Character creation
From ThreadsWiki
What Player Opportunities will be available
The opportunities available will be very similar to those available for Threads of Damocles, but more extensive. We will offer both Full Rate Cast which will include primary characters in a given scene, and a Cast/Player rate for those Cast who prefer to follow one character, but are open to doing periodic cast assignments, and taking more guidance.
Scripted v. Unscripted
Running six to seven events per year we will not be able to produce the level of scripting or character guidance supplied in a campaign such as Brassy's Men. However, we are looking more heavily at preferences, and we see that some players feel very strongly about being independent and free to do "whatever they want," while some players seem to strongly desire guidance from the GM staff. We'll work to accommodate both extremes by asking questions about the level of scripting a player is interested in. While our background will fall short of Theatre Style LARP, we will work to meet the needs both of players wishing a very freeform space in which to play, and those who want more guidance and GM support.
Theatre Style v. Adventure Style
Threads of Damocles will continue in the tradition of 1936: Horror, and Threads of Damocles in developing a medium that has elements of Theatre Style and Adventure Style LARP. We have to warn prospective players that we are neither type of campaign. If you are looking for a pure Adventure LARP, where fighting is a large element, Threads of Damocles will disappoint you. Likewise, if you are looking for a sit down parlor game which can be played passively, with a vast amount of personally focused plot and Machiavellian scheming, our outdoor games may wear you out and leave you feeling that you don't have enough to do or aren't involved enough.
That said, we feel that 1936: Horror and Threads of Damocles have been outstandingly successful examples of an eclectic LARP model, and a great place for players to find something fun to do, while getting to experience a game where not every episode, or even scenario, is the same.
Competitiveness and Cliques It would be unrealistic to look at our background model and think that it did not invite the possibility of player competition and cliques. Every LARP has social units of players, and this is a positive force. When those players become exclusive and choose not to include others and only to play with each other either militantly, or through lack of interest, they become a clique that damages the game. Perhaps more importantly, they soon find their own enjoyment waning, as they are left out of many things.
We specifically discourage players to try to assemble "do it all teams" or plot monster groups intended to annex parts of the game to themselves. Threads will be written to require heavy cooperation and interaction on the part of players from different backgrounds. Backgrounds will not be homogeneous there will be NCC (non-continuing character often seen as NPC non player character) and CC (continuing character, often seen as PC player character) adversaries and rivals in every A and B background. There is no perfect Rock of Gibraltar to stand on while annexing the rest of the game. Everyone will find at some point they are standing on quicksand and need the help and cooperation of others.
Plan to play interesting and fun backgrounds, with good colorful characters that match our guidance for designing a playable character.
Do not plan to "seize" the game by putting together a group. You'll fail and you'll be miserable about it.
Character v. Character
Within the game there may be more Character v. Character rivalry than within Threads of Damocles. But there is also a major and implicit need for openness and trust. The two should balance. Character rivalries are likely to be competitive, but not lethal we don't expect to see characters fighting each other.
Magic and Weird Stuff
Threads of Damocles will support Magic and Psi systems similar to the systems currently in play in Threads of Damocles. Supernatural special abilities may not be available in all scenarios different scenarios have different prevailing laws in regards to such things. We are not unwilling to support unusual abilities such as vampirism, etc., however be clear that this will in no way subvert the basic point balance of the campaign. You will have to build the character out of abilities, and pay reasonable costs for those abilities, so that you do not have an unfair advantage over other players.
Making a Playable Character
Introduction - Your Responsibility
The Campaign Staff will concentrate on producing interesting and provocative scenarios to play through. We have to rely on you to come up with a character who would be a good character to play, and who would be interested in continuing adventures.
In abstract, at the first game, players will be asked to volunteer to have certain information taken down, and serve on teams to help resolve a crisis that will shortly end time and space. You need to come up with a character who would be willing to volunteer in this regard, for whatever reasons, and who has enough useful to offer that they would be acceptable.
The scenario allows for some weird people. The smart but not very combat effective guy, the slightly weird but magically talented chick, and so forth. But characters can't be so far off the wall they are dysfunctional or basket cases.
We can't accommodate your decision to play a perfectly run of the mill Fuller Brush salesman, or frightened housewife, who doesn't have any interest in the fate of the universe, and doesn't make friends with the other characters so that he or she feels a compulsion to try and help them out. The idea isn't that you come up with any idea you want and we have to make it work. The cooperative process means we work together.
You don't need to be Indiana Jones - a reluctant hero is just fine. But do not expect the GMs to tailor an invitation to your character for every game. You'll need to fall in to some extent with some part of the group. We have advice on ways you can accomplish that, below.
Here are a series of hints for developing a viable character. You don’t have to conform to them all, but if you don’t conform to a few, you may be in trouble.
Be advised that the GMs cannot spend time owed to other players attempting to salvage your badly conceived concept. If you come to us and say "I am not having fun," and your character is obviously an experiment that does not meet most of the criteria here, we are going to say "back to the drawing board," and send you off to create a new character.
"You Accepted My Concept...here it is...it's only 180 points over"
We do not have an obligation to make a concept that we have tentatively approved "work" for points. If you want to play Mandrake the all powerful mage, we may be fine with your background. But you cannot come to us and say "but I wrote that I have the power to crush men's heads with my mind" and expect us to come up with the points for you to buy it.
We will make adequate points available to build characters with basic abilities. You probably don't want to design characters with complex abilities.
Rejecting Characters
In general it is not our policy to tell you what you can and can't play. However we do reserve the right to reject concepts that we feel will be completely unworkable or disruptive.
More commonly, if you present a concept that fails many of the criteria here, we may tell you that we "will not write to that concept." This means that while we will not prohibit your playing a given role if you really want to, we are not going to do all of the pre-support work that we normally do to "fit a player in." We think the concept will fail, and we are not wasting our time on it.
It takes GMs time to introduce and "plot in" a new character. While we realize players may change from time to time, some players would change every game if they could. We have a term for that and it is called "Cast."
If you play a role of that sort for a couple of games, and it does work out, of course we'll try to support it. But the onus is on you to make the concept work, and show us that you will continue to play it. Once you have done so, we'll see what we can do to tie it in
Good Character Traits
Interesting to be at Normal Times
Woe the fate of the man of action who must sit and wait for a train. A character is more than a set of combat and investigative stats. One of our specific goals in the Threads campaign will be to have extended periods of time – sometimes more than an hour – in each game where the GMs are not actively entertaining the players. This is specifically to allow time for “normal” interaction. Conversation, game play, etc. It is inherent in a campaign that aims for suspense and thrill, that the action will not always begin immediately, or follow the obvious course of action. We strongly suggest that you play a person who you feel it would be fun and interesting to be for at least an hour while nothing else was going on. Characters with colorful pasts, interesting stories, or involved personal lives are a good choice.
One note - don’t assume that we’ll have adequate cast to bring in a large group of players out of your personal life for you to deal with. Writing lovers, parents, etc. into your character is fine, but don’t fault the writers if they “never show up.” If we created one Cast Character for every Continuing Character, we’d have to have at least a 2:1 ratio of Cast to actually have a plot.
If you watch movies from the 40s, you'll notice that people are more given to entertaining themselves. Characters play cards, sing, tell stories, and devise other entertainments. You might want to think about taking up a card game that you know other players enjoy, or that you are willing to teach, or come up with some anecdotes to tell in character. One good goal is to try to have "one new anecdote per game" about your character's present or previous life.
Curious and Inquisitive
Play someone who is interested in what transpires around them. Characters who are singleminded or have very little interest in anything tend to be dead ends. This is a recipe for success in the campaign in general. If your reaction to being handed an interesting book or artifact is to shrug and hand it to the designated “artifact collector” you won’t get very far. Threads will try to steer clear of arbitrary “puzzles” and set up “mysteries” more like those in detective novels or real life. Individuals who blindly ignore the people about them (especially the “Cast” about them) are not likely to do very well. Characters that are intentionally designed to be uninterested in their surroundings may have a difficult haul.
Brandon B contributed this excellent description of the two types of puzzle most commonly found in LARP - the "Social Puzzle" and the "Logic Puzzle"
- "A "social puzzle" is all about talking to other people. For instance, something Mrs. P says gives us the hint that we should mention X to Mr. Q. When we do so, Mr. Q becomes violent. When he is subdued, we might think to search him, and find a unusual religious icon. Mr. F has seemed to know something about our burial site, but has been reticent. However, we know that he has a great interest in religious artifacts. If we show him the icon, he will offer to trade it for information which he has.
- A "logic puzzle" is one in which we are told that we are, for instance, looking for the Herald of the Morning, but we don't know if that's a thing, person, or supernatural entity. During the game, we might learn that Farmer Brown always gets up at dawn to tend the animals, and likes to stop and watch the sun rise from the top of his hill, every day without fail. He thinks it's terrible bad luck not to greet the sun. So maybe the Herald is the farmer (or his rooster!)
Think in terms of playing a character who would be interested in these situations. The character who is written to be "all about the plot" will find in this game that they constantly cannot see the forest for the trees. In focusing on "the plot" they will find that they've missed it completely by ignoring all of the things that connect to it. Threads does not aim to lay the plot out on neat item cards to trade and collect in a vacuum. The environment and people are the plot of the game.
Bold
A character doesn’t have to be adventurous to succeed in Threads – but they can’t be a wallflower either. The sort of character who when faced with a great challenge goes home to clean the sock drawer isn’t going to work. Create someone who is reasonably strong willed, and likely to consider risking their life if the stakes are high enough. Altruistic
The Self Interested character often has a tough run in a campaign game. We work under the assumption that most people, given some time and good reason, would act towards the common good. Someone who is an innately selfish person and needs a motivation (money, etc.) to do anything useful may be a dead-end character. At the very least, such a character needs to be balanced out by an Ulterior Motive (below). This doesn’t mean a character can’t seem selfish. In Casablanca, Rick Blane repeatedly says “I stick my neck out for nobody.” Yet in the end he rescues the leader of the resistance, and gives up the girl to go join the Free French, at great personal risk. Playing a tough guy is fine – but playing a character who has no motivation to group action can be self defeating unless that character has another reason for involvement. Ulterior Motives
One good reason for a character to continue to show up for games is an ulterior motive. Surprise – everyone isn’t what you think they are. We have a series of secret groups (some overlapping) which will be a part of the game. We’ll have a list out shortly – not with names of course, but with enough general information to decide what you are interested in.
As much as some of the GMs personally enjoyed them in Dark Summonings, we are discouraging player-created groups for two reasons:
- You will not have enough resources on base points to create an effective group, and we aren’t willing to allow players to bring new groups into being which serve primarily as ways for them to harness resources they don’t have
- We have plots that are driven by these groups. If you create a group we either have to retrofit plots, or we get players who feel they have nothing to do.
Independent
Not everyone has to play a wealthy and freewheeling playboy…in fact such characters can get pretty old pretty quickly. On the other hand, don’t play someone who is too tied down. Reporters, photographers, writers, are jobs that require a lot of travel, and where employers could probably be persuaded to put one’s “adventures” on the company dime. Bank Presidents can take time off and long vacations. If your character is “the flower girl at the local five and dime” however, she’s going to need a reason to be gallivanting around the world, and some money to do it. Also don't expect to be able to play a "millionaire/whatever." Being very wealthy will consume most of your resource points. Most players can have good skills and abilities and be comfortably well off, but you will not be able to play a millionaire - or even a very wealthy man, unless that is primarily what your character is about. The very wealthy spend most of their time staying that way, not adventuring.
Concepts to Avoid
The Jackass
Don't be terribly unpleasant. On TV and in Movies this works really well. There is some gruff, unpleasant, hard to get along with character who is short with everyone, and barks at them. But it turns out he's really right about whatever the problem of the week is, so everyone ends up respecting him in the end.
Well here's the problem. The Writer is on his side. He's clever and right because the writer makes him clever and right. We can't make you so clever or right that nobody cares that you behave like an ass to them, and we won't try.
In LARP people take out the frustrations with life. People who have to tell their boss "yes Mr. Snavely, sir..." in their day job become lions rampant in LARP.
If you make yourself the person they identify as their boss, you're going to be in for a lot of shit and we can't fix that. And remember how most people deal with aversion - avoidance, not confrontation. They will exclude you from the game.
We've seen this happen. We've seen people say "I'm fine with being in a lot of arguments," then be shut out in the cold and be unhappy. People will avoid unpleasant characters. If you bristle, snap, lecture, or come off as high handed, the other players will hate you and a lot moreso than might be realistic in a day job.
Err on the side of caution. We can't fix these concepts.
Avoid “Sports” and Single Concept Continuing Characters
Some concepts sound like more fun when you discuss them than they actually end up being to play. An ongoing campaign may not be the best place to bite off a titanic roleplaying challenge. If your character concept is primarily one attribute, you may have some additional building to do before you have a workable character. Characters who have only one function or one skill, are almost as bad as one personality trait. On the other hand, we are wiring RTLB to discourage the unrealistic “Swiss Army Knife” character, who because of the way that the point system is structured ends up buying three or four skills which would take a normal person half a lifetime to master.
Avoid "High Disad" Concepts
Threads will impose limits on total points in disads, and level of disads. It will not be possible to build a high point character based on a lot of disads.
In metagame terms, a disadvantage is something which allows you more points to build your character so you can do neat things that others cannot. In return, it is presumed that things will happen because of your disads that cause you to miss out on certain things or opportunities, including having to sit idle or being unable to meet a challenge.
There has also been a fair amount of discussion of "disads that are not really disads" - that is disadvantages that do not really cause a player to miss anything, while giving them points to buy abilities others do not have. Many disads that would appear to be "hard" or "high point" may be evaluated to be much lower because they do not actually represent a handicap in gameplay - that is to say you will not miss any opportunities, or have to withdraw from, sit idle, or fail, in game because of them.
Don't Build a "Combat Monster"
Don’t build the “combat monster.” You’ll be frustrated. Then a combat will come along and you’ll dive right in, because “hey, it’s finally combat.” Then you’ll be dead, and you’ll have several of your friends angry at you because you got their Continuing Characters killed too. There are going to be a lot of times when fighting isn't the answer. If the only answer you have is a gun, you are going to be frustrated, and we are going to be unapologetic. Building a character who has good fighting skills is fine, but make sure they have something to do other than fight.
The Super Secret Spy - the Highly Secretive Character
We all know that in real life spies, criminals and certain other types are very secretive. They aren't telling what they know to anyone and they are out to find out everything. We can tell you. This concept will fail. Absolutely positively unless you only play the game in your head. You will have no friends. You will become isolated and nobody will want to work with you.
There are three reasons for this
Static and resistance are death - first clue static, deception, etc., is death in a game. Players need good information and they have a weekend to live two months worth of life - they need the short form. Your remote secretive character will not be "neat" and a mystery that people want to plumb. They will be an untalkative character in a game where many other people are talkative. The GMs cannot give you enough cool secrets to make the entire game need to come to you. If you aren't forthcoming players will go elsewhere and you'll be left friendless.
Games have more James Bond than Realistic Espionage - the reason why spies in movies and even books behave more flamboyantly and take more risks than real spies is that they have to be dramatically interesting and get across their "schtick" in a short period of time.
Being secretive and distant is offputting - in real life we might deal with a highly secretive person because we desperately need to, or know that they are "very important" based on their rank, job etc. In LARP we are not inclined to. We take being blown off personally and tend to avoid someone who does it.
Being overly secretive will doom your character, unless you are willing to play your entire game, in your head or with one or two friends being the only people who care. The GMs will not be in a position to give you lots and lots of cool stuff to make people need to come to you. If you are not the sort of person who knows how to be "flamboyantly secretive." - "I'm not saying I'm a spy, but I was in Germany during the war and not with the army!" you probably don't want to play a "secrecy based" character in a Campaign game.
The Non-Violent/Violent Character
- Most combats happen at range and involve firearms
- Most combats have the potential to kill people
Designing a character who is not okay with either of those things is a recipe for a lot of frustration. Games involve combat and much of that combat is ranged. Every game we see someone think it would be really clever to play a character who is combat heavy but who doesn’t fight with guns or any other effective ranged weapon (archery or crossbow could conceivably be effective – things that fire serious projectiles that have a significant range and are meant to kill people).
We are not planning on changing the laws of chance, or physics in every scenario. You will not be able to fight effectively in most ranged combats if your skill is to huck rotten fruit, ninja throwing stars, knives, or expect your gun that fires magic rubber bullets to never injure anyone. The British Military kills people with rubber bullets.
It’s fine to be a big hand to hand fighter, and because of tech levels we may be able to force more fights to hand to hand. But in practice most players push combats to ranged weapons and often introduce gunplay. That’s just a pragmatic observation.
These concepts are problematic at best. You might be able to develop a character like this if you have another interest and are okay with being sidelined in say half the combats. But if you don’t have a lot of patience, you’re going to be miserable, and we cannot particularly do anything to fix it.
I Am a Rock, I Am an Island
Many starting Players try desperately to design a character with "no strings attached." We realize this is an attractive escape. How many of us don't enjoy the many ties of modern civilization from taxes to our boss, and wish we could just tell everyone to "get stuffed." However the result of this is to have player characters that are sort of unrealistic secular anarchists, with no regard for family, law, or government. Most importantly players avoid "strings" commitments to an organization or cause, or family members or other people who could be used as "leverage" in the way that Mary Jane is used against Peter Parker/Spiderman. The result is - a bad time.
The essence of good fiction is characters with ties, motivations, commitments. If you lack those because you want to make sure the GMs can't "screw you," you are setting yourself up for a bad time.
Do you really want to "not be screwed" - that is do you want there to never be plots that focus on you because of your background, commitments, etc.? That doesn't sound very fun if you think about it.
Obligations are plot hooks - we can use them to involve you. Play an island, and that's exactly what you'll be in game. And you'll be bored. The Perfect Paladin
We all know that players in campaigns do not adhere to the golden path. Non-Continuing Characters (NCCs) may be sordid or people with mixed motives. You don't have to like any of this. But you do need a concept where you can handle dealing with some people not as virtuous as yourself for the greater good. If you play a character who simply can't deal with people who are not complete "good guys," we cannot guarantee keeping you in game. We can't and won't rain on other players parades to keep you from having to leave, or starting a fight in which you get your clock cleaned.
Be aware that most likely The other players will exclude you and we won't be able to or willing to stop them. The Snake in the Grass
The opposite is true. If you play someone who is fundamentally dishonest, and is willing to backstab and be a blackguard in big ways, we can't be responsible for keeping you in game or making other players deal with you. Be reasonable.
The Sidekick
We will tend to send back concepts which are clearly "Bob's Sidekick." Variations on this - "Bob's Butler," "Bob's wife," etc. Sometimes these concepts can be made to work, if the characters are essentially partners - each having a strong set of different skills. But by and large, we've noticed that characters predicated on being the secondary to another CC fail. We can almost guarantee that if your character concept is that you are your friend, or husband's friend, and travel around with them - and that's it - you are going to have a dull time. We will probably choose "Not to Write to this Concept."
The Accountant
If you think it would be interesting to play a character with no suitable skills for adventuring whatsoever, you can certainly give it a whirl. But we think you'll be bored as with all other "one trick" characters. We will probably choose "Not to Write to this Concept."
You'll be Identified by your Occupation - Don't Choose a Game Significant Occupation just for Color!!!!
Sometimes we play the wrong character. Remember that Threads is a multi-year campaign, with games that take place in real time, not a movie. In "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Indiana Jones fights Nazis, has car chases, and does other cool stuff. He occasionally glances at a stone tablet, and gives some indication he knows archaeology.
Games just aren't like that. We don't have a Hollywood set or a cast of thousands. If you aren't interested in sitting and talking about Archaeology, or being the person who is saddled with pasting together pottery, or going over faint writing on ancient scrolls, or trying to puzzle out the meaning of strange ideograms...please, please, please don't play the Archaeologist.
Likewise, if you want mostly to carry a gun and fight, and the idea of playing with an extensive set of period medical tools and pantomiming surgery is of only minimal interest to you...please, please, please don't play the Doctor.
Think Mickey Spillane is really cool, and the idea of bashing heads and making bad guys talk is keen? But not too turned on by crawling around on the carpet looking for bloodstains, or interviewing twenty witnesses with just slightly different accounts of what happened...please, please, please don't play the Detective!
Think it would be cool to have a bunch of nifty gadgets, and seem very smart, but not real thrilled at the idea of being made to mess with elaborate puzzles, or learn basic facts about real electronics, sciences, etc....please, please, please don't play the Engineer/Scientist/etc.
As we get closer to runtime, we will try to have a better read on what sort of simulations and puzzles will be present in game. But assume that most technical matters require some simulation and if you don't like simulations or puzzles, you'll be unhappy.
Consider what you want to do and refine the character concept. If you wanted to play Indiana Jones Adventurer, but not have complex questions about Sumerian Chronological Reckoning dropped into your lap - play a character who has served as a guide to Archaeologists. That leaves the position of Archaeologist open to someone who wants it. You could still take a low level Archaeology that you'd "picked up" along the way.
Like bashing heads, but not real interested in legal precedence or evidence laws. Maybe playing an ex security guard, or MP might be better than trying to play a Police Detective.
And finally - if you want to know what sort of situations say "an Engineer" might run into - ask and we'll try to answer. But please don't start playing one with the idea that you can compel the GMs to present only the sort of puzzle, simulation, or situation, that you like. Avoid Skills (particularly technical ones) you don’t have and won’t learn
In a full length game, many years ago, a young player signed up to play a Mage…in fact they indicated on their registration they weren’t interested in any other kind of character. When they arrived we found out that they had religious scruples that kept them from actually acting out even the simplest magical ritual, and did not like to read or understand rules systems. The extent of their roleplaying was effectively to say “I cast a spell to do….” We are still a little unclear on why they wanted to be a Mage….
There are two ways to acquire a skill in game. One is if you already happen to know it. If you have a good working knowledge of Art, it may be workable to be an artist. If you play cards well, you might want to be a professional gambler.
On the other hand if you want to be an archaeologist, and know nothing about it, you’re going to have to read. We’re not saying you need to get a college education. A skim through of a simple text book should be enough to get started. And certainly if a game depends heavily on archaeology we’ll have a bluesheet for you. On the other hand if you stare blankly at it, and have to stop the game to ask the GM to define “levels” in a “dig” you are probably not going to have much fun.
One good trick is to read a biography of someone you know who had the same job. If you are playing a gangster, try reading a book on Al Capone…if you are playing an aviator read a book on Wiley Post, or one of the myriad works on Amelia Earhart.
There are jobs where it is probably harmless if you know nothing about your career. In general, for example, if you are playing a photographer, and simply carry about a period camera, it is unlikely anyone will note that you don’t know anything about photography, providing you can sort out the business end. On the other hand if you can roll off a few terms like “aperture” or “light meter,” you’ll likely have more fun.
Consider it a chance to learn a new skill, or bone up on an old one
Do not take an academic background (Archaeology, History, Mathematics) or a Scientific background in this game if you are adverse to learning some basic facts about the career. We aren't asking you to be an expert. Just to know what an actor might know to "fake it." But be prepared to read and learn a little. Starting Zero Level Mystic or Psychic Characters
With Mysticism, Psychics, etc., you need to consider that there are strong disadvantages to starting a "zero level" character.
If you start a character with no mystical abilities or predisposition to Psychics you will NEVER be as good as the people who started with them. That is a simple mathematical progression. Nor will we redraw the campaign in Season 2 to make it possible for you to "even up." This game does NOT DEMAND that characters start as zero level mystics/psychics. This is not AD&D.
Currently it appears as though, like in 1948 we will have a mystical system whereby the "primary" ability to use magic is based on an AOK [Magical Area]. Unlike in 1948, there will be much less in the way of "active abilities" (dream communication, astral travel, etc.) that is "extrapolated" from this primary score, but it will serve as a "doorway" to being allowed to buy certain abilities, not all, or even most of which will be available at the beginning of the game.
So...simple summary. Starting with a High AOK [Magical Area] does not mean you are a powerful mage who can cast spells. It means that you are reasonably well read in the esoteric and have a mental understanding of it. However when and if it becomes possible to learn more pro-active Magic, your ability to do so will be based on this.
So quite predictably, someone who started out playing the Chief of an Esoteric Lodge with years of study in Magical ritual, or a Vodoun Bocor with years of practice will - by virtue of knowledge both be more likely to start with pro-active abilities, and be able to pick them up more quickly and at a higher level, than someone who insisted on starting out with no practical knowledge of the supernatural.
Starting progression for characters WILL be limited by the skills available to purchase. Being the Chief of an Esoteric Lodge, does not mean that you will be able to purchase a lot of pro-active abilities (spells, etc.), though it may mean that you are able to purchase some. Likewise
You wouldn't develop a character with a fifth grade education and expect to end up being "one of the major scientists." Don't develop a character with no inclination towards mystical or psychic knowledge and expect to end up being "one of the major mystics or psychics."
We may make some allowances for characters starting with uncommitted points, or skills so that they can "learn" them in game. We have not worked out the details on this yet, and won't have them out for some time.
Also, since Psychic abilities and Magical abilities may overlap, but not be the same, do not presume that "Psychics is like being a mystic only without having to spend as many points or learn anything." Psychics has its own AOKs and its own prerequisites. Once again, if you start a character who has just a smattering of Psychic knowledge, you will always trail someone who started a trained Psychic, with the proviso that for those wanting a "rare talent" or "sudden manifestation" or "quick learn" it may be possible to bank points towards that. But you still need to think in terms of building those points into your original character.
But in general if you want to be involved in a plot area, write your character towards it, and don't assume you'll buy most of the abilities in game.
We do expect to put more time, and effort into developing OTHER aspects of the Threads universe than ended up being feasible in 1948 - investigation, sciences, etc. However that doesn't mean we won't support mystical or psychic components. And if you KNOW that you are a player who gravitates towards those elements, you want to consider that in designing your character. The Dark Secret or Disad Based Character
We will not support characters based on a high point value because of a Dark Secret. Secrets are Roleplay based, and you may certainly have secrets in your character background, but they will not give you extra points of stats.
Characters with Dietary Restrictions
We appreciated people playing observant Jews in 1936: Horror back in season 1, and we had fun trying to work out things for them to eat. However we are now routinely serving food to nearly fifty players, not just over twenty five.
Do NOT develop a character with an 'in game' dietary restriction with the concept that the food service staff will try to provide meals you can eat. We have enough to do handling real medical issues now that we have fifty people. It was fun in 1936. But we aren't doing it again. PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS!
If you take a dietary restriction you will have three choices:
- Often go without food...possibly including entire meals. You will not be offered alternate choices. You may white headband and eat in another room or behind a tent so that you do not become sick. You may sit and say "forsooth this food meets my dietary restrictions."
- Often have to give up your restrictions and eat the food anyway.
- Bring your own food at no discount, STRICTLY IN GAME, with no provisions for you to use ANY of the food prep facilities...i.e. the fridge, warming equipment, utensils, or most especially ANY TIME WHATSOEVER on the part of our food service staff. We will not make arrangements for special times or locations for you to prepare your food either.
This isn't because we want to be hard asses. It is because we have reached a point where the legitimate logistics considerations of meeting real health and safety needs preclude catering to "pretend" needs that exist only in character.
Statting Your Character
Once you have developed your concept fully, you should look over the RTLB rules and give your character stats appropriate to their interests and abilities. The number of points available to you rises slightly with each game. That number can be found on the stats sheet (use the one that's alphabetically appropriate for your character's first name). However, before you get down to statting your character, it will be useful to take a look through the RTLB rules. Links to both pages are found below.
Stats and Rules Support
