Punchy Fantasy RPG: Cooking Characters in GLAIVE

GLAIVE is a rules toolkit for running old-school fantasy RPGs created by Scott Wegener. Talent-powered competent adventurers in standard adventure fantasy game. Check out the book here. We are using v2.2 of the game.

This is traditional fantasy game, so I'll keep [Dimaapi] archetype in mind to make a typical fighter/combatant dude to start things off. See Cooking Characters Primer for more details about archetypes. So, let's make our adventurer and dive into the character creation rules! 

Step 1: Roll for background, gear, and bond. Rolled [12] and [59] on background table (d100). A smuggler liberator character is appealing, so I'll go with Smuggler. 

I like him already. 

Now for gear, I have to get a dungeoneering gear pack and choose a weapon of choice. Rolled [5] on Dungeoneering Gear, so I get Swordman's Pack (lucky!). Then I'll choose a Sword as a weapon to complement it.

I imagine our character the guy who takes front in tunnels, and wards off trouble when shit hits the fan. 

We also roll for silver and rations. I rolled [15] for starting silver, so I will get 2d6x10. Rolling those, I get 80 silver pieces. For rations, I rolled [5] so we get 2 rations. 

As for bond, we will roll one for the theoretical player to my left. I got [6,6] and [6,4]. Indebted to an unscrupulous demon or godling sounds more fun and flexible, and we can have fun making it together as a source of trouble for our characters. Maybe the demon or godling pushed us to this adventure for a specific treasure or person? Maybe we are both running away from the otherworldly beings? 

Step 2. Distribute bonuses to abilities. I imagine our dude is both strong in body and mind, having to endure tunneling duties for smuggled goods. Also developed an intuition while going thru secret passages and dark tunnels. Not a good sneak though, so he sticks to the tunnels but never goes to espionage missions.

STR 3, DEX 0, WIS 1, WIL 2

Step 3. Select Ancestry and Talents. There are a ton of choices, and it is such a free for all. Thankfully we have our concept and background already, so I'll know what to look for. I was thinking of a human troublemaker for our dude, so we just choose 2 talents.

• Veteran from Warrior Talents is a great fit, focusing on his sturdy character and combat savviness. As a smuggler it matters more to deal with trouble fast than turn it to a long attrition.
• It also pays to be quick witted when dealing with strangers, especially during missions, so Bard's Tongue from Raconteur Talents seems like a good investment.

Step 4: Note down the rest of the stats. HP is based on STR, AC on DEX unless we buy armor. We might have to buy one as we had shitty DEX and AC. I have to also note my Encumbrance limit.

HP 15 = 10 + 3 STR + 2 (Veteran) 

AC 10 = 10 + 0 DEX

Item Slots 13 = 10 + 3 STR 

And that's all the steps! There is a step 5 in the book but seems to be redundant to Step 1 in terms of gear. I think they are fixing that in the next version.

We now put all of those in the official character sheet. Some details in sheet don't exist in the book as choices, so I'm leaving those empty for now.

To add more details, I rolled for a name, which the book has a table for. I got [40] and [58]. Mute is an interesting choice, and can be a good personality propeller - is he actually a mute? Is he called The Mute because he doesn't talk except for business? Maybe he turns other people mute when he beats them?

- - - 

REMARKS!

• As a player, I like that it is fast but still offers customization. You can get stalled in choosing talents, but if you have a concept in mind already - like I did - or have an engaging result in backgrounds/motivation table, it should be fine.
• Speaking of backgrounds, that is a very nice list. Some generic ones, but interesting ones are also available. And they provide extra benefits, either fiction-wise or straight up mechanical ones.
• Character sheet is basic, but I feel it is lifted from another game. No space for Bonds. No indication to track Item Slots. There is another sheet for spells & magic items, but I did not use it.
• As this is a rules toolkit, there were no setting or worldbuilding elements in the choices. The background and talent choices offer general choices of traditional adventure fantasy game, but "flattened" to make them flexible, like Devil Spawn ancestry that can be a D&D Tiefling analog. So, they are easy to port into existing settings or flavor them to your own.
• I have 2 small nitpicks, layout-wise: Have the core rules first before char gen. I know a lot of people are aware already of what the usual Stats/Abilities do in games, but the wheel has been reinvented all the time. And in this game, ranged attacks are powered by WIS, not DEX. Not saying it's bad that the convention assumes DEX = ranged attacker, but more being upfront about your games' mechanics that players need to immediately know as part of char gen. Or just put a page reminder to where they can know more about the stats or mechanics mentioned in char gen, maybe that's enough.
• My other nitpick is just, have numbers on talents per group. Or have a table of all talents' names + quick explanation for char gen and explain on them later in the Talent chapter.  It can speed up selection. And it can remove possible overwhelming feeling from first time readers.

SCORING TIME!

• Player fun: 6
• Creation is quick and easy to follow. Choosing and brewing talent combinations is fun. Character sheet is serviceable but could be better.
• GM fun: 3
• It has basic fantasy tropes in its choices, but flexible to be plugged for almost any setting. Backgrounds and bonds are also idea generators, which are easy to incorporate. 
• Design fun: 3 
• I am bias with classless modular games, especially if done neatly. No extra dressing, just punchy talents evoking class-like features. 

TOTAL of 12 POINTS - SOMETHING'S COOKING!

I can totally see myself playing a character for this kind of game or running an adventure for it.