PLAYER CHARACTERS

Your player character (PC) is your most important asset in The Empty Reach. They are your avatar, your eyes and ears in the world. But they, in return, depend on you making the right decisions for them. Take your PC seriously and play them as if they were a real person. It’s more fun that way. At the same time, don’t try to protect your PC from every conceivable danger. The goal of the game is to create a good story. For that to happen you need to take risks.
During the course of the game, your PC will change and develop. Their skills and specialties can be developed through experience, but you can also discover how their personality changes and is formed in a way that cannot be measured by numbers on a page. This is when your player character truly comes alive.

CHARACTER SHEET

To create your player character, you need a character sheet. The Empty Reach Character Sheet is available on the main page.

SEVEN STEPS OF CREATION
How you create your player character is explained in detail in this chapter. The summary below is a helpful overview. Grab a character sheet, a pencil, and follow these steps:

1. Choose your archetype.
2. Determine your attributes.
3. Determine your skills.
4. Choose your starting specialty.
5. Determine your personality traits.
6. Pick your gear.
7. Choose a name.

SPECIES AND ARCHETYPE

Your Species determines which of the stranded sentient peoples of Khosaga you belong to. Though each have some subtle differences and cultural preferences any type of character can originate from any Species background.
The archetype determines what type of person you are, your background and role in the group. Your archetype will influence your attributes, skills, specialties, and starting gear.
Archetypes can feel stereotypical, and they are meant to be. Picking an archetype is a quick way for yourself and the other players to get an immediate feel for your character. But remember that your character is more than just their arche¬type. The archetype is just a starting point toward creating a unique player character.

ATTRIBUTES

Your character has four attributes that indicate your basic physical and mental capabilities. Your attributes are used when you roll dice to perform actions in the game, and also determine how much damage and stress can withstand before you become broken. Read more about this in Chapter 4.

STRENGTH: Raw muscle power and brawn
AGILITY: Body control, speed, and motor skills
WITS: Sensory perception, intelligence, and sanity
EMPATHY: Personal charisma and ability to manipulate others

ATTRIBUTE RATINGS

In The Empty Reach, attributes are rated on a scale from A to D. Each attribute rating is connected to a specific die type. See the table below.

STARTING SCORES: You start with a baseline of C in all four attributes. You may then make three increases, of one step each, up to A. You can increase any attributes you want. You can gain one extra increase by decreasing one attribute from C to D.
DIE SIZE:A term sometimes used in the step dice rules text is “die size.” This simply means the highest possible result on a particular die type. The die size of a D6 is 6, the die size of a D8 is 8, etc.

HEALTH & RESOLVE

Your attributes determine how much damage and stress you can take before being broken and thus taken out of action. In The Empty Reach, this is measured by your Health and Resolve scores. Read more about how those work in Chapter 4. Resolve is also precious as it powers the psionic abilities of some characters. Failure to manage Resolve in Combat can lead to collapse from the mental strain.

HEALTH AND RESOLVE RATINGS

HEALTH: Your starting Health equals the sum of the die size for your Strength and Agility scores divided by 4, rounding fractions up.
RESOLVE: Your starting Resolve equals the sum of the die size for your Wits and Empathy scores divided by 4, rounding up.

SKILLS

Your skills are the knowledge and abilities you have acquired during your life. They are important, as they determine, along with your attributes, how effectively you can perform certain actions in the game. There are twelve basic skills in The Empty Reach, and they are all described in detail in Chapter 3.

SKILL LEVELS

In The Empty Reach, skill levels are measured on a scale from A to D just like attributes. Just like for attributes, each skill level is connected to a specific die type. See the table below.

NO SKILL LEVEL? You can generally roll for a skill even if you have no level at all in that skill – in that case, only use the associated attribute for the skill in question.
STARTING SKILLS: Choose one B level skill, two C level skills, and three D level skills. Your B level skill must typically be one listed by your archetype. You can choose your C and D level skills freely.

SPECIALTIES

Specialties are tricks, moves and minor abilities that give you a small edge. Specialties are more narrow than skills and give you a way to fine-tune your character.
You can typically pick one specialty when creating your character, but your archetype determines which specialties you can choose from. You can learn more specialties during the course of the game.
You can find the specialties in Chapter 3.

PERSONALITY TRAITS

The Empty Reach uses a variety of methods to give your PC unique personality traits beyond the numerical stats. For your character consider each of the traits below:

PRIDE: Something specific that defines your character and makes them stand out. It can be an ability, an event in your past, or something else. Once per game session, you may check your Pride to get one automatic success in a dice roll. You must justify how your Pride helps you.
WEAKNESS: An Achilles heel that can get you into trouble somehow. Your weakness adds depth and personality to your character and can also be used by the GM to create challenges for you. Roleplaying according to your weakness gives you extra XP at the end of the session.
DARK SECRET: Something that you have experienced before the game begins that has left its mark on you or still threatens you in some way. Your Dark Secrets is primarily a tool for the GM to create stories with, but can also earn you extra XP you get after a game session.
INSPIRATION: This is your PC’s main long-term motivation in the game. During play, you will gain extra XP if you risk or sacrifice something significant to move closer to seeing your inspiring goal realized. Your inspiration can change depending on what you experience in the world.
RELATIONSHIPS: Your relationship with each of the other PCs, described with a short sentence for each. Your relationships are mainly used by the GM to create interesting challenges for you in the game.
TRUE COMPANION: The PC in the group that you feel closest to. Making a sacrifice or taking a big risk for your Companion will earn you extra XP.

GEAR

Many (but not all) of the situations in The Empty Reach will focus on survival, and having the right gear will help you do that. You must write down all the items you are carrying. Write down one item per row in the Gear section on your character sheet. If it’s not listed on your sheet, you don’t have it with you.

STARTING GEAR: Your species and archetype typically determines what gear you can choose from at the start of the game. Clothes and gear used to carry other gear does not count toward your encumbrance and does not need to be noted down.

ENCUMBRANCE

You can unhindered carry a number of regular items up to your carry limit, which is equal to your Strength die size. Heavier items count as two, three or more regular items. Light items count as ½ or even ¼ regular items.

BACKPACK: If you have a backpack, you can use it to carry an additional number of regular items equal to your carry limit. However, carrying a backpack gives you a −2 modifier on all Mobility skill rolls. The backpack itself does not affect your encumbrance.
TINY ITEMS: Items with negligible weight, that can be hidden in a closed fist, are called tiny. They are so small they don’t affect your encumbrance at all. Tiny items still need to be listed on your character sheet.
WEAPONS AT HAND: You can have up to two hand-held weapons at hand, which means that they are kept in a sheath or holster or otherwise readily available for use in combat. Weapons kept at hand do not count toward your encumbrance. Any helmet or armor worn on your body also does not count toward your encumbrance.
MOUNTS & VEHICLES: If you have a horse or other mount, you can let it carry some of your gear. The animal can carry a number of regular items up to its own carry limit, and twice that number if you dismount and lead it. Vehicles can store even more gear.

CONSUMABLES

A special category of items in the game are called consumables. It can be food, water, ammunition, arrows, torches, air supply, electric power or others.

TRACKING: The obvious way to manage consumables is to simply track them on your character sheet. Write down every ration of food, arrow or bullet, and reduce the amount as they are used up. A ration of food, container of water, ten arrows, 25 bullets, or a device power cell, typically count as ¼ of a regular item.

EXPERIENCE

The things you learn during the game are measured in Expe¬rience Points (XP). You receive XP after the end of each game session. Talk it through and let the whole group discuss what has happened. For each of the below questions that you can reply “yes” to, you get one XP:
Did you participate in the game session?
Did you explore a new location?
Did you defeat one or more dangerous adversaries?
Did you overcome an obstacle without using force?
Did you act according to your weakness / dark secret / inspiration / relationships?
Did you perform another extraordinary action of some kind? \

The GM has the final word when it comes to how much XP each character should get.

SPENDING XP

You can use your XP to improve your skills and specialties, or to learn new ones. You can only spend XP when your PC gets a chance to rest, or between game sessions.
SKILLS: To increase a skill level by one step costs a number of XP indicated in the table below. You can only increase a skill level one step at a time. Learning a new skill (at skill level D) costs 5 XP.
In addition, to raise a skill level or gain a new skill, you must have used the skill and succeeded at least once since your last increase. Make a mark by the skill on the character sheet to indicate this. Only meaningful skill rolls where something is truly at stake count for this purpose. The GM has final say. As an alternative to making a skill roll, you can be instructed for one shift by a teacher with a higher skill level than you.
SPECIALTIES: Learning a specialty always costs 10 XP, but also requires a teacher – a PC or NPC who already knows the specialty – instructing you for at least one shift. After the shift, the teacher makes a Persuasion roll. If they fail, you learn nothing this shift. You keep your XP and the teacher can try again in another shift.

SKILL LEVEL INCREASE

PERSONALITY TRAITS

After any session, you may change personality traits such as your pride, weakness, dark secret, big dream, and relationships. Try to connect the change to something that has happened during the course of the game.