack. I don't know how the systems work and I don't have time to read them, but it looks cool on paper. I want Epic Manipulation (two dots), so I'll take the Knacks Blurt it Out and God's Honest. I'll take one point in Epic Charisma and the Inspirational Figure Knack. Finally, one dot in Epic Wits and the Social Chameleon Knack.

Virtues: I get five dots to divvy between Harmony, Order, Piety and Vengeance. I think Vengeance is a big deal to him, as is Harmony, not so much Piety or Order. Three into Vengeance, one each into Harmony and Piety, screw Order.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Why would they put bonus points after all the other calculations, since spending them can change said calculations? Ah, well.

Seven of my bonus points go straight into Legend. I need to buy some Control, since it's the dice pool in my one Boon...actually, you know, the more I think about it, I just don't see Marksmanship as a focus for this buy. I'm shifting those three dots into Control. He's a good driver, and that makes some sense to me. Since not have any combat skill is a bad idea, though, I'll spend four points and buy two dots of Marksmanship, and I'll spend the other three on a dot of Occult and two dots of Command.

My Willpower is the sum of my highest Virtues, or 6. My Dodge DV is 7, based on my Knack. My Parry DV is 3 (yuck). My Join Battle pool is 6. Far as I can tell, I don't get lethal or aggravated soak, and my bashing soak is 2. My Move is 6, my Dash 13, my Jump is 4. And that's my numbers! Now the fun stuff.

Gibbs Richard Boxer was born in Missouri, and he never knew his father. Rather, he knew his father was a proper man, an educated man, because his mother told him so. It wasn't until he was grown that Mama told him how proper - his father was the God Legba, come to his Mama riding a cheval and granting her a child. He learned that on the day a black leather guitar case, plastered with stickers from all over the world, showed up at the crossroads as Gibbs was walking home. He picked up that guitar, and he played it like he'd been born to. And instead of going straight on through that crossroads, he turned left, and he's never been back since.

Gibbs is a manipulative, opportunistic guy, but he also knows that until it's time to lie, you tell the truth. He's not as clever as some folks, but he knows that many people equate "smart" with "untrustworthy", and the inverse is true, too. He's happy to play whatever role he needs to in order to get where he wants to go, but where he wants to go changes from day to day. He's a wanderer, a trickster and a fox in the henhouse. He's just as quixotic and unpredictable as many loa scions, even considering his father's serious duties as guardian of the crossroads. Someday, he might grow into those duties, but for now...any requests? 

Character Creation: Werewolf:

I thought about doing Scion today, but I haven't really read it (I bought it because my buddy Tom teased me with a promise to run it, and then changed his mind), so instead, I shall do a game with which I am highly familiar.

The Game: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: OMG. I honestly can't remember how many times I've run this game, much less played it. My longest Werewolf game ran more than a year of weekly play. That'd be To End All Wars, the premise of which was my topic for chronicle creation in the Revised Werewolf Storytellers Handbook.
Books required: Just the core. I have both the first edition and the revised core, so I'll be using the latter, thanks. I still have quite a few of the sourcebooks (seeing as how I worked on every second book for the line after Revised), so I might grab one or two.

 
You know, I don't miss the eco-crusader angle in Werewolf, but that's only because I got so much play-time in with the game the first time around. By the time we were ready to start on Forsaken, I was ready for a change. But I still love OWoD Werewolf, and if someone ran it, I might play. Wonky-ass system and all.

Step One: Character Concept. Well, I honestly don't have much in mind. I could choose randomly, but...well, let's do it this way. I made a lupus character for Dark Ages: Werewolf. I made a human-born character for Werewolf: The Forsaken (not that there's another choice, though it might interest you to know that in the original design of the game, we kept the breeds; they weren't removed until we decided that the template system was more important than that particular wrinkle). So I'll make this character metis. That means I'm the cursed spawn of two werewolves, and that I'll need to pick a deformity. Since it might inform the rest of the character, I'll do it now.

OK, I got it. My deformity is Tough Skin. The character's body is covered with this leathery, unpleasant-to-touch scabby kind of stuff. In human form, it looks like he's got a skin condition (which he does, I guess), but in hairy forms, he's missing a lot of fur and looks kind of mangy. His parents were both Glass Walkers, and were both of the opinion that there needs to be more soldiers for Gaia now, and screw the Litany since it's holding us back. And along came little Reynold (as his parents called him), or "Skin Deep" to other Garou. I think he joined his parents' tribe, but he's bitter about the fact that a lot of Glass Walkers are rich, sleek and beautiful...and then there's him.

Auspice...hmm. I could make a case for any of them, really. I'd like for Skin Deep to be struggling to gain any respect among the Glass Walkers because of his deformity, and that kind shoots Ahroun out the window. Let's go with Galliard. Skin Deep wants to be a storyteller, but he's fuck-ugly, and among another tribe that might not matter. Among the Glass Walkers, though, it's a pain, what with their Armani suits and all. Fuckers.

OK, that sets my Rage at 4, my Gnosis at 3, my Willpower at 3, and my Renown at 2 Glory, 1 Wisdom.

Step Two: Select Attributes. I'll make Mental secondary, Social tertiary (it would be secondary, but I don't have to spread out the points as much since I can't put dots into Appearance) and Physical primary.

Physical: This guy's tough. Soaking machine (man, I don't miss soak rolls). I'll put two dots into Strength, one into Dexterity and four into Stamina. I'll specialize Stamina in "Tough."

Mental: Two into Perception and Wits, one into Intelligence. Skin Deep isn't dumb, but he's not great at deduction. He's pretty good at noticing and assimilating details, though.

Social: One into Charisma, two into Manipulation. I think he's good at words, which is a shame, because with his looks he'd be better as the "howling" kind of Storyteller.

Step Three: Select Abilities. I think we'll go Talents first, then Knowledges (his parents' influence), then Skills.

Talents: Three into Primal-Urge (he's metis, he should have it) and Brawl (Dad's an Ahroun). Two into Athletics, Expression and Intimidation, and the last one into Alertness.

Skills: One into Animal Ken, Drive and Performance, and the other two into Stealth. Mom's a Ragabash, and showed him how to get around sneaky-like.

Knowledges: One into Computer, Enigmas, and Science, and two into Investigation, Occult and Rituals. Well-rounded education, courtesy of mom and dad homeschooling their ugly son.

Step Four: Select Advantages. I get 5 Backgrounds, but I can't take Pure Breed, Ancestors or Mentor...that's fucked up. Why can't I take Mentor? Weird. As an ST I'd houserule that. Anyway, if I were doing the pack thing, I'd take Totem, yadda yadda, but since I'm not: Resources 2 (parents gave him a trust fund), Rites 1 (and maybe more with freebies), and y'know what? I can't think of a single good reason not to take Mentor. So I am. Screw the book. Two dots, for now (I'll need more, because the Mentors are, of course, my parents).

I get three Gifts, one breed, one tribe, one auspice. I'll take Sense Wyrm (both parents probably agreed it was too handy not to have), Perfect Recall from Book of Auspices, because I wrote it I think memory is something Skin Deep would struggle with, and Control Simple Machine (because the other Glass Walker Gifts just don't fit this character).

Step Five: Finishing Touches. I'm rank 1, and I've got 15 freebies to throw around. No Merits & Flaws in this book and I don't feel like digging out the PG to the Garou, so there.

I'll put four points into Gnosis to bump it up to 5, and three points into Willpower to bump it to 6. I'll throw three points into Mentor, because I reckon Skin Deep's parents take a keen interest. I'll buy a dot of Streetwise for two points, and put the other three into Rites, for a total of four dots.

OK, for rites, I'll take Cleansing, Binding and Voice of the Jackal. The first two his folks taught him. The last one...well, Skin Deep is bitter, and he's always looking out for an excuse to get called up to perform the rite on a sept-mate, one of the fuckers who mocked his appearance.

And that's it! I think Skin Deep would be a fun character. His story arc would probably involve rebelling against his parents and then learning how much they've really helped him. I can see him "rebelling" by becoming a real purist for the Litany (which they broke, deliberately, by having him), maybe even changing tribes.

And that's me done with this'n. 

Character Creation: Marvel Superheroes

When I was 11 years old, my mother bought me a copy of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes Roleplaying game (Advanced Set) before we went on vacation. We always went on vacation late in the season, so there weren't other kids around to hang with, other than my brother. I'd play Marvel once or twice at summer camp, and I was looking forward to creating my own superhero...which, really, I'd been doing since kindergarten or so.

Oh, baby.

That was my intro to gaming, and it was just combat for a while. But there were plotlines. They were intricate. I can't really remember much of them, but I remember my brother's character (Oriole), who was a member of a strange, non-human race. He could shoot webs from his hands that changed color over several rounds, and then exploded! Awesome!

Anyway, I made up lots of heroes (and villains) over the years, many of them modeled on existing characters, many more modeled on obvious tropes (there was the luck-controlling Leprechaun, f'rex). But some were just weird, and that was OK. I introduced everyone from babysitters to girlfriends to gaming through Marvel, and so it remains one of my favorite games.

And so, without further delay:

The Game: Marvel Super Heroes
The publisher: TSR
Degree of familiarity: See above.
Books required: Just the Player's Book is required, but I have the Ultimate Powers Book and I'll be using that. 

 

OK, we've got seven steps. I'm going to do this largely randomly, because I enjoy the challenge it creates, but I reserve the right to say "that sucks" and alter a die roll if need be.

Generate a physical form. I roll a 27, which means "Induced Mutant." That is, I started human and then something happened to make me a superhuman. That's fine. It also means I can take a +1CS to any primary ability when we come to that.

Generate an Origin of Power. A roll of 84 means I got my powers from Chemical Exposure, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Generate Primary Abilities. FASERIP. Stands for: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition and Psyche. And in case you don't know, stats in this game get descriptors as well as numbers. For instance, Thor has Unearthly Strength, while Spidey has Incredible Strength. I roll for Primary Abilities on Column 1 (determined by my physical form), so here we go.

The rolls: 72, 6, 53, 20, 48, 26, 81

Fighting: Remarkable (26)
Agility: Poor (3)
Strength: Excellent (16)
Endurance: Typical (5)
Reason: Excellent (16)
Intuition: Good (8)
Psyche: Incredible (36)

OK, so far, my best stat is Psyche. That measures mental endurance. My Agility sucks rocks - I'm not going to be dodging or throwing anything. Strength isn't bad; I can bench about 800 pounds without much strain. Endurance, though...ouch. I have a free +1CS to up a stat. I think I'll boost Agility to Typical; that gives me better than 50/50 odds to make FEATs with that Ability, at least.

Generate Secondary Abilities. Health is how much damage I can take before I drop: 52. Not much. Karma is a measure of my experience, and it's used to alter rolls (though it'd be the first thing I'd house-rule): 60.

Resources is how rich I am, and it's a die roll: 46 gives me Excellent Resources. That's not shabby.

Generate a Weakness. Every hero has a weakness. Mine, besides my low stats is...Energy Allergy! Which means what? Checking the Effect and the Duration, I get...Fatal. Ouch. Duration is Limited with Contact, which means I take damage from a specific type of energy for 1-100 turns after initial exposure. I'm going to refrain from naming the energy until I know a little more about this guy.

Generate Powers. Here's the fun bit. I actually generate Powers, Talents and Contacts here, but let's do Powers first. A roll of 46 on the table nets me 4 Powers, which is respectable. I roll on the Power Class chart, and then on the individual Power table, and since some of these eat two slots, I'll do my Powers one at a time.

First, I roll 19 - Energy Emission. A 44 on that table gets me Kinetic Bolt. Let's look that up. It's basically what it sounds: A bolt that does damage based on the Force table. The only problem here is that it's going to rely on an Agility roll. Well, I'll deal with that later. Let's see how tough it is: 95! Holy shit! That's an Amazing-ranked Power. Awesome! I could knock down walls with that shit!

Ahem. Next power: 86 means it's Power Control, 5 means I get Control. This means that I have some control over other people's Powers. It's not a bad power, but it does eat two slots. I'll keep it, just because it'll be interesting. First off, I roll for a Power rank: 16. Good. Yuck. Well, OK. A roll of 92 (now I roll high) on the "Power Control table" means that I have Power Control - Negation, which means I just totally turn off the target power. If the roll succeeds, which considering it's a FEAT based on the target's Psyche, ain't likely. OK, moving on.

Final power: 50 gives me Matter Conversion. OK. 38 gives me Disintegration...which also costs 2 slots. Damn. I'll reduce my Resources by 2 ranks (down to Typical) to take this, because I've got an idea about where this character is going. A roll of 47 gives me Excellent Disintegration. That means I can affect 16 cubic feat of solid matter in a turn, which isn't shabby at all. My range is 6 areas - which means (hang on) good lord, an area is 44 yards. I think we'll drop the range down to Typical (2 areas, still fine) and bump the Power rank up to Incredible. I can Disintegrate 36 cubic feat of material in a turn.

OK, moving along to Talents. A roll of 68 gets me 2 Talents. First Talent: Chemistry. Second Talent: Detective/Espionage. Eeeeexcellent. It's all coming together.

Finally, Contacts. I have 2 of them. For my first Contact, my hero has a buddy in the security team where he used to work, before "the incident." The buddy, Duncan "Donuts" Billings, is now a staff supervisor for the night shift at the place, and so can sneak his ol' pal some gear every now and then.

For the second Contact, I want a street-level contact, basically a scumbag who doesn't really hurt anyone (he steals cars, that kind of thing). He snitches to my hero in exchange for not getting his ass busted. His name is Jimmy.

Give your character life. OK, time to tie it all together.

Hans Holmer was a security guard for a big chemical firm, not much more than a merc (or a mook). One night, while he and his buddy Duncan Donuts were making the rounds, some whacko in powered armor blew a hole in the wall and started laying waste to the place with these force beams. Donuts ran to sound the alarm, but Hans got stupid and tried to shoot the guy. The guy turned his blasters on Hans and put him through a wall, straight into a room full of experimental chemicals. Hans steeped in the stuff, unconscious, for hours until the attack was over and Donuts found him. Over the next few weeks (in the hospital), Hans changed. He found he was able to turn solid matter into sound with a glance, and that he could project a blast of invisible force at a target. This last was devastating, but hard to aim - as it happened, the chemicals and the trauma had done some cortical damage. Hans used to be a crack shot. Now it's all he can do to type straight.

He didn't learn about his third ability until after being discharged from the hospital. He saw the whacko in power armor again, flying across the city like nothing was nothing. Glaring, he reached out to the systems allowing the armor to fly and shattered them. The whacko (actually an eco-terrorist named Earth's Avenger) crashed to the ground. Hans disintegrated the ground around him as he tried to stand, and kept him down with his force blast. The cops arrived and subdued the terrorist, and Hans was taken away and debriefed.

He was given the opportunity to work with other heroes, but he hasn't made up his mind yet. He's still bitter about what happened, and he's not sure if he's really cut out for life as a costumed clown. He's got the costume, though - his old uniform from the chemical plant was stained from light gray to a deep purple, with irregular black and blue patterns, almost like an acid wash. Hans put it on and hit the town, solo, a few nights later, interrupting a drug sting that was about to turn into a bloody ambush on the cops (Jimmy told him what was up). He disintegrated the bad guy's guns, watching them disappear in an ear-splitting crash, and blew the drug dealer's cars upside down with his force blast. When the cops asked who he was, he said, "Call me Fragment."

Hans doesn't bother with a secret ID; he didn't have any family to begin with. That sets his Popularity at 20. Fragment has a gained a following in the city; club kids are starting to wear shirts with his suit's pattern on them.

Oh, I should detail his weakness, that form of energy that can kill him. Fragment is vulnerable to harmonics, sounds that are perfectly blended. The right kind of machinery can generate these sounds easily, and if he's exposed to them, the chemicals in his brain that were altered in the accident (the ones that allow him to break things with a glance and a gesture) turn inward, breaking him down instead. 

 

Character Creation: Crap Game Friday

OK, here we go.

The Game: Archangel
The publisher: Visionary Games (their website is now defunct, which implies they've gone under, thank god).
Degree of familiarity: More than I want
Books required: Just the core. To my knowledge, nothing else was ever released.

 

I posted the review I wrote (ETA: though it's probably not accessible anymore), so let's just get to it, shall we? Sooner I'm done, sooner I can go make coffee.

All right, so first up, I create a class. Since the game covers a large span of "history," and there's no GM, there are a lot of variables here that I can't account for. I think, therefore, that my character will be an angel. More specifically, I'll make an Avenging Angel, since they can "harness the power of God to bless others and summon dark spirits."

I guess we'll do Attributes next. I have 110 points to divvy up. I can't go higher than 20, and going higher than 17 costs extra. I could do 11 each with a few left over, but I figure my angel is stranded on Earth with only a vague idea of what he is supposed to be doing (God's a dick that way). His body is also a little weak - it's in good health, but not terribly fit. So. I'll put 8 points into Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, 12 into Constitution and Intelligence, and 15 into Focus, Appearance, and Charisma, and the other 17 into Awareness.

Skills! Oh, hell. I'd forgotten how annoying this was. OK. I get 65 points, but it's not one-for-one. It's...well, let's consider my Investigation skill. I want my angel to be good at Investigation, because that will mean that I can ferret out the enemies of God more easily. Or something. Let's say I want the max skill level I'm allowed for Investigation, 7 points, which grants me a 35% chance to succeed (roll 65 or better on a d100, higher is better).

For skill levels 1 through 5, I pay one point each (5). For skill levels 6 and 7, I pay 2 points each (4, 9 total). So I pay 9 of my 65 skill points for Investigation 7.

Seriously, you see what I'm up against, here? Palladium makes more sense.

OK, making some stab at concept, here, my angel basically woke up on Earth without a clear idea of his mission. He knows he's good at figuring stuff out (Investigation), and has some middling skill in sneaking around (Sneaking and Shadowing), fighting (Brawl), and tracking (Tracking). I'll divvy my points up among those four skills...wait, can't, the points don't work out even. OK, I wind up with scores of 7 for those four, and I'll take ratings of 4 in Disguise and Language (Apollyonal, a demonic language). And then with my remaining 12 points, I'll take my max in Gaming and 3 in Speaking. There.

I get Faith 3 as a free Perk, and I have to take Code of Honor, but since those are the only Perks and Flaws I'm allowed to take, that's that. My Health is Con x 3 (36), my Courage is 16 + 10 for being an angel, my Willpower is 27, also +10 for my angelic pedigree, and I have Holiness 13. My Vitality starts equal to my Holiness. I get a +20 bonus to Initiative, since my Awareness is high. I don't start with any money, just a bronze weapon, a leather breastplate and one set of regular clothing. I swear, I'm not making this up.

I'm a messenger angel (level one, which means I suck). I get to choose an element to "control", and I'll pick water, for the heck of it.

Oh, and I need a name. I think that among people, he's called Gad, and he doesn't use his angelic name.

OK, I could figure some of the other derived traits, speed, shield levels, but that would entail reading this book some more, and you know what? Screw that.

DONE. Now to go play something clever and highbrow like KAMB to cleanse my brain.

Character Creation: Fireborn

Why, you might ask, are you doing a lengthy character rather than writing? Well, it's like this. I have two active contracts presently. One is due "by the end of December," which is next week, and I'm about half done. The other is due in late March, and I have no intention of starting it until February or so (I will, at the point, require playtesters). I could be writing the thing due next week, but I'm crashing and I have no idea why. It's not as bad as it was last week when I actually felt dizzy and unwisely drove home (I was fine, people), but I just feel tired. And I totally feel like writing something, but I don't much feel like writing this. Normally, in this case, I'd suck it up and get my wheels going, but I want this stuff to be good (since I'm only doing one draft, AFAIK), so I'll wait.

Running around doing errands this morning might have wiped me out a little, I guess. Ah, well. I can certainly write the rest of this by next week, probably even by Friday, even with the holiday. And since my developer isn't responding to emails, I have to assume that he's not exactly champing at the bit to get this draft in (probably offline for holidays himself), so you know, I'm not concerned.

Ooh! Also, I don't have a contract. So why am I sweating this at all? Geez.

The Game: Fireborn
The publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Degree of familiarity: None. I've read the Player's Handbook and most of the Gamemaster's Handbook (having purchased the former at Half-Price Books for about $5 and become interested), but never played it, despite my best efforts to find a game at a con.
Books required: The core and, if you're lucky, the Lost Lore thingie with the errata (which I have).

 

OK, this is an interesting game with a system that just leaves me dizzy. The idea is that magic has returned to the world, mostly in London, apparently. The Fireborn are reincarnations of dragons, and you're meant to spend a few sessions in your human form remembering your past, at which point you create your dragon self. Eventually, you get powerful enough to turn into a fucking dragon. Some scenes are told in flashback, and flashbacks can be triggered at any time. When you flash back you play a scene as your dragon-self, and then jump back to "now", hopefully having just remembered some vital piece of information.

Here's the thing, though: The combat system, in particular, looks so complicated that I can't imagine doing a "quick" combat with it. I mean, OWoD was weird, but once you had it down it wasn't horrible (the trick was getting it down, and even when everyone at the table knew it, Werewolf combats still took forever, but I digress). I seriously considered running Fireborn, and then my eyes glazed over every time I tried to read the combat stuff. And it's billed as an action-type game, so combat would probably be important. Maybe someday I'll get up the nerve to try it, but I'd much rather play it. But, again, I've never found anyone to run it.

Anyway, I want to make a character who just bulldozes his way through life. He's not a pugilist, but he's pushy, domineering and direct. That's not all bad, though. I think he's damned good at his job, whatever that is, because he doesn't take "no" for an answer. People just don't call his bluffs, because they know he doesn't make bluffs.

So what does a guy like that do? I'd say law, but the legal system is different in England and I wouldn't know how to approach it. On the other hand, playing someone like Nicholas Angel (in Hot Fuzz) might be fun. But I think someone who is up in the ranks of the police force a bit more, someone who can make some decisions, is more in keeping with the concept. OK. Looking up some Wiki pages, I find that this character really should be an Inspector or Chief Inspector. I'll go with the former, but say that he's a Detective Inspector (DI).

Detective Inspector Robert Henry (he's heard the "Bobby" joke too many time, thanks all the same) lives for the job. He's not sure what drew him to police work - he identifies with the criminals as often as not, he despises lawyers and their ilk, and he's not crazy about some of the scum he has to protect. All the same, like any good detective, he hates a mystery. His idea of paradise is someplace flat, someplace where no one can hide. He's got a fixation with birds of prey; he has an eagle tattooed on his back, the imprint of a hawk stamped on his wallet. The notion of swooping down and snatching up prey makes him salivate, and he insists on being in on every major sting operation his department performs. It's not that he wants the credit; he lets his Inspectors take that. He just likes the look on the criminals faces when the realize we're for it now.

Henry was married, but his wife left him. When they got married, she loved him for his strength. She came from a family of domineering men, and here was a guy who would stand up to her father and brothers. The magic ended when she realized he was just like her father, and she found the strength to walk out. Henry, in that moment, suffered his only real defeat. There was no way to just barrel through that - fixing his marriage would have required something he wasn't prepared to give. In retrospect, it was probably just as well (given that he's actually a dragon), but he still loves Estelle. He keeps tabs on her, and they talk from time to time. Woe to anyone that hurts her (hey, GM! There's your hook!).

OK, I think that pretty much knocks out concept. What's next? Step Two: Aspects.

Huh. For the second time recently, I've got these elemental aspect thingies. I get 28 points to divvy up among the four aspects.

Fire and Earth are definitely Rob's strong points. I'll dump 10 points into each, for a score of 5 ("extreme human capability), and split the other 8 points between Air and Water (for scores of 3; "average human capability").

Now, Step Three: Choose Background. Background gives me Wealth, primary and secondary skills, a list of edges to choose, and fighting style ranks. Let's have a look. I think it's pretty clear I'm a Cop, so I'll take that background. That gives me Wealth 2 (Poverty, WTF? I'll need to raise that), 4 ranks in my primary skills (Knowledge: Law, Knowledge: Street, Melee and Ranged) and 2 in my secondary skills (Interaction, Senses, Trickery and Travel).

For edges, I can choose from Aggressive, Daunting or Network. Let's look those up. Hmm. They all fit, but I'm going with Network (police). Rob's got a rep as a stand-up (if hard-nosed) cop.

Step Four: Choose Sire. My Sire is a dragon of myth that acts as my scion's spiritual example, whether or not he knows it. Looking at the list, Hydra and Typhon look interesting, but they don't really touch on the hunter aspect that I want. I finally choose Cernunnos, the Horned One. Adds an interesting touch to someone who could just be a brute. That gives me 4 Fighting Style ranks, whatever the hell that means, 1 bonus Karma, and my choice of Aggressive, Animal Affinity, or Brutal edges. This time, I'll take Aggressive. I get a a free re-roll for one skill of my choosing. I'll save that choice until after I do my bonus points.

Step Five: Dependent Traits and Finishing Touches. OK, first off, dependent traits. Seems these are based on aspects, which apparently you can't raise with bonus points. Hopefully I'm right. OK, my Number of Moves in an active sequence is 5 (equal to Fire), in a reactive sequence is 3 (Water). My karmic range is 3 (Air). My karma pool is 25 (Earthx5) plus 1 from my Sire (26).

My initiative is 8 (Fire+Air). You know, there's nowhere on the sheet to write most of this, but since you can shift dice from one aspect to another, this shit all changes anyway.

Health. Here we go, this is on the sheet. OK, based on my Earth of 5, I get 5 minor wound boxes open. And then you needed 3 wounds to even hurt me (Water of 3). I think I got it right.

Bonus points! I can spend a number of bonus points on my physical skills equal to Fire + Water (8), and, coincidentally, on mental skills equal to Earth + Air (also 8). I can't raise my primary skills (they're maxed at 4), so I'll spend my physical points on Athletics (2), Stamina (4), and Quickness (2). For mental, I'll buy Will (4, since that's for intimidation), Ka (2) and Research (2).

Now I get one bonus edge. 'Scuse me a moment. OK, there are a few that work, but I'll take Forceful Will (Gaze), giving me 1 reroll on social tests when Rob can fix his scary-ass glare on someone. Also, while I'm thinking about it, I'll put my Aggressive edge toward Melee. I also get 1 in Group Mind.

Fighting Style Ranks...geez, here we go. I get 6, altogether. I'll buy Street Fighting (looks vicious), which costs me 2, and I'll burn my other 4 on Gun-Fu, because, y'know, bad ass.

This would have me go through possessions and so on. I know I want Rob to have a gun, but I also know that guns aren't as easy to come by in England because British people don't have a Constitution like we do. That'd be something I take up with my GM, but as I don't have one, we'll just move briskly along to...

Dragon Phase!

My brother and I made up a game for OWoD about dragon-human hybrids. Jon, we were ahead of our time, and we should have fucking published. Oh, well.

Step One: Concept. I'm going advanced, BTW, and making a dragon from scratch. Anyway, I think my dragon was like Rob in one important way - implacable. But he was more graceful, too, swooping down to pluck his prey from the earth. He preferred to hunt across plains, because there's no way to hide from him there. He's aloof, menacing, hungry, but fair. "Fair," of course, comes with recognition that he's the dragon and you aren't, so maybe you shouldn't bitch if he eats your sheep a little. The dragon's name was Belatucadros, a name for the horned god of war. I think that he was available to fight on your side, if your cause was just. He wasn't so into being bribed, because he figured he could just take what he wanted anyway.

Visually, I see Belatucadros as a huge, sleek, blue-green dragon with big ol' horns. Definitely wings, and I'm thinking that swooping down and clawing the shit out of his foes was his primary attack.

Step Two: Aspects. As above, but 40 points to spend. The distribution's going to be a little different here. I'll give myself Water 6, Fire 5, Earth 3 and Air 5. Belatucadros is less durable (pound for pound) than his human scion will be, but he's faster by far. I also get 15 points to give myself superhuman aspects. These superhuman points get subtracted first when penalties come round, which I assume is good. I can't go higher than my base score, so I'll put 3 into Earth, Fire and Air and 6 into Water (fast and hard to hit).

Step Three: Choose Outlook. Adventurer isn't bad, but I see Belatucadros as more focused than that. He's a hunter, a mercenary but also a judge. Let's go with Warrior. That gives me 6 ranks in Athletics, Melee, Quickness and Will, and 3 in Ranged and Stamina. I get 14 Style Picks, whatever that means, and 2 spell picks, and 2 Hoard.

Step Four: Choose Breed. Now the fun bit - making the dragon itself. For his dominant breed, which determines overall body shape, I'll go Drake - not quite as massive as Beast, but with some capacity for fine motor control. For minor breed, I know I want something with a high Flight rating. Oh, I want Horns, too. That'd be Noble Dragon, then. I get these powers: Alternate Form, Nobility, and any other two powers. I get to prioritize these with 5, 4, 3, 2 ranks, so I'll give myself 5 ranks in Nobility (I'm scary and I inspire my friends), 4 in Heightened Senses (3 into Sight, one into Hearing), 3 in Gaze of the Predator and 2 in Alternate Form (human and hawk).

Step Five: Choose Legacy. I'll take Storm Lord. I like the idea of Belatucadros swooping out of a tornado, calling down lightning on his foes, and generally riding the winds. Awesome.

Step Six: Dependent Traits and Finishing Touches. As before, mostly. For bonus points, I can start with skills higher than 4 (clearly, since I have a bunch at 6), so I'll g'head and spend my 11 points thusly: Travel 5, Melee 2 (for a total of 8), Stamina 2 (for a total of 5), Quickness 2 (for a total of 8). My 8 points in Mental...hmm. I guess I should take some Casting, so I can actually use magic. OK, I'll put 1 there, 1 into Interaction, 3 into Knowledge: War, 2 into Ka, and one into Senses.

Evidently, I also get 5 ranks in edges. Wait, actually, I get five Edges, ranked 5 to 1. Boy, I'd never have figured that out if it weren't for Stew's character. Weird. OK, I'll put Casting at 1. I'll take Stealthy (hide and drop, same principle), I'll take Follow-Through at 3, Survivor at 4 (I'm a dodging fool) and Aspect Affinity (Fire) at 5.

I get 2 spell picks and 14 style picks. Yi. I'll take Cat's Eyes and Sidestep for my spells. For Fighting Style picks, I'll take Crushing Mass, Ravager, Archangel and Swift. Belatucadros is fast, and can rip you apart. Rar!

Now, thinking about Belatucadros' lair: I think he took over a village in the mountains, after he killed off the inhabitants as part of an agreement with another faction of humans. He left the houses, such as they were, standing, and lived among them, dropping stuff he hoarded off in barns and whatnot. Getting there without flying is hard - the mountain is always stormy, and Belatucadros takes invasion of privacy very seriously.