At character creation, attendees choose their preferences for the following:
- A Class – which grants them a universal skill unavailable to other classes;
- A Specialisation – which is tied to their class. There are a number of specialisations available for each class; and
- A Background – a condition or trait which affects your character’s work with the Institute. This may also be tied to the character’s class.
- A Cell – Either a player created Cell or they will be a member of Equinox One.
General Skills
All Player Characters are able to do the following, but will not start with the required equipment unless your Class, Specialisation, Background or Cell gives you it:
- Fight using a small weapon (up to 12”);
- Perform First Aid;
- Shoot a Firearm; or
- Searching an Individual.
More details on these are available in section 2 – Universal Mechanics
Classes
Classes represent your character’s role in The Equinox Institute. Once you have selected your Class, your character will gain access to a:
- Class Skill – which is an ability shared by all characters in a given class and represents the broad training or intuition that comes with the role; and a
- Specialisation – which is a skill which represents your character’s area of expertise. Each Class has a number of Specialisations and you must select one of these at character creation.
The five classes available to attendees are:
- Field Agent – Primarily responsible for carrying out investigations in the field as well as acting as internal security when threats take a more violent turn. This class suits attendees who want to be tougher than others and actively involved in physical combat;
- Intelligence Analyst – Vital in identifying potential leads, securing resources and liaising with groups of interest, analysts are also good at filtering useful intelligence from rumour and hearsay. This class suits attendees who want characters with social specialisations and the ability to offer support to others;
- Paranaturals – Individuals who have abilities which are beyond the scope of human comprehension and science. Such powers always come with a price and Equinox controls its’ Paranaturals fiercely. This class suits individuals who want to play characters cursed with power, navigating the balance between being human and something more…
- Physicians – Responsible for the physical, mental and spiritual well being of Equinox’s membership and anybody under its protection. This class suits attendees who enjoy interacting with and supporting other characters while managing increasingly complex problems which affect their patients; and
- Researchers – Researchers are individuals with specialist academic and scientific backgrounds who contribute to Equinox’s understanding of the paranatural and its place in the world. This class suits attendees who like characters who like to play specialised knowledge gathering roles.
When submitting an Expression of Interest Form to attend an event in The Equinox Institute LRP, we will look to collect your choice of preference of Character Classes. Once an attendee has confirmed their place at the event, we will look at class distribution and will distribute players to classes accordingly. Wherever possible, we will look to assign an attendee to their first or second character preference but will look to communicate our process for distribution with attendees prior to attendees finalising their characters with us.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds represent ways in which events in your character’s past have affected them and which impact their day-to-day life as a member of The Equinox Institute. Backgrounds serve two purposes:
- Mechanical Challenges – some Backgrounds make mechanical changes to your character which add additional complications or challenges to them when they carry out their role. This could be a lingering injury or vulnerability but these increase the difficulty of the event mechanically for those who select them;
- Plot Complications – other Backgrounds provide plot hooks which can be used by the game team or, alternatively, provide interesting scenarios for roleplay between attendees who want their game to have a greater focus on interpersonal roleplay.
You must select one Background at character creation and answer the accompanying question that comes with it as part of your character submission.
A list of backgrounds available to characters can be found here at Character Backgrounds.
Cells
Cells are the basic team structure of Equinox, made up of 2-4 people; they usually work independently, but sometimes Equinox will pull multiple Cells together for a single mission. Each Cell comes with its own benefit for being a member – for more details see the Cell Creation.