Classroom Deathmatch: Character Creation House Rules

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but Classroom Deathmatch is one of my favoritest RPGs ever.  One problem I have, however, is running it. I have always felt that it should be able to be picked up and played with a minimum of advance preparation. Unfortunately, the game’s character-creation system is sadly lacking – there really isn’t one at all, actually. As the book exists, characters consist of 50 pre-made characters that the players must randomly draw. However, this requires the GM to have pre-printed and cut all fifty of the characters, and have them on-hand. Since these get written on, it is then extremely difficult to re-use these character sheets for future games.

To combat this, I have whipped up a system of on-the-fly character creation for this game. I’ve actually used this a few times before, and only just now decided to actually put everything down in text so that others can use it. Below are the full details for creating custom characters on the fly. I hope you all find this useful, and I look forward to hearing your results!

Basic Preparation: To use this system, I recommend getting a sheet of paper and making a numbered list from 1 to 50. You’ll use this list to record the names and student numbers of the characters you create, mention, and otherwise bring into play. It’s also a good idea to have a stack of index cards available for student records, or some other similar collection of note paper.

Student Number: There are fifty students in each class of the Deathmatch. This is pretty simple: rolle D100 and divide the result by two, rounding up. If you ever make a new character and roll an already taken number, just roll again.

Popularity: To determine your character’s initial popularity, roll a D6, a D8, and a D10. Whichever is lowest determines your character’s popularity – D6 = Least Popular, D8 = Average, and D12 = Most Popular. If the lowest is a tie, roll the tied dice again to break it.

Elemental Dice: To determine the dice ranks of your five Godai elements, you must rank them at 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1, from best to worst.

Traits: Pick traits from the list below, or write your own.

Clubs: Pick one to three clubs of your choice from the list below.

Belongings: Write down one to three items you would feasibly have on your person.

Special Techniques: Choose one from the list below, or write your own.

Other Students: Whenever a player mentions another previously-unmentioned student in their traits or such (such as a romance, dislike, etc), that newly-mentioned student should be given a name and a randomly-rolled student number, and then added to the main list at the table.

Bringing in New Characters: When a new character is brought into a scene, be it a new player character or just a newcomer NPC to the scene, it is highly recommended that you pull them first from the list of already-named students on the roster, if any. This will most likely make them more important to the characters already there, and make the story more interesting.

Example Traits:

1. Afraid of Boys
2. Afraid of Girls
3. Athletic Family
4. Bad Temper
5. Beats on Smaller Girls
6. Best Dressed
7. Brilliant Mathematician
8. Canadian Exchange Student
9. Can Drive a Car
10. Can Pilot a Boat
11. Collects Doujinshi
12. Complete Pervert
13. Computer Geek
14. Dates (insert character name here)
15. Disgraced Parents
16. Everyone’s Friend
17. Excellent Cook
18. Excellent Pitcher
19. Father is a Baseball Player
20. Father is a Politician
21. Father is in Military
22. Fearless
23. Friends in High Places
24. Girls don’t like me
25. Good friend of (character name)
26. Graffiti Artist
27. Great Motivational Speaker
28. Has a crush on (character name)
29. Hates (character name)
30. Hates Authority
31. Hates Popular Girls
32. Hates Tacos
33. Intimidating
34. Judo Master
35. Knows Everything About Movies
36. Leader of a Boy Gang
37. Leader of a Girl Gang
38. Loves Final Fantasy Games
39. Loves Foreign Food
40. Loves (character name)
41. Loves the sound of own voice
42. Loves to cook for others
43. Martial Arts Training
44. Member of the Boys Gang
45. Member of the Girls Gang
46. Molestation
47. Monopoly Champion
48. Mother is American
49. My band has a record deal
50. Only Child
51. Parents are Doctors
52. Plays online RPGs
53. Ran Away From Home
54. Really Shy
55. Rumored to have killed family
56. School Guily Gear Champion
57. Sells Drugs
58. Show Off
59. Smells Bad
60. Star Pitcher
61. Super Popular
62. Superiority Complex
63. Teacher’s Pet
64. Thinks she has no friends
65. Trilingual
66. Trusted by Friends
67. Very Supportive of Friends
68. Wants to be a nurse
69. Wealthy family
70. Wouldn’t Hurt a Fly

Example Clubs:

1. Academic Club
2. Anime Club
3. Aviation Club
4. Band
5. Baseball Team
6. Basketball Team
7. Bento Club
8. Board Game Club
9. Buddhist Philosophies Club
10. Cafeteria Duty
11. Class President
12. Computer Club
13. Cooking Club
14. Dance Club
15. Drama Club
16. Fashion Club
17. Foreign Movie Club
18. Guitar Club
19. Hall Monitor
20. Hostess Club
21. Judo Club
22. Karate Club
23. Kendo Club
24. Manga Club
25. Model UN
26. Modern Visual Culture Club
27. Music Appreciation Club
28. Ping Pong Club
29. Pottery Club
30. Rollerblade Club
31. “Save the Pandas” Club
32. School Newspaper
33. Soccer Team
34. Student Government
35. Sumo Team
36. Swim Team
37. Tennis Club
38. Track Club
39. Volleyball Team
40. Weight Training Club

Special Techniques:

1. Acrobatic Defense Style!
2. Always Knows the Answer!
3. Best Speech Ever!
4. Can take a beating!
5. Car-lifting strength!
6. Cheater!
7. Combat Driving!
8. Crocodile Bite!
9. Death Pitch!
10. Demon Temper!
11. Dragoon Jump!
12. Everyone Loves Me!
13. Feel the wrath of my Level 70 Paladin!
14. Flying Phoenix Kick!
15. Foreign might!
16. Girls submit to my wicked charms!
17. Gravity-defying vertical sprint!
18. I lead this gang!
19. I won’t die until I confess my love!
20. Healing Touch!
21. Intellectual Powerhouse!
22. I can talk my way out of anything!
23. I know your weakness!
24. I won’t die before you!
25. Invisibility technique!
26. Judo Takedown!
27. Lucky!
28. My Family OWNS your family!
29. Overwhelming Beauty!
30. Moves like the wind!
31. No one tells me what to do!
32. Perfect Aim!
33. Romance Healing Kiss Technique!
34. Run away!
35. Sex Appeal!
36. Sneak Attack!
37. Sumo Tackle!
38. Super Bento Special Technique!
39. Super Cat Reflex!
40. Super Charming Smile!
41. Suppressed Fury!
42. Surprise Snake Kick!
43. Take the hit!
44. Ultra Haymaker!
45. Ultra Tornado Speed!
46. Unbreakable Spirit!
47. Unnoticeable Wallflower Stealth Attack!
48. Volcano Punch-uh!
49. Wounds can’t stop me!
50. Yoko Strikeout Special!