Streamlining Character Creation

[bluegargantua]

Y'know what I think is the hardest part about character creation?

  Figuring out your initial die pools.  It's a little wonky.  You have to sit there and figure out which of the five types you are and then Vincent has to read off how many dice you get for Attributes, Traits and Relationships, and then he has to read off each one again as you get to them and then the next person forgets what all the five types were and we start over from the top.

  You're always looking back and forth and it's weird.

  How about something like this:

  There's three bits -- Attributes, Traits, and Relationships.  They can either be Strong, Weak, or Average.  You have to make one of the three bits strong and one of them weak.  The other one is average.  Then you determine how many dice you get for each bit:

  Strong:  17d6 -- d10 High
  Average:  15d6 -- d8 High
  Weak:  13d6 -- d6 High

  For Attributes (Body, Will, etc.) you just break up the dice as you see fit.  They're always d6 no matter what.

  For Traits and Relationships, you get a bit more flexibility.  You can trade up die types.  You can combine 2d6 and get a d8 or 3d6 and get a d10.  You can also trade down a d6 for 2d4.  You must put at least 2 dice (of the same size) into a given Trait/Relationship.  The highest die you can have is limited based on how strong/weak the bit is (so a Weak bit can never have anything bigger than a d6).

-----

  It's kinda White-Wolfy, but it makes things zip along a bit.  "I've got a lot of great relationships, but my Traits are really Weak 'cause my parents kinda coddled me. So that's 15, 13, 17 dice and I'll go break 'em up now."

  I think the numbers would need a lot of re-jiggering but that's the basic idea.

Tom

[lumpley]

I kinda like the part where I'm reading off numbers and everybody's going "how many d8s again? and what were my choices?"  It's a nice footing, even yet bumpy, if that makes sense.  I don't want people to come to the table with their characters all done and tidy.  Also I don't want them to make 'em in silence, each working quietly on her own with her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.  A little bit of confusion, a little bit of uncertainty, a little bit of wonkiness, I just don't mind it.

But whatever.  That's just me.

If you get the chance, give your process a whirl!  Tell me how the numbers work out.  Especially, the existing process gives you more dice for Relationships than for Traits, and I think that's called for.

Another possible process, which I considered pretty hard actually, goes like this: Divvy 15d6 among your Stats, and if you all want you can give one or two of your Stat dice to another player, so that maybe you only divvy 13d6 but you give the other 2d6 to her, so she divvies 17d6.  Anyhow then write 5-8 Traits and give them dice: only one can have d10s, and only one can have two dice, and at least half of your dice have to be d6s, and you should have at least one d4, and you can give your d10 to another player if you feel like it, so maybe that's what she gives you back for those Stat dice.  Write 2 or 3 Relationships and give them dice: if you give them all lots of high dice you're a hoser.  Save 1d4, 4d6, 1d8 and 1d10 for Relationships in play.

-Vincent