Welcome To My Character Creation Blog!

Hello and welcome to Chigg's Chargen Corner where I, your gracious host, will be going through my vast RPG collection and attempting to make a character for (at least) every day of January, 2022. Inspired by Nook's challenge over on Twitter. I'll probably break format REALLY quickly, but for now I'm just going to go in the order I have the books on my shelves and I will be sticking with corebooks in most cases. 

So let's begin with the first corebook on the shelf: 2016's 7th Sea RPG. For those who aren't familiar, this is the second edition of the classic fantasy pirate themed game set, in the corebook at least, among the warring Nations of Thea. Every character is a hero from one of these nations and their cultures tell you what it means to be a hero from that nation. 

The nations of Thea aren't EXACTLY thinly veiled fantasy versions of real world nations...sometimes they don't even bother with the veil. Anyway, the options are:

• Avalon - Fantasy Britain. Ruled by a queen with a magical Graal, filled with magic and druids and Glamour, the heroes of Avalon are very flashy folks, the better to be immortalized in song and story.
• Inismore - Fantasy Ireland. Ruled by a possibly immortal, capriciously murderous mad king, people who still keep the Old Faith, the heroes of Inismore in a VERY distinct manner from the Avalonians try to be flashy and memorable so as to become legends.
• The Highland Marches - Hey look it's Fantasy Scotland! Who coulda guessed? They have a king of their own but, like the Inis, are part of a kind of "united kingdom" that falls under the rule of the Avalonians. Full of a dour people who have Sidhe to deal with, the heroes of the Highlands are stereotypical Scotsmen and women.
• Castille - look it's fantasy Spain. The fantasy Catholic church (called the Vaticine) is real big here since it's local. Castillians are prideful and boastful and yeah, if you've read or seen the Three Musketeers then that's basically these guys. Oh and they have an Inquisition, because obviously they do.
• Eisen - Fantasy Germany. Except they're dealing with the fallout of a huge war with Castille and Montaigne so they've got monsters and demons and stuff all over. They have magic for fighting those guys even though they think of Hexenwerk as evil. But yanno, when the options are "your country is eaten by horrors" or "you make some questionable decisions in re sorcery" then you pick the lesser of two evils, right?
• Montaigne - Not even thinly veiled Fantasy France. Ruled by an emperor, filled with heroically swashbuckling musketeers out heroically protecting the peasants from evil bandits and espousing the virtues of liberty, equality and friendship. Heroically.
• The Sarmatian Commonwealth - You want democracy? Because these guys INVENTED democracy. Heroes of Sarmatia come in two flavors: Western and Eastern. The Western Hero sees his nation as forward thinking and progressive and believes in truth, justice and the Sarmatian way while the Eastern Hero is more practical and might pay lip service to that sorta thing but isn't above kicking a guy square in the nuts if that's what it takes to win a fight.
• Ussura - It's fantasy Russia! Other nations see Ussura as a vast wilderness full of unsophisticated, illiterate rednecks. The Ussurans don't think that reading is all that useful a skill when you're scrabbling to survive in a cold, uncaring wilderness.
• Vestenmennavenjjar - Fantasy Scandinavia. They used to have vikings but now they're a bunch of greedy merchants. Still got that rune magic tho, so that's nice.
• Vodacce - Fantasy Italy. More greedy merchants. Greed is a virtue because money makes the world go round and dangit we wanna make the world go round US! 

So yeah, that's the thinly veiled setting of Thea. Let's move on to character creation, shall we? There are 9 steps, conveniently labeled step 0 to step 8 here. 

Step 0: Concept. What kind of hero do I want to play? I usually play the talky types so let's go with that here. I'll mix things up down the line in some other game, but a social type character who can talk himself into and out of most troubles then stab his way out of the ones that are left sounds great. Oh, there's literally twenty questions.

1. What Nation is your Hero from? Inismore. He's got that gift of the gab thing going on so making him Inis sounds fine.
2. How would you physically describe your Hero? 5'3" tall, jet black hair worn in a braid down his back, full beard also braided, sky blue eyes, almost as broad as he is tall, with an easy smile and a knowing look in his eyes.
3. Does your Hero have recurring mannerisms? He speaks with an Inish accent.
4. What is your Hero's main motivation? He grew up in a poor farming village and doesn't want to die on one. He's adventuring to see the world and have a fun time.
5. What is your Hero's greatest strength and weakness? I should probably come up with a name here so I don't have to keep calling him "he". Shaune O'brennan's greatest strength is his silver tongue. Like I said, he can talk himself out of most troubles. His greatest weakness is his pride, he can't stand being called a coward and will take up any challenge, no matter how foolhardy.
6. Most and least favorite things? Shaune loves his coffee and hates pigs. He grew up on a pig farm and can't stand the smell.
7. What about your hero's psychology? He's young, dumb and full of... adventure. He wears his heart on his sleeve but isn't terribly bright.
8. What is your hero's single greatest fear? Shaune's greatest fear is winding up like his father. Old, bitter and with the feeling that life passed him by.
9. What are your Hero's greatest ambitions? In his heart of hearts, Shaune believes that some day he will be a hero of song and legend. Tales will be told of his exploits for centuries after he dies, surrounded by beautiful, weeping women.
10. What is your Hero's opinion of his country? Shaune hasn't really ventured too far away from home yet but he knows there's more to the world than what he's seen.
11. Does your Hero have any prejudices? Yes. He believes the stories he's heard of the other nations but will likely shed those prejudices as he makes his way through the world.
12. Where do your Hero's lyalties lie? Shaune's a free agent, but he's loyal to the (theoretical) party.
13. Is your hero in love? Married? Betrothed? Oh gosh, no. There were plenty of cute girls back home, and a couple handsome lads, but Shaune can't imagine himself settling down with any of them.
14. What about your hero's family? Yep. Got a mom and a dad and a large collection of siblings. They're all standard fantasy issue dirt farmers, but the GM could use any or all of them as adventure fodder should they want.
15. How would your hero's parents describe her? They would be disappointed that Shaune left home to seek out his own way in the world.
16. Is your hero a gentle? This means "do they follow the code of chivalry?" Yanno, like a gentleman or gentlewoman. No, Shaune has possibly heard of such a thing, but thinks it's a dumb idea to limit oneself like that.
17. How religious is your hero? Shaune pays lip service to the gods and goddesses of the Old Faith, just like his parents taught him. 
18. Is your Hero a member of a guild, gentle's club or secret society? While it might be fun, I'm gonna go with no. Shaune is common as mud and there aren't a whole lot of social clubs that would have him as a member.
19. What does your Hero think of Sorcery? Shaune's only encountered Sorcery in story and song and (maybe, once) religious services so far. He's sure it's a real thing but it's real the way the gods are real. Real distant.
20. If you could, what advice woudl you give your hero? I dunno, this seems like something that's better found out through play, doesn't it?

That brings us, at long last, to Step 1: Traits. Every Hero has 5 traits: Brawn (how strong you are), Finesse (how coordinated you are), Resolve (willpower and endurance IN ONE!), Wits (how quick on your feet you are) and Panache (Charisma). Every Trait begins at 2 and you have 2 points to put into increasing them. I've decided that Shaune will be charismatic and stronk so I'll raise both Brawn and Panache to 3.

Brawn 3
Finesse 2
Resolve 2
Wits 2
Panache 3

Step 2: Nation Bonus. Every nation gives you another bonus point you can put in one of two Traits, your choice. Shaune is from Inismore so he can raise either Panache or Wits. While it would be fun to have him quick witted, I think I'm gonna go for VERY CHARISMATIC here.

Brawn 3
Finesse 2
Resolve 2
Wits 2
Panache 4

Step 4: Backgrounds. What did you do before you became a Hero? Backgrounds have restrictions, quirks, advantages and skills. You get to pick two backgrounds, Advantages do not stack but Skills do. Well we've already covered that Shaune was raised on a farm so let's see if there's a farmer background. Ooh there is a Farmkid background! 

Quirk - Earn a Hero Point when you solve a complex problem in a simple, tried and true method from back on the farm.

Advantages - Legendary Trait, Survivalist

Skills - Athletics, Convince, Empathy, Perform, Ride

That was simple. But every character gets two backgrounds so let's go over the list and see what else fits our Shaune. Lot of stuff like Aristocrat and Doctor are right out. For our second background I think Explorer fits best since Shaune wants to get out and see more of the world.

Quirk - Earn a Hero Point when you set your eyes on a sight that few, if any, Theans have ever seen before.

Advantages - Quick Reflexes, Second Story Work

Skills - Athletics, Convince, Empathy, Ride, Sailing

So at the end of step 3 we have:

TRAITS
Brawn 3
Finesse 2
Resolve 2
Wits 2
Panache 4
SKILLS
Athletics 2
Convince 2
Empathy 2
Perform 1
Ride 2
Sailing 1
ADVANTAGES
Legendary Trait
Quick Reflexes
Second Story Work
Survivalist

Step 4: Skills. You get 10 points to raise skills beyond what your backgrounds gave you on a point for point basis. No skill can start above rank 3 at character creation. Right, so I want a charismatic kid who can hold his own in a fight so after spending my 10 points of skills I end up with

TRAITS
Brawn 3
Finesse 2
Resolve 2
Wits 2
Panache 4
SKILLS
Aim 1
Athletics 2
Brawl 2
Convince 3
Empathy 2
Hide 1
Notice 2
Perform 1
Ride 2
Sailing 1
Theft 1
Weaponry 2
ADVANTAGES
Legendary Trait
Quick Reflexes
Second Story Work
Survivalist

Step 5: Advantages. You get 5 points to spend on Advantages. Advantages are rated from 1 to 5 points, we find out here. So these Advantages range from "you can read and write all the languages of Thea" to "you know Sorcery" to "you're a big 'un". I'll spend my 5 points on Direction Sense, good to have for an Explorer, Disarming Smile because our boy's just oozing sex appeal and Handy because he grew up poor and they had to fix things more often than they were able to buy new.

TRAITS
Brawn 3
Finesse 2
Resolve 2
Wits 2
Panache 4
SKILLS
Aim 1
Athletics 2
Brawl 2
Convince 3
Empathy 2
Hide 1
Notice 2
Perform 1
Ride 2
Sailing 1
Theft 1
Weaponry 2
ADVANTAGES
Direction Sense
Disarming Smile
Handy
Legendary Trait
Quick Reflexes
Second Story Work
Survivalist

Step 6: Arcana. Yeah I thought this was only for magic types when I saw it but no, it's where you pick, based on the in setting Tarot equivalent, your Hero's Virtue and Challenge. The virtue is what makes you a hero, the hubris is your biggest challenge. If you're familiar with old World of Darkness games, these are sorta like the old Nature and Demeanor bits from those. Shaune gets Friendly as his Virtue from The Road card and Curious as his Hubris from The Fool card. This means that whenever he meets a character for the first time, even a villain, they treat him as a friend for one Scene BUT he gets a Hero Point if he investigates something unusual and dangerous.

Step 7: Stories. Every hero has their own story even as they are part of a larger story. This is basically what you would like your character's story arc to be, as decided at character creation. Hope nothing happens to derail that! Examples are "My hero starts with a debt and either pays it off or gets it forgiven" or "My hero wants to find the love of his life and marries them and retires or... sees them killed in front of him." Really, Stories are a mixed bag and I'm not entirely sure they're great to include at character creation but hey, whatevs I guess. 

Shaune's Story is a quest for fame and fortune. The Ending is him returning home, where tales of his exploits have preceded him. The Reward is the Rich advantage (Rank 3). Steps begin with getting on board the party's ship and sailing to far off lands, finding ancient lost treasures, and defeating a great enemy.

Step 8: Details. Fill in the blank spots on the sheet. What languages does your Hero speak, what is their reputation, are they a member of a society, do they have wealth and are they wounded?

Reputation: Unless you start with an Advantage that gives you one (which Shaune did not), you don't begin with a reputation. So that's easy enough.

Languages: You speak a number of languages equal to your Wits so Shaune knows Old Thean (the common tongue) and Inish.

Secret Society: Already decided Shaune isn't in one, though the Explorer's Society might interest him in the future.

Wealth: Unless you picked an Advantage that gives you Wealth, you don't begin with any excess Wealth.

Wounds: You begin play unwounded. So this is only in the character creation section to explain how they work.

That's it then. Shaune the Inish Hero is all created and squared away and here is his character sheet.