Sigil and Shadow is an Urban Fantasy game published by Osprey that uses the D00lite engine, so quite a bit should sound familiar from the Art of Wuxia entry. For this one, I will use a character sheet designed by R. E. Davis (thanks!).
The game divides PCs into two groups, the Illuminated, and the Shadowed. The former are essentially normal people that for some reason or another have been dragged into confronting the supernatural - priests, private eyes, elementary school teachers, or what have you that have seen too much and now cannot pretend otherwise. The Shadowed are former mortals who have touched the supernatural and have become something else. So, your vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and so on. Mechanically, each group is subdivided into four so-called Castings, but I will talk about that a bit later. I think to better understand the process I will make two characters. Today will be an Illuminated, tomorrow someone Shadowed.
But first a really quick overview of the cosmology. The reality here consists of the Nether (or Shadow, or Umbra), separated from our world by the Curtain, a metaphysical barrier that protects our world, the Extant, from the chaos of the Nether. There are places where the Extant stretches through the Curtain, into the so-called Echo, which is somewhere between these two places. These are dark places of supernatural influence with dream- or nightmare-like qualities. The supernatural in this game is not cuddly and nice. Everything else in the game derives from this basic principle.
Now to make an Illuminated PC living in this world. How about we create Kiyana Nenge, librarian responsible for the theology sublibrary of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Kiyana is around 35 years old, and a short while ago she ran afoul of a small group of local Warlocks that use some more ... interesting... tomes in the library. They sent a demon after her, she was lucky enough that a member of the local motorcycle gang saw that and came in to help. Let's assume he is another PC, but one that we won't make. This event has convinced Kiyana that the supernatural is real, and needs to be fought.
The four Illuminated castings are distinguished by what drives them - Seekers, Hunters, Protectors, and Keepers. I assume the first three are clear, the last one is the kind of person that wants to keep the supernatural hidden to prevent it from spreading. I think Kiyana would be a Hunter - Seeker might fit a librarian, but she is in it to eliminate evil. So, Hunter it is. In mechanical terms, this means she has the Drive "Victory" and therefore will receive a Bone every time she manages to undermine a supernatural entity. As in Art f Wuxia, Bones are the meta-currency of the game, used to boost rolls and gain limited narrative control.
Next, I am supposed to roll a d100 twice for Background and Oddities. I kind of determined the Background already, so I spend one of Kiyana's three bones. which means I get to choose it instead of having to roll it. This means the bone is permanently lost. I'd say Scholar fits best, meaning she has a Lower Middle-Class lifestyle, and I get to choose from the perks Encyclopaedic Mind or Well-to-Do, or add Skill Training in Education. I will choose later. Oddities are weird trinkets that a PC can have from the get-go. That only occurs when rolling a match on a D100; I get a 58, so nothing noteworthy.
Then I can either choose a panel of four pre-made rolls or distribute 50 points in packages of 5, with basic scores starting at 40. I like Strength 45, Dexterity 50, Logic 60, and Willpower 55. This will influence skill scores later, and also means she has no damage bonus in combat. As in other D00lite games, SnS has 10 skills, and I get to distribute levels to two. Here, each only gets one level. I also can get one more from my background, if I so choose, and spend a bone for a third skill. Untrained skills either cannot be used at all, or at -20 percent penalty. Basic scores are derived from the associated attribute, and each level adds +10%. I spend a bone to get three skills and choose Education, Investigation, and Social. Kiyana has spent some time in the library after all.
For Education and Social I have to choose a focus; the bonus from the skill level applies only to the focus area, the other fields count as trained but do not get the bonus. So they are rolled at the flat score. Education is Theology, and Social is focussed on Academia. Then I choose to take the perk Encyclopedic Mind from my background list; this will allow me to roll Logic if I want Kiyana to recall a relevant detail she might have forgotten or overlooked initially. Since Kiyana does not have any special powers I skip that section, and then I get to choose descriptors, which might influence rolls when they come into play. The rules suggest at least one positive, and one negative one, so how about two each? Kiyana can't keep secrets and can't drive, but she is charismatic, and a font of trivia.
As a final touch, I get to calculate some derived stats and buy equipment. Which as in other d00lite games comes as basic packs, plus weapons and vehicles. I get to choose five, and at least one has to be a pack. The game does not care too much about equipment - if it makes sense that something is well within the means of a PC of a certain lifestyle, they can buy it. Higher lifestyles mean that a PC is more easily recognized if something really obvious happens and that they might have additional social responsibilities. I choose the Medic, Investigator, and Survivalist Packs, a Revolver, and a Knife.
Done.
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