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OK, we can start with the character sheet. You should have a look at the Tutorials scene to get an overview of the system. The mechanics are quite simple, and in any case I will guide you through the character generation step by step.

First, it might be a good idea for you get this very handy Excel version of the character sheet:

www.kenzerco.com/forums/attachment.php?s=8ab81c0ca...

This is just to keep track of the steps, I will have the "master version" and we will create the character sheet here. Also all the rolls are done using the Umbria interface.

First: roll the Ability scores: roll 3d6 for Strength. Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Looks and Charisma, and then 1d100 for each for the fractional ability, please state which ability you are rolling for.

All right, I missed that HP roll.

So, ain't everything is a little high? I mean, I'll have to roll 75+ in almost any skill roll. Is there any way to spend BP and increase my chances? Or do I have to spend my BPs in new skills?

I think you should spend BP to improve skills you already have. In the previous post I put the cost to future improve each skill. For instance gambling would cost 16BP, Cooking 2 BP, and so on.

OK, that's what I meant, If I could spend those points right now to develop my skills or if I would have to buy new skills.

In this case I think I'm gonna raise my Gambling (-16BP), Deception (-6BP), Listening (-10BP) and Distraction (-4BP).

STR  7 ²³
DEX  11 ²⁵
CON  14 ⁸⁷
INT  10 ⁸⁷
WIS  11 ⁹¹
CHA  15 ²²
LKS  8 ⁸⁹

I was a bit wary of rolling random stats for a character that had already been quite fleshed out... but it seems luck was on my side and the stats make quite a lot of sense. Sinta is a small woman of little physical strength and not especially good looks, but she is fit, healthy, and determined, which makes people like her because they perceive her as a "solid woman".

The original idea was for this character to be someone who just happens to ride along with a group of cowboys for the first time, and things do not go as planned and then the character is forced to look for a new direction and purpose.

That is more or less Sinta´s story. After losing her latest business partner (Jack) she is looking for a new way of making a living. Is she jealous of Jack´s happiness and settling down? I do not know. Maybe we will find out during gameplay. ;-) If it helps the story, we can say that she left Jack three months ago, joined a group of cowboys because one of them had known Jack, and it was OK but it did not really work out. Maybe they were too close a group of friends and she never felt belonging in, or maybe there was a clash with one of them that did not respect her because she was a woman and she had to draw her revolver, or maybe they are going along for now and the "she is forced to look for a new direction" part will happen in play.

Does this make sense?

So yes, you can use this character. I like the nursing skill part, but even more it would be great if she was skillful with cattle (animal herding, care, and so on). That would explain why she was hired in the first place.

After a year being a cowgirl, I would say Sinta is very skilled handling animals. Given her lack of physical strength, it is probably her biggest asset for earning a living as a cowgirl. Her nursing skills are good, but cowboys cannot afford to bring with them a full-time nurse. On the other hand, a girl that can tend the cattle as well as a wound... that is useful!

Yes, the random Ability scores came out very well. In any case, you can always adjust the values as follows:

1) Generate Ability Points: you can sacrifice points from one ability score to increase another (except Looks). Depending on the current value of the Ability, the cost for the trade up is different:
7 or less => 1 for 1 (so if you wish to increase STR to 8, you can deduct 1 point from any Ability except Looks)
8-10 => 2 for 1
11-13 => 3 for 1
14-16 => 4 for 1
17-20 => 5 for 1
21+ => 10 for 1

This option does not spend BP which is good. For instance, you could sacrifice Constitution to increase Wisdom etc. But the values seem to fit in nicely with the character concept.

2) Generate Building Points => BP are used to purchase skills and talents later on. You can sacrifice Ability scores to get additional BP.

3) Spend Starting Building Points => you can raise the fractional ability. The cost is one BP per five fractional ability points (note that the fractional ability is simply to measure how close you are to gaining an extra point in your Ability). So for you could raise Wisdom to 12/01 by spending 2 BP.

Sinta starts as a cowgirl, but deep inside she knows it is not her calling. The "she is forced to look for a new direction" happens (or not) during gameplay. This is something that a few PCs will have in fact. They will start doing something but the course of events takes them to a point where they end up choosing a different path. The game system allows for this kind of development.

Something I would like you to include in the story: a friend by name of Laura Shelby. Laura met Sinta in Canyon City or the general Colorado area. She moved often from one town to the other, looking for her place in the world. I am not sure what the relationship between Laura and Jack is, but maybe they are cousins or Jack marries Laura´s sister or something. One way or the other, Laura leaves Canyon City after a lawman breaks her heart, and over a year later, Jack finds out she has settled in a small town of Sabbath. Linking with your story, Jack could recommend Sinta to ride with a few other cowboys to that area, as Laura mentions in her letter that a local landowner is hiring cowboys for a cattle drive.

I will leave the details to you, and also the details of the friendship between the two women. They do not have to be best friends either. But the starting point for Sinta could be when she visits this old friend.

I have chosen the place of birth and the siblings as per your story (two siblings, one alive, and your mother did not remarry). The upbringing result was "ill-equipped", that is, you did not have an easy childhood. But that also fits your story.

You are 23 years old, right handed, 66" tall (that is around 165 cm), 119 lbs. All this will appear on the character sheet.

Social class is ULC (Upper Lower Class), laborers in the NY area. However, she does have some extra starting money, probably because of the work she did with Jack.

With all this, you have 106 BP to spend. There are Quirks&Flaws (usually random unless important for the background story, each flaw gives you more BP). Then there are talents. (Please check the tutorial scene)

Skills are probably the most difficult part of the system. If you have the Excel spreadsheet, you can see the cost for each skill already modified by your Ability score)

For instance:
Animal Empathy => BP cost 3*
Animal Herding => 1 BP
Animal Husbandry => 1 BP
Animal Lore => 1 BP
Climbing => 2 BP
Cooking => 1 BP
Driving Stage/Wagon => 3 BP
Hiding => 3 BP
Medicine => 10 BP
Nursing => 3 BP
Observation => 6 BP
Riding => 3 BP
Rope Use => 2 BP
Seduction => 3 BP**

Skills that have * if selected, will automatically have extra purchases. Also, any skill can (and often should) be selected more than once, but the 2nd and further selections are more expensive.

OK the skills are done then. The character sheet is almost finished, it´s only missing the starting gear and weapons. You have 41$ starting money, but I will allow in addition one weapon valued 20$ or less for free. So you should be able to buy a revolver and a rifle for instance.

I will open a scene for purchasing goods, but if you wish to make a list of things you consider you want to have on you when you start, please do.

Ok. I` ll rebuild the chatacter tomorrow... but I`m afraid I`m needing help ;).

Regards.

No worries, we´ll go step by step. Start with the Abilities and we go from there.

I'll choose the Peacemaker. For the other 41$:

-Gun belt (2$)

-Holster, quick draw (2.50$)

-Knife, hunting/fighting (1$)

-Spencer Carbine (21.50$)

Do I have to buy the ammo also?
 

Spend Starting Building Points => you can raise the fractional ability. The cost is one BP per five fractional ability points (note that the fractional ability is simply to measure how close you are to gaining an extra point in your Ability). So for you could raise Wisdom to 12/01 by spending 2 BP.

Why would I want to do that? How do attributes and skills and everything else relate?

I do not have the game manual, I am in the dark. 0:-)

For all I know so far, I can only chose things that fit the character description regardless of whether they will be useful for the adventure or not. Thank the Almighty the dice rolls have been mostly in line with that (a bit tall for a small woman, a bit slim for Looks 8 ---maybe she has a big nose--- but apart from that, fine).

First try (I get the impression I am doing something wrong, i have not even looked at the quirks and flaws and I have only spent half of my BPs):

_{10 Quick Aim}

 _{1 Animal Empathy
 2 Animal Herding
 1 Brewing (*)
 1 Cooking
 1 Culture
 4 Diplomacy (*)
 1 Fast Talking (*)
 1 Fishing
 1 Idle Gossip (*)
 5 Listening
 3 Nursing
 6 Observation (*)
 2 Oration (*)
 4 Penmanship
 3 Riding
 1 Seduction
 7 Survival (*)
 3 Weather Sense (*)
--------------------
57 BP}

(spend BP to raise Ability value)

Why would I want to do that? How do attributes and skills and everything else relate?

First, the fractional part of the ability score tells you how close you are to gaining an extra point, so there is no difference of having 14/10 or 14/99 on any Ability (except that 14/99 is very close to 15 so it can be raised easily). The Abilities relate to skills by giving extra BP for learning and also when you select to improve the skill, the roll to determine you skill value is modified by the relevant ability.

If you check the Tutorial scene, there is a skill list and the base cost (BP) for each skill and the relevant abilities, and also a description of each ability.

The actual skill development costs are a bit tricky. The base BP cost listed is modified by the Ability. If you have downloaded the Excel sheet, I recommend using it instead of explaining the complex math and tables :) To sum it up, you purchase a skill and get to roll a "mastery die" (1d8+ability score for instance) and that gives you your current mastery level on that skill (as a %). The mastery levels are explained in the tutorial scene.

Let´s look at the skills you have chosen. On each skill, I have put the current mastery level (I rolled the dice for that), and the cost for next development or purchase. There are some skills I think you should develop further by purchasing them again.

Animal Empathy    66% => next dev. 3 BP (this skill is based on WIS/CHA, whichever is the lowest, and you have a high value on both, that is why it says "can´t" on the spreadsheet for the 1st purchase. You have make the 2nd purchase directly, but you get a higher bonus).

Animal Herding 88 % => 2 BP
Brewing 78% => 2 BP
Cooking 74% => 2 BP
Culture 82% => 2 BP
Diplomacy 77% => 5 BP
Fast Talking 28% (!) => 1 BP
> Fast Talking is a Universal skill and due to your high Charisma you get
some bonuses. If you look at the spreadhseet, it says "can´t" on the 1st and 2nd
purchase, so you have to purchase the 3rd directly and you get a bonus because of
high Charisma and the three mastery dice (3d8).
Fishing 95% => 2 BP
Idle Gossip 28% => 1 BP
Listening 72% => 10 BP
Nursing 84% => 6 BP
Observation 70% => 12 BP
Oration 55% => 3 BP
Penmanship 84% => 8 BP
Riding 70% => 6 BP
Seduction 56% => 1 BP
Survival 76% => 14 BP
Weather Sense 76% => 6 BP

After deducting the cost for the above (the first purchase of each of the skills above), you have 54 BP left. Minus Quick Aim (10 BP) means you have 44 BP left.

Also if you want to work as a cowboy there are three basic skills: Animal Herding, Riding and Rope Use. You should purchase Rope Use for 2 BP I think. 

Please spend BP for further skills, if we run out we can easily remove some that are not that important. Weather Sense and Survival seem interesting, Sinta has been on her own in the wilderness?

Colt Single Action Army, the "Peacemaker", was a very popular six-shooter. You can choose either .44 or .45 caliber, the difference is a bit of extra damage with the higher caliber so I guess that is an easy choice.

You have to buy the ammo, for a box of 100 the cost is $2.85 for 100 cartridges. The lower caliber is 20 cents less.

Another thing you have to decide is the barrel length. With a longer barrel you get better range and accuracy, but the draw speed is worse. The draw speed is measured in "counts". In a gunfight, the action is divided into counts, and 10 counts is 1 second. So a positive +3 draw speed modifier of the gun means it takes 3 tenths of a second longer to draw.

For instance: less than 7 1/2" barrel has 0 count or +1 count for draw speed, but from 20´ has negative modifiers for accuracy (10´= 3 meters)

A 9" barrel has +3 count but can shoot up to 30´ without negative modifiers.

The longest 12" barrel takes half a second longer to draw (+5), but can shoot up to 40´ without any negative.

Funnily enough, these range modifiers only affect shots when the range is between 20´ and 40´, if it´s less or more, the barrel length makes no difference.

The Spencer Carbine is a 7-shot, .52 caliber weapon. It can shoot easily up to 70´ (and further but with modifiers), even up to 500´. It was the most popular repeating rifle of the Union. The ammo is the rimfire cartridge, costs $2.80 per 100. I will upload the info sheet (similar to what you can see in the Goods&Services scene) for the weapons to each character.

You get the basic clothing etc., but if you want to have an overcoat or duster, gloves, riding boots or a sombrero, you need to spend money from the starting cash. Or you can save it and try your luck in a game of poker (we can probably gameplay a few rounds, and maybe that´s why you have no boots or fancy clothes :) ).

I'll choose the 9'' barrel, and .45 of couse and I think a hundred revolver bullets and a hundred rifle bullets will be enough, at least for now xD So it's -2.85$ and -2.80$.

I was going to buy the hat, tobbaco and something else, but I've reconsidered it. Maybe it's better to save it for poker (even if it's just 8.35$...).

OK so the character sheet is more or less finished, I just uploaded an image of the one that the Excel sheet creates, it should do for now. In any case, I have in mind to move the equipment and gear (and the money) to the appropriate section so it is easier to modify, and also the Profession Paths and Personal Goals are still missing.

Also I uploaded the info sheet for the two weapons to "Notes".

Have a look through and any questions, please let me know. This version of the sheet also gives you the bonus for Universal skills (these skills you can try even if you do not have purchased them). Next step would be to do a small intro scene, or practice the game mechanics for shooting for instance. Or that game of poker. But probably best to have a few more players ready for that.

Good job with the character sheet, thanks!

Everything seems OK. I'll upload a developed background story later (or maybe tomorrow, not sure).

And yeah, I'd like to practice some shooting and specially poker. I know how to play real poker, but I'm completely lost on how it can be adapted to Umbría.

First, the fractional part of the ability score tells you how close you are to gaining an extra point, so there is no difference of having 14/10 or 14/99 on any Ability (except that 14/99 is very close to 15 so it can be raised easily). The Abilities relate to skills by giving extra BP for learning and also when you select to improve the skill, the roll to determine you skill value is modified by the relevant ability.

The meaning of the fractional part was clear. What is unclear is what is the difference between, say, 12 and 15. I know 15 is better, but I do not know why. For example, in DnD STR12 means +1 to melee attacks and damage while STR15 means +2 to the same. I have no idea what effects abilities have in the game. :-)

If you check the Tutorial scene, there is a skill list and the base cost (BP) for each skill and the relevant abilities, and also a description of each ability.

Yes, but it is a high-level description. For example, I know that INT gives me BP and Strength gives me a bonus on close-quarter combat... but how much?

The actual skill development costs are a bit tricky.

Now we are talking. ;-)

The base BP cost listed is modified by the Ability. If you have downloaded the Excel sheet, I recommend using it instead of explaining the complex math and tables :) To sum it up, you purchase a skill and get to roll a "mastery die" (1d8+ability score for instance) and that gives you your current mastery level on that skill (as a %). The mastery levels are explained in the tutorial scene.

I will try to work out an example to see if I am getting it right (as the dice rolls are not public, I do not really know what you rolled, so I am guessing here; please be patient). I buy Animal Empathy, a WIS/CHA skill (I thought WIS/CHA was good because I could choose the best but now I realise it is bad becaue I must use the worst). I pay 2BP and roll 1d10 + 11(WIS), and that results in something between 12% and 21%? Master or Expert? I think I am not doing this right.

And how did Sinta get a 66% on Animal Herding then? I must have misunderstood the process.

Let´s look at the skills you have chosen. On each skill, I have put the current mastery level (I rolled the dice for that), and the cost for next development or purchase. There are some skills I think you should develop further by purchasing them again.

I am happy to purchase more skills and skills advancements if it fits the character, including Rope Use. Weather Sense and Survival may or may not be part of Sinta, depending on whether they fit after other skills that are needed for the backstory are included. If they fit, we have discovered that Sinta has spent time alone in the wilderness.

I will have a look at the spreadsheet later if I have a little time. This is a complex process (I should have suspected it when somebody has created a spreadsheet for it, for crying out loud) and it is difficult to understand it without the manual (the tutorial is nice, but there is a lot of information (such as skill descriptions, bonuses, etc) that cannot fit in so short a space). Thanks for your help.

Animal Empathy    66% => next dev. 3 BP (this skill is based on WIS/CHA, whichever is the lowest, and you have a high value on both, that is why it says "can´t" on the spreadsheet for the 1st purchase. You have make the 2nd purchase directly, but you get a higher bonus).

I buy Animal Empathy, a WIS/CHA skill (I thought WIS/CHA was good because I could choose the best but now I realise it is bad becaue I must use the worst). I pay 2BP and roll 1d10 + 11(WIS), and that results in something between 12% and 21%? Master or Expert? I think I am not doing this right.

Animal Empathy you made the 2nd purchase directly (as the 1st one said "can´t", remember?). So you get 22+2d10 which I rolled 34, hence the 66%. It is as if you purchased it twice, and each time you got 11 (WIS)+1D10. What does this 66% mean? From the tutorial:

100% Unskilled (only universal skills can be used at this level)
99-75% Novice
74-50% Average
49-25% Advanced
24-13% Expert
12-0% Master

So it is an Average user level, "typically had some schooling or training in the skill. A working knowledge and a reasonable chance to perform routine tasks involving the skill though he is unable to effectively teach others what he/she knows."

For example, I know that INT gives me BP and Strength gives me a bonus on close-quarter combat... but how much?

As a rule of thumb, an Ability score of 10-11 (average) is 0 bonus for skill learning and BP, and then it is +1 or -1 for each value above or below. Close-quarter combat is not actually a skill, but the damage is modified +1 if you STR 12, +2 if STR 13 and so forth.

The skill purchase costs are a pain, but the spreadsheet does it nicely :) just remember to put the ability values in first.

This is a complex process (I should have suspected it when somebody has created a spreadsheet for it, for crying out loud) and it is difficult to understand it without the manual (the tutorial is nice, but there is a lot of information (such as skill descriptions, bonuses, etc) that cannot fit in so short a space).

Yes, it is more complex than it seems at first because of the skill bonuses really (and they work awkwardly backwards, providing learning modifiers, bonuses and extra BPs at the same time). There is a more basic set of rules for this, but the advanced rules seem to make more sense. I did not want to expand the tutorial too much, only to give a basic idea of how things work. The good thing is that the skills are purchased and improved quite a lot during gameplay, so it is easy to learn stuff that you really need to improve.

Have a look at the skill section of the spreadsheet with the Ability scores already in, and if necessary I can expand the tutorial.

(...) when somebody has created a spreadsheet for it, for crying out loud

Hehe, it was hell before the spreadsheet. Do not badmouth the spreadsheet. Ever. :)