Mythras: First Time Character Creation

Creating a new Mythras character, armorer Rayburn St. Millê.

I got a hankering to explore some d100 systems and picked up the Mythras core rulebook pdf. This post is about my first dive into character creation.

Rayburn doesn't
carry an axe

RuneQuest has never been on my list of games. I played a few percentile-based systems, but for the most part I’ve stuck to d6 (i.e. Tunnels & Trolls) or d20 systems. Mythras is the first trek into the RQ/d100 family of rules.

I have a general concept in mind for a campaign setting involving a mythical, pseudo-historical Europe – frankly like the setting in Ars Magica 2e or Romance of the Perilous Land. That’s literally all the detail that I have now, but it’s enough to get a character concept going.

I used the Character Creation Workbook for Mythras, and it was helpful, but it also skipped some steps for the virgin player like me. I also had the Mythras Imperative rules and the full Mythras Rev. 3 rulebook open at the time. The shorter Imperative rules are a lot lighter, but they also seemed to brush over some concepts that seemed important. In the end, I wound up mainly using the core rulebook for character creation and referencing some of the tables in the character creation worksheet.

I also started with the fillable PDF character sheet (I was doing all this digitally) and quickly gave up on it. Instead, I made my own Excel-based character sheet that can also calculate a lot of the basic percentages for me. I’ll see how it does and if it proves to be useful, maybe I’ll polish and post it eventually.

I started without a character concept, and pretty much rolled characteristics in order (STR 7, CON 7, SIZ 18, DEX 16, INT 14, POW 7, CHA 14). He’s a likeable giant who is good with his hands. This made me think he might be a craftsman, and eventually I landed on the idea that he’s a blacksmith.

I decided this character was from a civilized culture, which gradually developed into the idea that he ended up in the mythic northlands from being driven out of his homeland. He’s good at making (73%) and selling (75%) armor, which gives him a trade. He’s also streetwise (46%) and tuned into the locale (73%).

I rolled on his background and found out that he’s an Exile/Outcast, so I decided he’s a refugee. This fit into the developing character concept nicely, tying into the theme of him leaving the more “civilized” south and coming north. He has one Passion: Hate (Local Lord), and I’m not sure what that means yet, but we’ll play to find out. He also has Loyalty (Blacksmith/Adopted Father Arnulf).

Since he’s a blacksmith/craftsman specializing in making weapons and armor, I gave him a hefty discount on weapons and armor. He starts with a short sword (sturdy), a dagger (plain), and a buckler. He also has a quilted Gambeson that covers his torso (but not arms). Since he starts out poor, he hasn’t had much of a chance to accumulate any wealth, so this seems like a lot for him. As for other equipment, I decided to wait until he has a reason to stock up.

His weapons fit with his Combat Style. I’m not entirely sure that I understand how Combat Styles are supposed to work, but I made up the “Light Militia” style and said it included short sword, shield, and short bow. I then chose these types of weapons when outfitting him.

Other details that I rolled up:

Marked with a glyph on his shoulder blade since birth. He hates the local Lord Gillesby due to something that that lord has done to him in the past but must still do business with the man. He doesn't know where his parents or sister are (or if they're alive).

And thus, we have Rayburn St. Millê, a 24-year-old 6’2” man weighing 264 lbs. He’s an exile from his homeland and was taken into a poorly run orphanage as a child after fleeing war in the south. Eventually, he flees the orphanage and ends up in a caravan heading north. He survives for awhile by his wits until finally as an apprentice with the blacksmith for Lord Gillesby. The blacksmith is gruff but has a soft heart, and takes pity on the lad, who reminds him of his own dead son. He hates Lord Gillesby for marrying the object of his affection, Elaine, who is noble born and half of Gillesby’s age. Rayburn fell in love with the new lady of the castle, and Gillesby is a cruel man who treats her badly.

All told, it took hours to generate this character. Granted, part of that is because I’ve never done it before, but part is because the system has a lot of crunch to it. You have to treat character creation as a mini game with rules like this, which is fun if you have the right perspective.

Now, I’m going to put Rayburn through a brief introductory sequence of events. I want to learn how combat in Mythras plays out, as well as some non-combat actions. It’ll just be a very brief one-shot but enough to sample the game system.