Faces & Places

Decide who the important people and locations are.

At this point, you’ve probably got your issues figured out, and you may have thought of some organizations or groups that feature prominently in your game.

Now you have to put some faces on those issues and those groups, so that your PCs have people to interact with when they’re dealing with those elements. Do they have any particular people who represent them, or stand out as exemplars of what the issue’s referring to? If you have any ideas at this point, write them down on an index card: a name, a relationship to the organization or issue, and an aspect detailing their significance to the story.

Do the same for any notable places in your setting. Are there any important places where things happen, either important to the world, important to an issue, or important to the protagonists? If there’s a place where you envision multiple scenes taking place, then talk about that. Unlike NPCs, they don’t require aspects.

The GM may flesh these characters and places out later, depending on their role in the story. Or one of these ideas might be a great inspiration for a protagonist! And, of course, new ones will unfold as the story progresses.

If there’s a piece of your setting that’s meant to be a mystery which the protagonists uncover, define it only in loose terms. The specifics can be detailed as they are revealed in play.

After a few minutes of discussion, the group writes down:

• Hugo the Charitable, a lieutenant in the Scar Triad. His aspect is Everyone in Riverton Fears Me.
• Which brings us to a place, the city of Riverton. There are two rivers here, so it’s a hub for trade.
• Amanda comes up with a sympathetic character, Kale Westal, who owns a shop in Riverton. She isn’t cowed by Hugo’s extortion, and will likely fall victim to an “accident.” Her aspect is Stubborn Because I’m Right.
• The Primarch, the leader of the Cult of Tranquility, whose identity is a mystery. Because that part of the setting is a mystery, they aren’t going to come up with an aspect or otherwise go any further, leaving those details to Amanda to figure out in secret.

They could go on, but they know they’ll have more ideas after character creation and as they play. That’s just enough to paint a picture of what’s going on at the very beginning of the story.