Character - One for All!

I have gone through a lot of what's has already happened in making up Jean Baptiste de La Pointe. Here is, the first draft so to speak of the character. Unless something dramatic happens, I expect this is the character I will be playing in the next few weeks.

I took Archetype Noble. It seemed like a no brainier with the free resource of Status 2 given by the GM. Two other choices here would have been soldier, given his background, or one of the concepts I was toying with in the back of my head was a doctor of divinity and medicine. Common given the time period and not likely to be something anyone else would have come up. Given that I decided to make him a full out Noble, doctor more or less was no longer a choice. That was a layman's profession in the time period. Historically, it did happen very rarely and this is a fantasy game, I didn't feel as a player that I'd want to combine the two.

With a Noble Archetype duty or honor seemed a strong motivation that would work within his background. I went with honor because it's more fun than duty.

The character's stats are a good strong mix of 2's and 3's. I wanted an even mix and strong skills for this character so pushing for a 4 in there would have been an issue. Besides, the cost versus the return in a die pool game like All For One just isn't worth even that little bit of Min/Maxing. Secondary Attributes calculated right off the primary.

Skills came next. All For One give Musketeers Melee (or Fencing), Firearms, Ride and one other skill for free starting at 0 with only a half point needed to buy them up. I took Warfare as the free bee as it made sense given his soldier background. A skill rating (die pool) in All For One of 4-5 is average, 6-7 is good and 8-9 is great. Given that Jean Baptists attributes are all 2's and 3's, expending 2 points on any skill puts him into the average range, which, theoretically should be good especially seeing how style points can be used to boost things. I took firearms, ride and warfare up to 2's by expending 1.5 points on each giving him a solid average in each. I spent 4.5 to bring his melee skill up to 5 (the maximum allowed for starting character) giving him a rating of 8. More on why later. I went ahead and purchased Bureaucracy, Diplomacy, Perform and Brawl to round out his starting skills. Bureaucracy because he's a noble and soldier, helps deal with the administrations and organizations of the world. Diplomacy because that handles leadership (he was an officer) and etiquette (he's also a gentlemen). Preform because that covers dancing (a lively tune, I'm inspired to dance). And Brawl because I learned very early in the test combat that if you want to hit someone, strength alone isn't going to do the job!

I don't see Jean Baptiste as a master swordsman, and with a rapier in his hands, his starting die pool would be 10 dice. That is above good and rated as excellent. During the play testing, 10 dice against an average opponents 5 dice was a bit of overkill. So why do it? Some of what I've heard from my fellow players and the GM has lead me to believe that I can expect a certain amount of Min/Maxing in the game and to be frank, I was worried that in combat situation designed to be challenging for those Min/Maxed characters, Jean would be left behind. So I maxed a little to give him a better chance to be just one cut below the killing machines. I expect to see players stepping into combat with die pools of 14-18. As I stated before, against an average opponent (5 dice) this is waaaayyyy overkill and a total waste of points that could have gone somewhere else. On the other hand, somewhere along the lines, the GM is likely to throw that right back at us to provide 'a challenge' and with 10 dice, Jean might at least be able to defend himself.

Resources and Talents came next. You get one or the other. Jean already had rank 0 Rank and Follower for being a Musketeer, and the free Rank 2 Status that comes with a +1 bonus resource. I chose wealth for the bonus so I could live a little. A man's got to have some standards in Paris. I decided during the background creation phase, that I wanted Jean to have a home outside of the Barracks so I took a Refuge resource rather than a talent.

A character flaw was next. I decided to go with Merciful as nothing else really fit my vision for Jean Baptiste and I wanted a flaw for him. So despite his great melee score, he is not a man who is willing to kill lightly. Plus I figure it will make for great role playing dealing with the other musketeers, who shouldn't be killing either.

Finally, some experience points to spend. These are suppose to represent the character's development from being an experienced Musketeer. I could have gotten a talent or another resource with these, but looking him over, I felt he was lacking some Musketeer like skills. I boosted his Brawl up because if he's not a killer, he has to have some way to deal nonlethal damage. Then I got investigation and streetwise to represent some experience with life on the streets of Paris. Done.

Keep rolling my friends.

The devil is in the details.

The GM has released some information pertaining to character background, mainly, a free (randomly generated) level two resource and an NPC that has to somehow be linked with the character. For me, the resource was Status and the NPC was the Madam of Whispers from Engine Publishing NPC book MASKS. 

I struggled with this for a while, firstly because I didn't want to do any work on the character without knowing this information. I was worried I would come up with something and then the resource wouldn't fit. Second, because I got Status. Working noble into many backgrounds I was considering would have been a bit tough. Alright, no it wouldn't have, it's easy to say, oh yeah and he's a Count, but he ignores his titles and lands and wants nothing to do with them. That however squanders a perfectly good free resource and smacks too much of Athos from the Disney version of the movie. Embracing Status of noble does, by default, define something of the character. While a lot of that is still my choice, it is still a minor limiting factor as far as I'm concerned. But as I didn't come up with much of the character before hand, I decided it's not a major issue.   

Here then is the background for Jean Baptist de La Pointe

de La Pointe is an ancient Nobel French family that, like most aristocracy of the time, can trace their line to the Throne. A certain percentage of the nobility of Europe would have to die before a de La Pointe would sit on the French Throne (and oddly enough, in that case, they would be able to claim the Austrian Throne before the French one), they are, none the less, related to Louis XIII.

The de La Pointe family is not however known for its ties to French Royalty (most nobles can do that), rather the de La Pointes are famous for their military contributions to France. The families ancestors include many heroes of past wars, a long line of generals and even a few admirals. Holding a Dukedom in North Western France, the family has been in decline for several years.

The Current Duc Aubry de La Pointe has no surviving brothers and only two male cousins. He is an elderly man but is still in good health. A retired General himself, The Duc married late in life. He sired three boys and two girls. The eldest boy, Galien was a sickly child who has grown into a sickly man. Galien, unable to participate in physical pastimes has become something of a scholar. The youngest boy, Renier, has just finished his schooling and joined the Army in accordance with family tradition. The girls Ameline and Bonassias both still live at home, although they have many suitors and are of prime marrying age.

The middle boy, Jean Baptiste, born right after Galien and before Ameline, Bonassias and Renier (in that order) also followed in the family tradition and joined the army. Both his name and natural ability severed him well moving up through the ranks till he held the post of Major in the infantry. Although it was possible for his father to just purchase this, or even a higher rank, for his son, Jean Baptiste insisted upon earning his own way up. At least to the point that it was possible.

Jean Baptiste, although his personal career was strong and positive, quickly became disillusioned with the overall stupidity and laziness inherent in the French Army. Most intolerable to him was superior officers who obtained their rank through favor or money and where poor leaders and worse military men. 

After ten years of service, Jean was considering leaving the military. His father had recently elevated him with additional lands and titles clearly expecting that he, not Galien would one day succeed him as Duc. Jean knew that although he was now a Vicomte, with his father still ruling, there was no need for him to visit or manage his new lands.

He was debating what to do about his future when the question was answered at a party in Paris. A young woman, beautiful, intelligent and charming became the target of ridicule when her low birth was reviled. Jean stepped in to defend the girls honor. His opponent did not know he was the son of a Duc and a skilled military officer and he did not know that the fop he was facing in a duel was a Musketeer. Jean won quickly scoring first blood much to the dismay of Guiber Hamund, his opponent. Guiber was, if nothing else, a gentlemen and offered his apologies to the woman.

Considering the matter closed, Jean Baptiste was surprised when a few days later, he was summoned to the office of M. de Trèville who heard of the duel. M. de Trèville was investigating allegations against Guiber which he had already proven to be false, but was being thorough. During the interview talk quickly became less about Guiber and more about Jean Baptiste's background. When it concluded, de La Pointe began preparing to return to the field as his leave was almost at an end. Before he could leave Paris, M. de Trèville offered him a position in the Kings Musketeers.

Jean Baptiste did not need to considered the offer before accepting. He would have to surrender his commission, but he was considering doing that anyway. He wasn't needed at home and enjoyed Paris immensely. Plus no member of the family had ever been a Musketeer.

Duc Aubry de La Pointe owned property in Paris near the Musketeer headquarters and the palace. A large Hotel and several attached townhouses. Writing to his father, Jean Baptiste obtained a letter of introduction to the manager of the properties, a woman named Sybille la Fère (the Madam of Whispers) who still runs one of the more prestigious brothels in Paris, the House of Whispers. Jean took one of the townhouses as his residency and began his new career as a Musketeer. 

Keep rolling my friends.

Supplement Rant

So the group is discussing starting a new game, more on why later, when one of my fellow players ask “Are we using the supplements?” My heart fell a little...

See, generally speaking, I hate rule supplements

I understand that game companies and individual designers make their money by selling books. I don’t begrudge them that. I will purchase the core rules for any game that interests me, happily handing over my hard earned cash for the entertainment, adventure and imagination that these books offer. Furthermore, should a game come out with some sort of supplement for, oh say a unique setting or a book of equipment, I will often times hand over more cash for it if it interests me.

It’s when these supplements include more rules for the game that I start getting pissed. I don’t want to lug three or four or five rule books around to play a game. I don't want to index my character sheet to reference which book stuff is in.

When designing a game is it too much to ask for the designers to put some thought into the process and include all of the rules in a single rulebook? Then publish their fluff books?

Sure, I get it when a game comes out and several years later, the game designer, having though up a whole lot of new and cool stuff wants to release a supplement for the game. I am actually ok with that. I’ll buy that book.

I am fine with releasing a generic rule set, then specific setting and source material and specific rules in another book.

What I don't need is six supplements with twelve pages of addition rules, skills, feats, training and or equipment packaged with two hundred and fifty pages of background, fluff and filler! Put those twelve pages into the core rules where they belong and if your background, fluff and filler book is interesting enough, I'll buy it.

This is annoying people!

Have you ever forked over forty bucks for a core rule book, then thirty more for a players guide, then thirty more for class supplement book, then thirty more for a racial powers handbook and after spending a hundred and thirty dollars the game company announces a new edition!

Other than a grab for money, what it the point of a new edition?

“Oh, we are fixing the flawed game system to make a better experience during play.”

Really fuckers? You didn’t notice that the game system had problems before you released twenty, now obsolete, rule supplements?

I will say that most game companies don’t make it their business plan to screw over their consumers. There is this game company, a bunch of spell casters who live by the seashore, you know who I mean, who's whole goal is now a blatant grab for as much money as they can squeeze out of their players!

This company, who was very creative and innovative back in the day, had a good game with lots of supplements, source material and history. Then they changed their core rules. Predictably then came the releases of supplement after supplement.

Not only do these supplements have additional rule material, but it’s the same recycled crap from the last rule system! What happened to creativity? What happened to imagination? This is role-playing isn’t it? Isn’t imagination supposed to be part of that?

How is this new version of the Dracula rip-off setting any different from any of the other Dracula rip-off settings you have already published?

We are gamers' people! I don’t know what I’m more insulted over; some company recycling a setting for their new rule system or lazy gamers who buy it. Again!

It’s a fucking setting! Nothing has changed!

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid people!

‘But they included setting specific rules for the new system, I have to buy the new version.’

No you don’t moron! It’s the same fucking setting! Things work the same way! Make up the setting specific rules based on the new rules and old supplement! This isn’t Tax Law! You don’t have to follow the official version!

'But if we make up our own rules, they might be flawed and upset the balance of the game.'

You know what? GOOD!

I want my game unbalance! I don’t want a simple, mathematically liner progression that makes the threat level my character faces exactly even throughout his entire career. If that were what I wanted, I’d never accept advancement and stay low level! The GM could give the monsters different names, different descriptions, a couple swappable special powers and we could have the same fight over and over and over again!

I like being the low level porn star spell caster, relying on the warrior type to keep me alive till it's time to blow my wad in one encounter!

Nap time for the mage!

I also like working my way up to the high level caster when the warrior type gets to stand by and watch while I blow shit up!

And if you just cannot deal with having your carefully crafted, balanced game disrupted by a flaw in the rules you made up… then fix it. This isn’t that hard people.

Murphy’s law states that if you mess with something for very long, you will screw it up! What do you think all these supplements are doing? Messing with shit! Knowing they will screw it up. Why? So they can declare the system broken and come out with another new edition and recycle all their old crap yet again!

Fortunately the GM decided on core rules only, so we're all good. Sorry about the rant.

Keep rolling my friends.

Min Maxing

"I have a 3 intelligence? Outrageous!" Rogar the Barbarian.

After our test character generation exercise, I became slightly worried as a recovering Min/Max gamer. All For One doesn't do anything to protect against creating the swashbuckling fighting machine, and as demonstrated by some of the characters created, it is actually easy to do. In game, if everyone is playing a Min/Maxed character, it works fine. If some are and some are not, it causes problems for both the GM and everyone else in the group. It becomes two different games being played. In order for a GM to challenge the Min/Max character, the bad guys have to be able to stand up to him. The problem becomes, the rest of the character now have no chance against the bad guys. On the other hand, if the GM keeps the villains reasonable, the Min/Max character wades through them like they are mooks.

Additionally, outside of combat, the Min/Max character has nothing to do, so to keep everyone engaged in the game the GM has to hand out lots of fighting. While this isn't a blog about GMing (I leave that to the experts at Gnome Stew) players and their characters definitely have an effect on the GM, his style and how the game plays. I personally don't want to create a well balanced character and be useless in combat. Nor do I want to invest in a lot of skills and abilities I either never get to use, or only get to use them to get to combat I am useless in.

Determining the play style of the group for a specific game can be very important for you during character generation. You don't want to come up with a character that isn't fun to play because he doesn't fit with the groups plays style. Also, players have a certain responsibility to the Game Master and their fellow players to make a character that fits so the game is fun for everyone.

The GM for this game is a long time, very experienced GM. He is usually excellent at bring all players and characters into the story, playing towards their strengths. There is a large group for this game however, and a fractured group of characters will mean more times when players are out of the mix if their characters don't fit the situation. I spoke with him about the Min/Max concerns with this game right after our test run. While he shares some of those concerns, he has not yet come up with specifically what he plans to do if it happens. 

Upon further investigation into the game and rules, I came to the conclusion that he really won't have to do much beyond encouraging players to not Min/Max.

All For One doesn't do anything about Min/Maxing characters for several reasons. The setting/game assumes that game style will reflect a cohesive group and that, if players are playing this game, they won't take the Min/Max route. All For One is not a combat heavy game and as such, the super awesome fighting machine character is pointless to play. Furthermore the super awesome fighting machine character is useless in All For One. In most combat situations killing is not the objective. Trying to create alter the game to make it combat heavy or creating situations where multiple killings doesn't equal multiple murders will quickly destroy the games overall base setting and tone.

All For One is a game designed for balanced characters. Without classes as such, the game, on a basic level, does away with the traditional character roles. Roles that have been further refined and defined by MMOs. There are no strikers, no tanks, no DPS, no leaders, no support character roles in this game system. They are not there for a reason. The game assumes that each character can and should be able to function in almost every situation. You are playing a Musketeer. When you have to fight, you can fight. When you have to dance and impress the nobles, you can dance. When you want to woo the court ladies, you can woo. When you have to search for clues, you know what to look for and who to talk to. Style Points and the die pool play a big part in this. For the most part, having too many dice available for a situation is far worse than not having enough. If a player thinks they need more dice, they can get them. If a player has too many dice, they are wasted. It is assumed that all character will be good enough in everything that they will only need a few more dice to compensate for their poorer skills and attributes to overcome a situation. If the player spent too much in one area, they will need far more Style Points than they could reasonably be expected to have to compensate for their poorer skills and while they will dominate in the area they spent too much in, they do so by wasting dice!

In Summary, All For One doesn't discourage players from Min/Maxing, the Ubiquity system punishes players foolish enough to do it.

Keep rolling my friends.

   

Musketeers assemble!

Earlier in the week my game group got together for an All For One character generation test run. The system is smooth and I really like it. All For One uses a simple point buy generation system. First you pick an Archetype, then a Motivation, then purchase six Primary Attributes which generate six Secondary Attributes, then purchase Skills, then pick one Talent or Resource and finally a flaw if you want one. With the basic character now created the final steps are spending some Starting Experience Points to reflect the characters past and the Finishing Touches (name, history, appearance, background, and so on).

Both the Archetype and Motivation go a long way to defining who the character is. They are broad enough to allow for player input, but give a great deal of guidance right off the bat and help the rest of generation flow. Buying six Primary Attributes with only 15 points might not seem like a lot, but a rating of 2 in this game is human average, so at worst, each character will be above average in half of their attributes. Because the six Secondary Attributes are calculated off the Primary Attributes, the same principle applies. 15 points in skills is a little tricky as several skills have Specializations that also have to be purchased, so 15 points might not go as far as one might think. But Skills are linked to Attributes thus increasing their die pools.

Talents work much like Feats in this game. They give some in game bonus that is unavailable without that Talent. Some are strictly die pools bonuses, some grant the ability to use different Attributes for rolls, some remove restrictions, and some simply let you do something that you otherwise cannot do. None are particularly grand and all they really do is add flavor and a little bit of an edge to the character.

Resources are used in All For One instead of money. And it is the character's decision to purchase what resource level they want for their character. For an old school D&D gamer, this is quite the change! Gold and magic items (or credits and gear or whatever) are not the object in this game at all. The Adventure is what All for One is about. In this game, if you want something and have the Resource level high enough to get it, it's yours. If not, then you have no one to blame but yourself!

I really like games that have flaws as characteristics. It adds something to a character to not be perfect. While Archetype and Motivation define a lot about a character, the flaw makes them fun to play. In All for One, flaws are optional. All they do is add flavor. Oh, and the opportunity to earn Style Points. Style Points add to your die pool. The die pool is how many dice you roll to determine if you are successful or not in what you are doing.  Style points also reduce damage or boost talents. All in all, they are what makes your character better or luckier than the average shmuck off the street.

Generating these character was more of a learning exercise than anything else. No one in the group has played in a Ubiquity system before and the GM wanted to see what character generation was like. Following my running theme for the Blog, I think this was an excellent exercise. Putting it simply, a character generated for the first time in a new rule system doesn't have the same chance of being a truly great character as one generated after a player has some level experience. Next up will be a actual test game where we take the rules out for a spin using pre-generated characters.

Till then, keep rolling my friends!

Typecasting

“You, boy, are arrogant, hot tempered and entirely too bold. I like that. Reminds me of me.” – Porthos, 1993 Three Musketeers 

Have you ever seen Top Gun? A Few Good Men? Days of Thunder? The Firm? If not, I’d recommend them, as they are good movies. They all have something in common; Tom Cruise plays the lead role in each. In Top Gun the lead character is Tom Cruise the Navy Pilot, in a few Good Men it’s Tom Cruise the Navy lawyer, in Days of Thunder it’s Tom Cruise the racecar driver, in the Firm it’s Tom Cruise the lawyer again. All of these movies have different lead characters, but Tom Cruise plays the role. And no one plays Tom Cruise like Tom Cruise.

Some role-players are like that too. I know I am. One of my GMs recently commented about my character Logan. He said ‘He’s got a lot of Erland in him”. Arrogant, sarcastic, power hungry, gentlemanly… yup that’s Erland… and Logan… and come to think of it that’s most of my characters.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a good actor. I know I can role-play other personalities, I’ve seen me do it. So why do most of my character’s share the same personality traits? Typecasting. I am both good at and enjoy playing those personality traits, so when it comes time to roll-up my character, those are the ones I’m predisposed towards.

In All For One, I will be playing a Musketeer. Arrogant, sarcastic and gentlemanly does fit well with a Musketeer. I could type cast myself again and go with what I know I am good at and enjoy. On the other hand I could craft a different personality for Jean Baptiste and challenge myself. Both options have advantages and disadvantages.

If I play him like my ‘normal’ character, I am sure he will be well played and I will enjoy him as a character. I  risk having him be normal and uninspiring in both my own and fellow players eyes. If however, I challenge myself and play a different personality it increases the chances that he will be a memorable character. Assuming I pull it off. If not, he could be a disaster and no fun to play.

As my goal is create and play a ‘great character’, I am going to take the risk and go outside of my normal role and take Jean Baptiste in another direction.

Musketeer says flamboyant to me. So that will be the first personality trait I choose for him. Why break down a door, when a perfectly good window and rope is available? Why take the evidence of a traitorous noble too the king when you can throw it on the floor in front of him as a challenge him as a traitor in front of the king? 

Next I usually go with sarcastic because I am sarcastic in real life. I don’t think I would enjoy playing a humorless character and don’t want Jean Baptiste to be sarcastic. So the second personality trait I have chosen for him is good-natured. He is funny and enjoys a good laugh, either at himself or at others, as long as it is safe, good humor fun. Jean Baptiste enjoys life and what he does.

Lastly (three traits seem good to start with) I need something that explains why his personality lends itself to be a Musketeer. This isn’t his motivation, that is actually a step in character creation, rather it what makes him fit as a Musketeer. For the last one, I picked caring. Jean Baptiste is the sort of man who helps little old ladies carry their bag, who steps in to stop a bully, who hands his last few coins to the starving man on the street. He is not a priest and hasn’t devoted his life to helping other, but he doesn’t turn his back when he sees someone in need.

In summary; There is nothing wrong with being type casted in a certain role, but sometimes it’s nice to try a different personality for your character. Choose one that fits both yourself and the game.

Jean Baptiste – Caring, Good-natured and flamboyant – All for one, and one for all!

The Character Creation Section

"I am Jean Baptiste De La Pointe of his most Christian Majesty, Louis the XIII, Musketeers, at your service madam"

For whatever reason, I always get more of a feel for a character when he's got a name. A few quick Google searches for seventieth century French names and I came up with Jean Baptiste. I like the name because it's authentic and was popular during the 1600's in France. Plus it reminds me of Zorg from The Fifth Element (one of my favorite movies). De La Pointe is also authentic for the time period, but less popular.

After reading though the book I re-read the character creation section. There are a lot of Blog posts about the character creation section in RPG's. Opinions vary greatly from 'love them' to 'useless'. Personally, my opinion has evolved over the years. If they are well written, I have always seen them as a good resource. Normally information is presented in a liner fashion and all in one place making it easy to look up. Now, I also see them as the best guideline you are going to get for a given game. In All for One, the character creation section takes you step by step through creating a Musketeer. More importantly, it takes you step by step through creating a Musketeer. I know I just said that twice, but consider, All for One is a game designed specifically for playing a classical, right out of the movies or books, Musketeer. The character creation section in All for One and just about every other game on the market is geared towards making exactly the kind of character the game is designed for.

This is a valuable resource for both novice and experienced players. Many role-playing games produced these days are setting specific games. They are designed with a specific genre and style in mind. The character creation chapter(s) presented in the rules are likewise designed to roll up a character that fits within that genre and style. This is the type of character that the game was most likely play-tested with. As such this is the type of character that works in the game.

Almost all of these games present themselves as flexible to appeal to a larger audience. In fact many games are built these days using mechanical systems designed for other games. Some systems even claim universal setting adaptability. Other types of characters may work within the genre and style just fine, but it's always best to remember that the character created using the chapter(s) presented in the book(s) are always what the writers had in mind when making the game.

Game writers, like GMs, are usually loath to tell players what kind or style of character they should roll up. Guidelines are presented, but there is almost always loopholes and ways to go way outside of the box. Players like to make really cool and or unusual characters. GMs are no more immune to this rule-of-cool approach than their players are. But every step outside of the guidelines represents something that has to be worked into the game, or around in game, or added to the game, or subtracted to the game. In other words, something that is just as likely to be a problem as it is to be cool.

Besides, I have not as of yet, in my two and a half decades of playing, found a character creation section in a rule book that makes cookie-cutter generic characters. Following the guidelines in the books and a little imagination provides for a nearly infinite variety of characters that are just as cool and unusual as characters that are made up ignoring the text suggestions. With the added bonus that they almost always work in game.

In summary, the character creation section presented in the rule books is a valuable resource, don't be opposed to using it.