Character Creation
Procedure
A Character in Story Mode is a collection of tags that can ease or hinder game play.
Follow the following simple steps to create a character. It is recommended to create a Young Adult or Adult character for best options.
- Create a concept of what you want your character to be and do.
- Design the character sentence around this concept.
- Choose your Childhood Lifestage tags (1 background, 1 flaw, 2 additional tags)
- Choose your Adolesent Lifestage tags (1 background, 1 flaw, 2 additional tags)
- Choose your Young Adult Lifestage tags (1 background, 1 occupation, 1 flaw, 2 additional tags)
- (Adult Lifestages) For every 5 years over 25 human years old and under 50 years old, you can choose 1 occuption, 1 flaw and 2 additional tags.
- (Elder Lifestages) For every 10 year over 50 years you can choose 1 flaw and 1 experience tag.
- Assign Skill Tiers to your Tags, and if they are a spell caster, MAI and Tier
- Create a character arc for your character -- their purpose for adventuring.
- Decide upon what gear your character will start out with
- Choose what lore a character knows at the start of the game (locations, factions and personal relationships).
- (optional) If in a party, decide upon the relationships between all party members and how you met.
Character Sentence
We lay out your character sentence in the following format, and all tags are in bold.
All tags except descriptor in your character sentence are Umbrella Tags.
- Eldrin is a cunning elven rogue who weaves shadows into deadly blades
- Lena is a resourceful private investigator who uncovers secrets.
- Vex-7 is a rogue AI bounty hunter who tracks fugitives.
- Dr. Alistair Cogsworth is an eccentric clockwork engineer who builds automatons.
This sentence defines the characters at a high level detail.
Each of the words in the brackets are tags that describe your character. They can be used to ease or hinder an action check.
Descriptors should define a key personality trait or something about the character that is a basic essence of the character. This can be good or bad, it is your character.
Species is just what it is. In an all human world or for a human character choose a second descriptor to fill in the sentence. The species of a character can tell a lot about what society perceives the character as. In some cases it could also be used in tasks that a species might be good at.
Include all species tags in your character sheet for easy reference under the species name.
If you have a Psionic species. These characters are going to be really good with mental tasks, since that's what they're born to do. Mental tasks can be eased. But it also might make them vulnerable to psionics because they have a much more open mind. It's all about how your world works.
Types are what most other TTRPGs call classes or archetypes. They can range anywhere from Warrior as a most basic type to something as specific as Professional MMA Fighter.
You may choose two tier 1 skills or 1 tier 2 skill that are associated with your type to add under your type tag on your character sheet.
The Specialty tag is one of the most important bits. This is a major defining action for your character. It can go hand in hand with the type, or it can be something completely off the wall and go against the types typical associations. This is what your character is know for or uses to their advantage.
You may choose two tier 1 skills or 1 tier 2 skill that are associated with your specialty to add under your type tag on your character sheet.
- Uses Magic
- Wields Two Weapons
- Made a Deal with a Devil
- Entertains the Masses
The phrase should always start with a verb. While is, can or has are perfectly acceptable ways to start the sentence, try looking for action verbs instead.
Lifestage Tags
There are 5 life stages of a character: childhood, adolesence, young adult, adult and elder. Each stage has a number of tags you are required to choose upon character creation based on the age of your character. All ages are based on human years. Check the species for age ranges of your character.
There are a number of different tags for each life stage: background, flaw, occupation, experience and additional tags.
Background Tags: Background tags describe a defining moment in that lifestage.
Flaw Tags: Flaw Tags describe some flaw or weakness they displayed during this lifestage of the character. It might be helpful to assign the flaw to one of the seven deadly sins. As an Elder these flaw tags should be in reference to getting older. Things like "Losing Mobility" and "Hearing Loss".
Occupation Tags: Occupation Tags are tags that encompass what you do for a living at that particular lifestage. As a young adult you may choose "Student" or some other career. But as an Adult you must have at least 1 occupation, though it may be "Vagabound" or "Homeless" if that is where your character was at that stage in life.
Experienct Tags: Experience Tags are like background tags, but they are tags your older self has experienced throughout their life.
Additional Tags: Additional Tags can be any skill, trait or ability that a character has during that lifestage. An Additional Tag can be used to increase the Tier of a prior lifestage tag
Childhood (0–10)
- Background Tag: Defining moment of childhood.
- Flaw Tag: Personality flaw shaped by early life.
- Additional Tags (up to 2): Early abilities, traits, or learned habits.
Adolescence (11-18)
- Background Tag: Defining adolescent experience.
- Flaw Tag : Personality flaw emerging in adolescence.
- Additional Tags: Skills, traits, or habits formed during adolescence.
Young Adult (19–25)
- Background Tag: Defining life-changing event or experience.
- Occupation Tag: Current occupation or primary life role (job, apprenticeship, or student).
- Flaw Tag: Flaw tied to ambition, independence, or early mistakes.
- Additional Tags: Skills, habits, or traits developed in young adulthood.
Adult (26–50)
- Occupation Tag: Main profession or life role.
- Flaw Tag: Personality flaw or challenge in adulthood.
- Additional Tags (2 per 5-year block): Skills, traits, or experiences.
- Optional Career Change Tags (up to 5 total careers): Additional occupation tags if changing careers.
Structure:
| Age Range | Occupation | Flaw | Additional |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26–30 | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| 31–35 | +1* | +1 | +2 |
| 36–40 | +1* | +1 | +2 |
| 41–45 | +1* | +1 | +2 |
| 46–50 | +1* | +1 | +2 |
* Optional if Career change otherwise can increase Tier of the Tag up to 4
Elder (51+)
- Flaw Tag (1 per 10 year block): Reflecting aging, limitations, or consequences of life choices.
- Experience Tag (1 per 10 year block): Reflecting wisdom, mastery, or societal reputation.
Structure:
| Age Range | Flaw | Experience |
|---|---|---|
| 51–60 | +1 | +1 |
| 61–70 | +1 | +1 |
| 71–80 | +1 | +1 |
| 81–90* | +1 | +1 |
* Continue pattern for additional age ranges
Skill Tiers
- Characters starting as a Child may have 1 Tier 2 abilities and 2 Tier 1 abilities (4 points)
- Characters starting as an Adolescent many have 2 Tier 2 ablities and 4 Tier 1 abilities (8 points)
- Charcters starting as a Young Adult may have 1 Tier 3 ability, 2 Tier 2 abilities and 6 Tier 1 abilities (14 points)
- Characters staring as an Adult assign the Young Adult Tiers and then add 6 points per 5 year block after 25
- Characters starting as an Elder assign the Young Adult Tiers, add 30 points plus an additional 4 points per 10 year block
Adults and Elders can assign their points to tiers in the following manner:
| Tier | Point Cost |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 |
Each Tier must be bought before purchasing the next. If you have a tag at level 1 and you want it to be level 4 you need to purchase 2, 3 and 4 for a total of 12 points.
Use this method ONLY at character creation! Skills are earned and upgraded during game play by finishing quests and character arc as rewards.
Character Arcs
Characters should start with a Character Arc -- something they are trying to achieve.
Character Arcs should reward a new tag at the completion of its arc relative to what the arc was trying to achieve. It may offer other rewards as well depending on what the arc was meant to achieve.
Gear & Wealth
Characters can carry up to ten items and have a starting Wealth of 3.
Characters start with a weapon of choice, armor of choice, and should select a specialized piece of gear. Some settings may require additional items at character creation. Starting gear is all Level 1.
Known World Lore
Assume all player characters know two locations.
- Their residence
- Their place of employ or similar location
A character's background, or place of employment (such as city government or a bounty hunter association), may determine their starting faction. The character should have a starting relationship with their faction that is up to two steps from indifferent.
A character may have up to three known NPCs (family, employers, contacts, etc.). Assign each known NPC a relationship status up to three steps away from indifferent.
Group Play
If playing with a group either as individual players or as a solo player, the group should figure out how they know each other. It can be helpful to think about how they met, and why they are all together. You can also assign each character a relationship status to remind you how your characters interact with one another.