Character Creation

The story so far
"'The year is 2185. Almost 40 years ago, Mankind has found in the ruins of a long-dead species the technologies that sent it across the stars. It took wars and diplomacy, but the human Alliance is now respected as one of the most powerful factions in the galaxy, with one of the four seats on the Council.""But a few months ago, coming from nowhere, the Reapers came. An extra-galactic species of godlike beings larger than spaceships, bent on the cleansing of the galaxy from all its civilizations. Intelligent, fast, unknowable, and enormously powerful, they can indoctrinate entire military units to commit suicide or turn on their own, they can raise the dead or the dying into mindless machines of destruction and send them to tear apart their families, they can level cities from afar, and they will stop at nothing until everyone is dead.""Whoever you are, wherever you live, now is the time to take the arms.'"

Creating characters
Creating a character is very simple:
 * 1) find an idea;
 * 2) discuss it with the GM;
 * 3) describe your character with 100-200 words on a sheet of paper (for instance,Character Sheets.pdf);
 * 4) the GM will highlight the relevant parts, which you will during the game to find out if your actions succeed or fail.

Note The universe of Mass Effect offers numerous species and possibilities. If you are a newcomer to that universe, and if you wish to keep it simple and get the game started quickly, playing an Alliance Marine is the simplest way to go. But, hey, if you wish to play a fifth-columnist from Cerberus, a Batarian Red Sand smuggler, a follower of the Concubine, a member of the Turian Clergy, a Geth Mobile Platform or, well, anything else, that's certainly possible. Just ask your GM if this is compatible with what she has in mind.

Example: Paulo Dos Anjos

 * Player Hey, I'd like to play some kind of commando.
 * GM Sure. Human or some alien species?
 * Player Let's keep it simple and make him a human.
 * GM Human it is. Do you have any idea what kind of commando?
 * Player Yeah, elite kind.
 * GM The kind that goes into the trenches and cleans them of any lifeform with a swiss knife or the kind that picks a spot and snipes everybody within two miles of his position?
 * Player The latter.
 * GM Ok. So then let's make you an Alliance Infiltrator . That makes you a great sniper, with the ability to use a Tactical Cloak to become almost invisible, skills at sabotage, and your OmniTool is programmed to let you quickly discharge Cryo Blasts that can flash-freeze enemies at medium range if they are not protected by a shield.
 * Player Cool. Should I write all of this on my character sheet?
 * GM No, that's covered by Alliance Infiltrator.
 * Player Ok, then I'm ready, I guess.
 * GM I'd like a few more details. Why did you join the navy, for instance? Where you born on overpopulated Earth? On a luxurious Inner Colony? On some Outer Colony, among settlers? etc. Also, why were you picked to become a commando? There must be some remarkable quality that made you a natural fit. etc.
 * Player Sure. By the way, you mentioned sabotage. Can I actually be very good at building stuff, not just destroying it?
 * GM Sure. Just write this down on your character sheet. Oh, and, you mentioned "elite", so you are probably part of the N7 program, which is the name of the Alliance Navy training program for elite soldiers and officers.

You can find the result of this conversation here: . The GM has underlined a few parts of the character sheet, which will serve during the game, whenever Paulo Dos Anjos attempts to do difficult things, to find out whether he succeeds.

Example: Kal'Nith vas Vazil

 * Player I'd like to play a Quarian Infiltrator.
 * GM Sure. Any specifics?
 * Player Yeah, the stealthy kind, that's dropped behind enemy lines, stays in the shadows, and then goes and steal data.
 * GM Looks like you have got all that part figured out. How have you acquired those skills? Or how have you used them so far?
 * Player Mmmh... Industrial espionage. During my Pilgrimage, I spent most of my time breaking into corporate research facilities to steal classified data, Shadowrun-style.
 * GM That sounds good.

You can find the result of this conversation here:

Rules for the GM
Any character is acceptable, but feel free to reject any character that feels uncomfortable to you. You may or may not be comfortable leading a group filled with Cerberus Agents, sociopaths, antisocials, pornstars, wanted criminals, Vorchas, Reaper indoctrinates, Quarian Admirals, etc. Feel free to say "no" – better now than later.

Once you have accepted a character sheet, read it, pick the 10 most important words (or sentences) that describe what the character can do, and underline them. You can underline the same word several times, if you feel that this is indicates something that the character can do very well. If you don't find 10 words, inform the player, and give her the choice to either add some more content, or to wait until later, after the game has started, to add that content. You are done.