Character Creation Thread

OK gang. I am liking what we have. Few more questions and we will start the actual adventure.

First another question for Jabes...Would it be alright to make Vaeniria a jungle swamp environment? We can still have the mountains of Q'sulth as a feature, but most of the land is covered by lush jungle marshland. A lot of fertile farmland also exists in the region as well. People from other realms often think the people of Vaeniria are soft and coddled because there are so many abundant natural resources, but there are many more predators to contend with. Additionally, the swamps seem to shift and change, making travel difficult as roads get swallowed up in the bogs and fens. I see a potential plot line if this doesnt ruin anything you were planning for your character.

@Alexander(Naatkinson) Seven tribes broke with the sultan and fled to the desert. Some still roam free, but others were captured and slaughtered until only one survivor remained. You formed a bond with one(or more) of the other survivors while you were held as a slave of the sultan.Who does the Sultan still hold that fuels your desire to end his rein? The Sultan relies on both martial and mystical power to hold your people. You have heard of a way to end him. What promise does the Dark Wood hold that will lead to the downfall of the Sultan?

@Brentheli(JoHoover)...Though you embraced the call of the Spirits Realm and welcomed the numerous spirits of the Far North, the great white bear spirit (i.e. polar bear) rejected you at first. How did you finally earn it's respect and gain it's sign? (I'm looking at your neutral alignment and the tell of white hair...but make it your own if you want) All elves have a connection to the Great Forest. What calamity drove your people north?

The Prime Direction (NPC) of the Grand Church of Nistil was originally a wandering prophet of Nistil. But his message that "Nistil helps those who help themselves" has found fertile ground in Zannidros, because greed is valued by the rulers and because one sign of Nistil's favor is greatly increased longevity. The Prime Direction's name has been forgotten in the mists of time; he is now known only by his title. The Prime Direction has lived for a very long time, and has served as spiritual adviser to generations of Zanndrian nobles. During the last few centuries, the Prime Direction has seen his teachings of Nistil grow into a following, then into a temple, and finally into the Grand Church. The actual Plutarchs of the ruling Council buy potions of preservation and longevity from the Grand Church, so they themselves have lived many times the normal human or dwarven lifespans.

As a devotee of the Old Ways, Omen has been raised in the faith and superstitions of the Ancients. He followed all the Ancient traditions, including the ritual scarification and branding of his body to proclaim his devotion to the elemental states of matter. Thus, for most of his life he has been able sometimes to see visions in the elements. With liquid, the ripples and bubbles create forms; with gas, the air ripples and warps; with solids, the materials bend, crack and warp into forms; and with fire, the flicker and whorls shape into images of things to come, things that are, or things that were. After the ritual in the volcano's caldera, Omen was named and then judged lacking, short of the command of all the elements foretold of the Chosen One. The shaman He Who Prepares The Way recognized Omen's power nonetheless, and offered him a position of honor as a Firekeeper (a sort of elite instrument of the faith), but in his shame at not being the Chosen One, Omen fled instead. This did not please the Elders, and hunters have been sent to retrieve Omen. His visions stopped then.

After a few close calls, Omen fled Zannidros completely. He wandered aimlessly for a while, not knowing what to do with his life now that his "purpose" had come to an end. One day quite recently, however, he had another vision. It was stronger than any he'd experienced before: a camp fire roared up and surrounded him, enveloping him completely in fire. The fire formed itself around him, and somehow his eyes were able to distinguish contrast of textures and shapes in the surrounding sameness of the Fire. It was a vision of the volcano, and then it receded away from him as if he was a bird taking flight. Soon he could see other mountains of Zannidros. His view then wheeled and turned southwest, drifting across the region down into the foothills. From there it traced a path across various nations, finally descending to the Dark Wood. It showed him that, deep in the Dark Wood, there resides a crystal gem of vast power. Though the vision ended there, the sight of that gem burned in his mind, and he was convicted that he must get the Gem, or at least go to it, in order to do the Fire's bidding.

In traveling across the nations to get to the Dark Wood, Omen has discovered what he can about that forest. It is known as the Dark Wood in part because roving bands of creatures called the Dark inhabit it. Rumors do not agree as to whether the Dark are vicious monstrous residents or intelligent guardians of the land.

Sure! I like the way you've described it. As long as it doesn't look like Dagobah. :-)

Well...maybe just in parts. ;-)

I formed a bond with Vashir, a young boy from another of the tribes. He became a sort of younger sibling to me, and I often took the brunt of the punishment rather than let him suffer it. I had to leave him behind when I broke out but I will return for him one day.
The Sultan is protected by mighty enchantments as I learned painfully in my first weeks of service. There is supposedly a tree that a powerful wizard name Margoth can work his spells on to make arrows that could potentially make it through his many layers of protection. I need to find the tree and convince Margoth to make me even a single arrow and I could remove him from power forever.

During Brentheli's 100th birthday celebration (an elfs transition to adulthood) one of his peers, Vaurl, thought to make some sport out of bringing Brentheli's Great Grandfathers transgressions up at the celebration table. Brentheli didn't take kindly to the smearing of his family name and inwardly was terrified that he might fall into the same addictions. So he lashed out and attacked Vaurl and would have easily won if Vaurl's troop of friends hadn't stepped in and joined the fight. Since Brentheli had no troop of his own he was badly beaten. That disgrace pilled on top of the shame associated with his family name was the final straw and Brentheli resolved to leave his homeland and seclude himself from the world.
When Brentheli arrived in the Frozen North he was almost immediately confronted by a male Polar Bear that was still young and hot headed who considered Brentheli's need for leathers a weakness that could not be tolerated in his realm. The Bear warned him that an interference with his sow or cubs would be seen as an act of aggression and would be dealt with accordingly. As the seasons turned from summer to fall, Brentheli had spent most of his time studying the smaller predators and prey of the area came across one of the cubs who had been cornered in a rock outcropping by a pack of wolves, who had already badly injured teh hind leg of the cub. Brentheli shifted into the best shape he could think of and attacked the wolves as a snow badger. Even though the badger is a force to be reckoned with he is no match for a full pack of blooded wolves and Brentheli was overpowered much like his fight against Vaurl. But his efforts prolonged the fight long enough for the sow to hear the cries of her cub and she beat off the attacking wolves who retreated almost instantly once the she bear arrived.

Brentheli shifted back into his elf form he was still badly injured and fell into unconsciousness. When he awakened he was very surprised to find himself in a snug cave surrounded by white fur. The sow had taken pity on him and licked his wounds clean and carried him to her den. While he recuperated he retold the story of his flight from his homeland and was invited to join their group for mutual protection, though the sow chastised him for using an inferior shape to attack the wolves.

OK, this is great. I wish I could show you the plot map I have worked up, but it is full of spoilers. Next thing is the Bonds. Somehow all of your characters have encountered each other in the past, looks like a meeting on the road to The Dark Wood makes sense as you all have a reason to head there.

So, let's see some ideas for Bonds. You each have at least four Bonds on your sheet. You do not have to assign a bond to each party member, but you have to pick one member to have a bond with. The do not need to be mutual either, Alexander can have a bond with Omen, but Omen does not have to have a bond with Alexander. For those new to Dungeon World or have't read up on all of the content, Bonds are another way to gain Experience. Any scene in which you feel like you have "resolved a bond" you will get one XP. Normally this is saved for the end of the session, when we are done playing for the night, but since we aren't sitting at a table as the game was written, I will leave it open to you guys to determine when a scene is over and a bond is resolved, although I will retain the final say on whether it counts or not and I may suggest when I think a bond may have been resolved also.

The term 'Resolved' doesn't necessarily mean 'ended'. As an example the Paladin has a Bond that says " X has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely." So if X and the Paladin were in a fight and X stood by Paladin's side despite the odds being stacked against them, then the Paladin could say that the Bond was resolved because X proved trustworthy. This does not mean that Paladin no longer trusts X, just that their bond has grown and evolved. Alternatively, if X abandoned the Paladin while he was facing down a powerful group of foes, Paladin could also resolve the Bond because X proved untrustworthy. Then maybe their friendship would be over, but that's a role-play issue, not a rules function.

Once a Bond is resolved you get to write up a new one. They can be anything you want, but should be based on the character interactions in the game. But we can discuss it more once we are playing.

Just to say it while I'm thinking about it...there are two other ways to get XP. The first is Alignment, another "End of Session" thing that we will just deal with when it comes up. But basically, when you fulfill the condition of your Alignment move you gain an XP.

The final way to get XP is to simply fail a roll. That is a 6 or less result on any roll. The idea is that you will learn something from your failure. It isn't important what you learn, usually it is "don't let people stab or bite you.", but you will gain an XP whenever you get a 6 or below.

This concept of "failing forward" is one of the reasons I love Dungeon World so much!

There's another way to go about forming bonds, but it requires everyone to show everyone else their character sheet (just put it in the library and leave a link up there in your character intro post). So instead of "hey, this bond on my sheet, I'll put your character's name in," we could do the reverse: "hey that 2nd bond on your sheet, I volunteer to be that guy." Of course the sheet's owner can accept or decline.

I linked to my character earlier in on this thread (or tather, foolsmask did) but here it is again.

And here are Elestren's bonds:
This is not my first adventure with _______________.
I sang stories of _______________ long before I ever met them in person.
_______________ is often the butt of my jokes.
I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _______________.
_______________ trusted me with a secret.
_______________ does not trust me, and with good reason.

These were simply taken from the Bard in the CRB maybe I can come up with something original. I'm also very open to suggestions :-)

I'm fine with showing everyone my character sheet.

I'm also looking for a really cool nickname for my character. After he escaped he earned quite the reputation and is kind of a beacon of hope for the people who are being oppressed by the Sultan.

Bonds:
_______________ broke up a fight I was involved in. I was probably going to lose, but they dont need to know that part.

_______________ and I are regular training partners.

I may have killed a relative of _______________ at some point in the past.

_______________ seems like they would fold at the first sign of trouble. I dont trust them.

I'm also fine with people seeing my character sheet

And here are my bonds:

Bonds:
____________________ smells more like prey than a hunter.

The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows ______________.

I have showed ________________ a secret rite of the Land.

___________ has tasted my blood and I theirs. We are bound by it.

I volunteer Elestren for either one of these. :-)

I would be ok with any of the ones Jabes has.
I could certainly be that one. I have the Sultan's hunters following me, after all.

I agree that this fits you quite well.
I think this one works well for you and it coincides with yours:

Cool, Elestren and Brentheli have traded secrets, and Brentheli knows Alexander is hunted by the Sultan's Assassins. we just need a couple more.

Also, don't be shy about filling in multiples. It gives you more chances to develop story and gain XP. It isn't metagaming, I am looking for these types of plot hooks to weave into the adventures.

@Spaceseeker19 I kind of want this one to be your Immolator since my character has spent ~half a century away from anything to do with fire.

You cool with that?

I'm looking forward to hearing your description of the rite that Brentheli has shared with Elestren. :-) Even more excited about how we might "resolve" this shared bond!
Alexander could say "Elestren seems like they would fold at the first sign of trouble. I dont trust them." and then "Alexander does not trust me, and for good reason." But the "good reason" isn't what Alexander thinks! ;-)

Let's see, with whom don't I have a bond yet? Omen.

Sure, that's fine. Sorry for the delay in responding: I was at DunDraCon and then sick for days.

Omen Hotstepper's character sheet, and his bonds are:

___________ has felt the hellish touch of fire, now they know my strength.

I will teach ____________ the true meaning of sacrifice.

I cast something into the fire for ___________ and still owe them their due.

Want this one, Omen?
I could take this one:

Looking at Omen's Moves and I saw this. Awesome Metallica reference