Tristano (di Miragliano)

Hey Matt!

I've been looking through the WFRP book, and I have a pretty good idea of how I want to make my character. The Student -> Engineer career path seems perfect for what I was thinking. So, can you give me an idea of how many xp/advance/etc. I have to spend, or, really, how you want me to create the character in general? Also, I'd like of sense of what type of equipment I might be able to have. For example, I'd like to have a somewhat fancy firearm (maybe that I made myself), but don't know what an appropriate limit to ask for is. It seems that a repeater is out of the question (whether of the pistol or firearm variety), and the same with a Hochland Long Rifle (just examining by cost, anyways), but what about a normal firearm or pistol? Thanks!

I'll write some more character-building stuff (background, etc.) here as I make it up.

--Matts 13:40, 20 April 2008 (MST)So, I think you get something like 2800 xp total to make your character, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that to power all the way out of Engineer; you're free to take a more roundabout career route if you want. Your character starts with the trappings of his second + first career, so if he's got a firearm amongst those things, then you start with a firearm! If he doesn't, well by god I'm the GM, so you start with a firearm! That is to say, a firearm from the book. You can have tricked it out as appropriate.

You can make the character however you'd like, but I'd say that since you've come from Miragliano, you could be a disciple of Leonardo di Miragliano, the famous inventor! It would also give you an opportunity to speak in an out-a-rageous accent if that's the kind of thing you like! Of course, you don't need to have come from Miragliano; almost any background will do.

The group is smugglers, but the goal of the campaign is to sort of launch them into the politics of the Empire, and that is happening apace. If you character has a strong profit motive, that'll be helpful, since Kreutzhofen basically stands, with the right moves by the players, to gain some real importance. But whatever the motive, if your character can ultimately find a place in a group that is moving about politically and criminally, that'd be optimal. But, you don't really need to design him to fit any of those criteria if you don't want.

Anyways, if you want to tell me your ideas for a background, I can suggest things that might be world- or group-appropriate, which you could use if you wanted to.

--Brandon 13:00, 23 April 2008 (MST) Okay, so I've got a few more things cooked up, and a few more questions. Looking at the amount of XP you've given, and at the careers, it looks like the straightforward Student -> Engineer path will power me out of Engineer, so I'm planning on going Noble -> Student -> Engineer, which fits the character concept that I have in mind nicely, and puts me part of the way through Engineer, with some enticing career choices ahead of me (Artisan is most likely, but Pistolier is also attractive if things get more and more martial). And, I had planned to be from Miragliano, so being a disciple of Leonardo is perfect - I'll at least attempt the accent. Taking this path, here is what I've got so far as character concept:

TRISTANO (di Miragliano?)

APPEARANCE

Tristano is a thin, handsome man in his early twenties, with wild, curly black hair, a well-kept goatee, and dark brown eyes. His complexion is more swarthy than the typical olive-skinned Tilean, and there are rumors of Rom ancestry in his family. He wears fine garments, typically of black and gray/silver, and owns a particularly fine coat striped in those two colors.

BACKGROUND

Tristano is a child of wealthy nobles in Miragliano, and was raised wanting for nothing - except perhaps familial affection. Born twinned with court intrigue, Tristano finds scheming and political maneuvering perfectly natural. One thing that sets him apart from his power-hungry peers, though, is that he has little interest in power or status for their own sakes. Indeed, Tristano is really only interested in power insofar as it provides him access to two things: knowledge and romance.

Brilliant and rather lazy, Tristano spent his adolescence pursuing the studies that came easily to him (i.e., mathematics and science) or helped him to seduce others (i.e., flute-playing, poetry, etc.), and attempting to avoid all else in favor of these two ends (while his male peers practiced with rapier and main-gauche, he seduced their girlfriends; while his female peers studied at courtship and filigree, he seduced their boyfriends). Regardless, he managed to pick up quite a breadth of knowledge in passing, and developed a unique fascination with the firearm - perhaps due to the fact that pistols saved his life on more than one occasion, due to the increasingly frequent and inevitable number of duels he found himself in. Luckily, in Miragliano, it is the challenged who gets to pick the choice of weapon.

Tristano's parents, recognizing both his potential and the fact that he would likely be killed before too long if he pursued his present course, arrange an apprenticeship with Leonardo. Here Tristano flourished amidst the creative and challenging environment, actually becoming interested enough to devote himself and do serious hard work. Even more miraculous was the fact that Tristano was distracted enough to refrain (mostly) from breaking hearts around town. As a thoroughgoing empiricist, Tristano's obsession with the sensual extends beyond the touches and tastes of love to include the scent of gunpowder and the symmetrical beauty of mechanical lines. As Tristano's apprenticeship drew to an end, he became more and more focused on black powder technology, and his thesis project was the design and manufacture of a promising new firearm [I'm imagining this to be a repeater, but we can talk about this - see more below].

Despite his youth, Tristano's expertise and interest in military engineering got him an immediate post with those in charge of defending Miragliano, and Tristano spent a fair amount of time and energy coming up with unique methods for responding to, for example, the Skaven threat. Indeed, not all of the balls of flame thrown from the walls of Miragliano came from the hands of Wizards. Before his departure from Miragliano, Tristano was working on a large-scale (cannon-sized) version of his "special" gun, designed especially as an anti-navy armament for the security of the Golfo di Miragliano.

Alas, Tristano's nature once again led him into trouble, as his affair with the beautiful Isabella was discovered by agents of her jealous, powerful, and important husband. Isabella tipped Tristano off to the danger before it was too late, and he quickly arranged to be somewhat unofficially attached to a group of men-at-arms who had been recently hired by some strange foreigners, claiming to want to travel and see the world's wonders. As firearms are finicky, and engineers scarce, the arrangements were not particularly difficult.

Tristano has little in the way of a plan, but figures that if he can get to Nuln he can ingratiate himself with the famous Gunnery school there. Also, he's heard some curious rumors about a fireworks celebration in some small southern Imperial town, which intrigues him. Mostly, though, Tristano has been chafing under the onerous burden of working for other people, and is torn between despair over leaving Isabella and relief to be leaving the oppressive confines of the city of his birth. He figures that if he can find some way to build up some resources, he could easily have a workshop of his own to pursue his various half-cooked Engineering schemes.

As the troupe travels through the underground passage [which I imagine is where the group leads them] Tristano immediately realizes the potential for immense profit from trade through it, and comes up with an elaborate plan to increase the efficiency of passage via various mechanical means. Tristano intends to pitch this plan - using his not inconsiderable charm to ensure a wildly profitable position for himself - to whoever seems to be in charge at the first available opportunity.

NOTES

So, given what you said above, Tristano would start with the trappings of a Noble and Student, plus a firearm of my choice, which would something look like this:

- Firearm of my Choice [I'm imagining this to a fancy repeater firearm. If that's too powerful, we could make it a Repeater with fewer shots (2 or 3 rather than 6, maybe), or a Repeater Pistol (with the same possibility of a reduction to the no. of shots), or a Long Rifle (could also be Long Repeater with only 2 shots or something), or merely a Best Quality Firearm. I'm happy to be flexible with this as long as the firearm is special in some way].

- A horse

- Rapier and Main-Gauche [I don't really want these, as they aren't character-appropriate]

- Some money [I think it's 1-10 gc]

- Some jewelry [I think its 6d10 gc worth]

- A set of Noble clothing [see Appearance above for my thoughts on these]

- Two academic books [Engineering & Science]

- Writing Kit

(I think that's all, though I may be missing something)

My thought is that Tristano is going to try to get out of Miragliano with the equipment listed below. That is, before he flees with the army, he is going to race to pack up things he owns, attempt to raid military storerooms to which he might have access , call in favors, and/or attempt to trade things he has of value (Ducats and Jewelry, for example) for desired equipment. Obviously he is limited in both time and available resources, so I don't imagine that he'll be able to get it all. So, you can choose what he actually gets out. [Let me know if this sounds reasonable to you].

- Tristano's Firarm [this would be the first item he secures]

- His horse [or, he could trade this for some of the other things; I might rather have a pistol than a horse, for example]

- A fair amount of ammunition and gunpowder [either from the city or the army with which he is traveling]

- An Engineer's kit [ditto]

- A pistol [ditto; or traded for horse]

- A collection of his already completed, hare-brained engineering plans/drawings

- A lot (a wagonful?) of random spare parts

- Some money

- The set of Noble Clothing

- The two academic books above

- A Writing Kit

- A Leather Jack [really, a craftsman's garment used to protect himself from sparks, etc. when building stuff]

- A Leather Skullcap [ditto]

- A pair of goggles

- A pair of spectacles with a bunch of different magnifying lenses [built while in apprenticeship to Leonardo]

- A Hand Weapon

- A Dagger

--Matts 14:17, 23 April 2008 (MST)You get the trappings of Noble, Student, and Engineer, because you can't advance to Engineer without the trappings. That said, we'll say your number of trappings is greatly reduced by the rapidity of your flight from Miragliano. Choose a number of trappings equal to the number for one of your careers, and we'll say you lose that many of your choice.

--Brandon 14:45, 23 April 2008 (MST) Ok, I'll think on this. Even after I subtract some trappings, I may still want to do some trading of some trappings (money, jewelry, rapier/main-gauche) for others. I'll let you know what I come up with.

As for your firearm, what sort of gadgetry do you want? It could either be Best Crafstmanship, have some kind of reloading mechanism to cut reload time down to a full action, or something similar. If you opt for a gadget, it'll make the firearm Experimental, which means it can be kind of dangerous.

--Brandon 14:45, 23 April 2008 (MST) Maybe you saw this, but I said a little bit about this above (next to Firearm of my Choice - in brackets). My ideal would for the gadgetry to be that the firearm is a repeater. In the book, these are Experimental (which makes sense - in fact I like it) and they reload as a Free Action for up to six shots. These seems very powerful, and I could understand if it is unbalancing. Above I suggested a compromise where the firearm is a Repeater with fewer shots (2 or 3, maybe). That being said, given your choices above, I would pick the quick, and experimental, reloading gadgetry. I should warn you, though, that I will almost certainly have the Master Gunner talent, which reduces reload times by half an action. So, if the firearm reload time is a full action, I'd be able to reload and shoot each turn (though without aiming).

The fact that Ignatio Della Croces left with all his mercenaries is something of a big deal, and makes for a perfect getaway plan. There are something like 1000 troops in all leaving Miragliano; secreting yourself among them is child's play.

--Brandon 14:45, 23 April 2008 (MST) Sweet. This seems perfect. Way to steer the campaign in way that makes the introduction of this character so easy.

No need to choose between the horse and pistol.

--Matts 15:58, 23 April 2008 (MST) How about: you have the beginnings of a DoubleLoader system, which will give a modified firearm Experimental, with a free action reload and magazine of 2. Reloading the magazine is 3 full actions.

I'll give you the choice of either starting with such a modified firearm, or a best craftsmanship firearm and the parts to make something similar should another firearm come along.

RULES QUESTION(S)

- Do you follow the normal process for character-creation listed in the book (i.e., random rolls for starting stats and talents) or do you have a different scheme (i.e., assigning rolls to particular stats, picking talents, dropping lowest roll, etc.)?

Let me know what you think of all of this. Sorry for the lengthiness, but I've been having fun with the character creation!

--Matts 14:18, 23 April 2008 (MST) check out the WHFRP Reboot page for information on character creation! You can allocate stats, roll them, roll-allocate; there's lots of ways to generate your stats.