"Well, that's one way to look at it..."

Probably the most important thing you can do while making a character is to discuss with the other players what kinds of characters you'd like to play. There are a lot of characters that would fit into some After Sundown games that won't fit with the specific chronicle you are actually playing. The number one thing you want to look out for is intra-party conflict. And in turn, the number one cause of intra-party conflict is moral disagreements. That is, if you want to be playing a particularly dark game, you might want to make a character who is a serial killer, or a rapist, or whatever. If on the other hand, the other players want to play Syndicate troubleshooters who go on Scooby Doo hunts for supernatural criminals, that kind of character concept isn't going to fly. Heck, if the players want to bewail their loss of humanity and try to fit in with mortal society and listen to The Cure, that kind of character concept probably isn't going to fly. And so on.

Once you've established that your character concept is going to work with the other players, find out about the chronicle and work it in there. If the game is taking place in Paris, it's probably a pretty good idea for your character to speak some French. If the game revolves around police procedurals in gritty New York, make sure your character has some relevant skills and something in their backstory to justify being in that situation. Maybe it should go without saying, but it really doesn't: make sure you know what the actual character generation guidelines being used are. It's no good making the whole backstory for a 150 year old Austro-Hungarian Vampire only to get to the table where everyone is making contemporary humans in order to play out the origin story in the 21st century. Even above and beyond the basic category of game (Origin Story, In Media Res, or Power Fantasy), the expected direction of the chronicle may place additional constraints on the PCs. Maybe everyone has to be able to swim, or no one is to be or speak Romanian, or whatever. Talk this all out before you commit too hard to any particular character traits. Ideally, these constraints won't just be the MC jerking you around, but will instead be actual well thought out guidelines to make sure that the chronicle can and will be completed.

Barbara Stanwick is a sample character, who is played by a sample player who we will call Jenny. Jenny wants to kick ass and take names, but she also wants to identify with her character on a physical basis. To balance these two desires, she chooses to have her alter-ego Barbara be a Werewolf. This allows her to make a character who is a slightly sporty liberal arts type, while still being able to turn into a giant monster and rip a car in half. Fortunately, she is making an In Media Res character and she can totally start with her character already being a Werewolf.

The Backstory: Jenny can write whatever backstory she wants, subject to the story ending with Barbara Stanwick being wherever the chronicle is going to take place and being interested in interacting with the chronicle rather than ignoring it or getting on a plane to Boston or something. So ironically the first thing she finds out is where her backstory has to end up. And after discussing it with the MC, she finds that the initial chronicle is going to take place in the San Francisco area, hunting a rogue Werewolf under the auspices of The World Crime League. That sparks some inspiration with Jenny - and her first question to the MC is if it would be disruptive for her to suspect the main villain Werewolf of being the one that mauled Barbara (making her a Werewolf in the first place). The MC lauds as how that sounds like a great idea (as it personalizes the chronicle for Barbara and also motivates her to participate), and so Jenny begins writing.

Barbara is the daughter of the District Attorney of Santa Clara County. She attends the University of California at Berkeley, where she studies literature. Her father wants this to be a pre-law degree, but she has been strongly considering going into teaching. However, things became both simpler and more complicated when she and a couple of acquaintances were attacked and killed by a wild animal after a party in Oakland. She ended up lying in the torn up shreds of a couple of students for several hours, before waking up and making a full recovery. She has since been contacted by Black Hand agents, and has joined that organization as an enforcer from beyond the grave. Also, having been associated with supernatural society for some time, she has presented herself to the local Syndicates and has citizenship in the World Crime League.

Jenny actually writes a backstory that is several pages long, and includes reasons why and how she knows the other player characters (which she worked out with the other players), but that is neither here nor there.

Attributes: Because Jenny is making a character for an In Media Res game, she can assign 2 points to her least stat category, 4 points to the middle pair, and 5 points to the top selection. However, she also has 3 points she can assign however she likes, so if she wanted, she could bring her "lowest" attribute category to parity with her highest. What she decides to do is to emphasize Barbara's sport and dance background, with a later emphasis on academic development. So she makes Social her highest priority, Physical her next highest, and Mental her lowest. Then she applies her three bonus points to Logic and Charisma. This ends up with attributes of:

Technically of course, she has not applied the supernaturalness yet, so at this stage she wouldn't have a Potency or Power rating, but it saves time to write it down with the rest of the attributes if you know you're making a Werewolf, which Jenny does. You'll also note that Jenny has cast her net pretty wide - Barbara doesn't have really high physical attributes for a combat oriented character, or really any super high attributes at all. That's deliberate on her part, and actually OK given her magical abilities, which augment the mediocre physicals into deadly ones and still leave her enough Logic and Charisma to investigate well.

Active Skills: It's very difficult to make a combat monster without the combat skill, but fortunately Jenny has written combat training with The Black Hand into her character's backstory. She'll get 14 points to one category, 19 to another, and 24 to the third. Then she can distribute 6 points wherever. Again, she decides to focus Social, Physical, then Mental. After all, Barbara is still a student. For thematic reasons, she decides to put all six bonus skill points in Combat. She also gets 4 specializations (each Technical skill has one of its own specializations for free).

All in all, Jenny made a character who could do well as a lawyer or a teacher... or a murderous enforcer. Which is appropriate, because Barbara is still uncertain which direction she'll end up going with her life.

Backgrounds: As a character in an In Media Res story, Barbara Stanwick can have 35 points of Backgrounds. She decides to split them up amongst her interests:

• Classical Literature 4
• Modern Fantasy Books 4
• Student Life 3
• Binge Drinking 3
• Fine Cuisine 4
• Secret History of Supernatural Conflict 5
• California Legal System 4
• American Education System 4
• World Crime League Rules and Etiquette 4

The best criminals are also the best lawyers.

Resources: Jenny can assign one 3 point Resource, two 2 point Resources, an one 1 point Resource. Also, she has to select an Obligation, but gets a Resource for that too. She assigns them as follows:

• Barbara's backstory includes ending up with a magical mirror that shows whatever is on the other side of a wall it is placed against - like a portable window that isn't transparent on the other side. This requires Jenny to discuss it with the MC, and they agree that this item is a Rating 3 Destiny.
• Barbara Stanwick is still on reasonably good terms with her father, and can get records and information from the Santa Clara County DA's Office. This is a Rating 2 Contact.
• Barbara's parents set her up with a trust fund that is quite substantial. This is a Rating 2 Finances Resource.
• As a student of classical literature, Barbara knows Greek. This is a Rating 1 Languages.
• After being literally pulled out of a pile of bodies where she had been left for dead and then trained in seven deadly Indonesian martial disciplines, Barbara feels obligated to assist The Black Hand in their efforts. This manifests as a Rating 2 Duty.
• Barbara has been allowed into the "Rare Books" archive at UCB - which is a magical library. A Rating 2 Destiny.

Advantages and Disadvantages: As a Werewolf, she gets to have Temperamental for free. But Jenny feels that her character's divided loyalties towards her various available lifepaths would be appropriate for the Disadvantage Flake. Having taken an extra Disadvantage, she can select an Advantage as well. She chooses Attractive.

Magical Transformation: Barbara Stanwick is a Werewolf in an In Media Res game. She gets all of the inherent Powers of a Werewolf, and also gets to select 2 Basic Powers and an Advanced Power of her choice. She then gets one Basic or Advanced Power that can be either Universal or Lure of Destruction (the Cultic Sorcery of the Black Hand). She chooses to go for the Sorcery option, and her ability list looks like this:

• Tongue of Beasts (Basic Call of the Wild)
• Beast Form (Basic Call of the Wild)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
• Vigor (Basic Clout)
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)
• Repel (Basic Magnetism)
• War Form (Celerity / Clout Devotion)
• The Beckoning (Advanced Call of the Wild)
• Touch of Darkness (Basic Lure of Destruction)
• Glimpse of the Abyss (Advanced Lure of Destruction)
• Attract (Basic Magnetism)
• Summons (Advanced Magnetism)

It is worth noting that she gains +2 to Socialization tests (Advanced Magnetism), +4 to avoid death and healing (Advance Lure of Destruction), +1 Strength (Basic Clout), +2 to Physical Resistance checks (Basic Fortitude), +2 to initiative tests (Basic Celerity), and a +4 to Animal Ken checks that increases to +6 for canines (Advanced Call of the Wild, and she can personally turn into a wolf). However, while many of those are situational, the Clout bonus really is just an always on thing. So Jenny chooses to just add it in to her stat line, like this:

Place in the World: Jenny has a pretty good idea of what Barbara is about. She lives in a loft in Berkeley and is a citizen in good standing with the World Crime League. She is also an enforcer for The Black Hand. Lycanthropy is driving a wedge between her and the aspirations she has to become a teacher or a lawyer. But she has some good friends amongst the supernaturals, some of whom are the other player characters in her band.