electricpaladin | (no subject)

I'm going to make a character for every game I own. It's an rpg.net thing.

Those of you who are gamers may find this amusing. Those of you who are not will probably be bored to tears. I don't care. This is my livejournal. I can post about rutabagas if I want to.

I'm going to do it in alphabetical order, so that it will serve the secondary purpose of boasting about how many games I own.

As an aside, I'm going to follow the format set up by

innocent_man.

The Game: Adventure!
Publisher: White Wolf
Degree of Familiarity: Low. I played around with Jon's copy, and I skimmed it when I first acquired my own, but I've never run it or played it. I vaguely recall making a character for it, but that was a long time ago.

Adventure is a game of pulp action that ostensibly takes place in the same world as Aberrant and Trinity. Aberrant is humanity in an age of mutant superheroes and Trinity is a futuristic dystopia in which those superheroes have become monsters and need to be fought off by heroic psychics. Adventure is a that same world in the 1920s, where the same people who will later be the psychics and superheroes of the other two games are just the extraordinary people of a heroic pulp action era.

Phase One: Genesis

In this part of the process, I am supposed to be designing an ordinary person who will later become extraordinary through exposure to cosmic energy. That doesn't really apply here, since my character has always been odd (born, as he was, on Mars - see below). Still, in this phase I'll do my best to focus on the more mundane aspects of his identity.

Step One: Concept

For concept, I decide to do something a little silly. I want to play the bastard love child of Stranger in a Strange Land's Michael and John Carter of Mars's John Carter, with an injection of Superman. My character is the human child of human Martian royalty (descended, the legends go, from humans plucked from Earth by unknowable alien minds and forced to make new lives on the wild surface of the Red Planet). He was sent to earth after savage martians invaded his family compound, killing his parents.

I want him to be pretty significantly Martian, so he was an adolescent when this happened. On the other hand, I want him to be more or less adapted to life on earth - he speaks several of the languages and can fake cultural familiarity, even if he doesn't really grok earthlings. Of course, he'd really like to return home in triumph and take back his family's kingdom, but this is a distant goal (until the ST led the game in that direction). In the meantime, he's content to gather power on earth and wait.

Finally, it's time to name this gentleman. In homage to the two characters that inspired him, I have decided that he has taken the earthling name John Michaels. His Martian name, however, is Jax Mi'har.

The game asks me to select an origin for my character. This gives me one point of the background of my choice, with guidelines. I decide that Foreigner - specifically, Royalty in Exile, and you can't get much more foreign than Mars - is the most appropriate. My options for Foreigner are Allies or Resources. I'll go with Resources. Jax brought some Martian gadgets into exile with him that he was able to sell off at fantastic prices, forming the nucleus of a fortune.

The game also suggests that I choose an Allegiance, which gives me a free dot in Backing for that organization. After perusing the options, I decide that Jax has joined the Aeon Society for Gentlemen. They seem like good sorts, the kind who would like to see an earth-friendly dictatorship reestablished on Mars. They also seem the sophisticated type of people who would show a lot of respect for exiled royalty, even from Mars.

The book also notes that the Aeon Society isn't a very hierarchy-driven organization, so Backing doesn't matter very much. Jax's membership is liable to gain him Allies and Contacts and involve dots in Influence and Resources.

Finally, I need to give John a Virtue and a Vice. Following his Virtue grants him Willpower; resisting the urge to follow his Vice costs him Willpower. For his Virtue, I choose Leader. John is a born king, destined to rule. For his Vice, I choose Paragon. Jax Mi'Har of Mars was raised to follow his father's uncompromising standards of right and wrong, and he accepts no compromise!

Step Two: Attributes

Adventure uses a 6/4/3 spread. First, I have to prioritize my Attributes. Jax was first and foremost raised to be a ruler, so I think Social is his primary category. After that, he was meant to be royalty of a warlike planet, so Physical is secondary. That leaves mental Tertiary, which sticks a little - I like the idea of Jax being bright, maybe something of a scientist. Someone is going to have to bring on the mad Martian tech, after all. Fortunately, I'll have more points to spend later.

Appearance gets two points (bringing it to three), Manipulation gets one (bringing it to two), and Charisma also gets two. I want John to be charming and attractive, but also forthright and honest. The harsh deserts of Mars have no room for liars and cheats (well, plenty of room, but that's Jax's ethos speaking). Strength and Stamina are average - Mars has lower gravity than Earth, which means Jax isn't as strong or tough as he's used to being - but his Dexterity is still three thanks to hours of sword-training. Finally, I'll go average across the board for his Mental traits.

Step Three: Abilities

I have twenty-three points to spend on Abilities.

The idea is for John to physically impressive, but to also have the potential for leadership. I also want to delve ever so slightly into the science hero archetype. He's no mad, brilliant genius, but I want him to have and be able to use and maintain some exciting Martian technology.

For physical skills: two go into Archery (I like the idea of Martians using elaborate bows with various kinds of fantastic high tech arrowheads rather than guns), one goes into Athletics, one goes into Martial Arts (elaborate Martian self-defense techniques), and three go into Melee (Martian fencing!).

For mental skills: one goes into Awareness, one goes into Academics (he's had to study up on Earthling history and culture), two into Engineering and Science (remember the mad Martian tech), one into Linguistics (for now - Jax probably knows several human languages in addition to Martian), and two go into Survival (for dealing with the Martian deserts!).

Finally, for social skills, I'll put one point into Intimidation and Style (an unearthly, but regal style, but style nonetheless), two points into Animal Handling (for riding six-legged Martian lizards!), two points into Command, and one point into Etiquette.

Step Four: Backgrounds

I get six points to spend on Backgrounds, not counting the free point I already have in Backing and Resources.

I want to put some points into Gadget, to represent the aforementioned exotic Martian technology. When all is said and done, I can spare two points. I'm going to put one point in Influence, to represent the fact that those rare people who know about Jax - and are willing to believe his story - do treat him like minor royalty, just in case he ever comes back into power. One point in Menagerie will give John some kind of strange-looking Martian hunting hawk companion. Finally, two more points of Resources gives me Resources 3, fairly wealthy.

Step Five: Finishing Touches

Here I do some basic recording and calculation. Willpower three, Inspiration zero, Initiative Dexterity + Wits.

I have fifteen bonus points to spend. I buy my Archery up to three (because I strongly suspect that my Gadget is going to be a Martian bow with various exciting Martian arrows), my Linguistics up to three, a point of Rapport. I'll also increase his Willpower to four and his Intelligence to 3.

That ends Phase One. Now we move on to...

Phase Two: Transformation

Here is where I add the magical elements to John. As I wrote above, it doesn't really apply, but I'll do my best.

Step One: Inspiration

Here, I choose what sort of Inspired person John is going to be. My choices are Heroic (just an ordinary person in an extraordinary age... but with a few nifty tricks up his sleeves), Dynamic (precursors of the Aberrants), or Mesmerist (precursors to the Psions). I'll go with Dynamic - his powers will generally be physical, though he will also have access to mental powers based on his super-powered brain.

Step Two: Define the Inspiration

The instructions for this step are to define my primary Inspiration facet. My choices are Intuitive (capacity to subconsciously manipulate fate and make surprising mental leaps), Reflective (capacity for superhuman introspection and focus), and Destructive (smashin' stuff up). I think Jax is best reflected by the Intuitive Facet. Sure, he's a warrior, but he's also a king-in-the-making, and I imagine him more performing death-defying feats than breaking things.

At this point, the game also asks me to consider how my character became Inspired. Despite his extraordinary history, I think Jax Mi'Har's moment of Inspiration came while he was falling to earth in his father's experimental Star-Skimmer... he took the controls, overrode his father's programming, and made it safely to ground.

Step Three: Transformation Points

I get 13 points to spend on Transformation. These are like super bonus points. I'll start by buying my Inspiration up to five - it's one of those things I've been told is generally a good idea, and there's no reason not to.

After that, let's see... I'll spend one point to add four Background points, increasing my Gadget to 4 (I like the idea of both an outlandish Martian bow and maybe also some kind of flying machine), my Resources to 4, and my Influence to 2. I would love to be able to play up the exiled otherworldly royalty angle, and now I have the money and influence to back it up.

One Inspiration point also buys me five Ability points. I'll spend two on Abilities, however, to pick up a Pilot of 3, Athletics of 3, Intimidation and Command of 2 and 3, an Archery of 5, and a Linguistics of 4.

One Inspiration point buys me two more Attribute points, which I spend on Wits and Dexterity, bringing them to 3 and 4 respectively.

I'll also pick up some Knacks - special powers that come from my status as one of the Inspired. I like the idea of Jax as a brilliant strategist - he'll need to be to take his kingdom back - so I'll buy Sun Tzu's Blessing. I also want him to be resistant to the elements, thanks to his Martian heritage, so I'll select Man for All Seasons. Finally, I'm seeing a pattern of High Initiative here, so I'll take Superhuman Resflexes.

As a finishing touch, I get to divide my five Inspiration points up among my three facets, noting that Intuitive has to be the highest, since it's my primary. My neatest Knack (Sun Tzu's Blessing) uses Reflective, so I'll want a high rating in that one, too. I decide on an Intuitive Facet of 2, a Reflective Facet of 2, and a Destructive Facet of 1. Despite his warrior's heritage, John Michaels is a leader and a thinker at heart.

I also want to quickly design my Gadgets. A rating of 4 means I have nine Options to divide up amongst my two gadgets, which start as ordinary devices and get improved from there.

Jax Mi'Har's Martian Bow is a massive arch of alien metals layered with the bones and horns of various Martian creatures, strung with the gut of the elusive Kralix-Beast, which Jax killed himself (with a little help from his father) as part of his initiation into Martian adulthood. It uses the template of an ordinary bow but adds +3 to accuracy and double normal range, giving it a superior range to most personal firearms. One more advancement point will serve, I think, to let it fire special Martian arrows, which all function as various kinds of grenades. In play, I could use my Engineering to whip up new kinds of Arrows, and in an actual game I'd negotiate with the ST for what I'm starting with.

I'll also give John a flying motorcycle thing, salvaged from the remains of the space vehicle which brought him to Earth in the first place. It starts as a motorcycle, but one Option makes it fly, and three more add three quarters again to its top and safe speeds.