Much of the information you need to create a new character from scratch is found on the character sheet itself. However, the info there is very brief and so here follows a more detailed guide.
Step 1 : Plan your character
You should start by planning ahead. What sort of game are you gonna be playing? Is it Goonies or Expendables? Should you create a boy scout or perhaps a lawyer? Before you start allocating dots on your sheet, you should have some basic idea of the concept behind your character.
Step 2 : Filling out the information section
Here you put in the name of your character and your own as the player. You indicate the age and die type of your character and perhaps the rough concept with a word or two if you can. You can also choose your character’s psyche and ego.
Step 3 : Attributes, skills and health
Starting attributes and skills are determined by your character’s age. The page on Age has a handy table for this.
Characters start with 1 in every attribute. Then points can be allocated as you want up to max rank. A character can exceed max rank in a given attribute or skill, but only if the GM allows it.
Your character starts with a number of available health slots equal to base STR+END+AGI.
To determine exactly which health slots on the sheet your character has available, slots are unlocked from the top left and moving towards the bottom right. The first 5 every character has, then slots are unlocked from the top and going down, one vertical column at a time.
Once you’ve determined which health slots your character has available, scratch over or otherwise indicate which health slots are unavailable.
Step 4 : Choosing assets
You now get to buy assets. Children get 2 assets, Teenagers (age 13 to 19) get 3 assets and adults get 5 assets.
Step 5 : Spending XP
Now you should spend your character’s free XP. A character’s free XP is the same as their age up to a maximum of 20. Cons can be taken at this point and will further up your available XP.
XP costs/payments are as follows:
- Attributes – new rank x 4
- Skills, assets – new rank x 2
- Pros & cons – specific to each pro & con
Step 6 : Calculating abilities
Now you should summarize your character’s abilities. Abilities generally add two attributes together. Just add up the numbers and write them in the boxes.
Step 7 : Size, reach and speed
About size and reach – generally, characters with 13+ health slots are medium and those with 12 or less are small. Small characters have a base reach of 1 (can hit adjacent grids) while Medium characters have a reach of 2.
Speed is determined as follows:
Power (STR + AGI) + penalty
More in-depth information can be found on the page Health, Size, Reach & Speed.