Quartz 4

The Academic

3 min read

The Academic

The Academic studies the world from her desk. Everything is interconnected via logical rules of causality, yet she suspects something must be wrong. Pieces refuse to fall into the safe, predictable patterns of common scientific models. Worse, shadowy forces silence new and alternative fields of research. Those who question the scientific establishment and its rational worldview risk disgrace and the destruction of their research, reputation, and revenue. Does she dare to look for the truth?

OCCUPATION

Choose your Academic’s occupation from the list below, or invent one of your choosing:

Professor, Student, Ph.D. candidate, Teacher, Public servant, Advisor, Politician, Author, Television show host, Aristocrat, Researcher, Psychologist, Archaeologist, Dilettante, Antiquarian.

DARK SECRETS

Choose 1 or more Dark Secrets, page 93. Suggestions:

  • Forbidden Knowledge
  • Guardian
  • Occult Experience
  • Returned from the Other Side
  • Strange Disappearance

DISADVANTAGES

Choose 2 Disadvantages, page 96. Suggestions:

  • Nightmares
  • Obsession
  • Phobia
  • Repressed Memories
  • Rationalist
  • Stalker

ADVANTAGES

Choose 3 Advantages, page 102 from the list below.

  • Academic Network (Charisma)
  • Authority (Charisma)
  • Elite Education (Charisma)
  • Collector (Reason)
  • Data Retrieval (Reason)
  • Expert (Reason)
  • Occult Studies (Reason)
  • Elite Sport (-)

ATTRIBUTES

Assign the modifiers +2, +1, and +0 to the three passive attributes: Fortitude, Reflexes, and Willpower.

Assign the modifiers +3, +2, +1, +1, +0, -1, and -2 to the seven active attributes: Charisma, Coolness, Intuition, Perception, Reason, Soul, and Violence.

LOOKS

Select or come up with your own distinguishing features for your character. Some suggestions:

Clothes: Tweed, carefree, ill-fitting, mottled, proper, suit, casual, nerdy, or old-fashioned clothes.

Face: Childish, round, ravaged, tired, pale, square, disproportionate, narrow, beaky, ugly, handsome, aged, or bearded face.

Eyes: Skeptical, arrogant, analytical, disinterested, curious, shy, intelligent, distracted, authoritarian, glasses-framed, or tired eyes.

Body: Thin, chubby, tall, wispy, bent, weak, athletic, out of shape, slow, angular, rigid, impaired, large bellied, fat, short, compact, or hairy body.

NAME

Choose a name for your character, suitable to the locale in which the campaign is set.

RELATIONS

Everyone introduces their character by name, looks, and personality. Take your turn. Write down the other player characters’ names. Go around the table again to establish your Relations.

If you know any of the other player characters from before, choose one of these options to establish the relationship between the two of you.

  • One of the characters studied at the same campus as you, and you became good friends. Take +1 Relation with each other.
  • One of the characters is your relative.
  • One of the characters met you at a seminar.
  • You hired one of the characters as an assistant for a research project.
  • One of the characters is your lover. Take Relation +1 or +2 with them.

Decide the nature of three additional Relations: One neutral (0), one meaningful (+1), and one vital (+2).

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