Laundry Files: Character Creation
All emails relating character creation should be sent to: mylilshoggoth@gmail.com
Concept
Choose a name and concept for your character.
What did you do before joining the Laundry? (see Backgrounds below)
How did you become part of the Laundry? The most common way is that you were forced to join because you either saw or did something you shouldn't.
Almost summon a demon while working on your maths thesis? That's a guaranteed way to find yourself inducted into the ranks of the Laundry.
Choose Archetype
Choose an Archetype. These represent your general nature and personality and each provides you with a selection of starting skills.
Laundry Files: Archetypes
Choose Background
Choose a Background to represent your life before joining the Laundry.
Each Background comes with modifiers to your skills.
Laundry Files: Backgrounds
Choose Department
Choose which department within the Laundry you have been assigned to.
These provide further modifiers to your skills as well as some other advantages.
There are a limited number of player slots available for each department, and characters of the same department will often be grouped together for missions.
Laundry Files: Departments
Record Skills
Your Archetype, Background and Department are packages, each provides you with a list of starting skills which should be recorded on your character sheet.
Where the same skill is listed multiple times, you simply add them together, for example if your Archetype and Background both list "Drive" as a skill then you begin with Drive 2.
Sometimes you have a choice from several different skills, for example "Disguise or Persuade or Perform or Language (Choose one)". This indicates you get one of these skills but it's your choice which one.
Some skills like Perform require you to choose a specialization when you take the skill (e.g. dance, singing, etc). You can choose a specialization each time the skill is listed in one of your packages and you track the points foe each one separately, for example the "Artist or Designer" package lists:
- Craft or Perform or Computer Use (Choose one)
- Craft or Perception (Choose one)
- Craft or Knowledge (Philosophy)
You can choose to take Craft with all three of these choices and if you do, you could choose to take the same specialization with each one and have Craft (Painting) 3, or you could split it any way you choose, such as Craft (Painting) 2 and Craft (Sculpting) 1, or you could take 3 separate Craft skills at level 1. The choice is yours.
After applying all 3 packages, no skill can start higher than 3.
Record Secondary Stats
Health
A character's health represents how injured they are, when it reaches zero they are either unconscious or dead at the GMs discretion.
Characters do not begin with much health, human beings are inherently fragile creatures, but fortunately all agents are issued with a personal Ward as part of their standard equipment which considerably improves their chances of surviving attacks by extra-dimensional horrors.
Characters begin with 2 Health.
Sanity
Dealing with things best not known by mortal minds can take its toll and erode a characters sanity.
Sanity is measured between 0 and 5 and agents usually begin with full sanity. This may be lowered at GM discretion whenever something terrible is observed, be it a horrific murder or a glimpse of the many-angled ones. If a character's Sanity is reduced to zero, their mind cracks and they are reduced to either gibbering incoherently or complete catatonia.
Sanity can be recovered slowly through counseling and rest and relaxation at the Laundry's Dunwich facility.
All agents begin with 5 Sanity.
Status
Status represents a character's rank within the Laundry and how well liked they are by upper management.
Status is measured between 0 and 5. Players don't quite begin on the bottom rung but they aren't far off it. Status can be gained through exceptional service to the agency and lost by screwing up royally.
A character reduced to zero Status is condemned to bureaucratic death, they can remain a playable character but will find their every attempt to advance tied up in red tape, their requests for resources denied, and probably end up being assigned whatever menial job is available just to keep them occupied.
As Status increases characters gain perks and privileges, including a more powerful ward to protect the Laundry's favoured.
All characters begin with 2 Status.
Optional: Choose Merits and Flaws
Players may take merits and flaws to further alter their characters. These are completely optional.
A player may choose up to 2 Flaws for their character and for each Flaw they take they may also take 1 Merit.
List of Merits and Flaws
Record Spells
Magic takes more than skill, you also have to know how to cast the specific spell, and the Laundry frequently holds training seminars to bring their staff up to date on the latest magical procedures.
Since magic in the wrong hands can be extremely dangerous, the Laundry only teaches spells to those who have undergone the correct OHS training exercises.
For this reason, characters only start off knowing a number of spells equal to their level of skill:
| Skill Level |
Spells |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 5 |
For Skill Level use either your Computational Sorcery or Ritual Sorcery, whichever is higher.
Characters are assumed to know all the classes of a spell up to the maximum level they can cast, for example if your skill was at 3 and you chose Scrying as one of your spells, you are assumed to know Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 Scrying and this only counts as one spell towards the 3 you can start with.
Record Gear
Most agents are not very wealthy, the Laundry is notoriously underfunded and its employees underpaid. As your Status climbs higher you may be able to afford a nicer car, a new computer, fitness membership, clothes that haven't fallen off the bargain rack...
All agents live in a secured safe house provided by the agency. Usually with two or three agents sharing each house. This is arranged according to available rooms, with requests to share with certain persons taken under due consideration. It is not unusual for two agents to form a relationship, request shared accommodation, fall out of their relationship, and four months later have the Department of Housing send them the letter that their request has been approved.
Agents are not permitted to continue living in any property they owned before joining due to the unsecured nature of the locations, phone lines and internet connection.
Special Items
Based on your skills and department, you may also have been assigned with weapons or occult equipment on permanent loan.
Note that such equipment is heavily restricted, and unless specified by you department you cannot begin with a firearm or occult item.
All requisitions within the Laundry are heavily tracked and all items taken out on loan must be approved by a superior and returned after use.
Losing issued equipment is looked on very poorly.
All agents are issued with a Personal Ward with a rating equal to their Status. All agents carry a Warrant Card identifying them as an agent of the Laundry.
Weapons
Weapons are heavily restricted throughout the UK and even more so within the Laundry. They are never issued to anyone unless they have completed the appropriate certified training course to prove that they wont be a liability to their teammates.
Characters do not begin with any weapons unless listed under their department starting gear.
Other Gear
Agents are so poorly paid that you generally make just enough to pay for your rent and groceries which leaves little in the budget for personal equipment. The Laundry is quick to point out that if you need any additional resources you simply have to requisition them, just fill out this form, and this one, and we'll need this one in triplicate and get the signature of your direct manager as well as your supervisor...
Suffice to say most agents are under-equipped most of the time.
Your character may carry on them about £20 ($40 AU) worth of cash or equipment that you personally own. These items must be easily acquirable items and cannot be illegal or restricted in any way. For example a pen or roll of duct tape is fine, a gun or taser isn't.
For other equipment you may requisition what you require.