OOC and Character Generation

CHARACTER GENERATION INFO

—Characters start as Novice
—Names should be German. Common German surnames here but more Gothic or fanciful ones welcome. —Languages. We’ll apply the Multiple Languages setting rule which gives characters SMA/2 languages. Everyone starts with Local German. Common additional languages will be High German, Italian, French, Latin, NT Greek, Ancient Greek, Hebrew.
—Resources. We’ll also use the Resources die option, so that we do not need to keep track of money in detail. Most characters will be humble villagers starting with d4 as a Resources die. d6: wealthier characters (with a profession, trade or land), d8: a minor aristo.
— Starting gear. Assign your character the clothes and items they need to perform their trade. Those with a resource die of d6+ can own a farm or business and will have better clothing, equipment and animals ( a good horse for example) that matches their resource die type.

—Combat capable male characters need a reason not to have been carted off to the Wars.

—The adventure takes place during the Napoleonic Wars so think tricorn hats, overcoats, coach and horses, etc. Common weaponry includes cudgels, black powder pistols, swords, sabres. Black powder rifles are expensive, high tech possessions. Poorer characters can start with a pistol but not a musket or rifle.

— Armour. Characters wearing stout clothes, an overcoat, etc can gain a +1 Toughness bonus.


SETTING EDGES

Devout (N). SPI d6. The character receives a +1 bonus to SPI rolls to resist fear, wield a crucifix or resist evil effects.

Learned (N) SMA d8. You roll +1 on most Common Knowledge rolls and may use Common Knowledge in place of Occult.

Prepared. (N) repair d6, SMA d6. The character carries an array of small items (tools, keys, trinkets) to deal with a variety of situations. The player can declare the character has any common mundane item (a candle, some rope, a whistle) in their possession even if it is not listed in their equipment. For a Benny, something more obscure (a particular coin, silver bullet, an appropriate key) can be declared at the GM’s discretion.

Sense evil. (N). SPI d8. The character can use notice rolls to detect strong motives or alignment in others.

Silver bullet (N). The character possesses an heirloom dagger, bullet or other ancient implement which does additional damage (one additional shift) to supernatural creatures. If lost/ destroyed / expended the item can be recast between adventures.

Night vision. (N). Notice d8. The creature can see in all but pitch darkness.

Luck of the Devil (N). SPI d6. Once per adventure, the number of wounds removed by a soak roll is increased by one.

Animal Empathy (N). SPI d6, survival d4. The character can use persuade to calm or even win over animals including — as difficult or very difficult rolls— wild creatures.


SETTING HINDRANCES

Sympathy for the Devil (Major). At some level, the character pities the plight of the monstrous and undead. They must make a SPI roll to deliver a killing blow to a significant (wild card) enemy.

Craven (Minor, Major) The character rolls courage rolls based on SPI at -1, or -2 if Major.

Sneak Thief (Minor, Major). If you encounter valuables while unobserved ( or able to filch them easily) you struggle to resist taking them for yourself. As a major hindrance , you will do so even when might this be detrimental to your party or in conflict with your usual ethics.

Please post characters using the guidelines provided above . Any questions welcome.

I’ve set the post rate as daily but I can negotiate this to once very other day if players prefer.

@RageRed How about these as Edges for your taxidermy hobby:

Absorbing Hobby (N) SMA d6. The character finds consolation in a demanding pastime. If they are able to find a few hours of downtime during an adventure they may either remove a penalty due to fear effects or recover a spent Benny.


Taxidermist (N) SMA d6 AGI d6. The character works to master the art of taxidermy, restoring the likeness of creatures killed in the hunt. Trophies provide a source of revenue to sustain a d6 lifestyle and +1 to survival, Common Knowledge, etc rolls for hunting, tracking, etc.


Trophy Maker (N) SMA d6 AGI d6. As well as producing mundane hunting trophies, the character maintains a secret, deeply macabre collection of mounted monstrous enemies. Once a type of monster has been added to the collection, the character’s fear of them is reduced, providing a +2 bonus to fear-related rolls in future encounters.

Alternatively, Taxidermy could be a Quirk, a messy but absorbing hobby.

@Orangetree,

Thanks for the invite. Those Edges look pretty cool to me. Let me get started with the basics and see which fits best.

You're welcome!

And yes , let's see which (if any) looks fun. Open to player suggestions , too.

Last name: von Schwarzenwolff

Great!

Submitted Bernadette Bauer for you to check over. Used the guidelines, so am pretty sure I matched the requirements.

Pfarrer Cunimund Schweiger is a priest with an issue (alcoholism; Major Habit) that he tries desperately to keep hidden (Major Secret). He has taken vows of both celibacy (not a Hindrance in game terms) and poverty (represented by the Poverty Hindrance, though he gets no points for it). He will have the Devout Edge, of course. He will speak Latin, naturally. Beyond that, I'm still working on him.

Okay, Pfarrer Schweiger has been submitted.

Looks like fun, Drakis. An interesting character concept. Can you just tackle a couple of small background things? I suggest taking High German as well as her local dialect so that she can communicate with social elite, read/write well. Also ‘scale down’ the settlement description from town to hamlet (as you can see from the map).

How did she become an expert in the occult?

Are you sure you don’t want more Edges? Just to make sure it’s clear, yiu can take any Edges and hindrances as well as these Setting ones.

It looks interesting if a bit minimal. Could you let us know a bit more about his background, gear, etc?

From a rules perspectives I’d prefer if his drinking was either a major habit or a major secret, rather than getting double mileage. If it’s a major secret what would the serious consequences of discovery be—being defrocked? Placed in a monastery?

Great news. Now she is approved I will add in background details, and cover those points you mentioned :-) Should get that done today hopefully

Sure. I'm still working on it. Okay, how about this... his drinking is a major secret, but he is not a drunkard, by any means. Still, if it were to be discovered, he would definitely be shamed (and probably defrocked). That way, I can make Poverty a Hindrance and take another minor one. Let me think on this.

Sounds good.

Just personally I would make it a habit? If only cos I’ve known a few priests who were quite boozy and they didn’t seem to get in trouble for it :). But up to you how you roll with it.

Sounds good, I can go that route. I've only known one priest, and he wasn't Catholic and was a teetotaler, so I admit to being undereducated in that respect.

@Orangetree, Still adding details and possessions, but submitting my character so you can see where I'm at so far.

Looks good RR.

Ctme has confirmed that he’s also playing but may need time to get things going. Looks like we got ourselves a gothic horror game!

To help me tailor the ‘tone’ of the test adventure, can you indicate which of the following elements are of real interest to you as a player. Please try not to select more than half so I can pick out patterns in preferences!