Character Creation Challenge 2023
So after a month of creating Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters, what have I learned? Or at least been reminded of?
If I were bringing them to the table I would give lots of these characters Teenager and give almost everybody more Hard To Kill, but they kind of go without saying. Two Drawback points for being a normal early Buffy character seems odd too. And with I Think I’m Okay (spend a Drama Point to halve the amount of damage you’ve taken so far) and the like I never really worry about Life Points. But then again, Adversary and Secret go without saying too and I handed those out like water bottles at a fun run. Partially because I could make some jokes beside them.
Artist is a bargain, two Attributes and a skill for two Quality points and a flaw of being a bit emotional? So I gave that to lots of people. I have very little shame.
I didn’t give anybody the Jock Quality because the -1 to non-sports Intelligence rolls is a big flaw in-game as well as being kind of judgy. The closest I came was for the barely-literate time traveller, who got Initiative Commando instead.
I didn’t give anybody the Minority Drawback because I don’t feel like featuring that in lighthearted games.
Nobody got Humourless because getting one point for not being able to participate in a major feature of the game seems terrible, and hardly gave anybody Clown, because one point for actively participating in a major feature of the game seems kinda cheeky too.
I didn’t give anybody Rank as it’s kind of vague, The closest I came was the Initiative supersoldier for obvious reasons, and Santa for possible helpers.
I DIYed about as many Qualities and Drawbacks as I took from sourcebooks, because they’re easy to eyeball.
(And I could have used the Occult Investigator Quality from the Slayer’s Handbook for the Amateur Occult Investigator, but Nerd fit them so well anyway.)
I made almost as many Heroes as White Hats because I had some weird character ideas and the extra points make for more fun chargen anyway.
It turns out I missed a rule in Monster Smackdown where fully in control werewolves get the Quality’s Attribute bonuses all the time, so I apologised to the player who didn’t get that for five and a half years in The Watch House as a result. He was okay with this, and the writer was nice about it too. :)
The first dozen as classic types and riffs on the Buffy main cast were pretty easy, apart from coming up with a couple of reasons for playable vampires.
For visual references here I almost entirely borrowed from young adult and/or urban fantasy shows and films. Luke Treadaway as the Watcher is a joke about how many people from Attack The Block have gone on to star in big genre parts, and Bella Shepard as the Neo-Slayer is a blatant Wolf Pack joke. What else can you spot?
I could totally run a Friday The 13th: The Series game. Though with more punching and kicking at the end of most episodes.
And I always have more ideas. Characters who didn’t make the cut include a Hopper type to go with the Eleven type as a heroic parent could be interesting but might step on the Watcher’s toes, an amnesiac hero as a fellow challenger (and player in
Sounds Like Hell) made an amnesiac vampire
among others, a couple more dedicated experts like a thief, and the mentioned in passing idea of a fictional character brought to life because I couldn’t decide what kind of fictional character to go with - I considered a Jane Austen style heroine for maximum contrast with slayer types, as well as a comic book superhero for the contrast with the PCs having to keep their world-saving secret.
And above all, I want to play a bunch of these characters.
Thanks to our host, commenters, and everybody who posted.
See you next time!
