Every crime story starts with characters and a choice. By this point, we have a decent idea of who our characters are going to be, so now, in our final post about character creation, we’re going to talk about the choice.
It all begins with a moment where someone steps off the straight path and into the shadows. Maybe it happens all at once-- a crisis, a betrayal, or some sudden realization that the system is rigged. Or maybe the path to perdition is slow, one bad decision after another until there’s no turning back. Either way, there’s always a reason. In Crime Drama, we call that reason Hunger.
Your Hunger is more than just ambition. It's a glimpse into your history. It’s the thing that gnaws at you when you’re alone. It’s the feeling that you deserve more, that you’re meant for something bigger, or that the world owes you! Maybe your life was fine- boring, even- until something shattered it. A medical diagnosis, a death in the family, a personal failure you just can’t live with. Or maybe you were always going to end up here, and your old life was just a failed rebellion against your true nature. Did you ever really have a chance at being normal, or was the straight life just delaying the inevitable?
We ask players to take a look at a list of 20+ questions and pick as many as they need or want to answer. Once they're done, they should have a really good idea of who they're going to be. Here are a couple examples (standard proviso- this game isn't completed and these are subject to change):
If someone made a movie about the kind of person you’re going to become, but you didn’t know it was about you, would you think the main character (you) was a good guy or bad guy?
Were you always going to be this way? Was your old life just an attempt to fight your true nature?
But Hunger alone doesn’t get you anywhere. You need Resources, or at least an understanding of what you have to work with. Someone struggling to make rent doesn’t have the same options as someone with a steady paycheck and a car that actually runs. That’s why Resources aren’t just about money; they’re about where you stand when the story begins.
We've decided to divide resources by socioeconomic class, which turned out to be a little challenging because the intended time frame for campaigns is somewhere between 1970-2010, and definitions changed a lot. Below is an example of how we tried to walk a line, providing some sort of guidance for what status means without being inflexible.
Lower Class: You work hard just to get by, usually juggling multiple jobs. Money is tight, but you can probably afford an apartment in a rough part of town or a small place in a nicer area; though you’re going to have roommates, a spouse, or live with family to make ends meet. You own a car or can easily afford public transportation. You can almost always count on your next meal, even if it’s just something like Cuppa Noodles. You get 1d6 for Resource Die.
We intentionally have players select Resources after Hunger in character creation because we felt that "Who you are" should influence "What you have" rather than the other way around. We hope that will be enough incentive to experiment with less well off character. But, if not, we also have some good mechanical reasons why you might choose to start with fewer resources. Importantly, resources change (hopefully going up) as you progress through your criminal career.
That’s it this time! Next week, we’ll get into World Building, which is a part of the game that the whole group does together. You'll be building the city and surrounding county where your Crime Drama takes place. If you have any questions about character creation as a whole or anything else we've talked about so far, join our discord and ask!