So far so good, right? Sure, his Hit Points roll could have been better, and he looks kind of like Saladin as played by Inspector Gadget, but his stats are well above average. He certainly seems to be a cheerful guy. His future is wide open, but it's his past that he needs to worry about. Why?
He's about to go through this:
"This book contains everything you need (except dice) to create detailed character histories and includes guidelines and rule materials to accomodate any FRP game system."
Yes, that's right, this is Central Casting: Heroes of Legend, Paul Jaquays' batshit crazy lifepath book, which I recently managed to pick up for a song on eBay. I don't know much about it, but I do know it has a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini in it for no reason whatsoever.
So wipe that crooked-eyed smirk off your Saturday-morning-cartoon-looking face, Gloomspear. Things are about to get real.
I think it might be more interesting if he didn't use a spear.
ReplyDelete"So why DO they call you Gloomspear? You use an axe for crying in the soup."
Heh, I did consider doing that for a moment...
ReplyDeleteCentral Casting is much fun, bizarre and occasionally downright weird, but fun.
ReplyDeleteNice rolls, actually. even the hp are decent.
ReplyDeleteI like the spear choice, give's him the ability to move to the second rank, if he takes a couple of hp damage, but still can get some combat action.
I lament letting that book go. :(
ReplyDelete--Will you post the results?
I had a chance to sit down with Central Casting a while ago. "Batshit insane" is a good descriptor, but only in the most positive connotations of the term, I think.
ReplyDelete@ A Paladin In Citadel: I had actually given him the spear because of the name, but you're right! That would be helpful.
ReplyDelete@ Timeshadows: I intend to post the results in exhaustive detail, possibly over several blog posts.
@ sirlarkins: I've taken a better look at it, and I think you're right. Can't wait to see what happens...
Honestly, the system looks unbelievably Byzantine, but it flows really smoothly when you get down into it. And for my test run it produced a background that fit with the character I made and provided several pleasant surprises as well.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I was just looking at my copy of the third volume (the one for modern-day characters) and noticed a half-column rant at the front about how the book was not "politically correct" and that the system in that volume was designed to produce characters that reflected "our heritage of western culture, heterosexuality, traditional families, Judeo-Christian values, Jesus Christ and God..." and that "if your sensibilities will be offended by exposure to values other than those of the 'pop' philosophies of the moment, you had best retum this book to the shelf now." So depending on your viewpoint "batshit insane" could still be applied in the pejorative sense, I suppose. ;)
I seem to recall reading something else from Jaquays with similar sentiments, though I can't remember what it was now.
ReplyDeleteI think Heroes of Legend classifies homosexuality as a "Darkside" trait, or maybe an insanity? Both? Something like that. Of course, the original version of the Palladium Fantasy insanity table did the same thing...
Yeah, that's coming back to me, now, too.
ReplyDelete--Hmm. Oh well, no one is perfect. ;)