...and I am an Anarchist!

Ahem.

So after my last post I decided to take my own advice and try working on my system chapter for Anarchy. I've found myself with a bit of time available over the past few days and have therefore been getting on with it at a reasonable pace. Not wonderful but reasonable. As such I'm about to make a series of posts, hidden behind LJ cuts due to their length, that encompass most of what I've done on Anarchy thus far. This isn't everything but it is a lot of it. I'll start off with:

Chapter 2: Character Creation

To begin I offer a piece of advice: You should set aside the first session of your group for character (and Cell) creation. This is important as character creation should be a collaborative exercise with the players riffing off of each others ideas and concepts. This usually leads to the formation of a more coherent group and allows for interesting group dynamics to be built-in right from the word go. This is especially important when deciding on your characters Secret (more on which below.)

All player characters (PCs) in Anarchy are Anarchists, members of the Anarchist Movement. In addition to this, though, they were originally just people, no different from the mindless herd of their countrymen. They have day jobs, many of them probably have families, friends, loved ones. They have many connections and links to the wider world, the world ruled over by the government that they are trying to topple.

Before worrying about the mechanical aspects of your character you should take the time to answer some questions about him and to try and get a feel for what sort of person he is, what motivates him and drives his crusade for change? What are his ties to the more normal side of life? How did he become involved in the Anarchist Movement? To that end there are five questions that every player should attempt to answer about their character.

The Five Questions

1. What do you do?

In the world of Anarchy everyone has an assigned role within society. You may not like it, you certainly won’t have chosen it but it will be something that you are, in some small way, suited to. You will have natural talents or affinities, or perhaps a specific personality-type, that are a good fit for your given task.

This question asks you to decide what it is that your character does when they’re not at home or planning the revolution. What is their day job? What is it that society expects of them?

This is important as it provides grounding for your character in the world outside of the Anarchist Movement and ties him into the world of Order. If he starts failing to show up to work people will notice and become suspicious, if his productivity or quality of work drops off too much someone is bound to notice. How will he balance this potential for discovery against his need to do something and bring about change?

Your answer to this question will also be the primary source of inspiration for the generation of your character’s Order Traits (but more on Traits later.)

2. Who matters?

People’s relationships with those around them are one of their most defining characteristics. Who you care for and why says a lot about you and your priorities in life. The same holds true for your character.

It should be a given that your character cares for their ideals and their goals within the Anarchist Movement but what about those around him? Who does he love and care for? Who is he in a relationship with and what is its nature? Does he have a family? Close friends? What would they think of his secret life? Most would likely turn him in without a second thought as it is what they have been conditioned to do. Your character’s desires to both protect the ones that he loves whilst simultaneously trying to bring about far-reaching, perhaps catastrophic, change as part of a group of freedom fighters are unlikely to be compatible, which creates great potential for conflict.

You should use this question to note down any Non-Player Characters (NPCs) who have an important, personal relationship to your character. Most, if not all, of these characters should be part of the world of Order rather than part of the Anarchist Movement.

3. How did they find you?

At some point your character woke up and shook off the mental shackles imposed by the government’s subliminal messaging and spiked drinking water, their propaganda and lies. The how and the why aren’t strictly important although you should feel free to flesh out that part of your character’s background here if you wish. However he awoke something will have happened to him afterwards that brought him into contact with the Anarchist Movement. Now, the Anarchist Movement doesn’t take out adverts in The Times for new Anarchists to join their crusade against the forces of Order; they recruit people in a very select, careful manner. They must for government agents lurk everywhere and successful infiltration attempts can have disastrous consequences for the Movement.

Nevertheless at some point your character will have been approached. It may have been by another, more experienced member of his current Cell or it may have been by a different member of the Movement. Perhaps he was recruited by his Cell’s immediate superior, their connection to the wider Anarchist Movement. Perhaps it was by someone he has never seen again. Whatever the case this was his introduction to the Anarchist Movement and the world of possibilities that it offered. This was also the lead in to the introduction to his Cell, the most important group of people in any Anarchist’s life.

4. How will you bring them down?

Every character has some abilities or talents that make him useful to the Anarchist Movement; otherwise he would never have been recruited. Where those talents lie, however, is up to you. Whatever those talents are they should dovetail into your character’s favoured method for instigating change. So what is that method? Does he prefer to engage in deft political manoeuvring or fiery, street-corner rhetoric? Does he see seditious leaflets and newsletters as a valid method of bringing about change or is the bombing of government facilities the obvious way forward? What are the tactics that he pushes his Cell towards and why does he favour those tactics?

However you answer this question it should give you a good handle on where your character will focus his efforts to bring about a transformation of the system. It will probably also let you see where some of his biggest bones of contention with his other Cell members will be as it is highly unlikely that all of the members of the Cell will answer this question in a similar way. Indeed, I would advise against doing so as it will reduce the opportunities for tension and conflict between the PCs, something that Anarchy, unlike many RPGs, does not want to do.

As previously stated it should tie into your character’s natural abilities, although it may well be the case that those abilities had gone undiscovered prior to his becoming an Anarchist. They certainly don’t need to relate to the talents that saw him assigned to his regular job although they can be a natural extrapolation from that beginning if you wish.

Your answer to this question will be the primary source of inspiration for the generation of your character’s Anarchy Traits (again, more on Traits later.)

5. Where do you draw the line?

There are many potential ways to affect change within a political system and the route taken by an individual or group can earn them the moral high ground or see them derided by the international community as terrorists. Of course those striving for change may not care what outsiders think of them, their place in the footnotes of history paling in comparison to the ultimate success of their goals.

In the end the acts necessary to bring about the downfall of the British government may go far beyond that which your character believed himself capable but, especially in the beginning, he will have lines that he believes he is unwilling to cross. For some it may be violence or, more usually, violence against civilians and other innocents. For others it may be negotiation with the state that is so thoroughly controlling everyone’s lives. Whatever the case your character should decide where he draws a moral line in the sand and refuses to step over. What are his limits and taboos? What will he just not do? At least for now…

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Character Attributes

Once you have answered the five questions you should have a better idea about who your character is, what he believes, his history and what matters to him. Now that you have that essential information you can begin to define him within the mechanical structure of the game.

The first thing to consider is your character’s Attributes. All characters (both PCs and NPCs) are defined by three Attributes.

Body

This Attribute covers any physical actions or activities that your character may be required to perform. This includes such areas as tests of strength, physical endurance, manual dexterity and speed.

Intellect

This Attribute covers any actions that require knowledge, education or raw intelligence. This includes such activities as scientific research, wiring an explosive device or recalling a pertinent fact.

Wits

This attribute covers any actions that require the use of social interaction with other PCs or NPCs. This includes such activities as fast talking your way out of trouble, bluffing at a hand of poker or seducing the MI5 infiltrator within your Cell.

Every player has 10 points to spend on his PC’s Attributes. They can be spread out between the 3 Attributes however you wish within the limits that the minimum score of an Attribute is 1 and the maximum score is 5.

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Traits

Traits allow you to better distinguish your character mechanically. They represent some skill, talent, personality trait or physical ability that sets your character apart from the norm. Characters in Anarchy begin play with 5 Traits of 2 distinct types, Anarchy Traits and Order Traits.

Anarchy Traits

Anarchy Traits are your skills, talents, etc. that you have gained or have become useful as a part of your life as an Anarchist. They were either undiscovered or irrelevant to your daily life before you joined the Movement and should relate to your answer to the question ‘How will you bring them down?’ Some examples could include Infiltration Expert, De-programmer or Subverting Security Systems. You begin play with 2 Anarchy Traits.

Order Traits

Order Traits are the abilities or quirks of personality that saw you assigned to your place within society. They should relate to your answer to the question ‘What do you do?’ and will be things that you are known, if only by your immediate acquaintances, for. Some examples could include Surgeon, Long Distance Driving or Computer Use. You begin play with 3 Order Traits.

Usually these Traits will be determined during character creation but you can, if you wish, choose to leave some of them blank and assigned them at any point during the game outside of a Conflict.

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Relationships

Relationships work in a very similar manner to Traits in that you will have Order Relationships and Anarchy Relationships. In answering the Five Questions listed above you should have generated some additional, background characters who have relationships to your PC. The most likely questions to have generated such NPCs are ‘Who matters?’ and ‘How did they find you?’ but you may have defined other characters in answering any of the questions.

You can assign up to 5 of those relationships as having mechanical significance, 2 as Anarchy Relationships and 3 as Order Relationships. Alternatively you can choose to leave 1 or more of these unassigned and assign them at any point during the game outside of a Conflict.

When you assign Relationships mechanical significance in this way you are effectively assigning dice to these Relationships (this will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4: System & Scenes.) As such you can choose to give some Relationships more weight than others by assigning them more dice. This is a difference from the operation of Traits where any given Trait is only ever assigned 1 die. So you could, for example, use both of your Anarchy Relationship slots on a single Relationship, assigning it 2 dice and giving it more weight and, therefore, more in-game effect.

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Your Limit

Every character begins play with a Limit. This is the line they are unwilling to cross, even in the pursuit of their goals. This Limit should have been determined when answering the question ‘Where do you draw the line?’ and may be the result of a moral code, religious beliefs or even hatred of a person or entity.

This Limit need not be a positive (morally speaking) statement such as ‘I will not harm the innocent,’ it can equally well be a very negative statement such as ‘I will not seek the aid of or help my treacherous, wife-stealing brother.’

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Your Secret

Every character should begin play with one Secret. This should be secret from the other characters but not from the other players. In fact I would encourage you to look at the other player’s character sheets, paying particular attention to their answers to the Five Questions and their own Secrets, when deciding on your Secret. It will prove much more effective in generating interesting situations and conflicts in play if it ties into something that is important to one of the other players so don’t be afraid to discuss this aspect of your character with everyone else at the table.

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And finally...

Once this is done you should, if you have not already done so, think of an appropriately British name for your character, at which point character creation is finished.

Tags: anarchy