The River and the Road: The Ways (Part 1)

Bashing and Slashing in the Converged worlds.

So here's where we start with The Ways of The River and the Road, an equivalent to a class system. These are two of the distinctly fightier ways, individuals who represent the smashing component, and also the rapid laceration component. What you're not going to find here are big trees of advancement abilities. Instead, what you're going to find are a few distinct things to give each Way and each Branch within their own flavor, which tend towards either versatility, or things that are always-useful within a broad context.

When you create a character in the full game, you pick both a Way and a Branch of that way. Then you add the Attribute levels you get from each to your own, and add the abilities you get as perks to your character sheet.

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The Warrior

The Way of the Warrior starts with understanding the transitory nature of matter and life. In the best case scenario, it specifically comes first with the understanding of how irreversible this nature is, and how it’s not something to be toyed with, before one comes to understand how to speed the transition along themselves, creation to destruction, life to death. Because the other way? Learning how to crush and kill first, and then filling in the ethical standpoint afterward is a dicey proposition, one that tends to create a lot more problems than it solves. Don’t be a part of the problem, be a part of the solution: learn first what a head that honestly deserves to come off looks like, learn how to take it off after you get that part down. 

The Freelancer

The term ‘rogue’ is perhaps a bit to widely used to describe open-minded lateral thinkers, individuals whose approach to problem solving tends to involve a fair bit of drawing outside the lines. This doesn’t inherently mean that these individuals are constantly underhanded, just that they come with their own plan. Their own plan that can sometimes entail a picked lock, or some form of good or valuable being walked off. But not always! It’s just that Freelancers specialize in being versatile to a situation, and that being open to the concept of sneak-thievery means more versatility. Not in the sense that you’re ready and willing to commit to the act, but that you know how to accomplish the act. You know, so you can apply those ideas to less-shady activities. And also, so you can engage in those shady activities, safely and efficiently, if you need to. 

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Next Week: The Outlander, the survivor and shooter; The Seer, perceptive of the strange, obscure and unknown; and the Academic, the knower, the learner, the planner.