Step Zero: Character Concept
While you can to jump right into the mechanics of building your character, taking a few minutes to scribble some notes on the intended final result can be helpful in later decision-making. Answers to the following questions may be particularly useful:
• What's your general character concept? How would this character's peers describe him in a sentence or two? What should he be capable of doing at the beginning of play? A character's capabilities depend on the life path phases you select, which in turn model the personal and professional choices that he has made throughout his history. Accordingly, you may want to flip through the following pages and pick out a few appealing phases that provide most of the skills that you want your character to have.
• What's your character's background? Character creation begins in your character's 18th year and follows his progress through his entire adult life up to the start of play. The first choices you make will define your character as he stands on the cusp of maturity, and will determine his future options.
• How old is your character? If you're familiar with Twilight: 2000, Second Edition, you'll note that the [Name Not Released] System has no random mechanic for determining when the character's life path is over and the Twilight War begins. The character's age is entirely up to you (subject to your GN's preferences and the rules for death through advanced age). Older characters accrue more skill points over their lifetimes, but suffer attribute deterioration from aging and are less able to improve their skills through experience once play begins.
• How did your character survive the Last Year? If you're playing in the default setting of Twilight: 2013 (as described in Chapters One and Two), between 75% and 90% of the human race has died in the past year. What qualities set your character apart from the now-silent masses and made him a survivor? What choices, compromises, and sacrifices did he make in order to keep himself alive through the Last Year? How do these weigh on him now?
• What sort of campaign does your GM have in mind? Most GMs have at least some expectations regarding the stories they want to tell. It's best for all involved parties if the characters somehow fit into this campaign concept. If the game is intended to focus on the post-war rebuilding of Paris, it won't have much room for a bloody-handed Chechen separatist who doesn't speak a word of French.
• What are the other players' character concepts? Team play is important, especially for a post-apocalyptic environment in which the characters can't count on outside resources. An entire team of heavily-armed veteran infantrymen can overcome most combat challenges, but without medical support, they're likely to lose limbs when relatively minor injuries become infected. To ensure that everyone designs a character with at least some necessary capabilities, you and your fellow players may find it helpful to collectively discuss the needs of the team. Personality characteristics are equally important. Nothing can spoil a player group's fun like one member who introduces a character with goals radically different from those of the rest of the team.
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93gamesstudio) wrote,
crazy
