# Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 23 - Eternal Contenders :: Kriv, Hired Thug tags: #thoughts/CharacterCreationChallenge/2024 #game/rpg/eternal-contenders > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2024]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] There are certain games that I love and that nobody else has ever heard of. There are certain game developers that I love – but no one has ever heard of. One of those is [Joe J Prince, the creator of a number of really good games with mechanics and ideas which were ahead of their time.](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/681/Prince-of-Darkness-Games) One of *those* was **[[Contenders]]**, a mechanics-minimalist GMless game which had a very narrow and precise purview – the player characters are all down on their luck boxers with an emotional connection to nurture, a big debt to pay off,, everything to lose, and everything to gain. It's one of the games I can whip out at a convention, sit down, grab two or three people, and we can really have a hard-core, emotionally wrought game which centers around us beating the living Hell out of each other as the primary engagement mechanism. It's amazing. What Prince did next was take that core idea and build out the mechanics, build out the experience into something much broader in terms of possibility – but didn't compromise the essential gut punch. That game, which I actually like better, is **[[Eternal Contenders]]**. In it you play a down on your luck gladiatorial fighter with a big debt, an emotional connection, and only one way out – fighting until you win the big score or giving into soul crushing despair. Along the way it actually manages to throw in some lightweight adventuring resolution mechanics, but that's really a backseat to the much more elaborate, more complicated, and more engrossing dueling mechanics. ![[Eternal Contenders (cover).jpg|400]] You know what, that sounds like a great idea. Let's do it! ## Chargen One of the things I really like about this system is that it doesn't come with a setting, per se. It's intended to cover any sort of culture with the tradition of ritualized duels or gladiatorial combats, and that's a pretty wide spread I'm actually pretty sure you could use this to cover mech combat on *[Solaris VII](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Solaris)*.^[And it wouldn't even be that much tweaking.] The out-of-the-box setting that it provides is really described by just one page of set up and a couple of pages of locations – and that's it. It needs no more. > At the end of the earth, nestled beneath the imposing shadow of Gapryu Tor lies the city of *Oblim*. > > A last refuge for the desperate in a country run by scoundrels. > > Once a prosperous sea port, the industry has long since ceased, the great docks lie rusted and derelict. > > The Dark War has ended. Whispered rumours tell of the end of days - the old order has disintegrated, the magocracy gone. Fled to hidden enclaves to await the apocalypse, so they say. > > Yet anarchy brings opportunity. A new order has arisen - an order of robber barons, merchant kings and murderous guilds. More than ever gold talks and life is cheap. The downtrodden populous seeks an escape from the grim reality, any means, any distraction, however fleeting. > > The crude pit arenas provide disaffected fighters with a chance for glory and coin. A slim chance alongside a certainty of violence, injury and mutilation. It is, after all, entertainment. > > Into this desolate world step we the warriors, eternal contenders. Walking amongst the doomsayers and wyrdweed fiends it's easy to surrender to the pain. Yet even in a reality such as this, a flicker of hope glimmers in the darkness… I wanted to drop that in here as one of the best examples of world building that I've seen in any of the RPG's that we have dealt with this month during CCC. In just a few sentences you have a world that exists that absolutely reeks of Robert E Howard, magical but dirty, sword and sandal with just a hint of sorcery. This is the sort of thing that appeals. Into this world, came a fighter… ### Concept Character creation is surprisingly well defined with six major steps. First we assemble a concept. There's a number of questions that we answer in order to do that. The only constant is that a Warrior has to begin the game close to destitute. This should not be a problem. > - Who is your WARRIOR? > - Where does he hail from? > - Why is he here? > - What does he believe in? > - How does he fight? We'll lean into a sort of dark, over-the-top edgy high fantasy version of Oblim, with traditional high fantasy Tolkien-inspired races running about. You can imagine this being in one of the sleazier, more war-torn regions of your **D&D** map. *Kriv Yarjiet is small for a Dragonborn, barely 5'8 and built less like a stone wall and more like a mere stone pillar, though still hardier than a human. His bozak^[Why yes, that's a **DragonLance** reference. You're welcome.] heritage runs strong, scales a gleaming bronze from tip to tail and his eyes less front-facing than most, bulging to the sides as if watching for attacks from every direction at once. Wings, though, he keeps tucked close to his back, most of the time folded one over the other nervously. His clan used to live to the east but their current whereabouts he could care less about - which is exactly the way they feel about him. It seemed, once the clan had ejected him, that moving into a failing human city would be a place no one would comment on being the descendent of a corrupted dragon-line. Most of the time that's true. There's one thing that Kriv believes in: See the next day. Whatever it takes to do that, he'll do. Not that there's much for a disgraceful dragonkin to do in Oblim. The occasional need for a thug which is more intimidating than the norm and who can occasionally throw a spell keeps a couple of coins in his pocket, but no more than that.* ### Connections, Hopes and Fears Now we need someone or something that Kriv cares about. Once we have that, we figure out what his ultimate hope involving that Connection is. Then we figure out what his darkest fear is as regards that Connection. **Connection:** Kriv has a plan. It's a simple plan. Put together a nest egg, hire a ship, and get the fuck out, as far from here as it's possible to get. Not cheap but not impossible. - **Hope:** That he can find someplace to settle down that feels worthy of being home. - **Fear:** That he will never, ever leave Oblim, and wanting anything more is deluded. ### Statistics We get four stats which are surprisingly direct: *Wealth*, *Renown*, *Hope*, and *Pain*. - **Wealth:** How much money you have/how many favors you're owed/how much free time you have. - **Renown:** How well-known you are as a fighter. - **Pain:** One of the core elements and themes that are explored in the game. Your pain, rage, and your willingness to do evil. Sure, it can be a real help in a fight – and it can be a real *pain* for your life. - **Hope:** The opposite of Pain. Will there be a better tomorrow? Is there a hope for justice? We can quantify that! Normally your Pain can never be higher than Hope +4. (There is a way for that to happen… And maybe it'll happen to you.) We start with 1 point in each of the stats and have 2 more points to divide between them. Then we have this cool little bit which says *"unless it's your first time playing the game, Hope can't initially exceed Pain."* It's interesting to have a new player carve out like that because the relationship between Hope and Pain is literally the meat of this game. Exploring that dynamic and how these things go up and down as regards one another is ultimately the point of play. | Stat | Value | | ---- | ---: | | *Wealth* | 1 | | *Reknown* | 1 | | *Pain* | 2 | | *Hope* | 2 | Kriv is dealing with Hope and Pain in equal measure. He doesn't have much of anything tucked back yet and aside from a couple of shady guys he's already put in a couple of jobs with, nobody knows him. But it's a start. ### Combat Traits Duels and combats are a huge part of this game, and I don't mean it in the same way that you might mean for **D&D**, where combats happen a lot but they mainly exist as a way for characters to get XP to get better and gear to get better at fighting so they can get to the story part of the game. In **Eternal Contenders** the process of storytelling is *within* the context of fights either between characters or with characters teaming up against an external force; they reveal themselves in the process of these fights. There is an entire genre of "tournament stories" where characters are largely revealed and interact through fighting in order to work their way up a ladder to win an ultimate prize. CE works similarly. Four core combat traits: *Maneuver, Guard, Power*, and *Stamina*. - **Maneuver:** Speed, accuracy, be where your enemy isn't or put your enemy where you want him to be. - **Guard:** Defense and resilience, taking the hit – or sidestepping it entirely. - **Power:** Hit hard, hit sure, do devastating damage. - **Stamina:** Conditioning, tenacity, endurance, willpower. If you find yourself narrating scenes where you run around Philadelphia and end up at the top of a flight of stairs – you're probably developing Stamina. Again, we start with 1 point in each and have 7 more points to divide between the lot. They'll never go below 0 or climb above 9. | Combat Trait | Value | | ---- | ---: | | *Maneuver* | 4 | | *Guard* | 3 | | *Power* | 2 | | *Stamina* | 2 | Kriv certainly doesn't hit hard. And if you land a shot on him, he might crumple fairly easily. But odds are good that your never, ever going to land that shot. He might be twitchy and nervous, but that makes him paranoid and extremely hard to hit – and when you least expect it those wings will pop out and he'll be somewhere else you never expected on the battlefield or in the arena. ### Sytle and Technique Every Warrior has a style, even if that style is Freestyle (which is the "don't tell me what techniques I can have, I'll pick my own techniques!" style). There are six but will just go ahead and pick the one that seems most like Kriv. **Style:** Rapscallion > Rapscallions use any means necessary to achieve victory. Wiley and deceptive, these manipulative rogues are masters of misdirection. Underestimate a rapscallion at your peril. That sounds like a good place to start, but now we get to choose two Techniques from a list of the four options. > - **FIGHT DIRTIER:** +1 DAMAGE with DIRTY TACTICS, you are immune to BACKLASH this round. > - **BLACKGUARD'S FAITH:** May BRING THE PAIN twice during a fight, PAIN increases each time as usual. Being the little guy (for dragonkin), Kriv has no problem gouging eyes, kicking groins, pulling tails, or giving someone a good stab in the back. That's what it takes to get ahead. ### Items Everybody gets a single basic item. Something that could give a bonus to a single combat trait for one round. You can own up to four items – but you can only have one at the beginning. Kriv is a bit of a fan of the classics, so he has what may be his prize possession, a *well-made thrusting dagger* which gives him a *+1 to Power*. ### Rival Another fun aspect of this game is that you^[Mostly you.] can create your own rival to add a bit of spice and personal investment to the character's experience. You probably want to connect your rival to your Connection to increase that intensity level. Your rival's stats are based off of yours, which makes them pretty quick to assemble mechanically. **Rival:** Larhennon Larhennon is a leftover of the war, a dragon hunter with no dragons left to hunt, a paladin with eyes for nothing more than the glorification of his violent God. Kriv represents a living offense before the gods, a remnant of the dragons' influence in a city who has come to a mutual agreement with the gods themselves to simply look the other way. | Stats | Value | | ---- | ---: | | Wealth | - | | Renown | 1 | | Pain | 2 | | Hope | 2 | | | | | Maneuver | 1 | | Guard | 2 | | Power | 4 | | Stamina | 4 | - **Zealot:** Zealous WARRIORS have dedicated themselves to a belief system. Ritual and blind obedient faith dominates their thinking. This conviction in a greater spiritual purpose can manifest as transcendent abilities. - **PIETY:** Swap the current value of a combat TRAIT with an opponent for this round. - **RIGHTEOUS FAITH:** BRING THE PAIN using your HOPE instead of PAIN (PAIN still increases afterward as usual). Okay, technically the person sitting on my left should be the one to decide on the Style and Techniques of my rival – but since I'm the person sitting on my left it all just works out. And that's it! That's character generation. Let's put together! ## Character Sheet ![[Krif Yarjiet, Hired Thug.jpg]] **Kriv Yarjiet** is small for a Dragonborn, barely 5'8 and built less like a stone wall and more like a mere stone pillar, though still hardier than a human. His bozak heritage runs strong, scales a gleaming bronze from tip to tail and his eyes less front-facing than most, bulging to the sides as if watching for attacks from all sides at once. Wings, though, he keeps tucked close to his back most of the time folded one over the other nervously. His clan used to live to the east but of their current whereabouts he could care less which is exactly as they feel about him. It seemed, once the clan had ejected him, that moving into a failing human city would be a place no one would comment on his nature is the descendent of a corrupted dragon-line. Most of the time that's true. There's one thing that Kriv believes in: See the next day. Whatever it takes to do that, he'll do. Not that there's much for a disgraceful dragonkin to do in Oblim. The occasional need for a thug which is more intimidating than the norm and who can occasionally throw a spell keeps a couple of coins in his pocket, but no more than that. | Statistic | Value | | ---- | ---: | | *Wealth* | 1 | | *Reknown* | 1 | | *Pain* | 2 | | *Hope* | 2 | **Connection:** Kriv has a plan. It's a simple plan. Put together a nest egg, hire a ship, and get the fuck out, as far from here as it's possible to get. Not cheap but not impossible. - **Hope:** That he can find someplace to settle down that feels worthy of being home. - **Fear:** That he will never, ever leave Oblim, and wanting anything more is deluded. | Combat Trait | Value | | ---- | ---: | | *Maneuver* | 4 | | *Guard* | 3 | | *Power* | 2 | | *Stamina* | 2 | - **Rapscallion:** Rapscallions use any means necessary to achieve victory. Wiley and deceptive, these manipulative rogues are masters of misdirection. Underestimate a rapscallion at your peril. - **FIGHT DIRTIER:** +1 DAMAGE with DIRTY TACTICS, you are immune to BACKLASH this round. - **BLACKGUARD'S FAITH:** May BRING THE PAIN twice during a fight, PAIN increases each time as usual. - **Item:** Well-made thrusting dagger *(+1 Power)* ![[Larhennon, Dragon-Killing Zealot.jpg]] **Rival:** *Larhennon is a leftover of the war, an elven dragon hunter with no dragons left to hunt, a paladin with eyes for nothing more than the glorification of his violent God. Kriv represents a living offense before the gods, a remnant of the dragons' influence in a city who has come to a mutual agreement with the gods themselves to simply look the other way. Larhennon won't; what he wants is for Kriv to be stuck in this town until they both die, just to give Larhennon something to hunt.* | Stats | Value | | ---- | ---: | | Wealth | | | Renown | 1 | | Pain | 2 | | Hope | 2 | | | | | Maneuver | 1 | | Guard | 2 | | Power | 4 | | Stamina | 4 | - **Zealot:** Zealous WARRIORS have dedicated themselves to a belief system. Ritual and blind obedient faith dominates their thinking. This conviction in a greater spiritual purpose can manifest as transcendent abilities. - **PIETY:** Swap the current value of a combat TRAIT with an opponent for this round. - **RIGHTEOUS FAITH:** BRING THE PAIN using your HOPE instead of PAIN (PAIN still increases afterward as usual). ## Exunt And there we have it. Not only a primary character but their rival, with built-in emotional tension, risks, and unlike in many games – a definite end. **Eternal Contenders** comes with a built-in countdown to endgame. Once your Renown exceeds the threshold which is set by simply deciding on how long the game you want to have, everybody gets one final scene of *Soothing* or *Connecting*. Then the final tournament begins, with each warrior facing their rival if they have one. And finally, the epilogue. If your Hope is higher than your Pain, then you ultimately triumph over suffering, your dreams come true, and hopefully you escape to a better life. If there are equal, then nothing is really resolved. The worst didn't happen but the best didn't, either. Describe as you will. If Pain is greater than Hope, it's a tragic tale. Fears come true, darkness wins, lean into it. And that's the game. You'll have to excuse me, I've got to go get ready for a duel. Hopefully this turns out well! Out!