FATE Revision:
These character creation rules are based on the FATE role-playing game system by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue. Characters in this system have two major traits: a series of Aspects, describing who the character is, and a series of Skills, describing what the character can do.
So what happened to Attributes? What about all that talk about Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit?
The essential problem we found during development was that using Attributes contributed to maxing out characters during creation. In effect, people could create circus freaks, with characterization as an afterthought. After all, if the character's an insanely talented fighter, the rest will take care of itself, right?
That's not what we wanted Amstaad to be. When Dourgrim first created the basic divisions of Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit, the intent was to create a world where all of these were important. Maxing out a character goes against the general spirit of the game we wanted to create. So we ditched the Attributes, which were the major contributing factor, and adapted a system more conducive to good storytelling.
Don't worry, the basic divisions of Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit are still here, and still important. The only difference is that their importance is now intrinsic; we the mods are considering all of them in the storylines and quests we have created for you to interact with. You need these attributes because you will be roleplaying them. They just won't show up on a stats sheet anymore.
So how do I make a character now?
Character creation is divided into a few easy steps:
- [1] Choose a race for your character. This is your character's first Aspect. It is free. Each racial Aspect contains positive and negative traits, as well as the basic language skills your character will have because he/she is Human, a Dwarf, etc. All racial Aspects are value-neutral. This is the first piece in describing who your character is.
[2] Describe your character's background in 5 steps (called Phases). In each Phase, choose an Aspect and 4 Skill levels to add to your sheet.
[3] Each character gets 3 Fate Points at the time of creation. Note that down on the sheet.
[4] Choose the Goal your character has.
So what are the Races?
Players can choose any one of the following races for their character:
Humans
(approx. 40% of total population): Humans are just like you and I, the regular people you see on the street every day in the real world. Males are generally between 5'6" and 6'6" tall, women between 5'0" and 5'10" (with weights commesurate to height accordingly). Skin tones can range from alabaster to dark brown, and hair and eye colors are typical as well (green, blue, brown, hazel, etc). They speak the Trade Tongue, a common language that all races in Amstaad have learned (which has been adapted from the humans' ancestral tongue). Aspect: Human
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Great)
Humans (Tiktuk)
The original inhabitants of Amstaad, the Tiktuk fared much better under the old Passani Empire than they do in the current city. While before they had much influence and power, the shift towards organized entrepreneurship has left the Tiktuk behind. Today, they are generally impoverished. Though their power is gone and influence diminished, the Tiktuk culture remains, preserved for thousands of years. They are still easily identifiable by their tribal markings, three long scars on the left side of each Tiktuk’s face, reminiscent of a cat’s whiskers. Their clothing is generally simple. They speak their own language, Tiktuk, as well as the Trade tongue. Aspect: Human (Tiktuk)
- Poor
- Lucky
- Gains Skill: Language -- Tiktuk (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
Humans (Passani)
The Passani are the remnants of what was once a great Southern empire. Though their empire is long gone and they are no longer dominant in the city, they are still fiercely proud and protective of their heritage. They have carved out a niche for themselves in the banking, weaponsmithing, and engineering industries, but this remains a very closed society that may be hostile to outsiders. The Passani have aquiline features, and usually clothe themselves in vibrant flowing robes. They speak their own language, Passani, in addition to the Trade tongue.Aspect: Human (Passani)
- Rich
- Closed-minded
- Gains Skill: Language -- Passani (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
Elves
(approx. 25% of total population) Elves are very similar to humans in basic physiology and appearance, but generally tend to be fairer-skinned and have distinctive points to their ears, the telltale sign that everyone looks for. They are also shorter than humans on average, with males ranging from 5'4" to 6'0" and females 4'10" to 5'6". They tend to be a bit lighter than humans as well, although not drastically so. Their skin is almost always fair, although they can tan if they spend a lot of time in direct sunlight (sea-faring elves are quite bronzed, for example). Eye colors are usually in the blue family, ranging from green to blue to purple. Hair colors are typical for humans, although elves do tend to have a higher proportion of blonde hair than humans do. Elves are often referred to as "The Fair Folk" in polite company (and "Tree-Loving Fairies" in not-so-polite circles). They have long lifespans (although they are not immprtal, as some legends claim), usually living 150-200 years. They speak their own language, Elven (which has its own alphabet) as well as the Trade Tongue.Aspect: Elf
- Fair
- Thin
- Gains Skill: Language -- Elvish (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
Dwarves
(approx. 15% total population) Dwarves are short, stout folk who are naturally subterranean but who have come to Amstaad to practice their crafts, most notably metalworking and gemcutting (although there are dwarves in nearly every craft and trade imaginable). They are much shorter than the other races, with males ranging from 4'6" to 5'2" and females from 4'4" to 4'10". Hair colors are almost always dark, ranging from auburn to black. Male dwarves tend to go grey quickly, and grey hair is not necessarily a sign of old age amongst them. Dwarves always have facial hair (regardless of gender), and they take great pride in it, grooming it carefully, often into intricate braids. Eye colors are generally various shades of brown, although green and grey eyes are not unheard of. Skin tones are generally ruddy, and they tend to favor earth tones when choosing clothing. They speak their own language (with its own alphabet) in addition to the Trade Tongue. Aspect: Dwarf
- Tough
- Short
- Gains Skill: Language -- Dwarvish (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
Aerin
(approx. 10% total population) Aerin are a race of birdfolk that have recently come to Amstaad in an effort to interact, trade, and learn from the other humanoid races. They are of a similar size to the Elves in height, but that's where the similarities end. They are, in effect, birds that walk upright: instead of arms they have wings with small claw-like appendages at the ends, their legs bend "backwards" like bird legs, they have typical bird feet, and their heads generally resemble a bird's head (complete with beak, feathers, and eye shape). Their feathers run the gamut of colors, with black, brown, and white being slightly more common. Eye colors are also rather unpredictable, but generally are either brown or grey. They speak their own language (but do not have a written alphabet), and most can speak the Trade Tongue as well, although awkwardly.Aspect: Aerin
- Intelligent
- Uncoordinated
- Gains Skill: Flight (Average)
- Gains Skill: Unarmed Combat (Poor)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Aerin (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
Slith
(approx. 10% total population) The Slith are a race of lizardmen who have only recently come to Amstaad. They resemble humans in basic form (having shed their tails and developed opposable thumbs0 over hundreds of years of evolution), although there is no mistaking a Slith for anything but a Slith. They stand between 6'2" and 7'0" inches tall, regardless of gender. Because of their reptile heritage, their skin tones are generally a shade of green, and their skin itself is usually covered in small vestigal scales. Slith eyes are always slitted, usually yellow or orange, and their tongues are long and forked. They are widely mistrusted (and oftentimes hated) by the general populace of Amstaad because of the race's tendency toward violence, but the Slith who remain in the City have, in general, been able to overcome the racial hatred by developing tight-knit communities. They speak their own language (but have no written alphabet), and many of them have also learned the Trade Tongue, although they are by no means a majority.Aspect: Slith
- Strong
- Ugly
- Gains Skill: Language -- Slith (Great)
- Gains Skill: Language -- Trade (Fair)
How do I select Aspects?
As can be seen with the racial Aspects, an Aspect is an attempt to take an important part of who a character is, and boil it down to a concise statement. Remember, each Aspect corresponds to a part of your character's life, and should extend from that. It can be a character trait (eg. Stubborn), a connection to another character in this world (eg. close to the Duke of _____), an item the character values (eg. Indiana Jones' fedora), an occupation (eg. Thief), and so forth. Aspects can be either positive or negative. The entire point is to describe your character, extending from his/her experiences, in a manner that both you and the mods can access to make roleplaying interesting.
Every time you choose an Aspect, you are putting a level into it. Levels for Aspects start at Fair (+2) and go up by 1 for each additional level. You can only add a maximum of 3 levels to any one Aspect during character creation. (More on levels below.)
Aspects can be
negative
? Why would I want to do that?The entire point of roleplaying gaming is to have an interesting experience. Think of your favourite books and movies. The most interesting characters were not perfect -- every one of them had flaws, and it was these flaws that made them interesting.
FATE is set up to reward players for interesting gaming, as opposed to "perfect" gaming. Fate Points, which allow you to have more control over your experience, get rewarded for good gameplay, most often when you are asked to work through your character's personal challenges. On the other hand, since Fate Points get paid out in instances where you feel you need to exert some control, so not having personal challenges is actually a
disadvantage
.Aspects are also the clearest way to communicate to the mods what
you
want to see your character doing during the game. Particularly juicy Aspects provide entire potential storylines, and make for a much richer gaming experience. Feel free to be creative and descriptive in choosing your Aspects -- it can only be at most a phrase per Aspect, but you can pack a lot of information in that short amount of space.How do I select Skills?
To understand Skills, it is necessary to introduce two concepts. The first is the idea of levels. The levels in FATE (or the "ladder") look like this:
+7 Legendary
+6 Epic
+5 Superb
+4 Great
+3 Good
+2 Fair
+1 Average
0 Mediocre
-1 Poor
-2 Terrible
-3 Abysmal
We assume that
everyone
has mediocre Skills as a default. (The only exception are the Aerin, who take a penalty to the Unarmed Combat skill to make up for gaining a Flight skill not available to anyone else.) Every Phase, you get 4 Skill levels to spend, which you can spend on any Skill. Each Skill level spent raises a Skill by 1 on the ladder. (So the first level gets you a Skill at Average, the second raises it to Fair, and so forth.)So what's to prevent maxing out Skills? At the end of each Phase, your Skills have to obey a balancing rule, called the Skill Pyramid. The Pyramid simply states that for every Skill at a level, there must be at least one additional Skill at a lower level. For example, having 1 Good, 2 Fair, and 3 Average Skills is fine. So is having 1 Good, 3 Fair, and 5 Average Skills. However, 2 Good, 2 Fair, and 4 Average would not be (equal numbers of Good and Fair Skills violate the Pyramid).
A suggested list of Skills is here (this will be linked). This is intended to provide some guidance as to what might exist in Amstaad, but it is not exhaustive. Feel free to create a new Skill, as long as it makes sense from your character's background and doesn't contradict anything defined about Amstaad.
So what's this about a Goal?
To help you roleplay, your character should have some motivation. What does he/she want to get out of life at this moment? What are his/her aspirations? These don't have to be grandiose, and can change over time, but in general it's what your character is trying to work towards right now.
I have something that doesn't fit into either Aspects or Skills. How do I handle that?
Things that fall outside Aspects and Skills are called Extras. These might include special equipment, servants, special contacts, or other similar things.
Extras are bought with Skill levels. So if you wanted, for example, very keen eyesight, one Skill level would buy one level of this Extra. Extras do not go into the Skill Pyramid at all -- buying a level of an extra means one less Skill level that can be used to make your pyramid.
For more complex items, like servants, one Skill level would buy one Aspect for the servant. Further Skill levels could be used to buy Skills for the servant, essentially creating a mini-character associated with your character.
More powerful Extras will be scaled to fit the power level in the game. As with anything else, if you have a great idea for something and aren't sure exactly how to work it, just ask the mods.
So what about Magick?
Insert stuff about Magic.
I'm still not sure I get it...
Don't worry, there's an example below of a character made up by the mods. We'll also be around to read your sheets as you make them, so feel free to ask any questions or get any input you need.
Name: Oduro bel’Anath
Player: Yaw
Race: Elf
Description: Young looking, 5’9” with fine features. Tanned skin, green eyes, with shoulder-length light brown hair worn in thin braids.
Background:
Phase 1: Oduro grew up in Alathi, a small Elvish settlement in the deserts far to the south of Amstaad. His family were herders, and he shepherded the family flock.
Aspect: Solitary (Fair)
- Herder
- Observation x 2
- Survivalism
Aspect: Soldier (Fair)
- Swords (Sabre)
- Athleticism
- Archery
- Focus
Aspect: Soldier (Good)
- Swords (Sabre)
- Riding (Hiran)
- Observation
- Athleticism
Aspect: Soldier (Great)
- Swords (Sabre)
- Riding (Hiran)
- Berserker
- Focus
Aspect: Repentant (Fair)
- Swords (Sabre)
- Survivalism
- Athleticism
- Faith
Final Character:
Aspects
Skills
Fate Points: 3
Goal: To atone for his past transgressions, and regain his lost standing within the Empire just outside the city state of Amstaad.
Equipment: Oduro carries a sabre and a buckler. He wears leather armour.
So how is all this going to be used in the game?
Go here for details. (Needs link added.)