Day 15 of January is considered the middle of the challenge (since it’s the middle of the month). Today for the 2026 #Character Creation Challenge I’m using Worlds Without Number. This is the fantasy version of Stars Without Number that I used in the 2025 challenge. Which interestingly enough, was also used in the middle of the month. For those of you who don’t know, this “worlds without…” series is based off of OSR systems. So those familiar with B/X, BECMI etc. will see things they are familiar with.
Out of the 400 page PDF, the summary of character creation can be found on page 6. Step one is rolling for the standard attributes (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA) using 3d6 and then assigning them where I want. I ended up with some pretty average rolls (9 through 14). Like SWN, I was informed that I could change one of the rolls to a 14 if I randomly rolled, of which I did. Step two is to add the attribute modifiers (my two 14s had +1, everything else nada).
Next comes the background of the character. This is what the character did before they became and adventurer. There is a chart I can pick from or (and you know what’s coming) I can roll a d20 to let fate decide. The die said Thug. Which isn’t exactly a Criminal (which was one of the options) but he could have been a ruffian, gang member or village bully. The last one I like for some reason. Probably because it would explain why he’s on the road after he was run out of town. The background starts off the character with a set of skills that I added to my notes (as per steps 3-5)
That leads us to step six, which is the class. There are four classes in this game, Expert (masters of non-combat skills), Mages and Warriors (both self explanatory) and Adventurers. The last one was listed for players who can’t quite decide or have a concept that mixes parts of the other classes. I think I’m going to go with this one. Partial warrior, partial expert as someone who was not quite a thief, but not quite a sword swinger. This gave me a chart to roll the character’s hit die, attack bonus and Focus picks. I was a little confused because I wondered if the Focus picks were the same as Foci (next step). Are focus picks like the class abilities? Gah, confusion abounds and I would have asked a GM at the time who was familiar with the game to make it clear.
Which leads us to step seven, Foci. These are the side talents or specializations that the character has. If I’m reading this correctly, I get two Foci since this character is a partial-expert. I selected Alert and Die Hard (bonus HP). Step eight had to deal with non-humans (of which he is not) and step nine gives me one extra skill to pick, which I did of Sneak-0. I skipped steps ten and eleven since they had to do with mages.
Step twelve is to roll the Hit Points (Hit + Con bonus + Die Hard bonus listed above) and thirteen is to note down the Base Attack Bonus (listed in the class).
Picking an equipment package is step fourteen and rolling the starting silver pieces the character has (3d6x10). 140SP and I selected the Roguish Wanderer package. This lead to the next several steps that included marking down the hit bonus with the weapons, damage done by them and armor class.
Step eighteen is the savings throws of which there are Physical, Evasion, Mental and Luck. There was a simple mathematical formula using 16 – level – ability mods (depending upon the save). I could see how this made it easy to mark every time the character raised a level.
The last step is a name and a goal. I hadn’t thought of a name yet so Jarret is his name and his goal is to make a big score of money so he could live where every he wanted after getting out (or was that run out?) of the podunk village he was living in. Here are the two pages of the character sheet.
Afterthoughts:
I don’t recall being this confused when I made the Stars Without Number character last year. But for some reason the focus skills/foci stuff threw me for a loop. I was told to pick a warrior and expert focus skill, but the foci didn’t have the same.
I’d like to try this game once at the table just to see how some of the system works (especially the 2d6 skills system mentioned in the book). After I’ve had that chance, then I’d want to decide if I wanted to write or run this type of a game. There are already a lot of good fantasy RPGs out there.
Additional Notes:
Originally I was going to do Six-Shooters & Wagons for today. But when I finally had a chance to sit down and try to organize everything (print out the character sheet, take photos, etc.) there wasn’t a lot there. I still have it on my “possible” list, but this is where the change of approach this year came up short.
Coming Up Next:
Paranoia “Perfect Edition”
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