Creating a Character

Its time to play some cards! In this section we're going to build a character to show how quickly it may be done. The process starts with you developing the concept for a character and discussing it with your GM. If you get the OK, then he tells you how many UP to use.

Let's say that we really want to play a big and brawny Churl warrior, and the GM has given us 50 UP to build him with. We already have our race card picked out: Apoc Churl, and we put that on the table. Our warrior is brawny, and he's imbued with the power of the volcanoes of his homeland, but he isn't any smarter than the average. That gives us an idea of his Aspects: we decide on Body 3 and Soul 1. Why did we decide on Body 3 and Soul 1? Well we looked at how many UP they cost, because we only have 50 UP to use we wanted to make sure you have UP left over for Powers!

Speaking of powers, now the fun begins. We're building this character from the Iconic Character pack: Toa, that is available on the website, so we're going to focus on those Power Cards, but you could use ANY power cards that you want as long as your GM approves and you have the UP to play them. But, before we play any Powers, we should talk about Swapping first.

Swapping

Swapping is another core mechanic of Untold - it is how you can put a card into play. It is an in game requirement that you, or your character must meet before you can put the card on the table and your character can use it. Remember the Swap Icon in the top left, just beneath the card's name? That tells you what the Swap Type of the cards is, and there are 4 types:

• Story () - you must tell a story why your character has that power and how it is integral to them.
• Site () - your characters must visit a site that thematically matches the power in order to obtain it - think of it like a quest. The actual site is determined by the GM.
• Time () - Your characters must make the conscious decision to ready, equip, or bring the power along. Think of items, equipment, and rituals.
• Hot () - These cards can be played at the drop of a hat - there is no requirement except that you have enough points to play them.

Once put into play, all of the cards may be picked up at will except for Hot Swap cards. If in combat, they must remain in play for the full round that they were played, and they can be picked during the next round. Remember, once you pick up the cards you have to meet the Swap type requirement to play them again. It is up to the GM whether or not you have to tell a story in order to pick up cards, but we think that adds to the roleplaying fun of Untold.

Sorry for that aside, but it was important because we're going to separate our Power Cards into two piles: a Story, Site, and Time Swaps pile, and a Hot Swaps pile. Because Hot Swaps can go in and out of play so easily we're not going to put them in play yet, but we're going to pick Powers from the other deck to play now. We going to pick: "Large" and "Mountain's Blessing" because they best fit our character's story. And "Club of the Ancestors," because Toa's father gave him the Club after he completed his rite of passage, and its fun to bash things with a giant crystal encrusted club.

Now we total the UP cost of all of the cards on the table.

34 UP that is what we call our Character Deck. The difference between the Character Deck and the UP granted by the GM is (50-34=16) 16 UP and that is our Hot Swap Buffer. That means we have 16 UP to play any number of Hot Swap Powers as long as their total cost is 16 UP or less.

If you decide you want more or less UP for Hot Swaps than its a simple matter to increase or decrease your Aspects, or remove a power from your Character Deck. There - you've built a character! It really can be that quick!

A Quick Reference Card (QRC)

Now that you've created the character, we're going to show you a step that is optional for Untold, but we think very handy. In untold there are 12 numbers that you may need to reference as you play. They're all readily available on your cards, but it can be very handy to have them all in one location for quick reference. That's where a Quick Reference Card could come in handy. One comes with a pack when you buy an Iconic Booster Pack, and we also have some FREE Quick Reference Cards available for download.

The 12 basic numbers are:

• Mind Attack
• Mind Defense
• Mind Boost
• Body Attack
• Body Defense
• Body Boost
• Soul Attack
• Soul Defense
• Soul Boost
• Vitality
• Character Deck
• Hot Swap Buffer

And if you don't have a Quick Reference Card you could also use a 3x5 note card or a simple quarter piece of paper. Here's an example of all that you need for the Churl Barbarian that we just built:

Total UP:	50
Character Deck:	34	Hot Swap Buffer	16

	ATK	DEF	Boost
Mind	0	0	0
Body	3	3	10
Soul	1	1	1
Vitality	7

Where do the numbers come from? Well, any Aspect bonuses will be found along the top bar of all the cards - primarily the Aspect and Race cards, but some power cards can add Aspect bonuses.

Finally, we computed the Character Deck and the Hot Swap Buffer when we built the character in the last step. Now that the character is built and you have the numbers calculated, its time to play!

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