Well, I have not gotten anymore experience since last time, but as it was fun, let’s go. Ohh and just for information, if you find spelling mistakes, you can keep them.
This post is the continuation of our session zero for my Starforged Solo campaign. If you haven’t read the first part where I created this setting by choosing some truths about it, you probably should read it first, so you know what kind of world my character will have to live in. Just follow this link: Session Zero.One
Session 0.2: Meeting the heroine of the Story
The second exercise in starting a campaign is all about creating our character, which will dive into the world created in the first part. Just like with the setting, there are some default assumptions, but they are restricted to two this time.
The game is designed to be played from a human perspective, so the character should be a human being. The actual mechanical aspects of a game, that are relying on it are quite light, so playing something else, like a robot, alien or other non-human characters, isn’t that hard. But for this run we will stick to the default human.
Neither mechanics nor the setting will restrict the character further than that. So we can play whatever we can think of, as long as it seems fitting for what we decided for our setting.
This is also where the rulebook reminds us, that if we want to play a specific lived experience, we shouldn’t rely on assumptions and stereotypes, but rather take our time and do some research to learn about others experiences.
For the rest of this post, we will go through the individual steps of character creation and I will write down, which decisions I made for my character. At the end of the post, there will also share the character sheet I use with you.
Step 2: Choose two paths
In step two1 I get to choose two assets of the path type for my character. These paths decide, what kind of abilities the character posses when the campaign begins, and what he can learn furth down the road. As Starforged is a classless system, assets are a huge part of what makes characters mechanically distinct from one another.
Needless to say, its important to consider the truths chosen for the setting when choosing assets for the character. For example it might not be sensible choosing an asset that regards mystical abilities, if the setting doesn’t contain any magic.
After taking some time to look at all the assets available to me for the start, I felt strongly drawn to the idea of playing a character that was one of the rare paragons. Following this idea I took the somewhat mythical assets and took another look at them, deciding which one I would take. Finally I decided to go with powers that could be seen as extremely dangerous, so I chose the Firebrand. This asset allows the character to wield fiery energy. But I was not fully sold on the pyromancer archetype, so without changing the mechanics at all, I modified it a little and use it for the characters ability to control shadowy/dark energy.
Firebrand
PathDarkness: 0/5
X You wield dark energy. When you rest and meditate to gather this energy, roll +spirit. On a strong hit, take up to +3 darkness. On a weak hit, take +2. On a miss, take +2 darkness but Endure Harm (-2). Your max darkness is +5. When you make moves aided by this energy to attack or overcome obstacles, add +2 and suffer -1 darkness.O When you Endure Harm and score a strong hit with a match, you may instead ignore the harm and take +darkness equal to the amount of harm faced.
When you have at least +3 darkness, you may Gain Ground or Strike by unleashing hell. If you do, take an automatic strong hit and mark progress. Then, set your darkness to 0.
Knowing already, that the paragons in my setting get their powers through a connection of their bodies with precursor relics which are implanted into the body as augmentations, I had to think about a reason, why my character could have access to this kind of asset.
She somehow had to get her hands on the technology. But how could she have done that?
I thought about her being a scavenger, searching some old precursor ruins by herself, but finally decided against it. Another way she could have gotten it, was by it being some kind of present. So which mighty person or group in the forge would she be connected with?
And that’s when I had the idea. The guardians, being the guardians of the law for the whole galaxy probably would have access to this kind of resources and technology. And if they wanted to use it themselves, they would need to find compatible bearers for it. Following this idea, I made it so, my character was checked for compatibility when she still was a child, and found to be a possible bearer, so she was added to the guardians trainings program.
As I still want to find out about her background in play, I will keep to more outlining the whole thing, leaving details for later. So, when she was about nine years old, her family committed her to the care of the guardians, so she could learn with others of her age. This learning happened at the guardians “academy”, where she was taught the law as well as martial training for both attacking and defending. Once she was old enough, it was expanded to weapon training as well. Years later, when she was about to turn 16, the procedure of binding was performed, and she was augmented with powerful precursor tech, allowing her to control shadowy energy. With this day, she became a Paragon, and her training once again got expanded, to now include the usage of her mysterious abilities.
Continuing her story a few years later, with the second path, I chose the Fugitive asset. Even without knowing, what exactly the asset does, you might already have an idea, how her story continues, and that she now is hunted by someone of power.
The in story reason for her being a fugitive: During her time in the academy, one day she lost control of her powers and killed not only one of her friends, but also multiple guardians what were there to train with her. While the guardians believed her, when she told them it had not been her intention and that it had been an accident, they still categorized her as dangerous.
Security measures in her handling got increased and bit by bit, she lost contact to the rest of her friends. With this happening, it seemed the darkness she should control slowly began taking a hold in her instead. It wasn’t really the case, but when armed men stormed the academy to kidnap her, and just a few days later an terrorist attack that seemed to be done using her powers occurred, the guardians declared her a traitor.
Since this day, the guardians are searching for her. This search is driven by a guardian with the callsign “Ironfist”, who is convinced, that she was kidnapped, but planning against them all this time as part of the rebels. And not just that, he even thinks she is part of their leadership ranks.
Fugitive
PathClock: 0/4
X You are hunted by a power or authority. When you make a move, you may improve the result to a strong hit. If you do, fill one segment of a four-segment clock to represent hunters closing in. When the clock is filled, a notable foe or force has tracked you down. If you overcome them or escape, reset the clock and mark one tick on your quest legacy track.O When you make a move by hiding, concealing your identity or fleeing from a pursuer, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit.
O When you Fulfill Your Vow (extreme or greater) by clearing your name or defeating the power or authority who marked you as fugitive, gain this ability at no cost. You may then exchange this asset for another with the same number of marked abilities.
Now that I have chosen the first two paths for my character, let’s continue with the next step.
Step 3: Create a background
You probably have noticed already, I put a big part of this step right into step two, as I think it’s important to think about the background while choosing those assets already. But to add some more background to her, here is what happened after she got kidnapped and declared a traitor by the guardians.
As soon as possible, he fled from those holding her, and soon she was on her own. But wanted everywhere in the forge, she had to keep a low profile. Doing so wasn’t an easy task, as the announcement that she was wanted distributed throughout the forge like a wildfire, and the near instantaneous access to information like this via the Weave wasn’t helpful either. Soon guardians all throughout the galaxy were searching for her.
But by pure chance she was able to evade the guardians, travelling by buying passage on some loner ship, and even as stowaway on a freighter. After being on the run for over a year, by pure chance she landed on the planet Masune, which was situated far away from known routs and communication hubs, which should become a save haven for her.
While she spent some calm month in the planet, she worked for a local engineering guild, the realm of the sundered defenders. For starters she was nothing more than a simple worker and mercenary for expeditions, but shortly she built a good reputation with them.
Step 4: Write your background vow
Iron vows are the driving force of the Starforged system. They are what motivates player character to enter new adventures all the time. So it’s just natural, that the background drive of the character will be one of those vows as well.
This background vow can be sworn anytime in the past of the character and is one of the main goals he can work towards. But fulfilling it is a hard task, as it’s an epic wow that will take quite some time and effort to work through. This is the vow I chose for my character.
I will clear my name from the horrors I’m said to have committed.
Normally for a vow the Swear an Iron Vow move would be made, but as this is our background vow, we don’t have to do this now.
Step 5: Board your Starship
For our starship, we get an additional asset card:
Starship: The Wanderlust
Command vehicleIntegrity: 5/5
X Your armed, multipurpose starship is suited for interstellar and atmospheric flight. It can comfortably transport several people, has space for cargo, and can carry and launch support vehicles. When you Advance, you may spend experience to equip this vehicle with module assets.
O When you Finish an Expedition (dangerous or greater) in your starship and score a hit, this journey strengthened your ties to your ship and any fellow travelers. You and your allies may mark 1 tick on your bonds legacy track.
O When you Withstand Damage, you may roll +heart. If you do, Endure Stress (-1) on a weak hit or miss.
Even though the starship is big enough to support several people, thanks to automation and centralized controls, it can be operated by a single pilot.
Of course it’s not enough to just take the asset card. It’s important to think about how the character got hold of the ship. What kind of shit it is, how it’s called and some of it’s more unique aspects. After all, our character will spend a lot of time on this ship.
How did she get this ship? Well, let’s come back to her background story and continue from where we last left. She found some friends and allies within the guild, and when nearly a year later guardians entered the system searching for her, the guild handed her the starship for her to flee.
The Wanderlust is an old freighter that was in possession of the guild for quite some time. Everyone who needed a ship for a short time was able to take it, and most of them were tinkering and modifying it. Nowadays, the wanderlust has three fully built out rooms for crew and a huge storage space filled with scrap parts gathered on various scavenger missions. Besides that, everywhere on board there are small technological gadgets and shenanigans built by the various previous users, but it’s unclear what many of them do, or if they are working at all.
Step 6: Choose your final asset
For the last asset, I got a bigger selection, as now I am allowed to choose from not only the paths, but also the modules and support vehicles to add to the ship, or companions to accompany us.
After looking through all these assets, I realized, that there are a lot of nice to have things, but in the end still decide to go for another path. Now I have to decide whether I want to go with scavenger or Gearhead. But finally I decide Scavenger is the way to go.
Earlier, in step two, I didn’t want to have this asses as part of her core, but now I decided that her work for the guild is a good reason for her to get it in the end. It’s a really good fit, as it focuses on getting Supply and Information from abandoned and ruined sites and ships. A job she probably has done more than once while working for the guild.
Scavenger
PathX When you Gather Information or Resupply by scavenging a wreck, ruin, or abandoned site, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit. On a strong hit with a match, you also find something of unique value, significance, or function; envision the nature of this discovery, take +2 momentum, and mark 2 ticks on your discoveries legacy track.
O When you Secure an Advantage to cobble together an ad hoc tool, device, or weapon, envision what you intend to create. On a hit, you may add +1 when making a move aided by the item. If you roll a 1 on your action die while using the item, it is permanently broken, lost, or depleted.
O When you Check Your Gear, roll +wits or +supply (whichever is highest) and take +1 momentum on a hit.
Step 7: Set your attributes
The basic capabilities, nature and approach of the character are represented by its attributes. They are used as modifiers to the action die when using moves. They won’t change (or if they do, that’s a rare occasion by one of the assets) while playing.
I will arrange the values +3, +2, +2, +1, +1 to the five attributes:
Edge: quickness, agility, and prowess when fighting at a distance.
Heart: courage, willpower, empathy, sociability, and loyalty.
Iron: physical strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and prowess when fighting at close quarters.
Shadow: sneakiness, deceptiveness, and cunning.
Wits: expertise, knowledge, and observation
This is how I arranged the values to the attributes. I think its quite fitting for the character I imagine. Her time in the academy followed by years fleeing the guardians didn’t make her the most sociable person and she has difficulties trusting others. That is how I got to +1 Heart. Further following my imagined image of the character, I see her as more of an agile person that keeps her distance, so the +2 goes to edge over iron. Wits and shadow both were contenders for her highest stat, but I finally decided that she would rather use her observation skills combined with quick thinking to escape a situation rather than sneaking around and being deceptive.
Step 9 + 10: Envision your character and name it
We simply skip Step 82 and continue with step 9, which asks us to further envision the character. To do this, we decide on a look, act and wear that defines her further.
Here are my ideas followed by what someone with a little more artistic talent made from it.
Look:
Short black hair that always looks like she just got out of bed
She is slender, her face could be described as androgynous
Her skin is quite pale. In some places, glowing circuitry from the precursor augment can be seen trough it.
Act:
She is shy and cautious when dealing with others. It’s hard for her to build trust
Frequently looses her concentration and drifts to daydreaming
Wear:
Dark cloths with lots of pockets (Tech-wear)
A mix of masculine and feminine aesthetics
Name: Wei “Lost” Jal
As Wei’s gender isn’t that obvious from simply looking at her, as both her body type as well as her clothing style aren’t that clear, I wanted her to have a name that could be used for a male as well as a female. If my research is correct, Wei is a gender-neutral name, and I liked it. The name Jal on the other hand does not have any real world connection and was just what came to my mind back then. So if it is an existing name, I don’t know about its meaning and it would just be a coincidence.
The callsign “Lost” was her own idea, as it represents her feeling of being lost. Both the continuous fleeing as well as her past without parents makes her feel like she lost her origin. Besides that, she has to keep to those sectors that are far away from the Weave, and as they are called Lost Sectors, it’s just another part that simply fits.
Step 11: Gear Up
In Starforged we don’t need a detailed list of equipment. Our supply value abstracts all the general equipment we could need. Included in this are things like food, tools, weapons, ammunition and other mundane equipment.
So this step is more about the special items Wei carries around. It’s about things with personal meaning. Once again it’s important to both think about the setting truths as well as the background for the character when doing so.
Here are the important/personal Items Wei owns:
A digital photo album from her time at the academy
The first multitool she bought after fleeing
A lighter (zippo) she took from the wreckage of an old exodus ship. Helping an expedition on this ship had been her first job for the guild.
Four Rings made from Blackiron she got as part of the guardians training
And that’s it. We’re done with character creation.
Here you can take a look at my character sheet, just keep in mind, that it always shows Wei’s state as she is in the campaign, which might not be the same as where this blog is.
Now that you know about the setting and the character that’s going to dive into it, the only step missing is creating the starting sector and deciding what problem Wei is going to handle first.
Feel free to leave a comment, telling me what you think about Wei.
The first step of character creation is simply readying the asset cards by separating them by their types. As I don’t use the cards, but simply the pdf, I don’t have to do this.
Once again, this is a step not interesting for us here. It’s simply setting the condition markers for health, spirit, supplies and momentum to their default (+5 for the first three, +2 for the last) values.