Character Creation
Designing your character has several steps.
STEP 1: STATS
You begin as a level 0 character called a "citizen".
I encourage everyone to create their first citizen randomly, but if you sell me on a concept I’ll let you arrange your stats to best fit your character. Roll 3d6 for each of your six stat scores:
- Strength (STR)
- Dexterity (DEX)
- Constitution (CON)
- Intelligence (INT)
- Wisdom (WIS)
- Charisma (CHA)
STEP 2: SPECIES
Roll or choose Species. Note that you can find Skurrid and Risen on the Character Generator at shadowdarklings.net.
You begin with a trait based on your species.
STEP 3: BACKGROUND
Roll or choose Background.
STEP 4: STARTING GEAR
You begin with 1d6 credits and 1d4 random items plus an outfit befitting your Background. Roll 1d4 to determine the number of items you have and then roll 1d20 for each item to determine what they are:
Portable Rotary Phone - plugs into telephone pole, costs 1 credit/round to talk.
STEP 5: MOTIVATION
Pick a Motivation (Alignment): Virtuous, Vile, or Survivor. You may gain Luck Points in play based on how well you play your Motivation.
SURVIVOR (S)
The harsh realities of hirearchical dominion and economic disparity have worn down survivors. They adapt, overcome, and do whatever is necessary to survive.
- Starting Bonus: Roll on the Citizen Starting Equipment chart for an extra piece of gear.
- Gameplay Effect: Receive a Luck Token when acting in a way that exemplifies resilience and adaptability.
THE VILE (VL)
Vile characters have embraced darker aspects such as ambition and greed. They might manipulate, betray, or take advantage of others by any means necessary.
- Starting Bonus: Extra 2d10 credits
- Gameplay Effect: Receive a Luck Token when acting in self-interest or engaging in morally dubious actions.
THE VIRTUOUS (VR)
Virtuous characters are guided by time-honored virtues such as courage, justice, and loyalty. They strive to act for the greater good, even in the face of personal sacrifice.
- Starting Bonus: 1d3 trusted contacts. These can be defined before or during gameplay and will always assist your character if they are able to do so.
- Gameplay Effect: Receive a Luck Token when engaging in actions that uphold their principles.
STEP 6: LANGUAGES
All the languages spoken on Earth can be found here. The official language of the ship is English. French is also commonly spoken. Some districts still have signs in the language of the people that settled them. Yiddish, Chinese, Hungarian, etc.
You begin play knowing languages based on your species.
Central Operations Registry (COR): The programming language of the Central Core itself. For synthetics it is a Common language. For a non-synth it counts as a Rare language.
Rare Languages: Any of the alien languages count as Rare languages, including the Invader script.
These are counted against your allowed languages when you reach 1st level.
STEP 7: ADVANCEMENT (LEVEL 1+)
At 1st level, you gain an Archetype of your choice from the list below. Some archetypes have a stat or species prerequisite, meaning you must have that stat as your highest stat or must be that species in order to select that archetype.