To create a character, follow the guide below and submit a character using our submission form. If you have any questions about your character, feel free to come along to our character creation session (see when and where) or email the gm team at gm@nightknights.oxfordlarp.com. For players wishing to start at session 1, characters need to be submitted by Tuesday 21st January. It is possible to create a character and join the game once it's started - we ask that you try and get your character to us at least a week before the session you intend to start at, so that we can review it at the GM meeting.

Your character's name and pronouns. You may also want to include a nickname if that's relevant. Names can be more or less whatever you want - feel free to use the names of your own beloved childhood toys, or make up a name. As regards gender, toys are entirely sexless, and your pronouns are whatever Jordan decided they are!

What kind of toy are you? Are you a teddybear? Some other stuffed animal? An action figure? Perhaps a remote control car? Be whatever you like, but please stay within the following guidelines:

• No real-world brands or trademarks. You can take inspiration from the real world if you like, but you can't be an actual Barbie, or Beanie Baby, or Furby, for example.
• You must have a face. We've decided this is the requirement for a toy to be sufficiently person-like to be a character. It can be abstract, but you need something that is identifiable as a face.
• You must be some sort of toy that would be found in an 8-year-old's bedroom.
• You may play a multi-part toy, for example a Mr Potato Head equivalent, but you must choose one part of you to be your “core”, the bit that is, ultimately, “you”.
• You may only play a single toy - you can play a single green army man, you can't play an entire squadron. It is valid to play a toy that comes as part of a set - in that case, any other toys in the set will be NPCs or other PCs.

We will assign you some sort of positive trait or ability appropriate to the type of toy you are. We're happy to discuss this with you to make sure you're happy with it, and you are welcome to suggest what sort of ability you might like, though the final decision is at the discretion of the GMs. If it seems appropriate, some toys might instead get two positive traits and a negative trait - for example, a toy snake might have a negative trait of “you don't have arms”, with the disadvantages that entails, but would have an extra positive trait to make up for it. Again, this is purely at GM discretion.

A short background of your character. Who are you as a person? How did you come to be Jordan's toy? Were you a present, were you second hand? What's your relationship with Jordan?

This is also a good place to put any character goals you have (both IC and OC) if you have them, so we know what you or your character is hoping to achieve over the game. This of course may change completely during the course of the game, or you might not have any specific goals at game start, so no pressure to have to include anything specific.

Every toy has a Class. Your Class determines what you can do with one of your actions every turnsheet. The following classes are available at character creation, though more classes may become available over the course of play.

You know how to build things, you're good with your paws. Each night you may choose to:

• Craft equipment - build weapons, armour, or useful gadgets out of household materials
• Build defenses - work to fortify Jordan's room against monsters, by building booby traps, walls, or anything else you can think of to help
• Repair toys - with the proper materials, you can repair damaged toys if they've taken wounds from monsters

You are on the front lines against the monsters. If they want to hurt Jordan, they're going to have to go through your fluffy body first. Each night you may choose to:

• Defend the room - stay in Jordan's room to guard them from the monsters that would invade
• Search for reinforcements - mount an expedition into the Attic to retrieve supplies that haven't been unpacked from the move yet
• Go on the offensive - delve into the realms of the monsters, taking the fight to them

You are a mystic, skilled at guarding the dreams of sleeping children. Each night you may choose to:

• Soothe Jordan's sleep - weave yourself into Jordan's dreams to walk them and protect from nightmares
• Weave magic - using Imagination harvested from dreams, create fantastical effects in the real world
• Consult the Seer - learn answers to questions about the future

You are the eyes and ears of the bedroom. You provide the information that lets everyone else do their job. Each night you may choose to:

• Scavenge - explore the rest of the house to find useful materials for the Crafters to use, and maybe more
• Scout the monsters' realm - delve stealthily under the bed to learn more about what's under there, and find out where the Adventurers need to go the next night
• Gather information - spy on documents around the house to learn more about Jordan's life and the things going on in it

You have three stats, each ranked from 1 to 5. You have a total of 8 points to split among them as you like.

Love - How beloved you are as Jordan's toy. This governs how much effect your actions have on Jordan's morale - in both directions. The more beloved you are, the more effectively you can calm Jordan's fears, but the loss of a truly beloved toy will have severe consequences for their state of mind.

Bravery - How prepared you are to stand against the monsters. A low bravery character is likely to break and run if things get scary, whereas a high bravery character will do their duty no matter what.

Durability - How well-made are you? Can you take all the rough treatment a child can provide and keep going, or are you fragile and delicate? The dangers of fighting monsters are real, and low durability characters are more likely to get damaged - or even Lost.

Select a number between -2 and +2 for each of the playstyle options, with 0 being “whatever the GMs decide”.

• Chances of Success (-2 = low chance of success, +2 = high chance of success)
• Darkness of Themes (-2 = generally happy themes, +2 = really dark themes)
• Chances of Death (-2 = will die if it's the only thing that makes sense, +2 = will die if it's suitably dramatic)