Creating a Beginning Character
From TSOY
Making your character is the one of the most important parts of playing a role-playing game. In doing so, you not only define the person you want to play, but you determine what that play will be about. Through a combination of character concepts, species, cultures, and Keys, every player gets to contribute to the content of the story.
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Concept
In order to start creating a character, a concept needs to be built. The character concept cannot be generated in a vacuum, however; characters must fit together with a certain zest that makes them click, little motors ready to feed off each other. This isn't to say that all characters need to be alike, of the same species and culture, or even from the same place.
There's not a set process for how concept generation works, but it should be done as a group, in a relaxed atmosphere, preferably with whatever gets your imagination flowing, whether that be coffee, beer, music, or whatever else. Talk amongst each other, and don't think of your idea as sacrosanct: take suggestions from other players and give them back. Remember that in creating these characters, you create the landscape in which you will play.
At the end of generating character concepts, you should have a few things:
- An idea of where your character is from and what species she is.
- A few sentences about who your character is and what she cares about.
- A description of your character's appearance, also short.
- A name. This is totally not optional. Pick a name before you go any farther.
Many role-playing game texts will tell you to have a nearly complete idea of who your character is before play. I don't think that's necessary, though. You and your friends will get to know your character during play. What that character did before-hand is of some interest, but even those details will emerge during play easier than before play. If you were reading a book, would the author expect you to know the main character before-hand?
What you do need to know is this: what species this character is, where she's from, what she's good at, and what might be important to her.
Species
There are four sentient species in the world of Near. (That is, according to the published setting. Maybe you have more in your game.) In choosing a species for your character, you have the following questions to ask yourself:
- What nifty abilities and Secrets can I get because of this species?
- How does this species fit into the culture we're playing in?
- How does this species interact with the other characters' species?
- What does this species represent to me? Why would I want to play this sort of character?
The species to choose from, like all character details, are found in the setting section of this rulebook.
Culture
You will have to decide on a culture that your character is from. You and your friends have probably decided on an area in which the game will start before play, and your characters will likely come from that area and its surrounding cultures. Playing a stranger to the culture you begin play in can be fun, too. Your group will have a lot more information with your setting.
Pools
Once past the heavy-thought areas of concept, species, and culture, the fun number action begins. First up is your character's pools.
Divide 11 points among your character's pools, with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 7 in each. (Note: this maximum is just for character creation; your character may end up with a pool later much higher than 7.)
Abilities
All characters start with the three innate abilities. Set one at Adept level, one at Competent, and one at Unskilled.
Then, choose from your setting material more abilities that are available to your character. You should choose one at Adept level and three at Competent. This is just for a starting character, fresh out in the world. If you are playing more experienced characters, you'll get the chance to add more abilities or increase the ones you have later.
Note that you can use any open abilities or any closed abilities from your home culture at Unskilled. You can feel free to write down ones you expect to use. You cannot use abilities from other cultures unless trained in them by someone else.
Secrets and Keys
Before play, players can choose one Secret and one Key for their characters.
Further Advances
Lastly, players start with a number of advances (chances to improve) for their characters. This is determined by the group before play, depending on how powerful characters are to be at the beginning of the game. The standard number is five. To figure out how to spend them, read below.
Character Advancement
During the game, each player character will get experience points (XP) for meeting the player's goals for that character's story and the Story Guide's goals for the overall story. These experience points are converted to advances, usually at a rate of five XP to one advance. Each advance that you get can be banked toward improving your character's pools, abilities, Secrets, and Keys. The costs are found in the table below.
You can never increase the same thing twice in a row. That is, you cannot increase the same ability or pool twice in a row. You need to increase something else in between. In addition, you cannot buy two Secrets or two Keys in a row.
| Character change | Cost in advances |
|---|---|
| Buy a new Ability at Competent | 1 |
| Increase an Ability from Competent to Adept | 2 |
| Increase an Ability from Adept to Master | 3 |
| Increase an Ability from Master to Grand Master | 4 |
| Add a point to a pool (up to 10) | 1 |
| Add a point to a pool (already at 10 or above) | 2 |
| Add a new Secret You must be taught the Secret by someone who knows it. | 1 |
| Add a new Key | 1 |
