Character generation

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Let's get started!

Please download the Dungeon World character sheets. They'll make character generation pretty straightforward.

As a first step, choose one of these classes and post your choice here:

• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Thief
• Wizard

There should only be one wizard, one fighter, etc. so first come first served, or roll 1d6 to resolve if you want the same.

Steps 2 through 10 you can do on your own and you'll find them here: Character Generation.

Please create a character in the dice roller site, and record your details as you go. Also, please add the character to the campaign with the number I sent you.

At step 11, come back here and introduce your character and we'll continue from there!

[KingOfCowards]

I think I will take the thief if no one else minds. If someone else really wants the thief, let me know. I am flexible.

[Spartakos]

I think I will go with Fighter.

[Pulpatoon]

Wizard!

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Perfect, the ultra classic adventure trio! But we should have one more joining us - I'll chase him up.

So, if you'd all follow Pulp's lead, and go through the character gen steps, then introduce your character in this thread please...

[KingOfCowards]

This is Boggs, a thief of ill repute. He has criminal eyes, very short-cropped hair, and a lithe body. He wears dark clothes with a bandana around his neck. He looks like a mean person, who you would avoid on most occasions if you had the choice. Even the way he stairs at his mug of ale, makes you believe that he secretly wants to punch it.

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This is Boggs, a thief of ill repute. He has criminal eyes, very short-cropped hair, and a lithe body. He wears dark clothes with a bandana around his neck. He looks like a mean person, who you would avoid on most occasions if you had the choice. Even the way he stairs at his mug of ale, makes you believe that he secretly wants to punch it.

Excellent! A few questions:

• Boggs sounds angry. What's he angry at?
• Who taught Boggs thieving?
• What would Boggs most like to steal?

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Just to be clear: much of the world building in Dungeon World happens through questions like these, and your answers become facts about the world. I've not planned an adventure, nor created a detailed world – all of that will come from the Q&A we'll do here. As I ask and you answer, the relationships between your characters (the bonds mentioned in the SRD) will form, story hooks will dangle, and we'll all get at least the outline of a picture of the world and where your characters belong in it.

So keep introducing, answer questions, and let's create a world you want to play in!

[Pulpatoon]

Doctor Oelle was raised among scholars, and began studying medicine at an early age. He proved gifted, and learned to combine medicine with magic. His restless mind has since turned to the larger world, as he seeks to test whether his arcane theories regarding the rhythms and harmonies of human anatomy hold true on a larger scale. To this end, he has taking to wandering the wild places, cataloging his observations and gathering samples.

Oelle dresses as a plague doctor, with a mask full of unpleasant aromatics (to exclude foul vapors that disrupt the body's humors). He is dedicated to healing the sick and documenting new discoveries. He had an equally gifted rival from school, Doctor Charde.

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Doctor Oelle sounds pretty idosyncratic, which comes as no surprise of course. Some questions for Doctor Oelle:

• Where did you study?
• Why are you and Dr. Charde rivals?
• You're in an ancient forest. Why did you come, and what obstacles did you overcome to get here?

[jbinc]

Howdy all! Mind if I take the Bard?

[Spartakos]

Meet Bedwyr, the cheerfully amoral swordsman of the group. He smiles a lot and likes to enjoy himself, but he is lazy, arrogant, and enjoys fighting. He is no coward, and has loyalty to those he considers friends, but feels that the rest of the world can mostly go hang.

Bedwyr is fair and blond, tall, slim, and muscular. He has eager eyes that belie his bloodthirsty nature. He wears his hair shaggy in part so he can pass as a (youthful) human, when he wishes.

[Pulpatoon]

Some questions for Doctor Oelle:

• Where did you study?
• Why are you and Dr. Charde rivals?
• You're in an ancient forest. Why did you come, and what obstacles did you overcome to get here?

Oelle studied at the Scholae Universitas, a vast ingrown complex mouldering in the center of the Imperial City, all but forgotten by the thriving metropolis around it. He was born in the Scholae, the illegitimate child of a graduate student.

Oelle and Charde both distinguished themselves as students at an early age, and continued to outstrip their peers every year after. As such, they came under special scrutiny. The Professors, a bitter, contentious, and insecure bunch, vied for the opportunity to mentor such promising minds, and the boys found themselves swept up and separated by schisms they were barely aware of. As they grew older, it became natural to assume that if the one succeeded, the other was somehow diminished. Oelle lost considerable ground in this competition when he went left to study in the field, but he hopes a truly great discovery will elevate his position. Charde, however, has only grown in prestige and resources.

Oelle is seeking evidence that certain rhythms and tides he has observed in the human body are mirrored in the natural world. He is seeking a particular configuration of sufficiently ancient trees, fungi, and mineral deposits to track a record of these rhythms over the millennia. He left civilization well provisioned, with three mules, a horse, and a wealth of equipment. He lost nearly all of this in a mudslide during a week of torrential rain. He is now reduced to a single pack, and has been eating weeds and bark to stretch out his remaining rations. But OH! the sketches he's gotten! He is now deep in the heart of the forest, where the trees are as much mineral as vegetable, and their rings recount the earliest days of creation.

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Howdy all! Mind if I take the Bard?

Perfect! Looking forward to meeting him.

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A few questions for Bedwyr:

• Learning to fight well is hard work. As a lazy elf, how did you manage?
• How were you raised and why did you leave the elves?
• What was your greatest fight to date and how did it go?

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Ah! And I forgot an important question for Bedwyr: where did you get that beautiful sword?

[jbinc]

Dunwick spent most of his life as a humble lamplight, learning what he could about the world from what he saw on the streets below his lamps. Last year, an unexpected gift of a noble's lute set him on the path to bard-dom. He hides his greying hair and shallow frame beneath well-kept leathers and a fancy cap. After realising the worth of his skills to himself and others after years of anonymity, he's sometimes keen - perhaps too keen? - to prove himself.

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So now we're complete!

A few questions for Dunwick:

• Let's say you were a lamplight in Urbem, the imperial city where Oelle studied. What was life like for you there?
• Who gave you the lute and why?
• If you could perform for anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

[jbinc]

Let's say you were a lamplight in Urbem, the imperial city where Oelle studied. What was life like for you there?

Not too bad, if you kept to yourself. My lighter's license meant I could stay out after curfew, although plenty of constables would claim it had "expired", given half a chance. Usually though, they had their hands full with the gang wars and the tickermen.

Who gave you the lute and why?

I shouldn't have even been there, really. Some daft old codger smelling of perfume - from the meat district, probably. He was out after hours and well in his cups... easy prey for the tickermen. Normally I'd have left them to it, but something was different that night. I jumped down and the next thing I remember, I'm helping the old man to his feet, my hands slick with oil and grease.

I found the lute on my doorstep the next day. Damndest thing... I never told him where I lived, or that I used to dream of becoming a bard like my grandfather.

If you could perform for anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

You hear a lot of talk of 'the legend of such and such' in the taverns, but I'm here to tell you most of it's a load of old tripe. There is one story though... the great paladin, Erasmus Fletch. You know the one, overthrew the chaoslings at the fortress of the Fae? Came from humble beginnings, just like me, and went down in history a hero, just like... well. Either way, I'm not one for spreading rumours, but they say while his sword still gleams in the temple of truth, he's still out there, fighting the good fight. Maybe when he's done fighting, he'd like to hear a tune or two.

[KingOfCowards]

• Boggs sounds angry. What's he angry at?
  People in general. That barkeep most recently, the whore he met two nights ago, almost everybody really. Boggs has little patience for flattery and fools, and finds most of the world at odds with his bluntness. Like the braggart who pretends to be brave, yet would cower when faced with real danger. Or the public official, who keeps skeletons in his closet. By his estimation, 9 out of 10 people are counterfeit, yet they'll call him dishonest. Boggs is honest in his own way. He doesn't pretend to be good or even good-natured, for that matter. That makes him a truer man than most.
• Who taught Boggs thieving?
  Boggs was orphaned at a young age. The streets were less than kind and he had to learn how to care for himself; begging at first, then stealing when it proved more profitable, and always fighting for what was "rightfully" his. Eventually he was taken in by another gang, older boys who were mostly buffoons and simpletons who were always ready to fight and eager to die. But a few of that sad lot had their heads on straight and could teach him a thing or two. It was baptism by fire, the newest members took the most risks, but if you survived you couldn't help but get better. Sly Eli had taught him locks and traps, the Gray Ghost helped trained him to fight, and it was a man named Luca Fortuno who taught him to brew poisons.
• What would Boggs most like to steal?
  "What would I like to steal? Who's asking? Alight sonny, you're a decent lad, I'll give you a few tips. It would have to be something easy to sell. I picked a bag o' gems from a merchant once. All small, little stones. But everybody takes gems. I'd say that's the way to go. But if I had my choice of anything...well...that's a tough one. I've heard tales of the Demon Star, a dark red ruby bigger than my fist. Yeah, a take like that would set me up fer life, I tell you."