RE: Let's Burn Up a Character
12-08-2012, 03:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-08-2012, 03:04 AM by SeaWyrm.)
Does the character live in squalor or filth?
Yes. When he traveling as a wordbearer, he'd often be living penniless and on his wits. So when he wasn't sleeping out in the bush, he'd be put up in a stable or something like that when he couldn't afford rent.
Is the character frail or sickly?
No. He has a good dwarfy immune system.
Has the character been severely wounded in the past?
Yes. One time while tinkering, he blew a finger off his left hand in an unfortunate pottery accident. He also got beat up by bandits once and took an arrow to the liver while horncalling.
Is the character athletic and active?
Yes. Despite being a horncaller, he still had to do physical training exercises to keep up with the regiment. He keeps up with these physical exercises, partly out of habit and partly because he likes being fit.
He can distance-walk like nobody's business, thanks to his time spent wordbearing too.
Does the character live in a really clean and happy place, like the hills in The Sound of Music?
No. The cleanest place he's ever lived was the army hospital.
Has the character ever murdered or killed by his own hand?
Yes. Even horncallers kill sometimes. In particular, he killed the sharpshooter who nearly shot his liver. Strangled the elf to death with its own bow.
Has the character been tortured, enslaved or beaten terribly over time?
No. His unit was routed after the scouts left out a 0 in the troop estimate. He was captured before he even knew what was going on, but managed to quickly escape. His buddies were left behind.
Has the character led a sheltered life free of violence and pain?
No. Clearly not!
Has the character been raised in a competitive (but non-violent) culture - sports, debates, strategy games, courting?
Yes. His culture is based around stealing royal giant war scorpions from various neighbouring castles. He was too much of a free spirit to get really caught up in competition and beating down your rivals, but the culture's traditions still had their impact on him.
Has the character ever given birth to a child? It's possible!
Yes. "He" was raped by a wizard, who employed horrific dark magic to do the deed. Though he eventually had the baby, he otherwise blocked the traumatic incident from his memory.
Has the character ever coveted something owned by another?
Yes. He was once charged with the repair of the Krundlhorn, an ancient Dwarven artifact used by the original inventors of the patterns still in use today by horncallers. He was loathe to return it when he finished...
Has the character ever stolen something he coveted?
...so he didn't! He jacked it and ran to do wordbearing. Learning of its history is what eventually led him to join the horncallers.
Has the character ever had a prized possession stolen from him?
Yes. He lost the Krundlhorn the first time he got robbed by bandits. Tried to follow them, but didn't know how to track at all, so he gave up - but he was very angry about it.
Has the character ever been in the presence of the master craftsmanship of the Dwarven Fathers?
Yes. He wasn't just in its presence, he stole it!
Has the character witnessed an outsider in possession of a work of Dwarven art?
Yes. Saw a human commander with a seriously crazy sword. Legendary artifact, probably worth an entire kingdom or something ridiculous like that. The significance didn't register until later.
Which of the following does the character care least about: Power, Craftsmanship, Riches or Beauty?
Beauty. He's a practical dwarf, and lusts more after power, riches and craftsmanship.
This leaves us with:
Health: B4
Steel: B8
Greed: B6 (though it could still be modified by Relationships.)
Greed, if you're wondering, is a stat that lets the Dwarf get extra dice to obtain those things he is greedy for, but at a cost - if he uses it enough to advance the stat to B10, he goes mad with his covetous desires and shuts himself in his halls forever!
We're coming close to the end, but there are a couple steps left. First is resource spending. He has 49 resource points. These can be spent on
1. Gear/Property
2. Relationships
3. Affiliations/Reputations
Gear is his equipment and tools. Property is houses and workshops.
Buying a Relationship lets the player create an important NPC and bring them into the game as a contact or rival for their character. Our dwarf needs at least one relationship for his Oathsworn trait - he has to swear the Oath to someone, and that someone must be a relationship.
Affiliations and Reputations affect who he knows and how easy it is for him to find people.
So, the first question is, how should the points be distributed between these categories? Go ahead and rank them from "most points" to "least points".
Yes. When he traveling as a wordbearer, he'd often be living penniless and on his wits. So when he wasn't sleeping out in the bush, he'd be put up in a stable or something like that when he couldn't afford rent.
Is the character frail or sickly?
No. He has a good dwarfy immune system.
Has the character been severely wounded in the past?
Yes. One time while tinkering, he blew a finger off his left hand in an unfortunate pottery accident. He also got beat up by bandits once and took an arrow to the liver while horncalling.
Is the character athletic and active?
Yes. Despite being a horncaller, he still had to do physical training exercises to keep up with the regiment. He keeps up with these physical exercises, partly out of habit and partly because he likes being fit.
He can distance-walk like nobody's business, thanks to his time spent wordbearing too.
Does the character live in a really clean and happy place, like the hills in The Sound of Music?
No. The cleanest place he's ever lived was the army hospital.
Has the character ever murdered or killed by his own hand?
Yes. Even horncallers kill sometimes. In particular, he killed the sharpshooter who nearly shot his liver. Strangled the elf to death with its own bow.
Has the character been tortured, enslaved or beaten terribly over time?
No. His unit was routed after the scouts left out a 0 in the troop estimate. He was captured before he even knew what was going on, but managed to quickly escape. His buddies were left behind.
Has the character led a sheltered life free of violence and pain?
No. Clearly not!
Has the character been raised in a competitive (but non-violent) culture - sports, debates, strategy games, courting?
Yes. His culture is based around stealing royal giant war scorpions from various neighbouring castles. He was too much of a free spirit to get really caught up in competition and beating down your rivals, but the culture's traditions still had their impact on him.
Has the character ever given birth to a child? It's possible!
Yes. "He" was raped by a wizard, who employed horrific dark magic to do the deed. Though he eventually had the baby, he otherwise blocked the traumatic incident from his memory.
Has the character ever coveted something owned by another?
Yes. He was once charged with the repair of the Krundlhorn, an ancient Dwarven artifact used by the original inventors of the patterns still in use today by horncallers. He was loathe to return it when he finished...
Has the character ever stolen something he coveted?
...so he didn't! He jacked it and ran to do wordbearing. Learning of its history is what eventually led him to join the horncallers.
Has the character ever had a prized possession stolen from him?
Yes. He lost the Krundlhorn the first time he got robbed by bandits. Tried to follow them, but didn't know how to track at all, so he gave up - but he was very angry about it.
Has the character ever been in the presence of the master craftsmanship of the Dwarven Fathers?
Yes. He wasn't just in its presence, he stole it!
Has the character witnessed an outsider in possession of a work of Dwarven art?
Yes. Saw a human commander with a seriously crazy sword. Legendary artifact, probably worth an entire kingdom or something ridiculous like that. The significance didn't register until later.
Which of the following does the character care least about: Power, Craftsmanship, Riches or Beauty?
Beauty. He's a practical dwarf, and lusts more after power, riches and craftsmanship.
This leaves us with:
Health: B4
Steel: B8
Greed: B6 (though it could still be modified by Relationships.)
Greed, if you're wondering, is a stat that lets the Dwarf get extra dice to obtain those things he is greedy for, but at a cost - if he uses it enough to advance the stat to B10, he goes mad with his covetous desires and shuts himself in his halls forever!
We're coming close to the end, but there are a couple steps left. First is resource spending. He has 49 resource points. These can be spent on
1. Gear/Property
2. Relationships
3. Affiliations/Reputations
Gear is his equipment and tools. Property is houses and workshops.
Buying a Relationship lets the player create an important NPC and bring them into the game as a contact or rival for their character. Our dwarf needs at least one relationship for his Oathsworn trait - he has to swear the Oath to someone, and that someone must be a relationship.
Affiliations and Reputations affect who he knows and how easy it is for him to find people.
So, the first question is, how should the points be distributed between these categories? Go ahead and rank them from "most points" to "least points".