The Wheel
Time to settle into the world with the characters you've made for yourselves. This uses a metaphor called "The Wheel" to ground your characters in the setting. A few stipulations first, however:
- No Strangers: For brevity, it is assumed that each character knows each other character in the party of players. It doesn't have to be well, but each character owned by a player should at least know the name and appearance of each other character owned by another player.
- The Player is Always Right: You already know the broad strokes of the world from character creation. Finer detail is definitely something that is the authority of the players in this step. If something mentioned in this step would overwrite the setting later on, play with the player-created continuity. It takes precedence.
- Discuss and create The Hub
- The Hub is a central tying person, town, oath, responsibility, organization, ship or concept that the players are tied to in some way.
- Take the time, as a group, to discuss and create a hub for yourselves.
- Some examples below:
- Baron Adreyis, Lord of the 77th District of the Wastes. He oversees the town of Maltessa and its outlying mining settlements.
- The Good Airship, Mercurio. A light cargo vessel and transport, known for getting into and out of trouble.
- A slum deep in the Transport district of the Iron Cities. The turf of the Tin Street Gang.
- An order of knights called The Order of LeCroix, built around finding a lost artifact of sorcerous power.
- Discuss The Spokes
- A spoke is how a player's character is specifically related to the Hub.
- Each player needs to create their own Spoke, but they are free to talk with the other players to get help and ideas.
- Some examples are below:
- Various members of Baron Adreyis' retinue, a knight of his house and other courtesans, jesters, and keepers of his name.
- Mechanics, pilots, captains, deckhands, gunners, or long time passengers aboard the Good Airship, Mercurio.
- A beggar that sleeps in the alley, various members of the Tin Street Gang, a local shopkeeper or bartender all can live in this slum and be apart of it.
- In the Order of LeCroix, hired on experts, mercenaries, and those who are sworn in knights to the Order itself are all good ideas.
- Discuss The Rim
- The Rim is how your character relates to another player in the party.
- These come in the form of a question or a pair of questions posed to the entire party that players can volunteer to answer and become apart of your story.
- Go around the room. Each player will ask a question to the entire party, of which one volunteer will be chosen to incorporate into that character's back story.
- Examples are below:
- Who helped me stop an assassination attempt on the Baron? How did you help?
- During the War, who served on a different ship with me before we worked on the Mercurio? What was it called?
- Who helped me defend my bar when a rival gang demanded protection money? You drink for free always.
- Who stayed up with me all night on my vigil? Why?
- Discuss The Road
- The road is your tie outs to the rest of the world, outside of the Hub and outside of the characters. If your character has any 'unfinished business' this would be the place to put it.
- Here you can fill in small details of the world, add new characters, new places, or even share contacts.
- Each player will provide at least a sentence detailing their character's Road.
- Some Examples:
- I am an exiled noble from the Garden. My sister usurped control of our noble house and out of fear for her legitimacy, had me exiled.
- I used to be merchant before I lost everything. Damn raiders killed everyone in my caravan.
- My sister disappeared a year ago off Tin Street. I promised myself I'd never stop looking for her.
- Before I was a sworn knight of the Order of LeCroix, I was a criminal that was about to be executed and I am still considered a wanted criminal in many baronies.
- Or any enemies the player is interested in having.
Next Create the Pilot Episode