Concepts in Shards

Here's some stuff I'm thinking of for the next issue of the Dispatches from the Pale...

I was going through the Shards core rules to do some playing, and I was thinking about how some of the concepts I developed for Hack'D would fit nicely in Shards. Specifically, I was thinking about character generation. Shards is very much a class and level game, but Hack'D breaks the concept of classes apart, having each character build from the ground up with tags, tailoring these to fit the character concept. It's a much more free-form approach. As I went through the vocation gifts, general gifts, and talents, I saw that these all fit under the heading of tags well. Instead of 1d4 gifts, alongside a few talents and some vocation gifts, you start with 2d4 tags (so an average of 5), which is pretty close to the previous setup. Mechanically, not much changes, but the flexiblity for character options increases dramatically. 

In the same manner, ethos is replaced with a demeanor (straight out of Hack'D), that guides roleplaying, rather than saying what 'side' you are on. As we know, the good guys aren't always on the same side. You'd then get a +1 to an attribute at levels 2, 4, 6, and a new gift at levels 3 and 5; your new gift would have to be one of the former vocation gifts or talents; you probably don't suddenly learn how to fly, but you could pick up some new contacts or learn how to disarm security systems in your travels. Also, since the armors already have minimum CON requirements, there's no need to add another layer of restriction for armor.

Here's a character using the revised character building ideas:

Gat Parmetheon, 

Honorable Maladorian Bounty Hunter 1
AC 14 | hp 7 | Feat +6 | Move 3 | Resolve 1d8 | 

Blast Pistol (+3/1d6)
     STR 9 (+1); INT 10 (+1); WIS 7; 

     DEX 11 (+1); CON 12 (+1); CHA 8
Attack (+1) | Danger Sense | Heightened Senses | Resolute | Vigor
Blast Pistol (1d6); Sivir Flex Armor 

 
The Maladorian are relatively terran-like, but with exceptional battle senses honed over thousands of years. They are a stoic people, with an entire culture built around warfare and rule by the strong. Their planet is composed of hundreds of city-states that continually wage war with one another.