A Backpack And A Blade

So, I'm going to be running a session tomorrow, wish me luck. In that time, I've been trying to modify Into The Odd's character creation. Don't get me wrong, I love how quick and concise it is, along with how many fun results it can produce, but Into The Odd assumes an semi-industrial, semi-imperialist steam-punk-ish setting that I am not all that into. I could just make a new character creation table (check out page 5 to see it), but it seems like it'd take quite a bit of time to make a giant list of equipment like that, and it'd be even more taxing to properly organize the entries by ability scores and HP because I have zero sense of game balance. So, here's some alternatives I've drawn out, along with a few examples:

Method 1: Bagful Of Baubles
(Konstantin Vavilov)

I honestly like this method the best, it's just about as quick as the original Into The Odd's methods. All that is needed for this method is a d20 table of trinkets related to your setting. This method only takes a bit more time than the normal character generation because of dice rolling.

First, you compare your highest ability score to this general table:

Highest Ability	General Starter Package Trinket Table
3-9	3 Trinkets
10-16	2 Trinkets
17-18	1 Trinket

Next, you compare your health to this more specific table, although you make up the weapons and what form they take:

HP	Starter Package Weapon Table
1-3	D8 Weapon / Two D6 Weapons
4-5	D6 Weapon
6	D4 Weapon / Extra Utility Item And No Weapon

Finally, you pull up the d20 table full of random trinkets. You roll on the d20 table as many times as the previous table says to. You reroll any duplicate trinkets. So, if you rolled Mr. Chadgod with 17's and 18's in all ability scores, he would only get one trinket and it balances out the insane ability scores to a degree. The d20 table is completely up to you to make, just make the trinkets relate to the themes you are going for. As a pointer, I typically make the first and last results on the table arcanum or some other weird and slightly supernatural item; I make the second to first and second to last results hirelings or companions for funsies; and I make the third to first and third to last results extra weapons. If you are running an especially lethal game, you could make a few results hirelings or extra characters. Without further ado, here's an example:

Ragwretch
From the deepest gutters of society, you have gathered what you can to rise to riches.

HP	Ragwretch Starter Package Weapon Table
1	A strange broadsword with antlers coming out of the guard of the sword and a deer eye attached to the handle. (D8)
2	A large column of rusted rebar, bent to look like a cane. (D8)
3	Two sharpened steak knives, strange meat still clings to the blade. (D6)
4	A wooden sword with bits of shrapnel sticking out of the blade. (D6)
5	A broken lantern on a stick, glass shards protrude out of the ends of it. (D6)
6	A brick attached to a stick by a bundled 10 foot rope. (D4)

D20	Ragwretch Trinkets
1	3 potions of a nature determined by the GM, but unknown by you
2	An ugly and dumb dog (3 HP, 1D6 WIL)
3	A large scythe, etched with religious symbols of fertility and good harvest (D8)
4	A lantern that casts a ghastly green light
5	A cloak made of rat and beaver pelts
6	Armor made of kettles and other cooking utensils (Armor 1)
7	A bundle of rats tied to a stick
8	A candle made of pigflesh and fatty, it makes squealing sounds when lit
9	Very fine and fermented wine put in a holy-water container
10	A large sack of various low-quality drugs
11	An old army officer’s uniform
12	A double-sided shovel
13	5 vials of blood
14	A bell, stolen from a church
15	3 flasks of a black fluid labeled “goat oil”
16	50 feet of rope made from clothes, hastily sewn together
17	A bandolier of pouches, filled with 3D6 fingers and 3D6 teeth in total
18	A board with several nails driven through it (D6)
19	A peasant boy, the only thing he has to his name is his clothing, a steak knife, and a kettle helm (3 HP, 2D6 STR)
20	Arcanum

My recommendation is to make a few of these "loadouts". You could make pseudoclasses with these loadouts. At the start of the game, you just present however many of these loadouts you want (such as fighter, thief, wizard, cleric, whatever you want) and let the players choose when generating a character. If you haven't guessed, my players are going to be playing as degenerates.

Method 2: Portions And Pickings
(Konstantin Vavilov)

This method is a bit more... methodical. Basically, you make a table like the one in the example below, and you go to your first ability score and compare it to the table. Once you find the result, choose one item you want. You cannot choose duplicate items. Finally, you move onto your next ability score and you continue the process until you have gotten through all three ability scores. Make the lower results on the table better while the higher results are worse. I don't really know how to integrate HP into this method, but I guess you could use an HP table like the one example above. Anyhow, here's the example:

Occultist
With power granted by dark Gods, you are surely destined for greatness.

Ability Score	Occultist Starter Package Table
3-9	Sense nearby unearthly beings 50 shillings in ostentatious jewlery Arcanum
10	Unwilling sacrifice (6 HP, 2D6 STR, 1D6 WIL) Golden wire Vial of poison
11-12	A small collection of human skulls 2 complete links of 10 foot rusted and bloodied chain Vial of acid
13-14	Drugs of a nature determined by the GM, but unknown by you An ax carved out of ivory (D8) A ceramic staff with a dead snake coiled around it
15-16	A random spell scroll, there is a 3-in-6 chance it backfires horribly Black glue that smells of charcoal Religious clothing belonging to a church of your choice
17-18	Bone club with antlers at the end of it (D6) Glowing red goat eyes that replace your own, how freaky Mutated pet pigeon

If you are doing this with a system with more than 3 abilities, just use three randomly determined abilities or use the highest ability, lowest ability, and the most middling ability.

Method 3: Back To Bastionland
(Konstantin Vavilov)

Just go to Electric Bastionland by Christopher McDowall, check out page 8 on the PDF and onward. Alright, I'm cheating, it's not by me but it is another okay method for character generation. Although it does deserve exposure because it is actually really good. It provides nice backgrounds for PCs that prevent them from feeling like faceless nobodies. Feeling this way can happen when you are just handed a list of equipment without really any other context to your character, Electric Bastionland fixes this and it's real nice. The only gripes I have are with how some of the backgrounds can feel a bit prescriptive and how ability scores aren't factored into the character creation whatsoever. Every character getting an arcanum from the start is also weird and can make arcanum feel common, but I know that common starting arcanum won't be in the final version of Electric Bastionland. If the items and backgrounds don't fit your game, it is at least much easier to change two 6 result tables to generate characters rather than one massive 60 result table.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. I'll probably be able to post one more over the long weekend. Tell me which method you guys and gals like the best, I think all are valid methods.