40 Characters Before 2020, #3--Star Trek Adventures

Like our previous game, Star Trek Adventures is a Modiphius joint.  Also like Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, it features a lifepath system that allows for more-or-less full random generation, which is what we are going to do here.  As you might expect, Star Trek Adventures is about making Starfleet Officers to boldly go, etc.

The primary choice that you need to make up front is what era you are going to go with--the Star Trek: Enterprise era, the Original Series, or the Next Generation.  Next Generation provides the most options in terms of species, so let's go with that.

Step One:  Species.  Pretty much what it says on the tin.  I rolled a 6, which gives me a Betazoid (i.e. Counselor Troi's people).

Species provides +1 to three Attributes, out of the six of Daring (both bravery and fast-twitch reactions), Control (concentration and willpower, but also fine coordination), Fitness, Presence, Insight (intuition and problem solving), and Reason.  In the case of a Betazoid, you get +1 to Insight, Presence, and Reason.  Since the Attributes start a 7, this gives me:

• Daring 7, Control 7, Fitness 7, Presence 8, Insight 8, Reason 8

I also add the "Betazoid" trait, which basically just means that the GM is within his or her rights to impose penalties or bonuses for Betazoid-related things (like if I am trying to lie).  I also get one Talent, which I can take from the general list or from the species-specific list.  For Betazoids, I have to put one Talent into either Empath or Telepath, so I might as well use it now to pick Telepath.

Step Two:  Environment.  This is the kind of planet or location that your character grew up on.  My d6 roll was a 2, for "Busy Colony World," and the idea here is that it is an old and well established colony world, inhabited for hundreds of years.  I didn't know the Betazoids had colonies, but, sure.

The first thing you pick is a "Value," which is a statement of personal belief.  Values are one of the best parts of Star Trek Adventures, in that they create strong game mechanic hooks for the kinds of moral and ethical conflicts that are the heart of Star Trek.  Here, I'm going to with "There's More to Betazoids than Just Talking"--I'm thinking that Elias VI (my "busy colony" that I just made up) is a harsher world than the tranquil Betazed, and so has produced more assertive, action oriented folks than the ones living on Betazed.  Think of it as the "rednecks" of Betazoid society.

In addition, I get a +1 to either Daring or Presence, and I think Daring is the obvious choice here.  I also get +1 to one of three Disciplines.  Disciplines are the equivalent of skills, and line up with the six divisions of Starfleet--Command, Conn, Security, Engineering, Science, and Medicine.  They also all begin at one.  My three choices for the bonus are Command, Security, and Science.  I was tempted to pick Security here, but I think I am going to go with Command as a reflection of the assertive people of Elias VI.  Taking all that, we have:

• Daring 8, Control 7, Fitness 7, Presence 8, Insight 8, Reason 8
• Command 2, Conn 1, Security 1, Engineering 1, Science 1, Medicine 1

Step Three: Upbringing.  This is what your parents/family did growing up, and how your character reacted to that.  Once again I rolled a 2, which gives me "Business and Trade."  I'm thinking that Elias VI has significant resources of key materials like dilithium, which is why the Betazoids are there.  The family was in the dilithium trade, shipping it from Elias VI all over the Federation

For each upbringing, you can choose to accept it or reject it, and that choice affects the attribute bonuses you get.  I'm kinda indifferent between the two, but I like the bonuses for accepting better (+1 Daring and +2 Presence), so I'm going to go with that.  I also get +1 to either Command, Engineering, or Science, and I'll go with Science (gotta know how the product you are selling works).  I also get a Focus, which is an open-ended specialty.  Looking at the suggested list in the book, Geology is the obvious choice for dilithium miners and traders.  I also get one Talent, and I am going to go with Dauntless (add a bonus die to tests to avoid being intimidated or threatened), which seems in character.  This gives us:

• Daring 9, Control 7, Fitness 7, Presence 10, Insight 8, Reason 8
• Command 2, Conn 1, Security 1, Engineering 1, Science 2, Medicine 1

Step Four: Starfleet Academy.  As much fun as it sounds to travel the galaxy selling dilithium, that wasn't enough adventure for our redneck Betazoid, and he signed up for Starfleet Academy.  The key decision point here is which track you go on--Command Division, Operations Division, or Sciences Division.  I rolled a 4, for Operations Division.  I'm thinking the idea of the "fightin' Betazoid" sounds fun, so our guy gravitated to the Security branch.

I get a Value from my time at the Academy.  I think I'm going to go with "Humans are Kindred Spirits"--after being told all his life he was impulsive and hot-headed by the reserved Betazoids, our guy found he fit in perfectly with his human classmates, and formed a bond with humanity.

I also get three points to spread around my Attributes, and I think I am going to put +1 into each of the physical attributes.  I also get +2 to my Discipline "major" (here, Security), and +1 to two others.  I think I'll put 1 in Command and 1 in Medicine.  Finally, I get three focuses.  I'm going to go with Hand-to-Hand Combat, Interrogation (being a Telepath surely helps in that regard), and Survival.  Finally, I get one Talent, and I am going to go with "Quick to Action," which essentially allows any of the PCs to go before any NPC in the first round of combat without cost.  This gives us:

• Daring 10, Control 8, Fitness 8, Presence 10, Insight 8, Reason 8
• Command 3, Conn 1, Security 3, Engineering 1, Science 2, Medicine 2

Step Five: Career.  Here, the options are basically a newbie "Young Officer," a veteran officer, or something middle of the road.  I think newbie feels like the right choice here.

This adds another Value that has something to do with being young, so I'm going to go with "Bold Action is Often the Best Plan."  I also get the "Untapped Potential" Talent, which caps my Attributes at 11 and my Disciplines at 4, but allows for bonus Momentum (and/or additional Threat) on checks where Momentum or Threat are used.  Basically, when you go for broke, you get really spectacular (in a mostly good, with a risk of bad) results.

Step Six: Career Events.  You roll twice on the Career Event table to determine what has happened to your character on active duty with Starfleet.  I rolled an 8 "Conflict with a Hostile Culture" and 12 "Betrayed Ideals for a Superior."  For Conflict with a Hostile Culture, the obvious choice is the Cardassians, fighting out the last parts of the conflict before the treaty and the rise of the Maquis.  That provides +1 to Fitness, +1 to Security (now capped out at 4), and a Focus, which we'll go with Shipboard Tactical Systems.  "Betrayed Ideals for a Superior" is a little more dramatic in presentation than the description in the text--it's more like "your superior wanted to do something one way, you wanted to do it another way, and you went with your superior."  I'm going to say I served under a Vulcan Captain, T'Karra, and he tempered some of my character's recklessness.  I get +1 to Presence (capping it out), +1 to Command (capping it out as well), and a Focus, which we'll go with "Composure."  This leaves us with:

• Daring 10, Control 8, Fitness 9, Presence 11, Insight 8, Reason 8
• Command 4, Conn 1, Security 4, Engineering 1, Science 2, Medicine 2

Step Seven:  Finishing Touches.  First, I get one more Value.  Given my mentorship from Captain T'Karra, I'm going to add "It Never Hurts to Listen to What People Have To Say."  I also get two points to add to Attributes and two points to add to Disciplines.  I think I'm going to add +1 to Control (which is tied to phaser combat, so that's helpful), along with +1 to Insight to round out the character.  On the Discipline side, I want to round out my character a bit, so I'm going to add +1 to Conn and +1 to Engineering.  My final Attributes and Disciplines are:

• Daring 10, Control 9, Fitness 9, Presence 11, Insight 9, Reason 8
• Command 4, Conn 2, Security 4, Engineering 2, Science 2, Medicine 2

Derived stats time!  Stress, the Star Trek Adventures equivalent of HP, is equal to Fitness+Security, or 13.  Damage bonus is equal to Security, or 4 extra dice (Security would be the God stat if Star Trek Adventures was all about personal combat, which it is not).  Department, rank, and role are supposed to be determined by the player group, but since there is no player group, I'm going to say that my rank is Lt. J.G. (the highest rank I can have as a Young Officer), and I am the acting Chief of Security.

Finally, a name.  Looking at the samples, provided, I'm going to go with "Rennan Grax."  Lt. J.G. Rennan Grax, acting Chief of Security, the daring, charismatic, impulsive Betazoid redneck.  Full character sheet:

Lt. J.G. Rennan Grax

Role:  Chief of Security (Acting)

Species:  Betazoid

Homeworld:  Elias VI

Attributes: Daring 10, Control 9, Fitness 9, Presence 11, Insight 9, Reason 8

Disciplines: Command 4, Conn 2, Security 4, Engineering 2, Science 2, Medicine 2

Focuses:  Geology, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Interrogation, Survival, Shipboard Tactical Systems, Composure

Talents:  Telepath, Dauntless, Quick to Action, Untapped Potential

Values:  "There's More to Betazoids than Just Talking," "Humans are Kindred Spirits," "Bold Action is Often the Best Plan," "It Never Hurts to Listen to What People Have To Say"

Stress:  13
Damage Bonus:  4 dice

40 Characters before 2020, #2--Conan, Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of

So, 13th Age in Glorantha is next on the list, but I've had a really rough day today and so I am going to audible to Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of by Modiphius Entertainment.  I stayed away from Modiphius's stuff until very recently, on the assumption that (1) they basically do exclusively licensed products, and licensed RPGs are usually bad, and (2) they use a house system, which when combined with licensed products is a particularly strong warning sign.  But I was completely wrong--Modiphius's 2d20 system in general, and Conan and Star Trek Adventures are great, and I have become a big Modiphius fan of late.  I am probably going to write reviews of both games, but for purposes of this particular post the real benefit of both games is that they favor a random lifepath generation system, which is about the maximum I can handle tonight.

So, Conan, swords and sorcery.  We are on even number posts, so this character is a woman. Let's go.

Step One:  Homeland.  Conan is all about the Hyborian Age of the Howard stories, so the first step is to determine which of the Hyborian kingdoms and lands you character is from.  Rolling 2d20, I get a 19--Argos, which is a Greece-expy.  Argos gives my character a Talent--Sea Raider, which reduces the difficulty of Sailing and swimming tests in home waters by one.  I also speak the "Argossean" language.

Step Two:  Attributes.  Conan has seven attributes--Agility, Awareness (i.e. perception), Brawn, Coordination, Intelligence, Personality, and Willpower.  All attributes start at 7, and are modified by two "attribute aspects."  Rolling randomly, I get a 3 ("Acute and Aware") and 15 ("Dexterous")--I think I'm heading toward some kind of spy/thief/scout type.

Each attribute aspect provides two "mandatory attributes," and between the two aspects, one attribute gets boosted by +3, one by +1, and the rest by +2.  So, "Acute and Aware" has Awareness and Intelligence, and "Dexterous" has Agility and Coordination.  I'm going to make Awareness my +3 and Intelligence my +1, leaving Agility and Coordination at +2.  Each aspect also provides two optional attributes, and one of those gets a +1.  "Acute and Aware" has Agility and Coordination, and "Dexterous" has Brawn and Willpower.  I'm going to go with Agility for the first and Willpower for the second.  This results in the following ability scores:

• Agility-10; Awareness-10; Brawn-7; Coordination-9; Intelligence-8; Personality-7; Willpower-8.

Step Three: Caste.  Caste provided two Talents, a +1 Expertise and Focus to a Skill (Expertise is the normal skill level, Focus is the number you have to roll under [low rolls are good in 2d20] to get a bonus success), a starting social standing, and determines which table you roll on for the next step.

I rolled a 6, for "Farmer."  That gives me the Homesteader (reduce the Difficulty of Survival checks in Argos by one) and Subject (when in Argos, reduce the Upkeep [i.e. the money I have to pay in between adventures] by one) Talents.  I also get +1/+1 to the Animal Handling Skill.  Finally, I get a Social Standing of 1.

Step Four:  Story.  As a Farmer, I roll on the Farmer Stories table for what happened to my young farm girl in her earlier years.  I rolled a 14 for "Meager Soup and Angry Eyes"--basically things were lousy, life in the village was tense and unpleasant, I made enemies by poaching/stealing extra food.  Pretty good reason to leave and become an adventurer, I think.

This also provides a Trait, in this case "Traitor," which can be used as a key to recover Fortune Points.

Step Five:  Archetype.  This is basically the loose equivalent of character class.  I rolled a 19, and got "witch/shaman."  Hmmm, maybe the villagers got mad because I turned to "forbidden techniques" to feed my family, or were jealous of my powers.  I like that.

Archetype provides a +2/+2 in a "career skill" (Persuade in this case), a Career Talent for that skill (Force of Presence--one extra die of damage on mental attacks, which is a big (and cool) part of Conan), +1/+1 to four other skills (Alchemy, Counsel, Healing, and Lore), +1/+1 to two of three pre-selected skills (I'll go with Sorcery and Thievery, as opposed to more Animal Handling), and a bunch of gear (a knife, a leather jacket, an alchemist bag, a healer bag, a library, and a horse or donkey).  Taking all of that together, my skills are now:

• Thievery-+1/+1, Alchemy +1/+1, Healing +1/+1, Lore +1/+1, Animal Handling +1/+1, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +2/+2, Sorcery +1/+1

Step Six: Nature.  Nature is your core personality type.  I rolled a 1, for "Cautious," which fits in with what I thinking about with her so far--it's not paranoia if her neighbors really are out to get her.

Cautious provides +1 to Willpower, +1/+1 to Lore, Parry, and Stealth, +1/+1 to two others (I'll go Animal Handling and Sailing, as opposed to Athletics), and a Talent with one of the above Skills.  I'm going to go with the "Living Shadow" talent for Stealth, that grants bonus Momentum (a currency generated by successful tests) on Stealth tests when trying to remain unseen. 

Attributes and Skills are now:

• Agility-10; Awareness-10; Brawn-7; Coordination-9; Intelligence-8; Personality-7; Willpower-9.
• Stealth +1/+1, Thievery-+1/+1, Parry +1/+1, Sailing +1/+1, Alchemy +1/+1, Healing +1/+1, Lore +2/+2, Animal Handling +2/+2, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +2/+2, Sorcery +1/+1

Step Seven: Education.  The name here is pretty self-explanatory--how you learned what you learned.  I rolled a 10, for "Family Footsteps."  Witch-ing is a familiar affair, and I learned what I learned from mom, before the village turned on us (and killed mom?  Maybe).

Family Footsteps provide +1/+1 to Discipline, Resistance, and my career skill (Persaude).  It also provides +1/+1 to two of three Skills (here I'll do Society and Survival, as opposed to more Animal Handling).  I also get a Talent for one of those Skills, and I'm going to go for Courageous for Discipline, which lets me re-roll one die on a Discipline test, and gives me one point of Courage Soak (basically mental armor).  Since I am going to be dealing with magic and stuff, having that Soak seems useful.  I also get a family trinket, and I will go with a necklace with a wooden charm carved by my mother.  

So, the new Skills are:

• Stealth +1/+1, Survival +1/+1, Thievery-+1/+1, Resistance +1/+1, Parry +1/+1, Sailing +1/+1, Alchemy +1/+1, Healing +1/+1, Lore +2/+2, Animal Handling +2/+2, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +3/+3, Society +1/+1, Discipline +1/+1, Sorcery +1/+1

Step Eight:  War Story.  War Story is an encounter with danger or conflict that set your adventurer on her way.  I rolled an 11 for "Shipwrecked."  Maybe we were trying to flee our village and their bigotry, and our boat ran aground--geez, our lady can't catch a break.  Anyway, that adds +1/+1 to Athletics and Sailing, giving a skill list of:

• Stealth +1/+1, Survival +1/+1, Thievery +1/+1, Athletics +1/+1, Resistance +1/+1, Parry +1/+1, Sailing +2/+2, Alchemy +1/+1, Healing +1/+1, Lore +2/+2, Animal Handling +2/+2, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +3/+3, Society +1/+1, Discipline +1/+1, Sorcery +1/+1

Step Nine:  Finishing Touches.  First, you get to add two points to attributes.  I'm tempted to put both in Personality to really help my Persuade (which is tied to Personality), but I think I am going to go with 1 in Personality and 1 for Intelligence to help out with Alchemy and Healing.  This results in:

• Agility-10; Awareness-10; Brawn-7; Coordination-9; Intelligence-9; Personality-8; Willpower-9.

You also get three points to Skills.  I would think she needs at least one weapon skill, but I have a way around that, so I'm going to go with +1/+1 to Acrobatics to give some defense against ranged attacks.  I could go all-in on Sorcery and trade in a bunch of those talents for spells, but I think instead I'm going to be a "white witch" and focus on Alchemy, I'm going to add the other two to Alchemy.  Final skills:

• Acrobatics +1/+1, Stealth +1/+1, Survival +1/+1, Thievery +1/+1, Athletics +1/+1, Resistance +1/+1, Parry +1/+1, Sailing +2/+2, Alchemy +3/+3, Healing +1/+1, Lore +2/+2, Animal Handling +2/+2, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +3/+3, Society +1/+1, Discipline +1/+1, Sorcery +1/+1.

I get a bonus talent, and I am going to go with Alchemist, which lets me re-roll one d20 on every Alchemist test, and lets me use Alchemy as the attack skill when using alchemical weapons.  Bombs away!

Finally, I get a bonus language (I'll go with Aquilonian, Conan's once and future kingdom).  I also get a personal belonging (17--a necklace of animal teeth and bones), a garment (9--"furs and pelts with threads of a quality befitting your station"), two weapons ("a broad-headed axe. . . ripped from the hand of a brigand you slew" and "a whip . . .decorated with polished stones").  

Step Ten:  Final Calculations.  Vigor and Resolve are sort of like physical and mental HP, respectively.  Vigor is Brawn+Resistance (for 8); Resolve is Willpower+Discipline (for 10).  My starting Gold is equal to Personality+Society (for 9).  

I also get a Melee damage bonus of 0 (because my Brawn is less than 9), a Ranged damage bonus of 2 dice (for an Awareness of 10) and a Mental damage bonus of 0 (for the 8 Personality).  

Now I need a name, an age, and a personality, and an appearance.  Since she is from the Greece-equivalent, I think I am going to go with Cassandra, a name I have always liked.  I think Cassandra is young, but has seen some shit, so I'll go with 20.  Looks-wise, I'm going to go Greek-inspired, very dark hair and eyes, on the short side (maybe 5'2" or so), with long hair that often covers her face to make her look a little mysterious.

Personality-wise, Cassandra is basically good-hearted, but is also a hustler, and a suspicious person as a result of her rough early experiences.  She's a charmer, or wants to be, but is a little too eager and too blunt to be a full-on con artist.  Despite her propensity for schemes, she really does know a ton about herbs and potions and charms, and has a wicked aim with her more damaging concoctions.  

Final Cassandra Character Sheet

Name:  Cassandra

Age: 20

Appearance:  Dark, long hair (often in her face), dark eyes, short

Personality:  Suspicious, charming but intense, a hustler

Archetype:  Witch

Homeland: Argos

Trait:  Traitor

Agility:  10, Acrobatics +1/+1, Stealth +1/+1

Awareness: 10,  Survival +1/+1, Thievery +1/+1

Brawn: 7, Athletics +1/+1, Resistance +1/+1

Coordination: 9, Parry +1/+1, Sailing +2/+2 

Intelligence: 9, Alchemy +3/+3, Healing +1/+1, Lore +2/+2

Personality: 8, Animal Handling +2/+2, Counsel +1/+1, Persuade +3/+3, Society +1/+1 

Willpower: 9, Discipline +1/+1, Sorcery +1/+1

Talents:  Sea Raider, Homesteader, Subject, Force of Presence, Living Shadow, Courageous, Alchemist

Languages:  Argossean, Aquilonia

Vigor: 8

Resolve: 10

Soak: Armor 1 (Leather Jacket; Torso/Arms), Courage 1

Bonus Damage: Melee 0, Ranged 2, Mental 0

Fortune Points: 3

Gold: 9

40 Characters Before 2020, #1--13th Age

We start off with one of my favorites--13th Age, but Jonathan Tweet, Rob Heinsoo, and published by Pelgrane Press.  For the rules of this exercise, see here.  Let's go.

Step 1:  Pick a Race.  One of my favorite elements of 13th Age is what they do with the Dark Elves/Drow in the 13th Age Bestiary, so that's what we are going to go with.  Races in 13th Age get a +2 to one of two pre-selected ability scores, and a racial power--in the case of Dark Elves a +2 to either Dex or Cha, and the "Cruel" power, which lets you impose ongoing damage (5xLevel) on a natural even attack roll once per battle.

Step 2:  Pick a Class.  Torn between the Sorcerer and the Rogue.  If I could use the multi-classing rules, I might do both, but that's in the expansion 13 True Ways, and so out.  I think I'll go with Rogue, only because I usually play spellcasters (when I get to play) and so I want to go against type.  Because I am playing Rogue, I will retroactively assign my racial bonus to Dex.

Step 3:  Generate Ability Scores.  The game has two options here--4d6 drop lowest and point buy--that are each endorsed by one of the designers.  Point buy is boring, so let's roll:

• 17, 6, 13, 10, 14, 12

Not that great, but no big deal.  Applying them to the Attributes leads to:

• STR: 6 (-2), CON: 10 (0), DEX: 19 (+4), INT: 13 (+1), WIS: 12 (+1), CHA: 14 (+2)

Here, I am doing a little bit of min-maxing, as I know my attacks (both melee and ranged) key of Dex, so my low Strength is basically irrelevant (except for my Physical Defense--see below).  I know, I know--I'm that guy.

Step 4: Combat Stats.  There are essentially all class-based.  First, the basic melee and ranged attacks are Dex bonus plus level, and damage of WEAPON plus Dex.  Speaking of WEAPON, I'm going to use the one-handed weapon, so the right choice is a Light Weapon for 1d8+4 damage, and then a throwing dagger (because of a Rogue Power I am picking, see below) 1d4+4 ranged damage.  I also get a +2 to either Dex or Cha, but since you can't put the bonus into the attribute you added the racial bonus, my Cha is bumped to 16.  My AC is 12 plus level (1) plus the middle bonus for Dex/Con/Wis, which for me is Wis (+1), for a total of 14.  Physical Defense is 12 plus level plus the middle of the physical stats, for a total of 13.  Mental Defense is 10 plus level plus the middle of the mental stats, which totals 12.

Hit Points are (6+Con) times 3, for a total of 18. I get eight recoveries, and the Recoveries are (at 1st level) 1d8.

Step 5:  Class Features, Talents, and Powers.  Rogues get three class features--Momentum, Sneak Attack, and Trap Sense.  Momentum is a mechanic that powers some of the Rogue powers, and is basically an on/off switch--if you make a successful attack, you gain Momentum, if you are hit with an attack, you lose Momentum.  Sneak Attack is what you expect, although it only works for melee attacks (unlike 5e).  And Trap Sense is Trap Sense.

All classes in 13th Age get three class-specific Talents from a list of a half-dozen or so.  The star among Rogue Talents IMO is Shadow Walk--use you Move Action at the beginning of the turn, make a Charisma check against the highest Mental Defense of your opponents, and if you succeed you disappear; on your next turn, your Move action lets you appear anywhere you want, and your attack on that turn does double damage.  That's great, especially because if you blow your Charisma check, you still have your Standard Action to attack or do something useful.  I'm also going to take Improved Sneak Attack, which upgrades the damage die on Sneak Attack by one step (i.e. for 1st level, from 1d4 to 1d6).  That's a little boring, but there is a Feat I want to take that goes with that.  For my third talent, I'm going to go with Murderous, which increases the Crit Range from 20 only to 18-20 if the target is Staggered (i.e. below half HP).  I'm thinking this character is going to be some sort of assassin, so that works.

I also get four Rogue powers.  Flying Blade gives you a 50% chance to apply your Sneak Attack damage to targets you hit by throwing daggers, which is situational but kinda nice.  Roll with It allows you to spend Momentum to halve the damage you take on an attack, and since you are going to lose that Momentum anyway as a result of the attack there's no real downside here.  Tumbling Strike lets you do the 5e Rogue Cunning Action cheese of walking up to the enemy, making an attack, and walk away without being hit, though it's not as good as the 5e version because you have to make a disengage check (albeit with a +5 bonus) to get away.  For the last one, I went back-and-forth for a bit, and decided to go with Sure Cut, that basically lets you do Sneak Attack damage on a missed attack.  Meh.

Finally, I get one Feat.  Feats in 13th Age are mostly "plug ins" to other abilities that upgrade them, and I am going to use the Feat on Improved Sneak Attack.  Now, once per "day" (which, in 13th Age terms, is usually four battles/one game session) I can use Sneak Attack on any target, even if it is not engaged with an ally.  This seems useful in combination with my Shadow Walk to target a boss-type monster that happens to be by him/her/itself.

Step 6:  One Unique Thing.  One Unique Things are some dimension of your character that is truly unique in the world, limited only by the fact that it cannot grant game mechanics bonuses.  It's a chance to really express a creative idea for the character.  For some reason the title "Constant Gardener" has been on the brain for a while. In addition, one of the ways 13th Age presents the Dark Elves is as the folks the Elf Queen and the rest of Elfdom don't really want to talk about but absolutely make use of when things get dicey.  So I am going to go with "the only member of both the Royal Gardening Guild and the Royal Assassins Corps."  Under 13th Age rules, by picking this One Unique Thing, the Elf Queen's Court now has a Royal Gardening Guild and a Royal Assassins Corps.

Step 7:  Icon Relationships.  Each character gets three points to distribute among the 13 Icons--the major movers and shakers of the world.  You can put more than one point into a particular Icon, and you have to decide if the relationship is Positive, Conflicted, or Negative.  At the beginning of each session, the player or GM rolls to see if the particular relationship will impact the story, and then the GM decides how.

The Elf Queen is a no-brainer, based on my One Unique Thing.  I'm going to put 2 points there, and go with Conflicted--I'm "on the payroll," but seen as a loose cannon.  For the other point, I'll go with negative 1 to the Prince of Shadows--professional rivalry with other assassins.

Step 8:  Backgrounds.  Backgrounds take the place of Skills in 13th Age--instead of "Stealth," "Lockpicking," etc., you have more a profession or experience like "Thief" that applies to all checks in which being a former professional thief are helpful.  You get eight total points to distribute to Backgrounds.

Two of these are obvious as a result of my One Unique Thing--"Royal Gardening Guild" and "Royal Assassins Corps."  I am going to put 3 in each of those--assassin-ing pays the bills, but I am also really passionate about gardening, you guys (and, being a master gardener is going to give me information about different sorts of plants, how small villages operate, etc., so it's also useful).  For the last two points, I'm going to go with "Reluctant Courtier"--I know my way around the Elf Queen's Court, but I don't have to like it very much.

Step 9:  Final Details and Name.  I'm terrible at coming up with fantasy names, especially elf names, so I am going to go to the random fantasy name generator.  Looking through my random choices, I like "Omdrail Phrendun."  "Omdrail the Gardener, who also kills people."  Yes, that works.

Hair and eyes are easy--silver hair and black eyes, the standard dark elf look.

And there you have it--Omdrail Phrendun (I'm going to go with "Phren-doon" on the pronunciation of the last name), the Dark Elf Rogue, and the first character of the series.  The character sheet can be found here.  One of the things that is so great about 13th Age is that you almost have to intentionally try to make a boring character.  Between Backgrounds and Icons and One Unique Things, if you just work through the process you will come up with something cool.  I also think 13th Age classes are more interesting than 5e classes.  It looks like I'm firing up a 13th Age campaign (in person!) and I can't wait.

40 Characters Before 2020--Introduction

I had two revelations this evening.  First, I own a ton of tabletop RPGs--I was casually looking at my bookcase and scrolling through my PDF files, and woo boy, there are a lot of them.  Second, it has been a long time since I sat down and made characters.  In large measure this is because I am the Forever GM, and so rarely have the occasions to do the full PC character creation.  But character creation is fun, and it has occurred to me that I own games that I have never made characters for.  That seems like an injustice, a significant "party foul," as it were.

So, I am going to do a series--40 characters, one for each game I have, before the end of the year.  I was going to do "40 characters in 40 days," but that seemed optimistic to a delusional degree, so I'm going to build in some flexibility.  The idea here is that I will describe the process of making a character under that particular system in a blogpost.  My hope is that it will give you a sense of the game and the sorts of characters that come out of the game, as well as follow along on what is ultimately a pretty goofy exercise.

As I thought about it, I am going to put in place some self-imposed ground rules.  First, I am only going to use core rulebooks of the particular game.  Some of these games have expansion books and some of them don't, so to both simplify things and to keep things on an even playing field, we'll use the core book only.  Along the same lines, I am going to follow what, as best as I can tell, is the default method of character creation--no optional rules, no shortcuts, just the base rules.  Finally, I'm going to alternate between making male and female characters--for no particular reason other than as a creative challenge to come up with character concepts.

With that in mind, here's the game list that I plan to do.  The order is the order that they sit on my shelf and on my hard drive, and so no particular order, really.

1.  13th Age
2.  13th Age in Glorantha
3.  Torchbearer
4.  Ashen Stars
5.  Night's Black Agents
6.  Fall of DELTA GREEN
7.  D&D 5th Edition
8.  AD&D 1st Edition
9.  Adventures in Middle Earth (5e)
10.  Star Trek Adventures
11.  Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of
12.  Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
13.  Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)
14.  Numenera
15.  The Strange
16.  7th Sea (2nd Edition)
17.  Monsterhearts (2nd Edition)
18.  Dungeon World
19.  Trail of Cthulhu
20.  Torg: Eternity
21.  Starfinder
22.  Esper Genesis
23.  Free Spacer
24.  Tales from the Loop
25.  Things from the Flood
26.  Apocalypse World (2nd Edition)
27.  Axon Punk
28.  Eclipse Phase (2nd Edition)
29.  Pendragon (5.2 Edition)
30.  Paladin
31.  Pathfinder (1st Edition)
32.  Shadowrun
33.  Swords of the Serpentine (Playtest)
34.  The Sprawl
35.  The Veil
36.  The Yellow King
37.  Heroquest: Glorantha
38.  Fear Itself

Eagle-eyed readers will see that this list is two entries short.  This is because (1) I probably forgot some games that I have; (2) given my purchasing habits, I may end up getting two new games before the end of year, ad (3) if anyone wants to suggest a game to look at, I have space to "work it in" at the end.  So, if you have suggestions, shoot them my way.  At the end, I'll probably gather up all the character sheets into one place, to have a record of this adventure.

First up--13th Age!