[Final Twilight] "Scar" as character creation basis...

[daMoose_Neo]

I get pestered every so often for a Final Twilight RPG based on my card game of the same name, folks really liking the setting and characters developed for the storyline, so every so often when I have a mini-brainstorm I take note of it and tuck it away. This isn't a driven project, just something that will develop into itself as it does, at its own pace.

My most recent mini-brainstorm is one I feel like talking about though, maybe getting some feedback on it. Unfortunetly, I have no actual questions for this right now, but the upshot of First Thoughts as opposed to earlier Forge forums is that I can get some general comments or feedback ^_^

The Final Twilight stories are almost tradgedies, following tragic characters as they either overcome their circumstances or succumb to them. This RPG would be just that as well; yes, you get to do uber cool things like shoot lightning out of your butt, but the point of it all will be to examine this character and help them over come opposing forces in themselves and in others. As such, the first step I'm looking at for character creation is something I'm calling a "Scar", at least as of now. This Scar is the fundamental basis of the character.
The world of Final Twilight is the modern world, today, exactly as is. Magic though is alive, and is a hidden and secretive thing, not seen by hardly anyone anymore, though the assumption is that anyone involved with my stories, and with the characters that would created for the RPG, is touched by magic somehow, as a latent, potential user, a full blown user, or someone directly, and often adversely, affected by its use. This Scar is often born of that encounter or that status.
From the Scar, the player would determine a basic drive for the character, why they persue/flee magic, what benefits their approach has (Strength), and what happens when they lose control of it or themselves (Rage). On the whole, this step or approach has nothing to do with values, actual strength, etc. but will be as important or more so as a d20 character's stat block. In fact, as this is progressing, its looking more like the characters will have very few values, so this could indeed be the core of the character, the system working more like a group storytelling event than an actual game.
To give you an idea of what I'm looking at, I've broken down my central characters from the first two sets in these terms (some quick background: Mark Jarus is a mage and the "lead" hero of the first two stories, Kerra Neil, a warrior who hunts and kills mages, begins as his advesary and fellow pawn of Charles Faust, the 400 year old mage who has adapted vampire powers and practices for himself and is the power hungry villain. Alyssa appears in the second story, is Mark's niece, and discovers her own powers amidst a war against an ancient coven of mages) :

Mark Jarus - Victimized by criminals as a young man living on the streets of New Metro (Scar). As an adult, acts as a vigilante, protecting the streets. Fierce when defending others (Strength), but cannot rest when others are threatened, no matter the cost to himself (Rage).

Charles Faust - Born into an era where the authorities hunted and killed magic users (Scar). Extremely adept at hiding his true nature, being cautious, and seizing power at the opprotune time (Strength), quick to react in the extreme without care for restraint when his authority is questioned to prove his superiority (Rage).

Kerra Neil - Watched her family die in a mages duel (Scar). As an young woman, Kerra is strong willed, defiant, and will not be caught unawares again, extremely well educated in the ways of the world and in those of magic (Strength). All forms of magic inspire considerable rage and blind her to its true source or intent (Rage).

Alyssa Jarus - Loss of her father to disease and general loss of place in the world (Scar). Quite introverted though incredibly astute and observant, knows much more about herself and her surroundings than others would(Strength), though easily overwhelmed by the stress in her life and cacaphony of spirits and the mystical world (Rage).

The flow of logic for it all is: "This is my character's Scar, what happened to them as a result of being in tune with or touched by magic. As a result, this is what they have done with that experiance (Strength), but this is what it costs them, in one form or another (Rage)." Mark's strength is impressive, but it costs him his some portion of his life every night, and the potential to lose it. Faust has great cunning and power, but should the wrong person provide an affront to his authority he could just as easily over-react to the point of burnout. Kerra is quite strong and wise for her age, but, as in the story where she almost kills Mark on a couple of occasions, her anger can blind her to those that might prove to be valuable allies. And Alyssa has great potential, but cannot tap that as of yet because she can't deal with it all.
On the whole, I suppose this is very similar to concepts found in Bangs and Kickers, as these are going to be player authored and player derived results. If the Rage works like "Fears" and "Obsessions" do in my Imp Game, then they will prove to be giant bullseyes for content to be included.
Being this narratively based, this has the potential for GM-less play, though I haven't arrived at a definite conclusion. But, I do want to see what folks think of the arrangement and if you think this might work out, if its too little, or maybe it could somehow be too much.

[Doug Ruff]

Hi Nate,

Looks interesting - if you've got no questions, I'll ask some of you.

1) This "Scar" thing - this sounds very much to me like some sort of psychic trauma, with the potential idea that latent magical powers remain latent unless the possessor suffers a sufficiently traumatic event to drive them "over the edge". Is this accurate?

2) If I'm reading you right, some people have a Scar because they are latent magicians, but others have a Scar becasue it was used against them (or in their presence, with traumatic results). For the people who are not latent magicians: does their Scar grant them special resources? This could be actual power within the fiction of the game, or a bonus in the game system.

(I can see that there is an indirect power from the Scar, because it acts as a reason for the Strength. What I'm more interested in is whether the nature of the Scar itself is an active influence on the game, or whether it is narrative backdrop only.)

3) I don't know much about your Imp Game (sorry!) but I can see Fears and Obsessions pulling characters in multiple directions. Scar and Strength don't appear to generate any pull by themselves (as in, they don't drive the character to act), whereas Rage does drive the character. Does this mean that Rage (and how the characters deal with it) is a required thematic element of this game? How does Rage interact with the tragic elements of your game - and especially the idea that (through Scars) the characters are somehow shaped (and challenged) by their own unhappy pasts?

[daMoose_Neo]

1) Yup, fairly accurate. We see fully developed mages in Mark and Faust, while we would see Alyssa come into her own after her own trauma. Kerra is an example of someone whom magic was used against (not directly, obviously, but still traumatic).
2) Those without magic ability, but are "Scarred", do have some purpose and chance to retaliate. Kerra, for example, is not a mage but because of her trauma has vowed revenge, which led to her being brought up in The Order, an organization dedicated to erradicating mages. Her scar and the resulting strengths are then associated with her training as a warrior of the Order or resources she has access to as a member of the Order. Another character, Vinnie "The Snitch" DaCosta, is in a similar position. He's a normal person, son of a crime family, and Mark's street informant but plays Renfield to Faust's "Dracula": He's Faust's tool, which is his scar. The strength is the protection that being Faust's servant brings, that his family is safe from the other crime families. The Rage, on the flip side, is that he is not safe from Faust, he's made a deal with the devil essentially. Vinnie can pull resouces from his family or lean on Faust, but Faust can and will exact his own pound of flesh, figuratively and sometimes literally.

3) "Fear" and "Obsession" are two different items, used in different situations, for The Imp Game. If you're playing as Imps, you have Fears, things the imps are absolutely afraid of. If you're playing as Heroes, you're too cool for Fears and have Obsessions instead, things you're uncontrollably drawn to. Being that Imp is totally free-form, both Fears and Obsessions have in common the fact that they are a big, blinking sign for other players, a kind of "USE THIS AGAINST ME! PLEASE!"

The Scar is first a narrative thing that then leads to the development of the "Strength" and the "Rage" (really think that needs a renaming..."Pain"? As a counter to "Strength"?). For the most part, the Strength is essentially the reward- persuing this nets rewards while wandering totally away from it yields nothing, least wise right now (Given that these will be player authored, and reletively short, I can't see a player choosing a Scar/Strength that they AREN'T interested in persuing anyway). Thus, were we to use Mark and Faust, as I do in the story, Faust's Strength leads him to situations he can manipulate to gain power. Mark, on the other hand, is strongest when defending the defenseless. Lets throw Vinnie into the mix, manipulated by Faust and certainly by comparison defenseless; Mark will be drawn to that, Faust will react to the affront against his authority, Mark won't relent due to his own "Rage". Characters built together like that kind of naturally find each other and the situations should escalate appropriately, once I can get the other parts of the system in sync.
As for how "Rage" is going to interact with everything, I'm looking at using the Rage as some direction. With Twilight, Mark has a normal life that he's losing because of his vigilante activities. Kerra is running the risk of destroying the one person who could ultimately help her defeat Faust, the real villian and target of The Order. Ideally then, the Strength will lead the player through a series of situations (IE Mark going out on patrols, becoming involved in a murder investigation that leads back to Faust, learning of Faust and his true nature and intent, the "Rage" kicking in along with the "Strength" so that the player is taking advantage of Mark's mad skills but is paying for it at the same time, ditto for Faust).

[daMoose_Neo]

Okay, on second glance I got myself lost in that last bit. 
To finish the thought, the Scar in general would be something that the characters will have to work past; Mark learning that the weight of the world is not on his shoulders and being able to let go of that determination and live his own life, Kerra learning that yes, she was wrong, there ARE mages who can be allies. Essentially, climax, apocolyptic battle, and end game when the central characters near the "Make or break" point; the final chapter, so to speak, where the heroes draw on their strengths and try to vanquish their weakness to try to take down the villain.

[Doug Ruff]

Does this mean that each character automatically comes with two PTA style issues?

Firstly, their Scar is something terrible that happened to them, and they still haven't got over it. Secondly, their Rage is something that can bring them to destroy everything that they have worked so hard for - or to blow their chance of self-redemption.

I see the possibility that character have the choice between becoming a victim (Scar), a monster (Rage), or a master of their own fate (Strength). Is this an accurate assessment, and if so, how would you drive play towards this choice?

[daMoose_Neo]

A) This Scar is, looking at how it applies to the characters within Twilight I have already created and written, responsible for both their Strength and their potential Self Destruction. This models a kind of analysis I've made of people over the years; more often its a cumulative effect though sometimes its one incident that colors a person's approach and perceptions of reality.

B) Dunno how to drive the choice, I'm not there yet, as I said this is coming together piece by piece. Interesting analysis, though. I'd say the choice is more between stepping up and mastering your own fate or destroying yourself through some level of recklessness (IE Mark's "Rage" wouldn't turn him into a monster, just get him killed by over extending himself. So can he find the balance in his life or will he throw it away?. Faust already is a monster, but will he maintan the veneer or succumb to the more primal destructiveness?). By assumption, the characters are already victims of some kind, its what the character does with that experiance that will determine the outcome.