Character Creation and Advancement
The information on this page is designed to give you a brief taste of what Character creation and advancement entails. For full details please download the full Bladelands Rules and World Background documents from the System Introduction page.
Character generation is divided into stages which should integrate to produce a well rounded character that will be interesting and fun to play:
- Background: This deals with the character's life prior to entering
the game. While this is not likely to have any impact upon the mechanics of
the game, it is important in order to establish any sort of depth.
- Statistics: Stats deal with the rules which affect the character
and determine what the character can and can't do in the game world. From
a game mechanic point of view this is the most important element of character
creation.
- Personality Quirks and Disadvantages: These are added to give the character depth. These fall into both of the other two areas in that they round out the character, but also affect the game in some way.
You should record your character information using this Excel spreadsheet, which you should then email to us for approval - the first sheet in the workbook contains summary information on all your characters (one character per row), while subsequent sheets can be used to help you keep track of your incoming and outgoing XP and DP (see below). Notes on how to use this spreadsheet can be found within it. If you do not have Microsoft Excel, you can download Open Office for free, which will allow you to open, edit and save the spreadsheet.
Background
To create a character background, players should first read through the world background and character types and decide what sort of person they wish their character to be and what sort of life that character has led. Things which could be included in a background include: name, country of origin, age, family - parents (names, ages, professions, etc), siblings, etc - place of birth, upbringing, education, profession(s), life experiences. We encourage players to include details of significant past events and people who have had a dramatic impact on their character's life, especially if they could be brought into the game to make the character's life more interesting - mentors, lovers, enemies, and so on. Players should also come up with a legitimate reason for their character to have left their previous life and travelled to the islands. They might also want to include their character's aims and ambitions in life. The resulting background could be anything from one short paragraph to several pages of detailed information.
Most characters should have a northern European feel. You will see from the world background information that the world of Bladelands includes Southern Europeans (particularly Romano-Greek type cultures), Eastern Europeans (steps nomads, Cossacks etc.) Norsemen and even Arabic type cultures. However, we are keen that these do not begin as the dominant cultures of the Bladelands. If you are interested in developing characters from these type of unusual backgrounds, please feel free to contact the Character Ref, but please be aware that we are unlikely to permit large numbers of these characters if at all. There are NO oriental characters, Mezo-americans or other far off cultures (from a European point of view).
Statistics
Stats are what govern which rules apply to a character, and what they are able to do in the game world. Each character starts as a blank sheet, with no appreciable knowledge, talents or skills. From this basis development points are spent to buy various talents and skills. The abilities a character has should be consistent with their background. During both character generation and advancement players should aim to only buy talents and skills which would be logical for their character to possess or acquire. Consistency is important, and if a player begins buying skills which do not fit with their character they may be asked to justify the acquisition of that skill by the Character Ref.
A player receives 20 Development points to build a starting character. Subsequently further development points are gained for attending events (see Character Development below).
When a player creates a character, there are two key initial decisions that must be made: will the character be a normal human, a changling or a sorcerer? and what is the basic type of this character? The answer to this question will affect the costs of all that character's skills and talents from then on and may not be changed.The character types are: Scholastic, Outdoorsman and Dilettante.
A. Normal Humans
These are standard characters. They may be of any of the three character types.
They do not exhibit any special characteristics when they arrive on the islands,
they may not buy psychic powers and they have not trained as sorcerers.
B. Changlings
These characters have changling blood. They may not be sorcerers but may
have any of the three character types. They may have unusual characteristics
after arrival on the islands (pointed ears, scaly skin, tails etc) but do not
have to exhibit their oddities immediately. They may acquire psychic powers.
We recommend that players seek advice before making a changling particularly
religious (the True Faith talent) as this may cause difficulties. If a player
wishes a changling character to begin the game with psychic powers, please also
contact Character Ref for details (this may force the character to begin with
certain appearance traits as these are linked to the psychic powers).
C. Sorcerers
Sorcerers may not be changlings or religious (no True Faith talent). It
is generally not possible for a character to become a sorcerer - this is a decision
that must be made at character creation. All sorcerers are Scholastic characters.
Sorcerers will have a very restricted initial selection of skills and talents
as they come from a cloistered background.
(1) Scholastic Characters
These characters excel at mental discipline and skills learned from books,
including magic. They receive these skills at a lower cost than other character
types. However, they pay a higher cost for physical skills and talents since
these do not come naturally to them. Mages, most priests, surgeons and apothecaries
will tend to be of this type.
(2) Outdoorsman Characters
These characters excel at the physical skills. They are at home in wild
places and tend to have finely tuned bodies rather than minds. They receive
these skills at a lower cost than other character types. However, they pay a
higher cost for the more cerebral skills and talents since book learning and
scholarship does not come naturally to them. Warriors, rangers, scouts and prospectors
will tend to be Outdoorsmen.
(3) Dilettante Characters
These characters excel at acquiring a wide variety of skills. They tend
to be highly intelligent but unfocused. They have a particular leaning towards
interpersonal skills and other skills which make their lives easier and they
receive all of these skills at a discount. They learn the basic aspects of any
skill quite easily and thus receive a discount on all low level skills. However,
they find it very difficult to discipline themselves to learn the upper levels
of any area at all which makes these much more expensive for them. Rogues, entertainers,
diplomats, nobles and the wealthy will tend to be of this type.
Once a character type has been selected for a character, the player should consult the tables in the 'Skills and Talents' section of the rules document in order to determine what skills, talents and other benefits he wishes the character to enter play equipped with.
Personality Quirks and Disadvantages
Each character is required to have three personality quirks, which we hope will make them more fun to play. More than three may be taken if the player desires - there is no upper limit, although too many may make the character unplayable or unbelievable. Players can take any personality quirks they wish for their characters, and a list is provided in the rules document for inspiration.
Things which cause a character a genuine disadvantage may be taken optionally in order to gain extra development points with which to buy extra talents and skills. We do not expect everyone, or even many people, to take disadvantages, and those who do should be aware that the referees will actively use them to disadvantage their character. All disadvantages must be cleared with the Character Ref, who will decide the number of development points gained in return on a case-by-case basis.
Character Development
Once a character has entered play he or she will continue to develop. This is represented by allowing the player to spend further development points on the character. These development points ("DP") are gained by attending events and playing the character. Each event will be worth a number of experience points ("XP") and these are converted to development points based upon the current development of that character. If you find the XP:DP conversion complicated, you can use the Character Sheet Spreadsheet, which will do the calculations automatically for you, to keep track of your character's advancement.
XP will be awarded in return for a completed character return which must be sent to the Character Ref not more than two weeks after the event. The number of XP gained will not depend upon character performance but will be fixed for the event and activities of the group as a whole. XPs may be withheld if a player is unable to comply with the guidelines and rules at referee's discretion.
Generally speaking, a character will gain between 2-4 XP for each day spent adventuring (a normal weekend would constitute two full days, a bank holiday three).
