Step 0: Concept

More or less self-explanatory --- but your Character Concept is the very idea from which your character will develop from. Whatever that idea may be it is important that it is (and will become) a character you like and are excited to play or otherwise you will grow restless playing him/her.

This step should also by far be the easiest. In my case I love modern action movies (The Fast Saga being a guilty pleasure) and one could certainly take inspiration from that film series or any other. I also love thrillers - Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp in particular as well as Brad Thor's Scot Harvath, Brady Taylor's Pike Logan, and for a more divisive character Jack Carr's James Reece. One word describes these characters and that word is BADASS and that is the concept I want to run with. A badass, skillful, and cunning counter-terrorist agent fighting the difficult fight of keeping American safe.

That being said my preteen daughters always ask me why are all my favorite characters men? Women can certainly be BADASS too. Very true - AND adds an interesting dynamic to my concept that I feel excited about - so a woman it is.

Everyone has their own method for generating concepts and fleshing out their characters but for me a picture speaks a thousand words.



Now that I have an idea and what my character looks like we can dive into the basic questions one might ask to turn the concept into a working model.

In Spycraft 2.0 one of the main questions should be --- Faction or Freelance? Both have benefits associated with them - namely in terms of gear choices - and we'll get into that further in but for now the decision is Faction, such as a government agency, or a network of supporters that you can turn to (like network of hackers like Anonymous or or maybe those with like minded ideals like the 3%ers). As I've established I want her to be a counter-terrorist agent, with Faction is the obvious choice.

Okay --- so we have a female government agent. I suppose the logical 'next question' would be where did she get her training? Of all the characters I mentioned above most received their training in the military and in the case of James Reece and Scot Harvath were Navy SEALs. What I think makes Mitch Rapp so cool is that he does NOT have a military background and instead was an All American lacrosse player who was recruited by all the top programs and that his abilities stem more from natural gift and athleticism. Being that my concept is a woman I think something like that makes more sense than an ex Special Operator or ex law enforcement. So we'll say she was a highly recruited soccer player with an impressive college playing career with some national team appearances (added by my daughter who is an aspiring soccer player herself).

A solid start ... and in my next post we'll cover what it is that motivates and makes this character tick by asking yet some more basic questions.

The core rulebook offers some great questions to ask to assist in fleshing out your character:

Name three traits you would like to see in your character. Broad strokes, with a few descriptive words, can really help find a theme for your character. In this case --- Cool/Calculating, patriotic, and Intelligent (particularly when it comes to situational awareness).

Name three traits your character doesn't like to see in someone else. In the same light, knowing some of the characters opinions can assist in determining their personality and motivations --- She does not suffer liars and being lied too, despises hypocrites, and distrusts persons of power who use their positions to bully.

Where was your character born, and when? A very good question as someone born and raised in a city or urban environment certainly has a different outlook than those born in a rural environment. Same with someone who may have grown up in a military household as opposed to perhaps a missionary or diplomatic one - both would be well traveled, though with completely different outlooks.

For my concept, I want her to have been exposed to and experience growing up in other cultures - to be a bit more worldly and maybe even seen the effects of terrorism 'up close'. Military brat seems to easy and I struggle to picture a missionary kid growing up to violently oppose terrorism and terrorist. A diplomat's child (or maybe even a CIA officer) piques my interest. So we are going to say her parent(s) (we'll say mother as a strong female role model) worked within the State Dept, perhaps even climbing as high as Ambassador, and grew up in a number of different countries before finally settling down on a more permanent basis when the character reached late middle school to high school age.

What is your ideal character's specialty. I think it's been well established that counter-terrorism agent is what I'm going for - specifically more of the infiltration/targeted assassination variety (think Sam Fisher of the Splinter Cell franchise).

What was the most important event in your character's life? This question, as it pertains to the Mitch Rapp series I have mentioned above - and without divulging and spoilers for those who may want to pick up the series - I think the author did a fantastic job of answering. An event is mentioned in the book that completely transforms Mitch's life and sets him on the path of being the world's most effective and lethal counter-terrorism operator. With that in mind, my character for a brief time lived in Israel and at a very young age. While she would have attended a private school institution along with all the other international diplomat children she met and enjoyed playing with many of the local Israelis. A suicide bombing, while not directly targeting her school (in fact not even close enough to expose the students to the horrors of an attacks aftermath) many of her local friends were seriously injured or killed. Setting her on a path where she would eventually insure that no other little children would be harmed.

What is your character's motivation? A patriotic duty to eliminate terrorism and terrorist in all forms, to do the hard things so others won't have too, for the safety of her American brethren and their allies.

The core book offers QUESTIONS FOR PROS which would flesh out the concept even more, that deeply explores a character's values, family history, and mindset for the crafting of a well-rounded and deeply developed character but the above responses I think offers a solid framework for the character. Next post will begin Step 1, where the characters Attributes scores are determined.