Creating a Character

Step 1:

Pick a race and roll up the 8 attributes

IQ: how smart you are
ME: Mental endurance; or how many fights between Star and Belgy you can handle before your brain melts, works on magic too

MA: Mental Affinity; essentially charisma, how easily you can sway others to your argument

PS: Physical Strength; I pick things up and I put them down, adds to damage

PP: Physical Prowers; basically dexterity, good for dodging, good for hitting, really good

PE: Physical endurance; basically constitution, or how much suffering your body can take

PB: Physcal Beauty; are you pretty?

Spd: Speed; How fast can you advance toward your own supply line

Scores of 16 + come with in-game boni:
IQ: 16 gets one time 2% bonus to all skills, 17 gets 3%, 18 gets 4%. Etc.
ME: gets bonuses to save vs psionic attacks and insanity, the table has an odd progression and I'm not copying it here
MA: 16 gets a 40% chance to either invoke trust or intimidate, increasing at 5% per point until 80% at 24 then the table slows down
PS: 16 gets +1 to combat damage 17 gets+2. Etc.
PP: 16 &17 get +1 to strike/party/dodge, 18&19 gets +2, 20&21 gets +3, etc.
PE: 16&17 gets +1 to save vs magic/poison, 18&19 gets +2, etc. 16+ get varying bonuses to save vs coma/death.
PB: 16 gets 30% chance to charm or impress increasing 5% per point to 26 at 80% then progression slows.
Sod: no extra bonus aside from superior running towards/away.


 

Step 2:

Calculate your hitpoints and SDC.

Hitpoints start as your PE score and grow at 1D6/level (with very few races having slightly different dice rolls)

SDC is "Structural Damage Capacity", this is basically extra hitpoints and most damage received come from here first. This is essentially damage you can take and still remain (mostly) combat effective, once damage starts depleting your hitpoints, your character is in real pain/trouble. At start, men-at-arms classes get 3D6 SDC while non-men at arms classes get 1D6, extra SDC come by way of physical skills, race bonuses or class features.

Please note that I'm seriously considering changing the 1D6 hp/level rule to 1D6 SDC/level as I have trouble grasping how leveling up allows you to "bleed out longer" whereas it does make sense to me that you could get better at "absorbing/taking" hits.

Step 3: Are you a psychic?

Some classes are automatically psionic classes, but minor psionic powers are oddly common in this world. Roll a D100, 26+ = no magic brain powers for you, 10-25 = minor psionics, 1-9 = major psionics. psionic abilities come in addition to whatever class you choose, though major psionics do cut any class specific skill bonuses in half as well as cut your "other" skill selection # in half (typically most classes get 6 -8 "other" skills so you're looking at losing 3-4 skill choices in most cases).

Step 4: Pick a class.

Some classes have minimum attribute requirements, in most cases I'll just bump you to the minimums if you really want to be X but don't have the rolls for it. In the case of the Squire-Knight-Palladin class series, I might be more inclined to push you toward the "lesser" class if you don't have the stats for Palladin/knight, they're rather similar and nifty Role-playing could happen... or if you really wanna be a fancy paladin, just threaten to whine a lot at me and I'll likely give up (though I may... remember )

Step 5: Equipment and Money

Everybody gets some basics to start out, usually some basic armor, clothing and equipment pertinent to your class. Some get horses (rather valuable). Most start with a few hundred "gold".

Btw, I hate "gold pieces" as a measure of currency. This is an artifact of early rpgs. But this game has silver coins worth 10 or 25 "gold pieces" I'm pretty sure I'm officially renaming renaming "gold pieces" to zloty or shillings or anything but gold pieces.

Step 6 rounding out your character:

- pick an alignment:
*principled - boy scout
*scrupulous - most Clint Eastwood chars
*unprincipled - Han Solo
*anarchist - good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun
*miscreant - Cersei Lannister
*aberrant - The Punisher
*diabolic - Evil for teh lulz

- background bits (rolling is fun, or just pick from the list if you don't believe in fun) all rolls are D100

Birth order:
1-25 first born
26-35 2nd
36-45 3rd
46-55 4th
56-65 6th
66-75 last born
76-85 1st of twins
86-00 illegitimate

Weight:
1-10 underweight skinny
11-30 thin
31-55 average
56-74 husky
75-89 pot bellied
90-00 obeast

Height:
1-30 short
31-70 average
71-00 tall

Age (double for elves, dwarves or changelings):
1-10 17
11-30 19
31-45 21
46-60 24
61-75 26
76-85 28
86-95 30
96-00 32

Disposition:
1-10 mean or bitter, suspicious and vindictive
11-15 shy, timid, tends to be a loner
16-23 gung-hi, guys and glory type who sees him/herself as a hero, likes combat and challenges
24-29 worry wart, nervous and cautious
30-35 hot-head, quick-tempered, emotional, but basically nice
36-43 schemer, gambler who likes to take chances
44-48 blabber-mouth, nice guy, but talks too much
49-54 wild man, cocky, overconfident, take unnecessary risks
55-61 nice guy, friendly, courteous and hospitable
62-67 arrogant, feels superior to others, may underestimate others
68-75 tough guy, lone wolf, cocky and self-reliant
76-81 braggart, may be nice, but will tell you how great he is
82-86 paternal, overprotective of others, tends to be overbearing
87-91 easy-going, laid back, trust almost anyone until proven otherwise
92-95 complainer, always grousing about something
96-00 paranoid, trusts no one

Land of origin
1-05 ophid's grasslands
06-07 Algor mountains
08-12 kingdom of Bizantium
13-14 Phi
15-17 Lopan
18-24 Timiro kingdom
25-34 Eastern Territory
35-44 Old Kingdom
45-55 Western Empire
56-66 The Great Northern Wilderness
67-75 The Land of the South Winds
76-84 Yin-Sloth Jungles
85-89 The Baalgor Wastelands
90-91 The Land of the Canned
92-94 Floenry Islands
95-96 Isle of the Cyclops
97-00 Other world, dimension or time

Type of Environment
1-15 small wilderness town
16-30 large farming community or ranch
31-40 little farm community
41-60 small to medium city
61-70 medium to large town or city where magic/supernatural were commonplace
71-80 large bustling city, might have grown up in a slum
81-90 small fishing river or sea community
91-95 small to medium tribe or clan
96-00 religious community with strong ties to a particular church, cult, pantheon or god.

Social or family background
1-05 sailor/fisherman
06-15 craftsman
16-25 serf/peasant laborers
26-35 peasant farmers
36-45 farmer and landowner not rich but decent
46-55 men at arms or warrior clan
56-65 scavenger, thief or vagabonds
66-75 merchant or business people, not rich but well off
76-85 scholarly and educated, could be rich or poor
86-92 magic or religious, could be rich or poor
93-00 noble, could be wealthy or poor