Age Of Dragons: Characterisation
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Overview of Characterisation
CHARACTERISATION:
- Name Your Dragon
- Aesthetic Detailing
- Create History
- Establish Character Relationships
- Set Agenda
- Consolidate Character
Name Your Dragon
The language of dragons is called Ess^rag-hhai, though is often simply called "Draconic" by mortals. It is a language of considerable complexity and nuance, and to the human ear can vary between simple growls and roars to musical hums, intonations and clicks. Body language is part of the language, and a word can change meaning altogether if roared or whispered, according to its context, and whether it is at the start, middle or end of a breath. Certain words also have different meanings according to the breed, age and gender of the speaker, or even according to their current and past Lifepaths. A harmless comment can be revealed to be a grave insult when a dragon discovers more about the speaker's past.
Draconic names are always in this language, though as the human tongue has trouble with this, we use their translations for the purpose of this game.
A dragon name typically has many meanings, but one primary meaning, and when humans use their translated names they tend to go with this primary meaning. For example, an ancient Hunter Dragon goes by the name Predator-Claw, but to other dragons the collection of syllables and intonations that make up this name can also mean "king of the hunt" and "taker of lives", and when spoken in the context of his tribal name, there are also subtle notes indicating his purity of purpose and his enmity to the Ashen breed.
The pages on the individual breeds give more suggestions as to the naming traditions of each breed.
Characterisation
First, consider your dragon's personality. To a mere mortal, dragons might seem pretty similar to each other - they all seem wise but haughty, powerfully intelligent and brilliantly charismatic. To a human, every dragon is fearsome and monstrous.
To dragons, of course, all humans seem pretty similar. They're all short-lived and rash, and prone to a sense of over self-importance.All are fairly brutish when it comes to social nuance, and all are fairly dim-witted, and all are suitably cowed by even the slightest intimidation.
Consider instead what your dragon seems like to other dragons, and consider how his personality compares to his peers. Is he a walking paragon of his Breed's ideals, or is he a loose cannon who has little in common with his family save the colour of his scales? How does he view the world around him? What motivates him?
A good way to approach this as a group is for the GM to create some situations, and for the players to say how their dragon would react. Some examples might include:
- The Obstacle - A Dragon will often encounter obstacles to his goals, for example if he wants an artifact, but it is in the hands of another dragon. How does he approach obstacles in general?
- Dealing with Defeat - Life never goes perfectly for any dragon. How does your dragon react to setbacks and defeats?
- Dealing with Victory - When your dragon gets what he wants, how does he react? What thoughts and feelings go through his head?
- Social Attitudes - How does your Dragon view his friends and allies? What of his enemies? How does he interact with strangers?
History
Your Lifepaths and Milestones give you a timeline of your dragon's life till now, but this isn't the sum of his history. Its worth putting flesh on the skeleton that the timeline provides. Sure, you were a Scholar-Sage, but were you a lonely hoarder of lore who studied in the deep desert, or a sociable White Archivist in the Kalarni libraries?
As well as fleshing out the timeline, players may want to create an event or two from their past, which may be personal or tied into the setting's history. These should tell us a little about the character, give something to roleplay off, or provide plot hooks for GMs. Events might be anything from small moments important to the Dragon himself, to grand melodrama. Ambitious player groups may want to roleplay out these memories, either during the prologue to character creation, or during in-game flashback sequences. Some examples to spur your imagination:
- You killed your father after you discovered that you were the product of rape.
- You were presented with a carved stone tablet by your mentor, as a reward for years of scholarship and study.
- You were in a battle once, but held back from full melee because of a knot of fear in your gut.
- You had a sister once, but she went over to the Ascendancy twelve years ago and now you consider her to be dead to you.
Relationships
Your character might have a backstory stretching across ten pages, but if you don't relate to the other players then you're writing a novel rather than roleplaying.
Consider the other player characters and the back-stories they have made. Can you link your story to theirs? Even if you barely know them, can you say how your dragon views them?
Creating binding ties between player characters is extremely important. The power and mobility of the player characters means that it is very easy for a solo dragon player characters to move away from the others, so that he is effectively playing in his own little story away fromt he others. This makes for very hard work for the GM, but forcing characters to stay together unnaturally can strain disbelief ("uh, you all meet in a tavern... a draconic tavern"), so its the players' responsibility to give their characters reasons to interact.
That's not to say it all needs to be hugs and sweetness - a century long rivalry, or an unrequited love relationship works just as well as comradeship and perfect friendship. As with everything else in your character's background, his relationships are there to provide material for roleplaying and storytelling.
Choose and Record Lifepath Milestones
Each Lifepath presents a list of Milestones that can be bought with XP.
Early on in character generation you worked out the Experience Level your Dragon has in each Lifepath that he has been on. You can now spend that XP on different Milestones.
You can buy any Lifepath Milestone that you have sufficient XP for. Note though that only XP from a given Lifepath can be spent on that Lifepath's milestones. For example, only Warmaster XP can be spent on Warmaster Milestones.
Some Milestones have prerequisites which must be met before they are purchased.
Milestones are of various types.
Lifepath Sphere Variations
These Milestones give a bonus to your dice pool for certain tasks, and sometimes a penalty for other tasks.
For example, the Sphere Variation Milestone "Atavism" enhances bestial traits (sensory perception, hunting, tooth and claw combat) but which weakens ability to deal with civilisation (high etiquette, academic study, tool use, etc.).
Talents
These represent particular tricks and knacks learnt on the Lifepath.
For example, the Talent Milestone "Peregrine Dive" allows a flying dragon to make a special diving attack against a lower altitude flying enemy, which is far more deadly than a normal attack.
Arcane Lore
Arcane Lore consists of pneuma-driven sorcerous spells that achieve magical effects. Taking an Arcane Lore Milestone gives your Dragon knowledge of how to cast that spell.
For example, the Arcane Lore Milestone "Firebreathing" allows a dragon to channel his pneuma into igniting his breath, exhaling a cloud of flame to toast his prey and enemies.
Lifepath-specific Milestones
Different Lifepaths can offer unique categories of Lifepaths.
For example, the Warmaster Lifepath has the Category Arms and Armour Training, which includes various Milestones that allow for the effective use of draconic weapons and armour.
Lifepath Resources
Resources are items and things external to the Dragon which give him an advantage. For example, a Warmaster will Dragon-Armour and any weapons that he is trained in, while a Scholar-Sage will have a library of lore that he can access.
Certain Resources are available only after a certain amount of time on a Lifepath. For example, you need to have been a Scholar-Sage for 25 years before you have a library of lore.
Once you have earned a Resource, it stays with your Dragon.
Note that because Resources represent external items and factors, it is possible for characters to gain or lose Resources in the course of a story. For example, there is nothing to stop a Warmaster from making effort acquiring a Library during the course of a story (perhaps by forcibly displacing some doddering sage), and conversely there is no reason why bandits couldn't make away with that same Warmaster's hoard of weapons while he sleeps. However, changes to Resources of this nature should always be played out in full - its distinctly unfair to a player to have his Resources stripped away from him in downtime, and its game-breaking to assume that characters can acquire unusual Resources in downtime without having to play it out.