Character Creation

This page details the process of Character Creation for the Galapygos game. We are using the extremely simple Folklore system to create a focus on story and exploration over complicated dice-rolling and math, but there are some simple steps to follow to create your character. Just follow this guide to fill in your folklore character sheet. You can download a free character sheet here. 
The Folklore system was written by Seth Zaloudek and all material related to the game rules is copyrighted to him. 
==Basic Information==
The first section of your character sheet contains several boxes related to your character's personal information. Firstly, come up with a name for your character. If you want some help, try using a name generator or check out this page. Next, select a profession and race for your character. Race is one of the most important choices because it determines your character's background and relationships with those of other races. Your profession is important because it partially determines what skills your character will be good at. For a list of races in the game, see this page. For a list of suggested professions, see this page. 
Once that's done, select your character's gender and age. Also include your character's birth year (remember, the current year is 1459 OCA), and their birthday, if you feel like earning GM brownie points. For more information about the calendar see this page. At this point, you should start thinking about your character's goals and personality. These are important for the next step.
Next, choose your character's personal quest. This is what your character is trying to accomplish in the world. It can be something as simple as being reunited with a family member or as crazy as retrieving an ancient and rare artifact. The only restriction is that is must be something that will take a long time to complete. Talk to me if you have trouble coming up with one. Each time your character does something directly related to their personal quest they get a bonus die on the roll.
Next is your relationships. You may have to up to five. Actions that involve these people add a die to your roll as well. These characters may be other players, or NPCs from your character's family or hometown that you completely make up. You should avoid adding famous NPCs from the Notable Characters page unless you've discussed it with me beforehand. Examples: the local barkeep, a shop owner, a family friend, a close relative, etc.
==Attributes==
Many game systems include attributes, which determine your character's basic stats in a number of areas. Folklore streamlines it to three simple stats: Body, Mind, and Social. Obviously, Body will apply to physical challenges, Mind to intellectual challenges, and Social to interactions with other people. 
Assign a point value to each of these three attributes. You have 15 points to allocate between all three stats. No one attribute may have a score higher than 6. 
Which stats you choose to put more points in determines your character's competency in that area. So if you want to make a hardier, more physical character, add more Body. For a wizard or scholar, add more Mind. For a bard or rogue, add more Social. 
==Traits==
Traits are special talents or abilities your character possesses. These could be an attribute, such as 'Strong' or 'Brave,' or skills such as 'Swordsman' or 'Sailor.' Whenever you attempt a task that a trait applies to, you add its value to your dice pool. For a list of some suggestions, check out this page.
Your character begins play with one trait with a value of 3, and two traits with a value of 2. All other starting traits have a value of 1. Traits can be improved using Experience earned through play.
Category:Game Mechanics