Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 30 (characters 13-15): Broken Compass

screenshot from PDF version

I seem to have lost some time here, and it's pretty clear I'm not going to make it to 31 any time soon. But I still want to post the characters I started working on before I lost focus, so today I have a trio of adventurers for Broken Compass, the game of action-film treasure hunters set at the end of the last century. Lara Croft, the Mummy series, Romancing the Stone, that kind of thing. I want to subvert the premise a little, however. The default doesn't necessarily assume your PCs are amoral, greed- or glory- driven tomb raiders, but that's certainly the ballpark the game plays in. Instead, I'm creating a UNESCO Antiquities Recovery Team, specialists sent in to stop looters and ensure heritage treasures stay in their home countries. Only, you know, with death traps and gunplay and car chases and so forth. Also, the action-film vibe inspired me to do some casting with real-life actors, which is a first for me in this challenge.

Character generation in Broken Compass is actually pretty simple--it wasn't the complexity that stopped me in my tracks, though I always find working from a PDF kind of a hassle. The first mechanical step, which can help you form a concept if you haven't got one going in, is to select two Tags. Tags are career-type descriptors that bundle a primary and a secondary field of endeavor together with a set of skills and a specialty (or Expertise). Two Tags per character will let me cover a pretty wide set of bases for a team of three. The game provides eighteen Tags to choose from, though there's a lot of overlap. 

I begin by playing mix-and-match to see what feels good together while covering the bases I want to make sure I've got. I know I want an actual archaeologist, so I start my list with "Professor." I want a driver or pilot; "Daredevil" and "Pilot" seem like the best tags for that. I'd like the "Medic" role covered. Social skills will be important, so "Playboy" or "Cheater" ought to be in the mix. Violence skills seem pretty well distributed, but if I want to specialize "Soldier" "Gunslinger" "Hunter" and "Action Hero" all fit that slot well. "Techie" also has a lot of potential and I want that to stay an option, also I want someone who can disarm deathtraps and bust locks, so "Thief" comes into the pool (though I suppose "Techie" might be able to carry a lot of that).

As I play with those pieces, the violence specialties end up dropping out of the mix, and these are the combos I come up with:

Professor and Techie

Medic and Playboy

Pilot and Thief

Each tag has a primary field and, if both your tags share the same primary, a secondary field. And we run into that issue immediately, since both Professor and Techie share Knowledge as their primary. The secondaries are Society and Wild, respectively, and now I'm faced with a choice of emphasis. I think I'll leave the social skills to Doctor Sexy* and take Wild as my Techie field. 

The primaries for Playboy and Medic are Society and Knowledge, so the secondaries aren't relevant (though both are Action, in case you were wondering). Which doubles us up on Knowledge--I hope that's not going to hurt the team at the end of the day.

Finally, our larcenous wheelman has Guts (pilot) and Crime (thief) as primaries. Hopefully that will make up for some of our violence deficit. If not, we'll have some optional skill slots available before we're through

Next, we'll note the Skills that come with each pair of Tags. On the character sheet Fields and Skills are represented as sets of three open diamonds, which you fill in as you add fields and skills. Characters begin with two of the diamonds filled in each Field and the first diamond filled in for each Skill. Each diamond filled represents a die in your pool for relevant thing-doing rolls (in addiiton to any situational modifiers, which might add or subtract dice from the pool). Everything maxes out at three diamonds, hence the existence of secondary Tags to prevent Field overlap. 

Our techie archaeologist's Skill list includes Leadership, Culture, First Aid, Tech, Eloquence, Observation, Alert and Stealth from the Professor tag; then Fight, Drive, Shoot, Culture, Tech, Survival, Tough and Dexterity from the Techie tag. Overlaps (Culture, Tech) let me fill in two diamonds to max out the skill. 

Doctor Sexy's list on the Medic side includes Leadership, Cool, Culture, First Aid, Eloquence, Observation, Survival and Dexterity (that's a lot of overlap with Professor; I probably should have checked into that before I committed). From Playboy they get Leadership, Stunt, Drive, Charm, Eloquence, Observation, Dexterity and Stealth. 

Finally, Getaway Man's Pilot list includes Stunt, Cool, Drive, Shoot, Tech, Charm, Alert, and Dexterity; their Thief list has Stunt, Drive, Tech, Eloquence, Observation, Alert, Dexterity and Stealth. 

Each character will also get to fill in two Skill diamonds with wild-card choices; these can be anything as long as your total in any one skill doesn't exceed three. Professor Potsherd boosts Leadership to 3 (can't have Dr Sexy outshining the actual leader of the team) and fills in a second diamond for Scout under the Wild field. Dr. Sexy raises Fight from 1 to 2 and Charm from 2 to 3. Getaway Man has nothing but default under Wild and opts to boost both Scout and Tough to two diamonds. That leaves us able to lay on some hurt in a pinch, though nobody really qualifies as a specialist there.

Our next step is to give three Expertises to each character: one from each Tag, and a third wild-card. An Expertise allows for a reroll if you fail in a situation covered by the Expertise. These are moistly self-defined, though the book provides several examples. Professor Potsherd takes Archaeology as the Professorial option and Information Technology for Techie--a pioneer in imaging and data analysis for archaeological sites and finds, with a side order of hacking when needed. As a third we take Orienteering in case the group gets lost; can't rely on Getaway Man for all our navigational needs. Dr. Sexy takes an expertise in Medicine to justify that MD degree, another in Seduction for his playboy reputation, and for a third we take Support (defined roughly as "helping other people with thing-doing") from the Wingman/woman list. Our sticky-fingered pilot opts for Lockpicking (within which I'm going to include safecracking, since it's not listed separately) as a criminal specialty, Off-Road Vehicles as a Piloting specialty, and Sabotage as a wild card.

The next step is to issue each adventurer with one Luck Coin, which they can spend when they fail a roll against a Danger (deathtrap, natural hazard, etc.). Luck Points refresh once characters return to safety and can rest.

Now it's time to start fleshing out our heroes' personalities. I wanted all three characters to come from what the archaeology and museum fields call "source countries," i.e., places where there are a lot of archaeological resources that have been exported--ok, usually looted--to places that got a lead on producing archeologists and archeological museums, which generally means countries that were imperial powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. And somewhere around this point is where the casting comes in; I saw actors' faces for these characters before I came anywhere near to coming up with names or other details. So my Professor and team leader became Sandra Oh, my Pilot became John Leguizamo, and the role of Dr. Sexy went to none other than Idris Elba.** 

So let's pick up with the character-generation mechanics again. Personal data in Broken Compass consists of a name, three places you're connected to, and a motto, plus a shorthand characterization, derived from your Tags, of what it is you do. I want to start with Places I Call Home, which comprises a Heritage (your roots), a Homeland (where you grew up), and a Workplace (your current home base). I'm going to base my Antiquities Recovery Team at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, so that'll be everybody's Workplace. Korea is a perfectly suitable source country for my purposes, so we'll recruit the Professor from South Korea and a Korean heritage. Our playboy Doctor can come from West Africa (like Elba's own parents): a Ghanaian of Akan ethnicity. And although John Leguizamo is from Colombia I decide to root my driver in Mexico both by heritage and by upbringing.

Those decisions give me leads on names, which I put together with a little help from Wikipedia. Our Archaeologist will be Professor Baek Na-ri; our Medic will be Dr. Kwesi Boateng, and our driver will be Arturo Ruiz. 

Between "I Am" and "Places I call Home" on the character sheet is the line prompt: "Call Me If You Need A," which is where you explain what you do. Prof. Baek is a Tech-Savvy Archaeologist; Mr. Ruiz is a Safecracker with a Land Rover, and Dr. Boateng is a Sexxxy Doctor. 

That brings us to Words to Live By. In the section for generating characters randomly, there's a selection of samples, none of which quite fit the characters I've developed here. None of these people are going to be highly-nuanced characterizations; they're action heroes whose personalities can be organized around one or two key points. Prof. Baek is the careful planner who gets testy when things go awry; Dr. Boateng the easygoing, confident charmer who rolls with the setbacks; and 'Turo Ruiz is an adrenaline junkie who's most comfortable flying by the seat of his pants. Now, to turn those into mottoes:

Baek: "Don't pick it up before you know where you're going to put it down."

Boateng: "You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar."

Ruiz: "Unless you're living on the edge, you're not really living."

At this point, gear seems almost like an afterthought, but we still need it, and it's the next step in character creation. In addition to whatever the team might buy or be issued for a specific mission, each adventurer can start with a Bag (like a shoulder bag) or a Backpack for carrying gear, as well as three Useful Items that they habitually keep with them. (The main distinction between a Bag and a Backpack is accessibility; it's easier to reach things in your Bag, and easier still if you can keep an item in your Pockets.) 

Prof. Baek usually carries basic archaeological tools, a compass, and a broad-brimmed hat.

Dr. Boateng usually carries a digital camera, a lighter (the suave man's icebreaker!), and a first-aid kit.

Mr. Ruiz usually carries a toolbox, a set of lockpicks, and a semiautomatic pistol.

For specific missions, as I note above, they'll add to these lists as needed. Likewise for vehicles; although 'Turo loves his off-roading, sometimes a boat or a plane will be the most appropriate way to get someplace, and we'll handle that on a case-by-case basis. 

OK, so let's do some statblocks:

Screenshot from Umma via IMDB.com

I am Professor Baek Na-ri. Call me if you need a tech-savvy archaeologist. 

Places I call home: Korea (heritage), South Korea (homeland), and Paris (workplace).

Words I live by: "Don't pick it up before you know where you're going to put it down."

 

 

Fields (Skills): 

Action 2 (Fight 2, Leadership 3, Stunt 1)

Guts 2 (Cool 1, Drive 2, Shoot 2)

Knowledge 3 (Culture 3, First Aid 2, Tech 3)

Society 2 (Charm 1, Eloquence 2, Observation 2)

Wild 3 (Scout 2, Survival 2, Tough 2)

Crime 2 (Alert 2, Dexterity 2, Stealth 2)

Expertises: Archaeology, Information Technology, Orienteering

Habitual Gear: Backpack, Archaeological Tools, Compass, Broad-brimmed Hat

Screenshot from Beast via IMDB.com

I am Doctor Kwesi Boateng. Call me if you need a sexxxy doctor.

Places I call home: Akan (heritage), Ghana (homeland), and Paris (workplace).

Words I live by: "You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar."

 

 

Fields (Skills):

Action 2 (Fight 2, Leadership 3, Stunt 2)

Guts 2 (Cool 2, Drive 2, Shoot 1)

Knowledge 3 (Culture 2, First Aid 2, Tech 1)

Society 3 (Charm 3, Eloquence 3, Observation 3)

Wild 2 (Scout 1, Survival 2, Tough 1)

Crime 2 (Alert 1, Dexterity 3, Stealth 2)

Expertises: Medicine, Seduction, Support

Habitual Gear: Bag, First Aid Kit, Lighter, Digital Camera

Screenshot from Land of the Dead via IMDB.com

I am Arturo Ruiz. Call me if you need a safecracker with a Land Rover.

Places I call home: Mexico (heritage), Mexico (homeland), and Paris (workplace)

Words I live by: "If you're not living on the edge, you're not really living."

 

 

Fields (Skills):

Action 2 (Fight 1, Leadership 1, Stunt 3)

Guts 3 (Cool 2, Drive 3, Shoot 2)

Knowledge 2 (Culture 1, First Aid 1, Tech 3)

Society 2 (Charm 2, Eloquence 2, Observation 2)

Wild 2 (Scout 2, Survival 1, Tough 2)

Crime 3 (Alert 3, Dexterity 3, Stealth 2)

Expertises: Lockpicking, Off-Road Vehicles, Sabotage

Habitual Gear: Backpack, Toolbox, Lockpicks, Pistol

*Credit to the Supernatural writers' room.

**I was surprisingly unable to find a photo of Idris Elba in a lab coat via Internet search. Apparently he hasn't played a lot of doctors.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 12: Basic Action Super Heroes (3 of 3)

 

We'll finish our BASH super-team with a bruiser, a streetwise brawler with a criminal record and a bad attitude. Starting Stats will focus on the physical: Brawn and Agility each at 3, with a 1 in Mind for a cost of 14 build points.

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Mind 1

Now for Powers. Unlike her two allies, our bruiser won't go in heavy on skills, but she'll still take some Martial Arts Mastery off the Intensive Training table. Three points for five styles is still a good bargain. The same table provides Fleet of Foot (running speed boosted to from 9 to 12 squares and jumping range boosted from 9 to 10 squares) for 1 point and for 1 more point Heightened [Stat], which gives a +3 Result Bonus (after multipliers) to rolls in the appropriate Stat, for which I shall choose Brawn. Moving on to the Combat table, I choose Armor (variable-cost), which provides a bonus to my ablity to soak damage, and Push, another variable-cost power that does knockback tinstead of straight damage. I add Jump from the movement table (1 point for 10 squares/panel jumping rate, for a maximium leap of 90 squares). I max Armor out at three points and spend two on Push to fill out 11 points worth of powers:

Martial Arts Mastery (five styles): 3 points

Fleet of Foot: 1 point

Heightened Brawn: 1 point

Armor 3: 3 points

Push 2: 2 points

Super Jump 1: 1 points

OK, now I'm going to complicate this further by tinkering with Push. If I make it a close-range area attack (such as pounding the ground Hulk-style to create a shockwave), it'll reduce the damage multiplier to just my Brawn, but make the power more interesting without raising the cost. (Those enhancements and damage/accuracy tradeoffs are listed in the power description rather than the Enhancements/Limitations section of the rules.)

With no investment in Skillful, I'm left with the three physical and one mental Skill slots my Stats grant me. On the Mental level I'll take Streetwise with a specialty in Gut (i.e., instinct). And I'll put all of my physical eggs in Athletics: two general levels, with Climbing as the free specialty and an extra slot to Throwing. 

A criminal record is a Social Stigma, which is a Disadvantage that I'll want to balance with a corresponding Advantage. I select Never Surrender, which lets me bounce back from near-certain defeat once per story. Our bruiser doesn't really need any equipment, just the regular clothes on her back, so let's move on to Mental Malfunction, background and names. Melissa Chen always stood out in a crowd--too tall, too broad, too muscular, too stiff-necked and proud. And, very quickly, too angry. Too many assault convictions for probation to be a solution. And one volunteer experiment too many to ever, ever be taken for normal. She managed to swallow her rage long enough to get the promised parole, but hadn't found her center to make it in the world. Until she met the Whisper, who pointed her anger in a useful direction and helped her find the discipline to channel it--most of the time. And now Melissa Chen has a focus, a cause, and a new name: Sister Sledgehammer.

Stat block:

Codename: Sister Sledgehammer

Private Name: Melissa Chen

Mental Malfunction: Trying to make a positive difference with limited anger-management skills

STATS: Brawn 3, Agility 3, Mind 1

Priority: x4; Defense: x3; Mental Defense: x1; Soak: x6+3; Hits: 100

Lift: 15 tons; Run: 12 squares; Jump: 90 squares (10/panel); Climb: 3 squares; Swim: 3 squares

Powers:

Armor 3: +3 to Brawn for soaking damage  (3 points)

Push 2 (Shockwave) Agility + 0Dm to hit, 2x Brawn + 0DM knockback (x3 to hit, x6+3 knockback) (2 points)

--Ranged (close, 5 squares)

--Area (small burst: 2x2 squares)

Super Jump: Jump up to 90 squares, rate 10/panel (1 point)

Martial Arts Mastery: Five Styles (Fast, Tough, Defensive, Grappling, Tricky) (3 points)

Fleet of Foot: Run speed 12 squares/panel; Jump distance 10 squares (1 point)

Heightened (Brawn): +3 results bonus on Brawn checks (1 point)

Mental Skills: Streetwise/Gut 1 (1 slot)

Physical Skills: Athletics 2/Climbing, Throwing (2 slots)

Advantages: Never Surrender (recover from one negative status and restore HP to 20, once per story)

Disadvantages: Social Stigma (criminal record)

Notable Equipment: street clothes

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 11: Basic Action Super Heroes (2 of 3)

 

The second member of our street-level super team will be a gadgeteer of some sort, a teen prodigy whose powers (apart from a massive intellect and ludicrous technical skills) are all embodied in devices he wears or carries. 

The recommended distribution of our 25 street-level build points is to put 14 in Stats and 11 in Powers, but that's going to be a little harder with a character who's an average normie apart from his brains. Scores of 1 each in Brawn and Agility will cost just 4 points, and even a 4 Mind (which is a superhuman intelligence) is only going to cost another 8. So we'll spend those 12 points and see what we can do with the remaining 13 in Powers--that's not far off the recommended pace.

That spread of Stats will give us 4 Mental and one Physical skill slot, which we should keep in mind because Skillful is one of our top Powers priorities. I'll probably dump the maximum 5 points allowed into it, but that will still leave us eight points to play with (which we might extend with Limitations). Omni-Linguist and Omni-Reader (one for speech, one for text) cost 2 and 1 points respectively for access to all known languages. I want to build this kid a suit, or at least an exoskeleton, to house the rest of his powers. Flight is fun, but it's also variable-cost so we'll work the details out later. Defense is going to be important, our boy being relatively fragile; I'll invest in a Force Field, which not only soaks damage but also reflects a little bit of it back, at least against hand-to-hand attacks. It's also variable in cost, but I'm likely to stay near the low end on all of these. Add a Special (ranged) Attack, something in a repulsor-ray line, and also variable-cost. Super-Senses and Scan are also great device-driven powers and good complements to the Whisper's abilities. If we can spend 1 point on each, we can afford all five. Which we can; here's how that shapes up:

Flight (1) confers an air speed of 5 squares per round; not fast, but good enough.

Force Field (1) will have 40 hit points and soaks 10 points of damage each time it's hit. Taking it as a damage shield would forgo another 30 hit points, but it will do only 1 damage-multiplier worth of damage (so a flat 2d6, with a threshold of 10 to get any real effect). Not worth it--we'll take the 70 HP and rely on Special Attack for offense.

Special Attack (1) increases either the accuracy or the damage of the hero's basic attack values by one level and add the Ranged and Area qualifiers. Since accuracy is Agility-based, I'll take the accuracy boost for x2 to hit and x4 damage.

Scan (1) boosts my multiplier on Scan checks from 4 to 5. 

Super-Senses (1) lets me enhance one sense--I'll take hearing to complement Whisper's super-smell. 

OK, now to start on Skills. Actually, hold that thought. This character's going to have the Age (Young) Disadvantage, and that's going to cost me a skill slot. So, quick recalculation: Five skill slots for Stats, minus 1 for Age, plus ten for Skillful, gives us a total of 14 slots. All right, let's carry on.

There is one Physical skill that attracts my eye: Craftsmanship. I'm going to be making things, so that will be useful. Take Metalwork as a specialty, and that's one slot covered.

The rest will be Mental skills, and the most important will be Computers, Technology, and Science. In fact, I can probably spend all 13 remaining slots on those three, between extra levels and extra specialties. (And given my solid Mind multiplier, it makes sense to buy more Specialties rather than general levels.) I'll take 2 general levels in Computers, with specialties in Building, Hacking, Programming, and Repairing; that uses up 5 slots (two for the levels, three more for the extra Specialties beyond the first). Then two more in Sciences, with a specialty in Physics (for 2 more slots, since the first specialty is free). Finally I'll take 3 levels in Technology, with specialties in Inventing, Jury-Rigging, Modifying, and Repairing: 3 levels plus 3 extra specialties makes 6 slots. Five plus two plus six equals 13. Budget spent.

This brings us to Advantages and Disadvantages. We already know we're taking the disadvantage Age (Young); I'll balance that with the advantage Gadgeteer, which lets me swap out old Gadget powers for new ones. (Though technically none of my powers have the Gadget limitation, so in theory I should go back and address that so I can get some use out of it.) I've also built him as a Normal, which means his Brawn and Agility can't go higher than 2--which they don't, so no retcon called for here. Against that I'll play Photographic Memory, which I kind of wanted for Whisper but it makes as much sense for our whiz kid here.

And Whiz Kid will make a fine codename for our teen phenom. Child prodigy Vladimir Diaz  combined his prodigious intellectual and technological talents with his love of comics and his naïve idealism to build a powered exoskeleton embodying several advanced devices. He has been recruited by the mysterious crimefighter known as the Whisper to help defend his neighborhood from the forces of evil as a member of Neighborhood Watch.  His Mental Malfunction is that he constantly struggles with the disappointment that his reality is not actually like the comics he loves so much.

Now for the statblock:

Codename: Whiz Kid       

Private Identity: Vladimir Diaz

Mental Malfunction: Trying to make the real world live up to the promise of superhero comics

STATS: Brawn 1, Agility 1, Mind 4

Priority: x1; Defense: x1; Mental Defense: x4; Soak: x1; Hits: 100

Lift: 50 lb; Run: 3 squares; Jump: 1 square; Climb: 1 square; Fly: 5 squares; Swim: 1 square

Powers:

Skillful 5: 10 extra slots (5 points)

Omni-Linguist: speak all known languages (2 points)

Omni-Reader: Read/write all known languages (1 point)

Flight 1: fly 5 squares/panel (1 point)

Force Field 1: 70 hits, soak 10 (1 point)

Special Attack (ranged) 1: +1 DM to hit, +0 DM damage (x2 to hit, x4 damage) (1 point)

Super Senses 1: enhanced hearing (1 point)

Scan 1: +1 Mind multiplier when scanning (1 point)

Advantages: Gadgeteer (swap Gadget powers, create new Gadget mid-story for 1 hero point); Photographic Memory (what it says)

Disadvantages: Age (Young) (-1 skill slot); Normal (max 2 Brawn/Agility)

Notable Equipment: Exoskeleton, smartphone, laptop, tool kit

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 10: Basic Action Superheroes (1 of 3)

 

Basic Action Super Heroes (BASH) feels like a highly streamlined hybrid of Champions and TSR's old Marvel Superheroes RPG: point-buy character generation combining stats, skills and powers wedded to a resolution system with color-coded charts and a scale ranging from street-level to cosmic.

For this exercise I'll be building a team of three "street-level" heroes, called Neigborhood Watch. Characters are built (mostly; see below) on a point-buy system. Street-level heroes start with 25 points (just above the 20-point "mystery men" level) to purchase attribute scores and powers. The rules recommend reserving 14 points for attributes and 11 for powers. Both Stats and Powers are ranked by Levels, which serve as multipliers for the 2d6 rolls that power the game engine. (The results are referenced to a color-coded chart that looks like a highly simplified version of the Marvel FASERIP results table. Roll dice, add bonuses if any, apply multiplier, consult chart for results.)

BASH characters have three Stats: Brawn, Agility, and Mind. The baseline score is 0, which indicates a significant disability in the given area. The human average is 1, costing 2 points; two more build points will bring you up to 2, indicating peak non-super performance. Superhuman ability comes in at level 3 (6 points), with a maximum of 5 (which we're not going to even approach with street-level characters). 14 points will buy a total Stat level of 7, divided among the three Stats.

We'll start with a leader, a Batman-type who's basically a peak-performance normal (maybe with a little extra, since we're budgeted for it) with top-notch detective skills. Twos across the board will cost 12 points; add a point of Agility to make 14. That makes our Stat line:

Brawn 2, Agility 3, Mind 2

Powers are next on the list--skills are a little complicated and depend partially on what Powers you buy. There are seven categories, including an "Intense Training" list for your Batman types; we'll start there. Skillful adds two skill slots per build point spent (to a max of 10) to those already conferred by your Stats, so we'll put a pin in that when we figure out how many skills we want and what they'll cost. In addition, we'll want martial arts training. Three build points buys Martial Arts Mastery in all five available styles. I want to add a couple of utility-belt type gadget powers; a grapple gun can give me Swinging (at a cost of 2) and Immobilize (at a variable cost, but since it's mostly for tying up mooks I don't plan to spend a lot on it). 

I've got eleven points to spend here, and only five committed for certain. the Immobilizing power is ranged and area-effect by default, but what I want is a single-target version. Let's look at Limitations to see what we can do here. Limitations reduce the point cost of a power by slapping limits on its utility. Gadget is the obvious choice here: Gadgets have their own hit points and Soak scores (Soak is a threshold attacks have to breach in order to do damage) and can be independently targeted, in addition, they have an additional limitation (or limitations) to be chosen from a list. Reducing an area-effect to single-target isn't on that list, so we'll have to customize, but I do think an ammunition limit would be appropriate. That's 2 limitations, but you can only discount a power once, so we'll buy a 3-point Immobilize at a cost of 2 build points. That gives me a total x4 multiplier on my attack rolls with the power and a target number of 20 for escape attempts, which should be more than adequate for most street-level needs.

All right, so we've spent seven build points so far and have four left. It's time to go shopping for skills, and if we have anything left at the end we can pick up something small but useful. 

Skills come in Mental and Physical flavors, and you get a number of initial slots equal to your Mind (2) and Agility (3) stats, respectively. Committing one slot to a skill means you can make rolls on it using your relevant Stat as a multiplier, plus you get one Specialty with which you get advantage (i.e., roll twice and take the higher result). You can commit another slot either to purchase another specialty or to raise your multiplier by one. (If you want to use a skill without having a committed slot, you use the appropriate stat minus 1 as your multiplier.)

At minimum I want Athletics, Drive, Escapology, and Stealth off the Physical list, and Deception, Investigation, and Security off the Mental list. That's seven altogether, which means I'll need at least two more slots. After that, and it looks like I can afford it, I'll want  Medicine for First Aid and an extra level each in Stealth, Security and Investigation. That makes a total of eleven slots, so I'll need to spend 3 points on Skillful and will have a point left for something else.

I'm going to apply those second skill slots in Stealth, Security, and Investigation to general levels, so each skill will have one specialty. For Athletics I'll take Acrobatics; for Drive, Control; for Escapology it'll be Improvising; for Stealth, Prowling; for Deception, Detect Deception; for Investigation, Questioning; for Medicine (as noted above), First Aid; and finally, for Security, Surveillance. 

For my final point, Keen Senses is certainly an appropriate power; since it affects one sense per purchase, I can afford it once, and I'll apply it to smell, which will enable our hero to identify all kinds of interesting evidence.

The next part of character creation, Advantages and Disadvantages, is completely separate from the build-point economy, and the rule is that for each of the first group you must take one from the second. There are some very appropriate choices in the Advantages column: I like Contacts, Jack-of-all-Trades (reduced penalties for untrained skill use), Leadership (I can give my Hero Points--which are not build points--to other characters), and Photographic Memory. Unfortunately, I can only find two Disadvantages that suit the character concept without stretching it too far: Age (old), which puts me at over 50 years old with a corresponding reduction in stamina and endurance, and Secret, which is exactly the sort of thing a retired spook might want.

So, let's look at a backstory and try to put some names to this character. This should get us to a motivation or, as the game calls it, "Mental Malfunction." Our heroine is a retired covert operative--CIA, NSA, military intelligence, somehting along those lines, whose past has enough awkwardness in it that she required a new identity: new name, new background, pension disguised as an insurance settlement, that kind of thing. She tried to settle into the quiet life, but she kept noticing things that seemed wrong about her new home--not just crime left unpunished, but signs that pointed to something much bigger and more corrupt than mere street crime or even gangs. Attempts to leverage the system having failed, she fell back on her own deadly skills and a menacing disguise to find out the truth and protect the innocents around her. "Joanna Vachs" became "The Whisper," and began looking for allies to help her in her quest. We'll meet those allies over the next couple of days.

Statblock:

Codename: The Whisper     

Private Identity: Joanna Vachs, Retired Corporate Middle Manager

Secret Identity: [name redacted], Retired US Covert Operative

Mental Malfunction: Trying to protect her new world without letting her old life erupt into it

STATS: Brawn 2, Agility 3, Mind 2

Priority: x4; Defense: x3; Mental Defense: x2; Soak: x2; Hits: 80

Lift: 400 lb; Run: 9 squares; Jump: 4 squares; Climb: 2 squares; Swim: 2 squares, Swing: 12 squares

Powers: 

Swinging 2: 12 squares (2 points)

Martial Arts Mastery (5 styles): Fast, Tough, Defensive, Grappling, Tricky (3 points)

Skillful 3: add 6 skill slots (3 points)

Immobilization 3: AGI x 4 vs target AGI to immobilize; Brawn check 20+ to break

--Limitation: Gadget/Ammunition (60 HP, Soak 30, 4 uses per scene)

--Limitation: Single-target rather than area-effect

Keen Senses 1: heightened sense of smell (+3 Mind on relevant checks)

Mental Skills: Deception/Detect Deception x2; Investigation/Questioning x3; Medicine/First Aid x2; Security/Surveillance x3

Physical Skills: Athletics/Acrobatics x3; Drive/Control x3; Escapology/Improvising x3; Stealth/Prowling x4

Advantages: 

Contacts: former handler, former rival spook, former colleague in adjacent agency

Leadership: Spend hero points on behalf of others; have effect of two points. Start with five team points.

Disadvantages:

Age (old): Over 50 years of age; start with 80 hit points instead of 100

Secret: retired covert agent; activities under former identity considered top secret classified information.

Notable Equipment: Grapple gun (Swinging, Immobilize), dark bodysuit with full mask, cowled cape

There's a free BASH character generator available online (bashcreator.net), and I have availed myself of it for this exercise. Registration (with email address) required; no fee.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 9: Lashings of Ginger Beer (5 of 5)

 

And now it's time to finish up with Lashings of Ginger Beer. The oldest member of the Primrose Lane Irregulars, really too old for this childish nonsense, is fifteen and will be a Swot, which is Boy's/Girl's Own for "nerd." 

The starting Attributes at this age are 3 each in Tough and Clever and 1 each in Deft and Charm. Our Swot gets an extra point in Clever, because that's the point of being a Swot. 

Tough 3, Deft 1, Clever 4, Charm 1

Swot Skills include Sciences, History, Geography, Languages, Music, and Useless Facts. This character is going to be a sort of Phineas J. Whoopee for the group, so I'm not going to bother boosting Snoop or Hide for somebody whose primary function is reference. We'll put one point in each Swot skill (costing six) and put the two left over into Sciences and Languages. All but perhaps Music key off of Clever, so that should provide good chances of success.

Geography 1, Hide 2, History 1, Languages 2, Music 1, Sciences 2, Snoop 2, Useless Facts 1

Siblings: I keep rolling fives, so four siblings it is, as much as I'd like to see just one only child in this neighborhood. Younger sister, age 9; younger brother, age 13; older brother, age 18; younger brother, age 11. 

And now for Stuff. The useful items list, alas, does not favor Swots at all. For my starter item I'll take a microscope. The I'll try once again to get some rope (4<2, so no), an electric torch (1<5, so yes), and finally a sketchpad and pencils (barely: 5=5). 

Marta Sobieski is the second child and eldest daughter of Polish immigrants. She and her older brother Tadeusz were born in Poland; her younger siblings Casimir, Paul, and Kasia were all born in the UK. She has a reputation among the kids of her neighborhood of knowing everything there is to know, and that's how she got tangled up in Trey Hill's weird mystery-solving club. It's kind of childish, but they have caught a couple of real criminals, and if not for Marta's grasp of facts and scientific method they'd be constantly running off after red herrings and causing who knows what havoc.

Now let's set Marta out in statblock format:

My name is Marta Sobieski.

I am a Swot. (I am a good student. The other kids call me a swot.)

I am fifteen years of age, and I have three brothers and a sister. I am the second oldest child in my family and the oldest daughter.

My Attributes are Tough 3, Deft 1, Clever 4, Charm 1

I am good at:

Geography: 1

Hide: 2

History: 1

Languages: 2

Music: 1

Sciences: 2

Snoop: 2

Useless Facts: 1

This is my Stuff:

Microscope

Electric torch

Sketchpad and pencils

So, to review, here are the Primrose Lane Irregulars, in descending order of age:

Marta Sobieski, Swot, age 15

Meena Khan, Good Kid, age 14

Trey Hill, Good Kid, age 14

Billy Tucker, Truant, age 11

Lizzie Hill, Good Kid, age 10

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 8: Lashings of Ginger Beer (4 of 5)

 

We're sticking with Lashings of Ginger Beer for Day 4, which brings us Primrose Lane Irregular Freeman Hill, who has taken to calling himself "Trey" because his father and grandfather are also named "Freeman," making him the third of that name.* Trey is also a Good Kid, and also 14 years old. 

Like Meena, Trey starts with Attributes of 2 across the board, but I'm putting his extra point into Clever. He thinks of himself as the leader of the group (though Meena would tend to contest that), and indeed is usually the one who instigates the group's investigations.

Tough 2, Clever 3, Deft 2, Charm 2

For Skills, I'm going to give him a three-point Hobby of Photography, a point in Sports (football, this time), one each in Snoop and Hide, one in Spot Nasty People, and finally a point in Camping.

Since Trey and Lizzie share a family, I won't roll for siblings. Trey's the eldest, with twelve-year-old Des second, Lizzie third, and Christopher and Melanie bringing up the rear.

Photography is Trey's defining skill, so we'll start his Useful Items list with a camera before rolling on the table. And then the die decides to become difficult, rejecting an electric torch (roll 6 against a difficulty of 5), a length or rope (6>2), and a penknife (6>5), before allowing poor Trey a sleeping bag. (2<4). It balks again at a wristwatch (4>3), then relents with a 4 when I ask for a (kind of redundant, considering the camera) pair of binoculars (difficulty also 4).

Items: Camera, sleeping bag, pair of binoculars.

If the Primrose Lane Irregulars were an actual book series, Trey Hill would spend about a paragraph near the beginning of each book explaining that since his father and grandfather are also named Freeman, he is the third consecutive Freeman in his family, and calls himself "Trey" because it is a synonym of "three." (He would also note that it is a name people use in the US and Canada, but not so much in England, and he likes that because it's distinctive.) Trey wants to be a photojournalist when he finishes school, and investigating neighborhood mysteries is his outlet for that drive. 

OK, statblock time:

My name is Trey Hill. (OK, really it's Freeman Hill, but my dad and my grandpa are Freeman as well, so that makes me number three.)

I am a Good Kid.

I have five siblings, two sisters and three brothers and all younger than I am.

My Attributes are Tough 2, Clever 3, Deft 2, Charm 2.

I am good at:

Camping: 1

Hide: 3

Photography: 3

Snoop: 3

Sports: 2

Spot Nasty People: 1

This is my Stuff:

Camera

Pair of binoculars

Sleeping bag

*Apparently the nickname "Trey" is rare outside of the US and Canada, as is the use of "junior" or "III" to indicate repeated given names in consecutive generations. I should fix that and make it consistent throughout the LoGB posts, but I'm just going to attribute it to a personal quirk.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 7: Lashings of Ginger Beer (3 of 5)

 

With this next member of the Primrose Lane Irregulars we take a jump up to age 14, one of two characters of that age; the other one will be Lizzie's brother Trey (scheduled for tomorrow's post). 

A fourteen-year-old gets 2s across the board for Attributes and so will tend to be distinguished by the one score that receives a bonus point. I'm making this character a girl, and a jock--the extra point goes into Toughness.

Tough 3, Deft 2, Clever 2, Charm 2

The rules suggest no more than one Truant per group, so our girl will be a Good Kid with a focus on sports--which, in fact, appear on her Type's Skill list. 

The full list (again) is Act Innocently, Camping, Hobbies, Sports, Ride Bicycle, and Spot Nasty People, plus the universal two dice each in Hide and Snoop. I'll make a 3-point investment in Sports (specialty field hockey, I'm thinking) a single die in Bicycle, two in Camping, one in Act Innocently (comes in handy on the field), and one in Snoop. Which means I am Good At the following things:

Act Innocently 1, Camping 2, Hide 2, Ride Bicycle 1, Snoop 3, Sports 3

All right, on to my family. The die roll is 6, which I'm going to reject because there are just too darned many kids in these families. I'll settle for a 3, which means two siblings: a brother, age 8; and a sister, age 18. 

And finally let's get our Kid some stuff. Field hockey gear is the gimme, then we start playing the Useful Things Lottery. Can I get a two-person tent? (1<3=Yes) How about fishing gear? (1<4=Yes). That was surprisingly easy, and our sporty girl's kit is settled.

So, that completes Yasmeena (Meena) Khan, middle child, sporty but not quite a Tomboy. Her older sister Saadia is starting university with plans to become a doctor. Her younger brother Tariq is still basically unformed but not entirely useless at eight years. These three are the second generation of the family born in the UK; their grandparents immigrated from Pakistan in the mid- and late 1960s.And, as usual, we close with her stablock:

My name is Meena Khan.

I am a Good Kid.

I have two siblings: one younger brother and one older sister.

My Attributes are Tough 3, Deft 2, Clever 2, Charm 2

I am Good At:

Act Innocently: 1

Camping: 2

Hide: 2

Ride Bicycle: 1

Snoop: 3

Sports: 3

This is my stuff:

Field hockey gear (stick, ball, uniform, pads)

Two-person tent

Fishing gear

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 6: Lashings of Ginger Beer (2 of 5)

 

 

For our next member of the Primrose Lane Irregulars, we once again start by rolling d6 +9 to discover their age. 2 + 9 = 11, just a year older than Lizzie. In fact, I'm going to make age rolls for the rest of the group so that I can build this gang with a little more confidence. The next two rolls are 5 and 6, which gives us a 14- and a 15-year old. I had originally planned on four characters, but if I make two of them siblings I think I'll want a fifth; another 5 gives us a second 14-year-old. Lizzie's oldest brother is 14, so I can work with that match, but I'm going to present the characters from youngest to oldest and tell you about our eleven-year-old Truant.

At age 11, a Kid's starting attributes are Tough 2, Deft 2, Clever 1, Charm 3. I'm going to priotitize quickness over strength and assign the bonus point to Deft:

Tough 2, Deft 3, Clever 1, Charm 3

As noted before, this member of the Irregulars is going to be a Truant, the sort of Kid who is noted for mischief but not actually bad in any meaningful sense of the word. Mechanically, Truants are distinguished by a different skill list than Good Kids (or Swots); skills from the Good Kid list cost them double, but skills from the Swot list are three times as expensive. The Truant skill list includes Fight, Wriggle (from Grasp), Climb Trees and Walls, Catapult (or Slingshot in US parlance), Throw Things, and Lie Convincingly. In addition, our Truant will (like all Kids) start with two dice each in Snoop and Hide.

So we shop for eight points worth of Skills. Fight seems a little wasted on an eleven-year-old who'll mostly be facing off against wicked adults; Wriggle is a much better match. Climbing seems like a good general-use skill, and although one could make a good case for throwing by hand, the slingshot seems like a great anchor to build on. I'll put three in Catapult, two each in Wriggle and Climb, and drop the last point into Lie Convincingly. That shoukd complement Lizzie's skill set pretty well.

Catapult 3, Climb Trees and Walls 2, Hide 2, Lie Convincingly 1, Snoop 2, Wriggle (Out of Grasp) 2

Now for some Useful Items. Weirdly, catapult is not on the list (possibly because you're supposed to make it yourself); I'm going to take it as this Kid's automatic item anyhow. I'm going to try for a Rope; it's only a one-in-three chance (2 or less), but nothing ventured et cetera. I roll a 6: no rope. Apparently I need the Ride Bicycle skill to ride a bike at basic competence, so I won't bother trying and instead try for fishing gear, which is weirdly easy to obtain at a 4. 6 on the die--still beyond my grasp. All right, then, how about a pen-knife? That's a 5--almost every Kid should be able to get one. But the die says no: 6 again. Nobody trusts our Kid with anything fun, it seems. Trumpet is my next idea, another 4. And I roll exactly that: two out of three items secured. Perhaps I can lay hands on a bag of marbles? a 4 is under the required 5, so my bundle of Useful Things is finally complete. (Also the marbles make a nice complement to the catapult, if I ever run out of proper ammunition.)

OK, now it's sibling time. A roll of 4, minus one, leaves three siblings: sister, age 12; sister, age 13; brother, age 16. We'll make our PC a boy to even it out. 

Billy Tucker isn't a bad Kid, he just has a little trouble coloring inside the lines. He's impulsive and easily distracted--even for an eleven-year-old. He doesn't like being told what to do. His parents spend a lot of time apologising to neighbors and teachers, and Billy spends more than a little bit of time grounded. But he's generally kind to other Kids, thoughtful after a fashion (stealing an apple for a friend is thoughtful, right?), and genuinely sorry when he causes any damage. He just tends to get a little carried away. His parents worry a little about this "Irregulars" club, but the other Kids seem like a good influence, and they help keep Billy's extra energy pointed in a socially useful direction.

Again, ethnicity doesn't really come up in character generation (and, though this is more a comment on the source material than on the designer, probably because the characters are assumed to be white), but I am paying attention, and Billy is a white English boy of English parents, grandparents and probably great-grandparents as well.

Statblock:

My name is Billy Tucker.

I am a Truant.

I have one brother and two sisters, all of whom are older than me, and I am eleven years of age.

My Attributes: Tough 2, Deft 3, Clever 1, Charm 3

These are the things I am good at:

Catapult: 3

Climb Trees and Walls: 2

Hide: 2

Lie Convincingly: 1

Snoop: 2

Wriggle (out of Grasp): 2

This is my stuff:

A catapult

A bag of marbles

A trumpet

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 5: Lashings of Ginger Beer (1 of 5)

 

Simon Washbourne's Lashings of Ginger Beer is an RPG ode to the sort of children's adventures and mystery stories exemplified by Enid Blyton's Famous Five series-- a cozy (cosy?), mostly safe world where stakes are small, authorities are trustworthy, villains tend to be outsiders, and childhood is idyllic in an anachronistic (and simultaneously ahistorical) sort of way. In the manner of much recent children's entertainment, I'm going to update the diversity without making the setting much more realistic. Prepare, then, to meet the Primrose Lane Irregulars, a group of average kids whose nosey-parkering often roots out genuine skullduggery.

Player Characters in Lashing of Ginger Beer come in three Types: the "average" Good Kid, the rather bookish Swot, and the mildly rambunctious Truant. They range in age from ten to fifteen (either chosen by the player or randomly determined via d6+9), and their age determines the start values for their four Attributes (Tough, Deft, Clever, Charm). Tough and Clever vary directly with age, whereas Deft and Charm vary inversely. I'm going to start with random generation, but as the group fills out I can't promise I'll stick with it if I keep getting the same results.

My Age roll is a 1, for a ten-year old who is likely to be the youngest of the group, possibly a tag-along sibling or somesuch. The starting scores for a ten-year-old's Attributes are Tough 1, Deft 3, Clever 1, and Charm 3. I can add 1 to any single attribute and am inclined to select Charm for talking one's way out of trouble. So my stat line looks like this:

Tough 1, Deft 3, Clever 1, Charm 4

The next step is to select my Type. I'm going to be a bit dull and make our tagalong a Good Kid; I'd rather put the Swot and the Truant in the middle of the pack, agewise. Type determines my skill list or Things I Am Good At. All Kids are good at Hiding and Snooping; as a Good Kid I can also be good at Acting Innocently, Camping, Hobbies, Sports, Riding Bicycles, or Spotting Nasty People.  (I can also purchase from other Type lists at double the cost.) I'll get a d6 for every point in one of these, added to a d6 for every point in the relevant Attribute to create a die pool in which 6s count as successes. 

Snooping and Hiding start at 2 dice each; other skills default to 0, and I've got 8 points to spend. I'll want Act Innocently at 2 and Spot Nasty People at 1 to start with, add a die in Ride Bicycle, then spend the remaining 4 dice by adding one die to each skill. That puts me thus:

Act Innocently 3;  Hide 3, Ride Bicycle 2, Snoop 3, Spot Nasty People 2

Next I can obtain three Useful Items. There is a list; I can choose the first freely, then roll against a sort of rarity number to see which two others I manage to score. For my free choice I select a Scruffy Dog, every kid's best friend, especially whe you're the youngest in the gang. For my second item I roll on a Bicycle, which I can get on a 2 or less. A 2 puts it into my hands. For the third I go frivolous--a dog and a bike are eminently practical things for a kid to have--and try for a bag of bullseye candies. Five or less wins the sweets, and a 2 on the die finishes my list:

Scruffy dog, Bicycle, Bag of bullseyes

I can teach the dog one behavior for each point of Clever I have, which means it knows one trick. At least one of these must be to come when called, so that settles that.

Finally, I have d6-1 siblings, one of whom will likely be an older member of the Specials. I hit the jackpot with a 6, and so have five siblings of the following types:

1) older brother, age 12

2) younger brother, age 6

3) younger sister, age 5

4) older brother, age 14

5) younger brother, age 8

There's a dearth of girls in this family, so our protagonist is going to be female. Ten-year-old Lizzie Hill is one of the middle children in her large family and tends to get overshadowed by her older brothers Desmond and Trey (Freeman Hill III), not to mention the babies Chris and Melanie--her eight-year-old brother Lucas is in the same boat, but he's the quiet type and doesn't seem to mind so much. Fortunately, she has a best friend in her mixed-breed dog Scruffy (who answers to his name but not much else) and a talent for endearing herself to adults (even her harried parents are not entirely immune). She also has a knack for noticing when somebody's up to no good, which earns her the grudging acceptance of the older Irregulars.

It doesn't really come up in the mechanics, but I envision the Hills as a third-generation Caribbean-British family, with Black grandparents from Jamaica and Barbados (and possibly points elsewhere, haven't worked it all through yet) and parents born in England.

And now for a statblock, patterned after the game's character sheet.

My name is Lizzie Hill

I am a Good Kid

I have four brothers and 1 sister, and I am ten years of age.

My attributes: Tough 1, Deft 3, Clever 1, Charm 4

These are the things I am good at:

Act Innocently: 3

Hide: 3

Ride Bicycle: 2

Snoop: 3

Spot Nasty People: 2

This is my stuff:

Scruffy dog named "Scruffy"

Bicycle

Bag of bullseyes

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition (4 of 4)

 

We compete our Warhammer party with a wood elf, the last race on the core set's list. In keeping with the game's perpetuation of tried-and-true tropes, wood elves are graceful, somewhat xenophobic and militant nature lovers. Their bundle of goodies includes Forest Walk, which deducts two Misfortune dice from checks made while operating in woodland terrain; Nature Bond, which grants a Fortune die to Initiative, Observation, and Stealth checks made in woodland terrain; Orion's Favored, which lets them treat Ballistics Skill, Nature Lore, Observation and Stealth as career skills during character generation; and Night Vision, which (as with dwarves and high elves) deducts two Misfortune dice from checks made in low light or darkness. Their Agility and Willpower scores start at 3 (the other characteristics at 2), their baseline Wound Threshold is 8 plus their Toughness score, and they get 20 creation points for character generation.

So now we turn to the career deck and draw three options: Hunter and Scout are open to wood elves; Gambler is not, so I turn it in and receive Waywatcher in exchange. This last is wood-elf only; they're a sort of border patrol for the elven forests. It seems a little too narrow for what I'd like, so I let it go. Hunter and Scout are very similar, but ultimately I go with Scout.

The Scout's keywords are basic, menial, rogue, and rural. Its primary characteristics are Agility and Intelligence, so one at least overlaps with racial traits. The skill list consists of Ballistics Skill, Nature Lore, Observation, Ride, and Stealth, which means I get no real benefit from the Chosen of Orion racial ability, but that's OK since it's still more options than I'll be able to use at start. The two Talent slots permit one Tactic and one Focus.  My starting Stance track will be three green Conservative tiles and one red Reckless one. That's the third time for this party, IIRC; we're a careful group, it seems. The special Scout ability allows me to add an Expertise die to an Observation or Stealth check once per game session.

With the career bonuses to my primary characteristics, I'll go into the creation-point phase with a 4 in Agility, 2s in Strength, Toughness, and Fellowship, and 3s in Intelligence and Willpower. 20 points spends pretty quickly; I'll bring Intelligence up to 4, then Strength and Toughness up to 3 for a total cost of ten points.

If I let our scout's Wealth start at Poor, it'll only cost one point and they'll still get pretty decent equipment once you include the standard-issue scout gear, which gets me leather armor, a hand weapon, a bow, a dozen arrows, and possibly a horse with saddle and harness (though for this character it doesn't seem like a necessity, so maybe not). Add the simple yet sturdy outfit, a cloth rucksack, and second hand weapon to which my Wealth score entitle me, and I should be good to go, indeed right about at my Encumbrance limit of 15.

That leaves three points each for the other departments. I'll get to train 4 Skills and specialize two of them. Ballistics Skill (i.e., ranged combat) and Stealth seem like good priorities, and I'll add Nature Lore and Observation to round out the set. Then I'll specialize in Bows under Ballistics and Finding Food under Nature Lore.

For Talents I'm not sure whether to take two Tactics and a Focus, or vice versa. A look at the two decks suggests the first option: Shadow Stalker as a Focus (+1 Fortune die to Stealth checks), then I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (tap to recover 2 Fatigue) and Catlike Reflexes (tap to add 2 Fortune dice to an Agility check or 2 Misfortune dice to (an enemy's?) Dodge attempt). If the party tracking sheet ends up having a Tactic slot, either would come in handy.

My three remaining points will purchase four Action Cards to add to the basic set. There are a lot of good ranged attacks, and I spend three of my choices on those: Rapid Fire (for multiple attacks), Sniper Shot (for deadly high accuracy), and the Legolas-y Close Quarters Shot (for putting arrows in people trying to stab or hack me). For a fourth I select Find Weakness, which should make my shooting more effective.

My Stance track, as noted above, will consist of three green Conservative tiles and one red Reckless one

Now for a (thin) backstory and a name.  A scout's not well-connected, but might also be part of an intelligence network. Perhaps the elders of Athel Loren have received news of this strange seer and also want to keep an eye on him, even if his visions may just be delusions. The name generator offers up Zolcas, which has echoes of the Valar Tulkas. It'll do.

 

Stat block!

Zolcas,  rank 1 Scout (Wood Elf)

Wound Threshold: 11

Characteristics (trained skills and specializations)

Strength 3

Toughness 3

Agility 4 (Ballistics Skill 1 (bows), Stealth 1)

Intelligence 4 (Observation 1, Nature Lore 1 (finding food))

Willpower 3

Fellowship 2 

Special Abilities:

Forest Walk (racial): -2 Misfortune dice when operating in woodland terrain.

Nature Bond (racial): +1 Fortune die to Initiative, Observation, and Stealth checks made in woodland terrain.

Night Vision (racial): -2 Misfortune dice to checks made under low light or dark conditions.

Scout (career): +1 Expertise die to an Observation or Stealth check, once per session.

Shadow Stalker (focus): +1 Fortune die to Stealth checks.

Catlike Reflexes (tactic): tap for +2 Fortune dice to an Agility check or +2 Misfortune dice to a Dodge check

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (tactic): tap to recover 2 Fatigue points

Action deck: Block, Dodge Find Weakness, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, Ranged attack, Rapid Fire, Sniper Shot, Close-Quarters Shot

Stance Track: 3 Conservative, 1 Reckless

Equipment: Leather armor, hand axe, short sword, longbow, 12 arrows, rucksack, 1 suit sturdy clothing

Money: 50 silver

Encumbrance: limit 15, carrying 15

Now we have a party, but what kind of party? What party card best suits a group of spies and soldiers gathered to follow (and report on) the visions of a wizard? Gang of Thugs and Swords for Hire are out--not at all the right vibe. Servants of Justice is close; Intrepid Explorers is closer. But the closest is Brash Young Fools, which has a Reputation slot and a Focus slot, and gives the party a Fortune point every time its pool empties.

Tomorrow brings a new game and a new character, and I haven't decided what it's going to be yet, so it'll probably be something simple.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition (3 of 4)

 

Two characters remain for our Warhammer party*, and the two remaining races to choose from are both elves. High elves are next on the list, so let's have a look at their starting package.

High Elves are supposed to be super-sophisticated and ultra-civilized and so forth. They are noted for composure, which grants them a free Focus talent at generation; for erudition, which lets them start play with the Education skill for free; and for being the chosen of the divine mother Isha, which allows them to train discipline, intuition or observation as though they were career skills. In addition, they have night vision of the same type as dwarves. They also start with boosts to Agility and Intelligence, and have 20 creation points. They are less hardy than Men or Dwarves, however, with a base Wound Threshold of 8. 

With these factors in mind (more or less), I turn to the career deck so see what jobs the fates might bring this elf's way. Once again, only one of my first three draws is an eligible career: Mercenary. Initiate and Barber-Surgeon get discarded, to be replaced by Soldier and Boatman, which are both eligible. At this point I still haven't scrapped the human Coachman idea, so Boatman goes by the wayside yet again. Soldier and Mercenary are very similar in style, so I compare the details to see which fits better. The first privileges Toughness, the second Strength, and both have Willpower as their second primary characteristic. Both have riding as well as ranged and melee weapon skills on their career list, but the Soldier has Discipline** and Leadership whereas the Merc has Guile and Athletics. There's a good case to be made for either, but I'm warming more to Soldier, so that's my choice.

The Soldier's keywords are Basic, Combat, Military, and Specialist. As noted, its primary characteristics are Toughness and Willpower, and its career skills are Ballistic Skill, Discipline, Leadership, Ride, and Weapon Skill. The starting Stance track contains two green Conservative tiles and two red Reckless tiles, and the career has one Talent slot each for a Tactic and a Reputation. The Soldier's special ability allows them to recover 1 point each of Fatigue and Stress during each Rally step in the combat sequence. 

(I'm already seeing this character as an officer sent by wise heads in Ulthuan to keep an eye on Hildebrand and provide intelligence on the boy's visions.)

So let's spend some creation points. The career-based Toughness and Willpower boosts mean that before any investments I've got a 3 in everything but Strength and Fellowship, which is a challenge because i'll need the former for melee combat and the latter for Leadership and diplomacy. Six points gets me to threes across the board. Four more to bring Fellowship up to 4, that's half my allotment. I think I'll stop there and spend the rest on skills, talents, actions and wealth.

A 2-point investment in Wealth gets me to Comfortable, which should be good enough: 2 sets of decent clothes, a satchel or rucksack, a few minor items to be determined, a hand weapon, and two gold coins, plus my military-issue gear of a suit of scale armor, another hand weapon, and a shield. That's going to exceed my Encumbrance, though, so I'm going to leave out one hand weapon and just carry a longsword.

My Skill options include Discipline, Intuition, Observation, Ballistic Skill, Leadership, Ride, and Weapon Skill. I'm spending three points, so I can train 4 of those and add two specializations. I have to take Leadership; it's the main reason I picked Soldier over Mercenary. I'll need Weapon Skill as well; somebody's got to be the muscle in this group, and I've got average Strength so I need to boost that with skill. I'll want Intuition or Observation for my functions as a liaison-spy; I opt for Observation. That leaves one, and it's a difficult call; most of these are already covered elsewhere in the party. Discipline seems like the most appropriate of the lot, since our hero's going to have to keep her head amid conflicting pressures. For specializations I'll take hand weapons under Weapon Skill and politician under Leadership, since the role is more diplomatic than strictly military.

Five points left and two categories. It's permitted to have more Talents than slots, but only two can be active at one time. I'll try that out here, spending three points on three Talents and two on Action cards. One Reputation, one Tactic, and one more from either group. As a High Elf, I'm also entitled to a free Focus talent, but I don't have a slot for it on my career card, though apparently I can slot it on the Party sheet (when we get one) and use it for the group as a whole. I don't see a lot of great Reputation options, but there are good ones; I like Confident, which I can tap to negate two Bane results on an Intelligence, Willpower, or Fellowship roll, and Resourceful, which I can tap to add an Expertise die to an Intelligence check. In the Tactics deck I'm most attracted to Flanking Maneuver, which lets me add a Fortune die to my and my allies' melee attacks when we gang up on an enemy. I can swap out Talents freely during story-mode play, or through a Maneuver during encounter play, but I can't swap out tapped Talents so I need to gauge correctly which Reputation I'm going to want to lean on before I use it. (I'm sure this problem would come up eventually, since gaining Talents is part of the advancement process.) For the floating Focus talent I take Keen Eyes, which adds a Fortune die to Observation checks involving vision.

Now on to Action cards. As ever, I get the usual array of basic Action cards: Block, Dodge, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, and Ranged Attack. My last two creation points buy three more.There aren't a lot of leadership-based actions, but I can take Exploit Opening, which gives my allies various in-combat opportunities based on the die results. Setup Strike is a good melee action, opening up an enemy for someone else's attack. Sword and Board lets me use Block a little more frequently.

A quick review of my Stance track shows a balanced line of two conservative and two reckless tiles.

Finally, we move on to background and give our High Elven junior officer a name. Using the same generator that brought me Birzad Stoutcask, I note that in contacts with outsiders High Elves seem to use a first name and an epithet; I also note that I don't really like the personal names the generator is offering me. I settle on Kheiveha the Patient, with her high-elven arrogance tempered by a diplomatic posture (and junior status in her organization).

 

Kheiveha the Patient, rank 1 Soldier (High Elf)

Wound Threshold: 11

Characteristics (trained skills and specializations):

Strength: 3  (Weapon Skill 1 (hand weapons))

Toughness: 3

Agility: 3

Intelligence: 3 (Observation 1)

Willpower: 3 (Discipline 1)

Fellowship: 4 (Leadership 1 (politician))

Advanced Skills (specializations):

Education 0

Special Abilities:

Night Vision (racial): -2 Misfortune dice on checks made in low-light or darkness.

Soldier (career): Recover 1 fatigue and 1 stress during each Rally step in combat.

Confident (reputation): Tap to negate two Bane results on an Intelligence, Willpower, or Fellowship check.

Resourceful (reputation): Tap to add one Expertise die to an Intelligence check.

Flanking Maneuver (tactic): When engaged with one or more allies against an enemy, add one Fortune die to each member's melee attacks against said enemy.

Keen Eyes (focus): add a Fortune die to Observation checks involving vision.

Stance Track: Two conservative, two reckless

Equipment: Ulthuan scale armor, kite shield, longsword, two suit clothing, rucksack, note paper, ink.

Money: 2 gold coins

Encumbrance: Limit 15, carrying 14

Action Deck: Block, Dodge, Exploit Opening, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, Ranged Attack, Setup Strike, Sword and Board

*The core set actually recommends a three-character party as the optimum, and the box set's accessories are geared toward that standard, but I want to use all four races and I don't have to worry about running out of any given type of card here in Hypothetical Land.

**Which is also available through my racial background, I realize, but I'm still drawn to the image of the well-trained regular soldier over the allegedly more unruly mercenary.