[OOC] Session Zero: Character Creation

Welcome to Argus Inquiries, a private investigation service that operates from the town of Nornholt. Argus has numerous agents in the field, but you work as part of a team specializing in cases of missing persons. Whether they're fugitives on the run, kidnapped civilians, or simply folks who got lost and never came back, you and your team find them. Only something about this case makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It's different--darker--somehow. Strange things are afoot in the Baronies.

Feel free to discuss your character concepts here. I encourage a balanced party in the traditional sense (at least one fighty type, at least one spellcaster, at least one sneaky type, a face, and support characters), but we can work with other configurations.

Characters should follow standard Genesys character creation rules. Species should come from Realms of Terrinoth, although Careers may come from the Genesys Core Rulebook, as well. I strongly advise you to put as much starting XP into your characteristics as possible, as they cannot be raised again until you buy Dedication (a Tier 5 talent). As an added incentive to build your character this way, you get 15 bonus XP at character creation that can only be spent on skills and talents.

In general, you should select your skills, talents, and gear from Realms of Terrinoth or the Genesys Core Rulebook. That said, I am open to importing talents and gear from Shadow of the Beanstalk or from unofficial sources on a case-by-case basis. Just ask me first.

This is, at heart, a high fantasy game. That means a normal adventuring party mix will be helpful. The expectation is that your characters are, for the most part, decent people. If you are looking for a hack-and-slash game where wanton destruction and casual murder have no repercussions, this is not the game for you. Your cases will involve combat, social interactions, and investigation in various proportions, so I advise you to build your characters to be able to contribute to at least two of those domains, if not all three.

When you submit your character, please show your work. That is, give me a detailed explanation of how you built the PC (e.g., what were your free Career Skill ranks? What did you spend your starting XP on? Your bonus XP? How much was each piece of your gear? Are you under your Encumbrance Threshold?) You can do this in the "Notes" section of your character sheet.

If you are new to Genesys and don't have either the Core Rulebook or Realms of Terrinoth, let me or the other players know. We can work together to create your PC. I may also ask you to listen to a podcast or liveplay to give you an idea of how the game works, since this system plays differently from D&D, Pathfinder, and Call fo Cthulhu.

OK, have at it!

Hmmmm, I’m really leaning towards a caster of some sort, probably Arcana or Divine but we’ll see.

I'm gonna look through the options, I'm thinking catfolk archer/rogue.

I'm thinking of doing more of a fighty character or a primalist.
Are we using the skill list from Terrinoth? That's kind of unclear from the above. Also, are we going to be using Heroic Abilities?

Yes, please stick to the Terrinoth skill list. It's mostly talents that should come from the other book. Heroic Abilities are very much expected, so please pick one!

Just a head's up that I'm traveling today, so I may be unavailable until tomorrow. But your ideas so far sound great. One caveat is that you should all have some reason to be employed by Argus Investigations. The agency is owned by Lady Calypso Argus, who at least claims to be a noblewoman from Lorimor. Feel free to work her into your background if you wish; I'll get more information up about your boss soon. But that also means that if you want to do something exotic with your background, you'll need to have some reason to have "settled down" in Nornholt (a large town), even if only recently.

This may affect your gear selection, as well -- you presumably have a flat somewhere in Nornholt. You will go on extended field missions, though, so traveling gear will still come in handy.

I think I've narrowed my concept down. I think I'm going to play a retired gnome city guard.

Mechanically I'm almost finished, need to pick a heroic ability (looking at Paragon for stealth skill). Decided to roll for it, along with starting silver.

For backstory I'm thinking exile turned scoundrel who has been on the wrong side of the law, and was given a second chance as a non fugitive.

4: Favored by Unseen Forces. Pretty fitting given the campaign. Also looks like I will be broke.

Both of those ideas sound great. I'll add a bit more detail on Nornholt soon in case it inspires some threads for your backstories.

It'll be interesting to have essentially an ex-cop and a an ex-con in the same party. As y'all start working on your backgrounds, try to figure out how your PC sees investigative tactics that may be... questionable in their legality. Maybe the ex-guard was crooked, and that's why they left the constabulary? Maybe Lady Argus (or the Gnome guard) convinced the local magistrate to release the ex-con, provided the character now uses their "gifts" to find missing persons? Maybe the two of you cooperate and tolerate one another's tactics as long as there's a bit of loot involved?

Consider all this brainstorming. Just trying to head off the age-old paladin/thief conflict at the pass! I love both ideas so far.

I've added a bit of a gazetteer on Nornholt to the IC resources section. I'm thinking the first scenario will be local, to give us a chance to familiarize ourselves with the city (and to get our feet wet with a smaller-scale investigation). With that in mind, travel gear probably isn't necessary quite yet, so you may want to spend your starting 500 silver on other things.

Got it figured out. I think to avoid that paladin/thief conflict, my character is retired from the guard, so at this point, he's seen a lot and doesn't really care all that much. More of a not my job anymore mentality.

Will have my character sorted over the next day or two, going to be a Free Cities Elf Mage

Good deal. An Elven mage will be a definite asset. arMedBeta has submitted a character, so I'll look that over very soon. Everyone else, please continue to work on your PCs over the weekend. I've also accepted a pair of players who are new to Genesys, so I'll need to work with them to create characters. But if all goes well, we should be able to get rolling early next week.

In the meantime, a heads up that my daughter's first birthday party is tomorrow, so I may not be able to post much if at all. But feel free to keep brainstorming ideas here!

Am thinking of a human fighter I will make my character next morning

So I think we have:
Elf Arcane Mage
Catfolk archer/rogue
Gnome Cop
Human Fighter

Random rolls for a Dwarf gave me Forge Dwarf Warrior

My fear is that if we add two more warriors, we'll be rather combat-heavy. We're going to need a good mix of social and investigative skills, as well: Charm, Coercion, Deception, Leadership, and Negotiation on the one hand; Perception, Streetwise, Survival, Vigilance, and various Knowledge skills on the other.

Now, we can diversify a bit by using Careers from the Core Rulebook in addition to those from ROT. Possibilities for fighters might include Knight, Leader, and Soldier.

But we'd be well served if someone went for a healer or a face, as well: Disciple, Primalist, Scholar, or Envoy from ROT; Priest, Socialite, Leader, or Healer from the Core Rulebook.

I'm basically covering all cunning skills the scoundrel gets (sadly not perception but I get a free rank in it). My sheet is mechanically done and I'll work on getting the backstory finished.

Yeah, having a Scoundrel on the team will be a big help. You have Charm as a Career Skill, though I'm not sure if you were planning to emphasize that. It might be an area of growth down the line if no one else puts points in Charm.

That leaves Scout as another fight-y Career someone might be interested in. Scouts can be good ranged fighters, and adding Survival to the mix will be helpful for times the trail goes into unsettled areas.

arMedBeta's character actually covers a bunch of face skills for the party: He's got a rank in Charm form his species, and he's put ranks in Leadership and Coercion. With Somebox's Catfolk Scoundrel, we've got Deception covered. We just need someone to handle Negotiation to check off all the face skills.

That said, I warn you that you may end up in a pinch during social "combat" scenes, when you can't just rely on one character to do all the talking...

Hi guys! just got up to date with this thread now :D I'm not sure what the mechanistics of the Realms of Terrinoth are... but my first feeling was to try a catfolk disciple of the luck goddess. Something like, he was kicked out the tribe because the winter was tough and got lucky to survive so his all world vision is more about how life is about luck and not fate. but I see there's some need for some negotiator and scout... Maybe I can twist this into a high elf, those seem to have divine and negotiation...

is there a skill list for the resources? I think a highborn elf priest is kind of what the party needs: divine, medicine and negotiation... right?

By the way... I'm assuming I should spend most XP on the attributes right? Is a score of 3 good? ;)
Is the Disenfrancisto talent available? That could solve the missing "Survival" problem... I guess it would be most suitable for the catfolk PC though...