House of Cards - Character Creation
Step by Step through the creation of Paige
I decided that as part of Paige's Pages I'd document the steps in creating her, so should I be inclined to build a campaign, using the Amberway rules structure, I'd have an example to point newcomers to. That being said.... Here are the basic character generation rules copied from the House of Cards character generation information found in the Ontology pages in white and my comments in yellow.
[1. Submit 10] [2.Choose 5] [3. Describe] [4. Concept] [5. Q & A] [6. Points] [7. Contributions] [8. Final]
- Each player submits 10 vision cards of up to 50 words in length each. Vision cards can describe persons, places, things, events, etc., and should be in the literary present tense.
Paige's Vision Card Submissions... [and word count]
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- A mountain retreat, atop a wind swept path. Dark shapes seem to be crawling the faces of its walls. Defenders swarm the battlements as a tattered pennon waves in the wind. [32]
- In the fading light, a man's figure is silhouetted by the red glow of the sunset. He stands defiantly, atop a shingled roof holding a instrument in his arms. [30]
- A balding man, adorned in formal dress and jewels holds a young girl. Her auburn curls flop lazily on his breast as she clasps him tightly. A mongrel dog barks in the background. [34]
- A dinner party with socialites flitting from room to room, a solitary man stands watching. His uniform, pressed and polished, he takes in all the surroundings without ever becoming part of them. [33]
- A dark-haired refugee watches the valley and the spark of light that emanates from the village below. Concern troubles his dark countenance and his clothes are torn from fighting, perhaps from his flight. [34]
- Among the flowering trees a figure in traveling clothes crouches in silent contemplation. The whiskers on his muzzle seem to be waiting for something to happen, his red pointed ears listening intently. [33]
- A man stands in the dappled sunlight filtering through the forest's canopy, his features long and lean. A serene look colors his face almost as much as the antlers protruding from his brow. [34]
- Three figures on a hill under an overcast sky. One, a warrior with a broken sword holds a staff, leads the young miner who follows and the rogue capering behind, playing a flute. [34]
- An escaping noble fights his dark, vile captors with a blade of shining light. Its light cuts the darkness, casting new shadows into the ruins of a once great city, revealing the decay and desolation. [36]
- Two figures with long black hair huddle together in the dark. The autumn leaves, pale in the moonlight, color the surrounding wood. They lie in the shelter of a fallen bole, covered only by a tattered horse blanket. [39]
- Players choose 5 vision cards each to represent their character. More than one player may use the same vision cards; not all the cards have to be used (obviously).
Well, they're all up over on the House of Cards pages, under Ontology / Visions . I'll choose... let's see... Oh, lots! Well 15 at first, but by looking at what they show of Paige's character, I've slimmed it to numbers 41, 49, 126, 138, and 146. Hardest part of character generation yet. Also leading to the most fun...
- Players describe their character using the 5 vision cards. A card image may represent a person, place, or thing important to the character. It may be a literal picture or a metaphor.
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- 138) Palm trees sway in the night time air. Below, on the town's main street, well lit by storefronts, a mass of people, some conservatively dressed, others bedecked in nothing more than paints, most falling between the two extremes, gather for an evening of festivities.
"I still don't think you'll make contact Merlin, even if you stare at them for the rest of the night."
- 41) A serious young man sits on a raised stone pedestal, his fingertips at his temples, lost in thought. He contemplates an an elaborate spread of tarot cards, onto which yarrow stalks have been cast.
"So is now a bad time, Maestro?"
- 49) The scent of her perfume wafts across the board, making him smile at her subtlely, reaching for the Knight. He moves the piece, dropping it into its new place, sure now that checkmate is his, even as her hand comes to rest on his. Even as he looks to her eyes, he knows this match is done.
"..." [Who needs words? I had won.]
- 146) Close up of an ashtray overflowing with cigarette ash, sitting upon a dark wooden table. Over the far edge of the table, four fingers stretch in search of the table.
"Man, I need a cigarette after that!"
- 126) A pretty young woman rests prone upon a rumpled bed, laughing over her bare shoulder. A middle aged gentleman rests a sheet of parchment on her buttocks, tapping a writing quill thoughtfully against wickedly smiling lips.
"Your name can't be Bleys. That's my father's name."
- Players submit their character concepts, further detailed under Ontology / Character Concepts to the GM for approval. (Players can submit a more detailed character concept at this time if it's ready but do not have to do so) On receiving GM approval, characters are ready for the question-and-answer session.
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- Name - Paige. I see this character as a poet at heart, so her name signifies pages of her words, in verse and song. It's also symbolic of "turning new pages" in her life, which I expect to happen in "House of Cards".
- Parentage - After a little conversation with one of the GM's, I decided on Bleys. I like his fiery passion for life and his wily cunning. It also allows me to tie the character's backstory into some of the canon, as Bleys figures prominently in different parts of Corwin's chronicles.
- Motive - Wanderlust. Paige, from her initial moments has been a sensualist and always looking for something new, but never diving too deep into any one area.
- Virtue, Fault & Fate - Back to the Everway core of this system... Well Paige's strength will be in her insight, so as her Virtue I'll choose The Fish , or "The Soul Prevails" tied to the element of Water. For her Fault, well as her vision cards have made clear, she sometimes enjoys her vices to excess... The Satyr , Indugence, tied to both Fire and Earth. Her Fate? I'm leaning toward Winter . It has again Water correspondences and also aligns with Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, and I've always seen Paige as a Pisces, much like her player. Winter , for Paige, represents her relative inexperience in the True Realm and her personal growth into maturity. It also reflects Amber's current need for growth to survive in an area that many, even the Elders are inexperienced.
- Concept Statement - Paige has developed a reputation as a hedonist of the first order, but is a tender poet at heart with strong ties to her father, Bleys.
- Starting Location - Paige is at home in Amber as the game begins.
- After all of the character concepts have been approved, there is a public question-and-answer session. Each player may ask one question of every other player. A player who feels that a particular question is out of bounds or too revealing about their character may ask the GMs if it's OK not to answer the question. Players whose questions are passed over in this way get to ask a new question. The GMs may also ask questions about the characters. The questions may be about the vision cards, the character description based on the cards, or requests for additional information based on previous answers.
06/13/2001 - Here we go. First those questions asked of Paige...
Daeon asked, "Are you anything other than a hedonist?" [vision]
"Is anyone? Can you deny that, for an immortal being, the idea of finding pleasure or happiness isn't the sole purpose for walking the Shadows?" Paige retorts, sounding a bit hurt. "Just because I play just as hard as I work doesn't mean you can catagorize me, cousin. I'm many things... A daughter of Amber, a lady of ignoble birth, a student of greatness, an artist of no note, a lover of friends, a sometimes seeress, a teacher surpassed and beyond all these, a woman.""Who is this Maestro to you, Paige?", queries Brita. [vision]"Yes, cousin, I am more than a hedonist, more than you may ever know."
"He's a master of arts that I've never fuly understood. I learned what I could from him, and in my love for him hopefully taught a bit, too. I fear we'll never meet again, but perhaps somewhere in Shadow..." Paige's voice is touched by sorrow, she glances in Martin's direction before wiping away a tear surreptitiously.Lilly asks, "Who was he?"[vision]
"He was sailor on liberty and impressed me by not pawing and groping like so many of his shipmates. When I saw him, I knew that he could be my undoing. We sipped a dark wine and talked amiably. Damnedest form of foreplay I ever encountered.""He had paid for the best the house had to offer, and that was what I meant to give him. But to put another face on it, he was the everyman playing his games to control the moment and me along with it."
- After the question-and-answer session is complete, players build their characters on points. Players have 20 points with which to build their characters and may commit to purchasing an additional 2 points in initial contributions. Characters can spend points on:
- Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water
- Amber Powers: Shapeshifting, Sorcery, Pattern, Trump
- Everway Powers: Magic (deprecated), items, etc.
- Characters cannot spend initial points on Shadows.
- Players may earn contribution points by any of the following methods:
- Character Quiz (1)
- Character Web Site (1)
- Trumps (1)
- Logs (1)
- Diary (1)
- Shadows (1)
- Quotes Page (1)
Players may also plan to purchase an additional point of in-game contribution. The point for this contribution is earned only after the initial contributions are complete, and players may only purchase limited powers or abilities with it. Characters can spend the limited contribution point on: Amber Powers, Everway Powers, and Shadows. Characters cannot spend the limited contribution point on Elements. An example of spending this point in play is a character who arrives in Amber without having walked the Pattern and spends the additional point to walk it.
Well, I've actually got a bunch of these last two done, in my head, too, but we'll hold on adding it here because it's all conditional on the other steps. No point in getting too far ahead of myself... Of course this page is part of the contribution point for a character website...
- Players submit their characters to the GM for approval. On receiving GM approval, characters are ready for play.
Looking forward to this...
Last updated - 06/13/2001 - Added the beginnings of Q & A and some internal links to help navigate what's becoming a huge page... Comments?
Click here to see the creator of Paige, House of Cards style.
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