Making Characters
The Player Characters are the stars of the story. Once you know what the setting is like, you’re ready to make characters in a few simple steps:
Step 1: Choose a playbook that represents the emotional conflict and archetype you want to embody.
Step 2: Fill out the prompts on your playbook, picking your PC’s abilities and defining their look, name, and pronouns.
Step 3: Introduce your character to the other players. Reveal enough of their inner conflict for the other players to understand what you’re hoping to explore.
Step 4: Use the Relationship Worksheet to flesh out some history between the PCs.
Step 1: Choose Playbooks
Each PC is created using a playbook. Each playbook describes a broad archetype of a character, with enormous room for customization. Look for the playbook whose central emotional conflict is one you’re interested in exploring in the story. For instance, the Trickster desires closeness but fears vulnerability. The Spooky Witch is friends with monsters but wants to be accepted by others. The Infamous has a villainous past and is trying to do better in a world that holds them to a higher standard than others.
Within those broad strokes, your character can be anything that makes sense in the genre of the story your group is looking to tell. In a fantasy setting, there’s no reason the Trickster can’t use magic as the flavor for their powers. If you’re thirsty space lesbians, you can have a laser sword, and your Nature Witch can commune with artificial environments and robots as well as biomes and animals. Each playbook includes some example archetypes you can use for inspiration.
Players must each choose a unique playbook—the universe can’t handle two Scoundrels or Beasts! A good way to make sure everyone ends up with a playbook they like is to give everyone a chance to look them over, then ask each player to identify two or three playbooks they’re excited about. Generally, laying these preferences out is enough for the group to find an arrangement that makes everyone happy.
Step 2: Fill Out Playbooks
After picking playbooks, each player fills in the blanks and customizes their character.
- Specify your character’s name and pronouns (all pronouns are welcome and valid in this game).
- Choose the column of stats you find most appealing, and modify it by adding +1 to two stats of your choice, recording the totals in your Stats column.
- Circle an item from each of the three Aesthetics categories.
- Read over any special rules and playbook moves, and make all the decisions prompted. You start with some playbook moves pre-selected; these are denoted by a marked box. You also choose one or more additional playbook moves: fill in the empty circles next to the moves you select.
When you’ve filled out everything in your playbook, pause and wait for the rest of the group; you do the last step together.
Step 3: Introductions
When everyone is ready, take turns introducing your character to the other players. Say their name and pronouns, describe what they look like and a little bit about their personality. Share their emotional conflict; even if the othercharactersdon’t necessarily know all about their angst and dark secrets, it’s helpful for the other players to know enough that they can help set up situations that play into the plots and feelings you want to explore.
Step 4: Relationships
Each playbook comes with specific prompts to help establish the starting relationships and history among the PCs. Your GM might also use a custom set of relationship prompts connected to the specific scenario they plan to run.
Give each player a copy of the Relationships Worksheet and take turns proposing relationships, starting with whoever feels inspired. If the other player agrees to it, then you’ve established some shared history.
Remember, you can always say no to a proposed relationship, and if one of the prompts on your playbook doesn’t feel good or doesn’t fit the characters, cross it off and come up with something else that makes sense.
At the end, give each other character zero, one, or two Strings on you. A String means they have emotional influence over you, either because they understand you, because you care what they think, or for some other reason.
Developing the characters’ history is an important part of play, and it’s a lot of fun, too! If you have the time, use all three of your relationship prompts to develop a juicy, plot-laden network of relationships among the PCs. If you’re playing a one-shot and are pressed for time, you can instead have each player choose to propose just one or two relationships and then dive into a scenario, but you’ll lose a bit of depth, and characters will have fewer Strings to help and tempt one another—at least at first.