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Before there can be a story there have to be characters. The players can create their own or the GM can give them characters to play. Either way the GM gets the final say. GMs should allow players to 're-write' their characters in the first sessions of a campaign, sometimes a character turns out a little different to the Character Sheet. This time lets the player get used to their character.
This section gives a step by step explanation of generating a character. To get stuck into generating a character print the out the Character Sheet and follow it through.
Characters with Arcana special skills like Magic etc may need an extra sheet. see Arcana. Normal characters will only need the Character Sheet.
New characters start off with 70 points to allocate between Stats and Skills. The GM can give less or more points depending on the type of game he wants to run. 70 points gives a well-rounded character that is interesting and not too powerful, the characters will be a bit above average but not too much. Starting a campaign with characters that are too powerful can take the challenge away and ruin the game in the long run, the characters will become too powerful too quickly.
During the course of a characters life they will pick up all sorts of skills along the way. 'Extra Skills' help round out a character and make them more real. These extra points may not be combined together nor added to existing skills. Normal starting extra points are +2, +2,+1,+1,+1 that is two extra skills at +2 and three extra at +1. The +2 may be split into two +1 skills. This gives the character a minimum of 5 extra skills.
Characters are assumed to have some equipment, possessions and some money calculated from Luck times Intelligence. The number of extra points allocated (Maximum 4) multiply money by 10 per point. Currency will either be in Shillings or Dollars depending on character background. For Undercity Credits the amount is multiplied by 20.
As the campaign continues characters learn and improve. At the end of each game session the GM awards experience points between 1 and 7 points depending on how the game went then 1 point for anything exceptional or memorable. One method is to get the players to recap the game and award points to each other. Campaigns can be ruined by characters advancing to quickly, GMs should look to award between 2 and 5 points per session
Skills and Stats can be raised with XP. Stats are twice as expensive to raise as Skills. The cost to increase skills is equal to the new level with each point being bought one at a time. To gain a new skill it costs 1 point, then to rise from 1 to 2 another 2 points. Stat cost is doubled, so from 4 to 5 costs 10 (5x2). Sanity may also be raised with experience at x1. Arcana has it's own multipliers depending on the number of skills. If GM's feel this gives too rapid advancement the above costs can be doubled. GM's who enjoy rewarding player with lots of experience points should consider this.
Certain non-human races do not adapt to the changing world as do humans and are restricted in how much they may improve skills each game. (Explained in full in the Races section)
XP can also be spent to buy or improve Talents. See Talents
Unspent XP can also be used in game the same way that Luck is used but XP spent this way cannot be recovered.
Darkness is not just a world of men. There are many other races that have arrived or developed since the fall, their histories and origins are various and unknown. Different races have different 'Stat' ranges. Human is the simplest with ranges between 2 and 10 for all Stats but between 2 and 12 for Luck.
See Races for more information.
The Statistics (abbreviated to Stats) are Intelligence, Personality, Cool and Luck, Strength, Body, Reflexes and Appearance. (Usually between 2 and 10; different races have different Minimums and Maximums. see Races)
STRENGTH : Physical Strength.
BODY : Resilience to injury. Body effects the number of wound circles a character has.
REFLEXES : A measure of the character's co-ordination.
APPEARANCE : How attractive the character is.
INTELLIGENCE : the ability to figure things out.
COOL : the ability to remain calm under pressure.
PERSONALITY : How convincing or likeable a character can be.
LUCK : How lucky the character is. This is spent to change rolls on a point for point basis (can even be spent as Magic Points or Wounds). Luck resets back to its normal level at the end of a Game.
Skills are grouped into categories; Physical, Operate, Knowledge, Perception, Social and Arcana. There are many possible skills, the character sheet has the more popular ones, others may be written in the space provided under the most appropriate skill group (GM's choice).
Stats are limited by Race and starting Skills are limited to 4 (6 after that). Skills are recorded by 'underlining' to the appropriate skill level.
Some characters will be better at certain groups of skills than they are at others. This is represented by specialisation; a character perfects certain groups of skills forgoing others. To the right of the title for each the Skill group is a place to record specialisation. To get a bonus in one group a penalty must be taken in another. If not adjusted a character has no penalties nor bonuses in any of the Skill Groups. Record the specializations by 'crossing out' the inappropriate numbers.
The Specialization Bonus or Penalty applies to each skill in the group. Bonuses apply even if the character does not have the skill, this does NOT apply to Arcana skills. Specialisation is a 'bonus' to each skill and is not counted when calculating increasing skills with Experience.
Only extreme changes in lifestyle allow specialisations to change.
Arcana skills are special skills such as Magic, Faith or Psychic. Arcana skills have a cost multiplier that increases for each extra skill. The first Arcana skill is at x2 the next at x3 then x4 and so on.
Normal characters are LIMITED to THREE in Arcana skills. Those Specialised away from Arcana are 'Inept' and may never take any Arcana Skills. Characters who specialise in Magic may take the DARKNESS skill and are only limited to FOUR at generation, then may progress to a maximum of SIX + Specialisation (as per all skills). Psi and Faith have equivalents to Darkness and are handled similarly.
Those with Inept for the Arcana group are not sensitive to the Arcane. They are less susceptable to the effects of Demonground which can be a good thing. See Arcana for a more in-depth explanation.
Abbreviated to San, this is a rating of the character's grip on reality. It rates how well a character will cope with fear, extreme or horrific situations. When a character is created San = Cool + Luck. If a 'San Check' roll is failed San 'can' decrease by one point representing the characters mind being pushed closer to the edge. Should San reach 0 the character is considered insane and must be played appropriately, often this is best done by the GM, the player should consider a new character if circumstance cannot reverse the insanity. Psychiatric treatment, some magics or major successes can increase San.
Sanity checks can be used to see how a character will react to simple or drastic surprises. Only in extreme cases the character would lose sanity. Eg. Simple: finding a spider crawling up an arm. Extreme : witnessing a murder or being chased by a demon.
The GM should decide the effect of the failed SAN check and the player should role play it. Smart usage can lead to some very interesting roleplaying situations. GMs can make suggestions based on their story lines or roll.
| Roll | Reaction |
| 1-5 | Charge!!! |
| 6-10 | Curiosity |
| 11-15 | Freeze in Fear/Depression |
| 16-20 | Run Away!! |
Abbreviated to SHK, this represents character's resistance to fatigue, the characters stamina. A character's Shk is penalised by physical activity or combat damage. Running, Climbing, jumping, spell casting etc all take a toll on a character's stamina, GMs should place appropriate penalties or ask for Shk checks if they feel them appropriate. A character will require a SHK Check when injured to serious and then every impact afterwards. Failure can indicate unconsciousness, tripping, winding or dropping of held items, depending on where hit. Recovery takes either time or a successful SHK check.
This determines the amount of damage a character can take. Add or Remove Wound circles/boxes as indicated by the chart. The boxes are used to record injuries. It is best to add these extra circles in pen so that they are permanent and are not erased when injuries are healed
| Body | 1-2 | 3 - 4 | 5 - 6 | 7 - 8 | 9 - 10 | 11 - 12 | 13-14 |
| Boxes to Add | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 |
Eg a character with 9 Body would add 2 wound boxes to every location. So head=5 Torso=8, arms=6, legs=7.
When injured the wound circles can be 'used' 4 times, in effect each location has 4x these amounts.
Depending on nimbleness and training some are harder to hit than others. This is the character's DEFENCE.
Subtract reflexes, martial arts, the best Combat skill (or Athletics). Then the whole amount is halved. Round any halves towards 0. Negatives up and positives down.
Positive 'Defence' give opponents a bonus to hit. Negatives a penalty.
To speed play damage bonuses are pre-calculated and recorded for each Weapon as +Damage.
FireArms and do not add strength nor martial arts. Thrown weapons do not add Strength or Martial arts beyond short range. (Range is best determined by GM and situation)
Some characters will have special traits that either help or hinder them also racial abilities or special talents and of course different languages
Merits cost and Flaws give back Starting Points. These help round out a character, making them more fun and challenging to play. A player who does not play their flaws should be penalised with reduced experience points, players who play their flaws well should be rewarded.
Point cost/bonuses for Merits and flaws range from between 1 and 7.One being minor five being major, seven being pretty spectacular.
Some Flaws: Phobias, physical disabilities, compulsions, amnesia, addictions, obsessions, impulsiveness, restrictions, poor-eyesight...etc
Some Merits: Magic/Arcane Item, Status, photographic memory, Special Equipment, Equipment, Cyberwear
The possibilities are endless. The player should put together a history to explain their Merits or Flaws. The GM and Player should come to an agreement on points costs. In certain circumstances GM's may allow characters the chance to make a roll where others may not. (Eg remembering half noticed clues with a photographic memory etc.)
Merits and Flaws are experiences/events that have occurs in the characters past. Talents are special skills the character has developed, they are harder to earn than Merits but modtly are bought after 'generation' with experience points. Starting characters may have a maximum of One. See Talents
Under the Knowledge group is the skill languages, each point allows the character to speak and read an extra language. Alternatively, if the character can only read or speak a language two may be taken per point.
It is assumed that player characters can speak, read and write their own racial or local language and the common human language.
Disposition and Sayings these are to help you define your character at a glance, so that you can 'get into character' making the character more real. Disposition sums up a character, this defines their mind set and defines their personality. Sayings are common phrases the character uses this helps the player with characterisation. Character accents/speech patterns enhance the roleplaying experience and differentiates what the Character is saying from what the Player is saying. GMs should reward players that play their characters disposition convincingly with extra XP etc.
Briefly the characters life story; Birthplace, career, about their childhood and parents. Any events that have occurred that will help define a character's personality and their travels. This is important so the GM knows what area knowledge the character would have. It also gives more opportunity for players to roleplay and be rewarded for it.
