Part 1: Character Making

[yukamichi]

"[I]n order to give a positive meaning to the idea of a 'presentiment' of what does not yet exist, it is necessary to demonstrate that what does not yet exist is already in action, in a different form than that of its existence." -Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus

This article is going to talk about is the process of creating an RPG character. In this case I'm going to be using Shinobigami as the game in question, for a couple of reasons:

One, Shinobigami characters don't have a lot of moving parts or major choices that need to be made. The choices you do make are still important (critically, really, if you view the game through the same lens that I am doing here), but ultimately a character is defined by a fairly small set of characteristics, each of which is capable of carrying significant fictional weight. This can serve as useful flagging (backchannel communication that indicates what topics or themes you would like to explore in play) for the other players in this kind of game.

Two, Shinobigami's play structure gives the player a decent amount of space to develop and actualize a character concept through play. This means that the potentially expressive choices made in character creation are usually going to be easy to cash out, which is great because that's precisely what we're trying to do with this kind of play.

Ninja Nonsense

Let's take a moment to explain the mechanical framework of Shinobigami, at least enough to gain an understanding of how the system serves to structure the fiction in combination with our character choices.

Shinobigami is game of modern day ninja action and intrigue (in practice, these "ninjas" run the gamut of the kind of supernatural actor you might find in a typical battle shounen manga, fighting game, superhero comic, etc...rather than a faceless mook in black pajamas). Each PC starts the game with a secret, typically either an explicit goal for the character, or else another piece of information whose primary function is to orient the character towards the contents of the scenario. Play proceeds in turns, where each player describes a short scene (usually between their PC and one or more other characters) and then makes a skill check; if they succeed, they can gain a piece of information about another character (either that character's secret, or their location, which when revealed makes that character vulnerable to being attacked), or form a bond with another character. Over the course of these scenes, players gradually gain a clearer understanding of the other characters' goals, learn how those characters can help or hinder their own goal, and draw battle lines for a final showdown between all of the characters.

PCs are defined by a few simple metrics. Their clan, which determines which ninpo they have access to, which subset of skills they specialize in, and which gives them both a general duty (an overarching goal of that clan) and an enemy clan, both of which can function as simple roleplaying hooks. Skills are binary descriptors of potential domains of activities that a character may excel at, and are used to determine the target numbers for checks in drama scenes as well as in combat. Ninpo are unique special abilities that can introduce exception-based effects to play, represent different kinds of attacks, and/or grant some static mechanical advantage (such as extra life points). Each character also knows one or more ohgi, secret powerful techniques that are generally meant to act as climactic or last-resort effects.

Starting characters have six skills (three from the skill group that corresponds to their clan, three that can be chosen from any category), five ninpo (one of which must be restricted to their clan, and one of which is always the generic Close Combat Attack), and one ohgi. So that's what we have to work with.

Hungry Like the Wolf

Our character isn't going to start with a name. Nor a backstory, or a class, or a concept or a drawing. Instead, like every good RPG character, this one starts by flipping through the mechanical cruft of the rulebook until a certain piece of text catches our eye, and that's going to be the conceptual core of our character. In this case, that piece of rules text is Tonrou ("Jealous Wolf"), a support ninpo from Shinobigami's "advanced" core rule book. Its effect reads as follows:

If you are the winner in combat, make a Memory check. If you succeed, learn one ninpo and skill known by one of the losers, and unlearn one ninpo and skill that you know.

This is basically Kenshiro's suieishin technique from Fist of the North Star, one that lets us absorb a power from a defeated enemy.

This ability does a few things for us. One, it's restricted to characters from Otogi Academy (one of the six ninja clans that a character can choose to be from, Shinobigami's equivalent of a character class), so that makes one major character creation decision for us. It's also linked to the Memory skill, which makes one more choice. We'll start a tally in a minute.

This ability also has some complex and specific conditions it needs to even be usable, so ensuring we have ways to set it up is going to occupy a few more of our character creation choices.

If we were making this character for an actual game, one important thing to consider here is that a character built around this ability is essentially going to be geared toward PvP (player-versus-player conflict). Shinobigami supports PvP, of course—it's one of the things it does very well, in fact—but a PvP-oriented character may not be appropriate for every scenario. So before going any further it's best to stop and talk to the GM about our character concept before getting any deeper in. For the purposes of this hypothetical character creation walkthrough, we can assume that the GM gives us their okay.

You wa Shock

Since the core mechanical concept of our character relies on winning in a fight scene, our number one priority should be figuring out how to get into combat in the first place (sometimes easier said than done). Fortunately we're from the Otogi Academy, and one of that clan's most noteworthy ninpo—Tactical Shock—is meant to help us do just that:

When you learn someone's location during a drama scene in which you are the scene player, make a Signaling check. If you succeed, start a fight scene with that character.

In addition to giving us some action economy advantage (by letting us essentially get two turns in one), the ability to delay using our Jealous Wolf technique makes it more likely that we'll have a better sense of the scenario and who best to target with it. This also aligns well with the Otogi Academy's duty of uncovering secrets. Our character is a careful, meticulous observer who waits until they have as much information as possible before acting on it.

Fleshing Things Out

We still have two more ninpo and four unassigned skills to deal with. Between Jealous Wolf and Tactical Shock, we have a solid mechanical hook, but despite the player's heavy authority to shape the fiction, we can't always ensure that we'll have a good setup for Jealous Wolf; it's good to diversify a little, to cover more bases and create a few more alternate avenues for expressing our character concept in play.

A safe, well-rounded Shinobigami character usually has at least two offensive ninpo. Despite being a game of information, intrigue, and alliances, things always come to blows at some point, and it's smart to have at least two different attacks in case one of them gets locked out due to damage. For our second offensive option, we'll go with North Star, another Otogi-restricted ninpo from the advanced core rulebook:

Range 5
Cost 1
Melee Attack. May only target a character who has the same life total as you. Deal 2 points of melee damage to the target.

As a "backup" it's not particularly reliable due to its targeting restriction, but its long range and low cost make it a safe, tactical option, and it's more likely that we and our target will have the same life total during the early phases of the game, when were looking to unleash the Jealous Wolf. North Star is linked to the Guerrilla skill, so that (along with the linked skills of our two other ninpo) also fills out our three skill choices from the Strategy group, the one which corresponds to our clan.

For our last ninpo, we are going to choose something defensive. In this case, let's choose Extensive Knowledge, a ninpo that gives us a bonus to ohgi break checks (a chance to completely negate the effect of another character's ohgi), and select Critical Hit and Area Attack (the two primary damage-dealing ones) as the effects we get a bonus against. Not only does this increase our own chance of survival, it also gives us the opportunity to play spoiler in other people's conflicts: being able to pick a winner or force a stalemate can both open up considerable room for politicking.

We also need to choose an ohgi: because we're still a little light on offensive options, it would probably be best to shore up that gap here. Between Critical Hit and Area Attack, the latter probably fits better with our cautious nature (it has a larger range). We can come back and choose a skill and description for it later.

Finally, we need to fill out the rest of our skill list. We have three more choices outside of the Strategy group. Because attacks are resisted using the same skill that the attacker uses to attack, a common strategy is to spread out our skill choices so that they can reasonably cover most of the list. With that in mind, let's go with Hidden Weapons, Blade, and Interception. The first two should be fairly self-explanatory; the third covers eavesdropping, hacking, and the like, which helpfully synergizes with other aspects of our character concept. We also need to choose a skill to link to our Close Combat Attack ninpo: let's choose Hidden Weapons (this isn't a particularly tactical or flavorful choice; the most important criteria is that it's from a different skill group than our other attack option).

Continued in Part Two.