A young child with straw-blonde hair skips over the steps in front of the bakery, trailing a tattered offcut of ribbon along the damp cobbles while a small tabby furiously pursues the frayed end. They play under the legs of a rickey ladder, and the familiar cap of the town cobbler falls into a puddle as he teeters above them with armfuls of bunting. His cursing brings Old Mrs Manners to her window, and she jovially threatens to empty her washing water over his head. The commotion snaps the butcher out of his echo-induced reverie, and he rushes back across the street to steady the ladder.
You will be playing an inhabitant of Little Avoning. Find more about the town here. All players should have a strong connection to the town, but it is possible to play someone from out of town, for example someone returning to where they grew up, or visiting family.
As part of your character you should also come up with a role to play in the upcoming Little Avoning Rose Festival, e.g hanging decorations, selling wares at the market, entertaining crowds, or preparing food.
We will also ask for you to think of an “heirloom” echo, something related to your character or your character’s family/ background, or an echo that your character just likes to visit and experience.
All player characters will be part of the local community, and we want to encourage players to take on important roles in the local community. In order to prevent duplication, we have set up a spreadsheet which all potential players can collaborate on, on which you can claim or list specific community roles and start to establish character links. The Character Creation Form and Character Claim Spreadsheet will both go live on the evening of Wednesday the 17th September, during the Character Creation Session.
Additionally, many of the characters on the Recent History page are available to be claimed as PCs. These will also be listed on the spreadsheet. It will be possible to claim one of these characters on the Character Claim Spreadsheet (pronouns can be adjusted to player preference).
| Character | Pronouns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Evelyn Stuart | She/They | The head of the Stuart family is a proud and domineering woman. While few would describe her as “well liked”, she is nonetheless influential in Little Avoning and when they speak, many listen. |
| Mark Smith | He/Him | Mark was thrust into the spotlight role after the loss of his parents left the family leaderless, Mark has proven a charismatic and vigorous figure in Little Avoning, supporting Smith's work at The Smithy and has been seen as an optimist about the town's future. |
| [forename] Smith | Customisable | This Character is the partner of industrialist Chartwell, and helped set up The Smithy over the last three decades. |
| Bartholomew Beaufort | He/Him | Bartholomew is an elderly gentleman, one of the very few to make it to his seventies. He was once mayor of the town, although fell from favor long ago. There are a lot of explanations for what happened, but which of them is true is anyone's guess. |
| Monica Beaufort | Zie/Zie | Monica is a young, shy individual seemingly more comfortable with bees than people. Zie is known for making the best mead in town. |
| Bridgit Mackenzie | She/Her | Bridgit is a friendly, outgoing woman, popular around town and known to almost everyone in it. She is very active in fair planning, and other aspects of the town's social life. |
| Issac Fisher | They/Them | Issac is a dour, distant figure, even to his own family members. Holed up in their house at the edge of town many treat them with suspicion. |
| John Talbart | He/Him | John is technically retired now, but he is one of the most skilled shoemakers the town has ever seen, and can still be depended upon for repairs in exchange for some hot homemade food or discounts at market. |
We also strongly encourage attending the Character Creation Session on September 17, as it will be easier to collaborate in person in creating character links.
Below are the sections you’ll need to fill in on the character creation form, a short description and some examples. Example characters can be found here.
You can, of course, play a character with different pronouns and/or gender presentation to yourself. As opposed to real history, any gender presentation or pronouns are normal in this setting; please see the CAT Policy and Differences to History in the Wider World.
Your character must be 18+.
Your character should, in some way, have a role or job in town. This can be an occupation, such as cobbler, seamstress, doctor or carpenter, or a skill separate from their job, like a talented artist or singer, or someone particularly strong (if you opt for a skill please also include an occupation for your character, or state if they do not work for any reason). Positions of authority are available to player characters, such as Mayor’s office and magistrate, or you can work at the Smithy or on the Landowner’s vast estate, just outside of town.
There will be room on the character creation form to explore if your character enjoys their job, if it utilises their skills and if they are good at it.
Tell us about your character’s connection to the town, including the people they live with and any family legacies. We are expecting the majority of players to have lived in Little Avoning and have strong family ties, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Perhaps your character is the youngest in a long line of proud doctors, dating back to before the town archive began. Or maybe you’re the black sheep of the family, destined to be a gardener for the landowner but wishing you could be selling at the market? You could play a character returning home to visit their beloved family after a catastrophic affair in the big city, or to reconnect with their childhood. Just make sure to give your character a strong investment in the community, and making sure the Little Avoning Rose Festival is a success.
Family is important to the people of Little Avoning, and the vast majority of people in the town have generations of ancestors here. It is important to think about who your character's family are and how they have been shaped by them.
Many player characters are likely from one of the established families in the town, but you are welcome to come up with a new family of your own! They might be relatively new to civic life or have been an important part of the town for generations.
Your character has signed up to help preparations for the Little Avoning Rose Festival. What have they agreed to do? (e.g. Manual labour to set up tents/ stalls, selling handmade wares, providing entertainment, baking the traditional festival treats, managing the town festival budget).
Experiencing echoes requires the opening of a sixth sense; fully perceiving and understanding the contents of an echo can be a difficult feat, and requires a level of training, study, or natural talent. Level 3 is about average.
How sensitive is your character to the echoes?
| Level | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You are seemingly numb to echoes. It requires some concentration to focus on the sensations and meanings of echoes, but you can tell when an echo is in the vicinity, even if you don’t really feel anything from it. |
| 2 | You are able to glean the general sensations and meanings of the echoes you encounter. |
| 3 | You experience the sensation of echoes strongly, and with concentration may be able to understand the emotional nuances that generated the echo. |
| 4 | You are especially sensitive to echoes, and may even have a specific sensitivity for certain echo sensations (touch, sound etc.). This can become overwhelming. You have a good understanding of the emotions that have generated echoes and get a clear sensory experience from echoes. |
| 5 | You are extremely sensitive to echoes. You have a good understanding of the emotions that have generated echoes and get a clear sensory experience from echoes, but this can be unpleasantly intense and sometimes debilitating. |
There will be extra space if you would like to clarify which echo sensations/ senses are particularly intense (you might be extra aware of echoes that contain sound, for example). You can also let us know if your character’s sensitivity is natural or if (and how) they might have learnt to read echoes more carefully (Did they study? Did someone show them how?).
You have a connection with one of the echoes in town. It can be your favourite echo to visit, a sensation you find particularly striking, or even connected to your family or town history (echoes generated from the loss of a loved one, a close friend leaving town, the last time you heard your child laugh).
Unlike quirks in previous games, Elements are story pieces that you’d like the GM team to focus on during your character’s arc throughout the game. Choose 1 or 2 narrative elements and provide a short description of each. Please see the Elements page for more information and examples.
The Character Creation Form and Character Claim Spreadsheet will both go live on the evening of Wednesday the 17th September, during the Character Creation Session.
You can submit your character form via the google form here: https://forms.gle/eSqjuqE8Hotw86jeA If you require a different format for character submission please contact the GM team.
The Character Creation deadline is 23:59 on Wednesday, 24 September.