Looking for inspiration for rule-less character creation

Sydney,

interesting points on how immersion in the setting can create unexpected results. I'm running one game where I was envisioning some sort of alternative political history being created (it's set in Norway, where I live, during a key period of our history). However, the players are more interested in the supernatural part of the setting, and have written that into their characters, giving the campaign a very different focus.

The conclusion for chargen would be that the group should be very clear on what they're trying to achieve when using a setting focused pre-gaming process. Some groups might like to use Author stance, leading their group in a specific direction (so that they end up with the "proper" motivation at the start of the game); others might want to go immersionist and let the campaign premise be decided by the pre-game actions of the characters.