Getting Into Character

No response here or on Facebook regarding my continuing with the 31 Day / 31 Characters Challenge so I guess I'm done. Since this series of posts isn't grabbing anyone's attention or interest, I'll just bow out and go one to discuss other things.

Next year I'll get back to posting memorable characters from campaigns [and one-shots] of the past.. 

In the meantime...

I've been thinking analytically and introspectively about why I don't like Character Creation in most Tabletop Roleplaying Games. In some ways its pretty easy to comprehend, I think...

When I create a character, it's a concept in my head. The character is simply an idea for a component of the adventure, setting, or whathaveyou. It is envisioned as serving a purpose; they are an obstacle, an ally, a love interest, comedy relief, or an example of 'local color' to give the game...well, um...character. 

As I tend to GM far more than I play as a Player, my 'Gamemaster Brain' is at the forefront of my approach to characters. When I want or need a character that does X or serves X purpose, I create them. I make them as interesting as I can so that the players in my game get invested in said character and their role in the campaign, whatever that may be. I'm aware that some GMs have been known to roll up their NPCs in systems with random generation and the very idea is baffling to me.

Why? You need a bandit, you stat up a bandit. You need a wise and powerful Jedi Master, you give them more dice where you feel they need it. Do you really want to roll up a handsome and seductive spy just get a really low Charisma/Comeliness score? That's...well...dumb IMHO. 

As a player, my outlook is not so different. Say I need to come up with a character for a Star Trek game set during The Next Generation Era. OK. What is everyone else playing? I see...no Doctor or Science Officer yet, huh? I do love playing the Science Officer when I get the chance. As for a Species, ooh, so many options.

In any game where non-Human Player Characters are a possibility, there's a very good chance I will play a non-Human. Hmm, I've never played a Kasheeta, a matriarchal dinosaur-saurian species that first appeared in the Federation Council chambers of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Yeah, that'll be interesting. I love seeing TOS and TOS Movie Era Aliens in later periods. The Kasheeta can seem arrogant, aloof, and off-putting but aren't really. It's a cultural thing I can creatively expand on and add my own twist to. I like it. 

The point it, I didn't roll this character up. This is an idea for a character that I came up with and can now extrapolate from and build upon. What I want now is a rules system that allows me to make this character in the game.

Therein lies the key to why I like or dislike a game's Character Creation. I don't want a system that gives me a character and tells me what they can do. I like creating a Character outside of any system and using an RPG's mechanics to make that character to the best of my [and the game's] ability. This is why I like Champions, Smurfs, Star Trek Adventures, Star Wars D6, and why I don't like D&D and 'Playbook' games like Blades in the Dark and Apocalypse World. Don't tell me who my character is and what abilities they are allowed to have. Tell me all the options available and I'll pick the ones that fit my character. 

This dynamic is a big reason why I don't like playing most Fantasy RPGs other than Ars Magica, which I love. Most Fantasy games have hard and fast Classes that give you particular skills and abilities and Races that only have or do specific things. Ars Magica says, here are a variety of different kinds of characters that fit the setting. They're all made of points. Here, I'll give you that amount of points so you can make what you like. There isn't a Wizard Class, there are characters who can have any combination of talents and skills including casting spells and we call that person a Wizard (or a Mage in Ars Magica proper). 

That's it for now. Onward...

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - Talking Out of Character

I have fallen behind something fierce. 

The reasons are many and I'm too exhausted to go into them but suffice to say, life's been kickin' my butt lately. There is also the fact that I'm kind of getting bored doing the Challenge this way. Yes, I get that its the 'Correct Way' but the thing is, as I've noted:

• I'm a [largely] Forever GM. Most of these characters will never see use except as NPCs.
• I don't make NPCs this way. I have a need, a concept, and just decide what the NPCs can and can't do.
• I don't enjoy the Character Creation systems and processes of most RPGs.
• I've already done a lot of my favorites. Others just take too long.
• I've got other things I want to discuss that are waaay more interesting to me than making up essentially purposeless characters. 

So what do I do? Getting kind of burnt out on the whole thing which is disappointing as I was pretty excited about it not a week or so ago. 

*Sigh*

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - GOSSIP SMURF

I am constantly amazed that the most fun I've had with a Tabletop Roleplaying Game in 2025 was with The Smurfs RPG by Maestro Media. 

First announced in 2024 and followed by a highly successful Kickstarter, the upcoming RPG about three apples tall blue people is way better than it had any right to be. Better than it had any need to be. I mean, if this game was a simple, silly game fit for 5 year olds and their Generation X grandparents, that would've been fine. I'd tip my hat to the creators for a job well enough done and that would be it. 

Instead, the people at Maestro Media created a cool game with clever mechanics, an excellent reflection of the subject matter, and a few surprises I definitely didn't see coming. There are base-building rules for making your own Mushroom Cottage and that is as awesome as it was unnecessary. 

Not surprisingly, I really like making Smurf characters. It was a real effort holding off on making one before this.

Character: Gossip Smurf

AKA: None

Player: Possibly me. Possibly an NPC. I hope me.

System: The Smurfs Roleplaying Game
 
Nature: Created for this Challenge

Gamemaster: None yet. Possibly me.

Circa: January 11th, 2025

Origins: It was a given that I'd be making a Smurfs character for this year's 31 Day Character Challenge (in fact I might make two). The real mystery, even for me, was 'what character should I make?' 

I decided I wanted to make an 'imperfect Smurf', one that is defined as much by his flaw as his advantage. I figured something more along to Clumsy or Vanity might be interesting. It was the letter I was up to, 'G', that gave me the final form of my newest little blue friend. 

 
Backstory: Not too long ago Gossip Smurf was just another Smurf, one of the many identifcal Smurfs who live and work in Smurf Village. That was until he overheard Papa Smurf telling Brainy Smurf that Gargamel was up to something and he passed on that information to his friend Reporter Smurf. Reporter ended up printing it in the Smurf Tattler. Papa Smurf was very angry at first as he didn't want to panic the Village before he had more information. 

As it turned out, the Smurfs did panic and the Smurf who would become Gossip felt responsible. He decided to use his 'talent' of picking up and dishing out rumors to make Gargamel think the magical relic he was searching for was over by the Sarsaparilla Fields - where Handy and Hefty had set up a trap! Gargamel fell for it and while he was trying to escape, Brainy, Smurfette, and Grouchy moved the item from where it really was and brought it to Papa Smurf's house. 

Gargamel eventually got out of the trap but was so disoriented he got lost in the nearby Western Woods and eventually gave up. He would later learn that the Smurfs got to the artifact first. 

Reporter Smurf decided to hire the rumor spreading Smurf, giving him the name Gossip Smurf. 

Overview: Gossip Smurf has got something to tell you. Now to be perfectly smurfy, its just a rumor but he's smurfed it through several sources and it seems legit. Now before he tells you, and you know he'll smurf it to straight, he was wondering if you'd heard anything about what that new contraption is that Handy's building. Really? You don't say? Oh no, I won't tell a Smurf. My smurfs are sealed. 

The Highlights: I decided to give Gossip Smurf a different sort of Advantage than I usually go with. Instead of using the type that lowers an Action's Difficulty Level, the type that adds a +2 to an Attribute, or the kind that awards you a Smurfberry, I went with the kind that Clumsy Smurf has:

When obtaining or spreading rumors, a roll that fails or succeeds by no more than 1 becomes a Partial Success instead.

This allows Gossip to persuade people to give him information or to convince someone of information he has, though with partials the information may not be wholely accurate or wholely believed.

His item, a Quill Pen and Paper, helps him remember what he's heard by writing it down. It can be used in other ways as well of course but I feel like that's its main purpose. 

Game Info: 

Notes: I like this guy! A lot! I haven't made a Smurf character yet I haven't liked but I can totally see having fun with this fellow by getting really creative. Heheh. 

 
Legacy: None yet - the ongoing drawback of this Challenge - but I hope he gets one. I can definitely see using him as an NPC with those friends I have who play Smurfs. 

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - FUMIKA WATANABE

Another of my favorite games to come out in the past few years in the independent Japanese TRPG 'Tokyo Ghost Research'. 

For the most part, I have used it to run a variation on Ghostbusters but in its original form it is a more generic 'Supernatural Office Comedy' game created by Seiji Nakata of Story Engine Lab. A fan-made or 'doujinshi' Tabletop Roleplaying Game in which investigating the paranormal is the job of a small Japanese corporation with overworked employees, obnoxious bosses, budget limitations, and other juxtapositions between the mundane world of business and the spooky world of exorcising ghosts.  

I've made characters for this game before but its one of the rare RPGs where I enjoy the process so...let's meet our Employee:

Character: Fumika Watanabe

Fumika is made up of fumi meaning 'Writing' or 'History/Record' and -ka 'Fragrance/Aroma' or 'Beautiful/Splendid'. Watanabe combines 'Crossing Over' and 'an Area or Border'. My idea for her name aludes to a 'Record of Crossing Over The Border', as in crossing over from the world of the living to that of the dead.

AKA: None

Player: Possibly me, possibly an NPC. 

System: Tokyo Ghost Research

 

Nature: Created for this Challenge

Gamemaster: None yet. Possibly me. 

Circa: January 10th, 2026

Origins: As noted above, I did this one just for fun because I like this game and oddly, creating characters for it. 

Backstory: A former employee of Japan's National Diet Library (the Japanese government's equivalent of the US's Library of Congress), Fumika Watanabe was recruited to the Tokyo Ghost Research company by her college roommate who was already working there. Prior to joining TGR, her roommate was one of the few people in the world who knew that Fumika had the Psychic Ability to summon the aid of a spiritual being. This talent combined with her excellent administrative skills made her a perfect choice for TGR's General Affairs Department.

Overview: As a child, Fumika was scolded by adults and teased by other children about her 'imaginary friend'. She generally hid the fact that this entity never went away and helped her quite a bit throughout high school and college and the passing of her father. She has since learned that the being is a Ghost-like Yokai similar to a Niji-Mitama. It likes her and enjoys helping her in exchange for being told stories about her everyday life. If she is threatened or made anxious by her relationships or job it can become an Ara-Mitama and become rough and violent. It will threaten the cause of her anxiety unless she directs it otherwise.  

I came up with this idea because normally the job of a General Affairs character isn't 'out in the field' but rather gets stuck in the office as the voice of 'the guy/gal in the chair' that assists the team. I figured she could and would definitely do that but in emergencies she'll call on her spirit friend for help. Then I could play the Yokai a little during encounters with the paranormal phenomanon the other PCs are dealing with.

The Highlights: Choosing 'Causal Existence'  allows for her ability to summon the Mitama. You wouldn't normally see a General Affairs Employee with this which is why I chose it. 

I also like her Previous Work Experience being essentially 'worked at the Library of Congress'. This gives her an excuse to know how and where to get additional information on whatever Project she's working on. 

Game Info:

Notes: None right now. I would definitely like to get to know her better.

It wasn't my intention but after I finished her I realized she kind of resembles Ichiko Yoruhime, a character from The Adventures of Horai Academy!! who I posted for a previous 31 Days/31 Characters Challenge from back in 2024.

Legacy: Like Notes, I have nothing yet in this category. I hope I get to play her though some day. She seems like she'd be fun to play.

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - EERIE

I've been planning to run a new campaign with Wednesday Night group but, as is usual for me, I couldn't decide which of the three or four ideas I liked best. I pitched them all to my group of four players and asked, "What are your top two picks?"

Everyone, myself included, had one pick among their preferred choices, Meteor City SFRPG - Star Rainy Days, and so that is what we're going to be playing.

 
To test Meteor City's Character Creation system before sharing it with the gang, I created Eerie, a Ghost Roamer of the Outer Rim!

Character: None.

The Ghost Roamers of the Outer Rim don't normally have individual names. They take the names of those they mimic, leave them behind, take new ones, and on and on. They will, on occasion, adopt 'nicknames' given to them by companions they like and respect. 

AKA: 'Eerie'.

Nickname given to it by aquaintences teasing them about the small, simple smile it always has regardless of the form it takes. While generally pleasant, the expression has been called eerie on numerous occasion. 

Player: Possibly me, possibly an NPC. 

System: Meteor City SFRPG - Star Rainy Days

 

Nature: Created for this Challenge

Gamemaster: None yet. Possibly me. 

Circa: January 6th, 2025

Origins: I played a one-shot of Meteor City - Star Rainy Days on New Year's Eve 2024 into New Year's Day 2025 with some internet friends in Chiba, Japan, Gamemastered by my pal Yasahiro Sato. I've been low key obsessed with the game ever since. 

When considering a new game to run this year, Meteor City was one of the top three titles on my list of 'Most Want to GM'. When my Wednesday group said yes to Star Rainy Days, I figured it would be a good idea to test the system by making a new character and I was curious to try a different Alien than the one I had previously played. 

Backstory: Shapes. Sizes. Colors. The universe is so full of amazing things to see. And not just see but imagine! And not just imagine but create and show others! This Ghost Roamer has traveled throughout the stars, experiencing breathtaking and wonderous sites and hoping to make some of its own.

One day it found out about a place called Earth, the homeworld of strange beings who have among them members of a class or profession called 'Artists'. Fascinated by the idea that a portion of Earth's native sentients, called Humans, were dedicated to creativity and the same things that excited and inspired the Ghost Roamer, it decided to travel to our world to more learn more about and make Art. 

It has since made friends among the local Artist Community in a place called Meteor City. Because it has not yet mastered Human facial expressions, its smile tends to look a little odd, though it does smile a lot these days. It has earned the nickname, 'Eerie'. 

Overview: I have a clear idea for this character but I am finding it hard to convey said idea. Eerie is a dreamer; a free-spirited entity who appreciates 'art' on a deep personal level but what it sees as art is not necessarily what we would attribute that word to. Eerie might be moved by the swirls of steamed milk poured into the espresso of a latte as it is the subtle smile of the Mona Lisa. His own creations are abstract in the extreme, though I haven't yet decided how that will manifest exactly. 

Mechanically, Eerie has a Sense of 5, which gives it an excellent awareness of its surroundings. It is always looking around, always listening, wanting to feel textures, smell smells, etc. 

Like all Ghost Roamers of the Outer Rim, Eerie has Mimicry, the ability to shift into the form and appearance of any person or object (of roughly half to full Human size). Ghost Roamers are able to duplicate the look, personality, and even memories of the person they're copying but not special Features, talents, or skills. Luckily (seriously, I randomly rolled it), it has a Potion of Complete Mimicry, which allows a Human to use the Mimic Feature or a Ghost Roamer to duplicate the Features of the person they're disguised as. 

Eerie also has a Favorite Shop, maybe a Cafe or Art Supply Store, where it can go, hang out with its friends, and receive the 'Empathy' Condition/Status while there. It's a Lucky liquid-smoke and also gets the 'Blessing' Status at the beginning of each Session. 

The Highlights: I like the abilities available in the game and I'm particularly found of this cloud-out-of-water character having a warm and passionate personality but also 'Back Alleys'; connections with space pirates, galactic smugglers, and other Alien ne'er-do-wells.It sees Art everywhere and so it doesn't write-off these scoundrels as not having 'culture'. 

Game Info: 

Notes: I really like this game and making up a character is actually fun. That's pretty special as the more I do this year's Challenge this way, the more I realize how much I REALLY don't enjoy making up characters in most systems (more on this in another post). This one was cool because it evokes a concept and supports 

Legacy: I'm about to run a Meteor City SFRPG - Star Rainy Days campaign. Eerie here may show up. What more intrisic a legacy can an RPG character have I ask you!

Well? I asked.

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Barking Alien