Meet Tamsin Stonebreaker

Creating the main character for my solo RPG and upcoming serial narrative.

From the cover of Ironsworn.

I have been living with Tamsin Stonebreaker, off and on, for almost a year.

Tamsin is considerably younger than me (23), a bit taller, and way fitter. With her dark hair pulled back in a loose braid, dark eyes set a little too far apart, and a strong jutting chin, she’s attractive but not pretty or beautiful. Nor, does she really want to be either of those things. She’s perfectly fine in her homespun woolen tunic, soft leather britches and old brown boots. She’s smart, but not witty or cunning. She’s direct and expects the same from others. Tamsin’s best qualities are that she is deeply loyal to her village and very hard-working. But, Tamsin doesn’t see herself through the eyes of her neighbors; instead, she believes she is defined by her mother’s hubris and her father’s cowardice. That shame drives her.

Tamsin is the main character in the solo RPG I have been playing since February 11, 2023. I am adapting that narrative for my upcoming serial of her adventures, Red Iron.¹ For me, character creation as a writer and as an RPGer is very much the same. I don’t even start creating characters until I have completed basic world-building - setting, tone, lore, and feel. (I will go back to flesh out those details as I continue the process.) I think about what kind of story I want to tell, what kind of person would be at the center of that story, and what journey do I want to take as that character. Then, I rough out what I know about the character:

• Basics: name, age, race, looks, clothes, attitude

• Physical attributes: size, fitness, strength, abilities, agility

• Mental attributes: intelligence, judgment, common sense, focus

• Personality traits: honest? sneaky? funny? sincere? wise? chatty? And, so on…

• Skills: athletics, communication, areas of knowledge, fighting, surviving, occupational, hobbies, specializations

• Current status: relationships, job, location, health, resources, important belongings

• Backstory: defining events or experiences

• Weaknesses and flaws

• Values and motivators

Those things will change as I refine my character concept and will become fleshed out and explored as I play the game and write the narrative.

Next, I walk through the mechanical character creation steps of the game system I am using. For Tamsin, I am using the Ironsworn RPG system.² I chose it because it reflected the kind of game I wanted to play. It’s not the epic high fantasy of Tolkien, or the sexy sword & sorcery of Conan and Red Sonja, or the multiverse of wizards and warriors that D & D is.

This is the starting character sheet for Tamsin:

Tamsin’s high Iron score means that she is strong, physical, tough, healthy, and will put up a fight. Her Heart score shows her courage, sincerity, charisma, loyalty, and honesty. Tamsin isn’t highly educated or even particularly intellectual, but her Wits score reflects her common sense, knowledge of the world, and ability to take in information. Tamsin isn’t a bumbler, but her lower Edge score means that she isn’t quick, agile or particularly dexterous. Finally, Tamsin is not a good liar and she is not comfortable sneaking around, hence her low Shadow score.

Using these basic scores, it’s pretty easy to come up with a substantive character to take the lead in the kind of stories one can create with this system. I chose Ironsworn because of the kind of stories it envisions. According to the back of the Ironsworn book:

“In the Ironsworn tabletop roleplaying game, you are a hero sworn to undertake perilous quests in the dark fantasy setting of the Ironlands. You will explore untracked wilds, fight desperate battles, forge bonds with isolated communities, and reveal the secrets of this harsh land.”

While I am not playing in the Ironlands setting from the book, the story I’m telling is one of an ordinary woman slowly becoming a hero as she journeys through a gritty, wild, sparsely populated world, facing fierce, cunning, and frightening creatures and foes, both natural and unnatural, while trying to fulfill the vows she has made to the people she loves in the hope of restoring her family’s honor.

Thus, the path I chose for Tamsin is Honorbound. Mechanically, this means that when the chips are down, Tamsin, driven by the need to fulfill her promises, will find the strength to prevail. Tamsin is not a trained warrior, so I chose to arm her with a basic spear and gave her the Skirmisher combat talent. I liked the idea that, instead of fancy fighting with a sword, Tamsin is primarily a defensive fighter whose first reaction is to keep attackers as bay by threatening to jab them with her spear. Did I mention she has a Hound? His name is Jack and his primary trait is that he is loyal.

This is how I imagine Tamsin’s dog, Jack. Yes, I know this is an Aussie and an Aussie is not a hound.

The writing of the serial is well-underway. I need to give the first chapter an editorial scrub and then I need to figure out how I want to break it up and format it for Substack. My goal is to post the first installment at the beginning of February.

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Before I do that, I need a little input from all of you. I know that many of you are not tabletop RPG players, but some of you are. My current plan is to include a “Game Behind the Story” addendum to each installment of the narrative story. It wouldn’t be a detailed play-by-play, but it would focus on important choices, outcomes of key rolls, and interesting moments in playing the game. What do you think? Does that interest you?

1. I’m still working on a better title.

2. Ironsworn is a great setting and TTRPG system, especially for solo or GM-less play. It was created by Shawn Tomkin and is available - for free - at Ironsworn RPG. Check it out. There is also a sci-fi version called Starforged, which is also very cool.