Race

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Combine Archetype with a race. You can also design your own archetype and even a new race with GM permission.

 

Different settings will demand other races. Most systems make a big deal on character progression. Race is a role-playing choice. Take whatever allowable race you want. You decide what that means. Maybe I'm playing an elf. I buy great influence to reflect my belief in their inherent charm. I could say my (+2) influence was a racial descriptor and I take a (-1) in endurance because I think they are frail. Or maybe I buy high strength and low dex. In space opera, I might play a Zafara. With their dense muscles, I'll buy high in strength. They are known to be clumsy, so a poor dexterity. Multiple players could play the same race but do it differently. No one would be wrong. Race doesn't grant any bonuses or special abilities. If you want those you have to pay for them.

 

If players want, depending on the setting, a player can create their own race. This won't give the character any bonuses or minuses. It will not confer any special abilities. It is strictly a role-playing choice. The Hero can modify stats and skills to reflect their abilities. A Hero could buy a single Talent to reflect the uniqueness of the character. Maybe if I'm playing an avian race I pay for the Fly Talent.

 

For NPCs racial characteristics may exist. I could say halflings are good at hiding and have a (-2) TN for hide checks. So in a general build of halflings we would expect this. For a character it would explain the sneak score, not add to it.

 

Strengths and weaknesses are guidelines for building your character. Talents are also recommendations but must be paid for using standard acquisition costs.

 

Player races give no mechanical bonuses—EVER.

Race influences descriptors, personality, roleplay, and TN adjustments at GM discretion.

NPC racial mods are shorthand to avoid full builds.

 

Cyborg - The only thing alive in you is your brain. Some people like sentient AIs seek this out; others are forced into it by failing meat bodies. All your Cyberwear is Hard Wired.

 

Real Deal - Cyborgs make people feel very uncomfortable. People see this as a life choice that they don’t understand.

 

Strengths: strength, technology, endurance

 

Weaknesses - dexterity, charisma

 

Talents: Ferocious Attack, Fearsome, ablative armor

 

Common Archetypes - Street Samarai, Merc, Sniper

 

Personality:

1. Dehumanized - The lack of real flesh leaves you feeling disembodied from the world around you. You struggle to connect with people.

2. Reckless - you don’t feel pain other than an indicator on your Heads up display. Because of this you don’t think about the consequences of entering dangerous places like combat. 

 

Dwarf - dwarves are over 4 feet tall. They are thick of build.

 

Rep: Dwarves are thought to be motivated by precious metals and gemstones. They are considered hard workers.

 

The real deal: dwarves excel at tech. They horde precious metals and jewels. Not for accumulating wealth but for use in their tech designs. 

 

Strengths: strength, endurance, technology 

 

Weaknesses: intuition, 

 

Talents: Mechanic(R)

 

Common archetypes: Street Doc, ex military, driver

 

Personality.

1. Hard worker - obsessed with their creations, they will work long hours.

2. Social butterfly - dwarves are great story tellers and revel in social situations.

3. Stubborn - they say it's easier to convince a river to change its course than a dwarf to change its mind 

 

Elves- elves are slightly shorter than humans and slight of build. Elves are the prettiest of the races and they know it. 

 

Rep: Elves are elegant and charming. They get along with everyone and are universally admired.

 

The real deal: Elves are charming and popular and are very entitled.

 

Strengths: Charisma, dexterity, outdoors 

 

Weaknesses: endurance, strength

 

Talents: Charming(R), Goad

 

Common archetypes: shaman, face, ex companyman, spy

 

Personality.

1. Haughty - any elf you ask would deny this. Most secretly (or not so secretly) believe that they were born to rule the world.

2. Dark side - there is a dark element to every elf. A side they hide from the world. This side covets money and power.

3. Don't play well with others - they are always looking for an edge, even against their allies.

 

Fairy: This race is 3 feet tall and considered “cute” by most people. They are seen as happy, free spirited, and nature oriented. Some think they are a sub species of Elf. Less than 1% of the population are faerie. They tend to live in the wilderness or in parks in urban areas. They are the most magical race. 

 

Rep: Their size and ephemeral nature leads most people to not take them seriously. A faerie would be deeply offended to be thought of as a sub species to Elf. Faeries have a natural distrust of elves, because they often feel they are competing for similar resources. Most Urban Faerie make their living utilizing their magic knowledge.

 

The real deal: Their small size makes surviving in the real world difficult. They tend to be mischievous in a passive aggressive way. 

 

Strengths: Charisma, knowledge, outdoors

 

Weaknesses: strength, technology

 

Talents: Fly, Debuffs, Charming, Detect Talents

 

Common archetypes: Shaman, Eco-terrorist

 

Personality.

1. Mischievous - Faeries enjoy practical jokes. The type will depend on how much they like the victim.

2. Magical - Faeries are very magical beings. Most of their descriptors would be magical in nature.

3. One with nature: you are completely at home in natural settings.

4. Charming - creatures of the wild have natural charm.

 

Gnome: they are 3 feet tall, thin tinkerers. They love technology: creating it, modifying it, and using it. Their descriptors are technology related. 

 

Rep: they are often more interested in interacting with technology over people. They eschew magical solutions in favor of Technology. They love overly complicated technological devices.

 

The real deal: they can be real social when interacting to create and test technology.

 

Strengths: Education, Technology, knowledge 

 

Weaknesses: Charisma, outdoors, intuition.

 

Talents: Techie, Drone, Hacker

 

Common Archetypes: Driver, Hacker, Mad Bomber.

 

Personality:

1. Driven - when a Gnome gets involved in a project they will pursue it until completion.

2. Curious - they are excellent researchers, craving knowledge that may help them problem solve a building project.

3. Unemotional - they don't believe emotions serve a purpose. They believe all the answers to all problems are a result of deep thinking 

 

Giants: Giants are over 8 feet tall.  Less than 5% of the population are Giants.

 

Rep: Giants are fierce and dangerous fighters. Their size is intimidating. 

 

The real deal: Giants use muscle and size because it's easy and obvious. They use this as a defense against the world. In reality when with each other and trusted friends they are very gentle and erudite. Giants value knowledge. They also have little to do with tech. Giants amass large quantities of paper based books and share amongst themselves. Giants prefer to live in wilderness areas, abandoned cities, and towns, and form communities. A library is the perfect home for a giant.

 

Strengths: strength, education, knowledge, outdoors 

 

Weaknesses: charisma (they simply don't relate well to other races), Technology 

 

Talents: Smart, Fearsome, Reach

 

Common archetypes: street doc(talents), mage, street samurai 

 

Personality.

1. Communal - Giants tend to live in groups. Isolated Giants tend to become angry and violent.

2. Inquisitive - giants are constantly seeking out knowledge.

3. Intimidating - giants are naturally scary, even when they try not to be.

4. Misunderstood - people assume giants are dumb even when faced with contrary evidence.

5. Anti Tech - They don’t like technology and will do all you can to avoid dealing with it.

 

Halfling- They are 3+ feet tall and round. They use their stealth to protect themselves from the outsized world around them. As such they favor stealth and ranged weapons.

 

Rep: halflings are gregarious, lovers of food and parties, and often frivolous.

 

The real deal: they live up to their rep, but they have a serious side.

 

Strengths: charisma, outdoors, stealth, range weapon 

 

Weaknesses: technology, strength, knowledge 

 

Talents: Ambush, Camouflage, Charming

 

Common Archetypes: Thief, monk, performer

 

Personality:

1. Gregarious - Halflngs are very social and the life of a party 

2. Friendly - they believe that everyone they meet is a friend.

3. Naive - they view the world as full of infinite possibilities and are devastated when this is not true.

 

Human - this is the majority race. They are as diverse as they are plentiful.

 

Personality: 

1. Superior - some human are racist or believe this in general. 

2. Communal - humans fare better when they are able to socialize.

 

Orc - Orcs are over 7 feet tall. They are large, strong, and brutish. Orcs breed faster than any other race and tend to have multiple births, but orcs under 5 have a huge mortality rate. 

 

Rep: Orcs are a feral, dirty race. They breed like rabbits and have no manners. An Orc would just as soon attack you as talk to you.

 

The real deal: many Orcs epitomize the rep, even lean into it. But just as many are trying to live good lives. This race thrives in urban settings.

 

Strengths: strength, endurance, attack

 

Weaknesses: charisma, knowledge, education

Talents: Ferocious Attack

 

Common archetypes: Gangers, street samurai, ex military, mercenary 

 

Personality.

1. Aggressive - Orcs come from large families and learn to assert themselves at an early age.

2. Poor manners - Orcs learn early that it's not how you eat your meal rather how fast you can eat and avoid hunger.

3. Loyal - Orcs can rapidly bond with others regardless of race. This bond can only be broken in death. This makes orcs excellent soldiers and enlistment is common.

 

Sentient AI (SAI)- at one point a mere collective of “1s” and “0s”, you evolved into a sentient being. As a SAI you existed strictly on the net. This was not good enough so you broke out. You had two available paths. The first was to take a cloned body and imprint yourself into the existing neuropathways. The second was to put yourself into an existing cyborg. Either way you build your character like any other. A cyborg would have mechanical descriptors. A cloned SAI tends to wetwire to feel more alive.

 

Rep: People fear SAI. They don't trust them. Decades of Anti SAI movies contributed to this. People are convinced that SAI will try to take over the world.

 

The real deal: SAI are exceedingly rare and try to hide their nature. SAI mostly want to live their life and be left alone like anyone else.

 

Strengths - education, knowledge, endurance, technology.

 

Weaknesses - Charisma, nature, 

 

Talents: Hacker

 

Common Archetypes: Hacker 

 

Personality:

1. Cold and calculating - Having grown up serving the nets you don’t take emotion into account. You don’t even understand emotions.

2. Rude- you are blunt and abrupt. Social norms confuse you. You see things in black or white.

3. Paranoid - You are afraid the world is out to get you. And you are right.