C.O.R.E.

Character Creation & Growth

Creating a character is quick, easy, and fun. You do not need to set aside two hours just to get ready to play. Instead, take between 15 and 30 minutes and have a fully realized character. That way, you can get right to what you like best—playing the game.

Characters in C.O.R.E. are designed from the beginning to be able to contribute to the story and to the drama. They are built quickly by choosing from a number of available background options, and then given some flexibility to tweak the numbers, so that no two characters will ever be alike.

Here are the seven simple steps needed to create a character:

1. Choose a concept. The first thing you need is an idea. Write it down. Pass it by your Director and make any changes to fit better into the world. For the best roleplaying possibilities, leave big holes—or hooks—in your character background so that the Director can easily build your character’s past into the campaign. This makes everyone’s job easier: you’ll have more fun, because you’re a real part of the story; and the Director doesn’t have to spend hours trying to figure out how to work you into the game. Don’t think in terms of game mechanics, but try to create a realistic person, with goals, likes, and dislikes.

2. Record your free abilities. Your character should be heroic, and able to do things the everyday person could not. Even if you have designed your character to be an ordinary man stuck into extraordinary circumstances, you should have the ability to pull this off. So put one point in each of your attributes before you even begin character creation. That way, even things that you’re not very skilled at will have a slight chance to succeed.

3. Choose your Backstories. Now that you have your background ready, look through each category of the Backstories (Childhood, Education, Passions, and Careers,) and pick one from each group. Each Backstory will have attributes and skill bonuses (or penalties) to assign to your character. Write those down on your character sheet. Each group builds on the others, forming a nearly complete character in just this one simple step.

Sometimes, you can’t come up with an idea that interests you. That’s all right. You can craft a great character by choosing Backstories first, and then building your character concept from there. One of the best ways to create an interesting character is to choose Backstories that do not immediately seem to fit together, and then find ways to connect them while writing up your character concept. This technique also works great when your Director has told you that everyone needs to be a certain type of character—like members of an elite squad of soldiers.

4. Customize your skills. Because even identical twins have different personalities, you need to add a little more customization to your character. You get 4 points to spend in skills however you want.

5. Choose your Secret. Every character has little skills or fantastic abilities that they can do. It is just another part of what makes your character ready to face the challenges that lie in store for them. Choose one Secret from the lists of Secrets later in the book. Don’t worry—you can get more later.

6. Spend a few Advances. Each character starts with 5 Advances to spend on things like an additional Secret, extra skills, or even another point in an attribute.

See the table later in this Act for the costs.

Note: Check with your Director about the exact number of Advances you get to start with. In some worlds or systems, a higher power level will be desired. In this case the system, setting, or Director is encouraged to assign 15, or even 20 points to attributes.

7. Flesh out the character. One last step: simply give your character a name, write down some notes about their appearance, and any other details you need to really be able to get into your character, and you are ready to play!

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Purchasing Attributes

If you would rather not use the Backstories provided, you can craft your character from scratch, spending points however you see fit. Check with your Director before using these rules. They might prefer that all characters are built using Backstories.

The first step is to assign your attributes based upon your race, as described earlier.

Once that is done, you have 10 points to spend through your attributes however you want. If the system is using only the three core attributes, the player receives eight (8) points.

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Character Growth

During the life of the game, the characters will change and grow. This is an exciting part of playing the game. The Director has a number of methods at their disposal to help the characters, but the one you need to know about is Growth Points.

Character Growth Points (CGP) represent knowledge, insight, or other experience that improves the character. CGP are awarded at the end of each Episode, unless the Director chooses to award them more or less frequently.

Directors are also encouraged to award 1-5 CGP for excellent roleplaying—especially when the roleplaying situation might hurt the character—or for fantastic ideas and solutions during the game. These bonuses are generally handed out as they occur, since this encourages more roleplaying from everyone involved.

Spending Growth Points

During the game, each player character will get CGP for meeting the player’s goals for that character’s story and the Director’s goals for the overall story. These experience points are converted to advances, usually at a rate of five CGP to one advance. Each advance that you get can be banked toward improving your character’s Attributes, Skills, and Secrets.

You can never increase the same Skill or Attribute twice in a row. You need to increase something else in between. In addition, you cannot buy two Secrets in a row.

Table A1: Advancement Costs
Advances Increase a skill 1 point	2
Increase an attribute 1 point	5
Add a Secret	1

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The Training Montage

To spend Advancements, the player must narrate a Training Montage. This is a short description of the event that is the inspiration for what they are spending their Advancements on. This might be a flashback to a pivotal event that made them start learning this skill. It might be something that happened “off-screen” that helped them develop their current skill or gave them their Secret. The player should have fun and be creative.