Making A Character: The Ballad of Donna Nesbit and The No-Good Guys

I can kinda use this as a
profile picture for the character?

My little brother is GMing a campaign, and it is in a setting I don't normally play or GM: The Wild West at Tech Level 5. So I'm gonna do a bit of a walkthrough of putting together a character. My assigned role is Store Owner, and I am given a blurb from which to create a character. So let's see what we can do with this.

The Rundown

For the blurb, my character has the following properties already decided for him.

• He is a widower who lost a wife and child in the Civil War.
• He fought as a guerilla for a while before heading out west.
• He started a general store out west
• He has "mellowed out"
• He believes that whites are superior

I am told a list of equipment which I own, and I am told that part of my objective is to also be charming in order to potentially woo a partner.

I take all this basic information, that I have 150/75 (wew, that's a lot) points, 5k starting cash, and put it together in GURPS Character Sheet, and get this.

Not even a first pass

Ok, so, that's not really a character yet, just a person holding things. So let's see what kinda life story we can derive from his backstory. I can't think of anything that comes to mind from the first bullet point, maybe a guilt complex or a revenge complex, but moving onto the next bullet point, he knows how to handle himself in combat, so let's give him some military skills. He has a general store, so he needs some skills for management there. He has a mellow personality, so let's see if we can give him something to match that. Then there is his racism, probably his most outstanding disadvantage. I think the first bullet point I'm going to represent as a Sense of Duty to Women and Children everywhere combined with an Intolerance to Union Soldiers. Let's take another look.

First Pass Page 2

First Pass Page 1

Ok, so we have the beginnings of a character here. We have a bunch more points to spend though. Looking back, he was a guerilla after the Civil War, so I think that means he has the workings of a secret background, and probably one that has life ending consequences if he is discovered, let's say he used to go by the name "Monterey Huxtable," but that is a long forgotten name. We can also add a bit more points, and I kinda want to give him a cavalry saber, so let's also give him ambidexterity so he can handle his sword in either hand. I think it's fair to give Combat Reflexes as well since he was in combat. Also, just because I like it, a bunch of fast draw skills.

I am bumping up against my point limit now, but I have a lot more room for disadvantages. Let's see where we are now.

We are lacking a few basics here. He is a gentleman, so he needs to keep himself groomed, and he really needs a bag to hold all of his supplies. I remember that he has "Mostly mellowed out" so I give him a slight temper. I think it'd be neat for him to really like horses, so I give him a quirk that says he doesn't tolerate disrespect towards them. I need to get a few more points, so I give him Miserliness. It's a good advantage for a fledgling merchant character. I make him really attractive and charming so that he can handle himself in a conversation, I have to sacrifice on IQ, unfortunately, but hey, if I get a few more points, I can fill it in.

The final, almost finished result is this:

There's a teeny bit of stuff I could still do, but for now, it is mostly in shape. I got some rough edges to round out, and I now have a few ideas to expand on his bio, and I'm almost ready to play a game.