Char-Gen Orgy '10 -Savage Worlds

The Game: Savage Worlds
The Publisher: Pinancle Entertainment Group.
Degree of Familiarity: Extensive, though more as a Game Master than a player admittedly
Books Used: Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition.

Well, since I chose two hours before I need to be asleep for work.. it's a damned good thing I'm doing Savage Worlds this week. I'm quite fond of the system -- a two-generations-removed simplification and re-tune of the Deadlands rules -- for just that reason: the game's tagline is "Fast! Furious! Fun!" and it tends to deliver in spades; I run no other system in live tabletop, due to the ease of use and excellent flexibility.

It's also the start of the month, so that means female character (if the pattern hadn't become obvious yet). So our first notion is to choose a genre.. for lack of anything better (and that we'll be hitting most of the other "main" Savage genres with SaWo-powered specific settings (Deadlands, Necessary Evil, etc.) we'll borrow Black Hat Matt's decision and go with something.. pirate.

Also, as an aside / note, female pirates were not, historically, very glamorous -- despite all media portrayals otherwise -- so no Attractive edges or ridiculous tight bodices or any of that nonsense. Just a ruthless pirate lass.

First step is Race, which is going to be Human, and that grants us a free bonus Edge -- which we'll get to that in a minute. First we have Traits -- raw physical abilities, divided into Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, and Vigor; each starts at d4 and we get 5 Points to assign to them to raise those die types. At the expense of "weaker sex" controversy, I see a focus more on shooting than stabbing, so we'll put everything but Agility and Strength at a d6 (human average) for 3 points, and put the last 2 into Agility for a d8, leaving Strength at d4 -- which doesn't hurt us so very badly in raw talent, as we'll have the d6 Wild Die to fall back on anyhow.

RACE: Human

TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d4
Vigor d6

That was quick! Now, onto Skills -- we have 15 Points; raising a skill costs 1 point per die type up to a rating equal to its linked Trait, and 2 points per die type after that. We'll go with the basic "pirate" skills first -- things no pirate should be without -- and assign d4s in Boating, Climbing, Fighting, and leaving us with 12 points; we'll put a d6 in Notice, Taunt, and Throwing for half of those remaining points, leaving us with six unspent; we'll sink five of those into raising Shooting to an impressive d10 and use the last to give ourselves some character color with a d4 in Gambling. Skills done -- gods I love Savage Worlds.

SKILLS
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6

Now we're at Edges, and we get one for free... we may want to use this for a Background Edge (they're available, generally, only at character creation).. and indeed.. the sea gods help those who shoot first, so we'll take Quick, allowing our pirate lass to discard any Initative card lower than a 5.

EDGES
Quick

Now, we get to the fun part.. Hindrances! Hindrances are divided into both Major and Minor levels, and we can take up to 2 Minor and 1 Major Hindrance; those who know me by now will know that we'll be taking our full load naturally.Going with our hint of character development above, our lass -- we'll call her, I think, "Black Mary" Corbin, and make her Irish (just a whim) -- has two serious problems. One.. she gambles to excess. and is always chasing the next big score -- usually bankrupting herself in the process (You ever see Cowboy Bebop? Think Faye, here); the second is she's both female and Irish, which are probably going to put her at odds with most pirate crews on one count or the other. This adds to a total of Greedy (Major), OutsiderPoverty (Minor) for Hindrances, and gives us 4 Points to work with; we'll use two of those to raise our Strength back to a basic d6, and then buy the Acrobat Edge since we now apply for it.

(Minor), and

HINDRANCES
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)

All that's left at this point before we calculate final Derived Traits is Equipment, and we'd normally get "$500" to spend on it, but due to our Poverty Hindrance, we reduce that to "$250". We'll spend "$150" of that on a Flintlock Pistol, $50 more on Leather Armor, a Dagger for $25, and 10 SHots and Powder to fire them for $30, leaving Mary with $5 in her pockets -- for now.

GEAR
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5

And all we have left is to calculate our Derived Statistics; Pace is Human average, so 6", Toughness is one-half Vigor +2 and therefore 5 (with an additional +1 from our armor making it a modified 6), and Parry is equal to one-half Fighting +2 and is thus a 4. Since we have no Edges or Hindrances affecting it, Charisma is the default +0

PACE: 6"
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0

..and, there we are. "Black Mary" Corbin was a spirited Irish lass accustomed to poverty but not accepting of it, so when she got a lucky break she ran away from her family in Eire on a ticket won in a card game and through various misadventures found herself pirating and seeking the big score -- she's not cruel or bloodthirsty, but she is an unrepentant bandit and has no moral qualms about it -- and even less sense of proper sue of what monies she *does* gain -- with Mary it just never seems to last, and if her own greed isn;t enough to get her adventuring again, it's not unknown to cause her to make a quick exit from a port with those she owes after a failed game (card *or* con) catches up to her. That said.. let's see the sheet!

* * * * * * *

NAME: "Black Mary" Corbin
RACE: Human

TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6

PACE: 6"
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0

SKILLS
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6

EDGES
Acrobat
Quick

HINDRANCES
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)

GEAR
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5

* * * * * * *

And there we are, done for another week. Tune in next time.. same bat time, same bat schedule!