Ex Stasis Games

It’s Day 7 of #CharacterCreationChallenge. I’m getting my teeth into Mythic Bastionland, a game about tragic knights, by Chris McDowall at Bastionland Press. Like basically everyone else who’s been on the internet, I was fascinated by the Quinn’s Quest review of it, and I’m going to live my sad armoured man fantasy.

The art’s gorgeous, the whole vibe of the book is immaculate, and it includes Prince Valiant in the inspirations, and that made me chuckle.

Let’s Do This

This looks like a nice, tight character creation process, all described in short form on a single page. The more days I do of this challenge, the more I love a summary page. Bellissimo.

Step 1: Virtues

Vigour, Clarity, and Spirit are rolled randomly (1d12 + 1d6). I also love a random roll system: it allows me to come in clean and see what sort of character I end up with. I’m making my myth as I play, here, not planning it out in advance.

• Vigour 12
• Clarity 6 (uh oh)
• Spirit 16 (!)

That’s a fun spread. Clarity is sharpness of mind and lucidity, Spirit is charm and will. This… is a dangerous combination. What a fun one.

I also roll D6 for Guard, my skill at avoiding wounds. I roll D6 (the default, as I’m not with a group making choices about our starting situation) and get 2. Oh, this fool’s going to get himself into trouble he cannot worm his way out of, isn’t he? The words “all mouth and no trousers” come to mind.

Step 2: Choose a Knight

Well… roll one. Both options exist but I’m leaning into the chaos.

Incidentally, the random roll tables in this book – for creating and populating domains, for example – are wicked.

I roll The Gilded Knight and am immediately both delighted – because that sounds cool – and disappointed – because so do all the other options. Silk Knight? Gallows Knight?

No. Sticking to my guns. Off to the Gilded Knight’s page to learn more about them and the Seer who granted their knighthood and witnessed their oath.

It pains me to say it, but I’m not sure I like having the myths sliced in amongst the knights – one knight, followed by one myth. I see the reason, but it’s slowing me down as I look for my knight. Slowing me down to read interesting myth and lore, mind, so it’s not all bad. I could also do without the assortment of other things a random roll of 1, 8 could mean (characteristics, people, beasts, objects) at the foot of the page. It’s an efficient use of space, but it’s frankly confusing.

Every knight starts with a rhyme that characterises them. This one is:

A beacon of the brave and bold

All cloaked and masked in sunnen gold

Gallantry, eh? Seems fitting for this brainless charmer. I can swing this. I fear he’s a man of very strong, and very incorrect, convictions (I’m watching The Traitors as I write this, if you’re wondering).

I get gold armour that strikes awe into foes, a mace, and a majestic charger. Many of the steeds in this book are weird and honestly, this is probably my greatest disappointment about getting this knight. I imagine he’d die pretty quickly in play, though, and I’d get a second pick.

My special ability is Martyr in Waiting: When I’m mortally wounded, my allies are stronger, and fight harder. There’s a certain poetry in this glamourous, gilded hero’s ultimate role being to die gloriously. Yes. Good. This is what I want. There aren’t a lot of games that express things like this so succinctly.

I also have a Passion: Pride. I restore Spirit when I take credit for a great victory (there’s nothing here that says that credit has to be deserved, but I think this man is always striving for glory – real, earned glory; he has too much pride to lie).

My Seer’s fascinating: “The Enthroned Seer, a twisted heap of flesh, bone and spikes of precious metal”, who demands reverence and obeisance, but manipulates their trusted people into positions of power. This man fully intends to be king one day. He may be a useful idiot.

OK, I have lucked into a character type I am very comfortable with. Well played, Mythic Bastionland.

I get one other thing from the Gilded Knight’s page, and that’s “the cost”: where the armour found me, and what was left behind. These two D6 rolls are an entire backstory and there’s nowhere to write it on the character sheet. Grump.

It came to me on a beach, and all that was left behind was graves. 

A shipwreck, a survivor, and a seer in a wind-whistling salt cave. Yes. I can see it in my mind.

Step 3: Finishing Touches

I need a name. And I can use some of those lovely inspiration tables to throw together a couple of other traits.

I’m calling him Sir Veraine. It’s one short step away from “vain”, and I’m not too proud to go there. I roll for his appearance and get delicate and elegantly dressed which is both suitable and interesting: delicate’s just unexpected enough for a knight with so much presence and ambition to be noteworthy. His heraldry is a weapon, in an airy palette. The great mace, in white on pale blue, with a radiant aura in gold thread.

I roll for his voice too, and get a flat tone and a detached manner. I think it both lends him an air of authority and makes this diminutive man intimidating.

Just for fun, I top it off with an interest, from the Personality table. It’s… fashion. I’m doing this specifically to give the lad another dimension, so I’m rerolling. History. Possibly the great stories of Knights of old.

Here he is. The seventh character I’ve made and possibly the one I’m most eager to play.