Jennerosity

I mentioned before that we were starting a new campaign and working on creating characters.  Even though I’ve gamed with my husband in the past and have worked on other characters with him, this time it occurred to us that we could create characters that were also a couple.  We’ve worked on it over the past few days, chatting back and forth and giving a lot of ‘what-if’s’ about how they might have developed their back story to get them to where they are today¹.  Here’s his email that describes them more or less ready to go.²

The assassins work as a pair. The first infiltrates the location by blending into the crowd and delivers packages (weapons, poisons, costumes.) to drop points and acts as an spotter and keeps the escape routes open. The second of the pair infiltrates the room socially, perhaps on the arm of some dignitary or otherwise. The second either isolates the individual from the crowds to deliver the kill or otherwise gets close enough to the target to deliver a poison or knife if subtlety is called for. Once a hit is made, the pair escape. Frequently the escape plan involves some sort of preset sabotage for a diversion, enabling the pair to make a clean getaway.

The duo do not act rashly, prefering to quietly research and observe a target before committing to action. One specializes in direct observation, the second in social interrogation. Knowledge is power. They like to discover everything they can about a target before engaging. If a mission appears too dangerous once initiated, or unforseen circumstances complicate the kill, the pair do not hesitate to walk away and plan again.

The assassins do not shy away from direct confrontations, being quite adept at physical violence, but prefer methods that offer better risk/reward returns. Delivering death by the sword is the epitome of their craft, but pragmatism often dictates other methods be used.

The assassins left their work behind when a mission was left incomplete. Sent to kill an important person before he rose to prominence and became a threat, the socialite did not proceed with the kill as planned. The socialite realized that the individual possessed an uncanny ability to lead, and could perhaps unify the divided galaxy under one rule. The spotter does not understand this perspective, feeling only that they failed the mission. The two fled to the Inner Sphere to avoid retaliation. The spotter still yearns to persuade the socialite to return and complete their task, while the socialite patiently coaxes the spotter towards her enlightened point of view.

In the mean time, they fight crime….

And that’s how we ended up joining a little mercenary group.  My husband did the lion’s share of figuring out the back story and I had so much fun working out the character details with him!  At the time when he wrote the email, we hadn’t picked our names yet so we were just calling them ‘the assassins.’  We decided to go with a Japanese theme³ and dug through some Wikipedia pages until we settled on Kitsune & Kirin.  Anyone want to guess who’s who can feel free in the comments!

1. and still be married [↩]
2. I didn’t include any stats but if anyone wants those too, let me know and I’ll happily oblige. [↩]
3. big surprise there, right? [↩]

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1. 3 Tips for Creating an Interesting Character