Jade Stage (FATE System) Character Creation Theadstravaganza

[Lmns Crn]

Okay, I've made a little noise in this direction, and so have a couple of you, so I think it's high time I centralized all this information in a single, awesome thread. For Jade Stage gaming, I'm working on a slight conversion of the FATE System mechanics as presented in Spirit of the Century. I'm not quite finished with my mechanics conversion, but it's complete enough to be usable.

So, hey, let's make some characters! It'll be fun. (And it'll help me notice things that still need to be worked on. And it'll help you get familiar with the system, so you'll be ready when it's time for me, or someone else, to run a game with this.)

It's so easy! Let me tell you how:

When you finish character creation, you'll have a few paragraphs of prose, and you'll have three types of stats: aspects, skills, and stunts. These stats will be related to the prose you write, so let's talk about prose first.

The Prose Part
Basically, you'll be writing a little bit about your character in each of three phases of life. This will provide a little bit of background, and will generate your aspects. You write the first two phases by yourself, but for the third phase, you get a little help from someone else. (If we were all sitting around the gaming table, you'd pass your sheet to your neighbor for phase three. More on that momentarily.)

For each of the three phases, you'll choose two aspects relating to what you wrote, for a total of six aspects in all by the time you're finished. Aspects are special keywords for your character that can be used both to boost your efforts and to make things more complicated for you. Aspects may be simple character traits (like stubborn, first on the scene, or got a nose for trouble), ties to parts of the setting (like Fareda Expedition researcher, Sworn Enemy of House Ildory, or Oygus Keth sent me), quotes that represent your character pretty well (like "I'll never rest until I get my revenge!" or "Don't worry; I've seen worse."), or direct references to things or people important to you (like my trusty assistant Etri, trusty toolbox, or the clipper ship "nar-ei Dagger"). Get creative; the most powerful aspects are usually the most interesting ones. One of your aspects should probably indicate your character's race somehow.

Phase One: Background
Your childhood and upbringing. Where are you from? What was your family like? Did you grow up in the lap of luxury in New Port, or homeless on the mean streets of Yolek-Ja? What important lessons did you learn early, and what inspired you or got you through? A lot of personality takes shape in a person's formative years, so tell us about it. Don't forget to choose two aspects that relate to this part of your life.

Phase Two: Rite of Passage
This is the event that shocked you out of a "normal" life and set you down the path you follow today. Perhaps it was a simple coming-of-age, and the beginning of your adult life. Perhaps you were shaken out of placidity by violence and necessity. Perhaps, when trouble came knocking, you avoided it. Write a few sentences about what happened to first make you aware that your life wasn't going to be an ordinary one. Choose two more aspects relating to this tumultuous time.

Phase Three: New Allies
Meeting new friends, useful contacts, and dangerous foes is an inevitability, with any amount of travel. Pick another character in the group and write about your first interactions with that person, either by writing yourself into the events they mention in their Background or Rite of Passage, or by deciding how you crossed paths later in life. Maybe you were allies, colleagues, rivals, brothers, lovers, or merely mutual victims of circumstance-- tell us about your adventures together. Don't forget two aspects from this phase, and don't forget to check what others wrote about you, too.

The Stats Part
Okay, the time-consuming part is done by now; the rest is going to go super fast. Get Ready

Aspects
You should already have six of these, two from each of the three prose phases, above. Congratulations! That was easy! In case you want to fine-tune them at this time, keep in mind that you're probably going to want to have one aspect that indicates your race in some way. Also remember that more detailed and interesting aspects really will benefit you more than bland and generic ones-- they're not only more intriguing, they're pretty objectively more powerful, as well.

Skills
You're going to arrange some skills into a pyramid, here. There are twenty-eight skills; you want to pick fifteen of them as follows: one that you're Superb (+5) at, two that you're Great (+4) at, three that you're Good (+3) at, four that you're Fair (+2) at, and five that you're Average (+1) at. Everything else on the list, you are Mediocre (+0) at, but you can still make attempts at actions with those skills.

The twenty-eight skills pretty much do what the names would lead you to expect. (More specific information on each, if you want it, is in the SotC SRD. They are as follows:

Academics, Alertness, Art, Athletics, Burglary, Contacting, Deceit, Drive, Empathy, Endurance, Engineering, Fists, Gambling, Guns, Intimidation, Investigation, Leadership, Might, Mysteries, Rapport, Resolve, Resources, Sail, Science, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival, Weapons.

Stunts
This is the only part that really takes any significant amount of reading to do. You want three stunts, and you'll pick them from a list in the SRD (or, in the case of Mysteries stunts, in my thread). Stunts are special abilities, powerful techniques, and other ways to essentially break the regular rules in minor but significant ways.

Stunts are associated with the twenty-eight skills (i.e., there are Academics stunts, Alertness stunts, etc.). The stunts you choose don't have to be related to the best skills in your skill pyramid, but it generally makes more sense if they tend to.

Congratulations, you are done/awesome!
Post your results, so we can all check them out.

Since you need another person's character to finish your own Phase Three, the first character or two will have to be posted incomplete, and edit in a Phase Three later on, once others have posted characters too.

I'm looking foward to seeing what you come up with.

[Lmns Crn]

I'll start.

Mero Cetam

Phase One: Background
Born in Kisobu to a moderately wealthy branch of Mero Clan, Cetam enjoyed wealth and privelege, growing accustomed to the advantages of a slowly crumbling upper-class. Cetam was sent off to school to become a Chreotech, but a lack of motivation led to his early washout and subsequent disowning by his disappointed parents. Setting off by ship to Yolek-Ja, the city of opportunity, to try to find a way to support himself in the style to which he had become accustomed (without too much difficult labor).
Aspects: Chreotech Dropout, Spoiled Mero Noble

Phase Two: Rite of Passage
En route to Yolek-Ja, Cetam's ship was smashed to pieces in a storm. Keeping a cool head, Cetam barked directions over the driving rain, and many of his fellow passengers made it to safety by following them. Among this number was a grateful negotiator from the Ash Roth Farrhal, who set Cetam up with his employer when they reached the shore. Now employed as an Ash Roth "problem solver," Cetam enjoys the good life in Yolek-Ja: paperwork, heartfelt conversations with potential business partners, and occasional threats backed by Ash Roth muscle.
Aspects: Red Tape Wielder, A Man of Wealth and Taste

Phase Three: New Allies
(to be added)

Superb (+5): Empathy
Great (+4): Leadership, Contacting
Good (+3): Engineering, Resources, Rapport
Fair (+2): Investigation, Resolve, Deceit, Intimidation
Average (+1): Endurance, Alertness, Science, Academics, Athletics

Stunts:
Cold Read (Empathy)
Hit Them Where It Hurts (Empathy)
Center of the Web (Leadership)


...Okay, go! I need somebody else to post so I can do phase three. :yumm:

[LD]

I like the phases of background for building a character, and the semi-freeform, yet structured way you build characters. Perhaps sometimes in the future I might build a character in this (I need to refamilarize myself with the Jade Stage before I give it a go.)

[Nomadic]

Same, I'd like to give it a go but I need to be more familiar with the setting before I do so (so I need to read it over again).

[Steerpike]

I'm in the midst of making a character and I have a question.  If a Grand Slave's master were to die, I presume that slave would be inherited, but what if the om-beh-ral master had no heirs?  Would their hen-gan broach still function after their master's death, or would their compulsion towards loyalty dissapate with their master's death?

[Kaptn'Lath]

Background:
Born in Yolek-Ja, Nisha was born in dishonor to his mother, Rashumi who was a server in a tea house "owned" by the Ash Roth Farrhal. Growing up Nisha knew his father was a member of the Ash Roth but even his mother did not know exactly who. Nisha looked up to the made men of Ash Roth that frequented the tea house he worked at as a child with his mother, knowing one of them was his father. He wanted to be one of them, like he felt he should be/already was.
Aspects: Tea-Leaf Brewer, In the Family

Rite of Passage:
One day at the tea house one of the serving girls who was only a year older than Nisha tripped on a loose board and fell not only spilling the tea but also breaking the customers family tea set. To make matters worse, the customer was the local Doji of the Ash Roth Farrhal. The Doji demanded the girl give him her "only gift" to repay the loss of the hereditary tea set. Nisha came forward and offered his life of service instead of the girls one night sacrifice. The Doji seeing the value of a life of debt compared to a night of pleasure accepted Nisha's offer, and since then Nisha has been working as Ash Roth lookout and errand boy for the Doji.
Aspects: Loyalty, Sucker for a Pretty Face

New Allies:
TBA

Skills:
Superb:Resolve
Great:Alertness, Investigation
Good:Gambling, Endurance, Intimidation
Fair:Burglary, Stealth, Might, Empathy
Average: Resources, Athletics, Weapons, Deceit, Survival

Danger Sense, Bounce Back, Herbal Remedies

I done know anything about the Fate system but following the instructions you gave this is what I came up with on the fly.

[Lmns Crn]

I'm in the midst of making a character and I have a question.  If a Grand Slave's master were to die, I presume that slave would be inherited, but what if the om-beh-ral master had no heirs?

Would their hen-gan broach still function after their master's death, or would their compulsion towards loyalty dissapate with their master's death?[/quote]The compulsion remains, but the master's death makes it a lot less meaningful. It's possible to betray a dead person, but it's a lot more difficult than betraying a living person.

Lath, your example looks amazing. I have a little quibble over the "Herbal Remedies" stunt, since I've stripped out and rebuilt all the Mysteries stunts to accommodate the types of magic specific to the Jade Stage. (For "Herbal Remedies" in particular, a pretty much identical stunt exists for Kudan Mystics.) At any rate, without the Mysteries skill in your skill pyramid, this stunt (which lets you substitute Mysteries for Science and Survival in particular situations) really does you no good.

But hey, minor mechanical quibbles are easily trumped by awesome prose, which you've got, so. I'm excited.

You can write Nisha's "New Allies" phase based on Cetam, or I can write Cetam's "New Allies" based on Nisha, or we can both wait and see what characters crop up next.

[Kaptn'Lath]

I will change the Stunt to something that works with him better, i was just skimming the SRD you linked and looked for something that had to do with working in a tea house most his life, that was the first the seemed to fit. He works for the Ash Roth, but isnt a muscle man or Don or anything, he is usually the fourth guy who watches the door while the other three "rough somebody up".

Lets see what other characters "join the party" and see who links with who the best.

This has made me interested enough to actually crack the surface of Jade Stage. As you could tell I just jacked the information from Catem's history instead of reading.