Character Creation
basically every character is possible … just a few things to keep in mind
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Human
Your character should be a mundane human. You can be a shaman, or a xenobiologist, if you like, but you do not have superpowers, nor can you cast spells.
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Hollywood Reality
Hollywood lies about how the world really works for all the right reasons, and you should, too.
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Twist It
Especially if your character is a common archetype, give it a twist … make your character interesting.
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Nothing Game-Breaking
Your dm will tell you and veto stuff, that would be too strong, not fun or doesn’t fit the theme.
CONCEPT
Think about a concept, what you want to play.
No need to write it down, but it helps you to fill out the other stuff mentioned below.
NAME
What is your character’s name?
MAIN TRAIT
Now come up with something broad like a job description. This basically covers stuff your character is able to do with a quality level of a professional in that field.
e.g. assassin, ex-swat, guru, spy, spiritual healer, tourist, zen coder, …
SIDE TRAIT
After that come up with something specific like a hobby, what your character can do as well as a professional.
e.g. animal-lover, blogger, hacker, history-nerd, jet-skier, kickboxer, makeup-artist, wikipedia-editor
(note: every PC is at least competent in fighting and swaying, even if no trait applies)
QUESTION MARK-?
Now think about what personal challenges your character should face.
This should be an adjective … and will be noted as [adjective]-?
This adjective is true … but the -? is there to signal on the meta level that this fundamentally true thing might cease to be being fundamentally true during play.
e.g. faithful-?. honest-?, innocent-?, rich-?, sane-?, self-confident-?, trusting-?
A good example for this would be Indiana Jones.
He would be brave-? … so he is totally brave until we find out he is afraid of snakes.
TROUBLE
This is is what lures or provokes your character into doing unwise things from the perspective of the game world that are constructive or exciting for the players. It’s your excuse to do things that are fun instead of pragmatic.
e.g. brags and says too much; takes risks to help an innocent in danger; …
GOAL
Why has your character traveled to Al Amarja?
We all know that there is this 108th cryptozoology world congress …
… but why is your character really here?
(write this down secretly)
TELLS
Take a look at all those things, you have selected earlier and write down a few “tells” how your character looks like.
e.g. a character with the Linebacker trait is built like a linebacker, an Ex-Bassist Rockstar has a glam style in hair and dress, a Pro Gambler is missing some pieces of their fingers due to certain debts that went unpaid, a Hacker is always wearing AR glasses, …
Example Characters
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Alejandro is a paranoid-? ex-spy, who really does well at car chases. He thinks that locks are a challenge, not a statement.
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Silke is a level-headed-? xenobiologist with a mean right hook. She gets entranced by poetry and by poets.
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Tariq is a jaded-? underworld enforcer with a well-red imaginary friend. The imaginary friend gets him into trouble, but it’s because the friend knows things that regular people don’t understand.
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Mariko is an independent-? occult investigator, specializing in not being noticed. She gets in trouble when she follows random hunches, most of which end up to be unrelated to her goals.
