Player Characters

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Player Characters
Terminology
Term Name:	Player Character
Description:	A character who is run and controlled by a player.
Abbreviation or Synonyms:	PC
Rule Type:	Character

The core of any roleplaying game is creating your own character to play. This page will give you information on how to do so.

Definition

A player character, or PC for short, is any character created and role-played by their creator.

Players are allowed to play a PC for up to 2 shifts per event as long as they NPC at least the same number of shifts that event.

Character Creation

Creating a player character is relatively simple.

First, characters must select one of the game's playable species to be.

Second, the character needs a name.

Third, a background can be submitted for approval, but is are not required. Players may simply bring a character into play with no background (and optionally writing one later).

Finally, each character begins at level 0 assuming they haven't been assigned any experience points yet. This gives 10 skill points to spend. If you use the online character portal it will confirm you are spending those skill points according to the rules. You can print or save the character sheet generated by the portal to your phone and you're all set. Using a pen and paper character sheet is also allowed, but the portal is preferred by logistics.

At your next event, show the paper sheet when you check-in if you have it, and it will get approved at that time. If you have the character sheet downloaded to your phone, you do not need to have it approved at check-in.

Character Names

Character names should only be serious names, never silly or insulting, and never deliberately taken from pop culture, history, or literature.

There is also a strong preference whenever possible to not use the same names as existing player characters. It happens sometimes, particularly with more common names, but if you know it is going to happen you should choose a different name. Please do not use your real-life name as the name for a character, as that makes things confusing for everyone else.

Staff have the authority to require you to change your character's name if they deem it unfit.

Character Backgrounds

A good character background should be more than 500 words long and should contain "hooks" that can be used to give the Game Masters ideas to write interesting stories for you to experience in play. Submitting a background should be done by the Friday prior to the first event you wish to play a character at, or before the character has earned level 2. Doing so will net you 5 experience points.

To submit a background use this form.

Players are responsible for having a reason for their character to be in Maplewood, the current setting of the game. It is hard to play a character who doesn't want to be part of the setting, and this can be disruptive to the game.

Some things to keep in mind when writing a backstory:

• New characters should talk to the Plot Marshals (Ryan Green and Donald Tyson) about being part of existing in-game social organizations, as some require a character to have an appropriate role-playing skill. This also applies to organizations created by Game Masters for ongoing plots.
  • Organizations run by other PCs in-game such as merchanting ventures, mercenary companies, or publishing companies require that you speak to those PCs.
  • Players are allowed to create their own organizations if they wish by trying to establish those organizations in game through role-playing.
• While there is inter-species bias present in Novitas and PCs can have questionable beliefs about other species or people from specific nations, characters should never have a burning hatred of another player character species or nationality.
• You are allowed and encouraged to create your own hometown or village within one of the established parts of the world, but you are not allowed to create new nations. If you wish to know more about the different nations, you can consult Chapter 5 of the worldbook for more information.

  • When creating your own content, such as a hometown, phrasing matters. You should avoid saying that everyone from your hometown thinks or behaves a certain way, but you can say that it is common for people from there to think or behave a certain way.
• When making your first character a common mistake is to attempt to try to use everything provided in the worldbook to build your character’s backstory. This is known as the 'world tour' and it actually makes your character less interesting, not more.
  • Pick a place or two and really ground your character in that background. The resulting backstory will be more interesting for the character, and you will have new experiences during the game when you play them.
• Avoid conflict with other established facts, especially blatant conflict.
  • A town who openly worships the evil gods in the middle of a “good” nation would not make sense. However, a town that is riddled with evil cultists who have secretly gained a great deal of influence in a town that resides in a “good” nation makes more sense.

Alts (Alternate Characters)

A player can have as many characters as they wish. The player's primary character is commonly referred to as a "main" while other characters are referred to as "alts". Alts follow normal character creation rules, but there are some restrictions on playing them.

• Players with more than one character must choose where they assign any experience points earned to.
• Gear (or any other resource, such as experience) earned by one character may not be transferred to another.
• Only one character is used to determine what shifts a player is assigned to during an event.
  • If one character is a member of one group and a second one is a member of another group that is on different shifts, you will still only have one shift assignment each shift balance.

Each alternate or new character should have a different character background than other existing characters you have now or have had in the past. They should also generally seek to interact with different player characters and join different groups. This is intended to avoid cliques forming.

Character Possessions

Each character will have it's own character sheet, which you can assign the experience points you earn to. Once assigned to a character, experience cannot be transferred to your other characters.

Any items a character earns during play can be traded with characters played by other players.

You may not transfer numbered items, consumables or currency from one of your characters to another of your own characters.

Mundane items like clothing, weapons and armor can be shared between two characters played by the same person, but if they are distinctive this should not be done. If observing this rule creates a financial hurdle to playing for you (such as if your very distinctive character dies, and the only garb you have was that character's) talk to the Props and Atmosphere Marshals, they will help you change up your look.

Players may have any number of characters at a time, but can only have two characters active in one calendar year. If character death results in a situation where you can't play a PC at all due to this rule, be sure to talk to the plot marshal or second (Ryan Green and Donald Tyson) about the circumstances.

New Character Amnesty

When a player brings a new character into game for the first time, there are often unexpected surprises. Maybe part of the character's concept doesn't quite work out as expected, you learn the accent you wanted to have is a pain to keep doing for 10 hours in one weekend, the species you chose is not working for you, or any number of other possible problems. We understand that completely.

Every new character gets an amnesty after the first event they are brought into play, before the second event they are played. A player may do this once for each character they make. This can be used to rewrite the character's background, their character sheet, any make-up or costuming choices, their species and other considerations.

In the unusual event that a brand new character dies their first time out, the player is even allowed to bring the character back from death (generally with some help from the game masters to have it make sense with the story).

Character Retirement

Sometimes you just get tired of the character you are playing, more excited for a new one, or possibly both. Maybe your character has accomplished all of their goals and has no further development you want to explore. You've decided it is time to stop playing the character. We call this character retirement.

Character retirement can be done between events at any time. Retirement can also be planned ahead with a game master. If you plan ahead with a game master, generally they will write a special plot working with you to create a special send off for the character. The game masters have permission to run some special unusual kinds of plots they might not get to run during normal gameplay when working on character retirements.

When you want to retire a character, get in touch with the Logistics staff and they will walk you through winding down a character. Some of your experience will carry over to a new character or an existing alt. This is a special exception to the rule against transferring things from one character to another.

You'll also get to use the calculated value of a portion of the gear and items you take out of play towards your new character or existing alt.

Character Death

Character deaths happen sometimes. Despite your best efforts, your character dies during an event while in play. Maybe you want your character retirement to be their death. Whatever the case may be, more fun awaits you with your next character.

When a character dies you'll need to keep track of what exactly is still in that character's possession afterwards. Items that leave play when a character dies will be used to help determine what your next character will bring into play with them or can be used towards an existing alt.

After the event where your character dies it's your responsibility to get into contact with Logistics staff (Frank Tamburrino and Taylor Dean) and they will walk you through winding down that character. This follows the same general procedure as character retirement, but without the planning ahead part.

Main Character Syndrome

It's always important to remember that everyone wants a chance to shine and have a major impact on a story. Sometimes through normal situations players will do things that, by necessity, makes everyone pay attention to them. This is normal and healthy. However, if you do it a lot you might be preventing other players from getting a chance to share the spotlight. This behavior is known as "Main Character Syndrome".

It's completely ok to take the spotlight sometimes. The line is when you're doing it so often that you are preventing others from also getting to be the center of attention. The best players pay attention to others to make sure they are getting to have their fair share of the fun, and if they sense that someone might not be engaged, give them opportunities to drive the story.

Remember that driving the story generally means driving THEIR story, not YOUR story.

References

Creating a Character Sheet

Experience

Character Levels and Skill Points

Event Timeline

[-Categories: Character Rules

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