Character Creation

Character Creation in Terminus consists of the following components, each of which are detailed further down the page:

• OC information: Inform the GMs (and eventually your fellow players) about your name and pronouns. In addition you will need to supply an email address and if you are under 18 you will need to alert the GMs for safeguarding reasons (this information will not be shared, as per our Privacy Policy).
• IC name(s) and pronouns: Select a name for your character. Please also tell us your character's pronouns.
• Character Questionnaire: Answer some important questions about your character such as what their day-to-day life looks like.
• Quirks: You may choose any number of quirks so long as their total score comes to -1, 0 or 1. You may choose any number of playstyle quirks.
• Private Bio: A bio of your character visible only to you and the GMs.
• Public Bio: A bio that will be published on the Characters page on this Wiki, visible to all players.
• OC Notes to GMs: A message to the GMs, primarily to inform them how they can make the game more comfortable for you

The people of The Underground have modern, ethnically diverse names. As such any normal name is suitable.

Also important for the people of The Underground is their job title, which is the typical (and usually preferred) means of address if they have a well defined role. Examples might include Driver, Trader or Technician.

In practice, your IC email address will be based on your character's original name (e.g. robin_perez@terminus.oxfordrpg.com).

Please also tell us your character's pronouns. These will be listed on the Characters page alongside your character's name.

The Character Questionnaire is a set of three questions that helps make sure players have defined, and GMs know, some important details about the submitted character. The answers to these questions should be significant to most characters: if the answer isn't signficant that is a big deal, most people of The Underground care about these things, so why don't you?

The three questions are:

1. What does your character’s day-to-day look like in the Underground?: While most people in The Underground spend most of their day working (and if you don't that is pretty noteworthy in itself), but it is what you choose to do with your time off that says the most. There isn't a lot of choice down here. Do you anethetise yourself with video games until you drift off to sleep? Do you have a workbench in factory where you work on a personal project in secret? To you go down to Rec and shoot the sh!t with your coworkers for a bit before going home to your kids? What is the routine you have fallen into with such limited choices?
2. Who is your character close to, if anyone?: You don't need to have the Relationship Quirk to be close to someone (although it helps): in the tight-knit underground community most people still have those they are closest to: who are they for you? If not, how have you managed to stay unattached when space is at a premium and your neighbours are inches away (and you depend on them to live).
3. What’s their favourite spot in the Underground??: With space so precious, everyone knows every nook and cranny like the back of their hand. Which is your favourity and why? That one headset in Rec you can look through and see a VR sky so real you could touch it? A crevasse in a tunnel that gives you a private space, no matter how small? If you hate the whole damn, dirty place then you can let us know that too!

Quirks represent special advantages or disadvantages your character has. You start with some Quirks at game start and may gain or lose them during the game.

At game start, you may choose up to 7 Quirks so long as your Quirk Score equals -1, 0 or 1—your Quirk Score calculated by summing the scores of individual Quirks, which can be either +1, 0 or -1.

Logistics Quirks are a special class of Quirk that you may take if you are interested in being involved with the Resource Logistics mechanics of Terminus. In order to qualify for any Logistics Quirk apart from Scheduler you must have selected the Scheduler Quirk.

IMPORTANT: If you do not know whether this is a part of the game you want to engage with you do not need to take Scheduler at character creation: it will be possible to acquire it, along with other Logistics Quirks, during the course of play. It is possible to be involved with themes of resource limits without being part of the Logistics mechanics.

Playstyle Quirks do not count towards the maximum total of 7. These represent optional themes and events in-game that some players may not wish to experience at all, such as mind control effects and ballgowning attempts by NPCs. You may email us at any time if you change your mind about the playstyle Quirks you have chosen.

For details, please see Quirks.

Please submit a personal bio that consists of your character's personal background and anything else you would like the GMs to be aware of during game. Your character's background and personal arc will be taken into consideration when the GMs handle your character's story. You may wish to refer to the people of Terminus page for some details you might like to include. The bio does not need to be long (and please avoid sending us a novel, touched though we will be). This will only be visible to you and to the GMs, so please do use this as an opportunity to tell us all the secrets you hope will be unveiled over the course of the game.

Please also submit a public bio that represents what is publicly known, rumoured, or speculated about your character. This doesn't need to take any particular form (it could be a simple third person description, a conversation between two passersby, an official register form, anything you like really), but should be a couple of paragraphs at most and not exceeding 150 words. This will be visible to all players on the Characters page, and will be posted alongside your character's name and pronouns.

In this part of character creation you can let the GMs know anything important that is not covered by the form, such as if you have accessibility or health related requirements, if there are particular players or themes you'd like to avoid, what you out-of-character want to get out of the game or just to be excited at us.

Here are some sample characters to serve as inspiration!

The preferred method of submission is via the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/AJEoUc9qFZF5Pvyb8

If however, for whatever reason, you would prefer not to use this, we will also accept character submissions by email to: gm@terminus.oxfordrpg.com

The deadline for character submissions is 23:59 on Thursday 19th October.

OC Name:
OC Pronouns:

Character Name:
Job Title (if applicable):
Character Pronouns:
Are you a current Oxford University Student?:
Have you played a Society Game before?:
How would you like to be treated in the event of a player ballot?: 

What does your character’s day-to-day look like in the Underground?:
Who is your character close to, if anyone?:
What’s their favourite spot in the Underground?:

Quirks:
Private Bio:
Public Bio:

OC Notes to GMs: