Day 9: HP Lovecraft Preparatory Academy - Dante Harrison, PIP boy

The third part for HPLPA - the developer's own PIP system. Let’s see how Dante works in this one.

First, we choose an Archetype. I like Dante to be a Mentor; while I think he is someone who lives in the moment, I also think he has a wish to teach others. If only to show how clever he is. That means he will have a bit more Mental Health than Physical, start with some Coordination, Knowledge, and Magic Skill, and some value in Family (whatever that means). He has a special ability that allows him to inspire others, but also the drawback that the high esteem others place in them means any perceived failure is worse. Dante also gets a bunch of stuff to start with, like trophy collections, advanced textbooks, and for some weird reason Kendo gear?

For Skills I go with a jack-of-all-trades approach - I have a point or two in most skills, with Knowledge and Athletics a bit higher than the rest. Dante also gets some fitting Specializations, like Emphatic, or Pitcher. Sadly, this is the one system with no Hobby Skills. Booo. Weirdly it also makes it possible to have multiple of the concepts that the other versions keep distinct, like Summoning and Hybrid. You also have to buy specific skills to become, for example, a Summoner, and it tells you rather far after getting the skills. Overall, being a Summoner here feels less like a cool center to build around, and more like an annoyingly hard gimmick to get, one that also ties in weirdly with the Archetypes. In Dante’s case, Mentor was a good choice, since it gives him around half the Skills he needs for Summoner already.

Now we determine some things about Dante’s place in the school, like the year he is in and so forth. Done that for the others, won’t repeat it here. We could also roll for Motivations if we wouldn’t already have some.

Finally, I re-jigger some Skills when I learn what Dante needs to be a Summoner, and skip stating out Az’Agg-go-orth.

Here is the sheet.

If you would ask me, I think each of the three versions has Advantages and Disadvantages, but I will say that PIP is a bit weird. The book is just harder to follow, the meaning of some things isn't clear, and the other systems are different in tone from the get-go. It felt more like making a weird school kid, and PIP introduces some strange things that seem more like curveballs than helpful. Kendo gear? Why? And as you can probably read between the lines it felt a bit lackluster to me, more like fighting the process to get what I want. I am not sure if PDQ or Savage Worlds is better from my point of view, and would have to read the rules behind each game in a bit more detail. I will say SW was the quickest generation process and the one where the character felt most alive at the end. At the moment I would likely choose SW over PDQ, and either over PIP.