Time to make our main five characters going through the usual Survive This! steps with a few extra oracle bits to round them out.
This will be mostly a pretty normal session 0 as far as rolling up characters though since there are five of them a few steps in between it might be more like 2-3 sessions 0.
We’ll go in order they were introduced in the Campaign Launch post — Alex, Gaz, Abby, Skee, Arnie. I’ll consolidate details to this post as well.
Besides the standard Attribute/Saving rolls and picking skills and all that. I’m going to also use a couple of oracle checks to generate a few more details about them, and roll randomly on backgrounds [though might have to tweak a thing or two if it “breaks” the character].
The idea is to generate some facts about them that I didn’t previously know. A way to stop me from just playing five self-inserts.
NOTE: I won’t really go into how to create a Survive This! character. It’s pretty standard OSR style stuff with stats and saves and classes. Hopefully it makes sense to everyone.
Alexander “Alex the Dumbass” Dumas
- Image Oracles: Bottled Shadow + Fishing Hook
- {GMB42} Catalyst: Religious Persecution
- {GMB44} ᛜ Ingwaz, Seat of Power. Control, answering to no one.
Age 20. Born December 14, 1991. He/Him pronouns. Taller than average but just. Middle-build. Blonde hair. Curly when it’s long. Dress and style somewhere between hippy and sarcastic preppy Philosophy major depending on his mood.
From Armitage, AL.
College Sophomore who just wrapped up being a Freshman.
Alex seems like a mostly easy-going guy [and is] but from an early age he has felt drawn to understanding the darker things happening around him. Because of his unwavering belief in the Other World, and Alabama’s place with it, local youths have tended to be mean and bully him. Because of this, he leans towards science but is also driven a bit towards being proven right even if it gets costly.
- 7x 4d6 [drop lowest] = 15, 12, 11, 11, 15, 10, 12
- Assigned Attributes: STR 11, INT 15 (+1), WIS 10, DEX, 12, CON 11, CHA 15 (+1), SUR 12
- SAVES: Courage – 13, Critical – 10, Death – 12, Magic – 16 (!), Mental – 10, Poison – 14.
- HP: 6
Going with that, he’s a smart guy who is genuinely likeable but sometimes not so wise and pretty average when it comes to physical feats and survivability. Oddly, is fairly resistant to magic. No clue, why. Maybe it’ll come up.
- Class: Parapsychologist (Class Compendium, p 66).
- +Electronics (INT)
- +Investigation (WIS) +2
- +Knowledge: Psychic Phenomenon (INT)
- +Knowledge: Religion (INT)
- +Knowledge: Paranormal (INT) + 3
- +Photography (WIS)
- +Science: Astro/Physics (INT) +1
- + 4 more skills: Wilderness Survival (WIS), Astrology (CHA), Computer Skills (INT), Stealth (DEX)
- +2 to Courage
- Can reroll one failed Terror Check per day
- Gear: lowish money (we’ll put him at a 3), Fortean Times, Telescope, personal library about ghosts and religion, bike, library card, iron bar (d6-1) [fence post from a Civil War era graveyard], flashlight, tent, nice camera, SD cards, contacts with local ghost societies, ghost hunting kit
- Major: Physics/Science – Specialist (Cosmology)
- +Science: Basic (INT) +4
- +2 more points to Physics
- +Science: Chemistry (INT) +2
- +Science: Cosmology (INT) +2
- Background {22}: Loved climbing trees, houses, etc
- +Advantage to all climbing checks
- +Toughness: Falling +2
- NOTE: Doesn’t actually have climbing skills, just rolls with the fall and wings it pretty well.
- FINAL NOTES: Has no armor and not much in the way of formal weapons. It’s kind of against his hippie genius persona. This MIGHT change. Most other numbers are pretty standard.
Jonathan “Gaz” Delmont
- Image Oracles: To Think + Ambulance
- {GMWH7} Catalyst – Horrifying Local Tradition
- {GMWH112} ᚢ Uruz – Auroch/Wild Ox. Energy, health, strength, tenacity, courage.
Turned 19 just last week (May 24, 2000). Oldest son of Eustace and Hitomi Delmont. He/Him. Tall like his dad and thin like his mom. Dark hair. Japanese heritage is subtle enough people often miss it. Likes to dress up a bit and in a way looks like the counterpart to Alex’s sarcastic academic vibe.
From Maidenstead, AL.
Since he has been small, has had dreams about a group of masked strangers offering up their children to a small, pale boy. He is trying to prevent this from coming about. He is a scrapper deep down though sometimes puts protecting overs over his own well-being.
Freshman who is becoming a sophomore. Has been rooming with Alex. Met Abby at a on-campus MST3K Gamera marathon and immediately hit it off. He has tried very hard to keep his parents from coming up into too many conversations and worries that some of the distance that sometimes shows up between him and Abby might be due to her thinking his family is very weird.
- 7x 4d6[-L]: 14, 14, 12, 15, 14, 7, 11
- STATS: STR 14*, INT 14, WIS 14, DEX 15*, CON 12*, CHA 11, SUR 7
- SAVES*: Courage 11, Critical 7, Death 9, Magic 7, Mental 10, Poison 9
- HP: 6
Decent rolls but he has some gaps when it comes to actually surviving things. He’s going to 100% get a “back to life” moment, I can feel it. But this might explain why Abby is overly protective of him.
- CLASS: UFO Investigator (CC, p 116)
- +Computer Skills
- +Electronics
- +Investigation +2
- +Knowledge: Aliens & UFOs +4
- +Knowledge: Local +1
- +Knowledge: Paranormal
- +Photography
- +Science: Basic +1
- 3 other skills: Animal Training, Athletics [he’s working on it], Stealth
- +1 CON, +1 STR, +1 DEX
- * The CON bonus gives +1 to HP and all his saves, which is needed.
- He gets kind of the same stuff as Alex, but the UFO versions.
- +2 to Courage Save
- MAJOR: Journalism
- Investigation at +3.
- Street Smart at +2.
- Writer Specialty: +3 to Writing.
- BACKGROUND 13 = Wealthy. His dad + Amy mean he is relatively wealthy if ever really needs, so I’ll put him at a 7 though I also feel like he will be a bit odd about using it. He can afford a lot of things, but he likes to struggle on his own.
- FINAL TOUCHES: Not much, he has even less fighting oomph than Alex but is maybe better at avoiding damage? We’ll see.
It is the next day (3 Sep 2026) and let’s continue after learning a lot about the process yesterday.
Absinthe “Abby” Rhodes
- Image Oracle: Poison Bottle + Photo Camera
- {GMAB50} Catalyst = It’s a Trap!
- {GMAWH92} ᛗ – Mannaz: Mankind/The Self. The individual, skill, forethought, ability; humanity, social order.
Absinthe “Abby” Rhodes grew thinking her parents were a bit odd. Dad was a man from South Africa. Mom was Muscogee. Two hit it off, had a kid. Raised her on incense and yoga. Seemed mostly normal, right?
Only dad came to the US to study engineering and broadcast technology. Now he sells magical crystals from a cramped shop in Atmore, AL. Mom was a nurse who now realigns chi and has long talks with clients in a backroom where no one is allowed to enter, not even their own daughter.
And some of the things they say, about gates and the old ways: Abby is worried that the hippy-dippy love stuff is a cover for something older and much darker.
Only she needs to get stronger because there’s a part of her that feels like she is being lead to open up the can of worms. Being used by her own parents to spread a gospel written before mankind slithered up into the mud. More than anything, she needs to be her own person. She must decide her destiny.
Abby was born June 11, 1999 in Atmore. She has wrapped her Sophomore year. She feel in love with Gaz the first time she heard him laugh but does worry, just a little bit, that the very nearly two-age difference might impact their story. She also worries what he will say when he learns the truth of her family.
- 7x 4d6 [-L]: 13, 14, 6, 10, 11, 18, 15
- STATS: STR 6, INT 15, WIS 18, DEX 13, CON 14, CHA 11, SUR 10
- HP: 8
- Base AC = 11, +1 to Init
- Courage 12, Critical 11, Death 13, Magic 12, Mental 12, Poison 9
- BACKGROUND: 6,3 = She spent a year in China1 and gets Language Chinese and Knowledge: China + 1 [I’ll have to work that in, somehow]
The first 18 but also the lowest roll yet. I like the idea of the characters having a flaw or two so hers will be that she is very strong minded, not necessarily physically strong. This might explain why she likes library research over field research.
- CLASS: FOLKLORIST (Bloody Appalachia, p 20)
- +1 Archaeology
- +2 Investigation
- +4 Knowledge: Folklore
- +1 Knowledge: Local
- 2 additional Knowledges (going for Law and History)
- An additional language, I think I’m going to go with Japanese…Asian folklore might be her plan to get away once she finishes exposing the family cult thing.
- +1 Piloting: Basic
- 5 (!) other skills…man. It can be fun to have be a bit trying to overcome some of her physical weakness. Fighting: Martial Arts and Ranged Weapons. Wilderness Survival. Subterfuge. Athletics: Basic.
- She gets advantage on Terror and Courage checks.
- Another +2 AC (?…balance might NOT be this system’s strong suit)
- She also picks Cryptids & Monsters as her specialty so gets Knowledge: Cryptids & Monsters at +3
Her withdrawal from her family will put her as fairly broke (2) but we’ll say she is staying with a “nice old lady” and leave that detail a bit vague.
- MAJOR: History
- +4 General History
- +3 Specific History (we’ll say Asian)
Now let’s do a test…
Can she afford a semi-automatic pistol? 50/50: 49 = No.
How about a simple handgun? Very Likely: 61 = Actually, yes. Just.
I think that’s plenty for her. Let’s move on to Skee…
Timothy “Skee” Mylar
- Image Oracle: Ambulance + Morgue Feet
- {GMAB72} Catalyst: A strike or protest
- {GMAB69) ᚲ – Kenaz: Beacon/Torch. Creativity, inspiration, harnessed power, world-changing ability.
While Skee seems a bit like a burned out stoner, he was a pretty heavy activist some years back. Taking his camera to the streets around the world. Unfortunately, a stray tear-gas cannister caught him during the 2011 Spanish anti-austerity protests and put in the hospital. He was declared dead long enough they had started moving him into the morgue.
Long enough that he saw glimpses of other things waiting for him.
He woke up and realized he needed to do something with his life. His decision was to move back to Tampa, FL and get high. He got really into horror movies because the fiction was better than the reality of what he glimpsed.2
When a friend OD’d in 2019, he realized he had gone too far the other way.
The old dream had taking a major hit and slowly but surely Skee started to put it back right. Getting into the film program at EAU was the first step. Meeting Alex and Gaz and seeing their passion to uncovering the darker truths was another.
He has no idea where this is going, but if he can make a few good films he can fund taking the camera back to the fight.
- 7x 4d6 [-L]: 17, 8, 14, 16, 10, 14, 12
- STR 16, INT 8, WIS 17, DEX 10, CON 14, CHA 14, SUR 12
- HP: 8
- Base AC: 10
- Background: 2,5 = Has been driving and working on cars since he was young. +1 Pilot: Basic and +1 Mechanics
- Courage: 11, Critical: 10, Death: 9, Magic: 11, Mental: 14, Poison: 16 [heh, liver has some callouses]
We have a pretty tough guy physically and mentally, though not the brightest. Also does the driving:
- CLASS: Activist
- +1 Mental AND Poison Saves [he is really tough in the liver]
- +2 Intimidation
- +2 Knowledge: Counterculture
- Language: Spanish
- 3 other skills: Fighting/Wrestling, Photography, Cooking
- Activism Focus: We’ll say Anti-Poverty though he does think there is some conspiracy to empower the forces of darkness…he just thinks he’s mostly protecting the little people:
- +1 to all Save/Skill when engaging in the cause
- Can spend 1 extra SUR point (for the cause)
- Righteous Aura: People in 60′ that agree with the cause get +1 to Saves
- +1 CHA, +1 SUR
- Nightstick, padded armor, pamphlets, pocket knife
- “Wealth” of 2
- Has a van (big, white, reliable, old) and he sometimes just lives out of that
- MAJOR: FILM
- +4 Knowledge: Film
- it says “+2 skill points”…I think this means +2 Skills. To reflect his rough patches we’ll go with Science: Chemistry and Homebrewing.
- Film-Maker: +3 to all film-making related checks
Arnessa “Arnie” Dumas
- Image Oracle: Swipe Card + Corn
- {GMAWH29} Catalyst: Wanted posters of…
- {GMAWH31} ᛏ – Tiwaz: Tyr/Leadership. Authority, justice, rationality, success in competition, self-sacrice.
Arnessa was raised to be a beauty queen. Her 12th birthday was spent at Miss Dixie Tri-State competition (she came in third in the Little Miss category). By her 14th birthday she was crowned Miss Brichester Corn Company. A feat which had her mom briefly launch a Youtube channel, “Princess Nessa,” which barely topped over 100-subscribers and received two copyright strikes due to her mom’s tendency to try and exclusively use Dolly Parton songs.
On her two months after her 15th birthday and after a disastrous crash-out at her Junior attempt to retake the Miss Dixie stage despite some notable acne and a growth spurt that had put her taller than many of the Senior competitors, she found that she was actually pretty good at sports.
As her mom was having posters printed and trying to talk “Princess Nessa” into doing signings (for some reason), Arnie was realizing she was not only athletically gifted but had a knack for leadership. She was offered the role of captain of her team before she was even 16.
The only family member she told was Alex and he came back to watch her play. After seeing her take control and lead her group to victory, he was the one to break it to his aunt. Arnie’s mom was miffed at first but now has decided that “Princess Nessa” is done and “Captain Arnie” is on the way to earning fame.
And maybe, just maybe, Arnie can work in beauty queen later…
Arnie has not told Alex that she gave up a scholarship to a more prestigious school elsewhere because she wants to stay near him. She considers him like an older brother.
- 7x 4d6 [-L]: 7, 11, 16, 12, 7, 13, 14
- STR 14, INT 7, WIS 7, DEX 16, CON 13, CHA 12, SUR 11
- HP = 10
- Base AC = 12
- Courage: 12, Critical: 11, Death: 12, Magic: 16 [maybe it’s genetic on the Dumas side], Mental: 11, Poison: 14
Two 7s is a bit rough but I’m thinking that Arnie is young (physically but also a bit sheltered, mentally) and growing into who she is going to be but her intelligence and wisdom still needs time. This is more or less her few weeks out from under her mother’s controlling thumb. She can get there.
- CLASS: Campus Jock
- +3 Athletics Basic (which also gives +STR, +CON, and +DEX)
- If I am reading this right, I spend “a point” to upgrade Fighting: Brawling to Fighting: Wrestling, which I will
- +1 Intimidation
- +1 Piloting: Basic
- 3 Other skills (one is spent??) and we’ll go with First Aid and Dancing (the latter gives her another +1 AC).
- +1 AC, +1 Melee, +1 Melee Damage
- +1 STR, +1 DEX
- She can also use up to medium weapons and armor, and might
- Starts with a baseball bat and football pads.
- I’ll put her Wealth at 5 because she is “on her own” but her background feels like there is some money brewing
She is a much more physical character than any of the others. Health & Safety (slash Body Guard) indeed. In that light, she will be going into Pre-Med with an eventual bend towards sports medicine.
- MAJOR: Pre-Med
- +4 First Aid
- +2 Science: Basic
- Field: -2 min mending wounds
- BACKGROUND: 1,4 Martial Arts….ooooh, wait. This can change a thing. So her fighting will be Martial Arts and I’ll refix the numbers. She also has some shurikens (6) and a silver knife
- Since that “frees up” a skill point, I’ll actually take Fashion for her. She’s out of the beauty queen circuit but she learned some things. Might come in useful to have someone who can repair clothes and such.
Currently she will be living in the team dorms (a house the school rents) and not really have a vehicle. Note: team activities are suspended right now, but balancing that might be important in the future.
COMMENTARY!
It has been a good minute since I’ve gotten to sit down and write one of these. This is the most significant kick-off since The Four Generals and the first time I’ve heavily introduced a hefty new system to the blog since probably the The GLOW 1996 [Neon Overdrive was new but pretty simple as a system goes, though I also accept that as an answer].
Bringing in some oracles and random rolls to the character backgrounds did a treat. The original Alex and Skee were kind of the same guy and now Alex is a more interesting person and Skee has a whole backstory instead of just “older stoner guy who hangs out with some college kids.” Abby is still mostly what I pictured but has some elements. Arnie is much more than simply “teenage girl who likes hanging out with her cousin.”
All five have both a reason to be part of the story and also elements which can drive the campaign forward to their senior day graduation. I like that.
The stock art I picked for Alex is probably my favorite because that one photo transformed him from a bit of a grungy, but smart, redneck type to both him and Gaz having a kind of retro-80s-hero-duo vibe. They are classic white male good guys, but also a bit full of themselves. The other three will help to balance it with some real world considerations.
Hopefully I’ll get to play some this afternoon though it might be a day or three before I can get enough to consider “episode 1” done.
CREDITS
- Alex: https://unsplash.com/photos/man-with-drink-leans-against-tree-in-park-Vp9pueBwxq8
- Gaz: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-in-a-suit-leaning-against-a-lamp-post-gkDBtjRnFdI
- Abby: https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-in-brown-long-sleeve-dress-sitting-on-brown-grass-during-daytime-Lm3nIveQbN4
- Skee: https://unsplash.com/photos/smiling-woman-in-white-and-black-floral-tank-top-Nw892hsdnXM
- Arnie: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-person-with-a-backpack-WoHMFf__HKU