Writing and Role Playing Games - Part 2

First of all I must share a link. My blogger buddy Esther is taking a trip to Europe with People to People and she is blogging about it in a blog dedicated to the trip. You can find links to both her blogs on the right of the screen, my blog list. Now back to your irregularly scheduled blog.

Once again I've vanished on my faithful readers. The few that I have. Well when we last met Barret was a vaguely defined character, he had to start somewhere. So that is where we are going today.

First I started with something that was not my creation. The world's back story.

"History: It has been 75 years since the nuclear exchange that caused a holocaust on a global scale. In the Atlantic Ocean a US carrier fleet somehow managed to avoid the ensuring global annihilation. For years the fleet tried to establish contact with the Pentagon and the government stateside. After a while they began to give up hope, and they switched the broadcasts to an automatic loop. After 70 years someone finally answered the call, and gave the all clear. It two months since then and the Admiralty have been debating whether to answer the call, and return home."

Now that about a year ago. Since then Rook, the GM, has added bunches of additional story, most of which our characters still haven't found. Now I started to build the framework that would become Barret.

At this point, Barret had no name or personality. I just wanted to play a sniper. I knew that I needed to play a Marine or Navy type person with Marines being slightly preferred. Once I had a very basic idea of what role I would play in our little group of adventures I could start working on back story.

I think the first thing I came up with was his parents. His father would be some sort of mid-ranking officer in charge of a small island base and his mother would be a disabled Navy Seal vet. Soon after that formed in my head I decided that he would be a trouble child. And that's how it went, small bits and pieces coming together to become a character. Finally what I ended up with is this:

"When Barrett Black was born in a small look out/agriculture base on one of the islands in the Azores archipelago, great things were expected of him. The youngest of three children of the Navy Commander in charge of the base and a retired Seal sniper. And even at a very young age it looked like he would follow his mother’s footsteps and become a Seal, sometimes sneaking up on trained Navy crew and Marines.

However as he grew from and child to a young teenage he found two things: a intense love for and ability with guns, and a talent for getting in trouble and often getting away with it. The first was fine, his Father was the most likely cause for his love of guns and his Mother for his talent with them. When he first demonstrated his powers with and firearm to his amused parents at age 12 he surpassed the requirements to become a Marine. His talent for getting in trouble on the other hand would cause a good deal of strife.

Constantly going though restricted areas, especially the armory, had him thrown into the brig on a dozen occasions. Not only that but at age 16 he found a book about slight of hand magic tricks and taught himself how to use them. Again his knack for trouble took over and he learned that the magic tricks could be used for more then just entertainment, and swiped an ID card from an officer.

This was the final straw for Barrett's Father, who requested transfer to a ship command. With in the month he was MIA presumed dead and his ship sunk. This was a huge blow to Barrett, doublely so because his oldest brother had be aboard the ship as well. Left with his Mother, his Sister, and a gaping hole in his heart, Barrett threw himself into his training and shooting he finally began to live up to his Fathers expectations, it would grieve him for the rest of his life that he would never see his Father's approving smile.

Barrett's family

Father: Commander Vendrie Black – MIA (Navy)

Mother: Lieutenant Commander Marry Brent Black – Honorably discharged (Navy Seals)

Brother: 1^st Lieutenant Mak Black – MIA (Marines)

Sister: Lieutenant Valarie Black (Navy air force, fighter jet pilot)

Himself Corporal Barrett Black (Marine DM)"

One part of Barret's birth was choosing his name. His surname, Black, was simple, however I often have a problem choosing  first names. One of my friends cheerfully suggested I use Lastat. I thought this was a interesting name and was going to use it until another one of my friends informed me that my first friend got the name from a homosexual vampire. Yet another friend suggested Barret, which suited Barret quite nicely. Not only does the name fit his personality, but it also happens to be the name of a well known gun manufacturer.

 Well this post is no doubt getting longer then your attention span so I'll come back to this another time. Coming soon, (yes I know I said that last time too) a post about how to be a good patient and my experience with getting stitches!

Zombie Killing Technique #96: BOOM! HEADSHOT!