Player's Guide in NycosRPG Masterbook.

Building a Dark Shards Persona

Before playing the game, each player constructs a Persona - a template for play that is, in effect, an outline of the person they portray in the story. We refer to this outline as the Persona (or character) they will be playing during the game session. The following are the steps taken to create the Persona. These are the general steps; more detail will be found in each category of the process as you move along.

FIRST STAGE: BASE

Every persona must have a foundation, called the BASE. This means establishing the unique values of the Seven Pillars of Personae for them. The BASE is defined as the point that all of the Pillars of Personality have been established by the RAMP Process. In gameplay terms, the BASE values act as the final survival tool of the Character. Once the BASE has been established, the player chooses the genetic pool (Race) they come from, what nation, country, or province they come from (Place), and origination strata (Case) they will begin with, and what STAKES or ESTATES they might have.

SECOND STAGE: RACE

Races are integral to fantasy story-telling; this is a differentiation of genetic differentiation explicitly, in terms of the kinds of beings the players can become. The list is too long to go into here but only differentiates Persona by that consideration ONLY. Part of the fun of playing role-playing games derives from getting to 'be' something other than what we are in reality. Each race has its specific set of Default Conditions, which alter or modify the skills your Persona may begin with and perhaps adjust your travels in the Passages. Read through, or for more adventure, roll on the included Randomizer Table to see whom you will be!

THIRD STAGE: PLACE

Not only is it important to know what kind of being you are, and what forces define your direction, we need to have a clear image of where you started your adventure. Not only does this give a geographical area, but it also helps to define the things that you find valuable, and how you relate to other beings. Place is generally associated with Race, in terms of differentiation, but this is not a limitation, only an alternative

FOURTH STAGE: ESTATES

Where are you on the eco-political strata of your home? are you wealthy or poverty-stricken? Do you have the political clout or are you politics-free? The case, or caste, to which you belong will adjust your beginning position, strata, and connections with the World of Nycos. Lands. Titles. Duties and Obligations

FIFTH STAGE: WAY

The Persona must have an initial pool of skills, and though your Persona's Race does adjust the Direction, it is in no way completed. Consider them life templates, kind of a cookie-cutter for the kinds of life patterns that one might have been on before the Injunction. If one suits you in particular, awesome. But remember, though they are recommendations, you don't have to have a 'way' about you. They are simply shortcuts to getting started, that do make the process more streamlined for newer or unfamiliar players to get started. The WAYs provide a shortcut and quicker selection processes, or the player may instead use the Direction Tables to custom-design his or her own.

SIXTH STAGE: STUFF

Stuff. Belongings. . All the trappings that go along with being alive. Includes quantity, Quality, and accessibility. These are, for the most part, fungible and usable materials to pursue the course you see for yourself in-game.
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