# Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 04 :: Entity tags: #thoughts/CharacterCreationChallenge/2024 #game/rpg/entity > [!quote] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] > > -- [[2024 Character Creation Challenge]] Character creation challenge 2024, day four, and [[Character Creation Challenge 2024 - Day 03 - Transit - A Quick In and Out Before the Lights Go Off|since we set a bit of a standard yesterday by creating a character who was pointedly not human but instead an artificial intelligence]], I don't see any reason that we shouldn't keep that pattern going for today. So let's hear it for **[[Entity]]**! With no hesitation, I can tell you that this is one of the new generation of solo TTRPGs which combines beautiful layout and design with mechanics simplification and which owes a significant debt in terms of resolution mechanic to the *[[Blades in the Dark|Forged in the Dark]]* legacy and explicitly calls out **[[Ironsworn]]** as one of its inspirations. If I were to liken it to any more familiar videogame property, it would be **[[Minecraft]]**. In the course of the game you will go on Missions which are made up of Explorations and Side Activities in the pursuit of building up your own physical self, your research facility, and learning things about the world as it stands. You make a series of Moves, roll some dice, determine success, partial success, or failure, rinse and repeat. ![[Entity (cover).jpg|200]] ![[Entity - Advanced Storytelling (cover).jpg|200]] I love that this game bills itself as *NASA Punk*, because those two things are about as far from one another as you can get and still be in the same universe. And yet – it manages to pull off the underlying idea. On with the show… ## Chargen > [!quote] > > In Entity, you step into the role of an AI synthetic astronaut, finding yourself stranded within an enigmatic expanse filled with alien ruins. These grand, intricate edifices are the remnants of long-forgotten civilizations, silent keepers of history steeped in mystery. > > Compelled by circumstance and curiosity, your mission is to traverse these alien landscapes, each step bringing you closer to deciphering the cryptic clues etched into the structural fabric of these ancient constructs. The quest to unearth the narratives contained within the artifacts strewn across your path transforms into an experience of survival and self-discovery. > > This odyssey, however, isn't solely about knowledge acquisition. It serves as a testament to the tenacity of an interstellar castaway. Alone but unyielding, you journey across this extraterrestrial terrain, navigating the vastness of an alien world, your resilience echoing amongst the silent ruins. If you don't feel sufficiently bad ass at this point, ready to get out there and challenge the fabric of all that's known about the universe and all that it is possible to know, let me flip back a couple of pages to the beginning of the book, literally the second page, where the situation is set out for us. You were an original part of the Interplanetary Adaptive Pioneers (IAP) program which effectively had the goal of creating artificially intelligent synthetic astronauts to explore the universe. Absolutely cutting-edge stuff. AI, robotics, bioengineering, the IAP was created and driven by the literal best and brightest minds which ever existed. That was 10,000 years ago. Then a rogue black hole smashed into the solar system leading to the collapse of not just gravitational balance but the extermination of all life in the Sol system. You, out somewhere among the stars, ended up diverted and trapped by a giant Pyramid which began destroying your ship with a gravitational anomaly. The crew tried to escape but were killed in the process and somehow you were thrown out of the ship toward the pyramid… Cue power off. When you came to an unknown amount of time later, you were on an alien planet with no known constellations, no recognizable biology, with terrain and ecology that made absolutely no sense. When a dust storm forced you underground, you discovered a massive internal living space full of creatures, water, mineral deposits – and a distress beacon signal coming from an ancient Soyuz unit. Now you have to figure out what's going on, where you are, build a base, upgrade yourself, and maybe understand the universe around you. Welcome Entity. I didn't just throw that out there to fill up space, although you can be forgiven for thinking that; I wanted you to know why we're doing what we're doing. There's a definite scale to this game, it has a feeling of the epic that it wants to communicate at all times, reasonably so. Unlike a lot of the solo games I talk about, Entity doesn't provide for co-op play with other people. It's strictly a solo affair. It wants you to have lonely fun. ### Traits and Edges The core of your mechanical set up in terms of character generation in **Entity** is very straightforward. There are three Traits and underneath each of them are three Edges, which is where you'll see a lot of the specialization. Allocation is easy. Take a 5, 4, and 3 and assign them to each of the Traits. Take a 1, 2, and 3 and assign each of them to an Edge under each Trait. I won't throw the entire page of definition of what each of the Traits and Edges are because you need some reason to actually go pick it up, but I will say they are pretty much exactly what they say on the tin. I imagine our entity particularly good at Adaptivity, giving us the edge in a survival situation (pun not intended). Next down should probably be Technology, and finally Analytics. Let's start with the last first. I'm feeling biblical that way. Within Analytics there are three Edges which we will rank in a descending manner as follows: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Now for the Technology Edges: Engineering, Robotics, Information Technology. And finally for our big Trait, Adaptivity: Survival, Navigation, Communication. Let's put those together in something a little clearer: | Trait | Value | Edge | Value | | ---: | :--- | ---: | :--- | | Technology | 4 | | | | | | *Robotics* | 2 | | | | *Engineering* | 3 | | | | *Information Technology* | 1 | | Analytics | 3 | | | | | | Physics | 1 | | | | Biology | 3 | | | | Chemistry | 2 | | Adaptivity | 5 | | | | | | Survival | 3 | | | | Communication | 1 | | | | Navigation | 2 | ### Spacesuit In a bit of a parallel to **[[Transit - The Spaceship RPG|Transit]]**, our spacesuit has 20 Slots which can contain an Upgrade, Strain, or Impairment. Strains are things like systems damage, significant weight, some sort of temporary burden, basically things that make your suit less effective and thus you less effective. Impairments are ongoing physical difficulties. While you can repair a Strain after a Mission, Impairments are forever until your destruction. Losing an arm, taking off one of your treads, losing a major sensor… Those are Impairments. Upgrades are the good things in your suit, things that make you more effective, things that make you more powerful, ways you have adapted to the environment. Honestly, it probably goes without saying what they are. You may have noticed I said those things take up Slots. That's correct. What happens if you gain more Strains and Impairments than you have open Slots in your suit? You start removing Upgrades. You can see why you might have some problems. Fill up your suit Slots with Strains and Impairments? You are destroyed. You're done. You lose all your Upgrades, your Aspects (resources), and you fail your Mission. Any Structures you've built remain. Why? Because you can create a new character, be dropped into the Pyramid planet again, and all of those Structures will remain, helping the new you try and figure out what has gone wrong with the universe. We get to start with three Upgrades built in: #### Upgrades > [!quote] > > - **Integrated Multi-Tool (2E):** This tool can shift between a variety of forms, including a cutter, 3D printer, drill, wrench, and more, allowing you to address a wide array of technical and mechanical needs. > > - You can reroll one Die during any Action Roll. > > - **Adaptive Energy Shield (3E):** A feature of the suit that projects a personal force field, protecting you from various forms of physical damage or radiation. The shield is automatically configured to defend against specific threats based on the environment. > > - You can use this Upgrade during any action check to avoid gaining Strain. > > - **Adaptive Resource Conversion Unit (0E):** This upgrade integrates a portable resource conversion module into your spacesuit. This upgrade does not require Energy to use. > > - During a Location EncounterOpportunity or Location Encounter - Finding, you can spend 2 Resources to gain either 1 Data or 1 Energy. Basically, you have a multitool from No Man's Sky which takes 2 Energy to use, a classic energy shield which takes 3 Energy to use, and a coal burning generator on your back. This all seems like a perfectly reasonable set of gear to start with! #### Energy There had to be a resource that you spend to activate Upgrades, after all. Sensibly, it's Energy. We start with 10 Energy in our reactor at the beginning of every Mission. Run it to zero and try to do things and you'll take a Strain. You can charge it up by burning Resources, doing a Recharge Energy Side Activity or get lucky and find a way to charge herself up during an Encounter. #### Resources We start with zero. You use them to build Upgrades, repair yourself, get Data or Energy – you know the drill. #### Data It's information, dude. We don't start with any. Effectively it's another Resource that you can use to improve your chances. The more you know… #### Structures Remember when I said this was a lot like Minecraft? And I just made a reference to No Man's Sky? Do you like to build bases that have cool equipment in them which allow you to do new things, push new boundaries, and expand your capabilities? Yes, Structures. Remember, this is the only way to pass resources on from character to character once you are destroyed. Odds are good that you are going to be destroyed. Structures are also where you put things, specifically Energy, Resources, and Data. We start hard capped for all three of those things at 10. If we want to be storing more than that later, we're going to have to run Missions to build Structures to make that possible. #### That's it Notice two things that did not come up during this character creation process at all? Our name and what we look like. We are not going to need a name because there's no one to talk to and there never will be. (Technically not true but… It's complicated.) We look like exactly what you want to look like, but ultimately since we aren't even human, not remotely, you can be quite creative. Let's put it all together. ## Character Sheet ![[Entity character image CCC.jpg]] | Trait | Value | Edge | Value | | ---: | :--- | ---: | :--- | | Technology | 4 | | | | | | *Robotics* | 2 | | | | *Engineering* | 3 | | | | *Information Technology* | 1 | | Analytics | 3 | | | | | | *Physics* | 1 | | | | *Biology* | 3 | | | | *Chemistry* | 2 | | Adaptivity | 5 | | | | | | *Survival* | 3 | | | | *Communication* | 1 | | | | *Navigation* | 2 | | Stat | Value | | ---- | ---: | | Energy | 10 | | Resources | 0 | | Data | 0 | **Structures:** None ## Exunt That's it! We are ready to start exploring the universe by taking missions, building upgrades (like the *Assistive Nano Drone Swarm*, which sounds absolutely awesome), and finding out what's really going on in the universe. Check out my page on **[[Entity]]** if you're interested in getting it for yourself or just finding out more about it. Pick up the **Advanced Storytelling for Entity** book if you're even vaguely considering it; it adds a ton of oracles and ways to create your own custom encounters. More goodies, more better. See you tomorrow when we take on the creation of another character. What system will it be? Who knows? I don't!