Character Creation Challenge, Day 27: Colonial Gothic, 3rd Edition

 

Colonial Gothic is a supernatural horror game (though adjustable for straightforward action-adventure) set primarily in those British colonies of North America that eventually became the United States, as well as the neighboring as-yet-unconquered Native territories. These horrors threaten both Native peoples and colonists, setting up ground for alliances across gulfs of material and cultural interests that might otherwise be unbridgeable.

 

Player characters can come from nearly any walk of society that 18^th-century North America offered (including freedmen, though for good reason excluding enslaved persons). For this character I’d like to create someone scholarly, perhaps an academic or a physician. That should make him either an Urban Colonist or an Immigrant. There was a Jewish community in Manhattan that had begun under Dutch occupation, apparently went into decline after the English took New Netherland, and then was reinvigorated by Ashkenazi immigrants from the German Empire in the 18^th century. An Urban Colonist doctor of Dutch-Sephardic background wouldn’t be much of a stretch, if any. So, let’s create Benjamin da Silva, physician, natural philosopher, and perhaps also student of forbidden lore. Gender male, age 43.

 

I’ll have 45 points to divide among five Ability scores: Might, Nimble*, Vigor, Reason, and Resolution. Reason and Resolution seem like the most important abilities for a doctor/scholar, and my signature skills will rely mostly on them. Might seems like the least important, and Nimble and Vigor can be average. Here are the scores, with the modifiers they apply to skill rolls in parentheses.

 

Might 5 (-2)

Nimble 7 (0)

Vigor 7 (0)

Reason 15 (+3)

Resolution 11 (+1)

 

There are a few derived characteristics based on Abilities. Vitality is basically hit points; the starting value is the average of Might and Vigor, multiplied by 5; in Benjamin’s case 30 points. Sanity tracks psychological endurance in the face of supernaturally horrific events, and starts at five times Resolution, or 55 for Benjamin. His middling Nimble score will give him two Actions per round (Nimble/3, drop fraction), but averaging it with his higher Reason will give him a solid Initiative Rating of 11.

 

And then we can purchase Skills. Characters receive 40 points to purchase skills; buying a skill at the entry level of 1 Rank costs 4 points, and further ranks will cost 2 each. (I’ll add my Ranks to the appropriate Ability Bonus as a modifier to die rolls for various thing-doings or Skill Tests.) The list is kind of long given these prices, but there’s no small amount of overlap; for instance Heal, Physick, and Profession (Doctor) all over basically the same ground. (On the other hand, each language beyond one’s native tongue counts as a separate skill, which seems unduly expensive in this system.) I’ll be able to afford 8 or 9 skills at rank 1 and still boost a couple to rank 2.

 

For medical stuff I’ll take two ranks in Profession (doctor). Languages are going to be an issue; I’m not sure whether the Jewish community in Manhattan spoke English among themselves in this era, but the character will still need English to function in the game, and Latin and Hebrew to sustain any pretense at scholarship. (He could conceivably also have Dutch and/or Yiddish and/or maybe even Ladino, but I want other skills too. Oddly, Dutch doesn’t appear on the list of available languages despite the Hudson Valley’s sizable Dutch-speaking population.) So a rank each of Latin and Hebrew as well as native fluency in English and we’ll just try to live with that. For social skills I’ll take a rank each of Diplomacy and Empathy (both Resolution-based). I’ll add Investigation and two ranks of Observe to provide some detective skills. And for scholarship we’ll take a rank of Study in natural philosophy and a rank of Lore to get our foot in the door of the supernatural stuff the game will be dealing with. (Magical powers are available as well, but they also have to be bought as skills and require an intensity of investment similar to learning multiple languages, so I decided against it.)

 

Diplomacy (Resolution) 1 

Empathy (Resolution) 1

Investigation (Reason) 1

Language (Latin) (Reason)1 

Language (Hebrew) (Reason) 1 

Lore (Reason) 1 

Observe (Reason) 2

Profession (doctor) (Reason) 2

Study (natural philosophy) (Reason) 1

 

The next, and most challenging, step of character creation is giving our good Doctor da Silva five Hooks. A Hook is a statement about the character that can be leveraged in-game to provide a bonus. Three of these should come from the character’s background; one from their life before they got involved with the occult; and one more should reflect the character’s personality. Activating Hooks costs Action Points, of which each character gets 5 to begin every session. I’m going to try these on for size, though some of them may be a little abstract:

 

Background hook 1: My love of learning is a gift from my parents and my rabbi.

Background hook 2: The city of my birth is a world unto itself, containing all things.

Background hook 3: Oh, the things medical school prepares a man for.

Life Before Occult hook: I remember witnessing an experiment that might apply to this.

Personality hook:  There must surely be a natural explanation for this.

 

Gear selection is not treated as part of character generation, though it’s not clear why. Still, we can’t send Benjamin into the world like Adam expelled from the garden, so let’s set him up with some tools and supplies. He starts with two sets of clothes, a pair of shoes, (because he’s an urban colonist) a powdered wig, and £20 with which to buy other goods.

I’m going to stay off the weapons lists because he’s not at all a man of violence, but let’s see if we can get him the tools of his trade. Surgeon’s instruments cost £19, which doesn’t leave much left for anything else. A mortar and pestle cost 2 shillings sixpence, so we can still afford that. But I think that’s where we’ll have to stop, with the basic tools of our trade and 17 shillings and sixpence left in our pockets for an emergency.

 

And that should complete our good doctor. Here’s the statblock:

 

Benjamin da Silva, Physician and Natural Philosopher

Might 5 (-2)

Nimble 7 (0)

Vigor 7 (0)

Reason 15 (+3)

Resolution 11 (+1)

Actions 2         Initiative Rating 11

Vitality 30        Sanity 55

Skill Ranks: Diplomacy 1, Empathy 1, Investigation 1, Language (Latin) 1, Language (Hebrew) 1, Lore 1, Observe 2, Profession (Doctor) 2, Study (Natural Philosophy) 1

 

Money: 17s 6d

Belongings: 2 sets of clothes, 1 pair of shoes, 1 powdered wig, 1 set surgeon’s instruments, 1 mortar & pestle.

 

Background hook 1: My love of learning is a gift from my parents and my rabbi.

Background hook 2: The city of my birth is a world unto itself, containing all things.

Background hook 3: Oh, the things medical school prepares a man for.

Life Before Occult hook: I remember witnessing an experiment that might apply to this.

Personality hook:  There must surely be a natural explanation for this.

 

 

 

*I don’t know why this is the only adjective among four nouns, but it’s annoying. Was “nimble” a noun in the 18^th century?