How to create a Character

Every character in Mammon Inc has ten characteristics, or stats, each of which is a number from 1 to 10. 10 is very good, 1 is very bad: human average is typically about 4. You have to allocate the ten numbers from 1 to 10, one to each stat, so you can have one stat at 10, one at 9, etc, down to the one stat which you have to take at 1. You just have to decide which ones you want to be good, and which you want to be bad.
For some of the stats you then have to subdivide the number you've allocated, but this is explained under each one. See the examples if it's not clear.

· Concentration
This stat defines your ability to grapple with complex problems demanding analytical power, and your ability to hold large amounts of detail in your mind and to think logically. It reflects left-brain capability. Essential in people who do a lot of planning and who need to deploy resources in a complex pattern.

· Dexterity
A broad stat covering all aspects of physical quickness and delicacy. You might be a speedy runner, a precise marksman or a graceful dancer, or if your stat is high enough you could be all three.

· Intuition
This is the right-brain stat, reflecting your ability to 'see' solutions, make connections, think laterally and embrace disparate new concepts. You need a good intuition stat to react well to unexpected developments, and to adapt plans quickly.

· Leadership
Your ability to supervise, instruct, and generally command capable obedience for your subordinates. It has more to do with your charisma and inspirational qualities than with your mental powers of administration. A good Leadership stat will make you much more successful at carrying out tasks that require people doing what you tell them.

· Merit rating (this starts at 10, so if you allocate the number 3 to it then you have a Merit of 13)
This determines your starting point on the Mammon Inc hierarchy. You don't necessarily have to defer to someone just because they're on a higher Merit than you - you defer to your line superiors - but it's a sign that, although you both manage Mammon Inc's resources, they manage more, or more important ones, than you. And they get a nicer seat on the intercontinental ballistic shuttle. Your Merit rating will determine how nice your accommodation is, how nice your food is, how good a selection of holovision channels you get, and what sort of people you will naturally spend time with outside work.

· Resources (define and allocate them)
What it is that your character controls for Mammon Inc. Bear in mind that you can't actually own anything yourself - everything must belong to the conglomerate - but you will have resources which answer to you and over which you can exercise your authority with some freedom. Typically this will be a company or a military unit of some description. The bigger the stat, the more powerful the resources are. You can split this stat between as many resources as you want, as long as each individual resource has an integer value of at least 1 (although the more you have, the weaker they'll be, obviously), and you should describe them. See below for more detail on what Resources might include.

· Skills (define and allocate them)
The capabilities and competences that you have gained, through training, study or experience. Not including anything you were born with or had done to you - that would have to be taken under Special. Just everyday skills that anyone could have developed if they had the aptitude and application. You can allocate this stat to as many skills as you like, as long as each has an integer value of at least 1, and describe them in as much detail as you like. A skill level of 3 in the main skill of your profession will give you a capability that's average compared with other people in the same profession.

· 'Smitherses' (you can have either 1 or 2 individual 'Smitherses', and if you want 2 you have to split the points between them)
Behind every Mr Burns there is a Smithers. These are specific subordinates, whom you should name and describe. They are personally loyal to you, and although they are nothing like as capable or well-respected as you are, they may come in handy for simple tasks. Typically they will be personal assistants, but depending on what your character is like they might be aides-de-camp, understudies, family members, close friends, or almost anything else.

· Special (describe what it is)
This is an unusual stat in that it could be completely different things in different people. Basically it can be taken as any advantage, or unusual thing about you, that's not covered by one of the other stats. The higher you set the stat, the more unusual it can be. For example, a special of 1 might be having good dress sense, or being a bit taller than average, or having an address that's easy to remember. A special of 5 might be having a bionic limb, or being a member of a secret organization, or being a natural empath, or being extremely good-looking, or purifying and metabolizing your own waste products. A special of 10 might be being able to fly, or control your emotions consciously with artificial endocrine glands, or generate electric shocks, or survive indefinitely in vacuum, or being the secret heir to a long-dead kingdom, or… Specials can be natural advantages or artificial enhancements, as you prefer. Be warned that any powerful special will also come with some sort of GM-defined disadvantage associated with it.
If you'd rather add a bit of excitement to your character's life, leave your special stat as 'unknown', and we'll secretly determine something for you, to be revealed or discovered during the game.

· Toughness
The other physical stat, this one covers physical strength, fitness, endurance and durability. As with dexterity, if you have a high value in this stat you can excel in more than one of these areas.


More about Resources
We won't just let you choose your resources completely freely, because we want to make sure that everyone fits somewhere into the Mammon Inc framework. Basically, this section lists what resources Mammon Inc controls, and so this is what your position with them can give you. If you want other stuff instead / as well, you can do, but it has to be a Special.
This might look complicated at first, but hopefully all will be clear once you've read it through. Broadly speaking, your character can either be a remarkable individual, or else a manager within Mammon Inc. List D is for individuals: lists A, B and C are for characters who run companies or other business units of Mammon Inc. (There is also a list E, which is other resources Mammon Inc controls which are not available to player characters at the start of the game.)
You can choose EITHER one item from list D, OR three from list A, OR two from A and one from B, OR one each from A, B and C. The idea is that if you choose resources from more than one list, they should be able to sensibly go together in your company: for example, farming from list A and food production from list B.
The reason we insist that all management-type characters have something on list A is to reflect Mammon Inc policy on vertical integration. Their belief is that downstream users are the best people to control upstream suppliers: if you are delivering food products to the public, you have a real interest in making sure that farming is carried out efficiently and capably.
You may wonder how these lists tie in with characters having different values of the Resources stat. The answer is that the value of the stat gives an idea of how important and useful your holding is. For example, an actor with Resources 1 will be stuck in small and unimportant roles, while one with Resources 10 will be a global megastar. Note that this is regardless of how talented they are at acting, which you'd have to put Skills points towards.
Similarly, if you control a mining company and have Resources 1, it will be a very small one, whereas if you had Resources 9 it would be one of the most important in the conglomerate. If you have high Resources, you can choose to double or triple up on list A. With Resources 4 or better, if you're on the option that chooses two from A and one from B, you can choose the two from A to be the same if you want, which gives you greater control in that area. With Resources 8 or better, if you choose three from A and make them all the same, you will probably have a monopoly of control of that resource within Mammon Inc.
We'll keep the mailing list posted with which areas of resource are being snapped up, as character designs come in, so that there's not too much of several characters in one resource area and other resource areas neglected.
Anyway, here are the lists. Note that none of them are exhaustive: if you have a good idea for a character concept that isn't on one of these, get in touch and we'll tell you whether it can be fitted in or not.
Another thing to note is that at the start of the game none of you will know what each other's characters do for a living, apart from those who have a high public profile. So it should be quite possible to keep your character's resources secret, if you choose to do so.
Yet another thing to note is that many of these posts and roles are pretty mundane, and that your characters will not necessarily be remarkable or even interesting people at the start of the game. Things will happen to them which will draw them out of their routines and into new, unexpected areas of more fulfilling activity. So don't be concerned that you might have designed a character who's going to be dull to play: the playing will be very different from the designing.

List D - individuals
· Actor, singer, or other entertainer
· Prophet, or other useful charismatic
· Writer / copywriter
· Star journalist / presenter
· Wunderkind programmer, or other research talent
· Military / police / Internal Intelligence officer or agent
… etc. Use your imagination…

List A - basic resources
· Recycled food production
· Clothing production and outlets
· Cereals, vegetable, herb breeding and farming
· Algae, fungi, probiotic bacteria culturing and farming
· Bacteria culturing for industrial use (eg. fertilizer, pesticide, cleansing, etc)
· Fish, crustacean, shellfish breeding and farming
· Animal, poultry, bird breeding and farming
· Craft products (eg woodcarving, toys, paper, weaving, clay and porcelain items, carved plastics, wax candles, ice sculptures, etc)
· Timber and forestry management
· Raw chemical extraction and processing (eg oxygen, salt - rock and sea, fossil fuels, sulphur, copper, steel, etc)
· Wind, solar, wave, fusion, geothermal power generation
· Outdoor sports (eg skiing resort, boating, beach resort etc)
· Water cleaning plant
· Waste services (eg transport to recycling, sorting, scavenging, scrapyards etc)
· Food etc supply and transport fleets / containers
· Birth control products
· Scientific and medical vessels and equipment
· Supermarkets and other food outlets, online and physical
· Chain stores and specialist stores
· Domestic product manufacture (eg. pots, pans, cleaners, blenders etc)
· Component assembly and manufacture (electrical and mechanical)
· Resource streamlining and efficiency

List B - advanced resources
· Weather management, cloud seeding
· Power supply and distribution
· Pollution cleansing (sea, land, air)
· Newspapers and news programmes (online, physical)
· Schools, colleges, universities
· Hospitals (mental, physical)
· Other healthcare provision, including training
· Computer hardware and software for industrial use
· Computerized and automated system assembly
· Religious administration
· Environmental impact balancing
· Documentary making, business researching
· Recycling, making recycled goods
· Entertainment production - music, 3V, cable, theatre
· Manufacture of chemical-derived goods (eg plastics etc)
· Restaurants, amusement arcades, sports
· Food cleaning, sorting, assembly into food products
· Final assembly of domestic manufactured goods (eg vehicles, habitation security systems, etc)
· Final assembly of scientific / medical equipment
· Architecture and building
· Transport services
· Manufacture and final assembly of military / police supplies
· Assembly of military / police computer hardware

List C - specialist resources
· Design and development of new machinery (eg vehicles, power etc)
· Design and development of semi-organic tech
· Development of computer hardware and software
· Research into environmental control and cleansing
· Primary medical research (including drugs, use of bacteria and algae, human biology, etc)
· Secondary medical research (including surgical techniques and machinery, advanced prosthesis, etc)
· Religious leadership and inspiration
· Military training
· Military weapon, vehicle etc research
· Military tech and computer development (including surveillance tech, etc)
· Internal Intelligence management
· Intelligence research, computing, surveillance tech
· Entertainment distribution - theatres, 3V houses, cable channels, etc
· Advertising management

List E - high-level functions
Note that items on this list are not available to player characters. We list them here for completeness and to help you avoid them.
· Management of the Mammon Inc conglomerate
· External Intelligence
· Primary scientific research and testing
· Army / police management
· Environmental impact assessment
… plus probably others which your characters don't know exist…

Mammon Inc Says:
Meteorites. Our best men are working on it now. We are fully confident of success.


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