Creating a character with a guy totally unfamiliar to roleplaying games using YDIN

Next post right after this will be how totally new person to roleplaying games created his first p&p character ever using YDIN. It is really interesting how he managed to make the character even though there are some freedom to create character and some parts you need to use your own ideas.

Read next post to find out, how it happened!

That text is from my previous post. In this post I will tell in detail how a friend of mine new to roleplaying games created a character with me for YDIN. This was just a test drive to see how simple YDIN character creation is.

(Originally I posted this report to roolipelit.net rpg discussion forum, and this is a translation of that post. You can find original topic here: http://roolipelit.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2142. I have slightly modified the text to suit the blog post better.)

Creating YDIN Character With My P&P RPG Virgin Friend

I decided to as one of my internet friends would he like to create a character for my own roleplaying game system and he agreed to.

We share roleplaying history together in internet from mmorpgs and he has played roleplaying games with both computer and consoles. However he didn't have basically any knowledge about pen-and-paper roleplaying games other than what I have described to him.

Creating a character started with basics. What different sections in character sheet mean. Basically that numerical values tell is character good or bad in something. Is he or isn't he able to do something and how well he can do it etc. I explained how to assign points and what it means. Before that I wanted him to think about a concept for his character, what kind of character he would like to create. I told that his character will be made in modern world as a demo and there are no ready character classes or concepts. He could create a character as he pleases from pizza delivery guy to secret agent.

He pondered a while and told he wanted to create Chinese plumber. At first I thought that he was just fooling around and thought this whole thing was just a joke but I thought I'd go with him because i started it.

Determining attributes. Plumber became sharp in perception and agile but in social events he would be unnoticed. Based on attributes we determined other secondary attributes as "hit points" what was just a simple calculation.

After this we moved to skills. I told him that putting points to skills is basically similar to putting points to attributes and he got it right even though the scale in skills is a bit different. All skills he chose were logical to plumber.

After skills we moved to hobbies and I told him that they are know-hows outside of skills list which player can determine himself to individualize and color his character. A little of thinking, because there is no list for these. The hobbies he came up with catched me unaware.

Another of these hobbies was reading Mao's Red book out loud with 2 points and another was inventing catchphrases (Communist). They really did give character a touch and it reminded be about beginners asset to think outside of the box and not to necessarily optimize character for best performance in rules wise.

After hobbies there was again time to let this newbie to invent things by his own. This time gifts, special knowledges what give bonuses. Other was HVAC engineering and other plumbing the ducts. This plumber has natural talent in his work.

Last starting equipment which are based on skills. There are three initial skill levels and with skill level 2 you get minor equipment related to skill and with skill level 3 major item related to skill. Again he got to use his imagination comparing possible equipment based on his skill levels. And I was positively surprised.

Funniest and wittiest items were promotion ticket to Mao's Red Book part 2, keys to Scania R730 (heavy vehicles skill level 2. He doesn't own his own truck but it could be from his work) and pocket size encyclopedia. In my opinion these were fun little insights what made character concept better rather than rules technically making character better. Weapons character didn't possess.

After all this experiment was really nice. It was nice to spend some time together while doing what I like to do. And of course the best part was that he took this all seriously. Also I witnessed how sometimes beginner can come up with better ideas than veterans. Beginner doesn't necessarily optimize his character but instead makes it with passion. At first I was a bit worried that he only agreed to create character out of obligation because I asked him but he really was thrown into creating plumber also in rule mechanics.

Unfortunately story of this Chinese communist plumber stopped there even though he started to tell small details when I asked him about his character (World of Darkness prelude style "gaming). He started to describe his characters history etc. Unfortunately he ran out of time as he had to get back to army otherwise I would have tenderly slip a bit roleplaying in the aftermath of character creation.

Overall creating a character with roleplaying virgin was a fun experience. In its own way it widened my perception on character creation. This teatched that creating a character you do really create a character, not just a tool to interact in gaming world.

It was great!

Final Words

Apologies for translation. I did write that text in Finnish originally, but somehow translating text is a bit hard to do quickly. I didn't include all rules mechanic details to that report. Just the thoughts about the process.

YDIN character creation, Candy Storm

My online friend likes name Candy Storm, and I couldn't but help thinking about a concept about a stripper from Quentin Tarantino styled movie. Sexy, beautiful, agile but lethal. I decided to create character Candy Storm for YDIN.

So here is detailed character creation for imaginary character, Candy Storm.

Background Details


I only got name for this character, and idea about Quentin Tarantino movie like setting. I also feel, that Sin City could be great style for the city Candy Storm is living in. Ruthless and brutal where law is not better than criminals. Streets are violent and you have to be tough to survive.
Candy Storm couldn't find a good job, so she decided to give a try to be a stripper. She is good looking and her physique is great. But she didn't like how all the big clubs are. Corrupted and ran by bad people. She found this small club which owner is kind person but the problem is rough area. Luckily she's raised in bad neighborhood and knows how to survive.

Rules For Character Creation


You can find simple generic sketch for character creation in this blog here: http://cradleofrabies.blogspot.com/2010/10/ydin-basic-character-creation.html
I use it and modern setting skills found here:
http://cradleofrabies.blogspot.com/2010/10/ydin-modern-setting-skills-list.html

Those are just basic examples and may be different in detailed settings. Those are there to give some idea of how YDIN works and are also a tool to create example character in modern setting.

Attributes


I've used this far "divide points" method, what is basically point buy. Now I'll try "roll the dice". I roll D6 six times and assign the results in attributes I want to. I don't have dice in hand at the moment, so I will use Hamete virtual dice server found here.
Results for 6D6 roll are: 2, 4, 1, 3, 3, 3 what I will assign to Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Intelligence, Perception and Charisma.

Candy is agile person, so I will put the 4 to dexterity. Charisma, perception and intelligence are important for her, so I will put 3's on those. 2 to stamina as she is an exotic dancer and 1 to strength as her build is not big.
So the attributes are the following:

• Strength 1
• Dexterity 4
• Stamina 2
• Intelligence 3
• Perception 3
• Charisma 3

Secondary Attributes

Secondary attributes are based on attributes and are the following:

• Health points 12
• Wound points 3
• Wounds 2
• Defense 3
• Mental points 20

Skills

20 points to buy skills. Third skill level costs 4 points. I choose from skills list the following:

• Pistols 2
• Hand to hand combat 2
• Dodge 2
• Acrobatics 3
• Common knowledges 1
• Empathy 2
• Fast-tongue 2
• Performing 3
• Sneaking 2
• Survival urban 2
• Vehicles light & medium 1

Hobbies

Hobbies are some extra outside from skills list what are treated like skills. They give additional twist for character and what she can do. 5 points to spend similarly to buying skills. Her hobbies are:

• Seduce 2
• Exotic dancing 2
• Rhythm ear 1

Gifts

Gifts are special abilities what help out in certain situations. 3 points to share on gifts and power of gift determines the price.

• No means no 1 (1 positive modifier to refuse)
• Quick escape 1 (1 positive modifier to initiative when escaping)
• Sexy 1 (1 positive modifier to outlook related tasks)

Equipment

I wont use any skill list now, or buy equipment with character's credits (credits are the value, not actual price in currency). But I will assign free items based on character's skills and hobbies.

• .22 pistol and ammo for 2 clips (skill pistol)
• Pretty gloves with hard details, +1 to hand-to-hand damage (skill hand-to-hand combat)
• All outfits sexy or not don't restrict movement (skills dodge, acrobatics and sneak)
• Book How to understand feelings (empathy 2)
• Lady bag full of items (maybe for distraction while talking, skill fast-tongue)
• Sexy outfits and decorations for show (1 positive modifier for shows, skill performing, exotic dancing)
• Rape alarm (skill survival urban)
• Great perfume (seduce)

Candy Storm also has 25 credits to buy additional equipment or convert to cash (depending on setting details and item list. Starting wealth can also determine initial standard of living).

Aftermath

It doesn't take long to "roll your character" but the additional details like hobbies, gifts and equipment based on skills might take some time as they are determined by player. In setting there might be ideas of hobbies, gifts and equipment to choose from but the point is that player can personalize the character with these steps.

It took around 10-15 minutes to create Candy Storm from a scratch. Of course initial character concept might take from few minutes to days to come up with depending on player and his idea for character, but actual mechanical character creation doesn't take much time. Just determine the attributes attributes sharing points or rolling, buy skills with points and rest is tweaking and using imagination and ideas.

I am quite pleased how fast core character creation is, but it needs some additional thinking from player to make character unique. Every character will be unique thanks to freedom to choose hobbies and gifts.

Next post right after this will be how totally new person to roleplaying games created his first p&p character ever using YDIN. It is really interesting how he managed to make the character even though there are some freedom to create character and some parts you need to use your own ideas.

Read next post to find out, how it happened!

Creating a character with newbie

I have this internet friend I met playing one mmorpg. Even after we both basically quit playing it we have been keeping touch via Facebook and messenger.

So, he knows that I am a table top roleplayer and I quess everything he knows about playing roleplaying games what aren't computer based is from me. Same time I am testing my own system YDIN N6 Mini so I asked him, would he like to make a character for it. He agreed.

I have been sending my system for various people I know over the internet who do play roleplaying games, but I thought it might be interesting to try to create a character with a person with no experience in actual roleplaying. So, here is what we did:

I told him basics of creating a character, that characters have values in different attributes. Basically same than in computer games. But in tabletop roleplaying games all attributes aren't necessarily needed for performing action typed things, like usually computer rpg's tend to go.
Then I told him, that this is just a basic system without a world, so he could do any kind of character he would like to do. I gave several character concept examples from pizza deliver boy to soldier. He chose to do a chinese plumber. First I was a bit confused, that does he think p&p roleplaying is a joke and he doesn't take this serious but in the other hand, it is not ment to be serious and I just wanted to try to create a character with a person who hasn't done a single pen and paper character in his whole life. So chinese plumber it is then.

Then I explained him attributes and what they mean and stand for. I also explained point buy system, how it works and what it means. I also told what it means to have high or low scores in certain attributes. This is how he divided them:

ATTRIBUTES:
Power: 3
Body: 2
Dexterity: 5
Perception: 5
Intelligence: 3
Charisma: 2

He spots the poop, is agile, but not that big in frame. And not the charismatic person in the party. And he got this and the meaning of values in the different characteristics.

Next thing in character creation list is to calculate hitpoints, wounds, initiative and defence which was quite easy. Just tell that hitpoints for damage, wounds how much serious damage you can take, initiative in what phase of the turn you act and defence paired with skills dodge or parry. Simple.

After that it was turn for skills. I described skills and their use similarly to attributes. They tell what your character can do, and how well he can do it. I also told that you can try to attempt to do something without a skill, but it ofcourse is harder. He understood this and started to divide them points gettings this list of skills:

SKILLS:
Firearms S(mall) 1
Melee 2
Hand-to-hand combat 1
Dodge 2
Parry 1
Mechanics 2
Burglary 1
Focus 1
Heavy vehicles 2
Boats 2
Survival 2
Computers 1
General knowledge 2

I didn't question why he did choose these skills, because I think they made sense in character. So we moved on. Next thing to do was divide 3 points to hobbies. Hobbies are skills out of skill list. Something small to flesh out your character. I thought that hobbies are like chess, gambling, horseback riding, cooking, knitting and so on, but he came up with these:

HOBBIES:
Reading Small Red Book (what's that in english, Mao's book or something) 2 points
Inventing Political Slogans 1 points

That got me confused for a second. But hey, this is a rich of person who has never played. He can unintentionally twist the rules, or think out of the box. I have to admit, that this was pretty cool and indicated that he was committed to this character creation and actually was thinking about it in this process. So, this far we have chinese plumber who is obvious and quite fanatic communist.

Next step was gift. Another thing in character creation player should invent himself (in this demo). This took a bit longer time, even if I gave him few examples of gifts (sight of an eagle, booze head). He came up with these:

GIFTS:
HVAC-knowledge 1p
Cleansing 2p

This guy knows his job and he is born natural to it. Pretty cool, that when he got this concept of a plumber he actually is writing and imagining and creating it. I thought that starter would like to create warrior or agent or something like that, but this is quite cool and I was excited about it.

Last touch was inventory. In my demo you determine inventory based on your skills. Every 2 point skill is worth of lesser item realted to the skill and every 3 point skill is a major item. So here is his item list he had to invent himself:

ITEMS:
Discount coupon for Mao's little red book volume 2
Monkey wrench
Leather gloves
Rubber boat
Keys to Scania R730
Leatherman
Encyclopedia (pocket size)

Items were quite innovative. Discount coupon? That's cool. Quite useless as it is, but it flesh out the character. Monkey wrench is quite obvious for a plumber who takes his job serious as is Leatherman. Leather gloves are cool, and could be used in work also even if I think rubbery ones could be a bit more useful. If these leather ones aren't used for... brawling. Rubber boat was fun and can be used in sewers. He has skill heavy vehicle on level 2, so he cannot own his own truck but hey, he could have keys for his working truck right? That was really, really innovative.

Conclusion. My friend Lanttu understood this character creation process very well. There were some obscurity from time to time, but I blame my skills of explanation. And I quess this was first time he read the book, or parts of it.
I think he got the idea pretty well. I know this wasn't the easiest character creation available, as in few places you had to use your own imagination to fill the empty spots. But he did it. With some clever twist.

To, this is Ta Hun Kwai, chinese plumber who is obviously fanatic about communism. He is good at what he is doing.

This was fun. Thank you Lanttu for taking part to this.

Now I cannot stop imagining about urban legends about alligators in sewers... What would our chinese plumber say about that?

[Characters] Private detective for YDIN N6 Mini

Test character for my system YDIN.

NAME: Simon Weston
LOOKS: A bit overweight round faced with brown hair and eyes. Wears weary suits.
ROLE: Private detective

ATTRIBUTES:
Power: 2
Dexterity: 3
Body: 2
Perception: 5
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 4

SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES:
Hitpoints: 16
Wounds: 4
Initiative: 8
Defence: 3

SKILLS:
Light firearms: 3
Medium firearms: 1
Hand to hand combat: 1
Dodge: 1
Academics: 1
Sneaking: 2
Light vehicles: 1
Information search: 3
Computers: 1
General knowledge: 2
Persuade: 2

HOBBIES:
Cardgames: 2
Piano playing: 1

GIFTS:
Alcohol tolerance, under influence of alcohol no negative modifier 2 point
Spotter, in search tests +1D 1 point

EQUIPMENT:
 .44 magnum PO5D2
Shadowy hat and dark trenchcoat
Notebook with phone numbers for people who know things
Encycopledia series

DESCRIPTION:
Simon is at his 60's and back in old good days was a great detective in police forces. Back then ways were different. Cops did walk the streets and talk to people. Even bribed for information letting little fish go to catch the big ones. Times changed, police force started to keep an eye on cops with shady methods. Even if those did make results.
In late 80's when computers started to take place replacing the traditional detectives work, Simon tried to learn the new ways of investigation. But computers didn't have the same feel than going into a bar, taking a few drinks and talk to people. Or go to an alley and beat the shit out of a drug dealer just to get bigger dealer's name.
Simon blames, that computers ruined his career. He never got into the fastly rolling wheel of advanced technology. He hated sitting in his office staring flickering computer screen and quit the job.
Few years he was depressed, and started to drink. One day his friend asked Simon to find his lost stripper girlfriend and Simon started to investigate it. He thought, that this would be the last time. But he enjoyed it like in good ol' days.
Not long after that Simon started his own private detective's office.

(Note: Made few modifications in character creation, what I saw didn't work. Mostly point buy system's starting points and calculation of secondary attributes.)