Część 1: Tworzenie postaci

Before players can begin a game of Renaissance, they must each (apart from the Games Master) create a character for themself. This should probably done as a group to make sure that a coherent adventuring party is generated, and that characters don't have irreconcilable differences that would prevent them working together. Creating a character involves a number of stages:

• Characteristics: Roll dice to determine the values of your character's main Characteristics - Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Size (SIZ), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW), Dexterity (DEX), and Charisma (CHA).
• Attributes: These are secondary attributes based on your Characteristics. They are Damage Modifier (DM), Hit Points (HP), Major Wound Level (MWL) and Movement Rate (Move).
• Common Skills: This is a list of skills that everyone can „have a go” at. They all start at a level based on your character's Characteristics, and can be raised later in the character generation process.
• Previous Experience: This is where your character really begins to take shape. First you must decide on your character's Social Class: This will have an effect on what Profession he or she followed before taking to a life of adventure. Each of these choices will give your character new skills, as well as determining how much money the character has to spend on equipment before play begins. Faction determines your character's political/religious beliefs and how strongly he or she feels about them.
• Free Skill Points: You have 250 points to spend on increasing your character's existing skills and buying new skills.
• Connections and Events: Use the tables provided to create a background that links you to the other characters and important events which have shaped your character's past.
• Finishing Touches: Decide on a name, sort out your starting equipment, and give your character Hero Points.

Characteristics

These are the primary building blocks of your character. All characters and creatures have seven characteristics, which give the basic information about the character's physical, mental and spiritual capabilities. As well as being useful indicators of how to role-play the character, they are the scores that skills are initially based upon.

The Characteristics are:

Strength (STR): Your character's brute force, Strength affects the amount of damage he deals, what weapons he can wield effectively, how much he can lift and so on.

Constitution (CON): A measure of your character's health, Constitution affects how much damage he can sustain in combat, as well as his general resistance to disease and other illnesses.

Dexterity (DEX): Your character's agility, co-ordination and speed of reaction, Dexterity aids him in many physical actions, including combat.

Size (SIZ): This is an indication of your character's mass and, like Strength and Constitution, can affect the amount of damage a character can deal and how well he can absorb damage.

Intelligence (INT): Your character's ability to think around problems, analyse information and memorise instructions.

Power (POW): Perhaps the most abstract Characteristic, Power is a measure of your character's life force and the strength of his willpower.

Charisma (CHA): This quantifies your character's attractiveness and leadership qualities.

Generating Characteristics

Roll 3D6 five times, and assign the numbers to STR, CON, DEX, POW, CHA as you wish.

Roll 2D6+6 twice, and assign the numbers to INT and SIZ.

Attributes

Attributes are a set of secondary scores that define your character's potential to do and take physical damage. Attributes are determined from the character's Characteristic scores.

Damage Modifier (DM): The Damage Modifier applies whenever your character uses a melee or thrown weapon. It is calculated by adding the character's STR and SIZ together, since bigger, stronger, characters deal out more damage than smaller, weaker characters. The Damage Modifier is calculated by consulting the following table.

Hit Points (HP): These represent your character's general health and physical wellbeing. They determine how much damage your character can sustain before he begins taking Grave Wounds and possibly dying. Hit Points equal Size plus Constitution divided by 2, rounded up. (SIZ + CON)/2.

Major Wound Level: When your character takes this amount of damage or more in one blow, he or she suffers a Serious or Grave Wound (depending on whether current Hit Points remain above or fall below zero). Major Wound Level is equal to Total Hit Points divided by two, rounded up. HP/2.

Movement Rate: This is the distance in metres that a character can move in a five second Combat Round. All human characters have a Movement Rate of 15 metres.

Magick (MAG): Those who practice Witchcraft have an extra attribute, MAG, which begins at (INT+POW)/10 (rounded up).

Common Skills

Your character has a number of Common Skills that allow him or her to perform a variety of actions with varying degrees of expertise. Each Common Skill is set by totalling two Characteristics. These are listed on your character sheet and below. Work out your character's base values for each skill - you will be given the opportunity to increase these values later in the character creation process. Skills and their use are described in the Skills chapter.

Common Skills

Rounding

Numbers in Renaissance are usually rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Previous Experience

Previous experience determines the skills and beliefs your Adventurer has gained before the game begins. These consist of the Adventurer's Social Class, his Profession (how he made his living) and his Faction (what belief system he subscribed to). Once play begins, your Adventurer is no longer restricted by these beginnings; all skills are open for him to learn, and if his political and/or religious beliefs change, he can move to another Faction. There are no restrictions on learning new skills within the mechanics of Renaissance. However, social pressures within the game world apply their own restrictions; a Peasant Vagabond is unlikely to gain a place at Oxford University to learn alchemy - or if he does, it's likely to be the focus of a whole series of adventures!

Determining previous experience is a three stage process:

• Firstly, determine what Social Class your Adventurer comes from.
• Secondly, determine your Adventurer's Profession, how he made his living.
• Finally, determine what Faction he belongs to, which will determine his religious and political beliefs.

It is worth noting that, while these Social Classes and Professions should cover most suitable Adventurers, if you want to play an Adventurer who doesn't fit the mould, it should be possible, with your Games Master's permission. For instance, if you want to play a Lord who has lost everything and fallen on hard times, you could create a Noble Vagabond, even though the rules do not permit it. They're your rules now, and you're allowed to break them!

Advanced Skills

* Note: Dual Weapons skill can never be higher than the lowest of the two weapons - see Skills chapter.

Social Class

Social Class determines into what strata of society your Adventurer was born. In the Renaissance game society is in upheaval; the old certainties of the medieval feudal system have broken down, and a rising middle class is starting to overtake an increasingly impoverished upper class in terms of wealth. Towns are growing larger, and as the upper classes „improve” their land by throwing off many of the Peasants who have farmed it for generations, a new underclass of urban poor is growing, as dispossessed Peasants head for the towns looking for work.

Each Social Class gives the Adventurer a number of skill options; choose the skills you want from those available and add the bonuses to your existing skill bases, determined in the previous section. The Social Class also lists which Professions are available to your Adventurer if you choose that class; Professions are described in Chapter 2. Finally, each Social Class lists Starting Wealth; roll to see how many shillings you have with which to buy equipment at the start of the game. This represents readily available cash - your character may have more wealth, but if so it is likely to be tied up in house, lands, a goat, etc.

Peasant

Common Skill Bonuses: Athletics +10%, Culture (Own) +30%, Drive +10%, Evaluate +30%, First Aid +10%, Influence +30%, Lore (Regional) +30%, Perception +10%, Ranged Combat +10%, Resilience +10%, Sing +10%, Unarmed Combat +10%

Advanced Skills: Language (Native) +50%, Lore (any), Survival

Plus choose any three from Boating, Craft (any), Lore (any), Play Instrument, Ranged Combat (Bows)

Starting Cash: 1D6 x 10 shillings

Professions Available: Agitator, Camp Follower, Cottager, Craftsman, Cunning Man/Wise Woman, Entertainer, Farmer, Mercenary, Outlaw, Physician (Herbalist), Preacher, Rook, Sailor, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Vagabond, Witch/Warlock, Witch Finder, Woodsman

You grew up in the country. It is likely that your parents were tenant Farmers or Craftsmen, living in a small village and working for the local Lord of the manor.

Townsman

Common Skill Bonuses: Culture (Own) +30%, Drive +10%, Evaluate +30%, First Aid +10%, Influence +30%, Lore (Regional) +30%, Perception +10%, Resilience +10%

Plus choose one from Close Combat +10%, Gun Combat +10%, Ranged Combat +10%, Unarmed Combat +10%

Advanced Skills: Language (Native) +50%, Lore (any), Streetwise

Plus choose three from Commerce, Close Combat (Polearms), Craft (any), Gambling, Influence, Play Instrument

Starting Cash: 2D6 x 10 shillings

Professions Available: Agitator, Camp Follower, Clerk, Craftsman, Entertainer, Highwayman, Journalist, Mercenary, Outlaw, Physician (Paracelsan), Preacher, Rook, Ruffian, Sailor, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Thief, Valet/Lady's Maid, Watchman, Witch/Warlock, Witch Finder

You grew up in the narrow, crowded streets of a rapidly growing town, among many others who have given up the rural life in the hope of making a living in an urban situation.

Middle Class

Common Skill Bonuses: Culture (Own) +30%, Evaluate +30%, Influence +30%, Insight +10%, Lore (Regional) +30%, Persistence +10%, Ride +10%

Plus choose one from Close Combat +10%, Gun Combat +10%, Ranged Combat +10%, Unarmed Combat +10%

Advanced Skills: Art (any), Language (Native) +50%, Lore (any)

Plus choose three from Commerce, Courtesy, Craft (any), Gambling, Play Instrument, Streetwise

Starting Cash: 4D6 x 10 shillings

Professions Available: Agitator, Alchemist, Clerk, Craftsman, Entertainer, Highwayman, Journalist, Mercenary, Merchant, Physician (Galenic), Preacher, Rook, Scholar, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Witch/Warlock, Witch Finder

You are part of the growing class of people whose families have risen above their humble origins by dint of hard work and good fortune. With the breakdown of the old feudal order and the growth of commerce, it has become possible for people to be relatively well-off without being a member of the landed classes.

Gentry

Common Skill Bonuses: Culture (Own) +30%, Evaluate +30%, Influence +30%, Insight +10%, Lore (Regional) +30%, Perception +10%, Persistence +10%, Ride +10%

Plus choose one from Close Combat +10%, Gun Combat +10%, Ranged Combat +10%, Unarmed Combat +10%

Advanced Skills: Art (any), Language (Native) +50%, Lore (any)

Plus choose three from Commerce, Courtesy, Craft (any), Oratory, Seduction

Starting Cash: 4D6 x 20 shillings

Professions Available: Alchemist, Cavalier, Clerk, Courtier, Farmer, Highwayman, Mercenary, Physician (Galenic), Preacher, Rook, Sailor, Scholar, Soldier, Spy, Witch/Warlock, Witch Finder

You are part of the solid landowning Gentry whose people have ruled the country districts since time immemorial. Actually, that may not be true - your family may have gained a title in your grandfather's day by buying a peerage.

Nobility

Common Skill Bonuses: Culture (Own) +30%, Evaluate +30%, Influence +30%, Insight +10%, Lore (Regional) +30%, Perception +10%, Persistence +10%, Ride +10%

Plus choose two from Close Combat +10%, Gun Combat +10%, Ranged Combat +10%, Unarmed Combat +10%

Advanced Skills: Courtesy, Language (Native) +50%, Lore (any)

Plus choose three from Art (any), Commerce, Craft (any), Dual Weapons (Sword and Pistol), Dual Weapons (Sword and Main Gauche), Oratory, Seduction

Starting Cash: 6D6 x 30 shillings

Professions Available: Alchemist, Cavalier, Courtier, Highwayman, Lord/Lady, Mercenary, Physician (Galenic), Preacher, Rook, Scholar, Soldier, Spy, Witch/Warlock

You are very rich indeed. So rich, in fact, that thinking about money is something you almost never do - you have minions to think about such things for you. Your family can almost certainly trace its ancestry back hundreds of years, and you have moved in circles of high influence all your life.

Profession

Your Adventurer's Profession defines how your Adventurer earned or earns his living. It may be that you have worked in this Profession for years, picking up the skills necessary to earn your trade, only to find yourself out of a job due to the upheavals of the war, or conscripted into the army. You may be travelling across the country, seeking to earn a living at your chosen Profession. Alternatively, you may have hated the Profession you were forced into, and relish the prospect of doing something new.

Professions are described in detail in Chapter 2. Each Profession gives your character bonuses to some Common skills (add the numbers in the description to your existing skill levels) and allows you to open some Advanced skills at their base level (See the Skills chapter for details of Advanced skills). If you already have a listed Advanced skill from your Social Class, you may choose to add +10% to it.

As your Adventurer gains experience during play, he may be able to increase the skills of his Profession, or may choose to learn new skills associated with his new adventuring life-style.

Faction

One of the most important decisions for an Adventurer in Renaissance is your choice of Faction. In fact, Factions are so important that they've got a chapter to themselves. Have a look through the Factions chapter, and choose one that fits your Adventurer and that you feel would be fun to play. Add the skills from your Faction then work out your Righteousness Points.

Righteousness Points

Righteousness Points (RPs) are a measure of the passion of your belief in your chosen Faction. As a beginning Adventurer, they are equal to your CHA + POW + the Zealousness of your chosen Faction. As your Adventurer goes through his adventures, his RPs will rise or fall - if they become very high, he will become insanely righteous and may commit acts that even his own Faction finds hard to swallow; if they fall low enough, he will become open to conversion to another Faction. See the Factions chapter for more details.

Free Skill Points

At this stage, your character receives 250 additional skill points. You can add these free skill points to your character's skills in the following ways:

• Add to a Common skill score.
• Add to an Advanced skill score, as long as the character already possesses the skill.
• Purchase an Advanced skill. This costs 10 free skill points and the Advanced skill starts at its basic Characteristic-derived score.

No single skill can benefit from more than 30 free skill points. An Advanced skill purchased with free skill points cannot be increased by more than 20 points. Magickal skills such as Alchemy and Witchcraft cannot be added without a very good backstory and the permission of the Games Master.

Connections and Events

Adventurers may come from different backgrounds and hold different political and religious views. Nevertheless, they are considered members of a community, and they may well have ties that go beyond partisan views. They may be connected as family members or friends. They may remain close and adventure together even though they are nominally enemies as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Connections between Adventurers are an integral part of the character creation process in the Renaissance universe, as they provide some of the glue bonding together any adventuring party.

It is recommended that each Adventurer has just one less connection than the total number of other Adventurers in the party - so if there are six members in the party, each character should have connections with four of the other members.

The Past Events table below gives some ideas for events that might have occurred in an Adventurer's past, many of which refer to their relationship with another Adventurer. Each player should roll D100. The player who rolled should then get together with one of the other players to come up with a way in which both of their characters were involved in that event or connection. They should embellish the idea, working with the Adventurer they are connected with to refine the event or association, adding depth to the relationship between their Adventurers.

There is no requirement to use the table - you might prefer to come up with your own inter-party associations. The party might all be siblings, or all have come from the same village, or all have met through working for the same patron.

Whether you use the table or not, for each connection two Adventurers make, both characters should receive a 10% bonus in one skill, though this need not be the same skill for both. The skill should be tied in some way to the event in which the two Adventurers were involved.

If you generate an event you are not happy with, or that you do not feel fits with the type of Adventurer you wish to play, simply discard the result and roll again (or pick another result). Connections are not designed to be a weight around the player's neck, but rather provide emotional and practical reasons for Adventurers to look after each other.

Past Events Table

Finishing Touches

Your character is almost finished. Only a few more things need to be decided.

Name

Choose a name that you think suits your Adventurer.

Looks

What does your character look like? What is his or her hair and eye colour? What is he or she like physically? A character with high SIZ and high STR would be big and muscular, whereas a high SIZ and low STR would tend to suggest obesity. A character with high CHA might be physically attractive, while one with high POW might dominate by force of personality. A character with high DEX will likely be graceful or at least clever with his or her hands.

Equipment

Your Adventurer begins play with the following equipment.

• A set of clothing suitable for your social class and profession.
• Several small items of personal value - a crucifix, a family Bible, a good luck charm, etc.
• One weapon suited to your character's skills.
• The minimum tools of your Profession's trade, chosen from the Equipment chapter.

On top of this, if your character is a member of the Gentry or the Nobility he or she gains:

• A set of armour with a maximum of 1D6 Armour Points (usually men only).
• An additional weapon that has been handed down in the family (usually men only).
• A horse.
• A spare set of fine clothing suitable for an upper class ball or banquet.

Your character also begins play with money according to their Social Class to spend on extra equipment. Remember that this money may not represent all an Adventurer's worldly wealth - a Nobleman may own a huge house and rolling acres of farmland, a Cottager may have a tumbledown hut and a bony cow; but these will not be readily convertible into cash, and can't be taken with you on an adventure.

Equipment can be bought from the Equipment chapter.

Armour Points

Armour comes in five general types, each representing an overall level of protection. Armour only provides half the protection (rounded down - an exception to the usual rule of rounding up) against guns, unless the gun is fired beyond its normal range. To remind you of this, Armour Points are listed as two numbers separated by a slash - the full APs, followed by the protection against guns.

Very Light Armour: 1/0 Armour Point(s)

Light Armour: 2/1 Armour Point(s)

Medium Armour: 3/1 Armour Points(s)

Heavy Armour: 4/2 Armour Points

Very Heavy Armour: 5/2 Armour Points

See the Equipment chapter for more information on what these categories mean. A character's full Armour Points are subtracted from his or her DEX and INT for the purposes of calculating combat order.

Hero Points

Your character begins play with 2 hero points.

Hero points are what distinguishes your character from normal stay-at-home type folk.

Spending one hero point allows your character to:

• Re-roll any failed dice roll.
• Downgrade a Grave Wound to the equivalent Serious Wound. Your character still takes the full damage they normally would to their Hit Points, but suffer the inconvenient effects of a Serious Wound, rather than the messy and often fatal effects of a Grave Wound.
• Downgrade a Serious Wound to a normal wound. Your character still takes the full damage they would normally to their Hit Points, but do not suffer the inconvenient effects of a Serious Wound.
• Avoid character death. A character who would normally die for whatever reason (failing a Resilience roll when beyond his negative Hit Point limit, taking too much damage in one blow, taking a fatal Grave Wound, etc.) will narrowly avoid death due to some lucky circumstance. The character will remain unconscious for 1D4 hours and will awake with 0 Hit Points.

Once hero points are spent they are gone. The Games Master awards hero points at the end of the game session for moments of outstanding heroic play.

Advanced Characters

For some campaigns, at the Games Master's discretion, it might be desirable to create characters who are a cut above the normal.

Seasoned characters begin with 350 free skill points instead of 250. No single skill can benefit from more than 40 free skill points. An Advanced skill purchased with free skill points cannot be increased by more than 30 points. Additionally, 2 points can be added your characters' Characteristics, distributed as you wish. Seasoned characters begin play with 3 hero points.

Veteran characters begin with 450 free skill points instead of 250. No single skill can benefit from more than 50 free skill points. An Advanced skill purchased with free skill points cannot be increased by more than 40 points. Additionally, 3 points can be added your characters' Characteristics, distributed as you wish. Seasoned characters begin play with 6 hero points.

Master characters begin with 550 free skill points instead of 250. No single skill can benefit from more than 60 free skill points. An Advanced skill purchased with free skill points cannot be increased by more than 50 points. Additionally, 4 points can be added your characters' Characteristics, distributed as you wish. Seasoned characters begin play with 9 hero points.