Character generation, how long does it take you? Options

[James McMurray]

This poll is in reaction to another post in the TN systems thread. I'm curious how long it takes people to make a basic character. By "basic" I'm not talking about generating a backstory or penny pinching for every last bit of gear and min-max squeezings. Instead, I'm curious about how long it would take to make a character that filled the role you were looking for.

This poll is a duplicate of the one here, requested by The Stainless Steel Rat in order to compare times for the two editions.

To make it a fair comparison we'd have to leave out splatbooks except for the Companion's point buy section. Decking should probably also be ignored, as the two setups are so disparate that a comparison wouldn't really be fair, since you don't need a graphing calculator for the much simpler (albeit still somewhat complex) rules in SR4. :)

Another thing that will be different is that some people will have been making SR3 characters for longer than SR4 has been out, so their grasp of the system will be much stronger, not necessarily because the system is easier to grasp (most agree that it isn't) but because with time comes mastery.

Edit: specifically this applies to characters built with build points, but feel free to mention priority characters too. :)

[Dawnshadow]

Basic character, mage/adept/sam, takes about a half hour to make.

The fine tweaking takes about 3 hours. That includes backstory, the rest of the non-essential gear (including minor cyberware, as opposed to the major stuff), and spells if they have it.

[stevebugge]

For the record about an hour goes for either SR3 or SR4 using only a pencil and a scratch pad. Using a calculator or excel sheet cuts the time under a half hour. Of course this is using the assumption that the concept and background are already done.

[NightmareX]

In all honesty I had to null vote here. Using the priority system it usually took about an hour of indescision and number crunching to realize that I'd never really be happy with what the numbers were coming up to and settle on the best of a bad situation. :( With the bp systems out of the Companions, about 30 to 45 minutes to make a character I was satisfied with.

[The Stainless St...]

Less than 30 minutes for a "basic" playable character using a pencil and scratch paper, less than ten minutes using the NSRCG by mcmackie.

On the other hand, my current character? It was over a year between inspiration and the final, game ready version - with a minimum of 15 hours with the NSRCG doing builds and rebuilds. Not to minmax mind you, but to make him right.

[James McMurray]

[The Stainless St...]

Neat - so far the results of the polls are nearly identical. Thanks again for the comparison poll...

[James McMurray]

I wonder how comparable they'd be if I could roll back in time and ask when SR3 was as new and devoid of knowledgable players as SR4 is now. I remember character creation taking longer back then, but couldn't give an exact time frame because my memory for finer details evaporates after a few years.

[Kagetenshi]

Not counting the two weeks it takes me to figure out what I want to play and actually sit down and start making it, generally about a week. I slap down 90% of the character in the first fifteen minutes, then spend the rest of the week finishing gear, tweaking stats (drop a point somewhere to add somewhere else, etc), and generally refining.

By the standards you're talking about, I suspect that puts me in the "30 or less" category. I'll vote that way unless I hear otherwise in the next hour or so.

I should add that my first character ever took a few hours to get to this point, but I don't think I've ever taken more than 45 minutes to get to the "gear and tweaking left" stage after that—including the second character.

~J

[Platinum]

Bah .... I didn't read the entire ruleset before posting .. only the question.... it takes about 20 minutes to get the main character drawn up, then several more hours to tweaking the gear to spend every last penny. I voted 3 hours .... but that is for extreme number crunching and backstory ... etc.

[stevebugge]

[Herald of Verjig...]

Where's the option for "5 minutes of stats, 25 minutes to 3 hours for background and personality"?

[James McMurray]

That would be the "30 minutes or less" one, since background and personality are excluded from the poll.

I'd be interested in seeing what a 5 minute character looks like.

[Drraagh]

A generic character with basic gear I can do in a half hour, but then personalizing the character takes me at least a couple hours of total work. I tend to create characters with flaws that make them human, weaknesses that they can overcome, things like that so I spend time deciding what their focus will be and where some problem areas could be created. Like I had one character who was a street samurai but would not kill people. Maim, perhaps but not kill. So, they would be pulling punches if a fight got too far along, and would even put slap patches on vicitms to make sure they survived. So, I had a general street sam probably within fifteen to twenty minutes, but then I changed knowledge skills to suit the personality and things like that.

I have one character who I'm working on. I tinker with the skills and ware and such all the time, mostly because I don't want to sit down and write the background, but I keep changing my mind on what I want him to be exactly as the concept refines, but the basic sheet, which has since long been changed, was done in at most 45 minutes.

[Kagetenshi]

[Tiralee]

Hmm- who else here has added a few little shortcuts to NSCRG, things like:

"Survival & Skulking Kit" ie: Canteen, survival kit, sleeping bag, medkit, rat bars...

Because after more than a few players took the exact same kit, I just threw it in and could be sure when I said, "Medkit, wait, what about the one that was supposed to come with that survival pack?"

That saves some time too - on topic, eventually...

(Useful little program, that one.)


-Tir

[Herald of Verjig...]

[James McMurray]

Ah. A PC almost generic enough to be considered an NPC. Cool. Not something I'd probably want to play, but if it works, run with it. :)

[Tanka]

Usually takes me 30min to get the basics and all the gear I keep on almost any character. Sometimes less, if I know I can skip most of said gear.

[Herald of Verjig...]

Any PC sounds generic when you're just trying to remember the summary without a stat sheet anywhere nearby. It doesn't help that the game didn't even last long enough to see how combat abusive he actually was.

[NightmareX]

[Rock]

Between 10 and 30 minutes for the bare bones character. Maybe a little bit longer if I have to tweak a bit to get the right set of spells or cyberware.

Just for a lark, back when I was making a character using SR1 rules, I took money as my first priority and I simply couldn't spend all 1,000,000 nuyen making a merc character with minimal cyberware.

[Sahandrian]

I voted "about an hour" to allow for cyber characters, but I tend towards shamans and adepts. Those are usually well under half an hour. Last one I did was "Midgit, the world's smallest troll". That took about 15-20 minutes. But I skipped knowledge skills, since I use those primarily for background. Here it is from memory (point system). It's about 15 points short, though. Forget what I used them on.

Dwarf

B 7 (11)
Q 4
S 8 (10)
C 2
I 2
W 3 (4)

Edges/Flaws:
Vindictive
Combat Monster

SURGE:
Tusks
Horns
Dermal Deposits

Skills:
Aikido 6 (7) (Throw, Close Combat, Ground Fighting)
Throwing Weapons 6
Athletics 4
Stealth 4
Intimidation 4

Adept Powers:
Improved Skill (Aikido) 1 (0.50)
Improved Strength 2 (1.00)
Improved Body 3 (1.50)
Improved Reflexes 1 (2.00)
Sprint 4 (1.00)

[Lindt]

Im down to aobut 45 min for a basic charcter, less if its a mage, a lot less if its an adept.

But if Im doing something more then 'I hit things good' its an hour to finish shopping at the gear store.

[Cain]