• Start with a character concept.
• Pick an epoch, a race, and a class that fits your character.
• This will give you a set of skills that are available to you.
• Pick three of these skills to determine your character's starting in-game abilities.

The first and most important part of creating a character in AWESOME is coming up with a neat concept. The setting and character creation rules are flexible enough to be bludgeoned onto whatever you come up with. If you haven't something in mind, have a read through the setting material, watch some movies and get inspired.

So armed, the next stage is to work out which epoch, race and skill suits your character best. They're all quite broad, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. In the end, you will have access to several lists of skills. Pick three of them to give you your in-game abilities, and you're good to go.

• There are two epochs to choose from: Retro, and Neo.
• Characters from different epochs have not met before.

In AWESOME, there are two different epochs – Retro, and Neo. Pick one for your character to come from; it will determine which class traits you have to choose from, and who you know.

The Retro epoch is all about swords and sorcery, heroes and villains. Raging barbarians, sky pirates, cultured nobles, amazonian hunters and gothic steam engineers all call it home. In the Retro epoch, arcane arts go hand in hand with mortal craft, and the powers of light magic make sure the fallen don't stay down for very long.

The Neo epoch is all about chrome and lead, corporations and freelancers. Interstellar commandos, rock and roll bikers, spandexed explorers and space cowboys all butt heads across the galaxy. The characters of the Neo epoch are outfitted with high-tech gizmos up the wazoo, and cortical stacks provide a backup of their consciousness after death.

In the ongoing game, rifts have opened from these epochs to the strange new world of Crossover, where the gods await to test their worth. This means that you shouldn't really make a group concept that involves people from both epochs - at least, not to begin with.

• There are five races to choose from: Humes, Furries, Mecha, Gribblies and Brutes.
• Races other than humans require additional physreps, but give access to new skills.

The races of AWESOME aren't so much single species as broad categories of creatures. If you've a character idea, chances are that it'll fit into one of the five below. If you're playing a race other than Humes, you will be expected to physrep it with at least full-face makeup, but will have access to a racial skill list by way of compensation.

Humes likely need no explanation. They come in every size, shape and colour as humans they do on earth, plus a few more courtesy of magical fallout or genetic experimentation.

Furries are roughly the same shape as Humes, but bear the features of other mammals. Whilst they look very different to another, they are perfectly compatible – mixes between the features of different animals are possible. They are instinctive, intuitive and emotional creatures, although the nature of these traits vary by the animal with whom they share their appearance. What doesn't change, however, is their casual upbeat attitude and, in the neo epoch, affinity for the Intermatrix.

Mecha are artificial life forms, and are as diverse as their creators. Their methods of construction and means of thinking likewise vary between epoch, faction and function, but they are all (more or less) sentient. Not all of them are obviously made of clay or metal, but their inhuman nature is evident to any close inspection. They typically respond much like people, but within the limitations of their form and programming. Mecha cannot reproduce by normal means, regardless of what other equipment they may have.

Gribblies are nightmarish creatures from beyond the reaches of the world. Their appearance varies, but they are always clearly inhuman and often very scary. Gribblies have a natural predatory nature, honed by a lifetime of terrorising people for fun and profit, but are not necessarily incapable of functioning in polite society. Gribblies often claim that the prejudice against them is due to popular misunderstanding. They are lying.

Brutes are tough, straightforward and often heavy-handed creatures. Their size varies, but their skin – which may be any hue – is tough and sometimes even scaled. They may bear the features of reptiles or beasts, or they may simply be very ugly. Brutes haven't the patience to learn the vagueries of civilised discourse, but have a keen appreciation for strength, honesty and what is good in life.

A note on elves: whilst elves have been seen in both epochs, all evidence suggests that they are humans with pointy ears and a superiority complex. Unless they're black with white hair, in which case they're gribblies with pointy ears and a superiority complex. Or if they have fur, in which case they're furries with pointy cat ears and a superiority complex.

• Classes are organised into two epochs.
• You may choose one class as your 'favoured' class.
• Every class has a skill list.
• Skills from your favoured class are easier to learn.

• You may pick three skills.
• Skills are organised into lists. You may choose from the universal list, plus those for your race and favoured class.
• You may pick skills from other class lists in your epoch, but each of these count as two skills against your allowance.

Now, choose three of the traits available to you from the skills page. The skills are sorted into different lists: a universal list, one list for each race (besides human) and one list for each class. You may choose from the universal list, your race's list and the list for your favoured class. Many traits have kit requirements; you must fulfill these if you wish to use them in play.

You may also choose a skill from another class list in your epoch. If you do so, however, it counts as two of your three starting skills.

A note on item requirements: When AWESOME is expanded for fest play, the item requirements will be used, incorporating the section below.

• You may start with one item from the Starting Items list.

Finally, all that remains is to choose an item to start with; you must provide the kit required for the item. These are required for the use of many skills. If you do not require any item to use the skills you have, you may wish to pick the 'Package' option. This will provide you with additional tradeable commodities.

Retro Starting Items: Bladed Weapon, Big Bladed Weapon, Blunt Weapon, Big Blunt Weapon, Projectile Weapon, Big Projectile Weapon, Arcane Weapon, Big Arcane Weapon, Thieves' Tools, Mage's Staff, Alchemist's Apparatus, Smith's Tools, Tinkerer's Toolkit, Package

Neo Starting Items: Bladed Weapon, Big Bladed Weapon, Blunt Weapon, Big Blunt Weapon, Ballistic Weapon, Big Ballistic Weapon, Energy Weapon, Big Energy Weapon, Electronic Tools, Surgeon's Tools, Field Projectors, Chemist's Equipment, Heavy Tools, Gadgeteer's Gear, Package