Multiverse TTRPG Core Rules

Next Steps

You have selected your character’s traits, bloodline, and starting abilities. Now it’s time to bring your character to life! We encourage you to develop your character’s personality, appearance, and backstory to create a memorable and engaging persona for your adventures.

Character Development Questions

These questions will help you better understand who your character is beyond their mechanical statistics. Take your time with these - the answers will guide how you roleplay and make decisions throughout your adventures.

Physical Appearance & Mannerisms

1. What’s the first thing people notice about your character when they walk into a room?

2. How does your character’s posture change when they’re confident versus when they’re insecure?

3. What piece of clothing, jewelry, or accessory does your character never go without, and what’s the story behind it?

4. Does your character have any scars, tattoos, or distinctive marks? What’s the story behind the most interesting one?

5. How does your character’s appearance differ from what people expect based on their reputation or profession?

6. What does your character do to their hair when they’re frustrated or concentrating?

7. If your character’s clothes could tell a story, what would they reveal about their day, their priorities, or their past?

Personality & Background

8. What’s the most embarrassing thing your character has ever done, and do they still cringe thinking about it?

9. When your character is completely alone, what habit or quirk do they indulge in that they’d never let others see?

10. What’s one belief or principle your character holds that most people in their world would find strange or controversial?

11. Who was the last person to genuinely surprise your character, and what did they do?

12. What does your character do with their hands when they’re nervous, angry, or deep in thought?

13. If your character could ask their childhood self one question, what would it be?

14. What’s something your character is surprisingly good at that doesn’t fit their usual image or background?

15. When your character lies, do they have a tell? What gives them away?

16. What’s the worst advice your character has ever received, and did they follow it?

17. If your character had to choose between saving a stranger’s life or protecting their most treasured possession, what would they do and why?

18. What smell, sound, or sight instantly transports your character back to their childhood?

19. What’s your character’s relationship with money? Are they a spender, saver, or somewhere in between, and what shaped that attitude?

20. When your character faces a problem, do they prefer to solve it alone, ask for help, or avoid it entirely?

21. What’s one thing your character wishes they could change about themselves, but probably never will?

22. If your character discovered they only had one week to live, what would they regret not having said to someone?

Quirks & Habits

23. What does your character do in the first ten minutes after waking up every day?

24. Does your character have any superstitions or rituals they perform for good luck?

25. What’s your character’s biggest pet peeve, and how do they react when someone does it?

26. How does your character eat their food? Quickly, slowly, in a specific order, or with particular mannerisms?

27. What does your character do when they’re alone and bored? Do they fidget, hum, pace, or something else?

28. Does your character have a comfort object or routine they turn to when stressed or homesick?

29. What’s your character’s reaction to being interrupted while they’re concentrating?

30. Does your character have any words, phrases, or expressions they use more often than they realize?

Starting Equipment

Once you’ve developed your character’s personality and background, it’s time to select their starting equipment. Work with your GM to determine what gear is appropriate for your character’s background and the campaign setting.

As a general guideline, characters should start with basic items that make sense for their background and profession - nothing more elaborate than what a typical person in their situation would reasonably possess. This might include simple tools of their trade, basic clothing appropriate to their social status, a modest amount of currency, and perhaps one or two personal items of sentimental value.

For detailed information about equipment, weapons, armor, and magical items, consult the Equipment and Items chapter of this rulebook.

Character Growth Through Milestones

Your character will grow and develop throughout the campaign through a system called milestones. These represent significant moments of character growth and are awarded by the GM at major story beats, typically after completing important chapters of the adventure, overcoming significant challenges, or achieving major character development moments.

Milestone Rewards

The benefits your character gains from each milestone depend on the power level of your campaign, which your GM will establish during session zero. Higher power levels represent more epic, fantastical campaigns where characters grow more rapidly into legendary figures.

Types of Growth

Ability Growth: You can select new abilities from the available list, following the same rules as character creation. This represents your character learning new skills and techniques through their adventures.

AP Max Growth: Your character’s maximum Action Points increase, allowing them to use more powerful abilities or sustain longer periods of intense activity. This growth is automatically applied; no choices required.

Trait Upgrades: Perhaps the most significant form of growth, trait upgrades allow you to improve your character’s fundamental capabilities. When you earn a trait upgrade, you may increase one trait die by one step according to the following progression:

• d4 → d6 → d8 → d10 → d12 → d20 → 2d12

You can upgrade the same trait multiple times over the course of a long campaign. For example, if you previously upgraded a trait from d4 to d6, your next trait upgrade could improve that same trait to d8, or you could choose to upgrade a different trait instead.

Campaign Considerations

The milestone system is designed to be flexible and support campaigns of different lengths and power fantasies. Low power campaigns focus on gritty, realistic adventures where growth is slow and hard-earned. Heroic power campaigns embrace the fantasy of rapidly ascending to legendary status; characters might eventually become the most powerful beings in the multiverse.

Remember that there’s no theoretical maximum to the number of milestones a character can earn. Some epic campaigns might span dozens of milestones as characters grow from humble beginnings to cosmic significance.