So, I’ve defined fourteen truths about the Forge, the extragalactic star cluster that the adventures of Starforged will take place within. Now, let’s create the character who will do that adventuring.
Per the book, my character will be human, not a synthetic, uplifted or alien life form.
The process went as follows:
1. Ready the Asset cards.
Though I purchased Starforged as a digital product, I downloaded the asset cards from the website (along with other paraphernalia), found some fancy paper, printed them out and then used a ruler and scalpel to trim them up – and then bought a couple of boxes of deck protectors.
2. Choose Two Paths
In the last two steps, I set the Path cards for VESTIGE, OUTCAST, VOIDBORN, FUGITIVE, INFILTRATOR, HEALER, GUNSLINGER, HEALER and LORE HUNTER. From those, I went with VESTIGE and, although GUNSLINGER had taken my interest, INFILTRATOR – I prefer the idea that my character is a truthseeker who goes into systems that others would prefer he didn’t.
3. Create Your Backstory
I decided that my character was born into the lost Home Galaxy as the Star Plague swept through it; as a child, he watched the very stars extinguish. He also saw the ancient, alien Iron Gates through which Humanity escaped the Plague to the Forge and was on one of the very last ships out. He went into cryosleep as a teenager for the voyage but something went wrong on the way; a part of his vessel was discovered two centuries later, with him still in his cryopod.
On the VESTIGE card, I completed “Last of” with “the Exodites.”
4. Write Your Background Vow
This actually took me a while to wrap my head around; I only properly completed it after the second session. The conversation that came to mind when addressing the first truth of the Forge, of learning and discovery saving lives, was always in mind when creating the character, so the Background Vow became:
I’ll find a way to reactivate the Iron Gates so that we can easily reach out to each other again.
5. Board Your Starship
Though the Forge’s retro-future tends toward blocky, utilitarian starships like those in Star Wars or Alien, I rather wanted something a little sleeker- kind of like the C2 Hercules Starlifter from the computer game, Star Citizen (itself with no shortage of blocky, utilitarian starships). I’ve had a crush on that starship since watching a video walkthrough on YouTube (though I’m not about to drop $440 to get access to one, thank you), and I figured that its sleekness could be explained by it being a relic of the Home Galaxy, present in the hangar deck of the fragment of the starship that my character was found on.
The starship belongs to my character (it could be argued that the whole remainder of the starship he was found on belongs to him by salvage law, though it’s probably been appropriated by the Clans as a historical artifact of significance). Envisioning it is easy, thanks to the existing art of the C2 Hercules; I did roll on the included table and got “Once a beautiful ship, now scarred by a devastating battle” (I figured the destruction of its mothership) and “Placards and control labels are in an uncommon language” (one of the galactic dialects that a main Forge language evolved out of).
I went to the name generator and can’t remember if I partway rolled this or made it up, but the name, Eternal Optimist is what stuck.
6. Choose Your Final Asset
I’d already selected the UTILITY BOT Companion card, and rather than looking a t a ship upgrade, support vehicle or another path (I could have gone with GUNSLINGER as well, I suppose), I decided to stick with it (during play, the utility bot, whom I’ve decided is sentient and another relic of the Home Galaxy, was named Otto) -while I could have gone with something more combat oriented, I figured that this was a deficiency he’ll need to work to shore up through gear or more companions.
7. Set Your Stats
A Starforged character has five core statistics: Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow and Wits. Into those, I have five values to plug: two ones, two twos and a three. Given the INFILTRATOR Path, the three went straight into Shadow; though I was tempted to try and balance mental and physical, I found I couldn’t let Heart or Wits drop, so the ones went into Edge and Iron.
8. Set Your Condition Meters
This is pure setup and requires no selections or choices.
9. Envision Your Character
Some of this didn’t come together until play, especially not until after defining my character’s callsign, but I see hm as always moving; walking or pacing or turning some small object over in his fingers. The extended hypersleep has made him slim. He tends to wear spacer’s gear, particularly the sleeker outfits from his own vessel. He’s always curious about people, often noticing details and asking at-times awkward questions.
10. Name Your Character
The random character name rolls gave me “Eren Bai,” and I’m also glad that the Callsign table gave me something cool off the first roll with Straggler Swindle Fidget Breaker Static!
To Infinity – And Beyond!
There’s one more step before Eren Bai can go adventuring in the Forge, and that’s to define the segment of the Forge in which he resides. And that will be the subject of the next blog post!
