1001 Nights variant: character backgrounds
Game rules - homebrew
Checking on the Coriolis Discord, I read that the publishers are OK with players recreating tables, figures and data from the RPG source material where the only purpose is the facilitation of playing their game and I hereby promise this is my only intent with this article. Here I've taken the Year Zero Engine to modify the Coriolis rules for my own games - Doctor Weather
For information on my purposes and guiding principles behind these rules, please see my
1001 Nights variant summary and
analysis: '1001 Nights' system variant.
Origin
| Empathy skills & specialisations bonuses | Characters gain +1 to +3 (GM discretion) bonuses to empathy skills and their specialisations when dealing with people of their own origin (Zenithian, First-come and potentially humanite) |
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Upbringing
| Empathy skills & specialisations bonuses | Characters gain +1 to +3 (GM discretion) bonuses to empathy skills and specialisations and to other circumstance-relevant skills when dealing with people of their own upbringing and when acting as their upbringing demands, for example Privileged can get attention of a crowd better and Plebeians can hide in crowds more easily |
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| Cultural skill adjustments | Characters receive up to 3 dice adjustments where their upbringing would control their knowledge and education - for example, plebeians might gain a +1 bonus to storytelling but a -1 penalty when reciting poetry
These could vary by planet and culture though, and are left to the GM to agree specifics with their players |
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| Defines starting 'social status' | Privileged: 6
Stationary: 4
Plebeian: 2 |
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Notes:
- Upbringing no longer controls starting attributes, skills and talents - this is now controlled by Age
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Social status
| The good side of status | Characters will be able to give orders to anyone of a lower social status and can expect them to be carried out under normal social circumstances |
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| The bad side | Characters with higher social status will be expected to use that power to benefit society: they will be the people that the crowd looks to for solutions to whatever problem is going on - if they can't live up to this then they lose status |
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| Modifiers |
Character creation: bonuses and penalties from origins and concepts should be applied to social status instead of reputation, unless reputation seems more sensible and the GM agrees
Gameplay: in-game actions should be reflected in a character's social status; where someone constantly acts in an uncivilised manner they might lose a point of status; where someone gains the respect of their community through an quality or achievement they might gain a point |
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| Starting birr | This is the same as in the Core Rules, and hopefully balances with the extra responsibility higher statuses have - I take responsibility as the GM to make this happen in my encounters: the higher up you are, the stronger the focus is on you to solve problems and the lower down, the easier it is for you to vanish in the crowd |
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Reputation
| A measure of fame or infamy |
This is a copy of Forbidden Lands' reputation stat
Can be fame or infamy: and might be treated differently depending on the cause:
- A celebrity might be famous in higher social circles but infamous amongst fans of their shows, who treat them as their character and they always play the villain
- Aladdin might be famous amongst the poor people he helps but infamous to the merchants he robs in order to do so
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| Begins at 0 | ...Usually 0 but concept bonuses to social status might be better applied to reputation with the GM's agreement |
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| Increases with play | The GM can reward a group - or 'reward' them - based on actions in game that have a noticed effect on a group of people |
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| Reputation is circumstantial | A character or group will have more than one reputation with different parts of the Horizon:
- The star of the Plantation Owner's Daughter will have a high reputation with all systems that broadcast the show but perhaps none elsewhere
- If this same star is also an explorer on Menkar then they would have a separate reputation just for Menkar, dependent on their exploits there
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Age
| AGE | DETAILS |
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ADULT
(~ 18 - 59 years) |
Apply the base stats:
- Attributes: 14 points
- Skills: 16 (considering 18 for play-testing)
Talents: 1 (...not including Icon and Group)
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YOUNG
(~13 to 17) |
Trade up to 3 points of attributes for bonus talents chosen from the following list on a 1 for 1 basis:
- Cute and charming: +2 to Empathy skills when dealing with adults
- Small size: +2 to Agility skills when there not enough room for an adult to comfortably move
- More advantages that come with being a child needed
...where you gain the attribute points back on the way to ~18 years old and lose the talents, again on a 1 for 1 basis each time
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OLD
(~60 and older) |
Use the base stats but then apply:
- -1 to Power or Co-ordination
- +1 to Wits or Empathy
Gain 4 skill points for each of these negative 'talents' you're prepared to adopt:
- -2 to a skill in a particular circumstance through a medical condition
- More ideas needed to describe the problems of growing older...
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Notes:
- Variations in a character's starting social status (reputation as was) are disconnected to this part of character-gen, as social status is now internally balanced
- Starting birr is still a function of social status
- Age ranges would likely vary with the society a character comes from
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Relationships
| No longer in use | But to be honest, a GM could bring it back as a standalone module easily enough, as it only affects role-play and XP |
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