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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 8761663" data-attributes="member: 6680772">I feel like I'm getting a little bogged down in the character generation, so let's see if we can't wrap it all up in fell swoop.I don't know how much it tends to come up in actual play, but like D&D Sword World puts a lot of emphasis on language. All races can speak and are literate in the Common Trade Language, plus their own language (a local dialect, in the case of the human). Tabbits don't have a language, but all are literate in the Magitech Civilization Language (they can't speak it). Runefolk can of course speak, read and write the Magitech Civilization Language. Sorcerers and Conjurers can speak, read, and write the Magic Civilization Language, the language of magic. Characters who can choose additional languages (generally Sages) can choose from the languages of any of the good peoples, the old civilization languages, as well as the languages spoken by the monsters. My character is Human, so he only knows the Common Trade Language and the local dialect.(Americans may feel the Human is shortchanged with only knowing their local dialect, but Japan, not unlike Britain, has a wide variety of dialects, which can get fairly opaque if you're from a different region.)Next come Special Combat Abilities. SCAs fill the same essential roll as feats in WotC-era D&D. Every character gets one at the start of character generation, and then another at odd-numbered adventurer levels. In addition, the Grappler gets an automatic SCA at first level, and the Ranger, Scout, and Sage get an automatic one at level five. In other words, those are class (er, skill package) features that are simply categorized as the other more generic SCA.I'll go into more detail when we reach the SCA part of the book, but here what I really want to comment on is how well this is presented. I hate selecting feats. I hate paging through all these disparate effects, getting analysis paralysis, and always having this nagging feeling of insecurity that I'm making a bad choice. And that's after years of gaming and having experience with GURPS! What Sword World does is, in this character generation section, they have tables listing only the feats selectable at character generation. The tables are split up by "Always-On SCAs," "SCAs Activitated by a Declaration," "SCAs that Require a Main Action", and "SCA Automatically Obtained by the Grappler Skill Package." The tables include the page number for the full description of the SCA, and a one-line summary of its effects. Then! There is also a table for "Recommended SCAs." For each skill package, they provide one or more recommended SCAs, with a blurb for why you might want to take that SCA. For example, "Fighter - I want to dispense damage. - All-out Attack I." "Fencer - I want to fight while helping my friends. - Decoy Strike." The Fencer also has: "I want to deal a deadly blow. - Deadly Blow I, which moves you up 1 result on the damage table, increasing your chances to crit. That's the one I chose.Next comes Purchasing Items. All characters start with 1,200 gamel (G), the currency of Raxia. The lists are located later in the book, but a handy table notes what general items each Skill Package needs to buy. Some things, like the Magic-user's Focus, are listed on this table along with a price (100 G). The equipment lists in the Data section of the book are copious! This is a game that likes shopping. 25 different kinds of blades are offered! The heaviest one that my character could use was a Katzbalger. What the hell is a Katzbalger? thought I. Turns out that it's a Renaissance-era arming sword with a distinct kind of hilt. Awesome!There are lists for things you can wear on each body part. Choose from different kinds of headwear, neckwear, handwear, and footwear! It occurred to me that, historically, people in the west have come into fantasy RPGs from literature, so we tend to forego this kind of minutiae. But since Japanese people come into fantasy RPGs from manga/anime and similar visual media (even light novels have a strong visual component), being able to engage in this kind of customization of their character's appearance is very appealing.I get my character his Katzbalger, soft leather armor, a buckler, adventurer's kit, Scout tools, and for appearance, a belt, knee long cloak with hood, and boots.The last part of the process is the final calculations. I have to calculate my Life Resistance (generic save vs. physical effects/damage) and Spiritual Resistance (save vs. magical effects/damage). HP is Constitution score (15) + Adventurer Level x 3 (2x3 = 6), so I start with 21 HP. Next I have to calculate certain Action Check Packages. Since my Scout Level is added to a whole bunch of different checks using different ability score bonuses, I calculate these and write them out on my sheet in advance. The "Skill Check Package" is Scout Level + Dexterity bonus, for doing things like picking pockets, opening locks, and the like. The "Athletics Check Package" is Scout Level + Agility bonus, for doing things like acrobatics, stealth, etc. The "Perception Check Package" is Scout Level + Wisdom Bonus for doing things like detecting hidden things, danger sense, and so on. I also calculate my Monster Knowledge Check, because that's going to come up a lot, and my Initiative. For Movement, I can move my Agility Score (in meters) in 1 round (10 seconds), or three times that if I sprint (All-out Movement). Finally, I fill out my weapon and armor data, and I'm good to go. All the remains is the character profile, which is the same process as in simple character generation. My character's name is Alistair, he's an 18-year old male, and for his history I rolled "I've vowed something to myself." "I've experienced a fear I cannot forget." And "I was born in a wealthy house." For my reason for adventuring, I rolled "I'm rebelling against my parents," which seemed to fit pretty well.I've attached a PDF of the official character sheet I used to generate the character. It's in Japanese, but I think it will give you an idea of how relatively complex it is. That said, its complexity is partly in service to facilitating the calculations for character generation. A good deal of it (particularly the numbers on the left) is not needed to play. In fact, in their Starter Sets, Sword World has included character cards remarkable in their clarity and brevity.<img src="https://dm0una2imrs80.cloudfront.net/small_light(dw=1024,da=n,ds=n,q=80,cc=FFFFFF)/post_image_836c95e0-b6c4-4a03-a836-e39965620459.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />I like that! All the necessary information on a card less than 5' square, you add little item cards for weapons and armor when needed, and all the bonuses are quickly referenced. Once you know what information you need, it's not so hard to write up a character on a page of notebook paper.So that's character generation in Sword World. Now we get to the nitty gritty: the actual rules of play. We start next time with Action Checks, the base mechanic of the system!</blockquote>

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