Character Creation

In Nowhere Land, you don't build a character—you forge an Echo: a resonance of choices, careers, and debts that ripples across domains.

Step 0: Choose Your Origin

Before anything else, determine your character's Origin—their relationship to Nowhere Land. This sets your starting Drift and shapes how you experience the impossible territories.

The Three Origins

🌍 Outsider

You've just arrived in Nowhere Land. The real world is still vivid—family, home, everything you left behind.

Starting Drift: 1

Imagination: Full (5)

Special: +2 to resist Drift increases

🚶 Traveler

You've been here before—perhaps many times. The Outside feels distant, like a half-remembered dream.

Starting Drift: 3

Imagination: Normal (4)

Special: +1 Domain Potential of choice

🏠 Settler

Born here or fully claimed. Nowhere Land is your home—you've forgotten (or never knew) the Outside.

Starting Drift: 7+

Imagination: Reduced (2) or None

Special: Instinctual Potentials, cannot leave

Most campaigns begin with Outsiders or Travelers. Settler PCs are rare and require Trickster approval due to their limited Imagination and inability to return to the Outside.

Choose Your Polarity (Travelers & Settlers)

When you first learn to use Potentials (usually Drift 1+), you develop an affinity toward one of three polarities:

滅 Metsu (Destruction)

Offensive Potentials: -1 cost
Defensive Potentials: +1 cost

結 Ketsu (Binding)

Control/Defense Potentials: -1 cost
Offensive Potentials: +1 cost

⚖️ Balanced

No cost modifiers.
Flexible but no specialization.

Outsiders may delay this choice until they gain their first Potential.

Step 1: Concept & Identity

Start with the basics: Name, Gender, Age, and a brief Concept. Your concept should capture your character's role in one sentence.

"A disillusioned historian searching for Atlantis"
"A runaway teen who fell into a subway portal"
"An exiled noble from a dying domain"

Age Matters

Your age determines your starting Careers, Reverie, and Essences. Choose one:

Youth (15-25)

• 2-3 Careers
• +5 Reverie
• -1 Forma (growing)

Prime (26-45)

• 4 Careers
• +2 Reverie
• No modifiers

Elder (46+)

• 5-6 Careers
• +0 Reverie
• -1 Forma, -1 Anima

Step 2: Define Your Essences

Choose a method to determine your Forma, Anima, and Umbra (-5 to +5 each):

Method A: Point Buy

You have 15 points to distribute. Costs:

• +1 Essence = 2 points
• 0 Essence = 0 points
• -1 Essence = refund 1 point

Limits: No Essence above +4 at creation. Max refund: 3 points (lowest -3).

Method B: Random Roll

Roll 4d6, drop lowest for each Essence. Subtract 10, divide by 2 (round down). Range: -4 to +4.

Method C: Archetypes

Choose a pre-built template:

Everyman: +2/+1/0, 0 Reverie

Specialist: +4/0/-2, 1 Reverie

Balanced: +2/+2/-2, 2 Reverie

Dreamer: 0/0/0, 5 Reverie, +1 Career

Step 3: Invest Career Points

Career Points represent the life experience you bring to Nowhere Land. Unlike simple career slots, career points allow for nuanced character building inspired by Traveller, Barbarians of Lemuria, and Warhammer Fantasy.

Sample Careers

🥾 Drifter (Standard: 1 point)

Skills: Survival +1, Subterfuge +1

Boon: Hardened – Ignore first Wound per scene

Burden: Rootless – Cannot own property in domains

📚 Scholar (High: 2 points)

Skills: Lore +1, Investigation +1, Languages +1

Boon: Linguist – Read ancient texts, +1 Reverie

Burden: Sedentary – -2 dice on forced marches

⚔️ Sentinel (Standard: 1 point)

Skills: Martial Prowess +1, Tactics +1

Boon: Guardian – Take Wounds for allies within range

Burden: Duty Bound – Test Anima to retreat

🎲 Gambler (Minor: ½ point)

Skills: Deception +1

Boon: Lucky – Reroll one die per session (situational)

Burden: undefined

Step 4: Distribute Skill Levels

Your Careers grant starting skill levels. Distribute any extra points from your age category.