There is a separate description of Gehennum online.
Gehennum is an unconventional setting, and you should familiarise yourself with it before going any further. There is a website and a Player's Introduction, but even the latter is long , and might require over an hour of close reading. Skim it, or chat with your Gamemaster (GM) or someone else familiar with Gehennum. The important points are:
Do not attempt to generate a character unless you know these things.
Ask your GM what period and location the campaign is set in, and how many background factors you are allowed. Discuss the tone and scope of the campaign, and ask whether there are any special requirements. GMs often want certain abilities or other features among the player characters, or want certain abilities or traits to be absent.
Discuss character concepts with the other players. Agree on who will play what sort of character, making sure that all the GM's requirements are met. Design character concepts to complement one another, so that the characters will interact in entertaining ways.
Every character should stand in relationships with two other characters that have been discussed and mutually agreed between the players involved, and must be linked to one in a way that will keep them together despite circumstances pulling them apart. An approach that works well is to designate a leading character and then have other players in turn attach their characters him, her, or a character already attached to the group. Antipathetic relationships between characters (although perhaps more important to character definition) are of secondary importance to party design.
Don't worry too much about characters being stereotyped. The stereotypes of adventure stories and 'scam' movies work well in role-playing games. Star Wars IV is a classic example of how to structure a party in adventure roleplaying.
Discuss your decisions with the GM, and repeat the process until he or she approves your plans. Proceed no further until the GM is satisfied that the party and the individual characters will work in the campaign he or she has in mind.
Now that you know who you are playing, take a Character Conception Record and jot the basic idea down under "Character Concept". Fill in any other boxes that are dictated by what you have agreed to play, or that you are clear on for whatever reason. Using a pencil, note your agreed relationships with other PCs in the "Family", "Friends", "Rivals", and "Enemies" boxes, or on the back of the page. When you come to physical description, remember that the Gehennese are a black-haired, brown-skinned race, and that paler coloration is a sign of low social status.
Think about what made your character what he is. Consult the list of background factors for ideas. Jot down a character history in point form under "History", concentrating on phases of your character's life rather than the events that separate them. (You can write a more conventional history on a separate sheet of paper if you like, but remember that if it is too long and detailed to remember the GM will include things in play that contradict or ignore it; and don't make it more interesting than your character's adventures are going to be). Unless your GM has allowed an extraordinary number of background factors, there should be room for about two lines per 'phase' of your character's career. Be brief, and write small.
The background factors on the attached list represent the features of the background of a Gehennese person that account for his talents and acquisition of skills and knowledge.
The first group, "Parentage", contains background factors describing unusual genetic inheritances. It is not compulsory to take a Parentage Background factor, and each character may have only one.
The three background factors of the second group are used to describe a character who is a member of one of the non-human species: Diver, Flyer, or Leshy. If the table entries include Inherent attribute points, these describe the bases of the attribute range for that race: add these modifiers to base human stats, not the base stats of the race in question.
The third group, "Infancy", are background factors equivalent to ForeSight 'Free Packages', describing what the character learned up to the age of about five years. Infancy packages are of less value than other background factors, and are free, but each character may have only one.
The background factors of the fourth ("Childhood") group cover the learning experiences of the period from about the age of five to about the age of fifteen to eighteen. A character may take at most one of the background factors in this section that are marked with an asterisk (*). Any character may take up to two of the other factors in this section, even taking one twice. The maximum is three childhood factors.
The fifth "Adulthood" group contains background factors covering experiences that generally take place after the age of fifteen to eighteen. These background factors have "time" ratings that indicate the number of years of adult life each takes up. The factors that chew up huge periods of time are often worth more in generation points and education than other background factors. The tradeoff is age of your character. If age is a problem, choose shorter background factors.
Finally, there is a group of "Special" background factors representing the possession of powers that do not result from experience. Among these are the 'Talent' of a natural mage, avatar-hood (which results from personality), and the favour of active and powerful geists.
Some background factors have half value. If, and only if, you are left with half a background factor in your budget, you may slice one normal "Adulthood" background factor in half, halving all the values associated with it (round down).
Your character concept and outline character history should make the choice of background factors simple. Note them on the Character Conception Record in the order in which your character history suggests them, one or two beside each 'phase'.
This method produces characters who are the products of their formative experiences: a character who has been studious will be knowledgeable, a character who has been active will be agile. I recommend that you do not try to fiddle your choice of background factors to optimise the knowledge/skills mix. A propos, bear in mind that HindSight has a flexible and generous experience system, and design a character who has room to grow. You may start off weak, but you will have a chance to develop. Concentrate, in generation, on the things that are hard, slow, or impossible to acquire during play: inherent attributes, the TalentÉ
In the table, beside each background factor, are entries providing the following information:
Make sure that the total of the "cost" entries of the Background Factors you have chosen is within the range specified by your GM. Copy the "Total GPs", "Total Educ", "Total Inh", "Time", "Social", and "Prof" values of each background factor into the appropriate space on the Character Conception Record. Add up the values in the columns and write them in the appropriate space. On scrap paper, write down the skills, fields, attributes etc. that your character is required to acquire, and tally beside each one the points of the appropriate type you are required to spend.
In addition to the total points calculated above, every character has a base five inherent points in each attribute, thirty-six points of Inherent attributes to distribute, eight points of familiarity in environments (which should be the environments in which he or she spent his or her childhood), and skill level nought in Initiative, Pain Resistance, and Search.
Take a Character Sheet. At the bottom left is a large box with space for over thirty skills. Three skills are already listed at the top. On the lines below these, write in the names, formulas, exp values, and BEFs of the skills you are required to give your character, just like the printed entries for the three skills that are already there. This information is on the attached List of Hindsight Skills for Gehennum.
Go through the skill list, and do the same for any other skills that you think that your character would have. Don't worry, you haven't bought them yet.
The skills are explained in the attached notes.
Look at the formulas you have written down. The attributes that appear often in skills that are important to your character are going to be important to your character. Also, Strength is going to determine how much damage your character does in combat, Endurance how quickly he or she recovers from injury, Agility how fast he or she acts in combat, Intelligence how fast he or she acquires knowledge in play, Empathy how much he or she understands of others, and appearance how much NPCs will be attracted to and like him or her. Willpower and Endurance both increase stamina. Willpower is important to miracle workers and in resisting magic and miracles.
With these thoughts in mind, assign your Inherent Attribute Points between the nine attributes. Unless modified by Background Factors, the minimum for any attribute is five (5) and the maximum is (12). Look at the tables for carrying capacity, UCDC, and Speed before you make your decisions. Remember that you will be able to train attributes to a maximum of four (4) above their inherent values, and that training to two (2) above inherent in generation is cheap. You may sacrifice one inherent attribute point to make your character ambidextrous.
Distribute eight free points among the Environment familiarities ("E") near the top right. The maximum value for any "E" entry is three.
With generation points you can buy skills, buy skill levels, train up attributes, and buy Environment Familiarities. The costs are set out below: they sometimes refer to the 'exp' and 'limit' values of skills, which are given on the List of Hindsight Skills for Gehennum.
| Use | Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase a skill at level nought | 3 x exp (of skill) | |
| Purchase a skill level (up to 10 x limit) | exp (of skill) | |
| Purchase a skill level (above 10 x limit) | 2 x exp (of skill) | |
| Purchase a point of any E familiarity | 3 | |
| Train an attribute | Trained = Inherent + 1 | 5 |
| Trained = Inherent + 2 | 10 | |
| Trained = Inherent + 3 | 20 | |
| Trained = Inherent + 4 | 40 | |
| Buy up one Wealth Level | 20 | |
| Sell off one Wealth Level | -10 | |
| Reduce Wealth Level to "Destitute" | -20 | |
Note that some background factors may require you to buy certain levels in certain skills.
The attached Fields of Knowledge for Gehennum tabulates the fields of knowledge available to a Gehennum character. The less obvious fields of knowledge are explained in the attached notes. Many of these fields are 'know-how', rather than 'know-that', and many function as skill enhancers, so are pretty useless without the skills necessary to implement the knowledge they contain.
Fields are simply acquired in generation, by payment of the Education point cost, but note that they often have prerequisites. Note also that any field indented below another in the same block is a branch of the main field, and requires the main field as a prerequisite.
(The ease factor listed for each field is used when attempting to acquire it in play: it is the ease factor of an Intelligence roll which may be made after 720 hours study for each education point required for the field. The field is learned if the roll is successful.)
In the "Availability" column, the letters "A", "C", and "D" indicate that the field is available in the Archaic, Classical, or Decadent period respectively (technology does progress some).
Note that your background factors may require you to spend points on certain fields.
First, check that you have spent the required amounts on compulsory skills, fields, and attributes. Then check that you have not spent over the maximum on any skill or inherent attribute, and that you have not trained any attribute to above its inherent value plus four.
Then add up all the inherent attributes, generation point and education point costs of your character. Use a calculator. Correct any over- or under-spending. Check again.
Now, for each skill, calculate the value of the formula, round off (i.e. add one half and round down), add the skill level, and write the sum in under PCS. This number measures your character's ability in the field on a scale of 3-32. A 10 is rather poor, a 15 adequate for a journeyman. PCS 20 generally gives a 100% chance of success, and counts as professional expertise. A PCS above 25 requires exceptionally good attributes, and counts as mastery. The normal human maximum is 32. A Leshy avatar of an appropriate exemplar could theoretically achieve a PCS of 37 in the right skill.
Look up your character's UCDC, Speed, and Carrying Capacities on the tables below. Write them in under 'Derived Abilities'. Calculate the three fatigue values using the formulas on the sheet. Round them off and write them into the appropriate boxes.
| Strength | UCDC |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | -2 |
| 5-6 | -1 |
| 7-8 | 0 |
| 9-10 | 1 |
| 11-12 | 2 |
| 13-14 | 3 |
| 15-16 | 4 |
| 17-18 | 5 |
| n | trunc((n-7)/2) |
| Strength | unladen | burdened |
|---|---|---|
| 4-5 | 4 | 8-16 |
| 6-7 | 6 | 12-24 |
| 8-9 | 8 | 16-32 |
| 10-11 | 12 | 24-48 |
| 12-13 | 16 | 32-64 |
| 14-15 | 24 | 48-96 |
| 16-17 | 32 | 64-128 |
| ^ +4 | ^ *2 | ^ *2 |
| Agility | Speed |
|---|---|
| 3-5 | 2 |
| 6-8 | 3 |
| 9-11 | 4 |
| 12-14 | 5 |
| 15-17 | 6 |
| n | trunc(n/3)+1 |
NB: These tables differ from those in ForeSight.
If you paid the Inherent attribute point to be ambidextrous, shade in the other two boxes in the "Handedness" section. Otherwise, shade in "ambidextrous" and whichever handedness you do not want your character to be. Note that characters with the Talent of a natural mage may not be ambidextrous or right-handed.
If your character is an avatar, write his or her exemplar and Resemblance Factor into the "Avatar of" box. (Unless you have bought it up, the resemblance factor will be three (3)).
If your character is an avatar or favourite, certain of his or her background factors will give him or her points of Mana. Add these up, and write the sum under "Mana".
Take a base age of fifteen to eighteen years, and add the amount of time (within the range listed in the table) that the character spent in the experience represented by each background factor. If you have taken an "Ephebe Training" background factor, make sure that the character starts this when he or she is eighteen.
Calculate your character's age, and write it in to the "Age" box near the top centre of the character sheet. If the character works out younger than you wish him or her to be, you may assume some extra years of time-serving. This brings no education or generation points.
Write your character's sex into the appropriate box, and "human", "diver", "flyer" or "leshy" (as appropriate) into the "Race" box. Choose a name for your character, and write it in to the "Name" box on both sheets. Fill in anything essential you have left out, such as age and a physical description.
Show the sheets to the GM. Unless he or she approves, go back and redo the offending parts. When you get approval, go to the other players with whom your character is supposed to mesh, and make sure everything is still as agreed. Get the names of the characters who are supposed to be your friends, enemies, relatives etc, and write them in on your worksheet.
Now your character sheet and conception record are probably an illegible mess. Take a fresh conception record and character sheet, and copy the information across neatly. Use pencil, except for those things (like Inherent Attributes; skill names, formulas, exps, and BEFs; name; sex; knowledgeÉ) that aren't going to change.
Normally, the GM will designate one of the wealth levels below, perhaps the same for all characters, perhaps a different one for each. If the GM allows, you may choose to be one level up or one level down on your basic endowment, or to be destitute. An extra wealth level will cost 20 GPs, to sell one off will bring in 10 GPs. Making one's character destitute will bring 20 GPs, unless the basic endowment is "Poor". With the special permission of the GM, a character may have two wealth levels at the cost of half a background factor. Three cost half a background factor plus 20 GPs, and four (the absolute maximum) costs a whole background factor.
| Wealth Levels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Circumstances | assets | basic social rank |
| Destitute | 10 obols | 0 |
| Poor | 100 obols | 1 |
| Struggling | 80 drakhmai | 2 |
| Middle-class | 400 drakhmai | 3 |
| Prosperous | 100 minai | 4 |
| Well-off | 500 minai | 5 |
| Independent | 2,500 minai | 6 |
| Wealthy | 12,500 minai | 7 |
| Rich | 60,000 minai | 8 |
| Opulent | 300,000 minai | 9 |
| Fabulously rich | 1.5 million minai | 10 |
GMs are likely to let players ignore assets and expenses that are trivial compared to their wealth and income, but destitute characters are going to have to account for every mouthful of food and every stitch of clothing.
Realistically, no-one less than Well-Off can live without working, though an unmarried Prosperous man can get by passably on a modest salary. Independence is necessary to live well or raise a family without earned income. "Rich" is the approximate wealth category of a Gehennese king in the Archaic Period.
Merit Points are a general mechanism for keeping track of a character's standing. They can be used to support rules for social and professional standing, fame, notoriety, the favour of superiors or a geistÉ There are several boxes for merit points on the character sheet, so that each character can keep multiple tallies.
The most common uses are for Professional Standing, Favour with a Geist, Fame, and Notoriety. In some campaigns Social Standing will play a part. Favour is important only to certain characters: to them it tends to be crucial. Ask your GM what ranks will be important in his or her campaign.
If you want to work out your character's merit points, refer to the Merit Points and Rank in Gehennum rules, and go through your background factors year by year (deciding, along the way, exactly how many years are spent in each background factor. Note: with the permission of the GM it is possible to 'stretch' a background factor beyond its normal maximum length to make your character older. This will bring extra merit points.
If you have the time, you can build your character up layer by layer. Taking each background factor in order, spend the GPs and educ it brings on the things that the character would have done and trained in during the period the background factor describes. Think of what your character's activities and aspirations at the time, rather than what he or she ended up like.
Roll for professional, social, dancing, and sporting achievements as you go, using the character's skills and knowledge at the time.
This approach is time-consuming, but it produces characters with a feeling of history, (especially for their designers), and who have convincing little peculiarities among their abilities. Above all, it produces characters that look 'lived in', not fresh-minted.
Copyright © 2004 Brett Evill