Editing Unwritten: System Reference Document/Character Creation (section)

==Your Journey==
Unwritten characters are driven to know and discover things, whether it is about the universe, about life, or about themselves. They are on an on-going experience in which they have grown and changed, and will continue to do so in the future. This is their journey.

You define your journey by the steps that you take along the way. Your character is already on their path, so now you will describe what has led them to who they are now. Then, you will use these as the foundation for choosing your remaining aspects.

===Steps on the Path===
These are key experiences that have shaped who your character is now. They depict what they are seeking, what has happened to them, and what matters to them.

Choose two options from below and answer the prompts. You do not need to go into great detail on these right now—just a sentence or two will do fine now. If you want to go into greater detail later, feel free.
* Choose something your character desires above all else. Describe an event where your character has done something extraordinary in hopes of achieving that goal.
* Choose a belief your character holds dear. You can decide if this is a religious belief, an ethical principle, or just something that your character clings to tightly. Describe when that belief formed or when it crystallized as so important to them.
* Choose a belief your character holds or held dear. Describe a moment where that belief was tested or challenged. Explain how your character responded to the challenge and how it shaped them. You can choose the same belief as the step above, or a different one. It is your choice whether your character continues to hold that belief or not.
* Choose something or someone important to your character. Describe how it came to mean so much.
* Choose an issue you have never resolved. Describe an incident where you struggled to deal with it.
* Choose an Age that your character visited. Describe the Age and what happened there that affected your character deeply.

===Crossing Paths===
Your Journey also includes the other player characters in the game. You share experiences with them that bind you together.

You will be working collaboratively with other players on this section. Start with a random player. That player chooses another player to work with to create an experience that their two characters shared. Then the player who was chosen gets to choose the next player to do the same thing and so on until the last player left creates an experience with the first. This creates a circle of connections throughout the group, which each character being connected to two others.

For each experience, choose one of the following prompts:
* Describe an event where their character helped yours in a time of need.
* Describe a tragedy you weathered together.
* Describe a moment where you disagreed strongly in a way that has never been resolved.
* Describe someone you both knew and cared about or respected greatly.
* Describe when a problem their character had or caused impacted your character as well.

Like the previous section, don’t go too deeply into detail right now. You can come up with more detail with the other players after character creation, or you may want to add details during play as they occur to you.

===Journey Aspects===
Now we look at the journey that your character has taken and create four aspects based off of those experiences. Not every experience needs to be represented in your Journey aspects, nor does every aspect need to tie directly back to one of these experiences. Instead, use your character’s journey as inspiration for what elements are important and dramatic to your character’s on-going story.

If you have time, you might want to read the whole chapter we have dedicated to aspects before you go through the process of character creation. In case you’re pressed for time, here are some guidelines for choosing aspects:

Aspects which don’t help you tell a good story (by giving you success when you need it and by drawing you into danger and action when the story needs it) aren’t doing their job. The aspects which push you into conflict—and help you excel once you’re there—will be among your best and most-used.

Aspects need to be both useful and dangerous—allowing you to help shape the story and generating lots of fate points. They should never be boring. The best aspect suggests both ways to use it and ways it can complicate your situation. Aspects that cannot be used for either of those are likely to be dull indeed. Bottom line: if you want to maximize the power of your aspects, maximize their interest.

When you’re told you need to come up with an aspect, you might experience brain freeze. If you feel stumped for decent ideas for aspects, there’s a big section focusing on several methods for coming up with good aspect ideas in Aspects and Fate Points.

If you ultimately can’t break the block by any means, don’t force it—leave it completely blank. You can always come back and fill out that aspect later, or let it develop during play. Ultimately, it’s much better to leave an aspect slot blank than to pick one that isn’t inspiring and evocative to play. If you’re picking aspects you’re not invested in, they’ll end up being noticeable drags on your fun.