Justin's Character Sheet Over Time

Justin Thorne's character sheet over time

System: Over the Edge which gives starting characters three broadly defined traits and one flaw. Players should also choose motivation, secret, and most important person. Drawing a picture of the character is non-optional.

Original

Central Trait: Creative, 4 dice/2 dice. This is a split trait of ordinary and weird creativity, the latter being a fringe trait. Justin is Maker, which means that he can create magical items, and weird creativity is what he uses to do that.

Side Trait: Supernatural Sensitivity, the trait I always forgot. Fortunately, Naomi did not.

Side Trait: Information Sponge, 3 dice. Originally left undefined, I decided it had to be this to explain how Justin managed to keep up his grades and get a parcel of special projects done.

Flaw: Meddler. Originally undefined, definition supplied by Naomi, approved by me.

Secret: Accidentally killed stepfather with newly forged sword. Cop took sword, returned it a day later with no comment, did not press charges.

Most Important Person: Stepfather, Richard Thorne

Motivation: I don't think we ever used this, although I did email Naomi a few times about how to get Justin to follow the appropriate plot threads.

Changes as of Fall Quarter, Sophmore Year

Journalism, 2 dice--picked up Fall Quarter of Freshman Year. I told Naomi that I wasn't sure if this were a normal trait everyone had 2 dice in, in which case it became a 3 die trait, or an unusual trait normal people did not have, in which case it became a 1 die trait. She said to split the difference, and make it a 2 die trait.

Arabic, 2 dice--one picked up for Winter Quarter of Freshman year, one awarded as a bonus die I could use on anything.

Creativity increased to 5/2 dice (Spring). This was the only logical place for it to go, and Naomi agreed that Justin had been displayng sufficient creativity. Weird creativity remained 2 dice, as she didn't want a 3 die Maker.

Information Sponge increased to 4 dice (Summer). I figured this was the only way to explain how Justin manages to keep so many balls in the air and still maintain a respectable GPA.

Farmhand, 1 die (Fall/Winter of Sophmore Year--after Freshman Year, Naomi decided to slow down xp awards to twice per year. Technically, I suppose Justin learned this over summer, while working on Michael's farm, but we were sticking more closely to what loose mehanics we had, and this is when the die was officially awarded.)

Justin also knows Morse Code, but that doesn't get a trait.

Most Important Person -- Ken Maravich, Justin's lover

Secret -- This now varies, depending on context. On campus, Justin's sexual orientation is no secret, but while MIchael, his best friend (and Josh's PC) knows, his neighbors don't. The fact that Justin is a Maker, with Weird Creativity, is a secret in some contexts. So is the fact that Justin accidentally killed his stepfather, but it's less a secret than it used to be. Probably the one Justin is most quiet about is the fact that he has slept with his half sister, Sarah Lacey, and fathered a child for her. His mother, his lover, and his closest friends are aware of this, however.

Fall of Junior Year

French, 1 die. (Spring/Summer of Sophmore Year) I'd been trying to juggle dice as per the home rules, and I asked Naomi if I should put the next die into French or Contacts. She said to put it in French, and we'd make Contacts a GM province. That is, rather than making it a trait, Naomi will decide, where necessary, whom Justin knows and whether he can reach the person he wants.

Most Important Person and Secret are unchanged.

One thing Justin picked up that Naomi said would not cost to make a trait: Unnerving Stare. It doesn't cost because it is rarely useful and as likely to alienate someone Justin likes as to do anything positive. In Everway terms, it's a zero point power, being neither major, frequent, nor versatile.

Fall of 2nd Junior Year

At this point, I ignored the rules and described what I thought was the case. This, I think, is what RPG rules should do, describe, not proscribe, but I find this is rarely the case. I could probably stat Justin out in most systems, but I could only have created him in OTE's system. If I had used GURPS, I would have felt obligated to give him 5 quirks for the points, defining them as soon as possible, to stay honest. Since quirks had nothing to do with points, they developed gradually over play. I'll list the ones I've figured out below.

I emailed what I thought Justin's character sheet looked like to Naomi, and we made a few modifications. Also, she asked for signs for Justin's traits. Since I'm still not sure, I've put multiple signs for a couple of traits.

Central Trait: Creativity, 5 dice / Weird Creativity 2 dice

Flip side: Affected by Theatrical Things

Sign: Used to be sheds butterflies, but probably now is the debris of several projects in progress.

Journalist, 3 dice

Sign: Always carries a notebook. When he shuts his mouth, he's actually a good listener. Mutters "I can't believe he actually told me that."

Postal Mage, 4 dice

Sign: Always knows the correct postage for a package or letter.

Information Sponge: 4 dice

Sign: Will talk for hours on any topic. Actually manages to complete half the projects he starts.

Supernatural Sensitivity: 2 dice

Sign: I'm still not sure.

(I actually forgot the above two traits when I first emailed the character sheet.)

Arabic, 2 dice

Sign: Swears in Arabic by choice.

Hebrew, 1 die

Sign: I haven't come up with one yet.

French: Written, 2 dice. Spoken, 2 dice if speaking to someone who speaks Vietnamese French, 2 dice plus a penalty die otherwise.

Sign: Cooks a mean lemon chicken.

Farmhand, 1 die.

Sign: Winces whenever someone mentions cows.

Swordfighting, 2 dice, no penalty

Josh thinks this should be 3 plus a penalty die. He may be right.

Sign: When watching something athletic, takes a fencer's stand, as distinct from a fencer's stance. As Naomi noted, fencers stand differently when in fencing mode than when in non-fencing mode.

Submarine Pilot, 2 dice

Sign: Scar on his left arm.

(Around this time, Michael picked up the trait Commando. Josh noted that his sign was: Scars all over body.)

Swimming, 3 dice

Sign: Gills

Rifle, 2 dice

Pistol, 1 die

I haven't come up with signs for the above two traits.

Non-Traits: Morse Code, Unnerving Stare

Most Important Person: In flux. Occasionally Sarah Lacey, but usually, probably, Michael Conoway

Secret: Again, varies, but the most consistent secret is: Justin is a postal mage. At this point, the only folks who know it are the other two postal mages, one of Michael's daughters, and probably Sarah Lacey.

Current changes, as of Spring Quarter, 2nd Junior Year

American Sign Language, 1 die

Sign: Can now babble without opening his mouth

Skiing, 2 dice

Sign: I haven't come up with one yet.

Stage Magic, 1 die

Sign: Practices juggling in odd moments, pulls coins out of people's ears

Mongolian, 1 die plus a penalty die

Sign: Walks around with a Mongolian grammar and dictionary muttering, "I have got to get Jido to slow down."

Most Important Person: Ken Maravitch

Secret: Varies, as above. If his novel gets published, the fact that he used the pen name Zena Thorndyke will become another one, one that he'll kick himself for ten years down the line.

Quirks: These are things I'd feel obliged to get points for in any other system, but which developed because I was using OTE.

Justin likes soda pop. He makes too many lists. At some point, I decided that this was one of his coping methods, developed after he'd killed his stepfather. (1. Don't slit wrists. 2. Make sure Mother hasn't slit her wrists. 3. Return books to library. 4. Pick up medicine for Mother. 5. Make sure she takes it and doesn't slit her wrists. 6. Don't slit own wrists. 7. History test tomorrow.)

He has the minor delusion that he can't sing very well. This is because he has received criticism from his best friend, who received formal training, his half sister, who is a siren, and Orpheus, about whom, enough said.

He has a minor delusion that he's a worse fencer than he is, as he subconsciously compares himself to two Olympic level (for the USA, at least) fencers.

He's still a lousy liar.

Under stress, he forgets which language he's supposed to be speaking. This only happens often enough to be a quirk in GURPS terms, and usually, what happens is he speaks Arabic instead of English. He picked this quirk up when he returned to campus after having been kidnapped by Arab terrorists, and it got reinforced over the years. Once or twice, he used French instead of English.