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Character Creation
Your Family
Choosing your family determines your character focus and starting ability. Each family’s focus will skew certain elements of gameplay your way, and there will be a certain level of expectation with how other players and NPCs respond to your character.
A large aspect of this game is focused on religion and mass hysteria. One of the aspects we wish to include is the concept of power and belief, that by believing in something so strongly it is effectively real - such as the belief in witches. We wish to represent this through the use of family ‘abilities’. These actions are achieved through communal belief and understanding of the world around them, effectively using ‘magical-thinking’ to make their actions become true.
These abilities will only work on characters who are Puritans, these abilities have no power over characters following different religions or faiths and therefore will not work on them.
If you choose to play a character who is not a Puritan (after confirming with the Game Team) you will not have access to the Family Abilities, but similarly you will not be affected by Family Abilities either.
Players may change families in game (by being ‘adopted’ or ‘married’ into the family) by asking the respective Family Elder.
You may choose to play the game without a family, but it will mean that you start without access to a Private Family Store, you will rely entirely on the Colony Storehouse for resources and survival. These people fall under the category of the ‘Kinless’.
For full information on the Game of Brave New World we recommend reading the Brave New World Gamebook.
Families
Archetypes
While player characters may skew one way or another in terms of skills and abilities, there are a selection of skills that all players start with.
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Reading (at least the Bible)
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Writing your name
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Using firearms (only the ‘hunter’ archetype may use their own personal firearms and skill to call out to their target)
Hunter
While anyone may make use of a firearm, your own ability and skill through years of stealth and hunting have earned you the ability to pinpoint your foe better than others. You may call out specific targets before firing, making it much more likely for you to hit them.
Examples would be “Hey! You with the moustache!” or “Hey! Big Bear!”
Hunter archetypes may have a personal firearm and start with some powder resources.
Types of characters: Hunter, ex-Soldier, Militia, Trapper
Land Owner
You are intending to tame the land and work it to your will. Whether through luck or sheer perseverance you have achieved this goal and now have land under your name (the native population may have other opinions). These are represented by paper Land Deeds, these enable you to hand over the deed to the secretary at the Storehouse in exchange for any additional resource (except for coin and powder) equivalent to the size of the land deed. 1 Acre = 1 Resource. Land deeds can be bought, sold, bartered and even stolen.
Land Owner archetypes will start with a number of Land Deeds.
For example: John Cooke has two Five Acre Land Deeds, John exchanges them to the Storehouse secretary for 5 Food and 5 Wood resources.
Types of characters: Farmer, Businessperson, Philanthropist, Landlord
Surgeon
Whether studying the medicinal arts or merely having lived off the land long enough to know what plants don’t kill you, you’ve managed to come to an understanding of health and healing. As a surgeon you start the game with a baggie of paper results which the patient must draw one of. The information on the paper will inform the patient of the result. Maybe they are healed, maybe they have some strange side effects, maybe they will get worse.
Once per day a surgeon may enable a patient to redraw their paper result. They also have the “Right as rain” ability, where once per game, a surgeon can state that a patient will be “Right as rain” halting the progression of worsening illness/injury/death until the following day.
Surgeons will be provided a “medical baggie” at the beginning of the game.
Surgeon players should NOT provide their own bandages, these are a limited resource in the game and can be accessed by the ‘Tailor’ archetype.
Types of characters: Herbalist, Magician, Doctor, Midwife
Tailor
Cloth can be used for many things - all of which are useful to the creation of a Godly town in a New World. You are able to produce and work with cloth, enabling you to create high-quality or hard-wearing garments, ship sails, home linens and so on. But sometimes even the simplest of things still need to be crafted.
Tailors can make and produce bandages for surgeons with cloth resources. Cloth resources will give a certain amount of bandages and these are in limited supply. Once a bandage has been used to treat a wound it must be returned to a Tailor.
The Tailor must wash the bandages to ensure they are clean enough to be made use of again. A bandage must be (genuinely) washed and hung to dry and will not be available for use until the bandage phys-rep is (genuinely) dry.
Tailor archetypes will start with a percentage of cloth resources.
For example: Agnes Abbott has a cloth resource that equals five bandages worth. They choose to remove two bandages from the cloth resource and put the rest of the cloth resource (3 Cloth) into the Community Storehouse.
Tailor players should NOT provide their own bandages, these are a limited resource in the game and will be provided in-game.
Types of characters: Tailor, Seamstress, Sail Maker, Weaver
Merchant
Whether you are a banker, come from a rich family, or simply have accumulated capital through canny business deals before you set off to the new world, you have cash to spare. At the start of the event you will be given a substantial amount of cash to spend as you wish.
Types of characters: Quartermaster, Business Owner, Con artist
Forester
Toil and hard-work is your remit, you know how to handle and heft weapons and weight and know that there are dangers and unknowns in the forests of the land. You are prepared for the dangers you might encounter, capable of turning your tools into vicious weapons when required. Through this knowledge and skill you are are able to carry two-handed weapons and collect wood resources from the forest.
Forester archetypes will start with some wood resources.
Types of characters: Woodcutter, Bodger, Logger, Woodhick
Academic
Through various learning you have gained the ability to write extensively and you are more easily able to pick up on foreign languages.
You may pick a foreign language to start with that you are able to converse in as well as read: Dutch, Spanish, French. Writing in the particular language of choice will be represented by different colours of text: Dutch (Orange), French (Blue), Spanish (Red), other languages that may appear in game will be represented in different colours.
To converse in the language of your choice please start a conversation with either: “Hoi”, “Bonjour”, “Hola” then continue the conversation by placing your hand in front of your face with your thumb pointing towards yourself, and your little finger pointing out towards the person you are speaking to. This allows other players to know you are conversing in a foreign language. When the conversation has finished, sign off with, “Vaarwel”, “Au revoir”, “Adios”.
If you and another person speak another language fluently you may absolutely converse in said language - however, please be aware that some players with the language skill may not be fluent in said language and may wish to join the conversation. Please ensure everyone who should be able to understand the conversation is able to do so.
Types of characters: Teacher, Priest, Lawyer, Scholar