1, 2, 3, 4, Adventure! Quick Character Creation with The Fantasy Trip
July 11, 2018
If you are going to take The Fantasy Trip, it won’t take long to find the type of adventurer you want to be and model it with the simple character-defining tools of TFT. The basic choices are simple. The math of defining characteristics is simple. Adjusting to your special character vision is simple. The result is a character you will want to play forever, defined in just a few minutes.
Hero or Wizard?
Heroes spent their youth learning to fight and face physical challenges. Wizards buried themselves in dusty books and the practice of subtle arts to control peers beyond the natural. You might do a little of both, but you will probably only be good at one — the physical or the mystical.
Fantasy Kindred
Are you a normal human, numerous, versatile and able to adapt in many directions? Would you rather be a member of a fantastic kindred, more than human in some respects and shaped by centuries of a special environment and/or a rigid cultural focus?
Elves are faster and more deft of hand than most humans. Dwarves have been hardened by war and toil, with strength that belies their small stature. Halflings are smaller still, but gentler by nature and keen of eye. Orcs are the darker reflection of humans, physically similar but coarser and more tribal. Goblins are small and care more for craftsmanship and craftiness than other races.
By the Numbers
With these choices in mind, take what Nature has given you and mold it into the character you want to become. Each race begins with starting scores in three attributes, Strength (ST), Dexterity (DX) and Intelligence (IQ) — plus a pool of additional points to build up the natural abilities you need for your chosen pursuits.
Use your pool of extra attribute points to build up places where you are more vulnerable, or use them to enhance what you are already good at to even higher degrees. Be a natural specialist — the strongest, the swiftest, the smartest — or try to balance out your character so you aren’t really bad at anything, even if you aren’t the best at anything. You only have so many points to start with, so you’ll have to make choices.
Focus your Abilities
As a Hero, choose Talents that you need to match your idea of what your character should be able to do especially well. Do you know a lot of weapon skills, or just one or two with special focus? Do you want Talents that make you subtle and stealthy? Smart and knowledgable? Attuned to the natural world? Able to build and create?
As a Wizard, chose Spells that fit your vision of your magical specialty. Are you prone to wielding your power as a weapon or are you more into protecting and assisting others who fight. Do you create dazzling displays or subtle illusions? Do you bend reality with your magic, or use it to gain knowledge beyond your senses?
Time for Adventure!
Those four quick steps and three simple attributes define your fantasy selves without heavy mathematics, complicated charts and tables, or tedious step-by-step decisions about your character’s path to where they are today as you begin your adventuring life. TFT is The Fast Track for character design.
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Some artwork copyright William McAusland, used with permission.
