Pitching a ZHB character

So you want to enter the Black Crane?

Or: Questions and things to think about for the prospective ZHB:er

These are some of the questions and ideas that we´ve come up with to guide prospective players into the right mindset for Zaijian Honey Blues. We realise that we´ve played in this setting for a zillion years now, and we´ve probably internalized many of the setting truths that would be better of explicit – consider this an effort!

Remember: we do want everyone to have a crazy cool time. We´re really not trying to discourage you or anyone from the concepts already buzzing in your head. On the other hand, it might just be that every concept is not a great fit for ZHB – this does not mean that they´re not awesome concepts, but merely that ZHB is quite a distinctive setting with a very specific “feel”.

1: Read the Designer´s Notes These are available here on the ZHB wiki, and they are pretty much essential. They detail the basics about ZZ City and the game, and why it´s not simply “WotG in a modern setting”.

2: Think about the world of ZHB Really, take some extra time to mull over this. ZHB is, at its´ core, a fictional anime series. This means that the world simply does not look like we+re used to it looking – pretty much everything is treated with an extreme pop-culture edge, often horrendously biased and Asia-centric. This is why the Russian warrior fights with ice and wears a fur cap, why the Mexican exchange student comes from a Luchador village in the desert and so on. A little silliness is quite all right. At the same time, it is not a strict comedy – there´s plenty of darkness, and the mood can often shift on a dime.

3: Pitch your character You know how you normally set up and describe your PC:s? Forget about that for a moment.Instead, think of this as that fictional anime series, and think about how you´d pitch your character to the director and producers of the show.

• A strong visual is absolutely necessary. How would the concept sketch look? What makes her/him visually distinct? How is her/his fighting style tied to those visuals? Her/his personality? Well, you get it.

• Role in the series. Take a long, hard look at what place you want your character to occupy in the ZHB series. Look at the characters who are already there – if there is someone who seems too similar, take this to heart – why add a new character that does the same thing as the previous one? Well, unless you want to make a point about them being contending kung fu footballers or whatever. You do not want to have your character be superfluous to the story, or simply a repeat performance (“But MORE!”) of what came before.

• Steal! Okay, so that might sound contradictory to what was mentioned in that last part. What I mean is – don´t be afraid to use familiar characters and archetypes to better describe, portray or pitch your character. Use existing series and characters as springboards for your concept. Dying the hair of your shouty young student black and calling him “Oturan” might not be entirely cool, but as inspiration – telling us that this guy/gal is going to be “The Asuka of her class, but she kinda fights like a pint-sized Zangief!” will get us on the same page. Naturally, there are lots and lots of peripheral media that you can use – movies, computer games et al.

4: We really, really mean what we say in point #3.

Just saying. Again. PLEASE do not ignore #3 as some sort of charming little joke from us to you. If you can´t pitch your character as a entry to the fictional TV series, you probably won´t fit into the game as-is. This doesn´t mean that you suck, mind; it´s just that we´ve got a special vibe going here, and we´d like to keep it.

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