Characters

I'm not attached to your world, nothing heals and nothing grows.
— Marilyn Manson, Great Big White World

Before you can dive into the Matrix, you need to create a character: your persona in the game. This person can be anything you prefer, human or Synthient, like a motorcycle mechanic or a highrise window washer. Characters should not only be exciting to play, but able to provide avenues for your troupe's interactions and your Operator's ability to weave a narrative around them.

The first step in the creation of a character is to decide what kind of character to create. What are their motivations? Whom do they support? What influence has the artificial world of the Matrix had on them? These questions will affect how your character will interact with the world, and vice versa.

Working with other members of your troupe, along with your Operator, can help to inform how your character concept will take shape.

All characters will be either Human or Synthient, and the era your Operator defines for your game can affect the choices.

All Human characters use the Operative origin: they inhabited the Matrix at one time but have since left and now work in service to other agencies. Depending on the established Era will frame which agencies are available to the character. It is worth discussing that digital intelligence, or DI, that are extracted from the Matrix are also considered Operatives. More on this later.

Synthient characters choose from either Machinist or Exile origins. Machinists are loyalists for Synthient cities, operating in either the Real or within the Matrix in support of their society's needs. Exiles are rebellious entities who no longer hold a place within Synthient society. Few, even, were created without purpose, which is also considered criminal by Synthient authorities. Regardless of their cause, these Exiles choose to take refuge within the confines of the Matrix, hiding from the authorities.

Choosing an origin can affect your next choices for attributes, permutations, and gear. To be clear: a character's origin is a starting point for their journey and is not meant to be a limiting factor in play. Next, we'll talk about attributes.

Characters have four attributes defining their basic physical and mental capabilities, scaled between one (•) and five (•••••). Attributes are used when rolling dice to perform actions in the game, and determining how much stress and damage a character can withstand before becoming broken.

When creating a character, you will have fourteen (14) points to distribute across your character's attributes. You may assign no less than two (••) and no more than four (••••) to any attribute. The exception is that human characters may assign up to five (•••••) on Empathy while Synthient characters may assign up to five (•••••) for Wits. Additionally, some permutations may allow you to assign five (•••••) to a character's attributes.

Raw muscle power and brawn. Certain permutations and routines can temporarily alter this value, allowing for apparently supernatural feats of strength or durability.

Body control, speed, and motor skills. Certain permutations and routines can temporarily alter this value, allowing for inhuman reflexes and better targeting with ranged weapons.

Sensory perception, intelligence, and sanity. This is the key attribute for Synthient characters, who may assign up to five (•••••) points during character creation.

Personal charisma, empathy, and ability to manipulate others. This the key attribute for human characters, who may assign up to five (•••••) points during character creation.

Your skills are the knowledge and abilities you have acquired during your life. They are important as they determine, along with your attributes, how effectively you can perform certain actions in the game. There are thirteen skills in the game and are described in detail later. They are measured by skill level on a scale from Untrained (no dots) to Elite (•••••). The higher the skill level, the more dice you will be able to roll.

You can always roll for a skill even if you have no level in that skill. In such cases, you only use the associated attribute for the skill in question in addition to any modifiers from relevant gear.

When you create your character, you can distribute ten (10) points across your skills. You can assign up to three points for three of your skills, while you may take a single point each for any other skills you choose.

• Untrained (no dots): You have no experience with the skill.
• Novice (•): You have the basics of the skill, but have only recently started learning the skill.
• Trained (••): You've completed the requirements for the skill.
• Experienced (•••): You've been at this for some time, probably even used as part of a trade.
• Veteran (••••): You're experienced and quite knowledgeable.
• Elite (•••••): You are considered authoritative and few, if any, could compare.

Permutations are tricks, moves, and minor abilities that give you an edge. These are more specialized than skills and make your character unique. Permutations are explained in more detail later.

When creating a character, you can select two (2) Permutations at tier one (•) according to your origin. You can learn more permutations during the course of the game, at which point you will have many more permutations from which to choose.

Health determines the general physical condition of your character and how much damage they can withstand before breaking. Health is determined by averaging your Strength and Agility scores, rounding fractions up, then adding one.

Resolve determines the mental condition of the character and how much stress they can withstand before breaking. Resolve is determined by averaging your Wits and Empathy scores, rounding fractions up, then adding one.

Permutations may provide additional Health or Resolve which are applied when the permutation is selected.

Each character will have two main personality traits: Persona and Disposition. These are short descriptions of who the character is to themselves (persona) and how they appear to others (disposition). Defining these terms provides a means for the player to better roleplay the character and, at the discretion of the Operator, earn additional XP.

For the finishing touches, you'll need to pick a name for the character along with describing their appearance. It's also at this point that you'll want to consider writing up a more detailed backstory, time and situation permitting.

With survival as your primary goal, having the right gear is paramount. A pistol, an ax, a cell phone, the right wrench for the job.