[Anarchy] Charatcer creation questions

[Geoff Hall]

Okay, so a bit of background.  A long time ago now (really, we're talking well over a year) I started to work vaguely on a game called Anarchy.  I even posted a couple of threads on here about it and got some useful feedback.  I ran a very bare bones playtest of the system at Conception 2007 (a UK convention) and then kinda drifted away from the game, and indeed roleplaying in general, for awhile.

Recently I attended Conception 2008 and got somewhat fired-up with the idea of design again, which was odd as I didn't have a single conversation about it nor play in any playtest games all con.  Still, I was and still am motivated to pick up where I left off.  Naturally I managed to lose the notebook which had my Anarchy notes in it at Conception and I hadn't looked at them properly in months and can, therefore, only remember the vaguest bits of what I was doing with the system.  Still, it seems that starting mostly fresh has been good for the ol' brain and I got an intro for my playtest document written up recently and posted on my blog.

Since then I've been working on the character creation section of my playtest doc.  I've actually got it pretty much entirely written up but wanted to garner some feedback on the first section, a set of questions for the players to answer.  The idea behind this came from reading a variety of indie games and taking on board Malcolm's feedback and experience in writing Cold City.  Essentially I'm trying to get the players to set their characters up so that they fit well within the game world and come pre-equipped with conflict points, hooks and useful NPCs.

What I'm looking for here is some feedback on the questions (which I shall post below) to see what you think of them.  Do you think that they will produce useful information that can be brought into later conflicts? Have I worded them in an excessively shite manner or are they reasonably clear and understandable? That sort of thing.

I should point out that I've already posted a thread about this over at the Collective Endeavour and received some useful feedback there but I am interested to see what the luminaries over here make of them as well, especially given the background info linked to in my blog.

Cheers,
Geoff

The Five Questions

1. What do you do?<2. How did you awaken?

The British population is in thrall to the government. Using a combination of subliminal suggestions, tailored drugs, fear mongering and propaganda they keep any thoughts of rebellion or a better life in check. Yet your character has seen through the lies. He is somehow able to resist the suggestions. He either avoids or is immune to the drugs. He sees past the propaganda and the manipulation to the truth that lies beneath.

How did he get to this point? Was it a gradual realisation? Some singular event? The manner of his awakening can say a lot about your character, the how and why of becoming an Anarchist can be intricately tied into his awakening as can his thoughts and feelings towards the government that has done this to the British people.

3. Who is important to you?<4. Who recruited you and how?<5. What is your preferred method of instigating change?

[Grinning Moon]

Just as an observation, #5 seems like it should be renamed to, 'Where does your character draw the line?', or perhaps even split into two seperate questions.

I'm curious: do you intend for the game to have an Orwellian sense of hopelessness, or are you leaning towards a world where characters really can effect change and perhaps even encompass the defeat of The Authority?

If the latter (and your description seems to suggest this thus far)... were you planning on incorporating any rules for the eventuality that characters manage to see this ultimate goal through? I always thought it would be interesting to have a game where the players overthrow the existing tyrants, only to establish their own manipulative agencies for the sake of their agend - seeding for the next campaign, where a new resistance movement comes comes to overthrow the previous session's newly emplaced government.

[Geoff Hall]

Heh, I got similar feedback regarding 5) over on the Collective Endeavour forums.  I think what I'll do is split it and lose the current question 2).  Not, incidentally, because I want to keep five questions but because I, having gone through a character creation example myself a few times, don't think the question is either necessary or helpful.

As to your second point I'm intending the characters to believe that change is possible but the players to understand that, whilst they might affect some changes, their death or capture is basically inevitable.  It's more about how much they can accomplish before they are hunted down than it is about actually being able to throw down the government.

[Grinning Moon]

I think what I'll do is split it and lose the current question 2).  Not, incidentally, because I want to keep five questions but because I, having gone through a character creation example myself a few times, don't think the question is either necessary or helpful.

Really? I think the question has a lot of merit, actually.

[Geoff Hall]

Fair enough.  It doesn't hurt me at all to leave it in and have 6 questions for the time being.  It's not like there's some kind of hard limit after all ^_^ .  I'll see how people feel about them  with some playtesting and make some decisions then.