Creating a character

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This article is about the process of creating a character in Sagatafl. It is used both to create player characters and NPCs, although simple NPCs can be improvised in a variety of way; since that does not count as character creation, it is not covered in this article.

Please note that most of the steps below can be done in random order. Like other point-based character creation RPG rules systems, and unlike most of the procedural" type 1 systems, Sagatafl character creation starts with a profoundly tabula rasa Human, average in every way, to which the creator (the player, or the GM if it s an NPC) applies changes.

Contents

Goodie Points

Talked more about in the Goodie Points article, these are the fundamental character creation currency in Sagatafl. GPs measure how competent a character is, from a point of view that ascribes value to his potential for exerting his will on his surroundings, e.g. Frodo Baggins wanting a certain ring dunked in a specific volcano, in spite of the stark resistance that certain in-setting denizens held towards that notion.

GP amounts and levels of play

40 GP is what it takes to build a perfectly average Human. Has average values in all Primary and Secondary Attributes, no special Advantages or DisAdvantages, with the skills to go about daily life (a little Cooking, Driving, Reading) and hold a paid job, and the Perks that one would expect of a settled individual (Job, Home, possessions and some money).

100 GPs is much more powerful, and is a typical adventurer, ready to go out in the world and engage in extended conflicts, although preferably as part of a fellowship of like-minded and like-competent individuals. Elite special forces soldiers, such as US Navy SEALs, are built on less than 100 GPs, but of course also function in a domain that is notably less varied (thus calling for a smaller variety of skills) than that of a typical RPG adventurer.

160 GPs is an extremely heroic individual, very competent, either in a wide vareity of fields, or else with in-depth competence in one field. If such a person is not famous, then it is due to deliberately effort on his behalf. Extended solo operations are very feasible for 160 pointers.

200 GPs approaches the mythical. GP values abov 220 will work, but only if there are many extra things to spend aDvantage Points on, such as comic book-style superpowers or galactic-scale space operatic psionics.

GP are non-linear

In other point-based RPG systems, character creation currency translates into power in a more or less linear fashion. In a very rough sense, a character built on 120 points is twice as good, in some way, as a character built on 60 points. That is not the case in Sagatafl at all. Rather, every added 20 Goodie Points makes the character almost twice as good. There's no real "doubling factor" that can be derived, for reasons that will be clear as you become more familiar with the workings of Sagatafl, but it is probably not very wrong to suggest a "power doubling interval" of 25 or 30 GPs.

Sagatafl traditionally uses Goodie Point intervals of 20, though, except towards the lower end of the scale, intervals of 10 or even 5 should be used.


Examples I

Getting more in depth

Examples II

Advice

Include any and all pertinent advice here. The goal is to increase the chance of each player having fun, by giving advice helping the player to decide whether to buy the ability or not (if the article is about one or more abilities) or use the option (if the article is about something that characters can choose to do), and later on how to make use of the ability (e.g. to avoid any pitfalls that aren't extremely obvious).

Please note

Clarify, elaborate, try to predict and answer questions that are somewhat likely to be asked during character creation or during play.

Mini-FAQ

Put in sub-sections (three ='s) each containing multiple Q&As, and insert a blank line between each individual Q&A.

sub-section

Q:
A:


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The world

A section mainly for the GM, or worldbuilder, about the world impact of the phenomenon, e.g. an Item Creation Power, or an attribute or other stat that may sometimes be starkly high or low relative to the Human average.

World impact

Talk about the effect on the world that this phenomenon would realistically have (taking into account such facts of human nature as greed, ambition and sexual impulses).

The Ärth setting

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Design Notes

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Quick mini-glossary

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See also

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