Chapter Five Sample - Building Blocks (Patreon)

In Chapter One, we explored the Deviant experience in broad terms — discussing Origins, Clades, and what all Remade gain and lose as part of the Divergence. In this chapter we will discuss specific Broken characters — how to create them and how to use their Variations and Scars to guide roleplaying.

Starting Points

Deviant: The Renegades offers tremendous flexibility in the kinds of characters that can be built using its systems. The sheer number of Variations, Scars, and Standard Deviations it puts into players’ hands can be a bit overwhelming, however, and the additional examples in Chapters Three and Four of this book are unlikely to reduce the potential for analysis paralysis. Add in Merits, Adaptations, and Forms to all that, and it’s a lot to take in.

So, if you’re sitting there with a blank character sheet, the 345-page core book, possibly two Kickstarter supplements (The Clades Companion and The Devoted Companion), and now this, it’s normal to have a hard time knowing where to start. The purpose of this section is to help you get started, to resist the urge to focus on the giant pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces on your table and instead to concentrate on finding just one corner and some edges. Start from whichever of the four corners inspires you most.

First Corner: Origin

Start at the beginning — not with your character’s Origin but with her origin. Who was she before her first encounter with the Web of Pain?

Childhood

You can start at the very beginning if you want. Think about her childhood. What was her home life like, her school life? Who were her friends, and did she have any noteworthy rivals or enemies among her peers? How did she spend her free time? Was she active in sports, performance arts, or clubs? Did she have favorite books, TV shows, or movies? When the grown-ups in her life praised her, which of her personality traits did they tend to highlight? When they criticized her, what faults did they tell her were holding her back? How far did she get in school; did she drop out of high school, or did she collect post-graduate degrees like other people collect shoes?

What did she dream her life would be like when she grew up? Did she have grand schemes or ordinary hopes? Did her vision of her future drive her constantly, or did she sort of expect that it would all come together when the time was right? Did these dreams play to her natural strengths or reflect a hope that one day she could overcome her weaknesses? Or did she have impossible dreams — fantasies of attaining superhuman abilities or irrational fears of suffering life-changing injuries or developing debilitating medical conditions?

If she was always entangled in the Web of Pain, what was that life like and how did it shape the adult she became (or is still becoming)? While this often describes Genotypals, it’s possible for someone to grow up in a conspiracy without anyone expecting her to Diverge.

Why We Ask: Childhood can set into motion the whole course of a person’s life, especially when the Web of Pain gets involved. A child with a rare disease may attract the attention of a conspiracy that promises a cure, while one born into a conspiracy might be enmeshed in its schemes from birth. A child with grand plans might make her winding way into an existing conspiracy or discover a means of triggering Divergence in herself or others. One who hoped for a quiet life could find those hopes dashed by conspiracy agents who lure or abduct her. A child’s caretakers could enroll her in research studies — whether because they want to support the advancement of science, because they think these treatments will save their child or make her life better, or because the conspiracy offered them something they didn’t want (or perhaps didn’t dare) to refuse. Knowing what your character had (or lacked) as a child — a home, friends, family, a dog, talents, and hopes for the future — can help inform what the Divergence will take from (or give to) her.

Adulthood

Consider who she was as an adult — whether as a follow-up to the questions of childhood, as a prelude to her collision with the conspiracy, or both. What was her day-to-day life like? How did she earn a living? If she didn’t live alone, who were the other members of her household — her parents (or grandparents), a spouse and/or kids, a lover, one or more roommates, or a community united by a religious or spiritual connection? Where did she live, in the sense of both city/town/wilderness and house/apartment/compound? How did she spend her non-working hours? Did she have notable hobbies, close friends, or preferred forms of entertainment? How did she unwind?

Was her life on a general incline — with a bright future just up ahead? Or was she stuck in a slow (or steep) downward spiral? Or did it vary with the day or with what part of her life you were looking at? Maybe she had it all together at work, but her home life was a mess — or the reverse. Was she generally happy or dissatisfied with the way her life had turned out?

Did she have any entanglements or problems that might have left her vulnerable to the conspiracy. Was she in over her head in debt? Did she have dangerous enemies (or friends)? Was she recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, or has she been living with a chronic illness for years that she would risk much to free herself from?

Why We Ask: It isn’t unusual for people in the world of the Chronicles of Darkness to encounter conspiracy agents. It is unusual for these encounters to lead to the Divergence. The conspiracies aren’t interested in everyone. Some are picky about their subjects because it increases the odds of success. Most are picky because they don’t want to attract too much attention to themselves. Conspiracies seek out people who are vulnerable, who won’t be missed, or who are desperate. Knowing your character’s circumstances can inform potential vectors for the Web of Pain to ensnare her. Knowing what she had (or lacked) sets up opportunities to contrast that with what the Divergence took from or gave to her. Friends, family members, colleagues, and rivals often make good starting Touchstones.

Divergence

Consider who she became after her Divergence, including who she is now. You can treat this as a follow-up to the prior two life stages or use it as a starting point in its own right. Maybe knowing how she survives from day to day is more important to you than knowing how she got there. You can fill that in later in the character creation process or reveal it in a series of flashbacks after the chronicle begins. Nothing says you need to know everything about your character’s past before the first chapter; you would be in good company with many of the media inspirations for Deviant. A little later in this supplement, we’ll talk about how to draw Deviants together into a cohort, but for now, think of your character in isolation.

Who is or was her Progenitor? How did they trigger her Divergence? Were there other test subjects, and what happened to them? How long did she stay with the conspiracy? Why and how did she leave? How has she avoided falling back into their hands (or those of other conspiracies)? How does she survive from day to day, meeting basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing? How does she stave off Instability? Does she hold her Loyalty Touchstones close, or does she keep them at arm’s length for their own protection?

Why We Ask: The Divergence is the bright line drawn between Baseline and Broken. It’s natural to focus on it and its immediate aftermath. That brief period in a Deviant’s life is one where she is likely to form bonds with most of her future Conviction Touchstones, and many Remade also forge bonds with people who will become crucial Loyalty Touchstones. The Divergence brings unbreakable friendships and unquenchable rivalries and animosities. How your character responded to her newly discovered Variations and Scars reflects who she was — with all masks torn aside — and speaks volumes about who she is now.

Bottom Line

Starting character creation with a deep examination of their Baseline life makes it easier to think of them as a person first and a Deviant second. It tends to draw attention to how the Divergence changed them — not just by giving them Variations and Scars but by upending their lives.