Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Adventure!

Here we are again, building a character that'll finish out the 1e Trinity timelines. I plan to do more after this, just marking the milestone.

Much like how Aberrant took place about a century before Æon, Adventure! turns the clock back another century-ish to delve into the 'pulp action' genre. The first edition book's 'day zero' was in 1924, a couple of years after Dr. Sir Calvin Hammersmith arranged for a scientific demonstration in which he was to activate his new 'telluric engine' for the first time, ushering in a new era powered by the theoretically limitless power it could harness. At least, in theory.

It exploded spectacularly, vaporizing Hammersmith (as far as anyone knows), and unleashing a wave of strange energies into the world. The people in the building (and beyond) were Inspired, infused with telluric energy, and given amazing abilities that could change the world. Premier among them were multi-millionaire philanthropist Maxwell Anderson Mercer, a brilliant young physicist by the name of Michael Donighal, and Hammersmith's lab assistant Sara Kaur, who got the most direct exposure to the energy (aside from the late Hammersmith) and were granted abilities far beyond their contemporaries. In time, Mercer, Donighal and others founded the Æon Society, to study and catalogue (and occasionally save the world from) Inspired people and phenomena that had been empowered by the energies thrown out into the world by the Hammersmith Incident.

The first edition of Adventure! is noteworthy in part because at the time it was being written and produced, the folks at White Wolf knew that it would be the only book in this era they'd get to release, and possibly the last Trinity Universe book entirely. And it was in fact the last that actually saw print until the d20 versions in 2004, though the time between included White Wolf's earliest dabblings in ebooks in the form of Terra Verde for Æon and Aberrant: Underworld for, um, Aberrant.

Anyhow, they wrote Adventure! with the intention that it function entirely standalone, making it as complete as possible (so in other words, no mechanics or setting info held back for supplements) with refinements to the system that came from lessons learned on Æon and Aberrant, and in the process created what is considered one of the best (if not the best) pulp RPGs ever printed. It's known to have been a big inspiration on Spirit of the Century, which lead to the full-blown Fate system, so that's quite the indirect legacy there. (Also, some of Fate's mechanics inspired elements of the Storypath system used for the Trinity Continuum games, bringing things full-circle.)

The Trinity Continuum edition of Adventure!, like the other two 'updated' eras, tweaks the timeline a bit. But unlike TC: Æon and TC: Aberrant, which reworked events and adjusted some of the dates, TC: Adventure! almost entirely adds to the earlier edition. Its 'day zero' is in 1934, and barring a couple of specific elements (notably the presence of Sara Kaur) all it does is advance the timeline. Events and characters described in the first edition still happened in TC: Adventure!'s history and the earlier book serves perfectly well as an 'early days of the Æon Society' sourcebook.

And with that little overview out of the way, let's get into making a Trinity Continuum: Adventure! character. As with my other TC posts, this one assumes you've at least skimmed my Trinity Continuum core character post for the basic structure. And as always, if there are any questions, comments, suggestions, so on and so forth, you know the drill.

Step One: Concept

Alright, bare minimum of screwing around here, I've got a solid concept in mind already. William Taylor (yup, still doing this 'Taylor family' gimmick) grew up in Chicago, the son of a pair of Scottish immigrants. And while not deliberately trying to play on his name, he does indeed come from a line of tailors and the like. His family didn't have their own shop or anything, but he apprenticed at a shop run by Frank and Ida Schneider in Roscoe Village where his sharp eye and steady hand served him well in keeping the shop's customers happy.

However, this meant that he was also on the sidelines for the Prohibition-era Chicago gang wars. He wound up being adjacent to a lot of crime, and Mr. Schneider sometimes found himself patronized by dangerous men a lot more often than he'd like. This is why one day, when a bad dream had woken William up an hour early, he decided to go into the shop before his shift to see if there was anything worth doing and found a gangster threatening the Schneiders for information with a gun. Without thinking he quickly grabbed a large pair of tailoring shears and rushed the mobster.

Everything seemed to slow as the man turned to fire on him, adrenaline (and, he'd later learn, telluric energy) surging through William's body as he brandished the shears. His fingers suddenly burned as the bullet's impact jolted the shears in his hand. The screw holding the blades together was half-ruined, so he grabbed the fingerholes in both hands and ripped the shears apart to wield them like paired knives to disable the gangster and drive him off. He didn't understand what had happened, but William had become a stalwart.

(Stalwarts are one of the three types of Inspired found during the Adventure! era. They're physically transformed by the telluric energies, their minds and brains enhanced and improved by the power. There are also mesmerists, who are gifted with powers of the mind -- psychic, often nearly-magical powers. While they are technically different types of Inspired being, stalwarts are precursors to the novas seen in Aberrant, while the mesmerists are a variation on a type of natural human psychic known as a psiad -- similar to the psions seen in Æon, but their gifts aren't activated by a Prometheus chamber and they're not locked into a single Aptitude. And then there are daredevils, which are simply Talents as seen in Trinity core, albeit with a greater capacity for Dramatic Editing due to the quirkiness of the era.)

William never formally developed a formal crime-fighting identity for fear of attracting too much attention, but he did put together an identity-disguising costume using a 40-year old suit from the back of the Schneiders' shop and a simple cloth mask. He quietly became a neighborhood protector known for his dagger-like usage of the shear halves, believed by some to be the ghost of a tailor killed in the early days of Chicago's Black Hand due to his out-of-fashion clothing. While he did manage to establish a small stretch of territory surrounding the apartment he shared with his parents and the Schneiders' tailoring shop) that the mob learned to respect, it was small enough to fly under the radar -- until the Æon Society came investigating rumors of the 'Ghost of Roscoe Village.'

While the Society is usually more scientists and explorers than would-be pulp vigilantes, I think learning more about their whole deal would spark a curiosity in William that might lead to him adopting the lifestyle of an adventurer. Maybe they recognize some potential within him that normally would have gone unseen due to his upbringing. Also, I can see him joining investigations and expeditions in the manner of Race Bannon (or Brock Samson, if you prefer), as a physically-capable bodyguard and assistant.

And let's face it, if there's anyone who can properly appreciate the inherent potential of a superhuman tailor, it's gonna be the higher-class members of the Æon Society.

I'm gonna call William's concept "Nascent adventurer," to reflect his inexperience. And now, Aspirations.

His short-term Aspirations are going to be "Visit another country," and "Make an outfit out of some exotic fabric." Given that we're talking about pulp adventure, which as a genre is often adjacent to sci-fi and superhero stories (and, occasionally, fantasy), I probably don't need to specify what I mean by 'exotic fabric.' His long-term Aspiration is going to be "Get my parents their own clothing/tailoring shop." William's parents haven't had it as lucky as some, and now that he's in a position where he might be able to give them a leg up he wants to help them properly go into business for themselves, whether it's by finding the money and connections to get them into their own business space or maybe put together an offer to buy into the Schneiders' shop.

Step Two: Paths

Okay, three Paths with Skills, Edges, and connections.

First, his Origin Path. Fortunately, TC: Adventure! has us covered there with Salt of the Earth, reflecting his working class upbringing. Just to get it out of the way, his Contact is going to be Frank Schneider, mentor and former employer, who's going to have the 'Informant' tag for helping him keep tabs on 'street-level' stuff going on. His access connection is going to be his old neighborhood of Roscoe Village.

He also gets three dots of Skills based on the Path, which are going to be two into Integrity and one into Technology. His two Edge dots are going into Dig Deep, a new Edge in TC: A! that lets him focus at a critical moment once per session to ignore Difficulty modifiers or Complications on a single physical action that isn't an attack.

Next is his Role Path, which is going to be Combat Specialist out of the core book. He's not a trained fighter, but William's got a knack for it even if he doesn't fully understand why. His Skill dots are going to be two dots in Close Combat and one dot in Aim. His Edge dots are going to go into Hair-Trigger Reflexes, which boosts his initiative rolls, and Fast Draw (Blades), which lets him draw knives quickly and get a bonus if he uses them in that round. (William's not a killer or anything, but he has developed a bit of an affinity for edged weapons.)

A little trickier is going to be his connections in this, I'll admit... actually, let's go with a bit of a twist on it. His community connection is actually going to be the mobsters of his old neighborhood -- he's not friendly with them, and these days he's not as active in protecting the Village as he's assumed to be (though if he hears 'his people' are in danger, he'll come running), but he scared them enough that he can drop in and occasionally menace favors out of them. I recognize that's a bit of a stretch, and if a Storyguide thought it's too much of one, I'd work with them on finding something more appropriate (maybe something related to the story). His Contact is going to be Josh Callison, a newly-minted detective once saved by 'the ghost of Roscoe Village'... and, to put a classic pulp twist on it, Josh has no clue that the aforementiond 'ghost' is his childhood friend William. I'm also going to give him the 'Informant' tag, though his area of expertise will be different than Frank's.

Finally, we come to the Society Path, which is gonna be -- wait for it -- the Æon Society. And I'm thinking that perhaps through them, he's getting a bit of an informal education. So his Skill dots are going to be a second dot in Technology, a dot in Culture, and a dot in Humanities. I'm pretty torn on his Edge dots, but I think I'm just gonna lean into this concept-wise and go with Adrenaline Spike, which lets him ignore a single Injury Condition for a scene every session.

His access connection is going to be one right out of the book: 'wealthy patrons.' William's skills at tailoring (which reminds me, I need to look up what Skill would be appropriate for that) are making him friends among the upper-crust through the Society, and he's working as something of a private tailor who'll make them just about anything as long as they can supply the materials. His Contact is going to be a woman he knows only as Ms. Minerva, a huntress from the Mediterranean who's been employed by the Society to guide and assist them on certain expeditions. A stalwart herself, she's been helping William learn about his abilities and subtly training him as a tracker. And for her, I'll make up a tag of 'tactician,' thinking that she'll provide the relevant bonuses when she's helping him plan out an operation of some sort.

Okay, that wraps up Paths. I'm about to wrap up Skills so I'll skip the recounting. His Edges at this stage are Adrenaline Spike (2), Dig Deep (2), Fast Draw (Blades) (1), Hair-Trigger Reflexes (1).

Next is...

Step Three: Skills, Skill Tricks, and Specialties

Now I get six more Skill points to distribute. Let's put two of those into Close Combat, one into Culture, one into Aim, one into Athletics, and one into Survival. Probably broader than necessary, but this is just how I tend to go with characters.

This gives him a final Skill distribution of Aim 2, Athletics 1, Close Combat 4, Culture 2, Humanities 1, Integrity 2, Survival 1, Technology 2.

(As an aside, I've done some skimming and with regards to William's clothes-making skills, the impression I get is that the Skill might be determined by what he's doing with it. If he's making a suit that's going to impress at a gala, that might be Culture. If he's making something that's meant to be resistant to the weather, that might be Survival. Not that he has any dots in such at the moment, but if he's making a gift for someone it might be Empathy to know what they'd want. His actual ability to cut and shape cloth is going to be more about his Attributes. I think.)

And now I pick a Skill Trick for a Skill at 3 or higher, so that's gonna be Close Combat... oh, I like this one. Fast Planning. It reflects his ability to assess the situation and guide others, letting him give an order like "Flank them on the right" or something, and the first time one of his allies follows his instructions the target number for the roll is reduced by 1.

And now, he gets a Specialty in Close Combat since that's his only Skill at 3 or higher, and that's gonna be in Knives. As a reminder, that doesn't boost his Close Combat rolls but instead lets him apply his expertise in knives to other actions -- like, say, throwing them with Aim.

Step Four: Attributes

Okay, we know this routine. Free dot in every Attribute, check. Next, we prioritize Arenas -- Physical, Mental, Social in that order. So that's gonna be three more dots in Dexterity, one in Might, and two in Stamina. Then Mental is going to be one in Intellect, two in Cunning, and one in Resolve. Social will be a dot in Presence and one in Composure.

Now I pick a favored Approach, which is gonna be Finesse. William solves his problems through speed and flexibility rather than raw might, so that'll add an Attribute dot to Dexterity, Cunning, and Manipulation.

So that gives him an Attribute layout of Might 2, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 4, Resolve 2, Presence 2, Manipulation 2, and Composure 2.

Step Five: Moment of Inspiration

Okay, I've grumbled about this before, but I really do wish the game line could stick to a default character creation outline. Step Five, in theory, should be applying a template, and for some reason when it comes to Talents and Adventure! characters, that has to be split up among two steps.

Anyhow. I get to pick a moment of Inspiration either from the core or one of the new ones presented in TC: A!. This isn't a terribly-difficult choice, as the core book has Saved Someone Else's Life among the sample moments of Inspiration. And that gives him an extra dot of Composure, which is nice.

It's also here that I officially declare that William is a stalwart.

Step Six: Add Advantages

And here, I distribute three points among the Inspiration Facets. I'd explain this in more detail, but this is the same mechanic that I applied to my Trinity Continuum core character. Stalwarts and mesmerists could almost be described as a variation on Talents tapping into the same energies that novas and psiads do (respectively), rather than just saying that they're novas and psiads but represented through different mechanics. It's an interesting distinction but I like it. 

(First edition mostly just left it implied that stalwarts were proto-novas and mesmerists were proto-psiads, though it didn't entirely match up perfectly -- especially in the case of Michael Donighal/Doctor Primoris, who was mechanically presented as a stalwart with access to a handful of mesmerist powers to reflect the fact that he was actually a nova. I recall one of the writers or developers saying if they'd thought of it at the time, they'd have made that option officially available to player characters as well, and even offered a 'rules patch' to do so, but I've officially gotten distracted.)

Anyhow, William's got three Facet dots to distribute, and I'm going to give him Intuitive 2, reflecting his quick-wittedness and Reflective 1 to represent his capacity for focus and steadiness if need be. This gives him an Inspiration rating of 3.

And now he gains four Gifts; specifically dynamic Gifts, because he's a Stalwart. These are very much like normal Talent Gifts, except rather than being defined by his Paths, they're defined by his favored Approach because they draw on enhancements to his natural inherent abilities. They're broken down by Attribute, and he picks three from the Finesse Attributes (Dexterity, Cunning, and Manipulation) and his fourth comes from any Attribute.

(In other words, Martin can subconsciously harness flux to be lucky and give his skills a bit of a boost. William, however, is literally empowered by flux to be unnaturally quick and graceful.)

Okay, so first off, while flipping through the book, I stumbled onto a Cunning Gift that I can't not take because I'm just that kind of dork: Photographic Reflexes, the ability famously associated with Taskmaster from Marvel Comics and a handful of other scattered characters. This lets William copy certain Edges or even certain Gifts if he's seen them used in the scene. 

Next I'm going to take Inhuman Grace from the Dexterity list, which gives William +1 Intensity Scale for actions requiring balance, precision, or conservation of movement. In other words, all other things being equal, his movements are going to be more precise and graceful than a normal person's. He might not consciously realize it, but he's got the hands of a surgeon and is probably capable of certain gymnastic feats. If it comes down to a roll, however much Scale he has over the person he's rolling against gives him +2 Enhancement per level.

Let's see... I just now noticed that I'm expected to take one from each of my Favored Attributes, not just all of them across the spread. I wish that was a little clearer in the Character Creation section -- I only caught this as I was rereading the start of the Gifts chapter. So I'm taking that to mean I have to pick a Manipulation Gift. (I'm not gonna go digging now to confirm, but if someone reads this and has heard otherwise, feel free to let me know.) 

Well, his Manipulation of 2 limits his selection. There's a Gift called Don't Worry About That that seems fun, but doesn't seem his style (it lets him openly carry objects without being called on it regardless of circumstances unless he uses them for violence)... so let's go with Empathic Reflection, instead. It makes him sensitive to how other people perceive him, and he can modulate his own speech to take advantage of that and make a better impression than he otherwise would.

And now I get one more Gift, from any Attribute or Approach. There's a Gift that upgrades Photographic Reflexes called Mirrored Moves, but I'm gonna hold off because as cool as the whole ability is, I dunno if I wanna lean into it hard enough to be a signature gimmick. In my head, he's probably just recently picked up the Photographic Reflexes trick and is getting the hang of it, so he might develop Mirrored Moves in the future or he might not.

Instead I'm going to go with Lightning Must Strike, from Dexterity. It lets him move a range band and attack in the same action (as a mixed action, separate from taking a reflexive movement and then attacking), ignoring any Complications from the terrain. Normally, a mixed action makes you use the lower of your attack or relevant movement dice pools ('creating' a dice pool for things that aren't normally rolled) and distribute successes to each action. But Lightning Must Strike lets me use the attack dice pool instead of the lowest. So William could move, and then use Lightning Must Strike to move again and attack.

But that's Gifts sorted, so now...

Step Seven: Final Touches

Alright, now I add another Attribute dot. If I hadn't bumped his Composure to 3 with his moment of Inspiration I'd do that here, so instead that dot's going into... oh, let's say Presence, actually, as socially I imagine he's more charming than manipulative. That's gonna put his attributes at Might 2, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 4, Resolve 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 2, and Composure 3.

And now four more dots of Edges. I'm gonna put two of those into Wealth, as William's starting to move up in the world. And the last two are going to go into Always Prepared and Danger Sense, one for each. This gives him a final Edge list of Adrenaline Spike (2), Always Prepared (1), Danger Sense (1), Dig Deep (2), Fast Draw (Blades) (1), Hair-Trigger Reflexes (1), Wealth 2.

And now his Health. He gets the standard three Injury boxes (Bruised, Injured, Maimed), and an extra Injured because he has Stamina 3.

For some reason I'm supposed to calculate his Defense rating, but it's 1. It's always 1, unless I take a power that changes it. (I have no idea why that bothers me so much.)

But that's it, character written up, sheet finished and presented below!