# Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 30 - Spellbound :: Presley Aaron, Rockabilly Shaman tags: #thoughts/CharacterCreationChallenge/2024 #game/rpg/spellbound > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2024]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] It's becoming harder to find games which aren't just medium density mush walls of text down in the depths of the stacks given the layout capabilities of the age. Paper was cheap, getting things bound into books was cheaper than ever before and everybody had a 300 page, eight point Garamond, 8.5 x 11" shelf-breaker they wanted to throw in front of you. On a good day, it had at least mediocre art. On a bad day… Let's not talk about the bad days. Let's talk about a great day: the day you pick up another RPG by Daniel Bayn, the author of **[[Wushu]]** ([[Character Creation Challenge 2024 - Day 01 - Wushu - Aelthorond, High Magus of Nardon|which we had the great pleasure of opening the month with]]). In it he describes a world of not quite wainscot fantasy, the modern world where living magic runs through the cracks and doesn't hide so much as simply doesn't want to be found. It's **[[Spellbound|Spellbound: A Game of Folk Magic & Faustian Bargains]]**. ![[Spellbound (cover).jpg]] The opening of the book describes how magic exists, in almost every case originating in a powerful spirit or metaphysical being, some of which made rituals in ancient days so that they could affect things beyond their personal, physical domain – and those rituals fell into the control of people who then commanded a portion of that beings power. Some of the sources of magic are the results of inheritances, crossbreeding between spirits and man or pacts which were made long ago such that their descendants would inherit power. There are shamans who negotiate with the spirits as they find them, treating services and goods for power. There are creatures created and which serve their greater makers by hunting those who use power unwisely or too well. In just a double handful of pages, the author sets out the basis of an interesting, relatively unique, and flexible setting for a modern magic game. Not only just "modern magic," but if you were so inclined and inspired, you could run a group of vampire slayers (it was the thing), or a diabolist on the run, or a circle of witches who don't actually know what they're getting into. Massively flexible conceptually. You love to see it. Mechanically, it's a traditional GM/player division with a core mechanics that effectively is Ability plus Skill which gives you a target number which you want to get equal to or less – but not over, and higher is better. The game says you can use D10's or a set of cards with the jokers and face cards pulled out but the way it's written clearly suggests the latter is what the author had in mind. Fair enough. Let's get in there, mix it up a bit. ## Chargen I normally don't like to recycle concepts. Be inspired by other characters I've written before? Sure. Rewrite one that I've used before? That feels weirdly like cheating. However, I have a concept to that I played way back in high school – which is a lot more years ago than we probably want to think about – that would be perfect for this set up. Interestingly enough, it's a **[[Shadowrun]]** character, which is something that I'm dead certain you could translate as a whole setting into these mechanics. Coming up with something for cyberwear using the Warrior mechanics wouldn't be that hard. (If you were of a particular twisted bent, you might even suggest that cyberwear itself is a magical construct of an entirely different order and represents a threat to the current spiritual détente, then have an entire campaign fall out in your lap just from asking the question.) ### Concept **Presley Aaron**, a somewhat popular one-man show in the Seattle retro rockabilly scene. Yes, he has the pompadour and everything. He's more of a white tank top, authentically worn jeans kind of guy rather than white jumpsuit and a short cape, but he knows his way to around a guitar and a good hip thrust. He's also an insect shaman, a talent that he picked up from his mother back east, when he grew up in the hills and fields of Kentucky and she kept bees – and kept them well. Of course bees aren't the only spirit of the swarm out there; sometimes what you need is locusts… And what you get is cockroaches. At least his apartment will never have a cockroach infestation unless it has a *huge* cockroach infestation. ### Motivation **Be the biggest rockabilly star on the West Coast.** Of course, that might be kind of difficult if anyone finds out you talk to insects so… Let's keep that on the down low. ### Abilities There are six. You get 18 points to spread across them and they all start at 3. Adjust up or down at your leisure to a minimum of 1. It's a fairly standard spread of stats. | Ability | | | | ---- | ---: | ---- | | **Brawn** | 2 | *Strength, endurance, physical size.* | | **Agility** | 4 | *Balance, coordination, manual dexterity.* | | **Perception** | 2 | *Sensory acuity, both physical and magical.* | | **Intellect** | 2 | *Reasoning, memory, using rituals & talismans.* | | **Will** | 3 | *Mental fortitude, determination, resisting influence.* | | **Charisma** | 5 | *Social influence, attractiveness, street smarts.* | Aaron isn't the biggest guy on the block; he kind of looks like he would be a strung-out junkie if he ever touched the stuff. He is quick, jumping around on stage and shaking parts of his body in ways that just shouldn't be possible in public. He can be a little slow on the uptake, unfortunately for him, not seeing things coming right at him. Still a bit stubborn but what he really has going for them is good looks, a buttery smooth voice, and the ability to seduce a queen bee if he puts his mind to it. Given that shamans use Charisma as a primary Ability, that's probably a good thing. We also have a couple of other computed traits which come into play | Derived Abilities | | | | ---- | ---: | :--- | | **Reflex** | 3 | *Used for defensive actions.<br>(Average of Agility and Perception, rounded up.)* | | **Stamina** | 3 | *Used to resist injury and fatigue.<br>(Average of Brawn and Will, rounded up.)* | Pretty straightforward, really. He's average. ### Skills Like **[[Wushu]]**, **Spellbound** doesn't have a preset Skills list. In accordance with my preferences in this sort of thing, they can be full professions, they can be personality traits, they can be just a random thing that you know – my favorite. The GM should pick a number of points between 6 and 12 to give you and since I'm in charge here, it's going to be 9. Skill 1 is amateur, 3 is professional, 5 is expert. There's no rules for advancement; if you want to move your points around between sessions, nobody cares. Just keep the total number. It is suggested that instead of just trying to make number go bigger, you should develop your characters and play by giving them new allies, new spells, wealth, influence, or new Talents and Flaws. (We'll get to that last bunch in a minute.) Personally, I think this is the ideal way to have characters advance – by actually experiencing stories and accumulating experiences. But I'm crazy. | Skill | | | | ---- | ---: | ---- | | **Sweet as Honey** | 5 | *The boy really knows how to use his mouth. Sweet talk, you perv.* | | **Been in a Scrap** | 2 | *Have hair like that and you will, too.* | | **Knows a Guy** | 2 | *He might live down by the river. In a van. Or he might have been at a show that one time.* | ### Talents and Flaws Karma, in this game, is a license to break the rules in exchange for burning a resource. Just want to find a gun under your dashboard? Are you the kind of guy who might keep a gun under his dashboard? Burn a Karma and you do. It's also the way that you activate your Talents, which are special advantages that break the rules. The three examples given in the book are Regenerates, Wealthy, and Army of Brainwashed Followers, which gives you a general idea that these things can and probably should be at least notionally powerful. But it all runs on Karma. Which means that you need a way to get Karma. One of those ways: Flaws. Any time a Flaw comes up and actually meaningfully gets in your way, you earn a point of Karma. The impact has to be meaningful and it has to hinder you. The other way that you get Karma is being bribed by the GM. He needs the guy that you're chasing right now to get away; you could just keep pursuing the chase mechanically and may be he gets away, maybe you get hurt and he gets away, or you could take this shiny token of Karma right now and he'll just – get away. Or you're driving out in the Barrens and your van breaks down in front of an abandoned church. Here, take a token of Karma, that's a good lad. Because the system is considered relatively self balancing with Talents and Flaws, you can have as many as you want, you just need to have at least one Flaw. | Talents and Flaws | | | | ---- | ---- | ---- | | **There's Always Another Groupie** | Talent | *They're everywhere.* | | **A Bug's Life** | Talent | *Insects take a shine to him, regardless.* | | **There's Always Another Groupie** | Flaw | *They're everywhere!* | It pleases me to make the same phrase a Talent and a Flaw, and I'm certain that you can imagine opportunities for both of those to come into play. Plus bugs just like him which will probably come in handy in situations where mucking around with living magic might be just a little too dangerous. Speaking of magic… ### Magic Last thing. We need a spirit or two, being a shaman and all. Technically we would need to negotiate all of this with our GM but seeing as he's sitting in the same chair as I am, it'll be easy. Luckily we don't really need to work out full stats for a couple of spirits; we can just drop down a couple of target numbers of things that it's likely to attempt. | Spirits | | | | | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | | Hummerbee | A swarm of bees with shining crimson heads; they crave sacrifices of honey and flowers. | Seek a Thing | 5 | | | | Sting | 8 | | Beezel | A swarm of flies which smells of rotting meat and each of whom has human eyes. It loves dead meat or anything it can lay eggs in. | Swarm the Way | 7 | | | | Infest | 4 | | | | Disgust | 9 | | Mantia | A single preying mantis, as tall as a man, made of obsidian; it likes to bite the heads off things and to be stroked and caressed. | Decapitate | 8 | | | | Hide in Shadows | 4 | | | | Carry Away | 6 | I may have gotten a little carried away with the summonings, here, but I think it'll be okay. It's certainly worth pointing out that **Spellbound** has a magic system which requires two rolls for any effect. You roll to see if the effect is powerful enough and you roll to see if you can control it. This gives you a neat matrix of four possible outcomes. Blow the power and make the control? It happens but not as well as you would've liked. Blow the control and make the power? It's more powerful – potentially way more powerful, than you expected. Awkwardly more powerful. Blow both of them? Nothing happens; no biggie. Make both of them? You get exactly what you wanted. Make the best of it. That's it. That's the core. ## Character Sheet ![[Presley Aaron, Rockabilly Shaman.jpg]] **Presley Aaron**, a somewhat popular one-man show in the Seattle retro rockabilly scene. Yes, he has the pompadour and everything. He's more of a white tank top, authentically worn jeans kind of guy rather than white jumpsuit and a short cape, but he knows his way to around a guitar and a good hip thrust. He's also an insect shaman, a talent that he picked up from his mother back east, when he grew up in the hills and fields of Kentucky and she kept bees – and kept them well. Of course bees aren't the only spirit of the swarm out there; sometimes what you need is locusts… And what you get is cockroaches. At least his apartment will never have a cockroach infestation unless it has a huge cockroach infestation. *He wants:* **To be the biggest rockabilly star on the West Coast.** Of course, that might be kind of difficult if anyone finds out you talk to insects so… Let's keep that on the down low. | Ability | | | | ---- | ---: | ---- | | **Brawn** | 2 | *Strength, endurance, physical size.* | | **Agility** | 4 | *Balance, coordination, manual dexterity.* | | **Perception** | 2 | *Sensory acuity, both physical and magical.* | | **Intellect** | 2 | *Reasoning, memory, using rituals & talismans.* | | **Will** | 3 | *Mental fortitude, determination, resisting influence.* | | **Charisma** | 5 | *Social influence, attractiveness, street smarts.* | | Derived Abilities | | | | ---- | ---: | :--- | | **Reflex** | 3 | *Used for defensive actions.<br>(Average of Agility and Perception, rounded up.)* | | **Stamina** | 3 | *Used to resist injury and fatigue.<br>(Average of Brawn and Will, rounded up.)* | | Skill | | | | ---- | ---: | ---- | | Sweet as Honey | 5 | The boy really knows how to use his mouth. Sweet talk, you perv. | | Been in a Scrap | 2 | Have hair like that and you will, too. | | Knows a Guy | 2 | He might live down by the river. In a van. Or he might have been at a show that one time. | | Spirits | | | | | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | | Hummerbee | A swarm of bees with shining crimson heads; they crave sacrifices of honey and flowers. | Seek a Thing | 5 | | | | Sting | 8 | | Beezel | A swarm of flies which smells of rotting meat and each of whom has human eyes. It loves dead meat or anything it can lay eggs in. | Swarm the Way | 7 | | | | Infest | 4 | | | | Disgust | 9 | | Mantia | A single preying mantis, as tall as a man, made of obsidian; it likes to bite the heads off things and to be stroked and caressed. | Decapitate | 8 | | | | Hide in Shadows | 4 | | | | Carry Away | 6 | ## Exunt The rest of resolution runs almost as you would imagine. The one thing worth pointing out is the rather clever mechanism for doing multiple actions in a single turn. Figure out what the first one is and draw your card/roll your die. Did you succeed? You can proceed along to the next action – but the target number is the lower of the normal Ability+Skill or the number you just put on the board. It gets progressively harder to do more actions as you go, and that's really cool. There you go. There are some more examples of things on Bayn's website for the game which is still up as part of his personal site, truly boggling given that it came out in 2003. We are now officially messing around with games over 20 years old. And they are still awesome. Anyway, I've got this summoning circle all set up with a laptop in the middle, RPGnet pulled up on it. I'm going to light some candles, throw open the window, and scream "someone is being stupid on the Internet!" I'm finding out what happens if I summon myself. Out!