In Restless, players will have a character. These characters are fairly loosely defined. They do not have stats, or hitpoints or anything like that. There are four parts to a character: Background, Skills, One Unique Thing, and Conditions.

Background
A character's background is probably the most important part of the character. It defines a lot of loose ideas about the character and actually says a lot about the world. All the players need to pay careful attention to each others' backstories, as they will help define the world players are playing in. Additionally, the backstory helps define what the character can do, and their temperament. The background is just a paragraph or two describing what the character has done and what major events have happened to them. Pretty much anything goes as long as it doesn't directly contradict anything in the premise. That said, it's pretty open ended.

Skills
Skills are things that the character is particularly good at. These are simply short phrases that describe some subject that the character has skill in. These don't have to show up in the character's background, but can. Examples of a skill might be Engineering, Flamenco Dance, or Firearms. A character begins with three skills. It's possible that characters might develop skills during the course of the game, but it is rare, since games don't usually have enough time for characters to spend learning a skill. Still, there can occasionally be situations where characters gain skills. Skills help define a character, and can give an edge in rolls should they be needed.

One Unique Thing
This concept is borrowed from 13th Age. It defines something special about a character that only they can do. It can be anything the player wants and it can be used in a variety of situations. The One Unique Thing (OUT) is a short phrase or sentence that describes something that makes that character stand out. It's the character's special ability or quality that helps make them a main character in the story. For example: "Natural lie detector" for a character who has a preternatural ability to tell when people are lying. This can be as fanciful as people like. For example: "Can control and manipulate fire." Some OUTs can add a lot to the world. After all, if you have a character who can manipulate fire, that means that there is some reason for why that is possible, and therein is some good world building. A character has one and only one OUT. Sometimes there will be a situation where a character might gain another, but it should be very rare. These are powerful abilities. A character might end up trading their OUT for a new one, or modify the existing OUT during the game, as a result of extraordinary things happening. It's also possible that characters elect to start without a OUT. These characters should gain an OUT quickly, but it might be that a player wants to have a character whose OUT is tied to the conflict of the game.

Conditions
Conditions are words or phrases that are affecting a character. These can have positive or negative effects and are just things that will help identify the state the character is in. Examples include: Wide Awake, Sick, Wounded, and Happy. The way these conditions affect the game are up to the players. Most characters do not start with a condition. If a character gains a condition, indicate it on the character sheet, and when it happens, add at the bottom of the post, in italics:

Jura has gained the condition, Disenchanted.

Conditions can be gained and lost through events that happen in posts. They are fairly subjective and are there to add to the flavor of the game. Conditions can modify die rolls, in the chance that rolls come up.

What Character Should I Be?
In a game like Restless, the decision of what kind of character you want to be is really up to you. Want to play the hard-edged investigator? The scarred experiment? The iron-fisted police Lieutenant? The terrible monster unleashed on the city? A civilian who just wants to get through the next day? You can. Strong characters have their own motivations and will try to guide the story towards those ends. Players can play the "villain" though most villains in such a game usually think that what they're doing is the right thing. Make a character that will interact well with other characters, even if that interaction is to hunt those other characters down.

As a courtesy, though, be sparing about killing other players' characters. This is meant to be a friendly game, so if you want to kill a character, make sure it's after a long exchange of ups and downs, of narrow misses, of wounds, and make sure that the other player is ok with it. Plus, there's always the chance that, at the last moment, you'll fail and the other player will succeed.

What if my character does die?
You have some options. You can let the character die and make a new one. Making new characters after the game has been established is usually easier because you know more about the world. On the other hand, since the world is not fully defined, you can choose to simply overcome death, by introducing a detail that allows it. This kind of thing happens a lot in anime and fantasy stories, and it's certainly not off the table here. So you've died? Well, maybe a secret group recovers your body and reanimates it. What does that mean for your character, and the plot of the game. Is this group a greater threat than the one who killed you? Are they the force that will train you to fight back? This game provides players with a lot of options and few limits.

Main Page

Pages On How to Play

What should I post?
What if I want to add to the world?
What are characters like?
What happens when there's conflict or uncertainty involved?
How do I know when it is my turn?

Extra Pages

Introduced World Details