*** Some of this info is out of date; but it is
*** basically OK.  If you are on the verge of
*** creating a character, you may want to talk
*** to me first.

Thank you for responding to my post, regarding
_As the Wheel Turns_.  This message contains
information you might find useful, when creating
a character for the game.  It also includes
information about how the game is organized
(or not, as the case may be.)

The most important part of your character is
the concept of who your character is.  There
are character 'stats', but you should think
of them as tool to help understand and create
your character, rather than the character himself
or herself.  You will never see your character
sheet used in actual play; all game mechanics -
and there is not much of those - are invisible
to the players.  Roleplaying is at the heart
of this game.

A character has five attributes:  Strength,
Intelligence, Constitution, Charisma and
Dexterity.  A player has 70 points to
distribute across these attributes.  Attributes
above 20 are highly discouraged.  A typical
man has a Strength of 10, and a woman 8.  Otherwise,
attributes are 10 for an average person.

There are also 84 points available to spend
on skills.  These skills can be defined as you
like.  Thom, for example, has skills in Politics,
Bard, Legerdemain and so forth.  Lan has skills
in Sword, Tactics, Stealth, Survival, etc.
Skills should also max out at 20, with the
exception of undeveloped ability in the Power,
which can peak at 45.  

You may take as skills Talents mentioned in
the books, such as Wolfbrother, or you may ask
for something new, or you may give me a
bunch of skill points to put into a mystery
Talent (or Talents.)  If you have more than
six skills, you have probably spread yourself
too thin.

For those who care about such things, a skill
of 8-11 represents a basic capability, while that
of 12-15 represents a professional level of
competence.  16-18 is heroic, and 19+ is
semi-legendary or better.  Sometimes, however,
it might be worthwhile to have a low score in
a rare skill.  Abilities that *everyone* has usually
defaults to attributes.  You are probably better
off concerning yourself with who your character is,
that with how I use the numbers you give me.

Remember that statistics are at best a skeleton.
Kareina Sedai, the character I played before I
became GM, can be described only poorly as
str 8, int 14, con 14, dex 16, cha 18, with
skills of Power 20, Lore 16, Politics 16,
Stealth 16 and Legerdemain 16.  But that tells
you very little of real importance.  You do
not know that she is Domani *and* Green, that
she is drop dead gorgeous with flowing black
hair, that she never uses contractions, her
feelings about the Tower, that she is usually
the first to rise in the morning, that she
prefers to be away from the Tower, that she feels
more loyalty to her Warders than her Sisters,
that her manner changes drastically in Tar Valon
versus the outside world.  You have not heard
her speak of the world's lost legacy, nor have
you heard one of her Warders complain to another
that *she* has been fighting Tarmon Gaidon for
the past five years.  You do not know who she
likes, respects and admires, let alone why.  You
have never seen her swear to make Uno blush, nor
have you walked with her three times through the
arches.  All this and more went into Kareina, and
in this she should not be special.  Your
character deserves the same kind of attention, no,
perhaps more, for Kareina Sedai of the Green
Ajah is now an NPC, like any other, while your
character is a pc.

Now that we have gotten game mechanics out of the
way, let's talk about character concepts.  Any 
character who does not know too much about the 
world and does not have too much authority in
the world is acceptable.  Aes Sedai are not
acceptable, though your character may have
untrained ability to channel.  Yes, I would not
have allowed my own character, Kareina Sedai, into
the game.  Thom Merrilin types, with their vast
trove of lore, are also problematic.  Talk to me
if you have a problem with this, or feel that
your case is special.  But within this genre,
characters who begin with lots of power and
knowledge tend to be NPCs.  The other restriction
is that your character may not be from the books
themselves.  My reason for this is that I, and
other players who have read the books, probably
have very different feelings about various
characters from the series, and will instinctively
react accordingly.  This is especially a
problem in TWoT, with all of the X is Dark
discussion, and whatnot.  Of course, if your
character is almost identical with someone in the
books, no one really need know.

The game currently has ten players, of whom
typically seven or eight show for any given session.
We have two untrained female channellers, two
males (with lots of problems), a Bladesmaster,
an Atha'an Miere, a Warder, an Aiel, etc.  Three
of the ten characters are apparently from our own
Earth.

Though the game is set within the same universe
as TWoT, it is perhaps in a different Mirror
or a different Cycle of the Wheel.  This means
that not everything in the book will be the same.
Many familiar things will appear, but changed,
sometimes subtly, sometimes not.

You do not need to have read the books to play;
some of our existing players have not done so
even now.

The game itself is being run on PrairieMUSH.
You can get there by doing

	telnet prairienet.org 4201, or

whatever is suitable for your machine.  If,
like me, you are not very familiar with
mushes, let me know and I'll send you some
stuff that might be useful.  I am known
as Axel on the mush.

If that MUSH is inaccessible, I will post email
directing players to an alternate venue.

Sessions are held at 8:00pm East Coast (US) time on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.  They tend to run for
4 to 6 hours.  They are real-time, interactive
sessions.

I've probably missed something here.  Feel free
to mail me with any questions, and so forth.

Anyway,

KenK