Mistworld

Character generation:

You live in a world infused with magic.  The sun in the sky cycles through a rainbow of colors, each of the seven moons in the sky is home to a hero-saint, and magic is real.

The world itself, seen from a distance, looks like a ball of frayed steel wool, floating in seas of mist.  People live on islands that thrust themselves out of the mist, they travel between islands on flying boats, magical pathways and trade routes that do not go too far into the mist.

Deep below, where the light of the seven moons does not reach, in the perpetual dark, are undead, of seven kinds.

There are mysteries of mastery that one can reach after a lifetime of study, or, one can gain access to matrix magic by being initiated to one of the pathways of the seven saints.  In return, the initiate has a duty, a compulsion, to travel and strive against evil for a season.  Many people choose the "easy" path to magical enlightenment, wear the colored magical shirt of their patron saint, and travel for somewhere between eighteen months and two years.

This is your world, this is Mistworld. 

To generate a character, first decide whether the character is male or female and then roll both the intelligence and the appearance on 3d6-1. A typical result will be INT and APP at 9 or 10.

SIZ is rolled next at 2d6+6 for males and 2d6+3 for females.

CON is rolled at 2d6+2 for males and 2d6+5 for females. Dexterity is calculated from (21-SIZ) + (2d6-1d6). Strength is SIZ + (1d6-1d6) [that is a range of SIZ plus or minus 5]. Power is 76 minus the total of the above numbers.

This generates a young adult character at about age 16, ready for growth and development.

To recap: (average)

male	female
Int = 3d6-1 9.5 App = 3d6-1 9.5
Siz = 2d6+6 Con = 2d6+2	Siz=/2d6+3 Con=2d6+5
Dex = (21-Siz) + (2d6-1d6) Pow = 76 - (total)

To bring the character up to age, subtract the total of the requisite points above from 86. The resulting number is the number of points the character has to apply to growth. These points may be applied to requisites in any fashion the player desires except that all requisites must be at least human minimums (in the case of POW or APP less than 0, INT too low, etc.).

Typically a character has about 10 points to allocate between requisites.

Example, a typical male character:

• SIZ 12
• STR 13
• CON 8
• CHA 9
• INT 10
• POW 10
• DEX 14

Total points = 76. The player has 9 points left to allocate to reach the 85 point limit. That is just enough to make a difference in a few areas, perhaps creating a character with extraordinary STR or with good INT and POW.

The difference should be made in areas that the player wants the character to be strong in.

Once a character has been created by filling out the basic requisites, then go forward and calculate the hit points and other calculated matters.

Filling out the Character

After each character is generated, the character is given  300% points to to build the character's skills and abilities.

Bonuses apply only to skills with at least 10% put into a skill. Every character gets INTx4 in three language skills (e.g. speak/ read/ write one language, or speak three languages or some combination).

Characters get their starting bonuses and basic chances to skills only for those skills in which they've invested starting will. Otherwise, until a character has increased a skill past the area bonus, all d6% increases are a full 6% increase.

E.g. a character with a 15% manipulation bonus could start with a manipulation skill at 15% + Basic chance + 10% for the minimum to obtain the bonus.  Any manipulation skill not taken as a starting skill would have to be gained from 0%, but the d6% increases would be at a flat rate of 6 points per improvement until 15% + Basic Chance was reached or exceeded.

For example, assume a manipulation bonus of 15% and the skill of slight (05%). If taken as a starting skill, the first 10% would buy 20+10%tiles of skill. (Every additional gain would add 1d6%).

If not taken, but later trained for, the skill would start at 0%, but would increase a full 6% each point of will until 20 points (or in this case, 24 points -- an even multiple of 6) had been reached).

Back to our Example, a male character:

SIZ 12-

STR 13-

CON 8-

CHA 9-

INT 10-

POW 10-

DEX 14-

Of the 10 points he has for improvements, the player decided that 4 should go to size, 4 should go to strength and 2 to constitution. That gives a starting character with the following

requisites:

original // current

SIZ 12- // 16

STR 13- // 17

CON 8- // 10

APP 9- // 9

INT 10- // 10

POW 10- // 10

DEX 14- // 14

All human characters start with the mystery of man.  The benefits of that mystery are:

• hit points = con+size.
• disease resisted by (hit points + POW) v. POW (disease is a physical possession attack).
• access to RQ1 spirit magic. Range = POW/10 in meters, cost = ptsx5 in magic points (e.g. Healing 2 costs 10 manna/magic points).  casting magic = skill in spirit tongue, +5% for each extra strike rank taken to cast a spell.
• resist poison/radiation damage with (CON+SIZ+POW) v. Potency of attack (note each day is a d6 potency poison/radiation attack).  Any time a resistance table conflict has a 20 point margin, it is an automatic success.
• Without the mystery, resistance is CON v. Potency.
• 300 pennies of equipment
• Note, RQ "bronze" = the ubiquitous aluminum/technicium alloy, use 1/2 RQ price guidelines.
• Currency:
  • RQ silver = MW copper (about the size of a US penny)  (All RQ prices in silver pennies are treated as prices in MW copper pennies).
  • RQ gold = MW iron penny (about 100 to a kg, 40 to a pound)
  • x10 = MW silver (US dime sized)
  • x200 = MW gold (US quarter sized)
  • x2000 = MW starsilver (chrome, US nickle sized)
  • x100 = MW grey silver (nickle, US nickle sized)
  • x1000 = MW true silver (dollar coin sized platinum)

The Hero/Saints are:

• Smith/Maker
• Gardener
• Herdsman
• Harpist/Loremaster
• Sailor/Trader/Scout
• Builder/Architect
• Peacemaker/Purifier

Useful links

• http://adrr.com/hero/norns/01.htm -- compare character generation in the original Shattered Norns.
• Need more creatures -- buy a copy of S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands from Amazon.com -- used copies available.
• Monster Coliseum (Runequest) [BOX SET]
• Griffin Mountain: A Complete Wilderness Campaign for RuneQuest
• Sandy Petersen
• Dogs in the Vineyard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10742.phtml
• Collecting Towns
• [DitV] Alternate Setting: Jedi Knights: Mos Alam
• [DitV - Firefly] Whirling with the Dervish
• Pete's Roleplaying & RuneQuest!