Character Creation, Relationship Map

Alright, we will use this thread for the shared Character Creation. We'll go through it step by step so if you have no experience with this system or don't own a rulebook, that should still not be a problem.

I have access to the Smallville Core Rulebook and the Watchtower Report but if others have other books that we can use, feel free to use those as well and share important resources with the other players.

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Before we actually get to the Relationship mapping, we should all have some idea in mind that I propose we share first to see what we're working with.
So at this point, everyone should just throw out their character idea or at least something they're interested in, even if they don't have a full concept in mind yet. That could be anything from "I want to play someone like Batman" or "I think fire powers are awesome" to "My character is a poor street kid who can shoot energy beams from his fists and who works as an enforcer for a local crime syndicate because his dad was arrested and he needs money to bribe the authorities to let him go"

I would say we all live in the same city on Earth and will mostly (but not necessarily always) stay there during gameplay, so that should work for every character.

I'm toying with the idea of playing a blaster styled character. I'm not sure if the blasts will be from his hands or eyes though.

I'm toying with a couple ideas...

One is a super who was famous before the plague, bit is now physically mutated as well as having powers and has to hide from everyone, including the omnipresent surveillance of the government. No idea what his power would be yet, maybe shapeshifting so he could hide his appearance at the cost of stressing himself out?

Also had an idea for a government agent/fixer who ended up with powers and ran from his former teammates. He would have a contact within the government, perhaps a friend who let him get away... I'm not sure about his powers - density control? force field?gravity control?

I was also thinking of a bedridden character, perhaps even comatose, who can ONLY interact with the world by possessing the bodies of others around him. But now that I think about it, this should totally be an NPC religious figure who has a church where the members allow their leader to possess them and consider it a holy experience.

I definitely love that last idea but it is better suited for an NPC.

Here's the Relationship Map over at Miro. Right now it's blank. You may need to setup a free Miro account to view it.

Not sure how this works, but maybe a poor "mine worker" as it must for a sci-fi setting ;) it some bienhancements but with the plague he has become aware of the electromagnetic fields around him, and can use his bionics to influence machines and digital systems (super hacker of sorts)

I have too many ideas! The powers I like are healing, mind control/pheromones, paralysis touch/poison kiss, technopathy, telekinesis, and telepathy.

A healer could be fun if she absorbs the injuries into herself instead of just healing.
someone with pheromones could convince others to do her bidding which sounds fun.
I was thinking of a poison type power where she secreted a toxin so that her touch could cause paralysis, and her kiss was poison.
technopathy would allow her to control robots and other tech

Okay, I think my character is going to have pheromones (Mind Control Ability) that make people want to do what she says, and a poison kiss (Poison Ability) to give them stress/injury. I'll get to be a real femme fatale. If there's a rebellious element fighting oppression to keep supers free, she'll be part of it, using her pheromones and poison kiss to help accomplish missions for the freedom fighters.

Alright, we can start with the first steps of the character creation now, I guess. Does everyone have access to the relationship map that Tao created? You'll have to make an account on that website but it's free and very fast. Without everyone having access to it, this will be much more of a hassle to organize.

For now, you all have 4 jobs, then we will move on to the next step (I know, it sounds like a lot but it really isn't):

1. Decide on a concept for your character. Some already decided on something, some were still deciding between multiple ideas. Pick one now. If you're still unsure, we can use the other thread to debate some ideas or suggest something. Just ask over there. You can also write me on Discord (Nei#4287) if you want to bounce ideas off of someone in a faster fashion.
Once you have made a decision, make one more post in this thread to give us your concept.

2. Tao has already created squares for all of us. Those are our Leads (PCs). If you already have a name for your character, feel free to already add it into your square. If not, you can do that later.

3. Think of a person that your Lead knows and has a relationship with in some way (This person is an Extra for now). Add a circle to the relationship map and write that character's name (or a placeholder name) into it. Add an arrow from your lead's square to that extra's circle and add a short description of how your lead relates to that extra to this arrow (For example: "has crush on" or "works for")
Add a description of this extra into your post in this thread as well and give maybe some additional background info on how the two characters know each other

4. Connect your Lead with arrows to all other leads. If you already have a connection to one of the other leads, you can already add a description to this arrow. If not, we can think about those later when the characters are better defined.

All of those descriptions for the arrows can still be changed while we're in the relationship map process but we need to start somewhere.

C'mon Square let's be aliens ^_^

So, for my character I’ve had the idea of being involved in some organized crime, probably as a low-level protection money collector. I have some family member (maybe a younger sister; could be an NPC or a PC) who I feel like I need to protect and take care of so I joined up with a criminal organization to earn money and protection for my family. That organization would probably be pretty prejudiced and hateful towards supers but still recognize that they can be useful so instead of ratting them out to the government or some company, they blackmail/bribe them into working for them.
My character would probably try to keep the people closest to him away from the organization and try to hide his involvement with them.
During the quarantine, he might have some connections to the outside through them and the ability to have something smuggled in. Maybe not, though, since he’s just a low level grunt.

For my extra, I would either choose the family member that my character is protective of or, if that role is taken up by a PC, his superior in the organization.

For my powers, I’m interested in Insect Control, depending on where I go with this, I might add Poison or Paralysis as well.

Where's my big brother ?

Veronica is (Square's) little sister and her Extra is her AI assistant Uriel (Research, Internet Access)

Quick question for everyone: are we all playing nicely or can there be traitors, dirty playing and that sort of evilness?

While you can play evil and backstabby try and remain viable or people wont want to interact with you or will want to kill you off.

Being antagonistic = ok
Being outright vile = usually not ok

I'm personally fine with it and think it can be a good source of drama and interesting conflict. I believe that, while it should be a secret IC of course, it should be public knowledge OOC. Not just so there's no OOC bad blood over it but also so other people can play into it better.

Plus what Cube said, of course. The character has to be played in a way that he can be part of the game. If your character decides to try and murder another PC, he won't hang around the rest of the group much longer after that

The examples in the Smallville rule book had players using characters from the Smallville TV show - PCs played Clark, Lois, Chloe, Oliver, Tess, and Zod, so the game could even be played with characters who consider each other enemies, but have intertwining relationships with people they both care about. The goal is collaborative storytelling, so even with antagonistic characters, you want to work with the other player to make the whole story as awesome as possible.

The drama is meant to be amped up. The system is designed to have characters get stronger when they grow and change over time, by being stressed out in contests and tests and challenging their own values and relationships, then healing the stress their friends acquire. The more you lose contests, call your beliefs into question, or question the very nature of your relationships, the more you grow.

Introducing Veronica's over protective older brother, Elijah or Eli to those he trusts. His extra is an close friend he served with while in the military Connor Walsh.

Did people already chose what they are starting as Rich, Ordinary, Gifted, Strange, Alien ?

Not yet.
Once everyone has their concept and extra, we'll start with that

Thanks Bowl, I was curious if I missed it