A SNEAK PEEK: The HiBRiD Player's Spielbook, Chapter 2: Step One of Eight (Genre Description)

Step One: Obtain and Read the Genre Description

The HiBRiD^TM game rules may be used in almost any game setting. As a result, before you can create a character, you first need to know something about the setting in which the game  will take place.

To make this easier, the game takes a page from the movie industry and classifies each setting as being of a specific genre.  The genre is used to identify a collection of specific elements that people can expect to encounter when they watch a movie or play a game that falls within that genre. A movie or game that falls within a classic science-fiction genre, for example, would be expected to feature advanced technologies, time travel, space travel, or alien. Similarly,  a movie or game setting that falls within the classic fantasy genre will often feature magic, fantastic beasts and humanoid races such as elves, orcs, and dwarves.

To enable you to create a character that fits within the genre of the game your Director will be running, you will be provided with a document known as a genre description that will summarize many of the common elements you can expect to encounter in the game world. The genre description wilI be composed of two parts. The first part, entitled “World” will describe the environment and common themes and conflicts. The second part, entitled “Heroes”, will hold all the information you will need so that you can create a character that it fits in with the genre of the game.

The World Section

The World section will contain a number of sections describing the game world. Within this section, you will find descriptions of the environment, the native wildlife, technology, supernatural phenomenon, and politics.

The Heroes Section

The Heroes section will provide following the information that you need to create your character.

The Character Sheet

As you go through the process of creating your character, you will need to write down all of the details regarding your character’s background, abilities, possessions, and condition so that you can easily reference them while you are playing. The Heroes section of the genre description will contain a preformatted form referred to as a character sheet to help you collect and organize this information.

Heroic Stats

In addition to a character sheet, the Heroes section of the genre description will also contain two numbers known as your character’s heroic stats.

The first of these heroic stats will be a number ranging in value from 0 to 10 referred to as the heroic factor of the genre. The heroic factor is used to reflect the level of heroism you can expect to encounter while playing the game. A genre with a heroic factor of 0 reflects a realistic game where characters have no supernatural abilities and the possibility of character death is very real. A genre with a heroic factor of 10, on the other hand,  reflects a highly epic genre where characters sport world-changing supernatural abilities and regularly laugh at death.

The second heroic stat, referred to as the aspect point pool, will  be a number ranging in value from 0 to 100. This number is used to reflect the level of supernatural and cinematic abilities you can expect your character to possess. A genre granting characters an aspect point pool of 10 points reflects a one in which characters will possess but one or two abilities of moderate to low power while a genre granting characters an aspect point pool of 100 will reflect one in which characters will possess more than a few abilities or a few abilities with considerable power.

In-Genre Abilities

Your character’s natural and learned abilities are closely tied to the genre of the game; some may be very unique to a genre and absolutely necessary while others may be unavailable. In a classic western genre, for example, no characters will possess computer hacking skills, but many characters will have skill in riding on horseback. Similarly, if you will be playing a character in a supernatural thriller genre, there may be abilities that enable your character to perform supernatural such as telekinesis or telepathy.

Abilities that fit in with the genre of the game are referred to as in-genre abilities, while those that do not fit in with the genre of the game are referred to as out-of-genre abilities. To ensure you select abilities that are in-genre, the genre description will list and describe the abilities you may select for your character.

Genre Description: The Default Genre

By default, if no genre description is used, the game assumes a modern real-world genre and is referred to as The Default Genre for the game. Conflicts associated with this genre are rooted in real world problems or in situations that could reasonably be expected to occur in our own world..

If the Director wishes to run a  game in which there are any significant differences from our own world (for example, the existence of supernatural phenomenon, the game takes place on another planet, etcetera), the Director will provide you with a separate genre description document.

World

In the Default  Genre, the environment is the same as our own planet Earth, there are no supernatural phenomenon, and technology is equivalent to the current day level at the time of play.

Heroes

The character sheet for the Default Genre is provided in Appendix One of this book.

There are no specific heroic stats used for the Default Genre. Instead, the Director will designate the heroic factor and the number of points in the aspect point pool, so that you can move forward with creating your character.

In-genre abilities within the Default Genre are anything that might exist in our own world. Out-of-genre abilities include any based on futuristic science or supernatural phenomenon. 

Completing Step One

To complete this step, you will need to obtain a copy of the genre description for the game you will be playing, read it through completely, and clarify any questions you might have with the Director.

Next, you will need to grab a pencil and a copy of the character sheet provided in the genre description, and record the heroic factor and the aspect point pool in the appropriate spaces provided.

Step One Example: Johnny Parkour

Ogun, a player new to the game system, has decided he wants to recreate an acrobatic character from a book he recently read. His Director, Sarah, hands him a photocopy of the character sheet in Appendix One and informs him that she will be setting the game in the Default Genre for the game system.

She next, in accordance with the Default Genre, lets him know that the heroic factor for the genre will be 5 and that all characters will have 50 points in their aspect point pool.

Ogun pulls out his favorite 0.9 mm mechanical pencil, and proceeds to write down the heroic factor of 5 and aspect point pool of 50 in the appropriate spaces on the character sheet.

Because he is already familiar with the modern day world, no other details are needed, so he moves on to the next step of creating his character.