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STEP #1: CONCEPT
Like any good story, a role playing game centers around its characters. But unlike most stories RPGs involve their readers as active participants in the telling of the tale. To engage in creating this chronicle you, the player, must first design a character who exists in the fictional world where the story takes place. The physical process of fleshing out your character, from his bodily attributes (his Stats) to his learned abilities (his Skills) to his special abilities (which go by different names depending on the game) is detailed in this section. Your character is not you, per say, but an imaginary extension of yourself. Think of your character as your role in a play, only on a much more flexible scale. You create him or her from the ground up. You decide what abilities he has, where he comes from, his motivation, what he looks like and just who he is.

This section offers tools and guidelines for the character creation process, but one thing it can’t regiment is just who your character is; for no set of numbers, no marked boundaries, no rigid method could ever plumb the depths of the human spirit. That’s up to you. Like any person, your character has wants, needs, a personality, a past, and a future. You alone can fill in these very important blanks. For example, you may want to make a wizard…and that’s all good and well. But what else is there to your character besides his occupation? We know he has an Intellect of 5, but was he good in school? Did he even go to school? We know he has the ability to shoot fire from his eyes…but is there anyone in his life who makes sparks fly? Who were his parents? Where did he grow up? Is he a she? What motivates him? What are his views on politics, religion, philosophy, etc, etc, etc? In short…just who is he?

You should take a second to contemplate these details before proceeding, as your mind's eye view of your character will color the choices you make about him from this point on. Of course, if you're drawing a blank you may proceed and let the chips fall where they may. But the best characters are always the ones who are well thought out. Here are some tips for those who find themselves stuck for an idea:

- Think of some of your favorite characters from literature, TV, movies, etc. What makes them cool? What aspects of this character can you impart into your original design?

- Think of your own heroes or people in your life. Would any of them make an interesting character? What personality traits could you pass on to your original character?

- Even experienced role players tend to fall into the rut of playing characters that resemble themselves. Try to think of someone completely unlike you or another character you'd never consider playing. Then model your character after them. You may be surprised how enjoyable (and challenging) it is.

- Note the setting and mood of each game and try to develop characters that are appropriate.

Name: Your character's name. If you're stuck, you can use the names of people you know or just resort to searching the web for cool names.

Age: How old your character is. Human beings in the 21st century reach their prime from 18-40 and generally live until around 80 years of age.

Gender: Whether your character is male or female.

Hair & Eyes: The color of your character's hair and eyes. Without cosmetic alterations, humans hair comes in shades of blonde, red, black, and brown while eyes are colored brown, gray, blue, hazel, or green.

Nationality: The nation where the character is from (not necessarily the one in which he currently resides).

Concept: This is less your character's job and more his path; the way he approaches problems and his general outlook on life. Is he a private investigator? A military man? A journalist? A witch hunter? Or something else entirely? These classical archetypes help to define the character's motivations, behavior, and general approach to life in the dark.

Bio: Your character's story, up to this point. The sky is the limit on this one - just be sure you're aware of the game's setting and history before you begin filling out this section.

STEP #3: SKILLS
The aptitude a character has for certain areas of expertise are measured numerically by his Skills. These abilities include both learned proficiencies and natural talents. The higher the rank of a skill, the more capable a character is in that particular area. Whenever a Feat roll must be made, the number that corelates to the most applicable Primary Stat and Skill (or, in some cases, just the stat or skill by itself) is added as a modifier to the roll to improve one's chances of success.

In addition to his broad skills, a character may also have an area of Skill Focus; a particular domain of a skill where he is particularly accute. For example, a character with skill in Knowledge can narrow his focus down to folklore; any skill checks that make use of this particular focus receive an additional d20. Players may choose one skill focus for any skill with a rank of 3 or more. Once a skill's rank reaches 7, a second skill focus can be choosen.

Note that no Skill may naturally exceed 10. In order to supercede this limitation, the Skill must be acted upon by some outside force and even then the change is normally only temporary.

0: Unskilled: The character has no real skill in this particular area.
1: Beginner: With basic knowledge of the skill, the character is able to be of some small use when employing it.
2: Student: Though he has some ability in this field, the character is still relatively green.
3: Moderate: The character's skill in this area, though nowhere near his potential, is nothing to sneeze at.
4: Amateur: With a healthy amount of skill in this area, the character is able to overcome many obstacles.
5: Skilled: Time and practice pay off. With great effort and a dash of talent, the character has made this particular skill highly useful.
6: Professional: The character could easily make a living pursuing or teaching the skill to others.
7: Expert: There are few others who match the character's exceptional skill in this area.
8: Master: As one of the elite, there are only a few aspects of this skill that remain unknown to the character.
9: Genius: The character's skill is truly remarkable. He can overcome every obstacle thrown his way, though there are a handful of nuances he can still master.
10: Grandmaster: There is nothing about this skill that the character does not know or cannot apply his understanding of the skill towards.

Arcane: Knowledge of and ability to confront, control, or conform to the supernatural world. Those with the Second Sight often possess some measure of this skill simply through the knowledge gained by their many paranormal experiences...others seek out this knowledge directly, becoming wise in the ways of the unseen world.
Some uses for Arcane include: conducting a ritual such as a séance or exorcism, casting magical spells, creating wards, recognizing the influence of the supernatural on a situation.
Possible Skill Focus:Exorcism, Loki's Fulcrum, Lore, Scrying, Séances, The Path of Embers, The Silver Scale, The 13th House, Warding

Athletics: A measure of physical fitness and the ability to efficiently run, jump, swim, and otherwise perform in a physical capacity. Athletics measures just how well a character is able to put his physical attributes to practical use.
Some uses for Athletics include: running, jumping, swimming, climbing, acrobatics, playing sports.
Possible Skill Focus:Acrobatics, Climbing, Endurance, Jumping, Running, Swimming

Combat - Armed: One's ability to perform in close-quarters combat using a weapon. The Armed Combat Skill is a measure of one's weapon knowledge in both theory and application, gauging his skill engaging enemies while equiped with a weapon. Keeping his footing, watching his enemy's movements, finding a weak point, and striking with accuracy are all vital aspects of this skill.
Some uses for Armed Combat include: fencing, disarming enemies, dueling, combat displays
Possible Skill Focus:Arcing weapons, Flails, Improvised Weapons, Knives, Pole Arms, Swords,

Combat - Ranged: Accuracy, balance, and the ability to effectively use weapons that function at long range. Ranged Combat is primarily a measure of just how accurately a character is able to hit his mark from several paces away.
Some uses for Ranged Combat include: gunfighting, thrown weapons, marksmanship, trick shooting, calculating trajectories
Possible Skill Focus:Automatic weapons, bows, Handguns, Grenades, Rifles, Thrown Weapons

Combat - Unarmed: One's skill using hands, feet, knees, elbows, and whatever other parts of the body the character can throw at his opponent to win. Whether these are formally trained skills, such as the martial arts, or home-brewed streetfighting techniques is irrelevant; Unarmed Combat is simply a measure of how well the character is able to use his body to the best of his advantage in a close-quarters scrap.
Some uses for Unarmed Combat include: martial arts, wrestling, brawling, showing off, meditative/focus techniques, grappling
Possible Skill Focus:Against armed enemies, Grappling, Martial Arts, Street Fighting

Craft: The act of creating or applying materials towards the creation of new forms. Craft includes not only a character's skill in design and building, but also the arts in general.
Some uses for Craft include: repairing a broken engine, mixing chemicals together, building a make-shift catapault, carving a sculpture, painting a picture, performing a song
Possible Skill Focus:Cooking, Chemistry, Maintenance & Repair, Music, Painting, Performance, Sculpture

Defense: Avoiding attack by blocking, parrying, dodging, or otherwise preventing harm. Skill in Defense is vital to surviving any altercation the character may find himself in.
Some uses for Defense include: dodging, ducking, blocking, parrying, and resisting attacks, acrobatic evasions, assessing hostile scenarios
Possible Skill Focus:Escape, Interception, When Cornered, Willpower

Guile: Knowledge and application of the more subtle, criminal element. Guile is a measure of one's slyness, cunning, and overall sneakiness.
Some uses for Guile include: picking locks, stealth, deception, picking pockets, hiding, disguise, illegal trade, street smarts
Possible Skill Focus:Lock-picking, Sleight of Hand, Smuggling, Stealth, Theft

Influence: Leadership, charisma, persuasion, and the ability to get others to comply with your will. Influence is a skill possessed by great leaders, politicians, and manipulators who know how to get others to do their bidding.
Some uses for Influence include: leadership, manipulation, strategizing, negotiations, subtle control, inspiring others, bartering
Possible Skill Focus:Charm, Deceit, Intimidation, Manipulation, Public Speaking, Seduction

Knowledge: Understanding of various fields of academic study and learning. Whether the character had a formal education or learned everything from the school of hard knocks, Knowledge is a measure of just how much information is rattling around in his brain.
Some uses for Knowledge include: science, history, lore, biology, philosophy, religion, mathematics, arcane studies
Possible Skill Focus:Athropology, Finance, History, Mathetmatics, Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Science

Languages: All characters (unless they are mute) are capable of speaking their native tongue. For fluency in any other language they wish to speak, they must possess this Skill. Each rank of this skill grants the character one additional language that he may read, write, and speak fluently.
Some sample real-world languages include: English, Russian, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Swahili, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin
Possible Skill Focus:Ancient Languages (pick a culture), Culture, Specific Language, Written Translation

Medicine: Treating wounds, binding bones, curing disease, and purging poisons requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. Medicine is a measure of how knowledgeable the character is in the healing arts; how capable he is at treating the injuries he or his allies may sustain.
Some uses for Medicine include: binding wounds, sewing stitches, mending bones, first aid, CPR, removing bullets, treating disease
Possible Skill Focus:Anatomy, Disease, First Aid, Forensic Analysis, Surger (pick a specific type)

Observation: The true practice of this Skill is in the noticing of fine details, knowledge of what to look for, and the ability to piece together multiple fragmented items in order to draw an accurate conclusion. It can typically be thought of as the art of investigation.
Some uses for Awareness include: searching a room, recognizing a lie, piecing clues together, noticing fine details, reading between the lines.
Possible Skill Focus:Ballistics, Interrogation, Investigation, Insight, Psychoanalysis, Research

Technology:One's talent for working with machines, engineering new devices, and programming complex computer code is measured by their technology skill. Even in fantastic settings, technology is everywhere and those with the talent to utilize it are in high demand.
Some uses for Technology include: invention, repair, analysis, programming, hacking, operating unfamiliar devices, healing robotic allies
Possible Skill Focus:Automobiles, Communications, Computers, Electrical Engineering, Invention

Wilderness: The ability to survive outside the relative safety of civilized society. Wilderness is a measure of how comfortable one is in nature; how well-adapted they are to fending for themselves in the open marches of the world.
Some uses for Wilderness include: hunting, gathering, tracking, identifying footprints, foraging for food, finding water, camping, fire-starting
Possible Skill Focus:Animal Knowledge, Camping, Foraging, Hostile Environments, Marine, Navigation, Tracking, Weather Prediction

Each player receives 21 points to distribute amongst his character's Skills. Each Skill naturally starts at 0. No Skill may exceed 5 at this point in character creation.

STEP #5: EQUIPMENT
Each character starts the game with some basic equipment. Before the game begins, each character has $1000 with which to purchase equipment from Equipment Section.

Characters are limited in the amount of gear they may carry by their Carrying Capacity (Strength + Agility). Carrying Capacity represents the number of slots a character has for items to fill and each item consumes a number of slots depending on its size, weight, and shape.

The itemized descriptions of various pieces of equipment are listed in the Equipment Section.

STEP #6: SPECIAL QUALITIES

The Second Sight grants all characters a vague awareness of the truth; that there is more to the world than what we see with our eyes. But some individuals go beyond simple awareness of the world and begin to understand that they themselves are more than mere flesh and bone. Player characters come equipped with some means to defend themselves against the onslaught of darkness they find themselves and the whole of mankind pitted against.

There are two types of Powers: Advantages, which are abilities that are always active and grant permanent bonuses to characters, and Spiritual Powers which go beyond the physical into the realms of the truly unexplainable. Players may spend their Power Points however they see fit in order to equip their characters with the competitive edge they'll need to survive the dangers of a mad world.

Characters have 8 Power Points to spend on Advantages and Spiritual Powers; the idea is not to create characters with a great deal of supernatural ability, but to provide your character with some small Advantage they can make regular use of, or a powerful ability they may fall back on when in dire need.

For a complete list of special abilities, please see the Special Qualities section.

What makes a character truly interesting are not his strengths, but his weaknesses. It is the failures of a protagonist that make his victories all the sweeter; those who can overcome their shortcomings in order to achieve their goals are truly worth the attention of the story's audience. To reflect the dramatic tension provided by a character's faults and award players who outfit their characters with such deficiencies, Experience bonuses are awarded to characters who take Faults. One can think of Faults as the opposite of Advantages; these anti-powers provide permanent weaknesses which characters must constatly struggle against. They can be as benign as a smoking habit or as debilitating as a serious mental illness. Players are awarded a number of Experience Points to spend on their characters during character creation depending on how serious their Faults are.

For a complete list of Faults, please see the Special Qualities section.