At character creation, each player may choose one profes-sion for his or her character: the bare bones framework of a character type. Professions are not required and the player may decline to select one. Instead , he may take 10 experience points, which may be spent in any manner he sees fit (more on experience points can be found on page 38).
6. SELECT EQUIPMENT
Characters start with an amount of money equal to 20 times their Brains in dollars, plus savings (if any) and an additional amount equal to their weekly income (as outlined under Backgrounds and Professions, pages 25–34), which may be used to purchase equipment.
7. SELECT LANGUAGES
Each player may select one language for his or her charac-ter, which he or she speaks perfectly and can read and write without problems. Most characters speak only one language (usually English: the most common language spoken in the campaign setting). It is possible to learn other languages by spending skill points. It costs one skill point to learn how to speak a language — with an additional point to learn to speak it without an accent — and one skill point to learn how to read and write the language.
For example, spending 3 points on Spanish allows you to speak it flawlessly, and to read and write it as well. Spending 2 points means that you may either speak it without accent, or speak a heavily accented version and be able to read and write it.
8. FILLING OUT YOUR CHARACTER
With the stats you have already derived, complete any specific details about your character — personality quirks and the like — which may have altered or been changed by other steps in the process. Fill in any remaining auxiliary stats (such as vigor), and you’re ready to go.
1. Character Concept
Every character starts with a core concept: a sense of just who he or she is. Some players will begin with a very strong idea of the kind of character they want to play. Others may need to chew on it for a while. The following questions are designed to expedite that process, and establish a solid basis for your character’s personality. If you start with a strong idea, you’ll find the remainder of character creation goes much more smoothly, and will result in an equally strong final vision. (Experienced role-players should be familiar with the process.) You should also keep in mind the root causes of your answers, for they reveal far more about your character than the answers alone. For instance, if the answer to “what does your character do to relax?” is “fishing,” then you have a small piece of the character. But if you develop the answer to
“he finds fishing peaceful and has early memories of his father teaching him to fish,” then that little detail suddenly provides a much better sense of your PC’s personality.
Before defining your character, you should familiarize your-self with the world background in Chapters Four, Five, and Six.
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Which three terms most accurately describe your character?
These don’t necessarily need to be game traits; merely one-word descriptions that fit your character the best. They will become the foundation of his or her personality.
What does your character look like?
Physically describe him or her, concentrating on such as-pects as build, height ,weight, hair color, etc., but also not-ing any unique or distnot-inguish- distinguish-ing features which set him or her apart. In addition, men-tion how he or she dresses, what kind of clothes he or she prefers (including any unique accoutrements), and the like.
What does he or she do for a living?
A career takes up a significant portion of any person’s day, and can have a huge impact on his or her personality. Describe what kind of job your character holds; if it’s not conducive to adventuresome activities, think about how such activities will impact his career and how the character reconciles the diver-gent parts of his or her life.
Alternately, your character might not hold any job, either because he doesn’t need to (he’s wealthy) or he can’t find one (he’s unemployed).
What does your character do best?
Everyone’s good at something, whether it’s playing cards or catching touchdowns. Describe the one thing your character does better than anything else. It needn’t be something he does every day or even something he finds useful; it’s just the one thing he’s best at.
What kind of quirks or mannerisms does your character exhibit?
Does he scratch his chin when he talks? Or speak in a deep booming voice? Maybe he’s from overseas and affects an odd accent. Those little details will go a long way towards fleshing out what he’s like.
What does your character do to relax?
Everyone has hobbies, and your PC is no different. Does he play sports or merely watch them? Perhaps he collects coins or stamps, or maybe he enjoys racing cars. Not everyone’s habits are entirely legal however; your character’s idea of relaxation may be to pick fights in bars or worse…
How does your character feel about magic?
Magic is outlawed in the Unified Commonwealth (the nation where The Edge of Midnight is set) and “warlocks” (practitio-ners of magic) live a secretive existence hidden in society’s corners. Many people fear them and certain politicians have become powerful by vilifying them. What does your character think? Does he consider magic an abomination? Or does he find it fascinating, and believe it should be allowed to flourish?
How does your character feel about gaunts?
Leatherbacks are hated and feared by many Commonwealth citizens. Is your character among them? Or does he approach them with more thoughtfulness and understanding? Perhaps he neither loves nor despises them, but merely views them as a resource to be exploited. Or maybe he himself is a gaunt, and his experiences have colored the way he looks at the world.
Did your character fight overseas?
The Unified Commonwealth was recently involved in a great war with a sorcerous nation called the Order of Nu. Many U.C.
citizens went off to fight, and returning veterans have since worked to reintegrate with society. Was your character a com-batant in the war? If so, how did the experience affect him?
If not, how did his civilian status affect his outlook? (Keep in mind that very few people have crystal clear memories of the war, so your character’s recollections should be drawn in broad strokes rather than specific details. See page 139 for more in-formation)
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What is your character's greatest regret?
The past has a funny way of catching up to people in The Edge of Midnight. Maybe your character betrayed a lover many years ago, or failed to act when he could have prevented a crime. Also think about how much regret he feels over the act
— cheating on a test isn’t likely to be as acute as committing murder — and whether it has any impact on his current situ-ation.
What is your character's greatest desire?
Dreams are what we stay alive for, even if they never come true. Does your character yearn for a true love? Does he dream of becoming a movie star? Maybe he only wants a little money to buy a nice house away from it all. His desires can spur him to do great things… or tempt him to commit horrendous crimes.
Who is in your characters' family?
How well does he get along with them?
Is your character married or single? How close does he feel to his siblings? Does he have any children? Are his parents still alive? Families provide the strongest personal ties anyone will ever know, which makes their loss or dysfunction all the more difficult to bear.
Does your character have any loyalties besides himself? If so, to what?
Police are sworn to protect the citizens they serve. Mob-sters pledge loyalty to a boss or capo. Many ordinary people belong to unions or social clubs. What effect do such loyalties (if any) have on your character, and how much support (or op-position) will they provide in times of trouble?
Does your character have a code by which he lives? What lines will he refuse to cross?
Noir is a world of moral ambiguity, where right and wrong are clouded by shades of gray. To combat this, most noir protago-nists adopt personal codes — individual patterns of morality to which they adhere through thick and thin. It may be that your character refuses to take a payoff. He might never work for certain kinds of people on certain kinds of jobs. Even ruth-less killers may draw the line at murdering women or children.
Whatever it is, it needs to stand up to the rigors of a compro-mised world. Too many rules will be impossible to live by; too few will render them meaningless. Noir characters must choose their principles wisely and hold them dear, for such codes may be the only real strength upon which they can rely.
2. Attribute Scores
During character creation, each character receives 30 points to spend on attributes, no more than 8 of which may be spent on any single attribute.
Attributes represent your character’s basic “building blocks”:
the naturally-occurring traits such as strength, intelligence, and hand-eye coordination which essentially exist at birth. The Edge of Midnight uses six, each of which is represented by a number between 1 and 10. 10 represents the logical human maximum, while 1 represents the weakest or least developed possible. Characters may not have an attribute score above 10 unless a background (such as “Gaunt”) or other ruling specifi-cally states that the attribute may rise above 10.
Attributes are generally used to help determine whether your character can complete certain tasks (see pages 15–18 for more details). Each entry below describes the pertinent ability, as well as a brief list of examples designed to give players an idea of what can be accomplished with the various attribute levels possible.
Characters with extremely low attributes (2 or less) may be called upon to make rolls to accomplish mundane tasks (usually TN 3–5; see page 16 for more). For example, a char-acter with the strength of a small child (Brawn 2) may have to make a roll to open a bottle of ketchup while someone with a Moxie of 2 would need to make a roll before mustering the courage to speak to an adult. These rolls are based on the at-tribute in question and generally don’t involve a skill (see page 16 for more details).
Characters with attributes of 0 are incapable of performing any action or skill roll even remotely based on the attribute in question. For example, someone with Brawn of 0 could not move under his own power and someone with Brains of 0 could not form even the simplest thoughts (i.e. he would be effec-tively brain dead).
Unless specifically stated, attributes may not be reduced below 0. A wound or other injury which reduces an attribute below 0 is considered to have reduced it to 0 instead.
BRAINS
Brains is a measure of the character’s book learning and ability to retain information. It’s a combination of I.Q., education, and factual knowledge, as well as the ability to understand and retain information.
Brain Ranks 10 — Genius
6 — Professional scientist 4 — Average human
2 — “San Dimas High School football rules!”
1 — Infant
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BRAWN
Brawn is a measure of how physically strong the character is. It is used to measure how much he can lift, carry, push, or pull, and is often used in conjunction with skills relying upon physical might.
Brawn Ranks
10 — Professional weightlifter 6 — College athlete
4 — Average human 2 — Child
1 — Bedridden nonagenarian
BUILD
Build is a measure of the character’s health and ability to withstand damage. It accounts for endurance, resistance to disease and poison, and situations where the character might be required to hold his breath. Normally characters have a vigor score equal to their Build times 5.
Build Ranks
10 — Heavyweight Champion 6 — College wrestler 4 — Average human
2 — Elvis: The Peanut-Butter-and-Twinkie Years 1 — The boy in the bubble
GUT
Gut is a measure of the character’s ability to draw conclu-sions based on incomplete information or subtle clues. It en-compasses intuition, leaps in logic, and “gut feelings,” as well as the ability to infer hidden meanings from otherwise innocu-ous clues.
Gut Ranks
10 — Sherlock Holmes 6 — Working mother 4 — Average human
2 — The little old lady who swallowed the fl y 1 — “$500 against the Harlem Globetrotters, please.”
MOXIE
Moxie is a measure of the character’s ability to interact with others socially, as well as his appearance and manners. Moxie also determines your character’s ability to appear “cool” and interact with other groups of people; it also represents a char-acter’s willpower and ability to resist coercion.
Moxie Ranks 10 — Sean Connery 6 — Professional politician 4 — Average human 2 — Shy wallfl ower
1 — Can’t make eye contact with adults.
SMOOTHNESS
Smoothness is a measure of the character’s speed, mobil-ity and hand-eye coordination. It is used to gauge how fast a character can move, how quickly he can act, or whether he can accomplish a subtle task like palming a key without anyone noticing.
Smoothness Ranks
10 — World-class race car driver 6 — Stage magician
4 — Average human 2 — The Three Stooges 1 — “I lack opposable thumbs.”
3. Select Skills
During character creation, each character receives 35 points to spend on skills, no more than 5 of which may be spent on any single skill.
While attributes represent your character’s naturally-occur-ring traits, skills represent his or her learned abilities: the things he or she acquired through education or training or plain old life experience. Like abilities, skills are ranked from 1 to 10, with 10 representing the maximum a human being can possibly know about a subject, and 1 representing a bare minimum of pertinent information (someone who knows noth-ing at all about a particular skill would not have a ranknoth-ing in it). Skills may never be ranked higher than 10.
HOW SKILLS WORK
Skills and attributes are used when a character attempts to succeed at a task: to fi re a gun, leap across a chasm, notice the smell of smoke nearby, or remember an obscure bit of data.
Such efforts are referred as skill rolls. Most rolls utilize a spe-cifi c skill and the attribute most pertinent to it (called the pri-mary attribute). When called upon to make a skill roll, use two ten sided dice (d10). First, the GM will assign a Target Number (TN) to the task, based on how diffi cult it is. Then the player rolls, chooses one of the dice (referred to as a skill die), and adds it to his character’s skill, and adds the other (referred to as an attribute die) to his character’s attribute. The dice may
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be assigned after the roll is made (it’s a good idea to use dice with different colors to distinguish skill from attribute; see the nearby sidebar for more).
If both totals are equal to or higher than the TN, the task succeeds. If one of the numbers is equal to or higher than the TN but the other is not, the task is a partial success, which has a varying effect based on the skill in use (see the next page for more). If both numbers are less than the TN, the task fails.
A roll of 1 is always considered a failure for the roll in ques-tion and a roll of 10 is always considered a success, regardless of other mitigating factors. Rolling a 1 in this manner does not mean the entire skill roll fails. A partial success is still pos-sible if the other die meets the required TN. Similarly, a roll of a 10 can still result in partial success if the second roll fails to meet the TN.
The TN for a skill roll is always the same for both dice.
Samples are included below.
SAMPLE TNs NUMBER DIFFICULTY
5 Easy (climb a rope or hotwire a car)
8 Average (climb a rock wall or rebuild a car engine) 10 Diffi cult (free-climb a rock wall or build an engine
from spare parts)
15 Extremely diffi cult (climb a rock wall during a storm or invent a new kind of car engine) 20 Once in a lifetime (scale a glass wall with no
equipment or discover groundbreaking technology) Note that skill rolls should only be made for tasks which represent a moderate challenge. Routine or simplistic tasks should automatically be considered successful (see “Automat-ic Success,” below, for more).
MATCHING SKILLS WITH ATTRIBUTES
One of the most important things about making a skill roll is to determine which attribute is applicable to the situation. In most cases, the answer is simple, but sometimes, the task might re-quire a less obvious attribute. For example, the Firearms skill is most often used with the Smoothness attribute (to hit a target) but if called upon to identify a rare type of handgun, it may be more appropriate to use the Brains attribute. The GM has the fi nal call regarding what attribute to roll during a skill roll.
ATTRIBUTE ROLLS (ATTRIBUTE ONLY)
In some cases, characters may be called upon to roll a raw attribute without rolling an attendant skill. Such rolls, called attribute rolls, mean that the character rolls one die and adds the result to his Attribute. If it meets the TN, he succeeds;
otherwise, he fails. In situations where a critical success or critical failure might be possible (see below), the player rolls a second die, which is considered a skill role for purposes of determining a critical success or failure only. It has no other pur-pose and cannot affect the roll in any other way. Partial suc-cesses do not normally occur with attribute rolls.
For example, a character must run through a raging inferno in order to reach safety. The GM rules that he must make a Moxie attribute roll in order to gather the courage to make the run.
All rolls are considered to be skill rolls unless specifi cally stated otherwise.
ATTEMPTING AN ACTION WITHOUT THE SKILL
An attribute roll is not the same as attempting a roll with a skill you do not possess. If you don’t have the right skill for a task, you only roll your attribute die and the best you can hope for is a partial success (since the skill die is not rolled, it can-not be considered a success). In some instances, the GM may rule it is not possible to succeed on a particular action without the appropriate skill under any circumstances, depending on the complexity of the action undertaken and the nature of the skill required. If a “1” is rolled, the player must make a second roll; if he again rolls a “1”, then the result is a critical failure (see below for details). The second roll has no other effect.
For example, the GM will probably rule that it is impos-sible to build a motorcycle out of the spare parts found in a junkyard without the Engineering skill. On the other hand, he will likely allow a character without the Engineering skill to
For example, the GM will probably rule that it is impos-sible to build a motorcycle out of the spare parts found in a junkyard without the Engineering skill. On the other hand, he will likely allow a character without the Engineering skill to