OOC and Character Creation

We'll be using Year Zero Mini. I'll be providing all the relative information, and you can also get it on DriveThroughRPG.

Here is a step-by-step guide for character creation. Since you are a team and your PCs know each other, it would be preferable if you work on your characters together.


You are investigators on a mission for Mr. Norrell to disprove rumours of magical occurrences all around England. Technically your task is to ascertain whether the rumours are true, but you know Mr. Norrell is specifically interested in debunking and discrediting them. You have not been expressly told to try and cover up any real magic you encounter, but it has been heavily implied that he is the only one knowledgeable, skilled, and most importantly responsible enough to practice magic. At least on the surface, you agree with him - you have gained his confidence enough that he has agreed to employ you. Your real opinions on the matter are up to you.


Presently you are Investigators, but it has not always been so. Who knows, maybe one day you'll even return to your profession. Just keep in mind that whoever you've been - and whoever you are now - you are capable of at least keeping up a veneer of respectability. What is equally important - your CONCEPT determines what you are good at, instead of having a list of individual skills.


Self-explanatory. Just a few words, you can go into more details in the NOTES section of the character sheet.



Again, self-explanatory.


This goes into the RELATIONSHIP field of the character sheet. The game assumes that you have a full party of PCs and you are a close friend with one of them. Since there's just two of you, you get to define your relationship. Keep in mind that you have chosen to work together, so there should be at least some level of camaraderie.


You get 16 points. You are relatively competent at what you do, also since this is a one-shot there will be no character advancement.


You start with three ASSETS - one you can choose yourself, the second is a letter of recommendation from Mr. Norrell, proving that you work for him, and the third is Belasis's Scopus - a spell which detects magic. Scopus only has this use and does not give +2D6 to rolls like the other assets, and so far in your investigations it has yet to detect anything.
Since your OTHER GEAR is rather limited, it can also be a set of things, or a kit of some sort - like carpenter's tools or a doctor's bag.


I'll set no limitations here, only that you can't look like a beggar or a vagrant. Money in this setting is closely tied to your reputation and how people perceive you - but in this adventure you'll have Mr. Norrell's reputation at your disposal.

Yes, that was my impression. Also no skills, the Concept takes care of that.

Yes, this is set before Strange.
No objections here, just a few things you might want to take into account:
Your characters don't have to be magicians. They could be if you want to, but remember that Norrell despises theoretical magicians. You would have had to do some serious sucking up to him to earn his trust, or maybe you simply hid that fact from him?

You also don't have to be from the York Society. Again, you can be if you want to, but there were others, and also it is mentioned that Norrell has ruined plenty of solitary magicians too.

Also, what is your motivation for joining him? Are you true followers of his? Do you just want to profit from the magical fad while it's going on? Do you resent Norrell for destroying your father's magical career (if that's the backstory you are going with) and are biding your time until you find something that could ruin him (and making your plan even more nefarious by making him de facto pay for your research out of his own pocket)?

The only "qualifications" you need to have demonstrated are loyalty, determination and scepticism, really. And by "loyalty" I actually mean "flattery".

This is a sound idea as well! Thankfully I don't need to pick, it's up to you two to decide on it 😆.

Another thing I'd like to point out, the two PCs don't need to have the same motivation. The manservant is a servant, but is still his own person.

Or he's a younger son without much claim to the inheritance.
Yes, Childermass might have persuaded Norrell that you could be useful. I mean, he got Norrell to "befriend" Drawlight, and Drawlight is... Drawlight.


By the way, just to have it out of the way - I do realise that giving you the spell to detect magic might be a bit of a plot hole, but even if it is, it's also in the book:
No mention of the spell, but it could definitely be interpreted that way. He also he's given Childermass that same spell, and also the three spells Vinculus ends up passing on to Strange and seems to fully expect him to be able to perform them.

Anyway, back to your characters.

Grabs popcorn.

I'll try to stop interfering, just one thing though:
There's no way Norrell would have listened to someone's servant. From now on I'm just going to assume that any such conversations that would have been out of character for him have been done through Childermass.

So, a cross-dressing adventuress (I'm assuming she'll be played by Bowl) and her faithful manservant. Sounds fun to me! I'm assuming the manservant has known her for the most of her life, but how long have they been working together? Not just as investigators, but before that as well?