We’ve got another reverse-engineered character out there. Take a look at James Strand, over at JimButcherOnline.
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Thanks for the mention.
To be honest within a couple of hours of posting James Strand up I was already trying to rethink him; once you get something written down you start seeing all the things that you missed, didn’t make clear, or that just don’t make sense. I imagine I’ll probably redo his aspects and some of his backstory once I’ve had the chance to go over some stuff.
I was hoping to include an overview of supernatural Ottawa as well, but it looks like that may take a little while.
Any comments on how the Strand is developing so far?
Doug
One suggestion I have is what I call “The Aspect Trick.” You really want your Aspects doing triple-duty for you – you want to be able to invoke them for a bonus when you need to, you want to be able to use them for effect when you need to, and you want to be able to have them compelled to get you Fate Points. So, try and think of different ways your Aspects can help you and hinder you.
I find that single word Aspects are least likely to be able to get you all three, so I prefer to stick to phrases. Instead of Lanky, maybe Tall, Thin Drink of Water. It’s more colourful, and can be used both for and against you. Instead of Dyslexic, maybe Worked Hard to Overcome My Dyslexia. That way you get the difficulty of Dyslexia along with the benefit of the Worked Hard part.
The other thing I might suggest is to make sure you spend your skill points in places that will fit with the game being run. As it stands right now, James Strand is very much an action-focused character, with much less ability in the social or perceptive arenas. That’s fine if you don’t mind sacrificing ability in these two areas for supremacy in the other, but make sure the game you’re going to be in will support that. I find that the Fate games I run tend to split pretty evenly between action and non-action oriented scenes.
Having said all that, I like the character, and I think you’re taking him in interesting directions. Kudos.