4.2 Name, Concept and Mark

Pick a name. It should fit the mood, the setting, and your vision of your character. You’re probably stuck with the name for a while, so make it something you’ll still like after a few sessions.

For our example character’s name, I’m going to pick Zadie. It sounds nice at first, but it also has a certain zing to it.

Make up a concept. An overall concept could be something like Spirit Warrior, Biomechanoid, Vengeful Ninja Bunny, or whatever. You’ll find that having a 2- or 3-word concept in mind helps when picking powers. The mood, setting and group story seed should give you a good idea on the kind of concepts that are available and a good choice. The example characters in the attachments have their concepts listed after their name.

Zadie is a survivor. She scavenges what she can. But she doesn’t like going hand-to-hand against demons, so she’s going to rely on keeping them at bay and picking them off from a distance. I’m picking “Hardened Scavenger” as her concept.

Anyone with powers has some non-human aspect to them, which is called their mark of power. In settings where powerful characters live among regular people, marks can be something that can be disguised, but usually it’s more fun if it’s something obvious. You should also have an idea how the character acquired powers, if it’s an uncommon thing in your setting.

Zadie has no hair, and her scalp looks like a mosaic; that’s her mark. Other than that, her eyes and skin are dark like most people’s who live by the wastelands. She is usually covered in wide layers of sand-colored Kevlar strips, with only her eyes showing, and with leather and metal reinforcements at her joints, throat and chest and a metal breathing filter thing over her mouth area. Her powers are a result of demonic blood running through her family line, but she’s not necessarily advertising that fact.