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, DFRPG, Dresden Fate Accelerated, and The Fate Toolkit at this site.
A note on Heritage
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| Part of what we explore here on Tenebrous Isles isn't so much the minute godliness of our PCs, but their humanity. No one is Godly, everyone is Human, and with that comes our frailty in the face of those things which could destroy us. While everyone here could have some special, supernatural, spark, it's not what tells the tale of our PCs. Our PCs forge a community story by going through their trials together in a far more human method despite there being true Gods and other entities alive and well in the world.
Please keep in mind as you go through CG that your PC will not be a God, nor are they going to be best friends to a God, nor are they going to be oft visited by their possible bloodline progenitors. Likewise, a Changeling PC is not going to have been raised by their true Fae parent, nor would they be utterly welcome and whole-heartedly educated by the world of the Fae. Until your partially blooded Scion or Changeling makes the choice to become a full Fae or God/Entity themselves, they are a liability at best, ridiculed and scorned most often by their Fae relatives, or utterly unknown or even unnoticed by their Godly forefathers.
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A note on Magic Users
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| Those of you using magic will still be subject to the Laws of Magic, whether you're a part of the White Council or not, because you're still mostly mortal, and using mortal magic. It will effect your PC. The blessing of the location is that the Hawaiian portion of the White Council IS Hawaiian. They live the Spirit of Aloha as much as anyone, and are chill, laid-back people. This will not save someone from getting a rather intense 'haircut' if they break the laws of magic, but it does make for more comfortable meetings as they're mostly done on surf boards, sitting out in the sea. Mellow does not equal weak, by any stretch of the imagination, but the regional Wardens are pretty calm and reasonable until there's a Law broken. The laws are listed here: House_Rules
While the White Council does have a lengthy history of being involved in Hawaii, they are certainly not the most powerful influence there. Due to the unusually high number of very active gods, Emissaries, Scions, supernatural creatures, Entities, and various other sundry beings of power, there has been an understanding of balance that is only helped by the White Council. They aren't here in the capacity to control anything save the spreading of uncontrolled, harmful, magic use that breaks the laws of Magic. They are certainly a force to be reckoned with, but the Spirit of Aloha is taken very seriously by them in conjunction with all of their other concerns. After all, no one benefits from Pele electing to throw a massive fit.
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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 prepackaged with various traits: sets of related supernatural powers, suggested Skills and the like. There are occasionally a Moratorium on certain mantles, bans on PC types, and other things, for grid balance. You may have a maximum of one active PC of each mantle (i.e. one scion, one wizard)
Available Mantles
To select your Mantle, type +mantle and choose it from the drop-down list that becomes available.
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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 define a longer name, also known as a full name, for yourself which will be shown on your +finger and your character sheet. If your full name is completely different from your permanent name, please ensure that your permanent name is the name that your PC will use when introducing themselves and in general be referred to as.
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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High Concept
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| The High Concept is a section 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:
Winter Changeling in Hiding
Manic Special Investigator
Eagle-eyed Scion of Ra
Wereshark Outcast
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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. As a note, Troubles should not be based on a power that a PC might have so much as a part of that PC's personality, or a driving force in their life that complicates it beyond what sort of powers they might have.
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. Please keep these notes down to 2-3 sentences, as they are often pulled up in a +aspects/full list by a GM running a scene to see if they can compel you using any of your aspects and reasonable brevity is appreciated during those times.
Type +aspects/note Concept=<note> to set the note on your High Concept.
Type +aspects/note Trouble=<note> to set the note on your Trouble.
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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 three key BG 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.
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'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:
+bgadd 3=Joe has collected a huge amount of memorabilia for the last 3 centuries, all of which is based around the 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.
OR
+bgadd 3=Joe 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. We expect you to have three aspects filled out for CharGen.
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 3>=<aspect name>.
To attach a note to an Aspect, type +aspects/note <1 to 3>=<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 20 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 21 total Skills in this game, and you can review their names by typing +skills/list or looking on the Skills wiki page.
To see the current state of your Skills and Skill points, type +show.
Aside from the skill cap and limiting factor of skill points, skills are subject to a system of structure. You cannot have more skills at a certain rating than you have at the rating just below it, and so on. I.E. in order to have three skills rated at Good (+3), you must have at least three skills at Fair (+2), and at least three skills rated at Average (+1).
There are two Skill setting processes you can choose from:
1) You 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 purchased 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.
2) For people comfortable with a laid out plan of what they would like to place in each position of their skill tree, you can use the skill shift command. To do this, type +skills/shift <skill being moved>=<rating number>. For instance, +skills/shift Fight=1 will put Fight into one of your Average (+1) skill slots.
The +skills/shift command both creates the skill slot and moves the skill you selected into that skill slot. Be aware, to use this method you have to build from the bottom up on your skills, as if you try to start with one skill you'll have at Great (+4) there will be nothing below it to support the skill.
You can also swap the ratings of two Skills. To do this, type +skills/swap <Skill 1>=<Skill 2>. For instance, if you currently have Physique at Mediocre (0) and Lore at Good (+3), +skills/swap Lore=Physique will set Lore back to Mediocre (0), and put Physique into the Good (+3) slot in its stead.
When you have the Skill points to do so - gained from a Significant 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/shift <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. Each player starts with 2 Languages, one of which is English. The second is a language of your choice. (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 8 Refresh. You can spend some of that refresh now, on Conditions, Stunts, or Powers. Each of these can reduce your Refresh value based on their cost, and player characters are not allowed to go below a Refresh value of 1. The amount of Refresh you have left over after spending it on Conditions, Stunts, and Powers represents the number of Fate points you have on your PC, up to the cap of 3 for Supernaturals and 5 for Pure Mortals. Your PC cannot hold more than 3 Fate for Supernaturals or 5 Fate for Mortals in reserve as a base (this number is more fluid during scenes). Every week, 1 Fate point will refill to your Fate pool. So, a starting Supernatural character with a total of 5 Refresh unspent could expect to have 3 fate points, no more, while outside of a Scene. A starting Pure Mortal with a total of 6 Refresh unspent could expect to have 5 fate points, no more, outside of a scene. If your PC has only 2 Refresh points unspent, you can expect to hold only 2 Fate points regularly outside of scene.
While there is an XP cap, there is also the limiter of a powers cap here at TI. Each PC starts out with 8 refresh to spend, which makes it so that they are able to build a full Magical Practitioner template, A True Shapeshifter, or a White Court Vampire (the 3 most expensive starting mantles). From that point, you are only allowed to spend Refresh points up to 14 points of Powers. Yes, this means that even if your Scion's Grand-Parent Power template has 85 Refresh worth of powers, you will only ever be allowed to take 14 Refresh worth of those listed Powers.
Stunts are not considered Powers, and therefore will not add to the total Refresh spent on Powers.
Any supernatural templates come with a Condition as one of their powers associated with their mantle. While conditions do come with your Primary Mantle, if you choose to use the powers of another mantle along with it you will have to purchase that mantle's Condition as well. Look through the list of conditions to find which applies to your PC and if you have questions, please feel free to ask Staff.
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 hybrids or mundane mortals, can pick up Mortal Stunts. Additionally, there are Supernatural Stunts available depending on your mantle. Each stunt a character purchases will cost 1 Refresh.
Powers are inherent abilities you have access to based on your Mantle. Though they are also purchased with Refresh like stunts, there are some key differences. One is that powers sometimes cost more than one refresh point, with the specific amount detailed with the power. Secondly, powers are much more restrictive about who can and cannot buy them. Pure mortals cannot buy any supernatural powers at all, and even supernatural creatures are limited by the Conditions they've purchased. The powers available to you depend on the Conditions listed on your sheet. Conditions are attached to Mantle, as chosen in The Beginning, and can also be purchased separately if you'll be mixing mantles.
For Example, if you are playing a Character with the Changeling Mantle, you'll have the Condition of Called on your sheet. If you also want to be able to Shapeshift, you'll have the Physical Transformation Condition. Then, you'll have to spend a refresh to purchase the Beast Change power. (If you want to take one of the other types of Shapeshifting powers, you'll have to spend the refresh total required to gain that specific power).
If you are a shapeshifter, it is vital you read and understand the workings in Shapeshifter Codex before you do this bit. Otherwise you may end up going through the process of buying your powers again.
If you are a magic user, we suggest you read and understand the workings in the Magician Codex before you do this bit. You might find something you want to do with your refresh other than mortal stunts.
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 Mortal Stunts, Supernatural 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 upon 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>.
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 The Shapeshifter Codex, used by shapeshifters to define their additional forms, and The Magician Codex, used by Magic Users to set up their special brand of Stunts. These rooms hold all necessary information in their description and are locked to characters who don't have the relevant powers.
Make sure you complete your finger information, your sight description, your soul gaze description, your short description, and your long description. Review your character thoroughly before you leave character generation.
If you would like to create a character page for your Tenebrous Isles character, you should follow these simple steps.
Request a wiki log in using +myjobs.
+request/wiki 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!".
*Please do not create a character page before your concept has been approved.
You can take a look at our list of Active PCs and their played-by here: Active PCs, keep in mind there is no rule prohibiting the use of an actor by two or more players.
Please set any appropriate tags on your wiki page. Do not add tags to your wiki page that do not have a category associated with them, they will be removed.
You're done!
Return to Category:Help File
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