Writing Characters

• Name -- the name you're going to use to refer to this Character in the rest of the system. Think of it as being sort of like a filename. This does not have to be the Character's full name; in practice, it is usually easiest to just use their first name, or a distinctive attribute, or something like that. (In a gender-flexible game, I usually use their first initial and last name.) It is strongly recommended that you stick to just letters, dashes and spaces in Name (in particular, avoid apostrophes), especially if you are going to be writing gender-flexibly -- it'll make your life easier later.
• Default First Name -- if this Character's name is the same regardless of gender, or if the Character is gender-fixed, their first name goes here.
• Last Name -- the Character's last name.
• Gendered First Names -- if this Character is intended to be gender-flexible, and their first name varies depending on gender, enter the options here. Use the "+" button to add entries; for each entry, give the gender and corresponding first name. For example, you might give a Female name of "Roberta" and a Male one of "Robert".
• Character Gender -- only really relevant in gender-flexible games. This drop-down determines which pronoun set and first name will be used for this character. See Writing Gender-Flexibly for more information.
• Character Quality -- this is mainly intended as a note to yourself about how well-fleshed-out this Character is. Do they have enough plots and connections? Is the writing good? This is entirely subjective, but can be used to keep track of which Characters still need work.
• In Game -- in practice, you often find that a Character doesn't work out, so this allows you to decide that a Character won't be in the game, while still leaving it around for its history. It also allows you to write Characters for background figures who aren't in the game, so that you can keep straight which Plots and Factions they are in. Note that this Property starts as "Maybe" -- you set it to True or False once you decide, and you can change it at any time. (I routinely cut characters up to a couple of weeks before the first run.)
• Summary -- this should generally be a one-line reminder of this Character's high concept in the game.
• Character Hint -- usually a paragraph or three, sent to players early so they can begin to prepare. This often includes a Costuming Hint.
• Character Sheet -- this is the guts of the Character, and can be arbitrarily long.
• Plots -- the names of the Plots that this Character is involved with. Note that these are Tags: you can name the Plot here first, then click on it and fill in its details later. Once you have named a Plot in one Character or Archetype, that name will auto-fill later if you start typing it in another Character.
• Factions -- the names of the Factions that this Character is in. Like Plots, this is a set of Tags.
• Who You Know -- this lets you specify a list of other Characters, with a Blurb about what you know about each of them. It is intended as an easy cross-reference for the player, and is printed after the Character Sheet itself.
• GM Notes -- this is a free-form text area for the Authors and GMs to take notes about this Character. You often start by writing an outline in the GM Notes, before you start to write the Character Sheet. The GM Notes are not shown on the Character Sheet.
• To Do -- this is a list of tasks that need to be done for this Character. All To Do items are shown on the To Do page at the top of the Space; this makes it easier to keep track of what needs work.
• Character Archetypes -- the Archetypes that this Character was based on, if any, so that you can cross-reference back to your original ideas.
• Bluesheets -- the Bluesheets that this Character should receive, if any. Again, this is a set of Tags -- you can name the Bluesheet here, then click on it and fill it in later.
• Items -- any Items this Character starts the game with. Again, this is a set of Tags.