Building a Character: Trinity Continuum

So as much as I enjoy running and writing about my Exalted game, I've been wanting to do more broad gaming content. I've got ideas I might blog about, but there's a lot of "I'm not sure I've got anything worth saying or anyone interested in hearing it" going on in my head, and while I sort that out I'm gonna toss out a couple more character building posts when I've got the time/inclination. In theory there's other stuff I could/should be working on, but these posts are easy enough to pick up and put back down as I work on them in chunks, and in the absence of any feedback or suggestions, I'm just gonna do whatever.

So with that in mind, I think I'm gonna write up some Trinity Continuum characters. Just one now, I mean, but there'll be more in the future.

Some quick-ish background: Trinity started with a game called ÆON in 1997, from original recipe White Wolf. It was put together at record speed after Mark Rein-dot-Hagen started work on a sci-fi RPG, and somewhere between the announcement and intended release he left White Wolf and took the game with him. So now White Wolf had a gap in their publishing schedule that was intended for some sort of sci-fi RPG and by some miracle produced a complete game, from conception to printed books, in about 10 months. To be clear, the miracle isn't that the game happened at all but in the fact that it was actually really good even before accounting for the production timeline. It used a version of the Storyteller system and kicked off a series of games known as the Trinity Universe. 

ÆON is a kind of a kitchen sink setting that allows for a lot of different sci-fi subgenres, from Star Trek-style space opera to Starship Troopers-style military science fiction to dystopian cyberpunk and more. Somehow, Viacom decided this infringed on Æon Flux and pitched a fit, but only after the books had been physically printed. Which is why, if you've seen a limited edition copy of ÆON, the infamous spiral-bound one with the plastic binder cover, it likely had a sticker on the cover renaming it 'Trinity.' (I know mine sure did) I'll get a little more into ÆON/Trinity when I write up a character for the modern edition, Trinity Continuum: Æon. 

(Yes, I plan on doing all of the Trinity Continuum games eventually, or at least all of the ones that are properly available. I'm waffling over whether to do posts for games where we only have the crowdfunding preview versions. Also, I haven't decided if I'm going to do Trinity Continuum: Assassins, but if I do I'll probably save it for after I've knocked out the games we have full books for. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.)

But, moving on, ÆON/Trinity led to Aberrant (taking place about a century earlier and being about superheroes of a sort) and Adventure! (taking place about a century before that, and was a pulp adventure setting), and then some d20 versions, and all of this was called the Trinity Universe. Then, a little over a decade ago, Onyx Path Publishing acquired the Trinity IP from White Wolf (CCP edition), and they asked Ian A.A. Watson to blow the dust off an old pitch for a Trinity reboot. Spoiler alert, the game line was rebooted as the Trinity Continuum and has been taken farther than the original Trinity Universe ever got to go.

(By the way, there's some debate as to whether the d20 versions constitute an 'edition' in their own right, and by extension whether the Trinity Continuum should be considered the second or third edition. I personally count the d20 games as an edition, but I just refer to Trinity Continuum as the 'modern' edition for simplicity's sake.)

And that meandering road I've drawn leads us back to here, where I'm going to make a character for the Trinity Continuum core book. Trinity Continuum has a kinda-vague default setting (that I'm gonna call 'Trinity Core' or 'TC Core' for simplicity's sake) that takes place in a version of our world that runs on what I call 'narrative physics.' (I apologize if I'm subconsciously/unintentionally ripping off someone else's term, but doing a quick search on the phrase doesn't turn up any obvious sources I could have gotten it from.) In other words, the setting plays by the rules of action-adventure media where physics seem to conveniently ensure main/major characters can be back in fighting action in time for next week's episode. Think Leverage, The A-Team, Ocean's Eleven, Global Frequency, and the Fast and the Furious films. If it could be described as 'modern day pulp,' it falls under Trinity Core's umbrella.

But the Trinity Continuum as a whole does this in kind of a sci-fi way, and while the dial on that is set pretty low for Trinity Core it means that you'll get scientific breakthroughs and high-energy physics accidents and the like creating the sort of weirdness seen in media like Fringe, Agents of SHIELD, Atomic Robo, Eureka, or even Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. I'll get more into the source of this sci-fi weirdness as we go, but as I've rambled more than enough on the basics without even a single character stat mentioned, let's get into it!

(And of course, if it needs to be said, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or wherever you got the link to this post.)

Before I get into any mechanics, I just want to clarify that for simplicity's sake I'm sticking with just the Trinity Continuum core book. I'm not using anything from the Player's Guide, the Tasty Bits, or the Storypath Ultra Preview. I might use supplements for the other TC games, but for this one I'm keeping it simple.

Step One: Concept

Okay, here's where I figure out what I want to play. Again, as is often the case, preferably I'd want to be doing this in a group with other people as part of a Session Zero, it's just not as explicit of a step in Trinity Continuum as it is in, say, Exalted: Essence. So while I haven't planned the whole character out ahead of time or anything like that, I have had a vague concept in the back of my head.

So this character started off with a childhood dream of making video games, then graduated from college and immediately recognized the dumpster fire that is the larger industry. While figuring out what else he could do with the programming skills he's developed, he put together an indie RPG that became a surprise hit. Now he's suddenly got more money and clout than he knows what to do with, and put both toward social activism and some low-key philanthropy, and in doing so got mixed up with... well, I'll get to that.

I don't strictly have to, but in theory I should come up with a summary for this concept. So we'll say "Indie darling game dev turned activist." (I might revise this somewhere between now and the official sheet at the end of this post.)

I should name him, too... I'm just gonna come up with something off the top of my head... Okay, it's actually really hard to come up with something that doesn't sound like a reference... okay, screw it. Using a random name generator. Martin Taylor, there we go. We'll say his online handle -- his brand, really -- is 'MarTay.' Ugh, I just created a character with a brand. (The 'ugh' is a joke. Mostly.)

Okay, and now do I move on to... ah, okay, there's more actual stuff to do at this stage of character creation. Been a while since I've made a Continuum character. So next I need to pick some Aspirations. These don't necessarily have to be character goals, but can reflect my intentions for the character. I pick two short-term and one long-term. Completing Aspirations is a way to earn experience points -- with bonus experience if everyone achieves a short-term Aspiration in the same session.

Short-term Aspirations are stuff like "Win a fight for once," "Learn a secret," "Find a job," etc. Stuff that could be accomplished in a single session. My instinct is to say that if I were statting up Martin for a game, I'd pick one and leave one undefined for something that might tie into the story or specific setting, but that feels like a lazy cop-out in in this context. So let's see... first short-term Aspiration is "Make a new gaming industry connection." The second will be "Find a cause I can help."

In theory, one or both of these will give the Storyguide ideas for events to help drive the plot -- the second one in particular is practically a preemptive offer to grab the plot hook, but the first might also be a path to an NPC who'll move the story.

And now a long-term Aspiration. This is something that should take multiple sessions to achieve, and may lead to some growth or change for the character. Oh, I know. "Assemble a small game dev studio." In this case, Martin wants to get some game creators together in a way that will let him build some bigger projects, advance his career, and so forth. It has a little bit overlap with "Make a new gaming industry connection," above, but that's totally okay! Short-term Aspirations can absolutely be steps in the path to achieving a long-term Aspiration.

Okay, and now we move on to...

Step Two: Paths

Paths are one of the cornerstones of the Storypath system, as the name implies. They have their roots in the first edition of ÆON/Trinity, in which your choice of faction affected how you distributed your Ability dots. Paths are a pretty smooth system -- a lot smoother than it might look on paper, in fact. (I actually ran playtests for TC: Æon, and even though I should have probably made pregens I let folks build their own characters and they found it remarkably quick -- even those not as experienced or systems-savvy.) There's a bunch in the books and I'm going to stick with the print ones for this post, but Paths are pretty variable and easy to put together on the fly.

Each character has three Paths: an Origin Path, a Role Path, and a Society Path. Each Path comes with a community connection and a contact, and helps define your Skills and Edges. The Path rating affects how many Skill and Edge dots you get, and how often you can access Path-related resources, and let you 'buy' contacts or assign tags to existing contacts. Paths start at 1, can go up to 5, and each dot gives you three dots of Skills and two dots of Edges from those associated with the Path.

For quick context, Skills function like in most other 'fistful of d10' games, as commonly seen in variations on Storyteller. You get a handful of dice based on the Skill/Ability/whatever rating, another number based on the Attribute, combine them, see how many you get over a target number. Edges fulfill the same function as Merits in Exalted or Chronicles of Darkness, or a combo of World of Darkness' Backgrounds and Merits. They represent resources or capabilities outside of skill sets alone.

First, Martin's Origin Path. Let's go with Suburbia. His family didn't have a lot of money growing up, but he was certainly comfortable, with a pretty uneventful childhood where he had room to work out what he wanted to do. And even though this isn't the 'Life of Privilege' Origin Path, he's still pretty aware he's had it better than a lot of folks and tries to keep that in mind. His community connection will be... hm, I know. I'm thinking one or both of his parents works for a fundraising organization like the United Way or something similar (actually, an idea occurs to me there...), and given Martin's own charity work he knows some people there. As for his contact... I'm thinking one of his college professors, maybe someone who served as his adviser. Her name's Lisa Spencer, she used to do computer animation for film/TV, and took a more stable job teaching but she might still have one or two entertainment contacts. So that'll give her the 'Well Connected' tag. 

His Origin Path Skills are Culture, Empathy, Humanities, and Technology. As tempting as it is to just put all three dots in Technology, I just don't work that way when it comes to character building. I'm gonna put two dots in Technology for the moment and the last one in Humanities (which is general knowledge of art, history, philosophy, and so forth). The Path Edges Suburbia are Artistic Talent, Big Hearted, Library, Patron, and Wealth, and I get two dots to distribute. Artistic Talent and Big Hearted seem appropriate to the concept on the surface, but the actual mechanics don't quite fit what I've got in mind for the character. I think I'm going to put both dots in Wealth, actually. He could probably justify more with a surprise hit indie video game, but maybe this is what he has left over for personal funds after doing stuff with the rest.

Next is his Role Path, what he would bring to a group. I've seen people interpret this as being like a 'character class,' especially in short-run Actual Plays, and I'll be honest that kinda makes me eye-twitch a bit. But it does reflect where you fit in terms of group dynamics -- if I were creating Martin with a group, we'd likely be trying to make sure our Roles were distinct from each other or at least fitting with what sort of game it was. 

Now, being a list of samples in a book where they kinda expect you to make your own, it's short, but we'll go with Technology Expert. I feel like Martin's more broadly capable with tech than he might realize, and would probably serve as a decent hacker if it came to it. He just hasn't been pushed in that direction yet. But like I said, he got into indie game stuff while looking into ways to do more with his computer skills.

His community connection here is going to be the video game dev community, which probably doesn't need a lot of explanation. His contact is gonna be Diane Waters, another game developer who helped build the engine he used for the game, with whom he developed a friendship while getting some help with the engine. The list of sample tags is a pretty short one, so I'm gonna make up one and give her the 'Creative Solutions' tag. This would provide bonuses if she's helping him with certain tech problems.

(Actually, I should name/describe this game at some point. We'll call it "The Fatedealer's Grimoire" and it's a fantasy RPG with a magic system that uses deckbuilding mechanics.)

Technology Expert's Path Skills are Culture, Enigmas, Science, and Technology. So I'll take another dot in Technology and two in Enigmas (which is about being good at logic puzzles, complex math, cryptology, that sort of thing). The Path Edges are Demolition Training, Library, Lightning Calculator, Ms. Fix It, Patron, Weak Spots, and Swift. I kinda wanna take Weak Spots, but that's only one dot and the only options for the loose dot are Demolition Training (yeah no), Library, Patron, and Swift. (Lightning Calculator and Ms. Fix It are both two dots) Training with explosives is right out, I can't think of anything good for a Library or Patron, and he's definitely not a runner. So instead I'm going to put both dots into Lightning Calculator (which gives him bonuses to rolls that can be assisted by mathematical calculation like gambling or code breaking), and just put a pin in 'Weak Spots' for the free dots I'll get later.

Finally, his Society Path. This reflects an organization to whom he's loyal, and this is where I get my "been waiting to dig into this" smile. See, Trinity Core has many possible player character factions, each with a different focus. I'm not going to get into all of them, as this isn't a book review post, but some of my favorites are, in no particular order: 

• 9, a consulting firm specializing in security and intelligence issues, investigating strange technologies and events, much in the style of early Agents of SHIELD, minus the Hydra infiltration.
• Pharaoh's Lightkeepers, a quasi-secret group of do-gooders with special skills and a talent for making the world better, gathered and directed by a secretive individual known as Pharos, kind of in the vein of Person of Interest or Global Frequency.
• National Office of Emergency Research, a government think tank focused on investigating 'paraphysical' phenomena and flux events (more on flux in a bit), which is basically Fringe Division from the TV series Fringe (in the blue universe, at least).
• Les Fantômes, the world's greatest thieves, with a fondness for robbing those with the most to lose and retrieving valuable stolen items, very much like Leverage, especially with the larger organization it's portrayed as in the revival.

These aren't necessarily groups I'd see Martin joining (though Pharaoh's Lightkeepers would find a use for his skills and connections), just some personal favorites from the core. Among the smaller Allegiances in the book is the Triton Foundation, a huge nonprofit focused on medical research and overall humanitarian charity work -- this is where we circle back to the idea I had back with the Origin Path. I'm thinking one or both of Martin's parents works for the Triton Foundation -- they're not Talents themselves (more on those in a bit), but they do still work for the Foundation. And it was through the Foundation that we get to Martin's Allegiance and Society Path, the one big name I left off the list: The Æon Society.

Founded in the 1920's by philanthropist adventurer Maxwell Mercer, the Society started as a group of adventurers investigating and studying strange occurrences with the intent to use what they learned and found to better society. In the decades since they've remained just out of the limelight, gathering people of extraordinary talent with an intent to make the world better. The Triton Foundation comes from Æon, as does another faction in the core book, the Neptune Foundation (who specialize in crisis response). I'm thinking after Martin's game went big and he threw himself in to finding causes to support with his newfound money and status, either he sought them out through their ties to the Triton Foundation or they came to him first to find a place for his skills.

(As the name suggests, Æon has its OOC roots in the first edition of ÆON/Trinity, where they were a group called the Æon Trinity that stood apart from the Psi Orders to try and combine their resources and abilities to humanity's betterment. A version of the Society exists in every era explored in the game, and my loose plan is to write up a character for each of the Trinity Continuum lines aligned with the era's version of Æon.)

For this one I'm gonna start with the Skills and Edges to get those out of the way. The Society Path's Skills are Aim, Close Combat, Enigmas, and Pilot. Interesting, okay, this is definitely outside of his regular wheelhouse. But y'know what, he's an adventurer now, and he's not going to turn down some self-defense training. So screw it, a dot in Aim and one in Close Combat, and the last dot is gonna go in Enigmas.

Next are Path Edges. Those are Always Prepared, Direction Sense, Artifact, Library, Wealth. I'm gonna put one of my Edge dots into Always Prepared (making Martin immune to losing ambush rolls) and the other... hm... if this were for a game that would be doing a lot of travel, I'd consider Direction Sense. I could go for a third dot of Wealth, or maybe... oh, I know. I think I'll take a dot of Library after all. Since he's hooked up with the Society, Martin has used their resources to broaden his computer skills. I'm liking more and more the idea of him becoming an activist hacker over time, so I'm thinking he's put together a collection of info on cryptography -- while the Edge isn't this granular, I imagine he's probably spent a lot of time looking into weird, archaic, and obscure forms of encryption and ciphers. So that dot will give him Enhancement on research rolls.

With those squared away, we get into connections. Martin's community connection from the Æon Society is going to be... actually, let's just say the Triton Foundation. Now, I said above that his parents work for the Foundation, and I kind of reference that when talking about his Origin Path community connection. So I think I'm going to retroactively clarify that the Origin Path connection is 'Local fundraising networks' while his ties through the Society give him a more direct line to the Triton Foundation as a whole. 

And his contact is going to be a mentor of some sort. My first thought is a retired intelligence expert, an expert in computer surveillance and counter-surveillance who's officially 'out of the game' but still teaches newcomers for the Society. The sort of character who, on TV, would be played by some old That Guy actor doing a cameo as a favor to the producer or keep up his guild benefits. (Sorry, that got a little meta, even for me.) But we'll say his name is David Hawk, and give him the 'Sneaky' tag out of the example list in the book.

So we're not completely done with Skills or Edges yet, but before we continue, just so we're keeping track: Martin's current Skills are Aim 1, Close Combat 1, Enigmas 3, Humanities 1, Technology 3. And his Edges are Always Ready, Library 1, Lightning Calculator, Wealth 2.

So now that I've got that set up, we move on to...

Step Three: Skills, Skill Tricks, and Specialties

First off, I get six extra dots of Skills I can just put anywhere. Okay, let's go down the list... well, I think first I wanna take a fourth dot in Technology. Trinity Continuum is the sort of system that encourages going up to 5 if you want to, because your characters are supposed to be exceptional, but I think I'm good with 4. Let's also put 2 dots in Culture, to represent general knowledge of art, religion, pop culture -- feels like the sort of thing someone wanting to make games would make an effort to know. Next I'll put 2 dots in Empathy, because he needs some people skills, and one dot... hm, I'll put that last one into Humanities, to beef up his book learnin'.

So that'll put his Skill spread at Aim 1, Close Combat 1, Culture 2, Empathy 2, Enigmas 3, Humanities 2, Technology 4.

And now I get to pick a Skill Trick for a Skill at 3 or higher. Skill Tricks are basically what they sound like -- tricks I can do with Skills of a sufficient rating. I'm capable of having one Skill Trick for each Skill at 3, and an additional one for each dot past that. But I just get one for free right now. So, looking over the sample ones for Enigmas and Technology, I'll take Elite Hacker for Enigmas. (Depending on exactly what you're doing, computer hacking in Trinity Continuum is as likely to be Enigmas as Technology, which is part of why I put dots in both.) It lets me spend a Momentum to have Martin hack into any non-Talent created computer system without a roll, and ignore a Complication in the process.

(For context, Momentum is a resource that builds as characters fail rolls and such, and can be spent to activate Skill Tricks or add dice to a roll.)

And now I get to choose a Specialty for any Skill at 3+ dots. Now, this tends to be unintuitive for people used to other Storyteller/Storytelling games, because in this case a Specialty doesn't improve the Skill it's attached to but others. So a Pistol Specialty for Aim wouldn't add to Aim rolls, but it might add Enhancement to a Close Combat roll to pistol-whip someone or a Medicine roll to treat a gunshot wound.

But that's a free Specialty for Enigmas and one for Technology. The Technology one is obviously gonna be Computers, and while it may be putting a hat on a hat I'll go the simple route and take a Cryptology specialty in Enigmas. Make sure that specific niche is covered.

Step Four: Attributes

Now this is an interesting difference between Storypath and other 'dots and d10s' games, one that seems really subtle at first but definitely affects your approach. Which will seem to be a pun in a moment but it's fully unintentional. 

You see, in a World of Darkness game, if you want to shoot someone, it's going to be Dexterity + Firearms. Storypath, however, goes with the Skill first, and the Attribute can be variable. Sure, it's Aim to use a ranged attack, but the Attribute can vary depending on circumstance. Just pulling out a gun and shooting someone is likely to be Aim + Dexterity. If they're in close quarters and you're having to wrestle with the gun to get a good angle, it's going to be Aim + Might instead. A sniper might roll Aim + Composure because they have to remain calm, steady, line up the shot, and wait for their moment. An assassin smooth-talking their way right up to someone at a party to shoot them them point blank might roll Aim + Manipulation.

You get the idea.

So there are nine Attributes, divided into three Arenas: Physical, Mental, and Social. I start with one dot in each Attribute, prioritize the Arenas, and distribute six in the top-ranked, four in the middle, and two in the bottom-ranked. Martin's easy in this regard, I think: Gonna prioritize Mental Attributes with +2 dots for Intellect, +2 for Cunning, and +2 in Resolve. Next is Social Attributes with +1 for Presence, +1 for Manipulation, and +2 for Composure. Finally, last but not least, Physicals: +1 in Dexterity and +1 in Stamina.

Next I choose an Approach to be Favored. The Approaches are Force, Finesse, and Resilience -- if this sounds like the Attributes in Exalted: Essence, that's not an accident. A lot of the same systems people worked on both and there's a lot of shared DNA there.

And while the individual dots as they're laid out now suggest a leaning towards Resilience, I do feel like Martin's going to address problems using direct methods, and not try to complicate things too much. So his Favored Approach is going to be Force, and each of those Attributes gets an extra dot.

Right now, Martin's Attributes are sitting at Intellect 4, Cunning 3, Resolve 3, Might 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 3. We'll add to this later.

Step Five: Apply Template

Oh yes, there are templates involved here. While I've described Martin as a pretty mundane-ish guy, Trinity Core characters are anything but. This is where I get into flux and Talents.

Flux is an energy that comes from different universes rubbing up against each other. It can cause weird events to happen, or create thin spots in the barriers between worlds. One of the best pop culture examples I can think of that demonstrates flux is in the TV series Fringe (very minor spoilers ahead), in which there are weak spots in the universe that slightly tweak reality so nigh-impossible feats of science, physics, and so forth are a little more possible.

At the risk of seeming reductive, flux is where luck comes from in the Trinity Continuum setting. All intelligent beings have a subconscious ability to nudge the odds in their favor with flux. Some people have considerably more, though by and large they're not aware of it. Those people, when acknowledged at all (because they're very hard to find), are called Talents. 

Talents are the default characters of Trinity Core: people possessed of a certain combination of natural potential, incredible determination, preternatural skills, and unusual luck.

(For those of you familiar with the first edition Trinity Universe stuff, 'Talent' is another name for what Adventure! called Daredevils.)

And taking a moment to step aside from character-building, there's actually kind of a debate among fans regarding whether Talents count as 'human,' because there are things they can do that 'normal' humans can't and some phenomena even respond to them differently. Personally, I see Talents as human -- manipulating flux to some degree is a thing all humans can do, and saying that a Talent is less human for their ability to do so is like saying Usain Bolt is less human than your local track star who came in second at the state finals. Talents have special abilities, sure, but with a few rare exceptions these are abilities that the players use to change circumstances for the character, not something the character consciously draws on. (At least by default -- different groups may touch on it in different ways.)

My personal feelings are that in a game where it's actually codified in the rules (more or less) that your importance to the story can make you more likely to survive an explosion, it's a little silly to argue that you couldn't write up Batman as a Talent because somehow having a template invalidates the 'normal human with peak training and determination' elements of him. (Because so many normal humans are conveniently born into the sort of wealth that lets them wander the globe seeking out experts in a dozen disciplines to acquire that training.) There are people who think that giving Batman anything more than Skills, Skill Tricks, Attributes, and Edges is somehow missing the point of him, and I disagree.

Whoops, tripped over a soapbox. Sorry about that.

So, yeah, Talents. Possessed of great potential, natural skill, incredible luck, and so on. Important things tend to happen to or around them, and as weirdness magnets they tend to gather together in groups like the Æon Society.

So first, we determine the moment of Inspiration, the point where someone attunes with flux to the point where now it's a part of their lives. Usually it's some sort of dramatic, life-changing event -- sometimes one that happens when someone is a child, or even an infant, giving them a charmed life. (One of the hypothetical examples in the book is a premature baby who was stillborn but resuscitated as a medical miracle.) The exact circumstance gives you a free dot of an Attribute, so lemme look down the list here...

I think I'm gonna go with Social Challenge. So after Fatedealer's Grimoire hit big, Martin naturally found himself swarmed by the usual crowds on the internet, both good and bad. Maybe some element in the game was misinterpreted and caused a bunch social media right-wingers to try and co-opt him. Either way, he was suddenly a celebrity and made some sort of statement that wrested control of the situation and possibly kicked off his intention to use his newfound fame and money to help those that need it. This lets me pick any Social Attribute to boost, so I'll pick... oh, let's go with Manipulation.

So next is...

Step Six: Add Advantages

To be honest, I'm not sure why this is a separate step from Apply Template, especially when it adds a step to the character creation process as described earlier in the book, but we're here and we're doing it.

So as a note, the line between Gifts and Skill Tricks is frankly a little blurry in places, but Gifts draw upon Inspiration -- which I'll explain in a moment, I'm doing all this in the order it's presented in the book -- while Skill Tricks use Momentum. I think the best way to explain the difference (or at least the intent) is that a Skill Trick might let someone stack a deck of cards as they were shuffling it and deal out poker hands to exacting specifications. But only a Talent could draw a single card from the deck and just happen to pull the ace he needs to beat those other hands. But, again, it gets blurry.

Martin gets four Gifts. Each Path comes with keywords to define the Gifts available to him based on related Attributes or Skills, and three of his four Gifts have to be tied to his Path Keywords -- one for each -- and then a fourth without restrictions. Suburbia comes with Manipulation, Culture, and Empathy. Technology Expert has Intellect, Science, and Technology. And the Æon Society grants access to Close Combat, Enigmas, and Pilot.

So after perusing the lists, his first Gift (from Suburbia) is going to be Contain the Calamity, as a Manipulation Gift. He can serve as a calming presence, help the people around him cope with stress, and can find the right words to deescalate a rough situation. As long as he can communicate uninterrupted, he can spend an Inspiration to remove certain negative conditions from the area, and people trying to maintain a hostile atmosphere have difficulties to do so.

His Technology Expert Gift is going to be Instant Expert, an Intellect Gift. It means he's a quick study (or maybe has a lot of beginner's luck), and can spend Inspiration to get a boost to doing things when he doesn't have any dots in the Skill for the scene.

His third Gift (from the Society Path) is finally going to be a computer-related one: Deep System Scan, from Enigmas. As long as he spends a scene with a computer, he can access any data that was ever on it (though he has to spend Inspiration to recover lost/deleted files), discover tampering, etc. He doesn't even have to roll for this unless the tampering was in some way paranormal.

And then I get a fourth Gift from any list as long as he can meet the prerequisites. And let's take a Luck Gift -- Always Connected. No matter where he is, he can somehow find a wi-fi or cell signal to connect to for sending messages or hacking or whatever. In extreme circumstances (like being stuck at the bottom of the ocean, trapped on another planet, etc.), he might have to spend an Inspiration, but he can always find something.

And with that out of the way, we move on to his Inspiration. Inspiration is a Talent's 'power stat,' reflecting how they deal with flux. It provides points that are spent for Gifts and a bunch of different potential bonuses, and can be spent for Dramatic Editing. Lots of tabletop games have some version of Dramatic Editing -- simply, you spend Inspiration to change circumstances around your character, often by retroactively declaring certain details. You can't blatantly overrule established facts or events (without a lot of points and a really good explanation), but it means a Talent needing an emergency vehicle can just happen to find a car with a spare key in the sun visor. Or maybe the weather shifts enough to make noise to cover an attempt at stealth. Or the after-hours janitor at the library happens to be a former classmate who owes the Talent a big enough favor to let them in.

By default, Dramatic Editing is not a power the character has, but something the player does. While flux is doing the 'work' on the Talent's behalf, Dramatic Editing (in the words of a friend of mine) is a power in the same way that 'being affected by gravity' is a power.

So Inspiration has three Facets: Destructive, Intuitive, and Reflective. This post is already way too long so I'm not going to go into all the mechanics of the Facets, but they factor into certain rolls and bonuses that might involve direct and forceful action, quick thinking and wit, or calm patience, respectively. I get three points to distribute among them, and that's gonna be Destructive 1 and Reflective 2.

Martin's Inspiration score starts at one, and increases by one for each Facet he has at 1, 3, and 5. Since he's got two Facets at 1, this means he starts with Inspiration 3. (Yes, this means you can get Inspiration points by just putting one dot in each Facet, if you're so inclined.)

Step Seven: Finishing Touches

Almost done!

So now he gets... oh, I forgot about this, he gets a bonus Attribute dot that can go anywhere as long as it doesn't take it above the maximum (which is normally 5, but it can be 6 with an Edge). So let's drop another dot into Intellect.

So with this new bonus and the one from his Moment of Inspiration, his final Attribute lineup is Intellect 5, Cunning 3, Resolve 3, Might 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 3.

And now he gets four more dots of Edges, that aren't restricted by Path. So before I forget to do so, he's going to get two dots in the Fame Edge, which feels about right for an internet celebrity -- he's known in the field of video games, but he's not exactly a worldwide phenomenon. Next I'm going to put a dot in Weak Spots, as I mentioned above -- this gives him a knack for spotting weaknesses in materials, plans, you name it, and can reroll dice or ignore Complications in certain circumstances. And I'll put that last dot into... oh, I know. Photographic Memory. Photographic Memory goes up to three dots, but the first one means you've studied or been trained in memorization techniques, as long as you can focus on the situation. (You can memorize a conversation you're overhearing, but not one you're actively a part of.)

His final Edge list is going to be Always Ready (1), Fame 2, Library 1, Lightning Calculator (2), Photographic Memory 1, Weak Spots (1), Wealth 2.

Now we get into health levels, and as he doesn't have any Edges or Gifts that modify them and his Stamina is still only a 2, he has the default three Injury slots: Maimed, Injured, and Bruised. His default Defense is 1, but he can roll whichever Resilience Attributes make sense in the moment to increase that if he gets into combat. And that's it!

So we've got Martin "MarTay" Taylor, creator and developer of "The Fatedealer's Grimoire," and up-and-coming activist hacker for the Æon Society. Just to slap a description on him, I'm thinking kind of an average-looking white guy in his 20's, not really noteworthy physically. Casually he likes to wear a lot of pop culture shirts, but if he's going to be someplace where people might recognize him (and the event doesn't suggest a particular outfit) he defaults to more generic button-down and polo shirts because he doesn't want to come across like he's endorsing something. He still lives in the house he grew up in because while his video game money was enough to put a down payment on a house, he bought that for his parents instead. And, um... I can't think of any more details, interesting or otherwise.

So that's it, we've got a Trinity Continuum core book character! You'll find the character sheet below, and hopefully soon I'll be back with a Trinity Continuum: Æon character!