Runeforest Incursion (Into the Wyrd & Wild + Stygian Library): Class Kits and Generation!

Here's what I settled on. I like the general advancement of DIE TRYING but wanted a generation system with a teensy bit more choice as far as the types of things players wanted their characters to be able to do. Enter "Kits".

After generating Stats (I use Knave as a base), choose your Kit, then roll an additional two sets of 3d6 to determine Character Background and Equipment.

Starting Kits

Legate: Socialite of some skill. Get +1 on Verbal Duel results and can use any mental stat instead of just Charisma. Get an "X" whenever you win a verbal duel. Verbal duels can be traditional debates, negotiating for price or payment, legal defenses, etc. Start with a Contact (Roll a d100)
(Verbal Duels are a variation of this.)

Condottiere: "Fighter" Types. Roll for an Extra Attack Circumstance (d8). Start with Paperwork that lets you carry weapons within the city limits of Polis. You might have acquired it illegally. Openly presenting weapons will have a variety of social consequences, with the default reaction being "intimidated".

Knack: Illegal "Not-Wizards". Start with an Illegal Spell tattooed on one of your hands (your choice). Roll for what it is (2d6). Start with Gloves and a Makeup Kit with 3 uses. While these spells are certainly illegal, most guards have better things to do then to hunt you down proactively (as long as you keep any casting very discrete in the city limits). However, if you are caught for a separate offense, you risk losing the spell (and the hand with it).

Scholar: You are very knowledgeable in one subject. Roll for your Area of Expertise (d10). You have working knowledge of that subject. Each subject also comes with an additional way to earn "X"s and a way to make money. Start with one Reference Manual on your subject (with the possibility of more depending on equipment roll). (let me know if you want to add more subjects)

Oracle: You have an unorthodox way to acquire information. Roll for your Divination Method (d6). You are missing a body part, roll for it (d6). Start with an implement tied to your mancy.

Archivist: You have spent time in the Runeforest before and began to learn the strange ways of things there. This gives the following benefits:

• You have learned to read the strange runes that appear on the trees and some wildlife that reside there.
• You always know exactly how many Marks a given Hunt will take.
• You can precisely track Research Progress in the Runeforest Libraries and can switch tracks or subjects midway through without losing Progress.
• You have learned Fangspek, spoken by Ravagers and Carvergirls.

At some point, you were twisted by something (You probably read a weird rune or ate a weird fruit). Roll for a Mutation (d100). Start with a monocle/reading spectacles and a carving knife.

Polis, The Shining Bastion of Civility

Alternate Starting Methods

The default generation process above assumes a Human or adapted non-human local to Polis with no outstanding obligations to a particular Temple. You can forgo the default generation of Kit + Background in order to take one of the options below.

Clerics are the most likely option if you are a local and don't take the kit+background route. Start with the ability to cast powerful divine spells in addition to other abilities and resources dependent on the deity. You'll be expected to Tithe a hefty sum of your profits and also serve with your abilities for the occasional mission for the Temple.

Not From Around Here:

Dwarves: From the Deserts and Caves of the Southern Outlands. Can't have names. Immunity against targeted magics (fireball no, sleep/scrying yes). If a moniker sticks to you enough that it becomes a name, a psychic-vampire-like creature that lives in mirrors who ate your first name will hunt you down. You have a really long natural lifespan though.

A culturally adapted Local dwarf is assumed to either have failed the trial of mirrors or ritualistically undone it and so has a name and none of the abilities mentioned, but may use the normal kit+background creation. 

Elves: From the remnants of the Verdant Forests, Dragonlands, Vaults, or other unusually sequestered location that protected them from the Purge. Roll an additional 3d6 for a Luck stat. Everyone from Polis *really* hates Elves for causing the last apocalypse and also for generally being known as sadistic, cannibalistic heathens. Also have a really long natural lifespan.

A culturally adapted Local elf is assumed to have spent all of their luck in the process of living in Polis and not being run out of town by an angry mob, but may use the normal kit+background creation.


Fresh Off the Boat:
Polis being a Port city means that travelers from far away lands are always showing up. Roll on the table for species (with more to be potentially added as the game continues)

From the Land of Stone and Shell 2d8:

1. -
2. Chitinite
3. Stonefolk
4. Hunttuk
5. Talking Cat
6. New Horned One
7. Bugbear
8. Elf
9. Human
10. Dwarf
11. Hobgoblin
12. Gilblin
13. Imp
14. Mimic
15. Siryn
16. Votive

Design Notes: I've talked about my like of Kits before. In this case, the combination of players communicating their preferred play-style with a character and getting some slight but not constraining abilities hits my needs for the game so far. I really like that all the classes have at least one random aspect to differentiate same-kit characters, and Background adds an additional cool depth as well.

The abilities are hopefully slight enough to encourage and enable players to have their characters advance in odd or unexpected directions. You certainly don't have to play a Knack if you want to end up as a capital-"W"-Wizard. You can also just collect all the starting kit abilities willy-nilly if you want through play.

I'm probably least happy with the Legate and Archivist abilities and might tweak or workshop them a bit further. "Bardish" and "Rangerish" were somewhat difficult archetypes to keep interesting but also confined to the same general power level as everything else. I'm actually still working on the mutation table following Arnold K's Method.

The Additional Options are somewhat lore-heavy but do provide a fun way to expand character options as the game progresses. I'm also happy to use some material from Stone and Shell. I've never been a huge fan of "race-as-class" material but seeing as how these options aren't particularly limiting, are tied to cultures separate from the default list, and really just provide a different starting point rather than a specific advancement track like a normal class I'm more than ok with it.

So far the starting players have rolled up a Knack from a Wealthy Merchant family, a Scholar with a specialty in anthropology who works as a street-cook, and a Human from the Bountiful Lands of Stone and Shell who philosophizes often, can speak Feline, and rides a two-headed horse. Ironically, the player who rolled on the stone-and-shell species table only did so because they wanted to be a non-human and was aiming for the more exotic options. That's RNG for ya.

As always, I love and appreciate any feedback you might have!