Character Generation: the Yellow Tome Way
YT:Beyond the Mists character generation (typical of the
genre) can be an involved process with many die rolls, decisions and calculations. Back in
the days of paper, pencil, dice and calculators character generation alone could eat up
the time allotted for an evenings' session. Fortunately, technology has come to our rescue
in the form of the electronic spreadsheet. You (or someone in your gaming group) will have
to scrounge up a spreadsheet that can read a Microsoft Excel workbook (v 5.0) to take
advantage of this resource. Then you'll need to download and unzip the Character Generation Spreadsheet. It is possible to generate a
character manually, the required tables are linked where necessary.
The "YT 40" worksheet is where you do the work. Everything else is simply
lookup tables and should be "hidden" in your distribution.
Note: If you intend to keep a data copy of your
character(s) (highly recommended) copy the "YT 40" worksheet
into a new workbook before you proceed. Do your work in the original workbook, however,
and copy it per the following instructions.
Selected Attributes (Intelligence,
Wisdom, Constitution, Strength and Dexterity)
First, using the (blue) numbers in the third column, overwrite the existing values for
each attribute with a number between 1 and 20 inclusive such that the total of all five
values is 60. Careful distribution of these 60 points significantly affects the abilities
of your character. There is a message field about 2/3 down the page that will indicate if
you have entered acceptable values. The (red) fourth column indicates modifiers to those
values precipitated by other attributes. The (black) fifth column is the character's
actual attribute rating.
Rolled Attributes (Speech,
Appearance, Art, Ethics and Faith)
The five attributes in the middle of the page are generated using random functions
roughly equivalent to the die rolls indicated in the manual. Again the first column of
numbers (blue) is the "rolled" value, the second column (red) is the modifiers
and the third (black) is the actual attribute rating.
Attribute Modifiers (Gender, Race, Size, Horoscope and Social Status)
The five attributes on the right of the page are also generated with random functions.
As there are no modifiers to these rolls, only the "rolled" value appears.
Physical Description (Height,
Weight, Carrying Capacity,
Age and Money)
The next block, starting in the eighth row, left hand column, details items pertinent
to the character's physical description. These values come from a variety of calculations
and tables. The last entry in this block contains the starting Money value.
Dependent Attributes (Charm,
Charisma, Stamina, Body and Vigor)
The middle of the second block contains these calculations from the previous
attributes. The values in parenthesis next to Stamina and Body represent the Maximum
values those two attributes may ever attain due to character advancement, training and
experience.
Base Proficiencies (Stealth,
Combat, Magic, Miracle, Bonus Experience)
The right hand column in the second block contains the ratings for the four ability
areas and a education/experience bonus that may be applied to personalize the character.
There is a racial modifier for Magic - and therefor the (red) numeral in column 13.
Note: To build your data copy of this character,
highlight and copy the range 13 Rows by 14 Column. Using the Edit>Paste Special
function, past "values" only into the copy for the same area.
Skill Clusters
The Skill Cluster value is translated into the skill cluster name and a listing of the
individual skills contained therein. Choose a Skill Cluster that you feel is appropriate
for the character statistics you have already generated and enter it's value by
overwriting the (blue) numeral in column 3. All random values in the spreadsheet will
change when you enter this value. Since this section of the spreadsheet has no references
to the attribute sections above, you have two choices to avoid this; 1) you may select
your Skill Cluster first (at least before you generate any of the random values) or 2) if
you've been following the notes on maintaining a data copy of your character you may:
Note: To complete your data copy of this
character, highlight and copy the Skill Cluster area - including the time of
study value and all indicated skills. Using the Edit>Paste Special function, past
"values" only into the copy for the same area.
The fourth block is a (dead) text box that places a combat reference table on the
(printed) character sheet. It is not a "live" part of the spreadsheet (yet), but
it does allow the player to annotate and outfit his character for most combat scenarios.
Saving/Printing the Character
Save the new workbook as your character file. Print the character form using the print
range 43 Rows by 14 Columns forcing it to one page.
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