Getting Started
So you're ready to play Quest of Destiny, but aren't sure where the start. Well, to being with you want to form your gaming group, even if its only for a single day of gaming, and choose a Gamemaster. Players will then need to start may creating a character and obtaining a set (or a few sets) of Polyhedral Dice.
Creating a Gaming Group
Traditionally, roleplaying games are played in small groups of one to six players and a Gamemaster. They can be played in larger groups of potentially any size, but multiple GMs to accommodate the increased number of players. Many gaming groups start with a group of friends, where one or more of the members are familiar with Roleplaying Games and decide to introduce everyone to something new. Others are formed by individuals who meet within the gaming community, often at Game Stores that host gaming events, who are looking for others who want to begin a Roleplaying session. Or a group of friends just gets together to try something new.
However you plan to begin your Quest of Destiny adventure, make sure the group members are prepared to stretch their imagination and explore a fantasy world full of magic, monsters, and fantastic treasures.
Choosing a Game Master
Typically the Gamemaster is the group member who is most familiar with the game and has played it a few times, but if everyone in your group is new to the game, there is no problem with learning together. Traditionally, players begin the game as Adventurers and grow into becoming a Gamemaster as they become more confident in their roleplaying and become more familiar with the rules and guidelines of the game.
When choosing a Gamemaster, there are some key traits to keep in mind. A GM should be someone who is imaginative and able to create a robust setting. They should be adaptive and able to move the story in unexpected directions. They need to be prepared, both by having a direction to guide the adventurers, but also knowing how others will react if the adventurers do not take the expected path. Tools to help the GM can be found in the Gamemastering section.
Making a Character
One of the first steps to playing Quest of Destiny is making a character. Your character is the persona that you will control as the adventure unfolds. Your decisions and how your character acts will help to shape the story as it unfolds. The below offers a quick overview of the components of a character. If you're already familiar with Roleplaying Games, you can visit our Quick Character Guide for a simple reference.
What are the components of a Character?
The following will briefly touch on some of the aspects of your character, giving you an overview of the largest components.
Attributes
The six Attributes represent your character's physical (Strength, Dexterity and Constitution) and mental (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) abilities. These influence virtually everything about your character: your capacity towards certain skills, your abilities to interact with others whether it be talking or fighting, your strengths and weaknesses. Your attributes can determine your success or failure at completing a certain task (with the help of other abilities) be it questioning a witness, noticing a trap, fighting an enemy, casting a spell, picking a lock, or breaking down a door.
Once you have determined your attribute scores (using one of the methods described Here), you will assign the highest scores to your character's strengths and the lowest scores to your characters weaknesses. If you plan to play a Fighter, Strength augments the damage of your sword. If you're playing a Wizard, Intelligence dictates the accuracy of your Spells. If you want to be able to sneak around, Dexterity is important to your Stealth. Wisdom increases your Awareness of the world around you. If it's important to talk your way out of any situation, Charisma will lend to your Charm and Deception skills. And if you're interested in preventing Injuries to yourself, a high Constitution wins out.
Race
You can create characters from the human race, but also from more exotic races, such as dwarves and elves. Each race has a unique cultural heritage that can help to define the background for your character. For example, in typical fantasy Dwarves are proud and boisterous, valuing actions that bring honor to one's village or clan. Elves tend to have strong ties with nature and a long lifespan that can sometimes leave them arrogant and distrusting of younger races, but they always appear respectful to those of higher station.
Race not only works to determine your character's culture and physical physique, but also impacts your character's Senses, their physical or mental abilities (by granting bonuses or penalties to attribute scores), and their background (through racial Skills and weapon Proficiencies). Your race will also grant other features that are unique to creatures of that race.
Class
A class is an archtypical representation of a character's education and training. It helps to shape and define your character's role in the game. For example, will you embrace Martial training as a Fighter, utilizing weapons with strength and vigor to defend others? Or will you train as a Rogue, using precision and cleverness to achieve your goals? Will you study the Eldritch arts as a Wizard, calling on magical energies to do your bidding? There are many classes to choose from, and your choice will dramatically shape your character's fate.
Class determines your character's access to Philosophies and Powers, grants training in specific Skills, weapon and armor Proficiencies and other features unique to characters of that class. Each class also depends heavily on one or two attributes.
Powers, Skills & Feats
While your race and class can greatly influence the Powers, Skills and Feats that you have available to you, ultimately the choices that you make in these categories is what is going to make your character unique. Powers are special abilities that your character has acquired through training in its specific Philosophies. Skills represent your character's aptitude for certain tasks. Feats represent special bits of training that enhance your character's abilities.
Equipment
While your character may have the capacity to wield a variety of different weapons, armor and implements, the choices you make here can have a distinctive impact on the flavor of your character. There is quite a difference in fighting styles between one character wielding a two-handed Great Sword, a dextrous character wielding a longsword in one hand and a dagger in the other, a guardian bearing a shield before his axe, or a wizard with a staff.
Choices, Choices, Choices!
Now, if you've already started to glance through the races, classes, powers, skills and feats available, you may be starting to go cross-eyed from all the choices. Which begs the question, how do you make all of these decisions? Well we have a few suggestions that might help you in creating your character.
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Develop a Character Concept
One of the best things that you can do before beginning to create your character is to define your character concept. If you're not sure what a character concept is, think of a hero or villain from your favorite book. What was that character like? What abilities did they have? How did they interact with others? Then choose which, if any, of these characteristics you would like in your character. -
Look for Components that Fit your Concept
Now that you have your character concept, look for elements that will fit that concept. Start with choosing a class that fits the role you see your character filling. For example, if you see yourself as a cunning trickster or someone who will wait in the shadows to ambush an opponent, you probably want to play a Rogue. Choose Skills that fit your character's background and what you want them to be able to do. Perhaps your Dwarf came from a mining town, and therefore is trained in Mining. Or your Sorcerer is a particularly smooth talker and trained in Deception. Lastly, choose Feats that enhance the vision you have of the character. If you want your character to be particularly skilled, take Skillful. Or, if you want to augment your Cleric's casting, choose a Metacast Power. -
When in Doubt, Look at our Sample Characters
If you still feel a little lost or overwhelmed by your choices, you can always take a look at the Sample Characters that have been created for you. This will give you some ideas and suggestions of powers, skills, and feats you may want to choose, as well as help you to see everything that goes into a completed character.
Character Advancement & Character Creation
While you should attempt to define some part of your character concept before you begin a new adventure, remember that your character can change and grow throughout its career. The character that you create at first level may change into something very different by level thirty. Over the course of your adventure, don't be afraid to change your concept to better suit the adventure and your character's experiences. Likewise, if you are beginning an adventure with a character of later level, work with your Gamemaster to create a background and story that is appropriate for the adventure you will be running. Characters of higher level should have a host of adventuring experience before the adventure even begins, and the choices you make should reflect that.