Character Creation: Maschine Zeit

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The Game: Maschine Zeit
The Publisher: Machine Age Productions
Degree of Familiarity: None. I don't have a complete book, even.
Books Required: Evidently just Chapter Two of the Maschine Zeit book. 

Reading what I have of the book, plus the introductory adventure Torn Apart By Radiation Wraiths, available now from Drive-Thru RPG (come on, admit it, the title alone makes you want to play it) [ETA: not anymore, apparently], this game is a post-apocalyptic dealie where folks live on giant stations above the surface of the Earth. The brief "Zeitline" (zeit is, like, Italian for "time", I think) I have hints at a really nifty machine-horror setting, and I'm looking forward to scooping up a copy at GenCon this summer.

But enough of that. I make character now!

Step One: Get Coffee.

Actually, Step One is "The Group," but since I haven't got a group, I customized a little. Hopefully no one minds.

Step Two: Who Are You?

In other words, come up with a concept. The game points out, in a number of places, that it's looking to emulate movie logic, and that concept and character path is the driving force, rather than emulation of what a character should, logically, be able to do. I like that idea.

Looking at the Zeitline to get an idea (which is often what I do when I'm not familiar enough with a setting to go it alone; check the setting material) I see that we're in the year 2110. 30 years ago, then, what was going on? My character was born in 2080, right about the time that station research and manufacture really took off and crushed the earthbound economy. I think my character's family was, at one point, very wealthy - they invested heavily in station technology and got filthy rich off it in the late 2080s.

My character lived off an extremely high hog (like, really high, because that fucking hog was on a space station) for a while. And then in 2104, when he was in his mid-20s, he had a falling out with his family over something. I'll leave "something" for right now, because I don't have a firm idea what, but the long and the short of it was, he left his family's home station and moved to another one. And then the Cataclysm hit, and destroyed the station where his family was living. His parents and three sisters died in the Cataclysm, and while he feels he couldn't have saved his parents, his two younger sisters had asked to move with him. And he said that maybe they could come stay with him later, but he needed to get settled and live his life, etc. He should have let them come along.

My basic concept, then, is "A man haunted by the ghosts of his family." It's figurative, now, but, y'know, Radiation Wraiths.

Step Three: Why Are You There?

Looking over the organizations listed, the World Media catches my eye. But I also like the Church of the Reckoning, a group that wants to perform a census of the dead so that they can reach their final resting places. Hmm.

I think that my character was a reporter at one point, and the fight with his parents was because they didn't want him writing articles about callous work practices of big corporations. It's not like he was writing an expose or anything, just thought-provoking pieces on what the station race was doing to the Earth economy, but Dad got pushy and he decided to distance himself from the family. We know how that worked out. So, now, he's affiliated with the Church, but does still write and photograph the derelict stations. Kind of urban exploration, but in space.

Step Four: Get More Coffee.

Actually, it's "Dynamics and Backgrounds," but again, it's a full-group thing, so that doesn't apply. Pardon me a moment.

Step Five: The Sheet.

OK, got coffee. Now, I get 150 points in both Universal and Personal Elements, and the game recommends a) that I divide up by multiple of 5, for easy math, which is fine by me and b) that I min-max all to Hell, because sometimes you want to know that you're going to succeed. This, in my humble opinion, is exactly the right way to make a character, because (say it with me now!) there's no shame in being awesome!

Ahem. Universal first?

I have nine traits here, divvied up into groups of three. Taking the game's advice, I see what I want to be awesome at. I think Mind, Knowledge and Interaction are this guy's strong points - he's a writer and photographer by trade. I'll make Mind 20, Knowledge 25 and Interaction 15. That busts me down to 90 points left.

I'll put 10 into Body and 15 into Persona. Rote Skill at 15, Id at 10 (this guy isn't really lizard-brain-driven), 15 into Ego, and the remaining 25 into Superego. He was pretty strongly moral before the Cataclysm, and now there's just a big dollop of guilt to go with it.

Now, Personal Elements. These are Descriptors, Skill Sets and Associations, which I make up and which (I assume) also go from 5 to 25. I get 150 more points.

Well, let's do a few of each. For Descriptors, I imagine this guy as being kind of quiet and morose. Sort of like the everyman kind of guy in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, the one who mentions he sucked at being a husband but was awesome at being a father. You know there's a good story to him, but he's not necessarily going to let you in. So my first Descriptor is "Still Waters." I'll put 25 in there; that's an important bit.

Down there under Skill Sets, I'll put in Journalist. Duh. 25 points.

And then under Association, what's really driving this guy is his Desire for Absolution. He wants to know that what happened to his family wasn't his fault, and that, hopefully, they're in a better place. I'd fully expect that to get fucking shattered in play. 25 points.

That's half my points. I get 75 more. Well, at least one more of each. I'd better take Membership in Church of the Reckoning as an Association Element, so that'll be, let's say, 10. I'll take Artistic Eye as a Descriptor, and put that at 25 - he's observant and always snapping pictures with his futuristic camera. I'll take Space Station Design as a Skill Set (reading Dad's schematics and all) at 10. 30 more points.

How about something a little less positive? I'll put 15 into Insomniac. This guy can't sleep, meaning he'll be up and wandering the halls at night, which is when Things Happen. I'll put 10 into a Counselor Skill Set; he's good at putting people at ease. Finally, 5 points into Blog Readers - he still does his updates, they're just of a more spiritual bent now.

I'd get Dramatic Elements equal to the 7 - the number of players, but that's not something I can answer, so I'll skip it. I don't get a Genotype, so I skip that, too. And, injuries...I don't start with any, so not that, either.

Well then. I just need a name, and that's me done. My character's name is Braden Weiss (his family is - was - of German and Swiss descent). Never without his camera, a little blue-tooth kind of thing to record blog posts, and a little silver lion that his youngest sister gave him for his birthday, a long time ago. 

Character Creation: Mutant City Blues

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups, unless of course superpowers are involved, in which case the HICU gets involved and we're all in trouble.

The Game: Mutant City Blues
The Publisher: Pelgrane Press
Degree of Familiarity: None specifically with this game, though I have some experience with the underlying mechanics.
Books Required: Just the one. 

 

So, Mutant City Blues is meant to represent police procedurals, only with super powers. I love me some Law & Order (the original series, not so much the spinoffs) and I love superheroes, so that's cool.

The basic premise: 10 years from now, a special flu hits, but fatalities are low. And then a year later, about 1% of the population develops superpowers. And yeah, some people do put on costumes, but mostly it's like Aberrant without the pulp influence - people go about their lives, only now there are super powers!

The book spends a good deal of attention considering things like the legal ramifications of reading minds or invading dreams, which I enjoy. What I don't enjoy is that the book gets a little too up its own ass crowing about the innovative GUMSHOE system.

See, here's the thing: GUMSHOE is a cool system. I enjoy running it a lot (I'm poised to do it again, in fact, after my Hunter game ends), and it suits my GM style nicely. But its reason for being is farcical. The book posits that investigative games grind to a halt if someone blows a roll and misses a clue, and the truth is, if that happens your GM sucks. I don't enjoy reading about how other games suck; when I want that, I go to RPG.net.

For the record, Trail of Cthulhu isn't nearly so pretentious about it (see that? I used "pretentious" to mean what it actually means, i.e., the game is trying to be something it's not, insofar as it's a fix for a nonexistent problem. Despite what assholes have, for years, been saying in various online spaces, "pretentious" does not mean "includes vampires").

Anyway. Ooh! One other thing. The game mechanic for superpowers is this nifty thing called the Quade Diagram (careful, that's a pdf). You start with whatever power you want, but you have to progress along the lines in a certain way. What that means is that if you meet a super with, for instance, "Command Mammals," there is no way that person also has the "Blood Spray" power because they're too far apart on the diagram.

Yes, that means that it's not your typical supers game where you cherry-pick your powers according to your concept, but it also grounds the notion of superpowers firmly in the setting, and given that I have lots of supers games, I like that.

So, starting out. The book just shoves me right into Buying Abilities. But maybe I should think about concept a little first?

Well, my character is a cop and member of the HCIU (Heightened Crimes Investigation Unit). These guys can fight, like any cop, but they're detectives. So, was my character a cop who became Heightened, or, like Stew's character, someone who became Heightened and then got shoved off to work with HCIU?

I think my character was a cop first. He had just made detective and been assigned his first homicide case when he came down with a raging case of ghost flu. That took him off the streets, his case was assigned to someone else, and his partner got a temp while he recovered (11 days with the flu, plus a couple more because, y'know fuck, long as I'm on leave). Then he came back and got back onto the force.

He started working cases, but a few months later, his powers showed up. He was still green - hadn't closed out a single case yet (arrests, yes, but no convictions). His powers appeared somewhat spectacularly, and he got sent to HCIU whether he wanted it or not (that'd be "not"). Now, in addition to being a relatively new detective and a relatively new mutant, he's got eyes on him, because HCIU is a media focus and the one place you seriously do not want to fuck up.

That's a start. Let's do abilities. Figuring that I'd have at least five players in my group were I to play this game, I get 21 Investigative points. I get Cop Talk 2 for free. As with Trail of Cthulhu, I'm encouraged to spread out my points.

OK, I put one into Forensic Psychology, one into Law (seems reasonable), two into Research, two into Textual Analysis (did a lot of reading while sick), two into Trivia, one into Bureaucracy, one into Bullshit Detector (seriously, it's a skill), two into Flirting, two into Negotiation, two into Reassurance, one into Streetwise, two into Evidence Collection and one each into Data Retrieval, Document Analysis. Good spread, and avoiding the mutant-specific stuff, which still makes him nervous. That's all my investigative points.

I get 60 points to spend on General Abilities. I start with Health 1, which is good. Right off, I'll put 10 points into Health and Stability. This guy is pretty well put together. I'll put 8 into Athletics and 8 into Scuffling (he's a good hand-to-hand guy), and 7 into Shooting (goes to range, but maybe not as much as he should). I'll put 5 into Preparedness (good skill to have, I learned), 6 into Infiltration and 6 into Sense Trouble. Good spread for a cop. Looking at his skills, I figure that this guy was a good cadet, distinguished himself while in uniform, and passed his exams well. What he lacks is some practical experience, and he's trying to get that, but weird things keep happening to him first.

Now, powers! I have 40 points, and I need to pick where I start on the Quade Diagram. Hmm. I'm half-tempted to start randomly, because it's not like this guy picked what powers he got. Why not? I "roll" and get a 1, so my first power is Absorption. That allows me to absorb other mutant's powers. Hmm. That might explain why I got booted to HCIU so fast; that's a power that's really only useful around other mutants. OK, sure. I pay 4 points to have the power. Now where?

Well, following the line straight down, I hit "Fangs." Eh. I'll pay two points and skip it. I can't avoid the Defect in my way (Plasma Deficiency). The next power is Possession, and I'm OK with that. I'll pay my 4 points. Next up, Command Insects. Again, sounds fun. 4 points. Now, I could branch out along the dotted lines to Webbing or Spread Pathogen, or I could go down the solid line and take Blood Spray. Screw it, that's weird enough to be awesome.

I have 4 powers now, and a rating of 1 in each, with 22 points left. I'll put 5 into Absorption and Possession, and 6 each into Command Insects and Blood Spray.

Last thing: Sub-plots. This is like Lenny Briscoe's ongoing issues with his daughter, or Jack McCoy's habit of banging his ADAs. It doesn't come up every episode, but it's kind of cool when it does, and it gives some insight into the lives of the detectives. But it does require I think a little more about my blood-spitting cop.

OK, so here's what happened. Right after he got back from sick leave, Detective Prescott "Scott" Marple got caught a case that looked pretty standard. Guy shot in his house, looked like a robbery but wasn't, big insurance payout, his brother was the beneficiary. Marple and his partner tracked the guy down and questioned him, and the guy ran. Marple's partner fell and twisted his ankle; Marple unwisely chased the guy and the guy rounded on him in an alley with a gun. Marple, acting on instinct, unleashed a gout of blood at the guy, and the perp dropped over, vomiting his guts out. After it was determined that Marple was not ill (and, moreover, didn't have the Spread Pathogen power), he was tested and then reassigned to HCIU.

So, sub-plot one: That guy is suing him, claiming mental distress and physical ailment brought on by exposure to Scott's mutant powers. There's nothing to it (is there?) but it does mean that Marple is occasionally forced to go for medical tests and the like. And the guy has a good, and persistent, lawyer.

Sub-plot two: The blood-spatter expert (yes, like Dexter) who works for the force is a blood fetishist, and he knows about Scott's powers. And they make him all gooey inside. Ew. Scott, straight as they come and not really enthused by his own powers, wants nothing to do with this.

Sub-plot three: Scott was kind of thrown onto HCIU and never really got a good grip on being a detective. He left some bureaucratic shit undone before he got sick, and it resulted in a guilty-as-hell perp getting a second trial. Scott can't testify (hell, he barely remembers it), but if this guy goes free, victim's family and even other cops might take it out on Scott.

And there ya have it. Ready to go to work defending Mutant City. CHUNG-CHUNG.

Character Creation: Burning Wheel

OK, as if I didn't have enough games for which to make characters, Rob lent me his copies of Burning Wheel and the Character Burner, for use with my chargen rampage. I read through them (mostly) last night, and I'd like to make - rather, "burn" - a character.

The Game: The Burning Wheel
The Publisher Burning Wheel, I guess
Degree of Familiarity: None. I played Burning Empires and made a character for Mouse Guard, both of which use the same system
Books Required: Looks like just the Character Burner, though I have the core book if I need to look up a rule

 

No, I'm not making an Archon (better suited to Burning Empires anyway). I've made a few fantasy characters, and with one exception (this one) I've always made humans. This time, I want to make a fucking insane, bloodthirsty, orc berserker ("Making fuck?").

I don't have much in the way of concept beyond that, and since this game works on Lifepaths, I'm going to just start and see where the choices take me.

Oh, one thing first - I like the writing in this game. The author (Luke Crane, whom I've met and think is a great GM and author) points out that in a setting where magic is nearly extinct, odds are there's going to be a player who wants to be the last mage in existence. Now, in White Wolf, when people wanted to be the last Grondr or whatever, the books poo-pooed the idea, and that makes sense, given the context (that is, the Grondr died out thousands of years ago). But BW points out that the last mage in that setting is a major, drama-ridden character and that's good.

That said, I don't have such grandiose plans for my character, at least not yet. I only know I want him to be a not-terribly-careful combat monster, brimming with rage and self-loathing that he transferred to an almost hate-fucking intensity on the battlefield. My non-existent GM says that four lifepaths is plenty for a human, but orcs need an extra, so let's go with five. I'm of Orc stock, so I can only choose Orc lifepaths. I have to be Born somewhere, so let's have a look at my options.

OK, as tempting as it would be to be born a Great Orc, I'll take Born Chattel. That gives me 5 Resources, 10 years, and a +1 to a Physical stat. It also leads Servant or Black Legion, meaning I can jump out of the Chattel setting if I want. I get 2 points in General Skills, and Orc Common Traints + 1 point.

So my future berserker came from lowly origins and kept from getting eaten, so far. His young life was spent creeping through caves and fighting for scraps. Then what? I'll stick with Chattel for one more path, because I want Ravager. I figure my Orc was a scrapper from day 1. That adds 3 years, 8 Resources, one more Physical stat point, the Brawler, Cudgel and Intimidation Skills, and the Pack Hunter trait. Not crazy about Pack Hunter, actually. No, really, it's OK. He can still hate other orcs while fighting with them.

From Ravager I go to the Black Legion, and grab the Legioner path. That gives me 4 years (plus one for changing settings), 5 Resources, +1 Physical stat, Spear, Shield, Brawling and Foraging, but no traits. Let's see, where to go from here?

I guess one question is, do I want to ride into battle? I don't think I do. Damn. I'd like Head-Taker, but I don't have enough Lifepaths to get the requirements. I'll take Hatred-Bearer, instead. During his time with the Legion, my character learned to scream loud and long at the enemy, bearing the standard for hatred as a precursor to charging in for the kill. This gives me 1 year, 15 Resources (!), +1 to my Mental and Physical pool and the Conspicuous and Black Legion-wise Skills. I also get the Psychotic, Paranoid and Booming Voice traits.

Last one. Hmm. I can go back to Chattel if I want, or I can take something here. I think I'll go back to Chattel and take Whipmaster. During his time as a Hatred Bearer, his superiors noticed his zeal for beating his subordinates to death. That's not someone you want to let up through the ranks, so they put him back in charge of slaves. I get 9 years (10, really, for changing settings again), 15 more resources, +1 M, Interrogation, Intimidation, Brawling and Torture. I get Where There's a Whip, There's a Way ("Left, right") as a trait.

OK, now I'm done with Lifepaths and I move on to step two. I figure my age, which is time spent for each path plus two (since I took two leads). That's...29, all together. Checking the stat chart, I have 5 Mental points and 13 Physical, to which I add what I got from Lifepaths, for 17 Physical and 7 Mental. About right.

Dividing those up, I'll put 3 into Perception and 4 into Will; not great in Perception, but I am an Orc. For Physical, I can throw four into each and have a 5 in something. I don't think he's deficient anywhere, so I'll do that, and put my 5 into Power, making me a strong fucker. I'm not changing shades; it's too expensive.

Then we get to Health, Mortal Wound and Reflexes.

Health asks me some questions. Do I live in filth and squalor? Hell, yeah, I'm an Orc. -1.

Is the character frail or sickly? Nah. No change.

Was the character severely wounded in the past? Yes, probably. -1, dammit.

Has the character been tortured or enslaved? Well, sort of born that way. -1.

But, now I add one by dint of being an Orc. Net of -2.

Is the character athletic and active? Yes, indeedy. +1.

Do I live in a clean and happy...um, no. No change. So my Health starts at 3. Balls.

The character sheet magically sets my Mortal Wound for me, which is nice. Also Reflexes. Moving on.

Steel, which is kind of my grit rating, is answered the same as Health:

Have I take a soldier-like lifepath? Yep. +1.

Have I been severely wounded? Yep. +1.

Have I ever murdered/killed with my own hands? Again, ORC. +1.

Tortured, enslaved, yes. No change, though, because my Will isn't that high.

Sheltered life? Um, no. No change.

Competitive but non-violent culture? Nope. Highly violent. No change.

Given birth to child? Not unless there's something about male Orcs I don't know. No change.

The rest don't apply to me, either. My Steel is 6.

As an Orc, I have a trait called Hatred. It starts at zero, I think, and then goes up because:

I have been horribly wounded: +1
I have been tortured: +1
I have been a slave: +1
I have killed a superior: +1 (and I'll come back to that)
I have attempted to command goblins in battle: +1
My Steel is higher than 5: +1
I have Where There's a Whip...: +1

I have Hatred 7, all told.

OK, now Skills. I set aside General Points (2). My non-general give me 15, altogether. I have to open Brawling, Spear, Conspicuous and Interrogation, since those are the first skills in my Lifepaths. That costs 4 of my 15. Those start at 2, because they're half of the root Stat and they all go from Agility or Will (and BTW, WTF is FoRK? I don't see it explained).

Anyway, I have 11 points left. I know I want to open a few more Skills. I'll open Cudgel, Intimidation, Torture, Black Legion-Wise. That costs 4, leaving me 7 points. I'll use those to jack Brawling and Cudgel to 4, and use the others one to boost Intimidation and Torture.

And my two lonely general Skill points, I'll put one into Conspicuous and use the other to open Brutal Intimidation.

That's Skills. Now, Traits. I only get 5, and I have take the first trait in each of my Lifepaths, so that leaves me with the Common Orc Traits, Pack Hunter, Paranoid and Where There's a Whip. That leaves me two points to play with. I think I do want Booming Voice, so I'll snatch that up. And I'll take a character trait of Screaming. This will play into Beliefs, I think.

Resources. I have 27 points to spend. Let's start with Relationships.

Well, I mentioned earlier that I killed a superior. He was weary after a battle, and in that battle he'd taken command of a squad of goblins away from my character. When my guy found out, he went after the dude with a cudgel, and brained the poor Orc before he could defend himself. That guy's next in command was eventually elevated to a kind of "war council" role, and he fears my character's raw, screaming savagery and blind ambition (truly "blind"; my character is happy to simply eat his way to the top). He's a minor role in the story because he's not the only one calling the shots, and he hates me, so that eats 3 points.

I think that's my only important relationship. Moving on to Gear. I'll buy Run of the Mill Plated Leather Armor (7 points), a whip (2), Run of the Mill Arms (a cudgel; 5 points). That puts me at 17 spent, 10 left. Tools of the Trade gives me fun shit to torture with, and that's good. 7 more points, and I'm down to three. Traveling Gear eats my last three.

My Circles starts at 2, but I have no Resource points left to buy affiliations, which is fine by me. Ditto reputation. I start with no Resources rating, either.

I don't mess with wounds, because seriously, fuck it. I'm tired and this is taking too long. And I want to do the fun stuff.

Beliefs! I can take up to three, and I like these. So let's start with...

"The most anyone deserves is a quick death." My character hates everyone, including himself, and he's a bit of a fatalist.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted." Rules only work if everyone agrees to follow them. I don't.

"If I die, you are forgiven. If I live, I will kill you." My character doesn't believe in honor or mercy. The only way to end a fight with him is to die or kill.

Instincts! Oh, these are fun.

"A fight begins with a scream." My character doesn't always start shit, but he's lousy at ambushes because his impulse is to yell in hate and attack.

"If one runs, we all run." Damn, but he's still a pack hunter. If he sees someone fighting on his side retreat, he does, and he assumes everyone else will, too.

"Say it loud and proud." My character does not whisper. If it's important enough to say, it's important enough to shout.

Just a name, then. Little more background.

After the incident with the dead superior, Crier (for 'tis his name) was sent back to the slave pits from whence he came. But he wasn't interested anymore. He pushed the goblins out, drove them over land, and eventually emerged from the lands controlled by his enemy (he thinks). He's alone now - he ate the last of his goblins a week ago - but he's willing to fight alongside other Orcs, or really just about anybody, as long as he gets to kill someone. He knows that, eventually, he's going to die in battle, and that's fine. He plans to go out chewing someone's face off.

And I believe that's it, by god.

Character Creation: Heaven & Earth

 Home from work today (ouchmyback), so I figure I'll make a character. That's...really all I got, actually.

The Game: Heaven & Earth, 3rd Edition
The Publisher: Abstract Nova
Degree of Familiarity: None. I...jeez, how'd I get this book? I think maybe I traded with Michelle.
Books Required: Just the core.

 

Oh, the game has some secrets, so if you're, like, playing it right now and don't want to be spoiled, maybe don't read this character. Instead, go read some of the other ones. Or just look at how long that list is. Seriously, the Haiti fund-raiser thing destroyed any chance of me ever being done with this project, which I'm fine with. 

Well, the system is familiar: Same one as Exquisite Replicas and Alethia. In this game, though, you're playing a resident of Potter's Lake, a little town in which all kinds of weird shit happens.

The "weird shit" in question is a lot of hauntings, but there are also Vatican-appointed knights secretly living in town investigating the supernatural. There's a cat lady to whom cats are drawn in public, but who doesn't have any cats in her house. There's there bum named "Meltdown" who is apparently immune to little things like getting hit by trucks.

It's a fun setting just to read, with lots of compelling characters (one of whom inspired my PC, as you'll see). The book recommends you play someone who's either new to the area or who's been gone for a long time, so you don't have to play someone inured to the weirdness, and that's fine.

But what is the weirdness? Well, it's like this. Jesus rebelled just like Lucifer, because Jesus saw through the ineffable plan for what it was - shit. OK, I'm going to come down here, suffer and die, which will make Dad happy (wtf, Dad?) and then 2000 years later there's going to be a Rapture and only a select few get to ascend, while people who are perhaps loving and just but backed the wrong horse god get to burn for all eternity? Screw that, says Jesus.

Potter's Lake contains the Trees of Knowledge and Life. Yeah, like, from the Garden of Eden. That Meltdown dude is the amnesiac angel set to guard it. And now it's just a matter of humanity figuring out that these trees have the power of God and using it to become enlightened before God does his whole "let's nuke everyone" routine.

I like this setting, partially because you don't have to get into the religious stuff unless/until you want to, and partially because it casts God as the inscrutable psychopath that the Bible pretty much explicitly makes him out to be (Old Testament especially; you can argue that most of the really psycho stuff in the NT is from Paul. Anyway).

But beyond all that, I have a character to make. And I mentioned that one of the NPCs in the book inspired me. That'd be Ezekiel Cage. Father Cage was an exorcist for the Church for years, but muscular dystrophy has left him wheelchair-bound and a ward of the Church. He has a personal nurse to wheel him around and care for him...which is the character I'm making.

My character is nominally Catholic, but hasn't been especially devout since he was a kid. He didn't figured out that religion is bullshit or anything (and of course, in this setting it's not), he just didn't have time for it. Between nursing school and his impending marriage to a fellow nursing student, religion was an afterthought. He went to Mass on Christmas and Easter, maybe once or twice a year otherwise. He consulted with his local priest if something was on his mind, and as he did clinical rotations and saw some of the gruesome realities of medicine, it was nice to have someone tell him that people who died in horrible pain had somewhere good to go.

Benjamin Yarrow graduated from nursing school, got his license, and started working in an ER. Wasn't his first choice, but the pay was good and he figured he'd work long enough to make a dent in his student loans and get married. He got married, anyway; he and his fiancee (Lisa) had a lovely ceremony at Rosary Cathedral in Toledo (what the hey, it's a city I know).

A year later, his wife was dead from cancer. It hit and spread fast, didn't respond to treatment, and killed her in less than three months. Benjamin went to his priest again, looking for solace, but also direction - he was too grief-stricken to work. His priest gave him a job opportunity, being a personal nurse to an aging priest in a tiny town in Potter's Lake, Kansas. The Church would cover moving expenses and even pay Benjamin's loans over a three-year period, if he kept the job. Benjamin agreed, and moved to Potter's Lake.

So, that's good for concept. Attributes!

We've got six to deal with. I have 14 points to split up, and 2 points is roughly average.

Coordination is hand-eye...well, coordination and agility and the like. 2's fine for now.

Strength. Duh. 2.

Fortitude. Willpower, mind over matter, resistance against fear and temptation. Benjamin's a little better than average here; 3.

Awareness. Perception, wits, how into your surroundings you are. Benjamin's a little self-absorbed at present, so I'll leave this at 2.

Aura. How persuasive you are, whether by charisma or intimidation. 3 points.

Knowledge is wisdom you've accumulated. I want this at 3, but I only have 2 points left. Hrm. I'll swap out a point from Aura into Knowledge, because it makes more sense.

Occupations: I get 9 points to buy Occupations with, and they're rated by stars, just like in those other games I linked. Interestingly, "nurse" isn't listed. "Doctor" is a five-star occupation, while "Paramedic" is a two-star. I'll say "Nurse" is a three-star occupation. Just buying that costs 3 points, and I want it at Professional. That costs me 5 points total, so I've got four remaining. I'll spend 3 more and buy "Student" at Rookie; Benjamin isn't too far out of nursing school and remembers much of the varied knowledge he picked up at the University of Toledo.

Unspent Points:

I have one point left over, and I can use that to buy an Extracurricular Skill or to buy a second point of Destiny (I start with one for free). I'll buy the Destiny, I think; I don't see Benjamin as having a lot of hobbies that aren't related to his field.

Defense Value: It's my Coordination plus any relevant value from my Occupation. Since Benjamin was never trained to fight, that total is 2, so my Defense Value is Easy.

Goals: I need to choose at least one goal that Benjamin has. I think the most important one is "Come to terms with Lisa's death," and that's what eats his mental energy. Secondarily, he wants to "Find a hobby". He misses having fun, but he dated Lisa for a long time, and the notion of "fun" is so inextricably bound up with "Lisa" that he has trouble being social, because it makes him think of her.

Benjamin starts as kind of a blank slate, but he's ripe and ready for weirdness because he wants to get involved with something. Personally, he's the kind of character I like people to play.

Hobbies: Oh, right. Forgot about this. Well, let's assume that Benjamin was an avid movie-goer. He also enjoys simulation video games - SimCity, SimAfterlife, Trauma Center, that kind of thing. Again, though, he's looking to find something interesting to do with his time.

Finishing Touches: Oooh, a list of questions!

• What are the character's likes and dislikes? Benjamin likes mornings, especially in fall when the air is crisp. He doesn't like salad. Texture of lettuce bugs him. He takes vitamins because he's not great about eating his greens. He does like walking, though at his own pace.
  
• What are the pet peeves that really make the character's skin crawl? People who don't get help when they're sick or hurt. Overweening pride. Of course, he knows that modern medicine doesn't have magical answers, but he also knows that his wife's case was a rare one. People who say "I'll be fine" when they've got gigantic growths on their face - what are they, idiots?
  
• Is the character outgoing or shy; is he social by nature or reclusive? By nature, Benjamin is very sociable. He's still grieving, of course, that makes him more reticent, but it just means that he doesn't take initiative to be social as much. He'll still go out for a beer if you ask.
  
• Does the character like his job, boss and co-workers? His "boss" is a crotchety old ex-exorcist. Yeah, Benjamin likes him fine. But he's starting to realize that there are just too many weird local legends - every town has time, but Potter's Lake has one about everything. And that's weirding Benjamin out, but also intriguing him. More generally, Benjamin likes his work. It's easy and he gets to talk to interesting people.
  
• Is the character compassionate or self-involved? Both. Again, if he were more centered he'd be a much more extroverted person, but at present he's too wrapped up in his own loss to be truly out there. That said, "angst" isn't really what he's about. He takes his oath seriously.
  
• Is the character an optimist or pessimist? What, those are the only choices? I think more optimist than pessimist, but that does mean that when he crashes, he crashes harder.
  
• Is the character a dreamer or a pragmatist? OK, that's annoying. One can dream and still be pragmatic, you know. Benjamin is focused on what's in front of him. He lost his dreams when Lisa died. He needs to find new ones.
  

The rest of the questions I've already answered in my concept stage, so boo-yah, that's me done.

Character Creation: Dawg

OK, anyone out there seen A Serious Man and would be interested in engaging in some discussion? Because I'm having some pretty significant "wtf" going on, here. Seeing it as a retelling of the Book of Job in the same way that O Brother Where Art Thou is a retelling of the Odyssey helps, but I'd love to hear other folks' thoughts.

Anyway, obviously I didn't get to do a character yesterday, so I'll do one today.

The Game: Dawg the RPG, 2nd Ed.
The Publisher: Kenzer & Co.
Degree of Familiarity: None. Read the PDF, that's it.
Books Required: Just the PDF.

John, when he was still cool enough to be doing this chargen thing, made a Dawg character (I'd link to it, but I can't bloody find it), and I asked him what the heck this game was, so he pointed me to the pdf, and here we are.

The game is a lot like Cat, except of course you play a dog ("Dawg," for PCs). There's not the same degree of magic and dream-walking as in Cat, although one of the adventure seeds does have Cerberus running away from Hades and the Gawd of the Underwurld hiring Dawgs to get him back. Anyway, I like doggies and this is quick game to make a character for, so here we are.

Step One: Choose Lineage. The temptation to make Leo as a Dawg is great, but I don't know if the intelligence statistic goes into negative numbers. I do want to make a Lab, however, because I lurvs them. I shall follow the same tactic I took when I made my above-linked kitty, and create one of the doggies I grew up with. He was a black lab name of Threedy, and I swear I did not name him that.

Threedy was an older dog, kinda lanky, and wasn't above being gruffy sometimes. I think as a Dawg he's got a real "I am smart and wise but please don't take any liberties, you pup" attitude about him.

Well, for Lineage, Threedy isn't exactly a purebred; he was all Lab, but he had no papers. I'll go with Crossbreed Cur; it's not exactly accurate, but it'll do. I start with Canine Compulsion 10 and 70 Building Points, whatever that means.

Step Two: Choose Lifestyle. Pet, obviously. My Canine Compulsion goes up by 10, I have to abide by Good/Bad Dog rules, and I get a Pet Perk. I'll take a Tug Toy - it's a tug o' war toy, but I can use it to open doors by "accidentally" getting it caught on the handle.

Step Three: Choose Breed. Threedy's a black lab, and that makes him a Hunting Dawg. This sets my various stats at their levels, but I'll get into that when I use Building Points to up them. It also gives Threedy the Mighty Sniffer trick. He can sniff his surroundings to get details about what's happening.

Step Four: Size, Dodge and Hit Points. Based on the size chart, I think labs are Medium. That starts Dodge at 45 and HP at 25.

Step Five: Select Disadvantages. I can take up to two, and they each give me 10 Building Points. Let's see if any sound good. Sure, I'll take Happy Tail (my big ol' tail clears tables) and Neutered (well, y'know). I'm up to 90 Building Points.

Step Six: Learn Tricks. I get one for free and I can buy more with BP, if I want. I pick Roughhousing; allows me to smack other dogs around without really hurting them.

Step Seven: Building Points. Yay! I buy stuff now! I have 90 BP. Let's start with Traits.

Brawn is how tough and strong I am. Starts at 40. Threedy is strong and skillful in a fight. I can boost this to 50, which would cost me 20 points. Sounds good.

Hustle is how fast and nimble Threedy is. He's an older Dawg and has hip issues. I'll leave this as-is (40).

Dodge starts at 45. Threedy, again, isn't especially fast but he's good in a fight, so I'll boost this to 50 (10 points).

Alertness. Pretty much what it sounds like. Starts at 40, I can't go higher than 50. Another 20 points here, I've spent 50 total.

Human Handling isn't Threedy's strongest point; he's better with other dogs. I'll leave it at 40.

Animal Magnetism. Despite being Neutered, Threedy is pretty good with other animals, but mostly through intimidation and being all smart and snarly. I'll spent 20 and boost this to 50.

Canine Compulsion is the stat that can make you chase a SQUIRREL! I want it low, so 20's fine.

That leaves me 20 points. I'll buy the Tough Dawg trick, which boosts my HP to 30.

Step Eight: Heading Out. A little more background? All righty then.

Threedy was born in a house in the woods in Indiana. His Mama-Dawg, Pearl, was shot by a hunter when he was just a pup, and while he's come to love his Master and the Family, he knows that humans are short-sighted at best and downright stupid at worst. He likes other dogs better than humans (Master excepted, of course), and while he does his best to be a Good Dawg, there are days that he just doesn't want to come inside, and he knows darned well that Master isn't going to be able to catch him. His bones are starting to ache as he gets older, and sometimes that means he gets challenged or roughed up by younger pooches, but ol' Threedy has a trick or two up his...collar, and he's happy to lay the smack down on a Dawg that needs it.

S'pose that's it, then. 

Character Creation: Dark Aeons

It's from a Lovecraft story, but I forget the exact quote and I can't be arsed to look it up. 

The Game: Dark Aeons: The Atlantean Chronicles
The Publisher: Stardust Publications
Degree of Familiarity: None. I...well, I'll explain below.
Books Required: Just the core. I have a print copy and the most recent pdf version, courtesy of Drive-Thru RPG.

 
So, I was on RPG.Net one day, and someone is asking for folks to run Dark Aeons at Origins this year. I'm a free agent now, as you know. I have no work from WW, and while I might run something WoD-related at cons this year, it's just as likely that I'll stick to Don't Rest Your Head and other games that don't require huge, heavy books. So I figure, what the heck, I'll ping these guys.

They're very cool, first of all. The guy I talked to was very communicative, and sent me coupons for pretty much everything for the game line, as well as a code to buy the game cheap off Lulu, which I did. And then I started reading it.

I'm not saying it's a horrible game. I'd play it, no problem. But a few things jump out:

1) Man, the editing. I mean, people bitch about WW games, sometimes for good reason, but someone really needs to take a weed-whacker to this verbiage. Lots of weak constructions ("Most if not all," "There are," etc.), lots of roundabout phrasing, and lots of mistakes in punctuation and grammar. Run-ons, fragments, etc. It doesn't make for smooth reading.

2) And the book ain't short. The history chapter alone is close to 100 pages, and it's...lengthy. Admittedly, you're talking about a game that goes from the city of Atlantis to modern days, but it's not elegantly written and it feels like an explanation of someone's homebrew given in the back of a gaming store. At no point while reading the history did I think, "Ooh, awesome, how evocative, I totally want to be part of this universe." What I was thinking was, "Holy shit how many more pages before I get to the birth of Christ?"

3) Character creation. See below.

So, in short, I had agreed to run it. I still might. But I think what I may do first is make this character, and maybe see if I can set up a playtest before I commit. I only get one Origins a year, and I don't want to burn my Saturday afternoon running a game that I don't like. That's not fair to me, the company or the players of said game.

Anyhow, moving on to chargen. The basic setup here is that there was a huge civilization in Atlantis, it went to war with other civilizations, vampires became involved, so did the Great Old Ones (yeah, those Great Old Ones), and now there are Houses of Atlanteans and they're doing...something in the modern day. Hang on.

You know, reading this game, I'm struck by two things. First, there is almost no information about how to run this game. There's a section on running games, getting the group together, making NPCs, which is nice, but how you would run a game of Dark Aeons isn't spelled out very well. Second, the structure of the book, even the order in which advice is presented, is almost identical to any OWoD book you care to name. Specifically, the GM section reminds me a lot of the old Mage: The Ascension Storytellers Guide.

Cracking open the pdf for the Arkham sourcebook, there's a sample adventure, which looks to be basically WoD/CoC with a lot of weird, kitchen-sink horror/fantasy tropes thrown in. Oh, and here's a little excerpt: It was also during these years that the legend of the Goatman of the Miskatonic Valley began surfacing; this creature was reputed to abduct travelers along the roads never to be seen again.

See what I mean about the editing?

Anyway, assuming we're going modern horror with all of this massive backstory including psychics, vampires, zombies, Cthulhu and so on, we move to Step One: Choose Persona Template.

Now, "Template" includes things like "Sorcerer" and "Deader" and "Faux-Blooded" and everything else you can think of (actually, I didn't see lycanthrope). OK, here's some really bad game design. Some of these Templates overlap, so you can play, say, an Atlantean who died and came back as a Deader. There's a chart, but it's not real helpful. From the core book: Other Persona Templates do not allow for overlaps, the easiest way to be sure of what is allowable and what isn't allowable is to fully read through the descriptions of the required Advantages and Disadvantages for the Persona Template.

The Persona Templates are described in Chapter Two. Advantages and Disadvantages are in Chapter Four. Character Creation is Chapter Three. Why'd I do this again?

OK. Let's go to Chapter Two and look at Templates. I know I don't want to play an Atlantean because that would involve reading the Houses and that's more work than I need.

I shall create a Psychic. True Atlanteans are psychic by default (it looks like), but these are normal humans with some psychic talent. I envision a character in the vein of the tortured artists of Call of Cthulhu, dreaming of monsters and slowly going nuts. This game is modern day, and since I don't know a setting I'll assume Arkham.

My character's name is Ryan Pickman (yes, he's a descendant of that Pickman). Like his great-granduncle, he's an artist, but while the original Pickman was a painter, Ryan is a sculptor. He found one of Richard Pickman's sketchbooks and, haunted by the images therein, started sculpting them. And from there, the dreams started.

OK, moving on to Step Two: Occupational Skill Set. By the way, my pdf disables c/p, or I'd totally be giving you little gems from the core book. Anyway, the Entertainer Skill Set sounds the most appropriate, so I get 1 in the following Skills: Academics, Arts, Persuasion, Social Grace, and Style. Sounds OK.

Step Three: Personality Traits. I pick three from a list. Hmm. I take Absent-Minded; Ryan, like many artists, doesn't remember the outside world once he gets going. But I take Extraspective, too (that's not a word, but whatever, it's in here): He remembers and notices everything around him. It's just that if it's not right near him (like, say, a birthday or an appointment or something abstract like that) he forgets it. And finally, I'll take Curious, because if he weren't he'd never have opened that sketchbook.

I skip Step Four because I'm not an Atlantean.

Step Five: Spending Your Study Points. I'm assuming I'm an average Persona, which is 100 points. I have to spend 10 for every Psychic Talent I want, which means I need to look into what those are. And then I buy other shit like Attributes and Skills. Hmm. Well, let's do the Psychic stuff first.

Oh, wait, actually the book recommends I do Attributes first. OK, whatever. Let's do that. Attributes cost "new rank x2" to raise with Study Points, and the Attributes are:

Agility
Appearance
Brawn
Intellect
Psyche
Vitality

Well, as an artist, I think Agility, Appearance and Intellect, maybe? Wait, what's Psyche? OK, just like in Marvel, it's mental strength. That doesn't necessarily need to be high; I can be a fragile Psychic. It's in-theme, even. OK, bumping an Attribute to 4 would cost 18 of my points, which is almost 1/5. Screw that. I'll put Agility at 3 (10 points), Appearance at 3 (10 points) and Intellect at 4 (18 points) and leave the rest at one, for now.

OK, more bad design: Step Five is listed as "Spend Study Points," but then Steps Six, Seven and Eight are "Buy Attributes, Advantages and Skills," respectively. WTF?

Since I did Attributes, let's do Advantages. I need Psychic Talent, obviously. I get a new talent for every time I buy it, so let's see. I think I want Astral Projection; I like the idea of him being a dream-traveler. Let's see if anything else jumps out at me.

Oh, look, aura projection includes a list of colors and what they mean. Where have I seen that before? Anyway, I think Astral Projection and Phantasm sound good. Phantasm lets me project illusions into people's minds, which combined with Uncle Richard's sketchbook could get nasty. That's 20 points on Advantages so far, or 58 total.

I'll buy Artistic Ability for 2 points. And there are a lot more, most of which have a familiar ring to them (especially if you've read, say, any WW book with Merits and Flaws). But then we get into Combat Merits Advantages with names like "Die Muthafucka Die!" Sigh, muthafucka, sigh.

Anyway. None of the other Advantages look appealing. I'd like to take something to represent my sketchbook from Pickman, but maybe I can buy a Skill to justify that.

Disadvantages: Oh, wait, look, you can be a werewolf! Tempting, but no. You know, screw it. I'll take Deaf. Ryan suffered a meningeal infection when he was a baby that robbed him of his hearing. He's learned to sign and he can speak a little, but his world is silent. When he dreams, though (like, dreams) he can hear...he just wishes he couldn't.

OK, one little grouse: There's a disadvantage called "skeptic". I'll type it: The Persona believes in the laws of science, they believe [sic] is so much that they deny that the supernatural exists at all. That isn't what fucking "skeptic" means, people. Arrgh. And, look, we also have Madness Disadvantages, including Dissociative Identify Disorder and Gender Identity Disorder. No, thanks. I think I'm done with Disadvantages. I'm at 60, minus 6 for Deaf puts me at 54 spent.

Now Skills. I already have 1 point in the occupational skills I picked up earlier. I suppose I need to buy up my Psychic Skills, too. Jesus, this is more annoying than Palladium. OK, I automatically gain one rank in the Skills needed for the Psychic stuff I took, which means I get one in Broadcasting and one in Control. I'll boost those to three each, which sets me back 10 (64 spent).

For my other skills, I know I want Arts at 4, so that costs me 9 (73 spent). Wait, hang on. Actually, I want Arts at a level that makes me a skilled artist, but 4 is like, grade-school. OK, that's bad design, guys, but whatever. If I want my Arts at 7, that costs me 27, not 9, which means I've spent 91. Wow. I'll buy Social Grace up to 2, that leaves me with 7 points left. I'll spend four of those to buy Psyche up to 2, and the remaining 3 to buy the first two levels of the Craftsmanship Skill.

100 points isn't nearly enough to simulate what characters should be able to do. Or maybe "Average Persona" means "grade-schooler," I don't know. All I know is that I'm fucking tired and I want to be done with this.

Right, moving on to Derived Traits: Charm is 3, Life Force starts at 9, Mental Stability at 90. Psionics starts at 3, which is important because I use that to do my psychic stuff. Toughness is...weird. It's Brawn + Vitality divided by 3, which is less than one, and since we round down I assume it starts at zero. I ain't real tough. I fill in my movement rates and the other derived shit and I'm done. No questions about the character or concept or anything.

You know, I think Ryan is an interesting character, but I'd have to make him up in a better system. Con X might work.  

 

Character Creation: Shambles

As I mentioned some weeks back, the fine folks at OneBookShelf (by way of DriveThruRPG) put out a bundle of about $1400 worth of RPG products for $20, all proceeds to help Doctors Without Borders. They raised something like $178K, by the way. That's worth a whoop.

Whoop!

OK, so of course I scooped that right on up. I already did a character from one of those games, Barbarians Vs, but I'd like to do a character today and I started to do one for a game called Shambles. Since I already printed the sheet, might as well finish it on up today before...dinner. OF BRAAAAAINS.

(Side note: Heather and I were playing Scrabble with Aaron when he was here visiting, and he had the letters to spell "BRAAINS", but we wouldn't let him.)

Anyway:

The Game: Shambles
The Publisher: A Terrible Idea
Degree of Familiarity: With zombies and related media, lots. With this particular game, none.
Books Required: Just the Shambles pdf.

 
The system works on three principles: Players Like Rolling Lots of Dice, Players Hate Doing Lots of Math, and Fudging Dice Rolls is Fun. While I haven't found the first point to be universally true, there certainly is something to be said for throwing a fistful of dice around.

Anyway, this is a game in which you play zombies. Yep. The game asks you to design a person who is boring as hell, and then make him/her a zombie. The setting for the game isn't...well, set, and there are several suggestions on how to use the game engine and setting conceits (you heal by eating brains, otherwise you slowly decay).

Basically, all chargen asks you to do is think of some backstory, and then assign numbers to the six stats using either a die roll or point division. I'll worry about numbers presently.

My zombie is (was?) named Josh Wilson. Josh wanted to be a writer. He surely did. That doesn't mean he actually wrote, of course. He just wanted to be a writer. He had a computer and everything. Every day, he'd get done with his shift at the gas station/convenience store, come home...and plop on the couch. He just really wanted to watch this movie he got from Netflix. He really wanted to get that last achievement on Prototype (awesome game, BTW). He really wanted to just do this one thing, and then tomorrow he'd write.

He had it all planned out in his head.

Then he died. But then he got up. Because his death, like his life, was a little thing, a speed bump on the road to true greatness. Josh is a zombie...but he still wants to be a writer. In fact, he always carries a pen.

There, that's good for a backstory. Now I assign numbers to my stats. Stats in this game are Lurch (moving around), Flail (beating stuff), Clutch (grabbing stuff), Brawn (strongin' stuff), Chuck (flingin' stuff), and Sense (huh?). I choose to use the "Roll Lots of Dice" method of chargen, because the book assures me that this is fun. I don't have dice handy, though, so I slip over to good ol' entropy-land. OK, I get 6, 1, 3, 3, 4, 2. Not horrible.

These go 1 to 6, BTW, where 1 is "poor" and 6 is "awesome!" I'll put my 1 into Brawn. Josh is the kind of Zombie that can't make it through a paper screen without help. I'll put my 2 into Flail. Not strong, so not so good with the beating.

I'll put my 3s into Clutch and Lurch. Josh can hold on tight (you should see him work a burrito), and he moves OK for a zombie. I'll put the 4 into Sense. Josh isn't dumb, just lazy (and undead). And that means the 6 goes into Chuck, which means that Josh writes a blog and is unnaturally obsessed with pie can throw shit like Bullseye, if Bullseye were a zombie.

I don't start with any Laff points or Brains or anything, so that's me done, then.