I’ve picked the system for my next solo game. I’ve outlined the setting and variant rules. I’ve built enough of the starting settlement to have a feel for it and the wider world. Today, it’s time for the first character to throw into that setting, playing that system, as a resident of that settlement.

I haven’t decided how many PCs I’ll make to begin my game. At least two, probably three. As with almost everything in this project, I’ll feel my way there and decide.

Background Rolls

Before I jump into Crusaders, I absolutely love the Background Generator tables in ICONS Origins. Let’s start there, busting out a pair of d6. I’ll log each table and results, with the roll in parentheses.

Gender (6): Female.

Ethnicity* (12,5,7): Mixed heritage: Kalee and the Stone Isles.

*the city of Oakton has four major peoples, which are rough analogues of broad-African (Kalee), Spanish/Mexican hybrid (Mesca), English (Stone Isles), and Japanese (Kaizuka), roughly in that order from most- to least-common.

Age (7, 4): 24 years old.

Manner (11): Detached and logical.

Who do you value? (3): Family member.

What do you value (4): Knowledge.

Attitude (10): No one will ever hurt me again.

Birthplace (6): Rural. Raised in an isolated household away from civilization.

Status (8): Comfortable upbringing, able to afford a few luxuries.

Tragedy (4): No childhood tragedy.

1^st Past Experience (1,2,2): Has a friend that is a current or past romantic interest.

2^nd Past Experience (5,6): Suffered a personal loss, such as the death of a loved one, a serious financial setback, or personal tragedy.

3^rd Past Experience (6,1): Framed or falsely accused of something she didn’t do.

4^th Past Experience (4,2): Met someone willing to teach and mentor her.

5^th Past Experience (4,1): Made a connection, contact, or earned a favor from someone.

(According to the Background Generator, you roll 2d6 for the total number of past experiences, but I find this volume of results overwhelming. Instead, I’m going to stop when I think that I’ve “found the character,” which is right about now.)

Let’s put all of those rolls together into a brief bio:

Emah Elmhill was the product of an illicit marriage between a scholar from one of Oakton’s several schools and a Kalee warrior from the castellan’s personal guard (who are not allowed to marry or bear children). To raise their daughter without recrimination, they moved north to the foothills of a distant mountain. Emah’s father’s wits and her mother’s sword kept the family safe, despite the ever-present danger of the wilds, and it was an upbringing upon which she still thinks fondly.

She was nineteen years old when her mother died to a beast threatening their home. Though she had trained every day with a blade, Emah and her father could not survive alone, and so moved back to Oakton. Her father reacquainted himself with a university there, and Emah joined him as a scribe. Indeed, she quickly became a favored pupil of the school’s head, much to her father’s pride.

…at least until another scribe, jealous of Emah’s reputation, framed her for stealing a precious and ancient scroll. Though few thought Emah capable of the crime—most especially her father—the evidence was conclusive, and she was expelled.

Desperate and without prospects, Emah joined the Adventurer’s Guild, and…

Well, I suppose we’ll see what happens next. In terms of the Background Generator results, I haven’t yet worked out who her romantic interest is, and I combined both the mentor and a contact who can benefit her later (both are the school’s head). As I said, though, I’ve got a good picture in my mind’s eye of Emah. Thank you, d6s. Now it’s time for your cousins, the d10s, to take a turn.

Origin

Right now, Emah is merely a fantasy character. We’ve established that she can swing a sword, is learned, and has a variety of contacts and rivals in Oakton. But is she a newly bestowed super in this world or something else? I’ll be relying primarily on the tables from my variant rules post to find out!

My first roll is an important one: Emah’s origin (or, if you prefer, what sort of “class” she is in this story). I roll an 89 (Spy/Assassin/Thief/Guide), which can also be a 98 (Warrior). Ooo! So she’s non-powered, but hanging out with folks who are affected by the Wyrding. How interesting!

I’m seeing Emah as a noble soul, which means that Spy, Assassin, and Thief don’t really work. She could be a “Guide,” except that she’s relatively new to Oakton, where our story begins. Instead, I like the idea that she’s a scholarly Warrior, someone there to protect her friends with martial force. Warrior it is.

Powers and Attributes

As a Rank 1 character, Emah received 3 rolls on the Powers table plus 10 Attribute points to spend. Because she’s a Warrior, she can trade one of these rolls for either Armor or Weapon Master, and must trade one for the Intensive Training option (4 extra Attribute points). In other words, she instead has only 2 Powers rolls and 14 Attribute points to spend.

For the first Powers roll, I will absolutely trade it for Weapon Master. I’ve already said that her mother trained her to help defend their homestead in the wilds north of Oakton, and what’s a warrior without weapon badassery? I’ve pictured it as a sword, which is basic but cool. This Super Skill will give her three combat maneuvers when wielding her blade: Superior Strike (+5 to Prowess with her weapon, and can use Prowess instead of Physique to calculate damage), Parry (+5 to Prowess, which she can use instead of Alertness when defending melee attacks), and Disarm (she can try to disarm one-handed weapons instead of deal damage).

That leaves me one Power roll remaining: I roll 49, which can also be a 94, and yields these options: Leaping, Vigor, Psychic Sense, Telepathy, Fire Mastery, Weather Control, Gadgetry/Tech Whiz, or Weapon Master. I’ve crossed out the ones that don’t make sense for a non-powered PC with her background, but there are still four juicy options. In reading through them, Leaping and Vigor are difficult to explain without superpowers, so they’re out, and taking Weapon Master a second time would make her too skilled compared to my vision for her. So that leaves Psychic Sense, which means effectively that she can sense danger and never be surprised. Cool! That’s one of those abilities that is easy to explain in a superhuman way or a “cool action hero” way, and I like thinking of Emah as always vigilant against danger. Heck, I even rolled that her attitude was “No one will ever hurt me again.”

I then turn to Attributes, which in Crusaders are Physique, Prowess, Alertness, and Psyche. Each begins with an average score of 9, and I have 14 points to distribute among them. As a swordswoman, Prowess seems like the key stat, so I’ll spend almost half there to give her a score of 15. I’ll also give her a Physique and Alertness of 13, leaving her Psyche alone. Emah is one of Oakton’s best swordfighters and is both fit and alert. She is, however, unprepared for any sort of mental attacks.

There is one derived stat, Vitality (i.e. hit points), which is 3x Physique. Emah’s Vitality is 39.

Final Touches

In terms of Motivation, I have a sneaky system in mind that’s grounded in what each PC’s powers are and how the forces behind their abilities are prodding them to act. Since Emah isn’t one of those directly transformed by the Wyrding, however, I’m free to figure out a motivation on my own that fits the character. The central question for her is: Why would someone without powers band together with people transformed, especially when it puts her in incredible danger, against otherworldly forces?

I’ll revisit my Background rolls above: Emah values her father, knowledge, and has vowed to never be hurt like she was when expelled from the Oakton school. I take that to mean she’s guarded with others, often seeing them as threats, so Survivor works. Another option is Analyst, as she’s driven to understand why these changes in the world are happening, perhaps even to prove herself to the head of school. Put another way, do I want Emah to be a survivor, pulled along in the eddies of fate, clinging desperately, or do I want her to be the Lois Lane of the story, tagging along despite impossible danger to find The Truth.

I’m leery of damsel-in-distress narratives (note that almost all my DCC characters were women) and Emah is more warrior than scholar, so that makes my decision easier. Emah will be a Survivor, a fighter who refuses to be put down by the forces arrayed against her. Not Lois Lane so much as John McClane, then. That motivation doesn’t explain why she’s with the superpowered PCs, but I’ll rely on bonds or relationships there once I’ve made those characters. In many ways, she’ll be our story’s less comedic Sokka.

One of the things I like about using Crusaders for my system is that it doesn’t get fiddly with equipment. Indeed, the Crusaders Companion lays out how I’ll use it in game, with slight renaming on my part: There are three types of gear: 1) Tools, which are equipment necessary for the use of a Super Skill. Emah’s sword is a Tool, for example, and she receives it for free. 2) Artifacts, which are equipment that simulate superpowers, like a ring of invisibility or a flying carpet. These are going to be exceedingly rare in the world of Age of Wonders, and will be either the result of Powers rolls or will add a Power to a character. Finally, 3) Crafted Items, which are equipment that simulate powers, but do so at about half the value of a power. If Emah goes to an armorer to get kitted out, this will be a Crafted Item (and will likely involve a Luck roll to see if she can obtain it). Crafted Items could go down a long and twisting rabbit hole, but I’m going to handwave most of it. If the PCs need torches, rope, or a backpack, I’m likely just going to let them have it if it makes sense in the story. I won’t be tracking rations, arrows, and the like in this game. I can have fun with resource-management games, but Crusaders is built to be focused on action.

So Emma has a sword, and that’s pretty much it in terms of equipment. In my mind’s eye, she’s wearing what most games would call leather armor, but I’ll say that mechanically it isn’t enough protection to warrant a Crafted Item, and essentially mimics what other adventurers would wear. Her Vitality is an abstract value that, in this case, includes whatever armor she’s wearing. Everything else she’s carrying I can puzzle out as needed once I’m in the game.

The character sheet I’ve created for my game is in Microsoft Excel, because I’m a nerd. Here’s a screenshot to show what I’ll be looking at when playing:

I am a big fan of rendering my main characters so that they spring to life in my mind’s eye during writing. I feel very fortunate to have met Roland Brown to commission some artwork. Find more at his website drawhaus.com. I’ll post the original sketch as well because both are awesome. Thank you, Roland!

Stepping back, I’m psyched that my first PC is someone unchanged by the Wyrding, a witness to the changing world around her. I also like that, no matter what happens, I have a character who can jump into melee and scrap it up. It means almost certainly that I’ll have three starting characters, since I want at least a pair of “supers” at the outset (one of the nice things about solo gaming is that I can expand or reduce the roster without any real consequences). I suppose now there’s a danger that I’ll roll another non-powered character in the next two attempts, but I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.

For now, let’s do what I started in DCC, write a small warm-up fiction scene to get a feel for her.

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“Emah? Emah!”

“I can hear you, Matra,” she grumbled, hunching her shoulders. “I’m just ignoring you.”

Matra tsked rubbing furiously at a wooden bowl with a gray rag. The proprietor of the Dagger and Heart always dressed somewhere between a noblewoman and a prostitute, all fine fabrics, lace, and a tightly cinched corset, showing ample bosom. Today, the bodice was black, highlighted by crimson. Her ebon hair, streaked with gray, was pulled up elaborately, with artful braids, red ribbons, and two delicate curls falling across her rosy cheeks. She was a striking woman, yet those gray streaks, the crow’s feet at her eyes, the waddle of her neck—all spoke of someone who could be Emah’s mother.

“For three days you sit there,” the barkeep scolded, her words thick and clipped with her Mesca accent. “Barely touching my fine ale, shooting anyone a needle eye if they come near. Three days I let you frown at me and darken the mood of my tavern. This is no way to live, Emah. I thought you had found a new trade? Tell to me what is so wrong.”

Emah sighed through her nose. Resting elbows fully on the bar, she straightened her back and fixed Matra with a glare. Leather armor and straps creaked with the movement.

“I…” she cleared her throat. “I don’t like waiting,” Emah grumbled, reluctantly. “It’s been a week since I joined the Adventurer’s Guild, after, well…”

“Yes, yes. No need to speak of that,” Matra said, and made a warding sign with her hand, a quick motion as if picking a leaf from her shoulder, kissing it, touching it to forehead, then throwing it away, all done in a blink.

“Right. Anyway, a full week and no assignments posted for someone new. How am I supposed to eat if I can’t work?”

“The work will come. For now,” Matra shrugged. “Be with friends. Have fun while you are young, no?”

Emah grunted. “I find myself short on friends, right now. But just sitting around is driving me…”

“Well, well, well!” a gravelly voice carried from the front door, across the slanting beams of sunlight and empty tables. “If it isn’t my favorite sight in all of Oakton, Matra Cuencela! An ale for me and the boys, eh?”

Emah’s mouth snapped shut. She returned her face to its unhappy countenance, staring glumly at her full mug. She noticed that Matra’s face flickered with worry and something like disgust, only a fraction of a moment before she smiled widely with her too-red lips and white teeth.

“Welcome, Osen. A little early for you, no? The bard will not be here for several bells.”

“Fah,” the voice behind Emah answered. “Just wetting our lips. We’ll be back later, when… Oh! And what’s this?”

Emah flicked her eyes to the right. A thin Kaizukan man, his face shining with sweat, stood near her shoulder, looking her up and down with a smile of uneven and missing teeth. His black hair was thin and stringy, touching his shoulders. She flicked eyes to the left, where two other men crowded the bar, one from Kaizuka, the other a pale-skinned Stone Islander. All three of the newcomers wore sweat-stained, simple-spun shirts and pants, with long knives on their leather belts. They reeked strongly of fish and alcohol.

“You leave my other customers alone, Osen Haro,” Matra admonished. “I will bring your ales to your table. Go on, now.”

Osen guffawed. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Have I, lass? Just being friendly. Give us your name, sweetness.”

Emah frowned and flicked her eyes to the man.

“Oh, ho! Not so friendly! No need to drink alone, I think. Come join us, eh? We’ll get to know each other.”

“To your table, all of you,” Matra said, a tinge of desperation and forced humor in her voice.

“She doesn’t like ‘em scrawny,” one of the men on the left grunted, the Islander, a thickset brute with a bald head. “Step aside, Osen, and let me get to know her.”

“We all know you’re only big up top!” Osen cackled, and the other Kaizukan man chuckled. “Let her choose after getting to know us, eh? Come, come join us, lass, and tell us of yourself. Especially since no one else is here, ha! Come, come.” Osen waved an arm grandly to the empty tavern, then put a grubby hand on her leather-clad shoulder. Emah shrugged it off, throwing him a glare.

“Stop, Osen,” Matra said sternly, her smile gone. “If you want your ale, you’ll behave.”

“What have I done?” Osen responded, but his leering eyes never left Emah’s face. The alcohol already on his breath almost made her eyes water. “She hasn’t said no. Hasn’t said a damned thing. Come on, then, lass. Too good for an honest fisherman?”

“Go away,” Emah sighed. Her muscles loosened and she found the stillness that always preceded violence. Her mother’s words echoed like reflex in her mind: Fear narrows your vision and makes you stupid. Find your peace. Stay sharp. One hand dropped to her knee nonchalantly, keeping the hilt of her broadsword within easy reach.

“You heard her!” Matra gasped, pleadingly.

“Now listen, bitch,” Osen spat. “I was being nice before.”

“Mikán anitó niwé, má nyásho wékon némát,” Emah said, slowly and clearly, the clicks of her tongue on the ancient words pronounced, as she turned to the man to regard him with half-lidded eyes. She could feel the two others tense, ready to grab her.

“What’s that?” Osen scowled. “What did you say to me?”

“Stop this! Get out!” Matra yelled. “Osen Haro, get out of my bar!”

“It’s Old Kalee,” Emah shrugged. “Very old. From the Age of Immortals. It means ‘Walk your own path; do not chase all trails.’ First attributed to the poet Nijlel, I believe, but there’s some debate.”

“The age of–? What the fuck does–” he sputtered. “Screw this and screw you!” Osen’s hand reached for his knife.

Matra screamed.

Emah’s sword had left its scabbard and cut a red line across the man’s throat before his fingers had even touched the dagger’s hilt, making a wide arc of blood as she leapt from her chair. The warrior spun on the wood-planked floor and set her balance, even as Osen Haro clutched at the fountain of gore at his throat and collapsed.

Age of Wonders: Character 2!