Character Creation

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Characters in Hell's Furnace are more than a set of statistics. They are the culmination of their life experiences. Creating a character involves actively playing though those experiences in an abbreviated format.

Characteristic Generation

The first step in creating a character is to determine their basic abilities. This is done by rolling their characteristics.

Background

The second step in character creation is deciding upon their background and determining what skills come with it. After the background has been identified, the character is sixteen years old and ready to begin their adult career.

Advanced Education

The third step in character creation is optional: the character may choose to undertake advanced education. This involves spending time at a college, medical school, or the Military Academy. It's possible to come back to this step, but entry into most secondary education gets more difficult as time goes on (and it becomes impossible to get into the USMA).
College and the Military Academy are four years long. Medical school is five years.

Career

A character's career is a series of phases. Each phase normally lasts four years and involves the character choosing a profession. When beginning a new profession, the character must check to see if they meet the qualification, which might involve a die roll. In most cases, continuing in a profession for consecutive phases does not require a new check for qualification.
Failing to qualify for a profession carries no penalty, except that the character must choose a different profession.

Professions

The following professions are available for a character:

Specialty

Some professions have multiple specialities. When joining the profession, the character chooses which speciality they wish to pursue. If a character wishes to change specialty after spending one or more phases in a profession, they may do so, but they must begin again at Rank 0.

Phase Success

The character has to roll for success each phase. Each phase has a target value that the character must meet for this roll.

Successful Phases

If the phase is successful, the character also rolls for advancement (if available). If successful, the character is considered to have been promoted within the phase an₫ their rank is increased by one.
Irrespective of the result of the advancement roll, the character then rolls 2D and checks the Event Table to see what has taken place during the phase and what effects, if any, may result.
At the end of the phase, the character rolls for either cash or a benefit. This roll might be modified by the character's rank or other factors.
Unless an event within a phase states otherwise, when the phase has ended, the character can continue on in the same profession, choose a new profession, or retire to start the game. Continuing in a profession does not require a new qualification check.

Unsuccessful Phases

If the phase is unsuccessful, the character does not roll for advancement.
Instead of rolling for an event, the character rolls 1D and checks the Mishap Table and applies the result.
The character then rolls for the duration of the phase.
There is no roll for cash or benefits in an unsuccessful phase.
Unless specifically noted, a failed success roll means that the character must change profession or retire.

Development and Training

In addition to the potential financial reward, a phase is an opportunity to learn new skills and to improve existing ones. Each phase, irrespective of success, the character rolls a 1D on any one of the Personal Development, Career Skill, Advanced Education, or Specialist Skill tables for their profession and gains the result, which is either one level in a skill or an increase of one in a characteristic.
To roll on the Advanced Education Table, the character must have an EDU of 8+. For some professions, the Specialist Table will

Basic Training

If this is the character's very first term in any career, they are eligible for Basic Training. Instead of rolling for a skill or development, the character gains all of the Career Skills at level-0. If a skill is already at level-0 or higher, it does not get increased.
If this is not the character's very first term, but it is the first term in a new career, the character can choose to take any one of the Career Skills at level-0, rather than rolling for a skill that term.

Aging