Character Creation

Character Creation
Ealdsmyth steps away from a top-down, individual-centric design philosophy. Building simple Characters that grow through their Motivations and Skills allows the adventuring party to grow together at each Player’s unique pace. There is no need to bring a written
background to Ealdsmyth. Role-playing with the group as a storytelling activity refocuses internal conflict to the conflict in the World. This sets the group up for mutual success. One does not “win” a role-playing game. One grows and gains from real relationships based on mutuality and respect.

You should come to an Ealdsmyth game with as many Character ideas as you like. Play them as mechanisms that craft an epic story, not a measure of your success as a Player. (You don’t “win” by maxing out your levels and Motivations)

Review the mechanics of the Game in the Ruleset. This is the quick version:
Dice Checks: Anytime you roll a die to determine an outcome.
Group Dice Checks: Anytime you forgo your “turn” (an action/movement combo) to roll your dice with a friend to help them succeed on their proposed action. If one of you succeeds, you all succeed, and may fill in a portion of the appropriate Motivation/Skill/Item wheel.
Critical Successes and Failures: On rolling the highest number or lowest number on ANY die, the player determines the positive or negative results.
Motivations: A d20 roll plus bonuses on a spectrum of success to failure that describes the reason your Character is doing an action in the game.
Character Trait: A descriptor of “who” your character is, based on personality-type theory.
Skills: Anything that your character knows how to do and can learn to do better. You Level Up a Skill anytime you roll a success on a Dice Check.
Exceptional Items: A way to Level Up an item and make it cooler.
Story Arc: A means to guide your Character’s story to its successful completion. This is a four-step story represented by a quest, with power as the reward.

Print out this Character Sheet

It All Starts With a Name
The choice to make a new name for yourself or to use a variation of your real name is important. Role-play has psychological depth to it, and playing “yourself” has value, as does trying on someone new. If you play with Roger, he will always ask you to use the name you want him to know you by, because he can’t keep it all straight….

Character Sketch
Use the skeleton to sketch the vision of your Character. This is a great tool for us fidgeters and doodlers to use while waiting our turn.

Age
Choose your Character’s age, or roll for it: 4d10+10. Age doesn’t affect anything mechanically, but it does help you build the image of the Character.

Hearts
Every Character begins with 6 Hearts. Hearts reflect a Character’s ability to sustain physical and psychological damage. When a Character has zero Hearts, roll on the Destiny Chart and follow its direction. We like to use d6s to track Hearts. That’s why we chose 6 Hearts….

Character Trait
Character Traits affect how the Player role-plays the Character’s choices and attitudes. The first 16 Character Traits are built from personality-type theory. The last four are the product of a madman.
When used in role-play, Character Traits may offer bonuses to your character. Talk to your Steward about how to use your Character Trait to advance Motivations or Skills. For example, using a Character Trait in conjunction with a Motivation at the right time in the story may lead to greater narrative success that doesn’t require a Dice Check to succeed. Choose one, or roll 1d20 for a Character Trait from the following list:

1. Strategist. You always have a plan for everything.11. Tinkerer. You’re a confident experimenter and master of tools.
2. Altruist. You’re always eager to help a good cause.12. Chameleon. You slip in and out of societal roles with ease.
3. Administrator. Your skills are unsurpassed when it comes to managing others.13. Thinker. You cannot resist an intellectual challenge.
4. Entertainer. You’re the spontaneous life of the party.14. Statistician. You’re a reliable, fact-minded scholar.
5. Inventor. Your thirst for knowledge is unquenchable.15. Artist. You’re flexible, energetic, and eager to try something new.
6. Revolutionary. You possess the ability to mesmerize those who hear you speak.16. Anti-Hero. You seek to run from a dark past, though it colors your worldview.
7. Helper. You’re charismatic but always eager to please.17. Idealist. Though you’re quiet, you tirelessly inspire others.
8. Literalist. You’re confidently, unapologetically yourself.18. Protector. You’re dedicated to the mission of protecting the ones you love.
9. Conqueror. If you can’t find a way, you’ll make one.19. Thrill Seeker. You’re very perceptive, enjoying life on the edge whenever possible.
10. Comedian. Your free spirit always finds a reason to smile.20. Innocent. You embody all that is wholesome, though your inexperience makes you naïve.

Skill
Skills are specialized…uh…skills…you can use in-game. They Level Up the more you use them. But what’s really cool about Skills is that you can combine and mix and match them once you have ascended them. My Deception and Concealment Skills, once the Ascension Wheel is full, can be reworked into “Clandestine,” which allows me to be like James Bond. (You make it up; there is no prescribed tree to follow.) But what’s EVEN MORE COOL is that once you Ascend a Skill, you can teach it to your friends in between Game Sessions. If we all need to know how to read a language, one person can figure it out and teach everyone else to be ready for the next game. Choose one Skill, or roll 1d20 for one from the following list.

1. Friendship11. Nature
2. Tinkering12. Investigation
3. Climbing13. Acting
4. Concealment14. Reading
5. Crafting15. Wrestling
6. Deception16. Riding
7. Hunting17. Sneaking
8. Escape18. Tracking
9. Diagnose19. Writing
10. Tumbling20. Drawing

Background & Background Power
A Character’s Background represents where they came from. Where did your character grow up? What is their history? This is a one-sentence alternative to the three-page backstory.
Your Background informs a Background Power, empowering you from what you learned or experienced back then. For example, the alchemist may have a +1 to any Dice Checks that involve chemistry. Choose or roll 1d20 for a Background from the list below.

1. Alchemist11. Ranger
2. Artisan12. Mercenary
3. Burglar13. Merchant
4. Soldier14. Sage
5. Carpenter15. Outlaw
6. Acolyte16. Performer
7. Gambler17. Rebel
8. Explorer18. Smuggler
9. Herbalist19. Servant
10. Hunter20. Sorcerer

Hooks: Hooks are story prompts for Character Traits, Skills, Backgrounds, Threshold quests, or anything else you want some flavor text for. How does this list inform one of your previous choices? For example, my Mamaw taught me the family art of Wrestling (my Skill). It is my inheritance, my identity. I wrestle like a granny with an attitude. Roll on this table with glee as often as you desire, my friends.

1. Your Mamaw’s inheritance6. Something Ancient11. A carved totem with otherworldly origins16. A family ring
2. A found object7. Something from another land12. A unique stone17. Your Family’s Dark Secret
3. Something you stole a long time ago8. A crystal ball 13. Someone’s Trash18. A locket with a stranger’s image
4. An animal remnant 9. An Article of Clothing14. Your Geepaw’s thingamajig19. A fragment of poetry
5. A stone from the sky10. An old map15. A riddle20. A painful memory

Starting Inventory
Players may roll 1d20 for one Item from each of the tables below, or choose the best option for their Character’s story. (This means: don’t roll, just pick what works for you.) You may also make up anything that is not on this list…you do you, boo. if it’s cool enough, we’ll add it to a future re-re-reprinting of the ruleset.

Gold Pieces
We call all currency Gold Pieces. It’s just simpler that way. All Characters begin with d100 Gold Pieces (GP).

Toolkits: Choose or roll for a toolkit. Then, decide what items might be found in it. All of these toolkits are intentionally vague. You may also create a unique toolkit that fits your Character’s story. See the theme here?

1. Alchemy Kit6. Tarot Cards11. Climbing Gear16. Artist’s Box
2. Artisan Toolkit7. Loaded Dice12. Healer’s Kit17. Scholar’s Kit
3. Lock Picks & Crowbar8. Traveler’s Pack13. Gardening Tools18. Jeweler’s Kit
4. Gaming Kit 9. Herbalist Toolkit14. Demon Hunter Pack19. Cookpots
5. Woodworking Tools10. Trap Making Kit15. Mapmaker Tools20. Blacksmith Tools

Trinkets: Choose or roll 1d20 for a Trinket. Trinkets make great exceptional items. They may also be that one thing that your team needs during the story that “just so happens” to work. For example: The Key. I don’t think I have to expand on that, do I? You have “The Key.” Just don’t ruin the story with it….

1. The Key6. Jewelry11. Musical
Instrument		16. Religious
Idol
2. Inscribed
Bucket		7. Rune
Stone		12. Old Image17. Baked
Goods
3. Unusual
Mirror		8. Carved
Glyph		13. Spyglass18. Map to
Somewhere
4. A Model
of a Thing		9. Locked
Chest		14. A Mysterious
Liquid		19. Unopened
Letter
5. Madman’s
Journal		10. Knapsack
(+5 slots)		15. A Child’s
Toy		20. “Mythical”
Creature
Part

MacGuffins: Choose one or roll 1d20. The Macguffin is an item that motivates your character but is completely useless to everyone else. It can be an exceptional item, used as a weapon, extra defense, or anything to round out the story of your character. The MacGuffin is your “Excalibur,” “Laser Sword,” or “Magic Harp.”

1. Weapon d42. Weapon d63. Weapon d84. Weapon d10
5. Weapon d126. Talons of Light7. A supernatural creature trapped in an ordinary object.8. The Yoggleshromp
9. Amulet of Chaos10. A Pet11. Jade stag Statuette12. Diggleheim’s Bane
13. Rauth’s Instrument of Intrigue14. Damileth’s Reliquary15. The Oathsealer 16. Pick an object from your favorite franchise.
17. The Pyxis of Pazquavel18. The Giant’s Fork19. A Fire Flower20. A Sentient Item

Armor
Your Armor Score is determined by adding up the Armor levels of any items in your inventory or bonuses granted by Skills and Powers. Armor represents your ability to deflect, dodge, or evade incoming Violence. Your Armor Score “soaks” any incoming violence totals. If I have an Armor Score of +3, and the haint does 7 Hearts damage on the Violence die, I dodge 3 and only take 4 Hearts damage.

McToughins These are Protections. We only call them McToughins to be whimsical and rhyme with “MacGuffins” above. The text is flavor, make of it what you will. The bonus is added to any other bonuses you give yourself through Skills, Powers, or Items to create an Armor Score.

1. Straight Jacket +12. Body Paint +13. upside-down iron bowl (AKA, helmet) +14. Clothes +1
5. Jeweled Fingertips +26. Barrel with suspenders +27. Bracers of repulsion +28. Wheely Sneakers +2
9. belt of Baltazaar +310. Runic Tapestry Wraps +311. Enchanted Spiked kneepads +312. Suit of armor +3
13. invisible undergarments +414. Wings of Darkness +415. Helm of Tyzerak +416. Power Armor +4
17. Talisman of Gorganzo +518. Humanoid automaton shell +519. Power Armor +520. Magically-imbued armor +5

Exceptional Items
Each Character may identify up to 3 Items that are important enough to be called “Exceptional.” Exceptional Items Level Up when used. Once a wheel is filled by three successful uses of the Exceptional Item, it gains a new Power. A Power (Threshold, Ascendance, or Finality) can be a magic-like mechanic, a special “move,” or an additional action attached to the current one. For example, an Exceptional Bow’s Threshold power is its fine craftsmanship. Its Ascended power is that it coats all arrows with napalm, making them flame arrows. Its Finality is that it cannot miss once per game session.

Threshold Quest
The last step in Character Creation is to choose a Threshold Quest for your character. Following the principles of The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, your Character is beginning a journey toward their ultimate Fate (Their Finality Quest). What is the personal quest that drives them to “cross the Threshold” into adventure? This Quest should be attainable and reasonable: “find a sword,” rather than “save the world.” I like to pick something I can accomplish in the first session or two. Once you pick a Threshold Quest, also pick a Threshold Power as a reward for accomplishing it. You can use it as motivation for accomplishing the Quest. Or, you can leave the power part blank and fill it in when you complete the quest. Powers are magic-like mechanics (spells or supernatural actions), a special “move” (backstab bonus, anyone?), or an additional action attached to the current one (I now attack twice, me buckos).

Story Notes
Story Notes are important facts and adventure hooks that help tie your Character to the Story, and they reflect an important Player decision that may (or may not) affect their development. Stewards and fellow Players identify Story Notes as the Game progresses. Take Story Notes. Don’t be that dude who never knows what is going on… seriously.

That’s it! The rest of it you’ll figure out as you go. Now go save the world, slugger!