As part of the character creation process you will need to formulate a reason why your character is on Planet O-oot instead of anywhere else in space. As a rule of thumb it should be assumed that no one willingly chooses O-oot over other planetary locations to call home. Those who come to O-oot, who come to Township, are here because something in their lives has gone terribly wrong.
Perhaps they have been victimized by a complex conspiracy to run them out of business and destroy their professional reputation, or perhaps they committed a crime out of a lust or revenge. Most residents of Township run the gambit of untrustworthy repeat offender, to white-collar criminal mastermind, to retired serial killers. But no matter what it is, exactly, that brought your character here; it needs to be hashed out during character creation.
Below is a roll table (for a 20-sided die) of phrases to use as inspiration during character creation. You can use this to roll for a random motivation or you may use it like a menu of options to freely choose from. These first-person statements are meant to spark your imagination; there is no precise meaning to each sentence. Instead, what you assume or feel is implied by the line is what you should use as your sense of direction when deciding on your character’s motivation.
Character Motivation Roll Table
| 1. “Yeah, I did it.” | 11. “I didn’t do it!” |
| 2. “I did the right thing.” | 12. “It got out of control.” |
| 3. “They finally caught me.” | 13. “I didn’t mean it.” |
| 4. “I did it for her.” | 14. “They had it coming.” |
| 5. “No one can ever know.” | 15. “I enjoyed every minute of it.” |
| 6. “They would have died.” | 16. “They’ll never catch me alive!” |
| 7. “He got in the way; I had to.” | 17. “He knows why I did it.” |
| 8. “It was the only way.” | 18. “It wasn’t suppose to fail.” |
| 9. “It almost worked.” | 19. “It was only money.” |
| 10. “They set me up!” | 20. “Somebody had to do something.” |
It is not required to write this entire “story” down anywhere or to even revel it to the Gamer Master. What is important is that you, the player, know and remember what motivated this specific character to come to Township and start a new life.
What’s Next? (Step 2 – Tribe or Species)
Motivation FAQ
Q: Can I skip this step?
A: In theory, yes. If you are playing in this setting, but have little to no plans to role play (and your GM is fine with that) then there is technically no need for this step. The purpose of Step 1 is to give you and your character a sense of purpose. As stated above, nobody willingly would want to go to O-oot, so there should be something dire to compel a sane-minded person to want to travel there.
Q: Can I do Step 2 first and then return to Step 1?
A: Yes. We recommend doing it in this order, but you wont mess anything up or waste any time by doing it the other way around. Our reasoning behind wanting you to chose the character’s Motivation first is that it places more emphasis on that part of the character’s personality; driving their actions more than their species or faction. Often the first choice you make in developing a character’s concept then drives all other creative decisions.
Q: Is it illegal to travel to Planet O-oot?
A: No. But without specific permission to land on it’s surface, ships do tend to crash on entry. Why this happens is part of the mystery of O-oot; nobody can precisely determine why the leader of Township, Jaycub, has the ability to let ships land safely. Of course, this doesn’t mean you need his permission to TRY to land… Or to be a stole-away on an approved ship.
Q: Does my character need to be a “bad guy” in this setting?
A: No, it’s up to you. Being on the run, or having been banished from somewhere, does not mean your character is a bad person. By default it’s easy to assume all inhabitants of O-oot are criminals, but there can be many shades of gray. However, what your character does need to be is either FORCED to go to O-oot or left with no choice but to run away to Planet O-oot. The “why” and “how” of this is all up to you; in theory a character could be completely innocent and yet still have a explanation as to why they have to be there.
Q: How does my character’s Motivation affect game play?
A: This is highly dependent on your Gamemaster’s style of running games, but it is intended to act as the story hook a GM can use to quickly tie your character to potential quests, influence how NPCs might interact with you and other role play aspects. Because there are no hard stats tied to this, there is no “right” kind of motivation or “wrong” kind, in terms of actual game mechanics. The easiest way to think of it is that your choice in Motivation is how you can influence the narrative of the game. Although you are not the Gamemaster, what character motivations the GM is presented with effects what kinds of stories they can tell.
Q: My Gamemaster wants to know my character’s motivation. I want to keep it a secret. What do we do in this situation?
A: Players are allowed to withhold this information from the GM if they choose, or if they want to be extra sneaky they could give a false explanation to the Gamemaster and revel the “true” reason later. Although we are giving the player the right to not disclose the correct motivation of a character, this should not be abused as a way to change their backstory on a whim or as a way to avoid Step 1 in character creation. If you choose to conceal a character’s motivation, or lie about it, it is then your job as the player to be honest and tell the truth if the GM places your character in a situation where the real motivation gets exposed.