Character Creation (Quick Fire Method)

1 Download a character sheet

2. Allocate characteristics

Allocate 40, 50, 50, 50, 60, 60, 70, 80 where you like amongst your characteristics.
See ‘What the numbers mean‘ below for an explanation of the attributes.

3. Apply modifiers

A player can choose any age between 15 and 90 for their investigator.
Use the appropriate modifiers for your chosen age only (they are not cumulative).

  • 15 to 19
    • Deduct 5 points among STR and SIZ
    • Deduct 5 points from EDU
    • Roll twice to generate a Luck score and keep the highest
  • 20s or 30s
    • Make an improvement check* for EDU
  • 40s
    • Make 2 improvement checks* for EDU
    • Deduct 5 points among STR, CON and DEX
    • Reduce APP by 5
  • 50s
    • Make 3 improvement checks* for EDU
    • Deduct 10 points among STR, CON and DEX
    • Reduce APP by 10
  • 60s
    • Make 4 improvement checks* for EDU
    • Deduct 20 points among STR, CON and DEX
    • Reduce APP by 15
  • 70s
    • Make 4 improvement checks* for EDU
    • Deduct 40 points among STR, CON and DEX
    • Reduce APP by 20
  • 80s
    • Make 4 improvement checks* for EDU
    • Deduct 80 points among STR, CON and DEX
    • Reduce APP by 25

4. Figure Damage Bonus and Build

STR + SIZDamage BonusBuild
2 – 64-2-2
65 – 84-1-1
85 – 124None0
125 – 164+1D4+1
165 – 204+1D6+2

5. Determine Hit Points, Dodge and Luck

  • Hit Points = (CON + SIZ) / 10
  • Dodge = DEX / 2
  • Luck = (3D6 * 5)

6. Determine Sanity and Magic Points

  • Sanity = POW
  • Magic Points = POW / 5

7. Movement rate

If both DEX and STR are each less than SIZ:MOV 7
If either STR or DEX is equal to or greater than SIZ, or if all three are equal:MOV 8
If both STR and DEX are each greater than SIZ:MOV 9
If age is in the 40s:deduct 1 from MOV
If age is in the 50s:deduct 2 from MOV
If age is in the 60s:deduct 3 from MOV
If age is in the 70s:deduct 4 from MOV
If age is in the 80s:deduct 5 from MOV

8. Decide occupation

Decide on an occupation from the occupation list and select 8 appropriate occupation skills.

9. Allocate occupation skills

Allocate the following values among the eight occupation skills and Credit Rating: one at 70%, two at 60%, three at 50%, and three at 40% (assign the skills directly to these values and ignore the skill base values).
If your chosen profession states a lower Credit Rating skill than 40%, you should set an appropriate Credit Rating skill value and distribute the excess points elsewhere.

10. Allocate non-occupation skills

Pick four non-occupation skills and boost them by 20% (adding 20 to the skill base values).

11. Roll for backstory

  1. Personal Description
    • Think of a distinct look that sums up your investigator’s appearance (APP). Whether your appearance and your personality match is another question; a person may look stuffy but actually be personable and open.
  2. Ideology/Beliefs [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
    1. There is a higher power that you worship and pray to (e.g. Vishnu, Jesus Christ, Haile Selassie I).
    2. Mankind can do fine without religions (e.g. staunch atheist, humanist, secularist).
    3. Science has all the answers. Pick a particular aspect of interest (e.g. evolution, cryogenics, space exploration).
    4. A belief in fate (e.g. karma, the class system, superstitious).
    5. Member of a society or secret society (e.g.Freemason, Women’s Institute, Anonymous).
    6. There is evil in society that should be rooted out. What is this evil? (e.g. drugs, violence, racism).
    7. The occult (e.g. astrology, spiritualism, tarot).
    8. Politics (e.g. conservative, socialist, liberal).
    9. “Money is power, and I’m going to get all I can” (e.g.greedy, enterprising, ruthless).
    10. Campaigner/Activist (e.g. feminism, gay rights, union power).
  3. Significant People
    • First who? [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
      1. Parent (e.g. mother, father, stepmother).
      2. Grandparent (e.g. maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather).
      3. Sibling (e.g. brother, half-brother, stepsister).
      4. Child (e.g. son or daughter).
      5. Partner (e.g. spouse, fiancé, lover).
      6. Person who taught you your highest occupational skill. Identify the skill and consider who taught you (e.g. a schoolteacher, the person you apprenticed with, your father).
      7. Childhood Friend (e.g. classmate, neighbor, imaginary friend).
      8. A famous person. Your idol or hero. You may never have even met (e.g. film star, politician, musician).
      9. A fellow investigator in your game. Pick one or choose randomly.
      10. A non-player character (NPC) in the game. Ask the Keeper to pick one for you.
    • Second why? [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
      1. You are indebted to them. How did they help you? (e.g. financially, they protected you through hard times, got you your first job).
      2. They taught you something. What? (e.g. a skill, to love, to be a man).
      3. They give your life meaning. How? (e.g. you aspire to be like them, you seek to be with them, you seek to make them happy).
      4. You wronged them and seek reconciliation. What did you do? (e.g. stole money from them, informed the police about them, refused to help when they were desperate).
      5. Shared experience. What? (e.g. you lived through hard times together, you grew up together, you served in the war together).
      6. You seek to prove yourself to them. How? (e.g. by getting a good job, by finding a good spouse, by getting an education).
      7. You idolize them (e.g. for their fame, their beauty, their work).
      8. A feeling of regret (e.g. you should have died in their place, you fell out over something you said, you didn’t step up and help them when you had the chance).
      9. You wish to prove yourself better than them. What was their flaw? (e.g. lazy, drunk, unloving).
      10. They have crossed you and you seek revenge. For what do you blame them? (e.g. death of a loved one, your financial ruin, marital breakup).
  4. Meaningful Locations [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
    1. Your seat of learning (e.g. school, university, apprenticeship).
    2. Your hometown (e.g. rural village, market town, busy city).
    3. The place you met your first love (e.g. a music concert, on holiday, a bomb shelter).
    4. A place for quiet contemplation (e.g. the library, country walks on your estate, fishing).
    5. A place for socializing (e.g. gentlemen’s club, local bar, uncle’s house).
    6. A place connected with your ideology/belief (e.g.parish church, Mecca, Stonehenge).
    7. The grave of a significant person. Who? (e.g. a parent, a child, a lover).
    8. Your family home (e.g. a country estate, a rented flat, the orphanage in which you were raised).
    9. The place you were happiest in your life (e.g. the park bench where you first kissed, your university, your grandmother’s home).
    10. Your workplace (e.g. the office, library, bank).
  5. Treasure Possessions [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
    1. An item connected with your highest skill (e.g. expensive suit, false ID, brass knuckles).
    2. An essential item for your occupation (e.g. doctor’s bag, car, lock picks).
    3. A memento from your childhood (e.g. comics, pocketknife, lucky coin).
    4. A memento of a departed person (e.g. jewelry, a photograph in your wallet, a letter).
    5. Something given to you by your Significant Person (e.g. a ring, a diary, a map).
    6. Your collection. What is it? (e.g. bus tickets, stuffed animals, records).
    7. Something you found but you don’t know what it is—you seek answers (e.g. a letter you found in a cupboard written in an unknown language, a curious pipe of unknown origin found among your late father’s effects, a strange silver ball you dug up in your garden).
    8. A sporting item (e.g. cricket bat, a signed baseball, a fishing rod).
    9. A weapon (e.g. service revolver, your old hunting rifle, the hidden knife in your boot).
    10. A pet (e.g. a dog, a cat, a tortoise).
  6. Traits [Roll 1D10 or pick one]
    1. Generous (e.g. generous tipper, always helps out a person in need, philanthropist).
    2. Good with Animals (e.g. loves cats, grew up on a farm, good with horses).
    3. Dreamer (e.g. given to flights of fancy, visionary, highly creative).
    4. Hedonist (e.g. life and soul of the party, entertaining drunk, “live fast and die young”).
    5. Gambler and a risk-taker (e.g. poker-faced, try anything once, lives on the edge).
    6. Good Cook (e.g. bakes wonderful cakes, can make a meal from almost nothing, refined palate).
    7. Ladies’ man/seductress (e.g. suave, charming voice, enchanting eyes).
    8. Loyal (e.g. stands by his or her friends, never breaks a promise, would die for his or her beliefs).
    9. A good reputation (e.g. the best after-dinner speaker in the country, the most pious of men, fearless in the face of danger).
    10. Ambitious (e.g. to achieve a goal, to become the boss, to have it all).

* What the numbers mean

  • Strength [STR]
    • 0 – Enfeebled: unable to even stand up or lift a cup or tea.
    • 15 – Puny, weak.
    • 50 – Average human strength.
    • 90 – One of the strongest people you’ve ever met.
    • 99 – World-class (Olympic weightlifter). Human maximum.
    • 140 – Beyond human strength (gorilla or horse).
  • Constitution [CON]
    • 0 – Dead.
    • 1 – Sickly, prone to prolonged illness and probably unable to operate without assistance.
    • 15 – Weak health, prone to bouts of illness, great propensity for feeling pain.
    • 50 – Average healthy human.
    • 90 – Shrugs off colds, hardy and hale.
    • 99 – Iron constitution, able to withstand great amounts of pain. Human maximum.
    • 140 – Beyond human constitution (e.g. elephant).
  • Size [SIZ]
    • 1 – A baby (1 to 12 pounds).
    • 15 – Child, very short in stature (dwarf) (33 pounds / 15 kg).
    • 60 – Average human size (moderate height and weight)
      (170 pounds / 75 kg)..
    • 80 – Very tall, strongly built, or obese. (240 pounds / 110 kg).
    • 99 – Oversize in some respect (330 pounds / 150 kg).
    • 150 – Horse or cow (960 pounds / 436 kg).
    • 180 – Heaviest human ever recorded (1400 pounds / 634 kg).
    • Note: Some humans may exceed SIZ 99.
  • Dexterity [DEX]
    • 0 – Unable to move without assistance.
    • 15 – Slow, clumsy with poor motor skills for fine manipulation.
    • 50 – Average human dexterity.
    • 90 – Fast, nimble and able to perform feats of fine manipulation (e.g. acrobat, great dancer).
    • 99 – World-class athlete (e.g. Olympic standard).
      Human maximum.
    • 120 – Beyond human dexterity (e.g. tiger).
  • Appearance [APP]
    • 0 – So unsightly that others are affected by fear, revulsion, or pity.
    • 15 – Ugly, possibly disfigured due to injury or at birth.
    • 50 – Average human appearance.
    • 90 – One of the most charming people you could meet, natural magnetism.
    • 99 – The height of glamour and cool (supermodel or world renowned film star). Human maximum.
    • Note: APP is used only for humans, and does not exceed 99.
  • Intelligence [INT]
    • 0 – No intellect, unable to comprehend the world around them.
    • 15 – Slow learner, able to undertake only the most basic math, or read beginner-level books.
    • 50 – Average human intellect.
    • 90 – Quick-witted, probably able to comprehend multiple languages or theorems.
    • 99 – Genius (Einstein, Da Vinci, Tesla, etc.).
      Human maximum.
  • Power [POW]
    • 0 – Enfeebled mind, no willpower or drive, no magical potential.
    • 15 – Weak-willed, easily dominated by those with a greater intellect or willpower.
    • 50 – Average human.
    • 90 – Strong willed, driven, a high potential to connect with the unseen and magical.
    • 100 – Iron will, strong connection to the spiritual “realm” or unseen world.
    • 140 – Beyond human, possibly alien.
    • Note: Human POW can exceed 100, but this is exceptional.
  • Education [EDU]
    • 0 – A newborn baby.
    • 15 – Completely uneducated in every way.
    • 60 – High school graduate.
    • 70 – College graduate (Bachelor degree).
    • 80 – Degree level graduate (Master’s degree).
    • 90 – Doctorate, professor.
    • 96 – World-class authority in their field of study.
    • 99 – Human maximum.

* What’s an improvement check?

To make an EDU improvement check, simply roll percentage dice. If the result is greater than your present EDU add 1D10 percentage points to your EDU characteristic (note that EDU cannot go above 99).

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