Post by ShikMyPants (GM) on Aug 19, 2015 21:41:10 GMT 8
Please follow this guide for character creation and when complete post to the character section of the forum.
Player name
Your name dummy!
Name
Self explantory, the more steampunk the name the more cudos you get!
Age
Again very simple, I would recomend a first character to be the same age as yourself as this makes it easier to get into their mindset. However if you decide to change this just let me know.
Character and personality
This is what makes your character a character, their drives and hopes, their fears and vices. Your character could be an old veteran who has seen too much bloodshed but her ideals are so that when she sees a wrong deed she responds from a sense of justice and right. Or they could be a man who cares only for their own wellbeing taking any opurtunity to grow the coin purse, even at the expense of others life.
Below is an example of how to construct a characters personality which should be helpful. Just follow this replacing it with your own characters traits.
Basic personality traits: Kind hearted, nervous, socially awkward.
Hopes: To be accepted by people as a good person due to their low self asteem.
Fears: Phobia of spiders, worried they will not live a worthwhile life.
Vice: Alchohol
Dream: To become a renowned hero.
This last one 'Dream' is very important, this is the drive behind your character and where they want to go. If you ever find yourself trying to make a hard decision you just need ask yourself 'would this help my character come closer to achieving their dream?' A dream can be anything. Wealth, power, being the best in the world at something even revenge.
Proffesion
Now work in the wonderous floating city of Stark is as diverse as the night sky. Here are some examples of broad proffesion catagories that you should look at for your character, please choose one and be more specific about your proffesion within it eg. Artisan - Clockmacker.
Aesthete - You are a young man or woman of education and refinement. Akin to a dandy or a fop you do little actual work but choose to frequent the more progressive areas of society. Art exibitions, poetry readings and opium dens are your frequented hang outs. You are seen as scandalous by the upper eschelons of society and as idiotic wasters by the more conservatives who dont have the courage to experience everything the world has to offer.
Homeless - You do not have a proffession per say but a life growing up in the streets has hardened you to the horrors of the world. The fact that you arent yet dead is evidence of your hardy nature. On the bottom run of societies ladder you are shunned and unoticed at best but from here you can see the world for what it truly is and use this to your advantage.
Investigator - You could be in law enforcement, work privately or an investigative reporter but whatever you are your strength lies in your ability to uncover the truth. You seek out the liars and the untrustworthy of the world and expose them for what they really are.
Engineer - Whether in an airship engine room or a factory floor you are the hard slogging grease monkey that keeps the great steam age running. You specialise in clockwork or steam but regardless you have a natural understanding of the machine and its inner workings.
Explorer - You have one goal, to discover what has not been discovered before. You may be a famous botanist or an adventurous anthropologist but whatever your specialisation you have a need to be at the forefront of every new frontier.
Artisan - You are the creators of the world. Amazing new gadgets, inventions and advances in scientific understanding. These are the alchemists and the inventors of the world, you are controlled by a drive to force technology forward with the power of steam and clockwork or by any other means you can discover.
Navigator - You are the helmsmans and cartographers of the world. If there is a path to find or a landmass to be mapped these are your people. Driven much as the explorers are they strive for new frontiers to discover.
Acolyte - A man or indeed a woman of the cloth. These are the religious devotees of the world. Whether a religious battle fanatic of Ur or a calm and contemplative monk of the way these are the people that spread and protect the teachings of their religions.
Criminal - These are individuals that make a living on the wrong side of the law. They can be a small time as a pickpocket or as devoted as the boss of world renowed crime syndicate. Whatever the specialisation the individual is skilled in the art of making money through others loss.
Mercenary - You are the hired gun, the bounty hunter, the soldier of furtune. You will take almost any job as long as the pay is right. You are feared by the criminal and labled a cruel lought by the more refined but none can do what you can.
All and more - the above catagories are only a rough guide to some of the possibilities available to you and your story if you decide to come up with a proffesion that does not fit into these categories please inform me and we can work it out.
Phyical appearance and atributes
This is what your character looks like, how they appear at first glance to others and their physical abilities. They could be a burly intimidating bruiser or a slender well kept deulist, whatever they are take a look at the example below to get an idea of how to construct it.
Physical Appearance: 6.5 ft tall, broad and muscular. Large deep scar over left cheek. Dark complection and angular jaw.
First impressions: Very intimidating, makes others feel physically inadiquate.
Physical ability: extremly strong and physically hardy. Resistant to pain. Slow and cumbersome.
Equipment
This is the part where you choose the gear you will have as well as your clothes. This section can affect your physical appearance as much as anything so choose wisely. Here is an example to give you an idea.
Clothes: Brown and purple pinstripe waistcoat and trousers. Workmans shirt and boots. Leather belt with cog sigil on buckle.
Equipment:
Engineers tools and tool satchel. Magnification specs. Clockwork arm prothetic (lost arm in accident - see story section)
Your Story
The above six sections have allowed you to craft your character from the ground up, now you need to justify your choices. This is done by explaining their background and how they arrived where they are today. The simplest way to do this is to look at the individual traits you have laid out in the above sections and focus on your character as a whole, how did they become who they are? Was it a traumatic childhood experience, did they lose someone close to them, did they have a hidden grudge? Also the opposite is also true, did they have an easy childhood, are they naive to the ways of day to day society. Try to work this background in with your dream and why it is your characters drive. Also figures or incidents from your past are good as they can be used to really personalize your storyline. It'll probably end up being a couple of paragraphs but if you want to write more feel free, there will be bonuses for interesting in depth backgrounds.
Heres an example:
Matthew Isaacs was a meak young layabout that had no prospects what so ever, that is until the day his mother died and his uncle Sumner became his guardian. At the age of ten his uncle put Isaacs to work in his watchmakers shop. He took a shine to the job like nothing before and became obsessed with all things clockwork. He cultivated a loving farther son relationship with his Uncle Sumner who became the farther he never had. His uncle was always there for him and Isaacs was truly happy. All that was shattered though on one fateful night. Isaacs was now twenty and one of the most accomplished clockwork mechanism maker in all of Stark, surpasing even his uncles skill. He had been working on a project for some time that ivolved using a soul crystal, embuing it with the soul of a dead animal (in this case a cat) and then attempting to create a clockwork mount for it, essentially giving the cat everlasting life. There had been many failures and the few he told about it laughed and said it couldnt be done. After three years of continuos failure he was about to give up but then a breakthrough happened, he managed to get a specimen to get up and walk around for ten whole minutes. Extatic he went out to celebrate. After many drinks and merryment he let slip about his breakthrough to a chap a local pub. Within a week he was visited by two representatives from the research and development arm of the Imperial Navy. They explained that the navy would be very interested in his technology and that he could save many lives with it. Isaacs refussed instanly recognising that the navy would use it to wage war on their enemies and kill millions. They returned many times over the course of the coming weeks, everytime theirboffer getting more and more outrageuos, Isaacs could have been a millionaire one hundred times over but still he refused. Eventually the navy reps stopped visiting and Isaacs relief was palpable. However that night there was a break in at the workshop and a fire started. Isaacs was awoken by his uncles screams as he burnt alive, he tried to save him but the inferno was impossible to stop. As tears ran from his face he ran to escape the building and escape the blaze but as he reached the ground floor part of the roof caved in pining him by his right arm. He gave up hope and consigned himself to joining his uncle in the afterlife. As he mind began to come to terms with his fate he caught a glimpse of movement out the corner of his eye, a shadowy robed figure carrying his research notes was climbing out the back window. He knew then that the navy had not taken no for an answer and they were responsible for this. His thoughts of death warped into a feeling of bitter vengeance. He looked around and spied a hack saw, with a brief pause for breath he took the saw to his pinned arm and began cutting, the pain was unbearable but nothing compared to his new found hatred. The saw severed flesh and bone and eventually made it all the way through. With his last remaining strength he stumbled to his feet and made it to the rear window, he collapsed out of it into the rear alley and made it five metres before he passed out. He woke up in the Sisters of Stark infirmary. He had lost an arm but had gained a purpose, revenge.
Extra:
If theres anything else that i have not covered in the character creation section that you would like to add please just say and we can address it. As an extra tip you might want to Google 'Steampunk Character' in google images. This will give you a good place to start for ideas if you like a piece of art work for a character include it in your character write up, a good always helps give a nice rounded feel to a finished character.
In terms of playing a character with a power you can decide at creation if you would like to play a character with or without one. If you decide to then I will randomly determin what this power is and as far as your character is concerned they have no idea they have one as it has not manifested yet, as you roleplay your character may or may not discover what it is.
Player name
Your name dummy!
Name
Self explantory, the more steampunk the name the more cudos you get!
Age
Again very simple, I would recomend a first character to be the same age as yourself as this makes it easier to get into their mindset. However if you decide to change this just let me know.
Character and personality
This is what makes your character a character, their drives and hopes, their fears and vices. Your character could be an old veteran who has seen too much bloodshed but her ideals are so that when she sees a wrong deed she responds from a sense of justice and right. Or they could be a man who cares only for their own wellbeing taking any opurtunity to grow the coin purse, even at the expense of others life.
Below is an example of how to construct a characters personality which should be helpful. Just follow this replacing it with your own characters traits.
Basic personality traits: Kind hearted, nervous, socially awkward.
Hopes: To be accepted by people as a good person due to their low self asteem.
Fears: Phobia of spiders, worried they will not live a worthwhile life.
Vice: Alchohol
Dream: To become a renowned hero.
This last one 'Dream' is very important, this is the drive behind your character and where they want to go. If you ever find yourself trying to make a hard decision you just need ask yourself 'would this help my character come closer to achieving their dream?' A dream can be anything. Wealth, power, being the best in the world at something even revenge.
Proffesion
Now work in the wonderous floating city of Stark is as diverse as the night sky. Here are some examples of broad proffesion catagories that you should look at for your character, please choose one and be more specific about your proffesion within it eg. Artisan - Clockmacker.
Aesthete - You are a young man or woman of education and refinement. Akin to a dandy or a fop you do little actual work but choose to frequent the more progressive areas of society. Art exibitions, poetry readings and opium dens are your frequented hang outs. You are seen as scandalous by the upper eschelons of society and as idiotic wasters by the more conservatives who dont have the courage to experience everything the world has to offer.
Homeless - You do not have a proffession per say but a life growing up in the streets has hardened you to the horrors of the world. The fact that you arent yet dead is evidence of your hardy nature. On the bottom run of societies ladder you are shunned and unoticed at best but from here you can see the world for what it truly is and use this to your advantage.
Investigator - You could be in law enforcement, work privately or an investigative reporter but whatever you are your strength lies in your ability to uncover the truth. You seek out the liars and the untrustworthy of the world and expose them for what they really are.
Engineer - Whether in an airship engine room or a factory floor you are the hard slogging grease monkey that keeps the great steam age running. You specialise in clockwork or steam but regardless you have a natural understanding of the machine and its inner workings.
Explorer - You have one goal, to discover what has not been discovered before. You may be a famous botanist or an adventurous anthropologist but whatever your specialisation you have a need to be at the forefront of every new frontier.
Artisan - You are the creators of the world. Amazing new gadgets, inventions and advances in scientific understanding. These are the alchemists and the inventors of the world, you are controlled by a drive to force technology forward with the power of steam and clockwork or by any other means you can discover.
Navigator - You are the helmsmans and cartographers of the world. If there is a path to find or a landmass to be mapped these are your people. Driven much as the explorers are they strive for new frontiers to discover.
Acolyte - A man or indeed a woman of the cloth. These are the religious devotees of the world. Whether a religious battle fanatic of Ur or a calm and contemplative monk of the way these are the people that spread and protect the teachings of their religions.
Criminal - These are individuals that make a living on the wrong side of the law. They can be a small time as a pickpocket or as devoted as the boss of world renowed crime syndicate. Whatever the specialisation the individual is skilled in the art of making money through others loss.
Mercenary - You are the hired gun, the bounty hunter, the soldier of furtune. You will take almost any job as long as the pay is right. You are feared by the criminal and labled a cruel lought by the more refined but none can do what you can.
All and more - the above catagories are only a rough guide to some of the possibilities available to you and your story if you decide to come up with a proffesion that does not fit into these categories please inform me and we can work it out.
Phyical appearance and atributes
This is what your character looks like, how they appear at first glance to others and their physical abilities. They could be a burly intimidating bruiser or a slender well kept deulist, whatever they are take a look at the example below to get an idea of how to construct it.
Physical Appearance: 6.5 ft tall, broad and muscular. Large deep scar over left cheek. Dark complection and angular jaw.
First impressions: Very intimidating, makes others feel physically inadiquate.
Physical ability: extremly strong and physically hardy. Resistant to pain. Slow and cumbersome.
Equipment
This is the part where you choose the gear you will have as well as your clothes. This section can affect your physical appearance as much as anything so choose wisely. Here is an example to give you an idea.
Clothes: Brown and purple pinstripe waistcoat and trousers. Workmans shirt and boots. Leather belt with cog sigil on buckle.
Equipment:
Engineers tools and tool satchel. Magnification specs. Clockwork arm prothetic (lost arm in accident - see story section)
Your Story
The above six sections have allowed you to craft your character from the ground up, now you need to justify your choices. This is done by explaining their background and how they arrived where they are today. The simplest way to do this is to look at the individual traits you have laid out in the above sections and focus on your character as a whole, how did they become who they are? Was it a traumatic childhood experience, did they lose someone close to them, did they have a hidden grudge? Also the opposite is also true, did they have an easy childhood, are they naive to the ways of day to day society. Try to work this background in with your dream and why it is your characters drive. Also figures or incidents from your past are good as they can be used to really personalize your storyline. It'll probably end up being a couple of paragraphs but if you want to write more feel free, there will be bonuses for interesting in depth backgrounds.
Heres an example:
Matthew Isaacs was a meak young layabout that had no prospects what so ever, that is until the day his mother died and his uncle Sumner became his guardian. At the age of ten his uncle put Isaacs to work in his watchmakers shop. He took a shine to the job like nothing before and became obsessed with all things clockwork. He cultivated a loving farther son relationship with his Uncle Sumner who became the farther he never had. His uncle was always there for him and Isaacs was truly happy. All that was shattered though on one fateful night. Isaacs was now twenty and one of the most accomplished clockwork mechanism maker in all of Stark, surpasing even his uncles skill. He had been working on a project for some time that ivolved using a soul crystal, embuing it with the soul of a dead animal (in this case a cat) and then attempting to create a clockwork mount for it, essentially giving the cat everlasting life. There had been many failures and the few he told about it laughed and said it couldnt be done. After three years of continuos failure he was about to give up but then a breakthrough happened, he managed to get a specimen to get up and walk around for ten whole minutes. Extatic he went out to celebrate. After many drinks and merryment he let slip about his breakthrough to a chap a local pub. Within a week he was visited by two representatives from the research and development arm of the Imperial Navy. They explained that the navy would be very interested in his technology and that he could save many lives with it. Isaacs refussed instanly recognising that the navy would use it to wage war on their enemies and kill millions. They returned many times over the course of the coming weeks, everytime theirboffer getting more and more outrageuos, Isaacs could have been a millionaire one hundred times over but still he refused. Eventually the navy reps stopped visiting and Isaacs relief was palpable. However that night there was a break in at the workshop and a fire started. Isaacs was awoken by his uncles screams as he burnt alive, he tried to save him but the inferno was impossible to stop. As tears ran from his face he ran to escape the building and escape the blaze but as he reached the ground floor part of the roof caved in pining him by his right arm. He gave up hope and consigned himself to joining his uncle in the afterlife. As he mind began to come to terms with his fate he caught a glimpse of movement out the corner of his eye, a shadowy robed figure carrying his research notes was climbing out the back window. He knew then that the navy had not taken no for an answer and they were responsible for this. His thoughts of death warped into a feeling of bitter vengeance. He looked around and spied a hack saw, with a brief pause for breath he took the saw to his pinned arm and began cutting, the pain was unbearable but nothing compared to his new found hatred. The saw severed flesh and bone and eventually made it all the way through. With his last remaining strength he stumbled to his feet and made it to the rear window, he collapsed out of it into the rear alley and made it five metres before he passed out. He woke up in the Sisters of Stark infirmary. He had lost an arm but had gained a purpose, revenge.
Extra:
If theres anything else that i have not covered in the character creation section that you would like to add please just say and we can address it. As an extra tip you might want to Google 'Steampunk Character' in google images. This will give you a good place to start for ideas if you like a piece of art work for a character include it in your character write up, a good always helps give a nice rounded feel to a finished character.
In terms of playing a character with a power you can decide at creation if you would like to play a character with or without one. If you decide to then I will randomly determin what this power is and as far as your character is concerned they have no idea they have one as it has not manifested yet, as you roleplay your character may or may not discover what it is.