New to DFRPG - Help me learn the system PBP request

[Warderbrad]

Hello,
  I have been reading the book and trying to learn the system but in the end I learn best by doing.  I am hoping to find someone who is recruiting for a PBP game.  I have never fully made a character, I would really like to be able to meet with someone via IM so that I don't miss things.  I have a few ideas but my grasp of character creation is not very strong.
  If anyone is willing to help me learn you will not only get a decent player but you will also be helping start a face to face group in Lubbock Texas.  I am supposed to be running the game however I have delayed it until I can learn the system well enough.  So far my attempts to learn how things work have not felt like I have been getting it.
  I am anxious to find someone to play with.

[Warderbrad]

I have a character concept.  I have to admit I am a little unsure how best to flesh it out.  I have left many of the details as vague as I can to make incorporating it into a campaign as easy as possible.

One of the reasons I am not sure how to flesh it out is that I am not sure what template to use.

Strong Celtic heritage
Freedom Fighter with supernatural skill
Innate powers that work more on instinct than action
Inhuman Recovery - Unknown catch
Cloak of Shadows or Echoes of the Beast (not sure which would be more fitting, leaning toward Echoes)

Backstory
During an engagement the enemy used a supernatural element which devastated the forces he was with.  A small group made it back however he was seriously injured and returned home to rest. While home his maternal grandmother watched over him placing runes around him and performing rituals to aid his healing.  This unlocked some supernatural gifts inside him and the severe injuries healed in a remarkably short time and more fully than expected.  Along with the improved constitution he found his senses improved as well.
After fully recovering he returned to duty.  In his first engagement to his dismay he was the only one in the group to survive.  After five back to back engagements where he was the only survivor his reputation as a jinx was solid.  Even he started to believe that he would bring disaster to others he works with. 
He returned home dejected and angry with himself.  His grandmother told him of his maternal grandfather who could trace his lineage back to the Norse raiders.  The stories of his family said that the men were part of the Viking Berserkers.  She went on to help him perform a ritual to connect to that part of his ancestry.  After doing so he felt more in sync with himself.

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I welcome anyone to give me ideas on how to write this character up.  I am looking for a character kinda like a combination between a lycanthrope and Kincaid. 
I will add to this as more ideas and such come to me.  I have to admit that I have played mostly mechanics driven games for a number of years so focusing so heavily on the concept is nice but I am finding it hard to put into words some of what I have in my head.

[crusher_bob]

Remember that the templates are just 'suggestions'.  As long as your justification of why you have your particular power collection is acceptable to your group, it's fine.

Another thing to consider about your character are your pinnacle skills. i.e. the skills that you have at good or better.  These are the skills that you can generally use without needing a fate point to prop them up. 

Example:
You want to be an action movie freedom fighter, so your pinnacle skills are all the loud and impressive ones, like guns, athletics, awareness, intimidation, etc.  But if you wanted to be more of a thriller movie type freedom fighter, your pinnacle skills might be something like deceit, investigation, burglary, and contacts instead.

So notice the your background has stayed the same, but your selection of pinnacle skills has changed your character significantly.

Another thing to remember is that your skills are not necessarily what you are 'good' at, but more about how well you can use those skills to solve your problems.  As an example, some versions of Batman don't use the nigh infinite amount of money Batman has to solve his problems, so that version of Batman wouldn't have a high resources skill.

[Team8Mum]

Strong Celtic heritage...
The stories of his family said that the men were part of the Viking Berserkers. 

This has potential for conflict - Is he norse or celtic. (Two very different mythologies at play there)
If its just the 'berserker' aspect that you want to play with then you dont _need_ the norse - just grab yourself a copy of the cycle of ulster

Cú Chulainn in particular has superhuman fighting skills, the result of his semi-divine ancestry, and when particularly aroused his battle frenzy or ríastrad transforms him into an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe.

Which sounds like the sort of thing you have going on there...

However if you do want to keep the Norse reference, and he is 'the next great hero' I can imagine the Norse and Celtic 'gods' in the Nevernerve battling over him and causing him a world of "Interesting Times"

Template wise I'd have a look at Melding the lyncanthrope with some kind of Emissary of power.  Lycanthrope type abilities but with having the inhuman recovery/ strength triggered by grannies rituals rather than the full moon- i.e. a kind of sponsored magic effect or an IoP.

The Jinx could just be the effect of accepting compels on a "I carry bad luck" style of aspect - Including self compels - which would give you fate that you could use to power your 'super powers'.

[Warderbrad]

First thank you for replying so fast.  I really want to understand the game and I think the first step is to make a character and understand what that character can and cannot do.  I am always open to the ideas of others and your points are helpful.

Remember that the templates are just 'suggestions'.  As long as your justification of why you have your particular power collection is acceptable to your group, it's fine.

Ok, being that this is my first character I was worried about not being balanced.

Another thing to consider about your character are your pinnacle skills. i.e. the skills that you have at good or better.  These are the skills that you can generally use without needing a fate point to prop them up.

I was leaning more toward the action hero type with maybe a smattering of the thriller type in for non combat usefulness.

This has potential for conflict - Is he norse or celtic. (Two very different mythologies at play there)
If its just the 'berserker' aspect that you want to play with then you dont _need_ the norse - just grab yourself a copy of the cycle of ulster
 
Which sounds like the sort of thing you have going on there...

My first thought was something akin to fatherly Celtic background and a strong Norse background in his mother's side.  Raised catholic but never felt it fit for him.

However if you do want to keep the Norse reference, and he is 'the next great hero' I can imagine the Norse and Celtic 'gods' in the Nevernerver battling over him and causing him a world of "Interesting Times"

I like where that is going, the two sides of his ancestry vying for his worship.  It is an interesting hook.

Template wise I'd have a look at Melding the lyncanthrope with some kind of Emissary of power.  Lycanthrope type abilities but with having the inhuman recovery/ strength triggered by grannies rituals rather than the full moon- i.e. a kind of sponsored magic effect or an IoP.

How would this work with either the sponsored magic or the IoP?  Could something of this be used in his catch for the recovery powers?  Do you have any suggestions that would feel right, the best things that come to mind would be some kind of sponsored magic effect and have the catch be something to do with runes (not sure what).

The Jinx could just be the effect of accepting compels on a "I carry bad luck" style of aspect - Including self compels - which would give you fate that you could use to power your 'super powers'.

I don't understand the compels you are talking about, are you meaning compelling an aspect?  I am still kinda shaky on how all the aspect stuff works, I was leaving that for last but I can go back and try again.

[Richard_Chilton]

A quick word on balance:
Balance doesn't come from templates but from refresh totals.   As long as the totals match everything is (in theory) balanced.

And another quick one on IoP:
Almost any power can be provided by an IoP.  As an Emissary your sponsor could have provided the IoP and or given you sponsored magic.

Aspects and Compels.
You can tag an aspect in any appropriate situation for either a +2 or a reroll - but you can also be compelled to act as you've described yourself.
Example: Harry has "Chivalry is not dead, Dammit!" as an aspect.  That means anytime he's doing something chivalrous he can tag it.  It also means that if he sees a damsel in distress he can be compelled to help her.  That means that someone (usually the GM) offers him a FATE chip if he will help her and if he doesn't want to do it then he has to pay a FATE chip to avoid doing so.

The clearest case of something like that happening in a book is when "Perpetually Broke" was tagged in Summer Knight - Harry was busy looking for the missing power of the Summer Knight but his rent was pass due so when he was offered money to look for Lilly he had to go with it.  This led to him being able to tie up some loose ends and solving the case - which is a good way to take the story after someone's accepted a compel.

Hope this helps!

Richard

[BumblingBear]

If you want to learn how the game is played, read the "Forced to Fight" game in the PbP section of the forum.

[Warderbrad]

If you want to learn how the game is played, read the "Forced to Fight" game in the PbP section of the forum.

I have read a couple of the threads for the PBP groups that are playing.  While it helped explain some things, I don't feel I understand what is happening behind the actions.  What I mean is why one skill was chosen over another or how a power was applied.  My hope is to eventually run a game and I feel I really need to play a game first to make sure I run the game right.

[Warderbrad]

Since someone mentioned skills I thought I would try and figure out what skills would be important to this character concept.
Going through the list I came up with these as important skills and why

Guns	Combat training	4
Weapons	Combat training	4
Endurance	Combat training	3
Presence	Trained to be a Leader	3
Stealth	Commando Training	3
Alertness	Combat training	2
Athletics	Combat training	2
Fists	Combat training	2
Investigation	More for the Surveillance side	2
Resources	Unused pay that has been invested well	2
Lore	Grandmother's Teaching	2
Contacts	Most Freedom Fighters develop personal contacts	1
Driving	Combat Driving	1
Intimidation	Interrogation Training	1
Might	Combat training	1
Scholarship	Completed High School	1
Survival	Basic Training	1
Burglary		0
Conviction		0
Craftsmanship		0
Deceit		0
Discipline		0
Empathy		0
Performance		0
Rapport		0
		35

I wasn't sure what level to make it at so I assumed the highest level of difficulty.  Please give me your thoughts on these skills and tell me if this sounds right