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.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 2: Warhammer FRP (2 of 4)

 

Yesterday we started this year's challenge with the core character of a Warhammer 3e party: Hildebrand Silbertasse, a human Apprentice Wizard of sheltered background and unsettling visions. Working my way through the available player-character races, today we'll be building a Dwarf from the hold Karak Azgaraz. A Dwarf only gets 20 character creation points compared to the human's 25, but in compensation receives some higher starting characteristics. In addition, as a Child of Grungni, an Azgaraz dwarf can train Discipline, Resilience, or Weapon Skill regardless of career. (The training still costs creation points, apparently.) The cultural trait of holding a Grudge gives a dwarf a bonus die to attack hereditary enemies as well as any individual that has wounded them. Physically Sturdy, dwarves get a bonus to their encumbrance limit. And Night Vision reduces the penalties for effects of low light or darkness. Dwarves also have a higher Wound Threshold than humans: 10 plus their Toughness score.

With that part settled, it's time to consult the career deck. At this point in the process I still thought the human character was going to be a Coachman, so that card stayed out of the mix. I drew Troll Slayer, Zealot, and Warden, the latter two of which are human-only options. Two more draws added Messenger and Boatman. Although Troll Slayer is a perfectly respectable dwarven career, it seemed a little intense for what I was trying to do at the time (four normies thrown together by fate), and Boatman was too close to Coachman, so I opted for Messenger, which I kept even after retconning the human character. 

The Messenger's keywords are Basic, Bureaucrat, Social, and Urban. (Basic careers, I forgot to mention yesterday, are open to beginning characters; there are a few Advanced options in the deck, and I removed those before drawing.) Primary characteristics are Agility and Fellowship; it's a diplomatic role that requires high mobility. Messenger career skills include Charm, Folklore, Intuition, Ride and Stealth: again, a combination of people and mobility skills, plus some general knowledge about the world. The starting Stance track comprises three green and one red tile--another careful adventurer here. The Messenger's career ability grants a free maneuver (similar to a minor action in other systems) every time the party's Fortune pool refreshes*

All right; time to spend some creation points, beginning with Characteristics. Dwarves start with scores of 3 in Strength and Toughness and 2 in everything else, which is a bit awkward since I need Agility and Fellowship for my job. Buying both up to 4 will cost 14 of my 20 creation points and still leave me with sub-standard scores. Fortunately, as I missed in the rules when I built Hildebrand (and really should go back and fix, poor chook), before I customize I'm supposed to boost each career primary by 1. So our dwarven courier will start at 3 in Agility and Fellowship as well as in Strength and Toughness, and bumping the primaries up to 4 will only cost eight points. I think Willpower could alo use a boost, so that's another 3, and might as well bring up Intelligence while I'm at it: still 14 points spent, but a much better return for it.

Next we consider Wealth. I've only got six points left, so I think I'll start this character out Poor at a cost of 1. That provides a durable if unfashionable suit of clothes, a cloth rucksack, some sort of inexpensive weapon, and 50 silver coins (equivalent to half a gold coin). Career-based equipment includes another weapon, leather armor, a swift horse (or pony, I'm guessing, in this case), some maps, and a seal representing their employer.

Then we're on to Skills. The developers didn't use example characters for whatever reason, but they do call out free skill trainings and foci in other places, so I assume (with some disappointment) that my dwarf's racial skill will also require an investment of points. Two points will buy three trainings and one specialization, with a dauntingly large menu to choose from. I'll want either Discipline or Resilience, which are the mental and physical (respectively) skills for holding up under pressure or strain. I opt for Discipline and the power of keeping my mouth shut. I'll add Stealth and Folklore to shape something aloing the lines of a covert courier. A specialization in Geography (under Folklore) will cap skills off nicely.

I've got three points left moving into Talents. Two points will buy me a card for each slot (one Reputation, one Focus), but leave me with only one point for Action cards (which will buy two).  There are a lot of potentially useful Reputation cards, likewise with Focus, so I think I'll live with two Talents and two non-basic Action cards. I like the focus Resolute (tap card to recover 2 stress) and the reputation Gregarious (add 1 fortune die to Charm checks).

That brings us to the Action deck. My remaining point lets me buy two Action cards for my deck, so in addition to the basic set (Block, Dodge, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, Ranged Attack) I'll take the Charm-based Winning Smile and Cut & Run, which is based on Weapon Skill but fits the courier profile so i'll take it anyhow.

Now let's review Stances. Our track currently consists of three green Conservative tiles and one red Reckless tile, and AFAIK I don't have a way to change that yet, nor do I particularly want to.

And now it's time to put a name and a history to our young courier. Her employer is probably not very important, or she'd be paid better. Perhaps she's a low-level agent in the Azgaraz intelligence network, recruited to carry reports from brewing trouble spots to the Hold, and she's been roped into this party through one of Hildebrand's visions (also convinced to stay by the promise of a treasure payoff larger than she's accustomed to). The rulebooks don't throw around a lot of names as examples, and the names shown are vaguely Tolkien-y but not super consistent. An online Warhammer name generator offers ten options at a time; after a few clicks I go with Birzad as a personal name, and recombine some of the roots I see to come up with Stoutcask as a surname.

And that gets us ready for a statblock.

Birzad Stoutcask, rank 1 Messenger (Azgaraz Dwarf)

Wound Threshold: 13

Characteristics (trained skills):

Strength 3

Toughness 3

Agility 4 (Stealth)

Intelligence 3 (Folklore 1 (Geography))

Willpower 3 (Discipline 1)

Fellowship 4

Special Abilities: 

Grudge (racial): +1 Fortune die on attacks against orcs, goblins, or snotlings, or against any creature that has wounded you in this encounter.

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

Sturdy (racial): +5 maximum Encumbrance.

Messenger (career): may immediately perform a free Maneuver when Fortune refreshes.

Gregarious (reputation): add 1 fortune die to Charm checks

Resolute (focus): tap to recover 2 stress

Stance Track: 3 conservative, 1 reckless

Equipment: suit of clothes, rucksack, hand weapon (cutlass), light crossbow, 12 bolts, leather armor, a swift pony (with saddle and harness), some maps, employer's seal.

Money: 50 sp

Encumbrance: limit 30, carrying 

Action Deck: Block, Cut and Run, Dodge, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, Ranged Attack, Winning Smile

*The party's Fortune pool increases as individual players spend points, then refreshes at intervals to let players recoup said points. I'm not entirely sure how the mechanic works, to be honest.

Character Creation Challenge (2023), day 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition (1 of 4)

Image via RPGGeek.com

This year's challenge begins with a game that didn't quite make the cut last year. As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the strategies I'm using to keep this project from taking over my life this year is to make groups of characters for a single system, so my first four posts for 2023 are going to be a party of WFRP adventurers. I'm not really a Warhammer guy; you can't spend a lot of time knocking around this hobby without absorbing at least some of the lore (mostly 40K, really, but some of the fantasy stuff as well, since they're connected), but to call my knowledge of the Warhammer world "shallow" would be rather an understatement. 

HOWEVER. I remembered the buzz (both positive and negative) when Fantasy Flight released their licensed version of Games Workshop's classic (and my own experience of noodling around a bit with 2e back in the '90s), so when I found a used-or-remaindered copy at a local Half Price Books a few years ago I figured it was worth fifty bucks to see what it took to fill a box that size with a single core rules set. (You can see what it took in the photo above, though it doesn't really show what all those cards are actually for.) I got it home, poked around the contents a bit, then put it away as I had more pressing matters to deal with at the time. 

Until now. I didn't really have time to get far into the gameplay part of the rules (just like last year!), but character generation is actually pretty simple once you get your head around its elements (and the role of the cards in the whole thing). (I'm also not going to spend a lot of time on setting stuff here, except to note that it's a lot like D&D except somewhat darker, grittier, and lower-to-the-ground than contemporary D&D. Renaissance-adjacent not-Europe, with Tolkien-derived non-humans, among other things that I didn't read deeply enough to talk about.) The actual character sheet is quite small--a little larger than a 4"x6" index card--but you're going to build on that with cards from the various decks.

The core set offers four races for player characters: Humans of the Empire, Dwarves, High Elves, and Wood Elves. There we go, party of four right there. I'll take these in order even though I'm giving the humans-first, everyone-else-alphabetical presentation a little sideye. So the first character in our group will be a Human. As in most D&D-esque fantasy, humans are more or less the default all the other species are measured against, but they get some goodies of their own as well. Humans are adaptable (with a lower cost for changing careers) and Favored by Fate (so that once per session they can add extra dice to a check). In addition they get 25 character creation points to other races' 20. Their Wound Threshold base is 9, plus Toughness score.

The second step after choosing a race is to select a career for your character. The default is semi-randomized: there is a deck of career cards, and you draw three cards from it (after shuffling, of course), discard any for which your race is not eligible, and continue drawing until you have three to choose from. Humans are eligible for most things, and my initial draws were all fair game: Burgher (i.e., respectable townsman), Coachman, Hunter. I was drawn to Coachman, thinking that it would offer a good party-creation hook (PCs traveling together by coach are thrown into adventure when disaster strikes), but eventually the idea turned out to be more challenging to implement than I had anticipated, also I wanted to see how the magic systems worked, so I tossed all three, and I chose Apprentice Wizard over the priestly Initiate for this character. (Divine and arcane magic use very similar mechanics, so I figured six of one and flipped for it.)

The career cards provide relevant mechanical information (and a character illustration) on the obverse and setting/fiction information (aka "fluff") on the reverse. Right below the career name on the Apprentice Wizard card are four Traits: Academic, Arcane, Basic, Wizard. These keywords can interact with other rules in various ways, most generally when a player contemplates changing careers. 

The box below that provides relevant information for character creation. Intelligence and Willpower are the primary characteristics for this career, and I'll want to buy those up when I get to that part of character generation. My skill list consists of the basic skills Discipline, Intuition, and Observation, which I can use untrained, and the advanced skills Channeling, Education, Magical Sight, and Spellcraft, which cannot be used untrained (and which cost a creation point to access at rank 0, so you're an advance behind where you would be with a basic skill). I'll have to spend creation points to gain ranks in skills. 

Most careers also begin with a stance meter, a line made of of green Conservative and red Reckless tiles that indicate how you're approaching a given encounter. Your stance allows you to add green or red dice to your checks, but the more committed to a stance you are (and therefore the more dice of that color you can add), the more effort it takes to change course. The Apprentice Wizard's stance track depends upon the College they belong to, which we'll determine later.

Below that box is another detailing the options for advancement that come with experience. Since we're creating beginning characters, we can skip that, stopping only to note that each career allows you to buy each type of advancement only a few times, often only once or twice, and that once you've earned all the available advancements you are considered to have completed the career.

Now, to the right of the character illustration (which depicts a "typical" member of the profession) there are some slots for Talent cards, indicating the type that may be applied. The Apprentice Wizard has a slot for an Order (the college of magic to which they belong) and a slot for a Focus (which is usually an intellectual or knowledge-based benefit). Buying Talents also costs creation points, though if I have read the rules correctly you don't have to pay for your Order. (Also there are some skills you may get for free; it's not 100% clear to me.)

Now that I have a Career and some idea of what I'll need to pursue it, it's time to spend those creation points. Characteristics default to a value of 2, and each one-step increase costs a number of points equal to the new value--so bumping a characteristic up to the human average is going to cost 3 of my 25 points. There are six Characteristics, three physical (Strength, Toughness, Agility) and three mental (Intelligence, Willpower, Fellowship). Some of these are going to have to stay below average, and since I'm a wizard here those will be Strength and Toughness. And, since I'm beginning to see this character as a bit of a sheltered naif, we'll keep Fellowship at 2 as well. Raising Agility to 3 costs 3 points; bumping Intelligence and Willpower up to 4 each will cost 14 (three each to make 3, four each to reach 4). That leaves me 8 creation points for skills, talents, wealth, and action options.

Spending 2 points on Wealth puts me at a "comfortable" lifestyle, which starts me out with two sets of clothes (and a bag for the spare), a basic weapon (such as a dagger), a couple of minor amenities such as candles or a tinderbox, and two gold coins worth of cash, which is actually a fair bit of money. This would seem to be in addition to the wizardly accoutrements listed on the back of my Career card: a notebook of magical writings, robes in the color of my College, a passport from my master permitting me to travel, and my wizard's staff (or other talismanic item). Not bad. But at Strength 2 it's not clear at all that I can carry all of it. So I'm going to forgo the dagger and keep only one suit of clothes in my bag. 

Now let's look at Skills, I have seven career skills, and two creation points will let me train three of them. But that's a hard call, and I'm going to get a School for free in one of my talent slots, so I'll spend three points here for 4 training slots and 2 skill specializations. According to the arcane magic booklet, an apprentice wizard starts with 0-level training in Channeling and Spellcraft before spending creation points, so I can invest in one or two Basic skills as well. Channeling lets you gather the magical energy that Spellcraft lets you shape into actual magic. The other advanced skills are Education (which you need for basic literacy) and Magical Sight (which lets you detect and interpret magical energies, characterized her as Winds).  As Advanced skills, each investment in these brings me up to a sort of rank 0 where I can use the skill as if it were an untrained Basic skill. That leaves me with two points, which i'll invest in Discipline (so as to better avoid miscasting) and Intuition (this character is shaping up in my head as a dreams-and-visions kind of wizard, thus providing a lead-in to new adventures). 

I also get two specializations; under Spellcraft I'll specialize in the spells of my College (which we'll select under Talents below), and under Magical Sight I'll specialize in locating auras. 

Now for Talents. My College or Order comes under this heading, and then I'll choose one more from the Focus deck. The blue-robed Celestial Order handles divination and sky-magic, which is exactly the kind of thing I have in mind for this young wizard. The associated bonus is that I can spend an extra point of power to add a bonus die to any Celestial spell I cast. For a second Focus I choose Instinctive, which provides a bonus die to Intuition checks. (In addition to these, as an Apprentice Wizard I have a career-based ability, also represented by a card, that gives me a bonus die on Spellcraft checks for spells of rank 1 or lower.

Finally (on the mechanics side, that is), I build my Action deck. I'll get a selection of Basic actions to start with (some general, some wizard-specific); my remaining two creation points entitle me to three more on top of that. General basic actions include Assess the Situation, Block, Dodge, Guarded Position, Melee Attack, Parry, Perform a Stunt, and Ranged Attack. I don't meet the minimum Toughness requirement for Block or the minimum Strength for Parry, so I'll have to discard those. As a wizard I'll also get Channel Power and the basic spells Cantrip, Counterspell, and Magic Dart. I'll add three rank-1 Celestial spells with dvinination effects (Fair Warning, First Portent of Amul, and Omen) and that should set me up for action.

The next step is to determine available Stances. For an Apprentice Wizard, these are derived from your College; the initial Celestial Order track consists of three green Conservative tiles and one red Reckless tile, which I guess makes sense for a school that's all about reading the signs and portents. 

Okay, so far it's been almost all mechanics up to this point. Who is this kid, anyway? I see him as the son of a comfortable artisan or townie family of Marienburg who packed him off to wizard school in Altdorf when he began having visions and disturbing dreams at a young age. He's not well-socialized, but he does have an uncanny intuition in addition to his magical abilities. He's also a magnet for quests, and a small group of adventurers have gathered around him to protect him and help him pursue the quests that appear in his visions. His name is Hildebrand Silbertasse. 

EDIT: I missed the first time around that beginning characters add one to each of their primary characteristics before spending creation points, which gives Hildy six points back to play with. Adding one to Intelligence will cost 5; I can't spend more on skills, but I can beef up his Wealth to Affluent, which entitles him to more equipment than he can comfortably carry, but which also gives him three more gold coins and a healing potion. 

Stat block time:

Hildebrand Silbertasse, rank 1 Apprentice Wizard (Reiksmann)

Wound Threshold: 11

Characteristics (trained skills):

Strength 2

Toughness 2

Agility 3

Intelligence 5 (Intuition 1)

Willpower 4 (Discipline 1)

Fellowship 2

Advanced Skills (specializations): 

Channeling 0

Education 0

Magical Sight 0 (locate aura)

Spellcraft 0 (Celestial College)

Special Abilities:

Favored by Fate (racial): may add two Fortune dice to a check, once per session.

Apprentice Wizard (career): Add one Fortune die to Spellcraft checks for spells of rank 1 or lower.

Azyr, Lore of the Heavens (magical college--Celestial order): May spend 1 additional power to add a Fortune die to a check for casting a Celestial Order spell.

Instinctive (Focus): add one Fortune die to Intuition checks.

Stance Track: 3 Conservative, 1 Reckless

Equipment: Notebook, wizard's staff, Celestial College robes, high-quality clothes, leather satchel, paper and ink, 2 candles, healing potion, passport from master

Money: 5 gp

Encumbrance: limit 10, carrying 10

Action Deck: Cantrip (spell), Channel Power, Counterspell (spell), Dodge, Fair Warning (spell), First Portent of Amul (spell), Guarded Position, Magic Dart (spell), Melee Attack, Omen (spell), Perform a Stunt, Ranged Attack