Step 1: Come up with a basic concept.
Martin has an idea for a former army doctor who served in Afghanistan and has now returned to England to work as a GP.
Step 2: Select two classes.
Martin immediately identifies Doctor and Military as appropriate classes for his character.
Step 3: Select five skills.
Skills can be from either or both of your character classes.
Martin decides Medicine and Surgery are essential skills for an army doctor, and selects each of them. After some thought he decides on Educated, Firearms and Courage for his remaining three skills.
Step 4: Select a specialisation.
This is something that you are especially good at, and are known for in your particular field. It should relate to at least one of your character’s skills.
Martin decides his character’s wartime experience has made him exceptionally good at identifying and treating the diseases he encountered in Afghanistan. For his specialisation he chooses “Doctor of Tropical Diseases”.
Step 5: Finishing touches
Give your character a name and a backstory.
Martin decides his character needs a nice solid English name and settles on John. John went to school at Rugby, before training as a doctor and joining the British Army to fight in Afghanistan. When his regiment was struck by an outbreak of malaria it was up to John to save his friends. At last, John was injured and sent back to England where he decided to put his skills to use as a GP.
Race and gender have no bearing on the type of character you can play. The Victorian era was a time of inequality and prejudice, but while female surgeons and black aristocrats may have been unusual, they did exist. Even the British and American armies, which banned women from joining, had many female soldiers serving while disguised as men.
Penny Dreadful LRP has no formal character advancement system at present. However, there may be occasions when in-game actions lead to your character being invited to learn a new skill.