Rules

Creating a New Character

The world of Dust to Dust is one of consensual reality. Players and staffers work together in order to create a solid, consistent, and intriguing world in which the stories are told. When creating a character, it is recommended that players first consider the questions below before looking at creation points or how to allocate them. Once the questions are answered, it is further recommended that new players send their character ideas to Plot at [email protected], so that the staff is able to address any possible issues before the game begins, and so that the player can be woven into any appropriate ongoing stories.

The Dust to Dust staff strongly recommends that players submit a full character history for their characters before the beginning of play. This helps to establish several basic fundamentals of any new character, be they new players or experienced players. Knowing why a character has come to the game location, who they might possibly know, and their past experiences help to establish a deep and rich sense of the character before play begins, allowing a quick and seamless integration into the game’s on-going story. Players that submit a character history before their first event receive three (3) additional character points with which to build their character.

Steps of Character Creation

Step One: Character Race

Are you a Human, Homunculus, Returned, or Celestial?

Step Two: Character Culture

What in-game culture do you come from? If you are a Celestial, to which Sphere do you belong?

Step Three: Character Concept

This is where the character history questions help to create a rich character concept. Is your character a homunculus from the Free City of the Hulder, won by his current master in a Deck game, who has vowed to always serve his master after being shown a great mercy early on in his servitude? Perhaps your character is the daughter of a merchant in Tarsikka, with aspirations of joining the nobility, becoming one of the fabled Silver Swordsmen that patrol the land and keep it safe. There are many paths and options to explore. Don’t feel tied to what has done before. Experimentation and expansion are the lifeblood of any world.

If you are playing a Returned character, here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you form your concept:

Heroic Events - Returned ARE heroes, after all. It only makes sense that they did Heroic Stuff. If you have some ideas about what you would have liked to do and remember, send them our way and we can work them into the world appropriately. It is important that the Staff and the players work together for this portion.
NPCs - Returned obviously knew people in the First Age, after all, they lived during it. If you have some ideas for NPCs you want to have met and known, (powerful wizards, beautiful maidens, Halbert the Three Armed Jester of Endeiras, whatever) let us know. Flexibility in naming and presentation is appreciated for this. We promise to make sure your needs are met, we don't want to dismiss ideas, just make sure we incorporate them fully and appropriately.
Organizations - If you were part of an organization in the First Age (a mercenary company, a theater troupe, a minstrel network, etc.) the earlier we know about it, the better. Even if you plan on playing the game later on, the earlier this is provided the better it can make sense in the game world. We might ask that specifics change, but, like everything else, we want to make sure the players are happy with where we end up.

In addition, it is possible that your valorous deeds-- or maybe just your name-- have yet become legend, then myth, then passed on into fable and childrens stories told by modern-day people. You may wish to peruse the Ancient Tales in the Codex of Dust, and choose a role from one of the existing stories. If none of them suit your character, and you have a real-world fable or fairy tale that you think would work well, you may send your idea to plot, and we'll be happy to work with you on it.

If you are playing a modern character, you should check out the recent history page, and peruse the events there. All characters can select one role in any event for which they are eligible for free, additional roles cost five (5) button each.

Celestials also have historical events to choose from; these are not avaialble to the public, but are instead on the Celestial Racial Board on the Rule of Three Forums. You must have submitted at least a draft character concept to claim a role in any event.

Step Four: Choose Advantages and Disadvantages

Any Disadvantage you choose adds to your starting forty (40) “at creation” character points total. Any Advantage chosen costs points from your starting “at creation” character points. Many Advantages and all Disadvantages may only be selected at character creation. Be careful, your choices here will remain with your character for the rest of his or her career. Remember that you may only take Disadvantages if you have a character history on file with the Dust to Dust committee. Additionally, make sure you are able to effectively roleplay any Disadvantages you choose. You may only take a maximum of ten (10) points of Disadvantages, increasing the “at creation” build to a total of fifty (50) from base and Disadvantages. An approved character history garners an addition three (3) “at creation” points, bringing the max "at creation" points to fifty-three (53)

Step Five: Assign Character Points

You must now assign your character points wherever you feel is appropriate for your character. Make sure that the Talents and Abilities chosen are appropriate to the character concept you have chosen. You have a total of seventy-two (72) character points to spend at creation, forty (40) of which are “at creation” points and are used to purchase Advantages. The other thirty-two (32) points are experience points, and may not be used to purchase Advantages. An approved character history garners an addition three (3) “at creation” points, and Disadvantages may be taken for up to an additional ten (10), for a possible maximum of fifty-three (53) “at creation” points, and a eighty-five (85) total character points. You may also spend buttons to buy up to ten (10) more experience points (2 buttons = 1 build), bringing the maximum build a character can start with to ninety-five (95) points in total.

If you're having trouble with buying skills and abilities, here is a handy list of all the skills and their costs.

Step Six: Starting Equipment

Each character receives twenty (20) Crowns or Riyals worth of money to spend on starting equipment. All goods are purchased at their production cost. Note that any character may simply choose to keep any part of the initial allotment as actual money. The player may purchase:

Only items that the character can use.
No items above Standard quality without prior Plot approval.
No items requiring special ingredients to create.
No items that require more than ten (10) Production Points to create.
No more than ten (10) of any type of item.

Certain Advantages (i.e. Fortune) can alter the amount of starting money a character posesses. Such advantages do not change the above rules for what they may buy with that money.

Details about Advantages, Disadvantages, Talents and Abilities are available in the Dust to Dust Rulebook; you may also wish to look at the Advantages and Disadvantages section of the rules faq.

Step Seven: Send it all in!

Once you have your build, character history, and equipment all settled, the next step is to send it all to plot. If you have any questions or concerns, or want to make sure things fit correctly, we can help you with that too. The plot email is [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you, and getting to know your character!