Choose whatever method of selecting cards that works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment. To me, the key word is vision - the basic concept of the character. How you get that isn't important. If you end up using some cards as illustrations rather than major components of the character's background then that's fine by me.
Because Everway characters do not have any skill lists written down - unless taken as Specialities - the character's background is used instead. If a character should have a skill then they will have it - a character who comes from a tribe of mounted nomads will always be as good a rider as their fire score permits, unless their background says otherwise.
Card sets that I find useful :
Spherewalker - as part of the official background, and as a companion to the excellent supplement of the same name these are well worth having. Better yet, Rubicon are selling them as a factory set.
Companion Set - in many ways a "Best of FPG" set, selecting the most useful cards from many artists. Unlike virtually every other set, all cards are usable.
David Cherry - Many female characters, and not a single chainmail bikini !
Charles Vess - Many illustrations relate to Faerie. No sf - and no chainmail bikinis.
Michael Whelan (1 & 2) - One of the top fantasy artists.
Janny Wurts - some excellent art. She does many of the covers for her own books.
Roger Dean - best for strange landscapes and cities.
Tom Canty - Very distinctive style. Almost entirely portrait-style pictures. Some nice female characters and some very good knights.
Royo (1-3) - some very good art. Many cards could most politely be described as "erotica".
Robh Ruppel - Some cheesecake, but some very nice images as well.
Also Michael Kaluta, Maxfield Parrish, Tom Kidd and Don Maitz.
I prefer to follow the suggestion in the rules, and use "meaningful" names. Names I have used are Firetongue, Travels Far and Moonlit Frost. It is quite common in the Everway universe for people to change their names when their lives change - so giving the character one or more previous names may help illustrate their lives.
There has to be some reason for the character's travels. It's probably best to make it one that will last a good long time.
Note that "negative" meanings of cards can be taken as virtues. The Hero Creation Guide (a pamphlet issued for demonstration games), suggests that The Cockatrice could represent resistance to corruption.
Don't make the mistake of confusing specialities with skills. The character will have skills that are not specialities, and a speciality need not be a skill. Specialities are areas of ability where a character is better than their Element scores indicate. In fact, the ability may not even usually come under the Element chosen. If you can explain an ability in terms of an Element, you may take it as a speciality for that Element.
As a GM, I generally rule that a narrower speciality is better than a broader one. A character who specialises in "all hand weapons" will usually be beaten by one who specialises in "bladed weapons", who will usually be beaten by one who specialises in "broadsword". Of course, it would still be a hard fight, and Fortune may favour either side.
One of the best parts of the Everway rules. Use your imagination, taking the examples in the book as examples of power cost. I like detailed powers, with drawbacks as well as advantages. Two examples:
Restored by Fire (3)
Fire returns the character's body to it's original state - even reversing death and dismemberment along with the effects of age and disease. The hotter the fire the faster the process. Fire does no damage at all, but still hurts as if it did. Unfortunately this power also tends to cause memory loss if any major restoration is involved.
Sheds Skin (0) : Every few years the character sheds their skin, like a snake, and is rejuvenated. The new skin is sensitive for a few days. (Variant of Unaging).
This is a big subject - see the separate article on The Nature of Magic, the Fire magic known as The Path of the Storm and Mask Magic designed for the NPC Masque.
Magic should be designed by the player in conjunction with the GM. I use the descriptions of the magic levels in the Playing Guide (p100) as the basis for what is possible at each level. The examples of magic are helpful, but less so, as is the "two element test" (p109).
While this stage may be skipped if time is short, it is useful for filling in details about the character. I strongly suggest that you make the most of this to define the character more fully.
If possible the character should be costed as if they were human. As long as the character is close to human or can adopt a human-like form - or even has the same basic capabilities as a human there should be no problem. For example being a satyr costs no points in itself - although the character should have suitable elements and powers.
If the character has significant limitations (e.g. no real hands) then the cost may be reduced a little. For instance, being a bird that can turn into human would be a 2 point power (the same as being a human who can turn into a bird). Being a bird that cannot transform would usually be a 1 point power (for flight).
Everway is copyright Rubicon Games 1996. Everway and Spherewalker are trademarks of Rubicon games. This document is not intended as a challenge to those rights.
This document is copyright Paul King 1997.