Day 15 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge and here's my part two for the Mall Kids RPG 'zine by Matthew J Gravelyn.
Character Name: Anthony "Tony Pepperoni" Sordoni Pronouns: He/Him
Look: Jeans & T-shirt, always a hat of
Style: Preppified Security Uniform, small backpack.
Where Do You Work? Tony's Pizza and Subs (no relation), about a half mile from the mall.
Who are You? Nobody
What do you Want? Ask someone out
Cred: 4
Corporate: 2
The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude
The above quote from Grace Wheelburg describes Ferris Bueller to a T, but not Tony. Rather, all those groups might consider Tony a "good dude" maybe just "a dude," at worst "it's the pizza guy, he's decent."
Tony "Pepperoni" worked at the neighborhood pizza shop even before they began paying him under the table... and he's not even family! He's worked up to deliveries, usually riding a very illegal moped, or his parent's very ancient Chevette when the weather's bad.
He's a fairly likeable kid, never gets into too much trouble, and can attach himself to just about any group... except the preps.
He's trying desperately to attach himself to Sabrina Marks, edgy former preppy (?). He's found himself wandering into the new scene-core/alt shop, the Velvet Alley, and purchased to many keychains, stickers, and other cheap random crap just to talk to her.
He has moved up his imaginary totem pole of importance to her. Doing little errands, grabbing her a drink, easily getting friend-zoned with the "lifesaver" descriptor. He probably (and doesn't) have a shot, but it was better than just waiting around with the skaters until the next shift at the pizza joint.
The influx of the preps at the store have made everyone uncomfortable, definitely the customers, but especially Sabrina. Tony's too good to do anything illegal, but to get in Sabrina's really good graces, he'd do the teenage equivalent of burying bodies.
A little insight on Tony: When I completed my first #CharacterCreationChallenge back in 2022, I swore I wouldn't do it again. I did return for 2023, planning out things a little earlier in advance. I actually made some great characters for 2024, but ran out of steam on day 13. Last year, I planned a lot out much earlier, be it concepts or random AI art inspiration, with a healthy reliance on D&D 5e or Gamma World 4e.
This year? I had about 13 days plotted out, but not statted out, by mid-year. Tony was a little later, probably the end of summer, when I created a new blog draft with "Pizza Delivery Boy - #CharacterCreationChallenge."
I could use a bunch of systems, but remembered Mall Kids from last year. Except *gasp* my concept for Tony doesn't perfectly line up with the 20-page 'zine. A tiny nudge with concepts, a need for a second character, and voila, Sabrina Marks was created to fill that void.
It's funny, I when I looked back for links to the previous years', and to remove the rose-colored nostalgia, I realized that the next couple days of characters will be an undertaking two years in the making, that keeps getting pushed back.
I also must say I finally need to sign up for the Patreon for Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. I have a pile of scenario ideas from the podcast hiding in my drafts, inspiration for some obscure Gnome Wars units, but I also built about a Hackmaster character back in 2023 based entirely on Favomancy. You can make nothing but D&D characters, or Star Trek, or Villains & Vigilantes, or the hottest indy RPG, all month long. I do like a little flair and variance from mine, even if they're bean diviners or pizza guys.
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