# Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 15 - Beast Hunters :: Charnaq, Defiant Beast Hunter tags: #thoughts/CharacterCreationChallenge/2024 #game/rpg/beast-hunters > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2024]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] As the authors point out in the opening of this edition of **[[Beast Hunters]]**, at the time it was originally created there were almost no games designed for a GM and a single player; and trying to put together mechanics which would fluidly allow for that kind of play, they were pioneering a mode of engagement that hadn't really been explored. That was 2007. ![[Beast Hunters (cover).jpg]] The *Bloodcarved Edition* came out in 2019 and involved a pretty significant amount of rewriting, not just from a general cleanup and mechanical refinement but extending it to be more fluid in terms of having a more traditionally sized player group. It shifted from a quite tactical sort of approach to conflict to a more fiction-forward methodology, which you can probably predict from the opening collection of influences. ![[BH Inspo.jpg]] If you're at all interested in the development of story games, that's a pretty impressive selection of places from which to derive inspiration. Odds are pretty good that at least one and likely more than one of those provoke some sort of emotional reaction.^[Frustration, irritation, and admiration are all acceptable responses here.] While it does have a traditional GM/clear division of work (the GM referred to here as the *Challenger* – which is really just a better term all around), the game borrows a little bit in terms of process from games like **[[Capes]]** and **[[Wushu]]** in that Challenges and Quests are first-class objects with a in the game system. The Challenger builds them up with *tokens* which represent the difficulty of the challenge and are governed at the high end by the total Limit of the characters involved. Once the Challenge has been accepted, the Challenger can use the tokens to create the stats for the things in the challenge and then the Hunters bring their traits to bear to try and defeat the Challenge itself. Doing so, they claim (or forfeit) the tokens wagered by the Challenger and can use them themselves for character advancement and mechanics manipulation. It's a quite clever system which allows the players to set their own difficulty curve by choosing their *Limit*. It starts at three and you can bump it up at any time – but you can't reduce it.^["You can check in any time you want but you can never leave." Solo here.] During a Challenge, the characters involved gain and lose advantage points which represent their relative position in the resolution of the fiction. You can burn advantage points for all sorts of results but probably the most useful one is the *strike maneuver* which allows you to convert them into a chance to do damage. More of a really clever system that adds a notable amount of risk and reward in the decision-making process. In terms of setting, imagine a Bronze Age Europe which is dominated by a matriarchal tribal society in the wake of having fought off an invasion by a more advanced Empire. The Empire managed to cause themselves irreparable harm during the uprising by invoking far greater and more powerful magics than they could control which destroyed a city, ravaged the landscape, and gave rise to horrific creatures twisted by sorcery which made everyone's lives much less pleasant. Those creatures are a general omnipresent threat to everyone – thus tribes of *Beast Hunters*^[Roll credits.] who are largely egalitarian tribal groups who have devoted themselves to hunting and killing these beasts – and incidentally get cool magical tattoos derived from their blood. It's really quite neat. The system gives a lot of guidance in a mechanical way for things which are often pretty squishy in fiction-first gaming. Let's jump into character creation. ## Chargen Let's set up the basics here. And I do mean the *very* basics. **Name:** Charnaq **Initiative:** 1 **Limit:** 3 | Light Wounds | Severe Wounds | Fatal Wounds | | :--: | :--: | :--: | | OO | O | O | We've got only one thing that we chose to set ourselves here: our name. Charnaq fits the style of names BH suggests, being rather harsh and direct. The tribals live a very warrior-culture life, with all that entails. Charnaq is a young beast hunter who hasn't yet been bloodied. Despite his lack of tattoos, he is ready for the fight. ### Your Parents Now we start to pick traits which can be (and in fact must be) associated with one of the three specialties: Brutality, Cunning, or Spirituality. In this case, we need to pick something related to our family, either how it affected us, a legacy, a belief, or any way that our heritage as given us to deal with tough challenges. I think that Charnaq is from one of the matriarchal tribes that treat its men as disposable assets, barely more than slaves, and his parents were absolutely dead set in their firm belief in the truth of tribal tradition. He has *"Your Authority Does Not Apply to Me"* as a Spirituality trait. Defiance is his nature. ### Your Tribe Next up, a trait from growing up in your particular tribe (a nadan, as referred to in game). We've already determined that Charnaq's tribe has set him on an implicitly dark path. Before he was effectively exiled for standing up to the matriarch, he was known for his passionate ability to influence those in a position of power over him and those who might follow him. *"Everything You Know Is Wrong"* is a Cunning trait, allowing him to attack the beliefs of anyone before him. ### Your Enemies There are certain advantages to being driven out of your home, barely holding on to your own life. They aren't pleasant but they are strengthening. While the elders of his tribe would almost certainly prefer to see him dead, Charnaq prefers otherwise. *"I'll Bleed You"* is his response delivered caked in Brutality to all who would judge him thus. ### Beast Hunter Training Those who are chosen by the spirits as beast hunters receive dreams, and Charnaq was no exception. Those dreams led him to Spirit Rock where he took training with others of his calling. When it was done, he returned to the tribe which had thrown him out to fend for himself – and where he knew he would never be truly accepted, but his place as a beast hunter was terrifying enough to the (properly) superstitious tribesmen that they begrudged his place on the fringe of the tribe, not just for what he could do but what he might do in the future. *"They Fear Me"* is a Spiritualist trait derived from his understanding of where he is as a result of who he is. ### Assign Ratings We have four traits. Each of them gets a rating: +4 through +1. | Trait | Specialty | Rating | | ---- | :--: | ---: | | *Your Authority Does Not Apply to Me* | Spirituality | +4 | | *Everything You Know is Wrong* | Cunning | +1 | | *I'll Bleed You* | Brutality | +2 | | *They Fear Me* | Spiritualist | +3 | We also need two resources, an offensive and a defensive.^[You can posses up to four resources, but only hold two ready at a time.] | Resource | Rating | | ---- | ---- | | *Cold Rage (offensive)* | +4 | | *I Will Not Fall Here (defensive)* | +2 | It's very interesting that BH allows you to call as resources things which aren't physical resources. Sure, you can have things here which are: weapons, armor, shields – traditional resources – but you can also have things which are psychological constructs. Note that resources can be *taken from you* during a challenge and even *turned against you*. Yes, that applies to purely social or psychological conflicts as well. If you're going to use nonphysical resources for offense or defense, think about how they can be taken or turned. For example, Charnaq is full of cold rage as a result of the treatment he has received at the hands of those who should have had his best interests at heart. When he strikes, emotionally or physically, it is with a restrained anger. Take that away from him and you leave him bewildered. Turn it against him and you could agitate him, break through the façade of self-control, lure him into overextension – or force him deeper into detachment, erode his desire to see harm done, making him question whether any of it matters. Likewise, he has resolved not to fall because he was told so many times that he would. Taking it away from him is obvious; doubt creeps in. Turn it on him, however, and what might you do? Convince him, even for a while, that what he's doing is not worth the effort and that just lying down and letting it happen would be so much easier. You might even play up his current righteousness and the importance of the conflict at hand, making it seem (without *being*) a glorious, worthy place to fall and be remembered. I really like how this game handles traits and resources, and how they can be manipulated to drag out interesting results. ### Special Boon In BH, every beast hunter starts with a gift, either granted by the animal spirits or just good genes. Possibly even just good luck. Charnaq is inherently Talented which lets us raise the +4 trait to +8. That's a pretty healthy boost. If there's one thing a hard, harsh, brutal life can teach you, it's how to fend for yourself. | Trait | Specialty | Rating | | ---- | :--: | ---: | | *Your Authority Does Not Apply to Me* | Spirituality | +8 | And we're done! Let's put it all together on a character sheet and take a good look at it. ## Character Sheet ![[Charnaq, Bitter Beast Hunter (sheet).jpg]] ![[Charnaq, Bitter Beast Hunter (portrait).jpg]] ## Exunt **Beast Hunters** is one of those games that once you've read it, it sort of sticks sideways in your brain, waiting for the right time to jump out and remind you that it exists. It's simple enough that if you just wanted to pull together a pickup group and run it on the spur of the moment, you certainly could. It's got a compelling hook (like **[[Zoic]]**) which can slap you upside the head and attract your attention with how different it is from your normal expectations. And it is inherently designed to be played with a GM and a single other player, if that's what you want to do. With just a little bit of work, you could probably even make this thing run solo. Though truthfully, if you're going to go that route – just use **[[Ironsworn]]** and stick to bronze age descriptions. It'll work and you'll already have all the tools you need. It's interesting to see which parts of the system resonate in time with other games which came out of the same circle, including **[[Powered by the Apocalypse|Apocalypse World]]** and later **[[Blades in the Dark]]**. There's definitely a strong evolutionary strand along which all of these are beads, and it's fascinating to trace. If this is the sort of thing you like, definitely go pick it up. Life's too short not to own games that appeal to you. Excuse me, there is a sabertoothed lizard attacking farmers in the field. I've got to go.^[Interesting side idea: Use **Beast Hunters** to run a bronze age **[[The Witcher|Witcher]]** game focused on hunting monsters and using their bodies for potions. There's definitely something there.] Out!