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CharGen Help Guide
We understand that CharGen can be tough on a new site, so we're always willing to help. This guide should give you some easy to follow steps for making it as painless as possible to get started on your own.
Please remember as you play that we use Evil Hat's Fate System, including Fate Core, Dresden Fate Accelerated, and The Fate Tooklit at this site.
Step 1: The Beginning
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| This first room is where character creation begins. Here, you decide and define the basic character ideas which will guide you through the rest of the process.
While in this room, type +show to see the current layout of your Mantle, High Concept, and name. For those intending to have multiple Mantles, please choose your primary Mantle in this room.
- If you are creating an Alternate PC, please see our rules regarding Alts here: Alts
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Mantle
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| A Mantle is, essentially, a character type that comes pre-packaged with various traits: sets of related supernatural powers, suggested Skills and the like. There are occasionally a Moratorium on certain templates, bans on PC types, and other things, for grid balance. You can only have one of each template (i.e. one scion, one wizard)
Available Mantles
To select your Mantle, type +template Mantle and choose it from the drop-down list that becomes available.
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High Concept
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| The High Concept is a phrase which describes the essential, defining traits of your character: who and what you are. You should include an inkling of your Mantle within the High Concept, but there's still a lot to fill in besides just that.
To set your High Concept, type +aspects/set concept=<aspect name>. To erase it, type +aspects/set concept= on its own.
Examples:
Wizard In Training
Psychic Private Eye
Special Investigations Detective
Werewolf Priest
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Trouble
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| The Trouble is, essentially, the core complication in your character's life: the thing which keeps your existence from being simple, smooth sailing. That Trouble is a driving force in the character's life, pushing them towards the adventures that happen in the game.
To set your Trouble, type +aspects/set trouble=<aspect name>. To erase it, type +aspects/set trouble= on its own.
Examples:
A young apprentice has a desire for power, but knows that taking the power offered will harm those around them and conflict with their ethics. This could be called "The Temptation of Power".
A man has strong beliefs, but also a close-knit family, knowing that the latter could be harmed should he stick to the former. This character's Trouble could be "Family Man".
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High Concept and Trouble Notes
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| High Concept and Trouble Aspects are sometimes unclear on their own. A short, snappy phrase is great for memorability, but light on detail. It's best to be more thorough in the description. To do so, you will attach notes to your Aspects.
Type +aspects/note <Concept or Trouble>=<note> to do this.
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Your Name
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| If you haven't done so yet, pick a permanent name for your character. This will be the name that everyone sees when you walk into the room.
To do this, type @name me=<name>.
You will also define a longer name, also known as a full name, for yourself which will be shown on your +finger and your character sheet.
To do this, type &fullname me=<full name>.
This is the limit of what can be done in The Beginning. To do more, please use +concept to submit your concept and once it's approved you can move on to the next room.
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Step 2: Background
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| Once your concept has been approved, you can move on to the second room of CharGen, the Background room. This room is where you define your character's background and personality, in more precise detail than given by the relatively simple combination of Mantle, High Concept and Trouble. This is where you work through the five sections. Each is a defined section of your character's background, a part of your past which has formed who you are now.
We do ask that you avoid adding characters from the Dresden Files books, or being from Chicago, since this messes with the plot staff.
Note: We only require that you add background sections 1-3 to your Character's page. Sections 4 and 5 will occur naturally during the course of RP on the site.
The background sections are to be set up in the following sequence:
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BG 1: Where did you come from?
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| This section asks some questions such as: Where did you come from? Which nation? Who are your family? Are they rich, poor, isolated, educated? How well does your character relate to his family?
Example:
+bgadd 1=I was born in 1945, a time of change for the world in several ways, in Indiana. My family was a small one to begin with, and depleted early through death. I was left alone and chose to vent my fury by joining the army. Vietnam was my next stop, where everything changed for me, my discovery of my werewolf nature happening during that hell.
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BG 2: What shaped you into what you are now?
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| This is the part of your character's life where your High Concept first truly came to the fore, showing when they most clearly defined who and what they were.
Example:
+bgadd 2=My coming of age coincided with the Vietnam war, and I went there a boy, lacking in faith and wisdom, and returned as a man, complete in my spirit and my Beast, as one. I changed during a battle, at a moment of stress, when all was lost. When I came to myself I had slaughtered not only the enemy but those around me.
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BG 3: What was your first adventure?
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| This was the first true 'adventure' in your character's life. If you imagine your character as an action hero, then this would be the first movie you starred in. While the Rising Conflict was when you defined your High Concept, the Story is when your character first really lived it. You'll need to come up with the basic details of this story, but this can be kept simple, perhaps even in the format of a 'story skeleton':
When (something happens), (your protagonist) (pursues a goal). But will (your protagonist) succeed when (antagonist provides opposition)?
While simple, this skeleton is also quite powerful when put into effect. For example:
Example:
When a series of grisly supernatural murders tears through Chicago, wizard Harry Dresden sets out to find the killer. But will Harry succeed when he finds himself pitted against a dark wizard, a Warden of the White Council, a vicious gang war, and the Chicago Police Department?
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BG 4: What's really important to you?
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| This might seem like a simple question, but the things we value most in life tend to define us in very specific ways.
Example:
Joe has collected a huge amount of memorabilia for the last 3 centuries, all of which is based around the Chicaco Cubs. The most important item he has, however, is his signed baseball glove from when he was a child. The entirety of the 1987 cubs signed it after a particularly great game, and the memories keep him quite happy in his worst moments. Of all the things he could lose, that one thing would harm him the most.
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BG 5: What else is really important to you?
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| This might seem like a simple question, but the things we value most in life tend to define us in very specific ways, and often we don't just value one thing only.
Example:
Joe also happens to have himself a wife. He loves her completely and without reserve. She's made a huge impact on him and has been the most amazing thing he's ever known aside from his interactions with the Cubs. They met when he was assigned to assess the viability of workers and their positive impact at a company he consulted for. While he couldn't save her job, he absolutely had to take her out to dinner the next week. They went, she made him laugh and even got his jokes. The rest has been blissfully wonderful history.
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Step 3: Aspects
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| Now that you've described the events of your background, you'll describe the Aspects that resulted from them. In essence, aspects are short phrases which describe key elements of your character. They can describe relationships, beliefs, personality quirks, items, or pretty much anything else which paints a vivid picture of the character. As a minimum, we expect you to have the first three aspects filled out for CharGen. The last available aspects can be done after you've spent some time playing your PC.
At any time, type +show to see the current layout of your Aspects and any notes you might have.
To define an Aspect, type +aspects/set <1 to 5>=<aspect name>.
To attach a note to an Aspect, type +aspects/note <1 to 5>=<note>
When you're done with your Aspects, move along.
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Step 4: Skills
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| In essence, while Aspects describe who you are, Skills define what you can do, and mechanically how well you can do it.
All characters start with 30 Skill points to spend, and can have Skills rated as high as Superb (+5). Any Skills not listed on your sheet default to Mediocre (0). There are 25 Skills in The Dresden Files RPG, and you can review their names by typing +skills/list or looking on the Skills wikipage.
To see the current state of your Skills and Skill points, type +show.
Besides the restriction of the Skill cap and the limiting factor of Skill points, Skills are also subject to a system of structure: you can't have more Skills at a certain rating than you have at the rating just below it, and so on. For example, in order to have three Skills rated at Good (+3), you have to have at least three Skills at Fair (+2) below that, and at least that many rated at Average (+1) below that.
On this game, you first buy Skill slots at the various ratings. To buy slots, type +skills/slots <rating number>=<number of slots>. For example, +skills/slots 3=2 will give you two Good (+3) slots.
Once you have the slots you want, you set Skills into them. To do this, type +skills/set <Skill name>=<rating number>. For instance, +skills/set Lore=3 will put Lore into one of the Good (+3) slots you bought.
You can also swap the ratings of two Skills, as the benefit of a Minor Milestone (Your Story, page 88). To do this, type +skills/swap <Skill 1>=<Skill 2>. For instance, +skills/swap Lore=Athletics will set Lore back to Mediocre, and put Athletics into the Good (+3) slot in its stead.
When you have the Skill points ot do so - perhaps having gained them from a Significant or Major Milestone - you can also upgrade your existing Skills, such that they take their slot up to a higher rating, and you only pay the difference between the two ratings. To do this, type +skills/upgrade <Skill name>=<new rating>.
To refresh your Stress tracks and consequence slots to match what you would gain from your Skills, type +stress/update.
To clear the slots you've bought and Skills you've set and start your Skills afresh (but with all your gained Skill points), type +skills/clear.
To leave a note about your skills (i.e. Guns is actually bows only in this case) use +skills/note <note>
While in the Skills room you can also add your additional languages to your sheet. (Please note that if you take the Linguist stunt in the Stunts and Powers room, you'll have to add those extra languages onto your sheet after you've added the stunt, these additions can be made in the Stunts and Powers room as well.)
To add languages to your sheet use +language/add <language>
To remove languages from your sheet use +language/rem <language>
If you need help figuring out which language to add to your sheet other than the standard English, or how to name them correctly, please see this listing of commonly used languages on the site:
If you don't want to work on your Skills anymore, it's time to move on from this room.
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Step 5: Stunts and Powers
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| Characters on Tenebrous Isles start with a Refresh value of 8, or 10 for pure mortals. In gameplay, this is the number of fate points you'll have each time you get a chance to refresh. So, a default starting character could expect to have quite a lot of fate points... or you could spend some of that refresh now, on Stunts and Powers. Both reduce your Refresh value, and player characters are not allowed to go below a Refresh value of 1.
Stunts modify the way your Skills operate. Listing the Skills someone has and assigning a numerical rating to each doesn't quite capture just what someone can do with it. Most people have learned special tricks, or have little knacks, that keep their use of a Skill from being described just as 'on a scale from 0 to 5, how good at you with at Fight'? Those tricks and knacks are called 'mortal stunts', or 'stunts' for short. All characters, whether supernatural monsters or mundane mortals, can pick up stunts. Each stunt a character has reduces their refresh value by 1.
Powers are inherent abilities you have access to based on your Mantle. Though they're much like stunts, there are some key differences. One is that powers only rarely cost exactly one refresh point: most cost more, with the specific amount written with the power in the Powers chapter of Your Story. Secondly, powers are much more restrictive about who can and cannot buy them. Pure mortals can't buy any supernatural powers at all, and even supernatural creatures are unlikely to be able to buy any power they choose. The powers available to you depend on your Mantle, as chosen in The Beginning.
If you are a shifter, it is vital you read and understand the workings in Shapeshifter Codex before you do this bit. Otherwise you may end up doing it again.
If you are a wizard, we suggest you read and understand the workings in the Wizard Codex before you do this bit. Otherwise you may end up doing it again.
To see the current status of your stunts, powers and refresh value, type +show.
To see the lists of stunts and powers available in code, type +stunts/list or +powers/list. Please note, only powers and stunts that directly effect your sheet mechanically are listed.
To buy a stunt or power from one of those lists, type +stunts/buy <number on list> or +powers/buy <number on list>.
To create a stunt or power which isn't on the coded list, type +stunts/create <stunt name>=<linked Skill> or +powers/create <power name>=<Refresh cost>. The reason for this is to limit the amount of coded lists, protecting our data somewhat. *Any stunts or powers purchased with the /create option MUST be available on the Stunts or Powers pages. Those are the allowed refresh purchased abilities on the site, and the lists are kept current* Be aware that new stunts must be agreed by and created with staff. You are advised to do this prior to final submission to save time and energy.
For the following commands, <number> is the number to the left of the stunt or power name in the list given by +show.
To remove a stunt or power from your character sheet, type +stunts/del <number> or +powers/del <number>.
To add a note to a power or stunt, type +<stunts or powers>/note <number>=<note>.
To change the cost of a power, type +powers/upgrade <number>=<new refresh cost>. This is primarily useful for powers whose effects change based on cost, such as Refinement or Modular Abilities, or powers which allow the purchase of various options, such as Incite Emotion.
Done with powers and stunts? Please move on to the next room.
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Step 6: Finishing Touches
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| As well as being a place to finish up your character, this room also links you to two other rooms: The Wizard Codex, used by practitioners to set up their magic-specific traits, and Shapeshifter Codex, used by shapeshifters to define their additional forms. These rooms hold all necessary information in their descs, and are locked to characters who don't have the relevant powers.
Make sure you complete your finger information, and your description. Review your character thoroughly before you leave character generation.
If you would like to create a character page for your Dark Spires character, you should follow these simple steps.
Request a wiki log in using +myjobs.
+request Wiki Account=<desired username and email to receive a password>
If you are familiar with wiki code, you can try your hand at building a page. Otherwise, fill your character name in the box below and click "Create!".
You can take a look at our list of already used Actors and Actresses here: Active PCs, although there is no rule prohibiting the use of an actor by two or more players.
Please set any appropriate tags.
You're done!
Return to Category:Help File
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