Chargen Guide

Chargen here is comprised of both a +sheet and written application that tells more detail about your character. The two should correspond thematically in a way that makes sense for your PC.

Please be sure to see "Restricted Concepts" in Newsfiles before planning your character.

Staff will read the written portion of the application, as well as check the stats portion, to be sure they correspond to one another and that the player has a good grasp of their character, theme, setting, and policies. Gaps in the history, discrepancies, or using concept from the restricted list are all reasons an application might be denied. This isn't uncommon or anything to be embarrassed or angry about — Staff will let you know the reason for the denial so that you can rewrite that section of your application.

Sheet

Basics and Finger Information

The first step of Chargen is to have a player name. If you're logged in as a Guest, go back to the connection screen and create a name and a password. Your name should be the name of the character you are making. This can be a first name, a last name, or a nickname, but it should be a name that is considered realistic for a modern, real-world setting, as all player characters were born as mundane humans in the late 20th or early 21st century.

When you enter Chargen, you will be reminded to read all of our Newsfiles. This is a requirement. If you type "I've read and understood all of the policies," you are consenting to abide by all of our policies.

Next, you will be asked to set your class: werewolf, vampire, faerie, or human. You will do so with +class <class>. For more information on each of these classes, see werewolf, vampire, faerie, and human. If you choose faerie, you will also be prompted to select your alignment (seelie, unseelie, or unaligned).

In the next room, you will be asked to fill in your basic finger information. Follow the instructions on the screen to set all of your basic fields. For affiliations, check the +Census and you will see a list of affiliations:

AFFILIATION
Bloodright — Vampire only.
Brotherhood — Brotherhood of the Cursed. Werewolf only.
Crusade — Crusade for Mortality. Human.
Fellowship — Fellowship of the Damned. Vampire only.
Fidus Lupos — Werewolf only.
Law Enforcement — Law enforcement characters only.
LAFF — Los Angeles Friends of Fey. Pro-Fey, humans and Fey.
Quest — Not Open at this time.
Silver Bullets — Humans only.

Skills

Each character has a number of skills that will be shown on their +sheet. When determining how to allocate your points, be sure that the skills match your concept and history. See system for more information.

The following chart shows the number of skills each player can have at each score. Given that humans do not have any special powers, the PCs are assumed to be standouts and gain additional adjustment.

Fey Humans
1 skill at 5
2 skills at 4
3 skills at 3
4 skills at 2
4 skills at 1
1 skill at 5
3 skills at 4
4 skills at 3
5 skills at 2
5 skills at 1

The limit for humans is a rating of 5, Superb. PC Fey characters may have some specific skills at 6. Any skill that is not improved can be considered as a 0; although players may choose to take -1 or -2 if they wish, there is no advantage to doing so other than as an RP hook.

Fey are granted three skills at 6 from a select list depending on class, although these skills must be given ratings of at least 2 when skills are selected and are then bumped to 6. See vampire, werewolf or faerie for more information.

Choose and allocate your skills from the following list, and then write up a clarification about your specialization in each skill. This is a very brief description of your specialty or experience in the skill. You only have 57 characters (including spaces!) so be concise. Here are a few examples of specialties for each skill, but you are by no means limited to these and can write your own entirely. Feel free to put some personality in there, as long as we have an idea of what it is you know you. You can write in phrases or a short sentence, if you like. On 1's, since 1's are just average, you can skip the specialty if you like.

Skills/Specialties
Alertness — passive awareness, combat initiative, checking his 6
Athletics — six-minute miler, rock climbing, zumba queen
Burglary —lockpicking, safe cracker, casing the joint, alarm hacker
Contacts — friends in high places, knows all the narcs, family of crooks
Conviction — strong faith, righteous confidence, stubborn as a mule
Craftsmanship — painter, mechanic, handyman, artisan, jewelry maker, clothing designer
Deceit — distraction/misdirection, disguise, evasion, poker face
Discipline — concentration, emotional control, mental defense, mind over matter
Driving — high-speed chases, one hand on the wheel, street knowledge and navigation, motorcycle stunts
Empathy — ability to read people, good listener, attuned to body language
Endurance — marathon runner, seemingly tireless, never gives in to fatigue
Fists — Brawling, close-combat defense, boxing, mixed martial arts, karate
Guns — Handguns, long-range rifles, semi-automatic weapons, moving targets
Intimidation — interrogation skills, provocation, threatening physique, bad cop routine
Investigation — surveillance, research, eavesdropping, tailing, stakeouts
Lore — Fey history and culture, Civil War history, Pop culture trivia wiz
Might — Lifting and throwing things, wrestling, weight lifter
Performance — Guitar player, vocalist, playing to an audience, composition
Resources — trust-fund kid, old money family, high-paying job, specialty equipment
Scholarship — specific languages, computer usage, specialty degrees, medical expertise
Stealth — shadowing, hiding, blending in with surroundings, ambush
Survival — animal handling, camouflage, riding, scavenging, tracking
Weapons — (other than guns) handy with a knife, archery, fencing, clubs and sticks, weapons knowledge, explosives and detonation

To set your skills, follow the prompts in the Skills room of Chargen. +skill/set <skill>=<score>/<specialty> will set your skill, score, and the specialty or trappings. You have 57 characters to set your specialty. You can use the above list or write your own. This can be a single word or phrase, or a complete sentence but keep it short. For example, +skill/set guns=3/Handguns

Fey should allocate all of their skill points first. They can then bump 3 of those skills to 6's using +skill/bump. Please remember that the skills being bumped to 6 must have been at least 2's prior.

Abilities

In the next room, you will set your abilities. Type +abilities for a list, or see the Abilities page or your specific class page here for more information. Set the ability by typing +ability <ability>. For example, +ability Soulgaze.

Supernatural types may take three abilities from their specific ability list (also on their respective pages). Unseelie Faeries may take 1 the 2 Unseelie abilities listed while Seelie Faeries may take 1 of the 2 Seelie abilities; alternatively, they may choose to take from the generic Faerie abilities. See faerie for more information.

For vampires and werewolves, the Supernatural Sense ability requires the player to explain what the character can sense and how. To set this, type +abilnote <note>

Faerie characters will also set their geas or hex in this room.

Written Application

We suggest writing up your written application in a word document first so that you can copy and paste it into the fields on the Mush, just in case something goes awry. That way if you lose a chunk of your history, you know where to find it instead of rewriting it!

Description

The command to set your desc is @desc me=<description>. This doesn't have to be long; a paragraph or two is sufficient. Try to give objective information rather than tell the reader what they think about your character. Your PB and your description should match up, though some variation is acceptable.

Example: @desc me=At 6'5" and 250 pounds, Marc cuts an imposing figure. His dark brown hair hangs around his face in shaggy, wavy strands desperately in the need of a cut and usually hanging into his eyes, a gray-green color that glints gold in the light, revealing his werewolf nature. His usual attire is made up of baggy jeans and T-shirts in varying shades of gray and black. His arms are covered in tattoo "sleeves," with a colorful collage of images.

History

This is where you'll tell us your character's background; who they are, their upbringing, how they got to LA. You don't have to give every tiny detail of their lives, but you should include the big points that make them who they are today. Any major events in their lives should be included in the history rather than pulled out later in a scene as an afterthought. If they have been changed into a supernatural by a Fey, please include the pertinent information regarding this change, how they feel about it, any consequences that came as a result of it, etc. The history should be at least a few paragraphs in length.

Also, be aware that their skill set should match their history — you do not need to explain how they learned each and every skill (especially when you get down to the 1-point skills!) but the two should correlate. For example, if your character is an ex-FBI agent, having higher-than-average guns or investigation skills makes sense. If your character is an 18-year-old ballerina, not so much.

See the completed PC characters in Current Cast for an idea of what we're looking for. There is no one right way to do this, just as there's no one right way to write any story. The most important thing is to touch upon the most important events of your character's life and show you have a good grasp of not only who your character is, but our theme, and . If it's something big, include it now, rather than pulling it out randomly in RP later.

+history <text> sets your history, automatically separating it into pages for easy reading.
+history/view will show the first page of your history; +history/view <#> will show you the given page number.

Personality

We ask that you take some time to flesh out your character's personality prior to hitting the grid. To do so, please write a paragraph or two about them. What are their motivations, their weaknesses, their fears? How do they feel about the changes in the world they live in? If they are a Fey 2, how do they feel about their new power? This can be one or two paragraphs; we do not need a full psychological analysis (but feel free to elaborate if you are inspired!)

+personality <text> sets your personality, automatically separating it into pages for easy reading.
+personality/view will show the first page of your personality; +personality/view <#> will show you the given page number.

To see examples of what we're looking for, please see the completed PCs in Current Cast.

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