Character Creation

For making ya'll's characters! The playbooks available to you guys are:

• The Beacon (Remnant)
• The Bull (Cosmic_Cube)
• The Delinquent (Qrallog)
• The Doomed (MoMo)
• The Innocent
• The Janus (Moofsalot)
• The Joined*
• The Legacy (The_House)
• The Newborn (ChaosZeppelin)
• The Nova (Ranimara)
• The Outsider (Toastymalone)
• The Protégé (marithyme)
• The Reformed
• The Star
• The Transformed

Note that the only limits on which ones you can pick are that players cannot have duplicates.

*The Joined playbook is meant to be created in conjunction with another player using a different playbook.

And here's a download link for most of these so y'all actually know what they mean.

And here's the rest!

Cool. I'll have Look at those and then abandon all plans and roll a d15.

Edit: Delinquent looks perfect. Dibs!

I'm considering the Newborn.

Post updated with a download link for the core ten. Feel free to ask about any of them.

I think I'm gonna go with The Nova.

What's The Innocent though? Guessing that's not one of the core 10.

The concept behind the Innocent playbook is that for one reason or another you have traveled forward in time, you don't quite understand everything about the world… and oh yeah, your future self is still around and they are not at all what you wanted to be. How you deal with that knowledge is up to you.

I'm thinking Protégée

That does sound super nifty. I'll stick with The Nova though. :)

Alright, I'm still figuring out how we're gonna replicate the character sheets. In the meantime, what are you guys thinking for your characters now that you have your playbooks?

For my character, I'm toying with either Cosmic Energies or Sorcery for abilities. I've got kind of a vague concept in mind that they're host to some sort of cosmic/other-wordly being. The sort of being that can't connect with humanity, because it's just on that totally different level. And there's always that fear that when they lose control, they might just be consumed by that force and lose all sense of self.

Super vague idea. Haven't even settled on a gender yet. :P

The Doomed looks really neat. So I'll do that!

Female character, shares telekinesis/telepathy with her mentor, but his other power is detective and hers is fighting...so they don't agree on how to treat bad guys once they're caught.

The Bull, The Legacy and The Janus look interesting to me.

I'm thinking Teleportation and Illusion for my Delinquent. Maybe a 'bad seed' kid who in spite of his gothic dress and demeanor has a good heart and complex sense of honor. Well hidden, mind you.

No idea which to go with so let's go random! Rolling 3 in case there are duplicates.

Janus it is!

A quick note: while your playbook already has recommended values applied to each Label, you can change those however you want, as long as they all total +3 when we start the game.

Did you want us to start filling out a character sheet? Custom sheets with some formatting, or did you want to set up and post a template here for consistency?

Custom sheets, and I'd say as long it has all relevant information you can format it however.

Aeon Crow is a dark and brooding type, prone to unusual, dare I say, unpopular tendencies and jaded glowers. He is south Asian (India) but speaks 'American' without an accent. He is a troublemaker, always pushing people as if testing them for some reason, and doesn't follow orders very well. Unless it suits him and then he is put out by any failure to follow the obvious instructions.

He loves exotic monster movies, sewing, and nature documentaries.

Emma Kralik is a 16-year old geek, a 3rd generation immigrant with her grandparents from Slovakia, and kind of a superhero fangirl. At least until she became one herself. She thought powers were super cool at first, until things went a little haywire and now she has some big insecurities and is rather gun-shy about doing too much with them, which can make her a bit unreliable. It's easy for Emma to lose herself to the strange whispers when she pushes herself too far, and there's that ever-present worry that someday she might not come back. She tends to change her superhero name every week since she just can't settle and is currently calling herself Polaris.

I pulled together this as a costume concept for her. Just less curvy and more teenage.


Hoping to have my character sheet worked out tonight.

In the Backstories thread, I'm leaving it unlocked until Friday to give you all time to think about your answers.

Hmmm the thread seems locked to me.

Yeah, I meant locked. It's getting unlocked tomorrow.

Ahhh ok sorry for my misunderstanding

So I've had a hard time finding a picture of an original superhero that seems to fit with the concept. This one isn't original. It's apparently a DC hero that works with Batman, but I'm unfamiliar with her, so it's new to me.



Would anyone be opposed to me using it? I'd crop it to not show the obvious batman utility belt. I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with current DC universe stuff, though, and I don't want to mess with someone's mental picture.

I'm good with it, and don't worry about the belt, utility belts are pretty much standard issue for superheroes.

Wow beautiful pictures everyone, I am going to have to find one.

It's so hard to find one, especially for female superheroes that aren't scantily clad and in bizarre poses. Times like this I wish I were an artist.

For anyone making a female character, this is what I used for mine: http://www.dolldivine.com/x-girl.php

It's an X-men themed superhero designer. It can help if you want to tackle designing a character and costume, though I wish there were alternative body types. There are sadly few generators like this for male characters, however.

I think Heromachine is still around if anyone wants to give that one a shot.

Well it's Friday. Lets see what I'm going with from the last 8.

Edit: The Beacon - Robin clone it is.

I think the Beacon is more like a Hawkeye type, Robin is more of the Protege.

Is the Janus supposed to be based off Spiderman?

The book says they took inspiration for the Janus from Spider-Man, Blue Beetle, and Batgirl.

But Speedy isn't as cool as Robin. D= I get your point though.

You could still play the Robin type. I think the distinction made is being a superhero because you're trained for this vs. doing it because you really want to.

I'd be willing to swap if you want to do protege, Remnant. I was having a hard time deciding between that and Beacon.

I'm good I just want to say "Waaaaaaah!" after I gut check someone with a punch and connect.

Void Fist is waiting for GM review.

Also I guess the Beacon is kind of the happy go lucky person who 'just wants to hang with the cool kids...'.

We pick the other members of the PC-team for our relationships, right?

I hope not, one of you (randomly) will be in a relationship with me... you may not know it... *blushes*.

Well, you kind of picked the same name as Talia's boyfriend, so...

Well, at least in Apocalypse World the histories all done with other players, and that seems to be the point of Relationships too, even if it doesn't have a mechanical effect like in AW. Of course, the whole point of the PbtA system is that you do what's awesome and cool and good for the story, so I don't think there's a rule saying you can't make NPCs for those relationships. But from the playbook it reads (on the Beacon under backstory) "Once you've finished your backstory, introduce your character to the other players, and then determine what happened when your team first came together, the relationships between you and your teammates, and who has Influence over you."

So I figure we all make the characters, post up our backstories, and then talk about relationships between one another?

The Relationships section is meant to be about the other members of the team.

Hecate was a gathering of genetic material by The Pantheon a group of neo pagan cultists who want to bring about a new group of gods. Gods they hoped that would be under their sway and control. Many subjects died or were such deformed monstrosities that they almost gave up. Hecate was a success though. She had human form and was at the stage (teen) where indoctrination and control were about to take place when a super brawl cracked the container she was in.

Confused, lost and awash with strange sensations she lashed out destroying the lab she was in and escaping where she wandered the streets lost in alien thoughts and with only the training and education that had been provided to her while in her development container.

_______________
Like the others I need a Love and a Rival.

I'm a big fan of picking people at random for these (I have a hard time of getting in a teen mind set now, random helps).

Might go that route ^_^

Submitted my character. I know the backstory, but I just need to write it up, so I'm working on that now.

Also, because sharing is pretty useful in this collaborative game, here's the character sheet.

Approved!

Everyone's characters look great! Just waiting on a couple more people, and we can get started!

Welp, backstory is up. Still thinking over relationshipsss..!

Changed one thing in my character sheet, CK. Changed Power Enhancement machine in my sanctuary to a powerful computer, to represent P.I.L.O.T. (who is also the aide/assistant).

That avatar creator is hellafun.

Okay, that's everyone's backstories (mostly) submitted and we're just short one sheet before we can start! I'll post the thread later today.

Anyone want to cast any ideas about the relationships that have yet to be decided?

I mean, you guys don't necessarily have to decide them yet, you can work them out as we play if you want.

Aw, no, I can get mine down at least before we play. Just wondering if anyone had any neat ideas. Just tryin' to collaborate, y'know :)

Well if anyone wants to, I welcome it!

I say throw out an idea and then collaborate on the possible backstory. The two I picked are based solely off what I've seen so far but they are not final.

I uhmn. I am still dealing with Labels.

Labels?

Labels, the stats of the system.

I dont know the system at all and might have gotten in over my head.

What are you having trouble with?

Oh I hear ya! I'm familiar with AW games and I had a hard time deciding on those too. Check this out if you haven't already- it may help you decide which way you want to play your character.

I guess

Danger +2
Freak +1
Savior -1
Superior +2
Mundane -1

Not necessarily the scale is probably just different than what you've use to. ) is average +3 is exceptional -3 is well... hey ... here's a cookie it's okay...

Danger is how dangerous you are in a fight, -3 (Oh god please don't hurt me I'm a bleeder) to +3 (Your hands turn into claws you shot laser beams and smile since you love a good fight).

Freak is the opposite of Mundane. Being freakier means you have more powerful abilities out of the norm or look different (Think Beast Boy from Teen Titan).

Superior means you feel superior to others telling them what to do might seem nature or look superior to other people from how you carry yourself.

Savior is to me your heroic state. How people look at you if it's high +2 or +3 they think you look like an 'iconic' superhero

Mundane is how you relate to normal people and act +3 is very normal, -3 might be you're very cold, robotic in nature (you might actually be a robot), and you may take everything literal.

Does that help?

EDIT: You're states might 'change' also due to what you do.

Thank you Remnant that helped a lot.

I went with the one I saw on the playbook I liked and added +1 to one of them like it said.
I think I am ok with what I have there now.

So you're the he's dangerous but he's in charge type...

*takes notes*

Slight clarification; I'm pretty sure the Labels are on a scale of -2 to +3, not -3 to +3.

Also the Labels aren't necessarily meant to represent your capacity to do things, they're more about how your character sees themself.

^ What they said -2 is the lowest.

Well, we already have a new player, Toastymalone! Toasty, pick a playbook from the OP and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Welcome, Toasty!

Hey everyone! I'll try to figure stuff out tonight and tomorrow, and I'll make sure to post questions here. Thanks for having me.

Hiya, Toastymalone!

welcome!

I have no idea what you're going to play but I call dibs on being sidekick.

Anybody happen to have the playbooks for the star, the reformed or the joined? Or even a link to purchase them haha? I'm having trouble finding them and I wanted to check out my options before committing. If not I'll just pick one of the others.

I was unaware they were out yet.

Oh yeah, I have the PDFs for those. I think they were Kickstarter rewards or something.

The Star

The Reformed

The Joined

I'm really loving what I've read of the system so far. I think I'm going to go with Outsider, and choose density control and radical shapeshifting to make a stretchy, shapechanging hero, a la Plastic Man. Does that sound ok? I'll start trying to put together a character sheet soon.

Sounds good! Don't forget you also have flying brick powers on top of those.

Even better! I've submitted my character sheet. I still need to find a picture for him though. Should I post a small bit of background here? I saw that the actual formal background stuff was going on in another thread, so I figured I'd save that for there. Let me know what you need.

Feel free to post any backstory stuff you want, I'll post your questions in the thread momentarily.

Cool, I think I'll just answer the questions when they're ready, and then see if any more backstory is necessary afterwards.

Hey all, I'm the new kid on the block. Figured I would post a bit about my character to show I'm doing something. I usually go for Delinquent or Doomed, but both are taken. So I figured The Legacy might be fun.

Look: Woman, Black, comfortable clothing, predecessors costume, animal insignia.
Abilities: Divine armor, magic weaponry, legendary speed.
Legacy moves: I know what I am, Never give up, never surrender.
Labels: Danger -1, Freak +1, Savior +2, Superior 0, Mundane +1.

I'm thinking she was chosen by some god/deity style being to be the next in this legacy, and did not have a choice about whether she wanted to. She enjoy the power that her armor gives her, but it seems to have a mind of its own (think the helmet of Dr. Fate, if familiar), and wants to keep her in it. Not quite sure about the rest, will have to figure that out. Probably going for Eagle for the insignia.

Welcome! The character sounds awesome!

You can go ahead and write up a sheet for your character, and I'll add your playbook's questions to the Backstory thread.

---

Additionally, and we won't be doing this every time, I am going to say this new person was present when the team formed, so just a slight retcon there. Also if you'd like to change anything from your playbook in light of the changed lineup(namely the Relationships and Influence sections), feel free to.

There are now official versions of the Star, the Joined, the Newborn, the Innocent, and the Reformed playbooks. I'll get links up for them soon, as there are some changes made to them from their playtest versions.