Sun has finally set on the 2023 Character Creation Challenge, later for some of us than others. As always, many thanks to TardisCaptain for organizing the challenge & leading the way with his own set of contenders. My takeaway from this year has been to lean more heavily on games with more random, or at least randomizable, aspects of chargen. I was mainly

Below, a list of all the characters I’ve created this month. Unlike 2021, boy howdy did I feel that there were 31 of these bastards.

1. Thryth of Shazar, Chosen of Law, for Mournblade
2. Lady Hedaya of Cornumbria, knight, for Dragon Warriors
3. Detective Miranda Gordon for Vice Division
4. Odri “The Vanisher” Danjuma, a shady fixer for Hard Nova ][
5. Florens Hergenhahn, gullible aspiring writer, for Coyote Trail
6. Kale-Na, roaming adventurer for Broadsword
7. Dwight Decker, The Gadfly, for Crime Fighters
8. Milwaukee Joey Gravano, hair-trigger half-witted hoodlum, for Dog Town
9. Chiu Hai-Ying, disciple of the Red Tigers, for Dragonfist
10. Fai Yen, good-at-heart rogue, for Final Stand
11. Veronica Ostby, trust fund underground fighter, for Thrash 2.0
12. Kynstan the Vrusk, mercenary leader, for Star Frontiers
13. Hal Arledge, cult-busting Okie, for Trail of Cthulhu
14. Finnur Hafþórsson, vengeful survivor, for Wayfarer’s Song
15. Urdeline Harmin, semi-undead assassin, for Hypertellurians
16. Gatecrasher, a teleporting superhero for FASERIP
17. Tep Rittikrai, endangered species trade buster, for Top Secret: New World Order
18. Kade Sandaele, Lupus Ragabash Uktena, for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, 20th Anniversary Edition
19. Joe Hayek, kid on a bike in over his head, for Tales From The Loop
20. Sergei Mikhailovich, semi-divine hero, for Godbound
21. Hegdry of Oskyola, adventuring mutant capybara, for Mutant Future
22. Ffinlo the Umbrian, fugitive slave & druid, for Legends of Steel: Barbarians of Lemuria Edition
23. T Hawk the autogyro pilot for Atomic Highway
24. Ismia of the Lakefolk, a forest barbarian, for Powers & Perils
25. Gulf the Skunk for eco
26. Fergus Dove, Drifter, for Summerland
27. Geregese-Genylene Shabfoe, learned glaive who fights with panache, for Numenera
28. Berip of The Cinders, amateur magician, for Advanced Fighting Fantasy
29. Elizabeth Audrey Lewis, fake professor on a mission, for Hollow Earth Expedition
30. Snaketongue the Hammerwitch for Scorn
31. Doctor Kos’Knkorva, Daughter of P’lörö of the House of K’rochshot, Chief Medical Officer, for Star Wreck

Once again I feel like the more randomization a character requires, or that you can work in, the more interesting a person you end up with. Truth be told a lot of us tend to come up with similar concepts over & over. Being handed a bag of random parts & trying to build a coherent whole out of them not just inspires but compels creativity.

The one I found myself thinking about most, even after her day was long past, was Gatecrasher. I blame that on the old Boards of Canada video for Dayvan Cowboy. Had a whole scene in my head where she & the rest of the crew have connived to sneak the suit onto the ISS, then as ground control lose their mind in panic she steps out of the airlock & gently kicks herself off to start the drop back to Earth.