TViT - Character Creation

Perhaps I'm simply not the most creative person, but I've never been good at creating new characters from scratch. I've always been better using a writing prompt style - taking 2 or 3 character traits and mashing them together to see what kind of person that would be.

And that is exactly how character creation works in my upcoming TTRPG, The Veil is Torn. At the start of any new campaign, each player will get the chance to create a new Survivor (the term I use to refer to player characters). First, each player gets to roll 2 d20 dice. The results of those two rolls determine what Quirk and what Trinket that Survivor starts with, based upon a character creation table. Each one of these provides both a narrative and mechanical effect.

Quirks describe something that makes that Survivor different, unusual, or otherwise unique. Perhaps they're a thief, or a bodybuilder, or an academic. Each quirk comes with both a positive and negative gameplay effect. For example, a thief may benefit from additional dexterity, but shopkeepers and merchants may refuse to do business with them. An academic may benefit from additional intelligence, but their defenses are reduced.

Trinkets describe that Survivor's backstory. Maybe they start with Dog Tags, describing a backstory of military service. Maybe they start with a Forged ID, suggesting they have reasons to hide their real identity. Trinkets also provide your Survivor with an Objective: a narrative condition the player must fulfill to gain experience and level up.

After rolling for their Quirk and their Trinket, then the player gets to select a Class for their Survivor. This is very similar to classes in any other TTRPG, where your choice alters your starting stat values, the different Skills they can learn when levelling up, and has some minor narrative effects on that Survivor.

I'm aiming to launch the game with 6 classes, which I'll talk more in-depth about later.

-Tom