Character Concept

The Broken World is a game where you tell a story. A story about clans, their heros, and their interactions in the building of a new world. First you will need to decide who your players in this story will be.

For inspiration, have a look around the site. Read some of the setting, and nose through the skills and traits available. Find a few points that really interest you, and try to build a clan or character around them.

Each player in the Broken World is backed by a clan. This could be your friends, clan, or comerades in arms. They could be your willing servants, or your overlords. In any case, your primary reason for attending the Assembly is to serve the interests of your clan.

While you are the hero of this story, out there changing the world, your clan are your biggest backer. If you build something, its your clan that wield the hammers. If you invent something, your clan are the first people to adopt it. If you believe something, your clan are the first people to be convinced. They are the steady hands, holding the world still for you to hit.

Your clan are not mindless puppets however. They have their own needs, and expect you and every other clansman to help fill them. For the most part they will be doing the day-to-day tasks that keep you all safe, warm and well fed.

An average clan has between a dozen and two dozen members. Some of your clan will be children, some elders. Some of your clan will be related, others will be people you picked up along the way. You needn't describe every member. Just give us a rough idea of what your clan is like.

• Are you a family, or just a bunch of people with a common interest?
• What is your common interest? What keeps your clan sticking together?
• What is your clan best at? What do others think of when they think of you?
• What tragedies have befallen your clan? How has this effected you?
• Do your clan have any secrets? Do they have a specific goal?
• Are your clan superstitious? What do your clan believe in?

Whether hero, villain or comic interlude, your character is a prominent member of your clan. Most importantly, he is a member with the time or the excuse to attend the gathering.

The Broken World is such an eclectic place that there is a wide range of possible character concepts here, from inbred mudsucking Brother Jeb who wants to discover new ways of growing crops to Felix Octavius Burnstein the 14th, latest in a line of proud warrior/do-gooders who seek out and punish evil with sword and flame.

Your character is easiest described through the skills and traits you pick. Anything extra you tell us, however, will only make the game more fun for you.

• What are your goals? What do you fear?
• What position do you hold in your clan, and where do you aim to be?
• Do you have an overarching plan for the Archipelago, or are you looking to see what happens?

While you describe your clan, the other members will be under GM control. We will do our best to match actions to the description you give us, but don't expect your clan to always do what you want them to. They will display self preservation, they will make mistakes. You will most certainly not be the only person influencing your clan.

You also can expect other members of your clan to turn up to court. These will be played by the GMs.

Thus an important thing to do is to create one important npc from your clan.

If you are still looking for inspiration, or are bored and feel like writing cool stuff, here are some more questions about your concept to consider:

We're not here to play harvest moon, but everyone on the New World farms something, and fragments have some extremely varied fauna. What makes up your clan diet?

Everyone believes something different about what the world used to be like. On a cold day by the fire, what tall tales does your grandfather tell you?

Unless you’ve picked the Eligible for Marriage trait it’s likely that you are attached. If not, give us some ideas why. Is romance/marriage beneath you? Are your preferences outside society’s norm? Are you too old, young or widowed?

What’s your clan's reason for having upped sticks and moved to the Archipelago? Give us some ideas of the sorts of things your clan has encountered before and where they came from. Based on what you give us, we'll likely give you access to some rumours that other players won't know…

What’re the general traits of your clan? Are you short and hairy, or pale with a hereditary lisp?

An easy one to forget. With such a variety in backgrounds and cultures here, pretty much any name is acceptable, but you’ll generally make it easier on others if your name is memorable and easy to pronounce (no Mau'iecentai Gnaeir of the xXphureit please)