Example of Creation

This section details an example of creating a character. In this example, we’re going to follow Zack as he creates his new character for a setting called “Legends of Fallenthrone”. This is a dark-fantasy setting featuring a land that has recently undergone an apocalyptic event known as The Scathe, where the grand kingdoms of the old world were destroyed by war against a massive horde of demonic creatures known as the Terrors and their legions of undead minions. What remains now are just a few points of light in an otherwise dark and ruinous landscape. Zack is one of four players that will be participating in this campaign, which the Narrator has dubbed “The Darkest Journey”.

The following example will be broken up into steps according the the Hero Creation Checklist.

Step 1: Choose a Concept

Zack isn’t sure what kind of character to make, so he checks with the other Players in his group. There are three other players in the group: Lenny, Sydney, and Luz. Lenny has decided to play a goblin elemental mage, Sydney has created a sneaky elven thief, and Luz is playing a human war-priest. Considering the character types already in the group, Zack decides the best option to complete the group would be to create some sort of defensive-focused character that wears heavy armor, and wields a one-handed melee weapon and shield. After considering the options behind that character type, Zack decides to create a freelance warrior-for-hire, a mercenary. Zack considers the different races available in the setting, and decides to go with a dwarf. He wants his knight to be stern and serious, maybe even a little grumpy, so he comes up with a good descriptive adjective – “gruff”. Putting them all together, Zack’s character concept is a “Gruff Dwarven Mercenary”.

Step 2: Assign Abilities

The next step is for Zack to assign Ability Dice Pairs for his new dwarven merc. Before he assigns his Ability Dice, he consults with the Narrator to determine what Abilities are available to him. The Narrator determines to go with the standard list of Abilities, including those with the “Fantasy” denotation. Now that Zack knows what his Ability list is like, he can start assigning Dice Pairs by Priority. Looking at the rules, he sees that he can assign two Primary Abilities, each having a Dice Pair of 2d12. Considering the role his character will play in the group, a defender who will be in the thick of combat, Zack decides his Primary Abilities will be Close Combat and Vitality. These Abilities will make the Hero strong in attacking and defending in melee combat, and also very tough, able to take a lot of damage before falling.

Next are his Secondary Abilities. Zack chooses three Secondary Abilities, each assigned a Dice Pair of 2d10. First, he selects Agility because he wants his defensive character to be quick to dodge any incoming danger. This will also help him react quickly in combat. Next, he picks Dungeoneering, since he knows he’s going to play a dwarf and figures dwarves should be good and prowling through deep caverns and ancient underground ruins. Last, he chooses Perception, deciding his dwarf is particularly paranoid and is always watching his back.

Now, Zack needs to assign his Tertiary Abilities. He gets to pick five Tertiary Abilities, which be assigned 2d8. He selects the following Abilities since they seem like they would make sense for his character: Athletics, Crafting, Healing, Resolve, and Suvival. The remaining Abilities are considered Untrained and are assigned the Dice Pair of 2d6. Below is the final list of Abilities for Zack’s new Hero:

Agility 2d10
Athletics 2d8
Close Combat 2d12
Crafting 2d8
Deception 2d6
Dungeoneering 2d10
Healing 2d8
Husbandry 2d6
Influence 2d6
Intellect 2d6
Marksmanship 2d6
Perception 2d10
Resolve 2d8
Stealth 2d6
Street Smarts 2d6
Survival 2d8
Thievery 2d6
Tinkering 2d6
Vitality 2d12

Step 3: Determine Statistics

Moving on to Statistics, Zack starts with Resistances. The rating for Resistance Statistics are determined by finding the value of the type of die in the Dice Pair for the related Ability, then adding 2. Looking at the first Resistance on the list, Reaction, Zack sees that the related Ability is Agility. Zack’s Hero has an Agility Dice Pair of 2d10, so the die type of his Dice Pair is d10, and the value of that type of die is 10. Zack adds 2 to the value, getting a total of 12. Next is Defense. Zack’s character has a Close Combat of Dice Pair of 2d12, so he finds the value of the die type (12) and adds 2 (12+2=14). He repeats that process with the rest of the Resistances and comes up with the following ratings:

Reaction 12
Defense 14
Awareness 12
Willpower 10
Endurance 14

Now that his Resistances are finished, he can determine the ratings for his Characteristics. The first is Initiative, which is figured by taking one die from the Dice Pairs of Agility and Perception. The Hero has an Agility of 2d10, and a Perception of 2d10. A single die from each Dice Pair is taken and then each is coupled together to create the rating for Initiative, which turns out to be d10 + d10. Next is Base Speed, which defaults to 4. Base Speed can be modified by Traits later, so Zack leaves the value at 4 for now. For Run Speed, Zack needs to add Base Speed to one-half of the character’s Athletics Dice Pair die type value. His character has an Athletics of 2d8, so the Dice Pair die type value is 8, divided in half is 4. His Hero’s Run Speed is 8 (4 + 4). Encumbrance is next on the list, and is determined by multiplying the Dice pair die type value for Athletics by 10. Again, the character’s Dice Pair die type value for Athletics is 8, so Zack multiplies that by 10 getting a total of 80 (8 x 10). Encumbrance is measured in pounds, so he makes a note there next to the rating. Last is Adrenaline, which starts at a default rating of 6 and can be modified later by Traits. Zack records all of his ratings on his character sheet, like so:

Initiative d10 + d10
Base Speed 3
Run Speed 7
Encumbrance 80 lbs
Adrenaline 6

Step 4: Select Traits

Continuing to follow the Checklist, it’s now time for Zack to choose his Traits. Reading the text, Zack decides right away to take the extra Quirks to earn the maximum amount of Perks. That said, Zack will receive a total of five Perks and three Quirks. Since Zack decided early on to play a character with the race of dwarf, he picks that racial Perk first. Reading the description of the Perk, Zack sees that it provides his Hero with the following adjustments: Darkvision (allows his character to see perfectly in the dark), Base Speed of 3 (dwarves are a little slower than other races), Ignore 1 Bulk (they’re stout though, so they aren’t as effected by heavy armor as other races), +10 Encumbrance (dwarves are brawny and can carry more than others), and Dwarf Knowledge (Zack gets a +4 bonus to knowledge checks made having anything to do with dwarves and dwarven society). Going with the same idea of dwarven herritage, Zack also selects the Cavern Keeper Perk, which provides a +2 bonus to Dungeoneering when in natural underground environments.

Browsing through the Perk list, Zack decides to buff up his defensive capabilities with some combat oriented Perks. The first he chooses is the Taunt Perk, which allows him to deter his enemies from attacking anyone but him. He also selects the Shield Bash Perk, which gives his character the ability to use a shield as a weapon. Finally, he selects the Shield Wall Perk, which allows his Hero to spend an Adrenaline point to double the protection of the Shield he’s wielding for a number of turns.

After selecting Perks, it’s time to come up with some Quirks. Zack has three Quirks to decide on, deciding for himself that he’ll come up with one appearance oriented Quirk, one personality oriented Quirk, and one morality oritented Quirk. For his first Quirk, he considers what his character might look like, and picks one interesting feature about him that might set him apart, deciding that his character has a shaved bald head covered in tattoos. Next, he thinks about who his character is, a mercenary, and imagines that his character’s personality should be militant. Zack jots down his second Quirk, his character uses his shield for everything, like to eat off for example. Lastly, he consideres his characters ethics, and feels that even though his character is a mercenary, he’s not completely cold blooded. Zack decides his character has taken an oath to always defend the weak, even for little to no pay.

Step 5: Starting Resources

Now onto Starting Resources, Zack consults with the Narrator to determine how they’re going to handle items and equipment. The Narrator decides to allow Zack to purchase his equipment from the Sample Fantasy Equipment list, beginning with the standard 500 Resource Credits.

Step 6: Finishing Touches