This is an example of the CharGen setup for an actual character. This character is a young lady at the court of King’s Landing who was created specifically as an example character by the Admin.
The process starts with the selection of assets and flaws. As a Tier IV, Sylvina needs to use a maxiumum of four and a minimum of two points each on assets and flaws. Furthermore, she must use the same number of points on assets as on flaws. We strongly recommend using all the alloted points to make for a well-rounded concept.
The next step is the stat setup. As a IV, Sylvina’s base pool of points is 45. This is multiplied by 3 to give 135, which is the pool of points that can be distributed over the three statgroups.
The points placed in each statgroup are then multiplied by 3 as well, which gives the pools of points that can be spread over the stats within each statgroup. The points placed in each statgroup also limit how much above or below that sum individual stats in that statgroup can be set.
The next step is the skill setup. As a IV, Sylvina’s base pool of points is 300. Given her age at the time of CharGen, it is reduced to 255.
However, as she has had a noble upbringing, she selects this option, and receives 50 additional points. This gives her a total of 305 points to spend on skills. She needs at least 12 skills, and at least 10 from the list of noble skills (since she took noble upbringing).
The next step is writing a background and a justify. Please make sure to format these as shown in the example to make them easy to read for the Admin as well as potential future players of the character.
Furthermore, keep the potential future players in mind when you write rather than assuming that something is self-explanatory. What do you need to include to make sure someone else could understand the character, not to mention play it properly?
As the second child and only daughter of Lord Jeffroy Serry and his wife Tilly, formerly of House Ryger, Sylvina was born with fair prospects of having a good marriage arranged for her even though the lords of the Shield Islands are far from wealthy. However, good was not quite all that her mother, Lady Tilly, had in mind. Although she had married a lord herself, she had never been satisfied with being quite so far away from the centre of things. For her only daughter, Tilly wanted a marriage that would tie the girl—and ideally herself as well—to places such as Highgarden, Oldtown or why not King’s Landing. This fact was to shape Sylvina’s upbringing.
Something else also had a considerable effect on the course of her life, however. When Sylvina was three years old, her father died. In the wake of his death, Lady Tilly and her late husband’s brother, Ser Ardric, contested each other for the rule of Southshield. For a time, Tilly seemed to have won the match, but eventually she found herself pushed out by Ser Ardric. Having no desire to remain at Southshield while wielding no influence, Tilly returned home to Willow Wood, taking her young daughter with her. She had only stayed there for a short time when she heard of something that might just be the thing for improving her own position again.
Lord Cavan Ryswell, a widower these last few years, was looking for a wife. Out of his first wife, Amya Blackwood, he had only had a daughter, and like all lords he was hoping for a son to continue his name. And what could be a better pick for him than a wife of proven fertility? Though the Ryswells themselves are far from an illustrous house, and though this meant moving to the North, Tilly felt that his connections to the powerful Blackwoods would be a useful asset to her. And so Sylvina, at the age of five, came to move North, to the Rills.
Unfortunately for Tilly, Lord Cavan turned out to be a man who was fairly content with simply being the Lord of the Rills. He had no ambition to increase his influence down south, and rare were the occasions when they ventured southwards. But Tilly was still determined to make a good match in the south for Sylvina, and so concentrated her efforts on grooming her daughter to be a lady of quality. This included making every effort to keep Sylvina from picking up any of the bad habits of Lord Cavan’s daughter Aisling.
Fortunately for Tilly, Sylvina had little in common with her step-sister. No outright animosity developed between the two—as it did between Tilly and Aisling, when the latter attempted to control her step-daughter’s behaviour—but Aisling always saw Sylvina as an intruder and Sylvina could not understand why someone would wish to give themselves a poor reputation. For her own part, she would not dream of doing anything to disappoint her mother, not even when her mother came to disappoint her by shifting much of her time and affection to Sylvina’s new half-brother, Devyn.
And then there was the matter of the horses, of course. When Sylvina was eight, three years after coming to the Rills, she was once foolish enough to allow Aisling to goad her into going for a ride with her. But while Sylvina could sit a horse as well as one would expect of a young noble girl, she could not compare to the hoydenish Aisling. The result was a frightening gallop through the woods under which Sylvina clung screaming to her panicked mount until she fell off. She came away from the ordeal with a broken arm, some scratches and a fear of horses.
Following that incident, Tilly made every effort to keep the two girls well apart, and Sylvina did not mind greatly. She did wish for some company at times, especially when her mother spend time with her brother instead, but she did agree with her mother’s assessment that no suitable company could be found anywhere nearby. As such, she came to share her mother’s desire to be able to go south and marry well as soon as possible. To make this possible, she became a very apt student at the lessons her mother had to offer, and when her step-father finally agreed to send her (and her step-sister) to King’s Landing she was thrilled. Now she would have a chance to make her mother proud.
ASSETS
Adept: Singing: Sylvina has received training in singing as most young ladies. Early on, she turned out to have an affinity for this, possessing quite a good voice.
Arena: Society: Trained for the court, and with excellent social skills, Sylvina is one whom people often confide in. The result of this is that she hears a lot of what goes on in the right kind of circles.
Gossip: Sylvina is a pleasant, amiable young girl who is very good at making herself popular and at getting certain kinds of people to listen to what she has to say.
Well Connected: When Sylvina arrived in King’s Landing, she was quick to take advantage of her uncle Terin Ryger being on the Small Council. She has made good use of all the introductions that he has provided her with, and as a result she had established good personal relations with many important people in King’s Landing.
FLAWS
Defect: Dishonest: To further her own interests and to gain advantageous, Sylvina is quite happy to not always adhere strictly to the truth. If she can make someone else look bad and herself come off better, then she is entirely prepared to tell lies. She is also quite good at convincing herself of such alternate versions of events. It is also a defect that, at least in her mind, can be used as an asset when it comes to heaping flattery on those who do not deserve praise.
Defect: Envious: Sylvina, due to the ambition instilled in her by her mother, is prone to being envious of others. A somewhat surprising result of this is that she’s quite jealous of her younger brother, Devyn. She knows it is as it should be that her elder brother, Justyn, is the heir to Southshield and that Devyn is the heir to the Rills. But she cannot quite accept that her mother seems so much more proud over young Devyn, even though she knows that her mother would certainly frown on such an unladylike reaction. But she feels that is the one who has strived so hard to be everything that her mother wanted her to be, and that she is far more entitled to her affection.
Phobia: Horses: Ever since she foolishly allowed her step-sister Aisling to persuade her to ride a horse she wasn’t quite ready to ride, and she ended up clinging screaming to a frightened horse until she fell off and injured herself, Sylvina has been scared of horses. She is able to ride at a sedate pace on a reliable palfrey, but she prefers to avoid it.
Rival: Minor: Though Sylvina has been well received at court much thanks to her uncle Terin Ryger, she still cannot help but to feel that Terin has given his own daughter Halanna much better opportunities than herself. At times it has felt to Sylvina as if anyone she is introduced to is someone who was introduced to (and likely discarded by) Halanna first. In her mind, she sees Halanna as a rival who might possibly manage to get in the way of her landing the best possible marriage for herself, and she is determined to make sure that doesn’t happen.
STATS
The Mobility stats are fairly average, though her Nimbleness is bit higher, which is particularly evident in tasks such as needlework, and her Reflexes are towards the lower end.
The Physique stats are average to low average, with her Strength being the lowest and the only one of her stats that falls below average. This has undoubtedly played a part in shaping her preference for less physical pursuits.
Her Mental stats are high within the average range, but not at all outstanding. She’s clever and perceptive enough, and she can be rather witty.
SKILLS
For the most part, Sylvina’s skills reflect her typically noble upbringing. She is well versed in many of the social arts (not the least Singing, Etiquette, Music, Dancing and Needlework) though less competent in some areas where nobles often do better (such as Riding). For her age, she is reasonably well versed in courtly and political skills, though her book learning is only rudimentary.
The final step of CharGen consists of filling out the remaining CDB Info, creating a Desc and filling out the player-related attributes of Prefs and Finger. Prefs and Finger have their own helpfiles and will not be covered here.
The Long Info fields History and Persona should be formatted with linebreaks (%R) and tabs (%T). Events, Notes and Relations are generally shorter and do not need this. History and Persona are always mandatory, and if you have Secret: Minor or Secret: Major you need to set a private Note for each secret. You are also encouraged to set an Event that relates to your character’s first IC appearance so that the date of this is preserved for future reference.
History is a public version of your Background and Persona is a description of your character’s personality. To see examples of History and Persona, use +CDB/VIEW <NAME>/HISTORY and +CDB/VIEW <NAME>/PERSONA on any CGed character.
Events are diary-like entries for important occasions in your character’s past. It is recommended that you set Events for important events in your background and at least one Event is required: an entry that deals with your character’s entry into play. This is Sylvina’s Public Event for her arrival in King’s Landing:
After a long journey of nearly two months from the Rills in the North, Sylvina arrives in King’s Landing together with her step-sister, Aisling, and their escort.
To see more examples of Events, use +CDB/ELIST <NAME> to see a list of Events for a character and +CDB/EVIEW <NAME>/<DATE> or +CDB/EVIEW <NAME>/ALL to view them.
Notes are used to record both IC and OOC information about a character. Notes are occasionally used by Staff to leave information for a future player. Players need to set a private Note with their character’s goals and a Note is also required for characters with the Secret: Minor or Secret: Major Flaw. This is a Private Note for Sylvina’s Goals:
It has been very much instilled in Sylvina by her mother, Tilly, that her most important goal is to secure a good marriage, preferably one that allows her to be a presence at court in King’s Landing.
To see more examples of Notes, use +CDB/NLIST <NAME> to see a list of Notes for a character and +CDB/NVIEW <NAME>/<TITLE> or +CDB/NVIEW <NAME>/ALL to view them.
Relations describe how your character views another character. Relations should not simply say ‘so and so is my brother’; they should describe the nature of your characters relationship to the other character. This is Sylvina’s Public Relation to her Sibling Aisling who is listed as a Detractor:
Sylvina has little in common with her older step-sister. Her mother, Tilly, always discouraged her from spending too much time with Aisling, and that unfortunate horse-ride that led to her fear of riding certainly proved to Sylvina that Aisling was a reckless, unladylike creature. Sylvina cannot understand why anyone would want to give themselves such a poor reputation.
To see more examples of Relations, use +CDB/RLIST <NAME> to see a list of Relations for a character and +CDB/RVIEW <NAME>/<NAME> or +CDB/RVIEW <NAME>/ALL to view them.
The Short Info fields (Eyes, Hair, Height, ShortDesc and Weight) need no special formatting. Since all of these can be viewed on any GGed character, examples of these are not provided here. On the game, use +CDB <NAME> to view them.
To see all information about a character, use the shortcut +CDB/ALL <NAME>.
Descs should be formatted with linebreaks (%R) and tabs (%T). Since Descs can be viewed on any character currently in play, examples of these are not provided here. On the game, use +DISPLAY <NAME>/DESCRIBE to view them on PCs or +CDB/VIEW <NAME>/DESC to view them on NPCs.