How to Create a Character

Note: This is not intended to be a short and concise guide on the mechanics of building a character. This guide is a more in depth look at both the system and the process of creating and fleshing out a character and the choices you will have to make.

Who are you and What gives you power?

The first step to creating a character in NFNC is to think about who that character is. A "high concept" is a popular place to start for RPG characters, especially in some tabletop games. A high concept is a short phrase that describes the character. If you can describe your PC in a quick sentence, it's a good bet that you can come up with something based off that.

Some examples:

• "Antiquarian with a Nose for Trouble"
• "Indentured Knight of the Builder's Community"
• "Spell-slinging Ice Mage"
• "Wizard Private Investigator"

All abilities in NFNC beyond those of a normal being are expressions of inner power through a set of beliefs referred to as a paradigm. This can vary wildly, but while characters may have very different beliefs about how the powers they have work, the mechanical skills are the same. For example both a mage hurling fireballs, a priest declaring divine wrath and a martial artist projecting their Ki all use the same skill that lets you damage people at a distance.

Starting from either an archetype, a concept or a paradigm and building up the rest is the easiest way to go about constructing a character. This will then give you a framework to work from when choosing skills, as if a skill can't be explained under your character’s Paradigm it probably isn't one that is thematically appropriate.

Who do you serve? Why are you here?

The game is set on a previously unexplored archipelago where an artefact of great power has been discovered. Three nations and six multi-national organisations have all sent agents to stake their claim to what new knowledge and valuables can be found on this new continent.

As a player your character is an Agent of one of these factions sent to this continent to do that faction’s will. Along with the three nations are the four churches of the gods and the guilds of Antiquarians and Mages. For more information on what the different factions are and what they are interested in see the Factions pages. The top level page for each faction will give you a brief overview of the faction and what their goals are; it will also offer you links to further information on that faction.

Each faction offers a discount on the purchasing of one particular tree of profession skills.

What's your personality?

One simple way of creating a personality for your character is to take one aspect of yourself and turn it up to 11. A Builder PC might be "Overwhelming sense of duty", a mage might be "I'll turn my curiosity up". THis has the advantage that you only need to remember one way in which your character's response will differ from your own. Shortening your temper or patience on top of this is also good, as it means you do stuff. Larp isn't real, you can take the risks and if your character gets broken, make another one.

Another popular method is to think of some personality traits of your favourite fictional characters and then apply those to your PC.

What skills do you have?

The last step of creating a character is to decide what skills they have. This is done by paying XP to buy the different named skills in the system. A starting character has 15XP. A starting character cannot purchase skills above level 3. To purchase skill at a given level, your character must own all earlier levels of that skill. For example to buy Armour 3 your character must already have Armour 2 and Armour 1. To buy a skill you must pay a number of XP equal to its level - 1 for 1st level skills, 2 for 2nd level and so forth. The exception to this is your character's faction discount skill; for this skill each level costs 1XP less, so the 1st level is free, the second costs 1XP and so forth.

The skills in NFNC are grouped into three general categories: combat skills, mystic skills and profession skills.

Combat skills are generally very simple. They a character more hits or stamina, or give them the ability to use new types of weapons or armour.

Mystic skills give access to different powers that can be used in combat situations to harm your enemies or aid your allies; they all give your character the ability to perform a feat that no normal being could in exchange for spending stamina. Unlike the other skills, each of the three Mystic skill trees contains several skills at each level. These are bought separately; to buy a mystic skill of 2nd level or above, you must have at least one skill from the level below. You can buy multiple skills from the same level of a Mystic tree.

Profession skills give access to a wide variety of powers, often not directly applicable to combat. Unlike Mystic skills, buying a level of a Profession gives access to all abilities in that level. Each faction has one profession tree that they offer at a discount.

Costume

There is a more extensive list of kit suggestions for each Faction in their individual pages, but mostly kit is "Generic fantasy". A good rule of thumb is "Does it look vaguely like something before the 16th Century if you squint?". We don't want to discourage people from re-purposing modern clothing to look IC, but we'd like you not to turn up in inappropriate historical kit like top hats, tricorns and frock coats.