Ex Stasis Games

Day 4 of #CharacterCreationChallenge! I’m catching up… slowly.

Next, I’m going to try a character for Descent in Silver and Glass, by Peach Garden Games. This is an unusual solo RPG in that it actually involves character creation. It’s also tarot-based, which is a great excuse for me to bust out a beautiful tarot deck I’ve been itching to use. And, because it’s a solo game, I can just go on and start a playthrough afterwards, without waiting for a group to coalesce.

In other words, I’d be predisposed to like this even if it wasn’t about an heir taking their throne despite their doubts, weaknesses and inner darkness.

Let’s Do This

This character creation process is two entire pages long, and there’s no character sheet. This is great. It’s still more structured than most solo games!

Step 1: The Darkness

I cut out the Major Arcana, select one and keep it face down. We shall return to this later. In play, I think.

Step 2: The World

Can’t have an heir without a kingdom. Unfortunately, this game is so much my shit that I’ve already got a bunch of ideas. But I’m going to lean into one of my favourite tropes: a late medieval (ish. We’re gonna need some magic or I’ll get bored.) setting, in a small nation at the tail end of a long war. They’re nearly beaten, but not quite. There’s still a chance… if the new king defies expectations and does everything right.

I think it’s a city-state, in a strategically useful location (think Byzantium, but nowhere near as powerful) that survived independently by being between two empires, both of whom liked having a buffer. One collapsed, and the other immediately invaded.

Step 3: The Heir

The prep page of this game has a few pointed questions to ask, that are helpful scene setters.

I think my boy (as yet nameless. Fantasy names are hard.) is the rightful heir, but he never expected to get here. He’s the fourth child. All his older siblings are dead. War’ll do that. He was supposed to be firmly backstage, doing witch shit. (See, I said I’d need magic.) Because of the war, he’s also short on advisors, and the ones who are left have… varying degrees of trust in him.

As for what kind of person he is… cautious. Academic. Clever and observant, but he relies on his position, rather than his presence, for authority, and he’s aware that’s extremely precarious. He is not used to making big decisions, but he’s going to step up into this role as best he can because, if he doesn’t, everyone dies.

His vision of the Ideal Monarch is, unfortunately, significantly different from any ruler he’s ever known. And it’s effectively a god. Someone who never makes bad choices, who balances risks like he’s juggling a dozen crystal balls. This is… not what his family have been like. They’ve been desperate, on the ropes, and increasingly forced to pick from a tasting menu of terrible choices.

The last step is to turn this into one of the court cards.

Swords sounds about right. As for rank… that degree of supremacy demands the King card, I think. So… King of Swords. I don’t do anything with this, except write it down: the card stays in the deck, which means something interesting is going to happen at some point during the playthrough.

Done! This was quick and elegant, though I’d have appreciated something to add another dimension to the character; something to give me a bit of friction and tension when I’m making choices as him. But he exists, and I’m ready to tell a story on the narrow ledge over a chasm of disaster. And… very ready to find out what the Darkness within him is.

Hey, if anyone’s reading this… leave a comment and suggest a name? Did I mention that names are hard?

Day 5’s Thirsty Sword Lesbians, which it turns out is the smoothest process yet.