Creating a character
From Sagataflwiki
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.
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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.
Determining base GP =
Sagatafls standard procedure for determning the base GP amount that the player characters are built on is for the GM to let the players vote on it, either in secrecy from each other where each player gives his vote to the GM verbally in private, or written on paper or via email, with the GM totalling the votes and informing the player group of the result, or else the players voting openly among themselves while the GM is absent, and then informing the GM of the result. The GM usually decides which of these two methods is to be used.
The GM must offer the player group at least three GP values, with a span of at least 40 Goodie Points between the largest and smallest amount, thus he can offer 30, 31 or 70 GPs, or more traditionally 80, 100 or 120 GPs, or if he's inclined to high powered campaigns, 120, 140, 150 or 190 GPs.
Usually there will be some amount of discusion among the players, each player arguing for his preferred point total, among those offered by the GM, before the votes are cast.
Bonus GP
On top of the base amount of Goodie Points, players can earn bonus GP via enriching their characters in various ways. This is detailed in the artcle on Bonus Points, but involes such activities as writing a short or longer backstory for the character (or a detailed CV, although a minimal CV must be provided if there is no backstory), and/or drawing a small or large family tree, possibly with a scandal or two included. Each of these enriching activies gives Bonus Points, and Bonus Points are then converted to Bonus GP, using the pyramidal formula, which means that it is easy to earn a few bonus GP, but if one puts in a a massive amount of work, the reward is only a couple more bonus GP.
Also, there's a built-in expectation of work, so the base amount of Bonus GP is actually -2, thus if a player refuses to do anything to enrich his character, his GP total is 2 lower than the amount determined by the vote. Earning 1 Bonus Point gives 1 bonus GP (thus the total is 1 lower), earning a total of 3 Bonus Points gives 2 Bonus GP (thus equalling the voted-on amount), earning 6 Bonus Points gives 1 Bonus GP above the voted-on amount, and so forth.
Bonus GP are added to the GP total, or subtracted from it for lazy players who don't put in enough enriching work.
Deciding species and sex
The character's species (e.g. Human, Dwarf, Orc, Sirian) and sex (male, female) must de determined, although if Proven Player rules are in force, then unProven players are limited to playing characters of their own species (usually Human) and sex.
The choice of species applies a Species Package to the character, which has a cost in aDvantage Points (DPs) - see further down - and may also have a cost in Goodie Points if the species is starkly more powerful than a Human, such as is the case in Tolkien's Middle-earth setting, where the Elves are really on an entirely different scale from that of Humans.
The cost in Goodie Points, if any, is paid for in the Special category (see below).
The Species Package adds some actual Advantages and DisAdvantages, and usually also modifies the cost of some traits and stats, making them cheaper or more expensive, and may raise or lower the maxiumpossible values on some attributes. For instance, Elves can have a higher Appearance than it is possible for Human to have, in some settings.
It is therefore trivial, if using an electronic character creation aid (and that is practically mandatory, with Sagatafl), to change one's mind about what species one wants the character to be. The only thing one must watch out for is if certain stat values are outside of the range possible for the species after the change (either below the species minimum - if there is one - or above the species maximum - and all species have maximum values for all stats). Usually the non-beta aid software will give a warning if this is the case.
Sex may also have a similar effect. It does for Humans, even though separate species packages for Male Human and Female Human have not actually been created. Think of it as being virtual species packages.
Therefore it is likewise trivial, from a game mechanical point of view, to change one's mind about what sex one wants the character to be.
Getting more in depth
Examples II
Advice
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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
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The world
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World impact
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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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