Tales from the Rocket House

Honestly, that’s a question I’d considered closed until I started writing this column. We all know the drawbacks to random character creation: uneven power levels among player characters, even unplayable or nonsensical results, and lack of control over what your character is like. Although, to be fair, some people find the last one to be a feature, not a bug; part of the fun is discovering what the character is like, or learning to play a character you wouldn’t really think of. If you feel this way, a well-made random character creation process could be right up your alley.

But thanks to some comments in the forums (especially Old Geezer’s), I’ve been thinking about random character creation a lot. There is something of virtue in uncertainty, in being pushed by the dice to play against type, getting the chance to play a character you’d never even think of playing on your own. Then, I ran across ORE’s one roll character generator, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I wrote one for the Tarafore sytem.

ORE’s generator addresses all the aforementioned problems. It’s based on point-buy, meaning all the characters are equal (to the point that point-buy can assure equality, but I griped about that in columns 5 and 8), and, unlike most random roll systems, it provides information about the character’s background. It’s really quite neat, and you should click the link and try it out a time or two.

I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from the ORE character generator, but, as always, I have a couple of changes I want to make. First, I want my character generator to tell (at least in broad strokes) where a given event happened, and for that location to have at least some mechanical bearing on the character. Secondly, I don’t want to simply spend a set amount of CP per roll, which can leave characters with a huge number of skills at very low levels, rendering them, if not unplayable, then at least frustratingly unfocused. To this end, I’ve decided that for a given even, a player must spend at least 1CP, but can choose to spend as many CPs as his or her character has remaining, on whatever combination of Traits and Skills are listed.

Of course, a random character creation system like this is going to be setting-specific, so we have to specify a setting. For the sake of this column, I’m sort of going with a generic pseudo-medieval setting, because everyone will “get” all the setting elements and conventions mentioned. I’m excluding PC-spellcasters at this point, simply because that would be too complicated to deal with in one column, and would likely muddy the waters unnecessarily.

The default randomized character creation system uses the point-based character creation process. To apply this to the subjective (conversation-based) character creation process, players and GM’s will need to roll several times and then discuss the results, weaving a character narrative from them, and extrapolating specific Trait and Skill levels from that narrative. Essentially, using this would not change the nature of the subjective character creation process, but would simply provide some inspiration for character ideas.

In the Tarafore system, the objective character creation process begins with the gm picking a power level for the characters, ranging from weak to very strong. Then each player picks a template that is at or below that power level. In addition to the Traits and Skills listed on the Templates, Characters get additional Customization Points, usually six, but sometimes as few as four or as many as eight, with which to further customize their characters. The Templates are based on general life paths in the setting (craftsmen, soldiers, pickpockets, paupers, nobles, etc.), and the player characters need to differ from the norm some.

Players can choose weaker templates when they play characters in the game. For each “level” lower they go, they get an additional 6 CP. If the game “level” is Strong, then a player choosing an Average template would get 6 additional CP to spend, and a player choosing a Weak template would get 12 additional CP to spend. Here is an example of a “Weak” template:

Craftsman Power Level:Weak
Customization Points: 5
Prowess 10
Strength 10
Athletics 10
Awareness 10
Willpower 10
Rogue 10
Wealth Level: Working Class

Skills
One Craft or Trade (Profession): 13

Gear
6-8 Ducats, a dagger, basic clothing and personal effects, the tools of his trade, and a basic working-class house (in the country) or apartment (in a town).

Cultural Role
Craftsmen are the people who keep the cities running. They make the shoes, tan the leather, lay the bricks, forge the horseshoes, lead the road crews, etc. A Craftsman knows his trade and little else, either because he’s young or lacks ambition. Craftsmen with ambition eventually become Master Craftsmen, setting up their own shops and overseeing several Craftsmen.

Craftsmen are usually organized into guilds, which award ranks of “journeyman” and “master” and which also serve as mutual benefit societies (essentially providing insurance-type benefits for members who have fallen on hard times or who have become ill or injured, and for their widows) Craftsmen are respected and productive members of society, though of course they lack the “clout” to address the nobility.

Notice that the Craftsman has 5 Customization Points to work with, and is a “Weak” Template. If the GM announces a “Strong” power level (samples of “Strong” templates include soldiers, nobility, mob fixers, and professional thieves), and a player selects a “Weak” template like the Craftsman, that player will get 12 extra Customization Points, for a total of 17. That’s correct: in order for a Craftsman to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with professional thieves, soldiers, and nobility, he has got to have something “extra” in his past.

With the randomized system, a player can choose a “blank slate,” (to borrow from John Locke), which is a Very Weak template with every Trait at Average 10, no skills, and a Working Class wealth level (everything is at the “I didn’t spend any points on it” level). Mr. Tabula Rasa starts with 6 Customization Points. This represents someone who set out onto the road before his or her life was “set,” before receiving any real training or being cast in a role (for better or worse) by society. This character has been a wanderer for a long time.

At each step, the player rolls the dice, and then spends CP on the things listed there. The player can spend as many CP as he or she wants (as little as 1 CP at this step, or she can spend every CP she has) at this given level, then roll the dice again for the “next” one.

Table One addresses where each “step” occurred, and has a listed Trait that goes with it, based on the stereotype of that part of the setting. “Special Abilities” is going to vary with the setting, but anything from mundane talents to magical gifts would be appropriate.

Table Two addresses what happened to the character. If tables 1 and 2 don’t match (a music tutor in a barbarian court?), you have three choices: roll with the contradiction, adjust it so it makes more sense (bards and druids were musicians and legend-keepers, and would be present in any pseudo-Celtic-esque setting), or reroll it.

Table One: Where?

1. Northern Highlands (stereotypical pseudo-Scottish barbarians): Strength
2-3. The Old Empire (pseudo-Roman; once ruled everything, now fallen into decay): Rogue
4-6. The Feudal States (standard default human area): Prowess 7. Mountain Kingdom (dwarves or tough, inventive, pseudo-Germanic humans): Willpower
8. Sylvan Woods (elves or other semi-mystical nature lovers): Awareness
9. The Islands (Pirates, Fishermen, Sailors, etc): Athletics
10. Exotic (goblins/orcs, fairies, gnomes, or what have you): Special Abilities

Table Two: What Happened?

1. On the Run: Awareness, Survival.

You’ve picked up an enemy, and gain +1 CP for your troubles

2-3. Took up with Criminals:

1-3 Pickpocket or Petty Thief: Awareness, Subterfuge

4-5 Con Artist: Awareness, Rogue,

6-7 Highwayman: Awareness, Prowess

8-9 Catburglar: Awareness, Athleticism

10 Organized Crime: Awareness, Willpower, Criminal Contacts

4. Drafted into a Fighting Force:

1-4 Infantry: Prowess, Strength

5-6 Archer: Prowess, Archery

7-8 Scout: Prowess, Awareness

9 Medic: Prowess, Medicine

10 Engineer: Prowess, Siege Engineering

5. Volunteered in a Fighting Force:

1-4 Infantry: Prowess, Strength

5-6 Archer: Prowess, Archery

7-8 Scout: Prowess, Awareness

9 Medic: Prowess, Medicine

10 Engineer: Prowess, Siege Engineering

6. Worked in Skilled Crafts or Commerce: Profession, Increase Wealth Level, Contacts

7. Lived in Court

1-3: Domestic Servant: Etiquette, Awareness, Rogue

4: Riding Instructor: Etiquette, Athletics, Horsemanship

5: Fencing Instructor: Etiquette, Prowess, Awareness

6: Tutor: Etiquette, Awareness, Knowledge Skills, Artistic and Music Skills

7: Perfumer (poison maker): Etiquette, Apothecary, Subterfuge

8-9: Courtier/Courtesan: Etiquette, Rogue, Wealth

10: Significant Noble: Etiquette, Wealth, Noble Title/Rank

8-9. Joined a Trade Caravan/Shipment

1-2 As a Guard: Survival/Seamanship, Prowess

3-4 As Basic Labor: Survival/Seamanship, Athletics

5 As a Merchant: Survival/Seamanship, Rogue, Wealth

6-7 As Merchandise: Survival/Seamanship, Willpower

8-9 As a Stowaway: Survival/Seamanship, Awareness

10 As a Cook or other Support Staff: May choose from any or all of the listed Caravan Traits, but can spend no more than 1 CP on each. (had a chance to learn from everybody, but just a little)

10. Studied Privately Under an Expert Mentor

1-2 Warrior: Prowess, Athletics

3-4 Healer: Medicine, Herb Lore

5-6 Thief: Awareness, Subterfuge

7-8 Mystic: Willpower, Secret Lore

9-10 Craftsman: Professional Skill/Craft, Science & Engineering

Now, clearly this is not the only way to do it, but the combinations provide a fairly large number of options to serve as inspiration, and the ability to stop at each point and “invest” as many CP as you want prevents characters from getting to “scattered,” with a smattering of unrelated skills that render them more or less useless to the party as a whole. While this is a rough draft, and one meant for a fairly bland setting, it’s easy to imagine how a more fleshed-out, interesting setting could lead to more interesting entries.

Looking at this current draft, I am wondering, however, if it might not be better for each region to have its own “Table Two,” with results more directly customized for its culture, fantasy elements, and geography. This would certainly lead to more focused results, but it would be a fairly large undertaking and beyond the scope of this already overlong column. Next month, I will elaborate on this a little and put a character or two through the process, just to show how it will turn out.