Making a Character
You need three things before the first scene: a name, a calling, and a sheet that reads like a person. The sheet is eight stats and a handful of skills, all on the one-to-ten scale.
Step 1 — Imagine the person first
Before any numbers, answer one question: who is this when the story starts? A knight who broke her oath. A pickpocket with a conscience. A ship's engineer who's squeamish about blood. The numbers exist to serve that person, not the other way around.
Step 2 — Assign your eight stats
Spend points from 1 to 10 across your eight stats. There's no budget formula — the GM will tell you if you're overspending. The guidance is a shape, not a build:
- Two or three at 6–7 — where you genuinely shine.
- Three or four at 4–5 — the ordinary middle.
- One or two at 1–3 — your flaws. Pick flaws that are interesting, not just weak. A 2 in Power on a brilliant scholar is a story; a 2 in everything is a punchline.
Write each stat where the fiction says it goes. A duelist might be Speed 7, Senses 6, Power 4. A merchant might be Social 6, Brains 5, Power 3. A spacer might be Brains 7, Speed 6, Social 4.
Step 3 — Pick your starting skills
Choose five to seven skills the person has actually learned. Each starts 1–10 — the ones that define their work sit at 5–7, the rest lower. Tie each skill to a piece of backstory in your head: where did the duelist learn Swordsmanship at 7? Answer that and the skill feels real at the table.
The same engine serves any genre — a knight, a spacer, and a street runner all use the same eight stats and the same scale:
| Calling | Starting skills |
|---|---|
| Street runner | Hacking 7, Streetwise 7, Driving 6, Stealth 6, Firearms 5 |
| Knight | Swordsmanship 7, Riding 6, Tactics 6, Heraldry 5 |
| Spacer | Piloting 7, Navigation 6, Gunnery 6, Mechanics 5 |
Step 4 — Add the person, not the build
Fill in your calling (class), ancestry, background, and personality in plain words. The GM reads your sheet to know what you're like — a paragraph of who you are is worth more than any number.
Step 5 — Know what can grow
Everything on your sheet marked grows through use can rise — your skills, and your party's, when the story earns it. Your stats rarely move. Build a character you'd enjoy watching grow, not just one you'd enjoy fielding.