HELLYWOOD CHARACTER CREATION

1) NATURE
Selecting two Natures is the first step of creating a tough guy or girl in Hellywood.
Natures represent a character’s deep inclinations and motivations. They are the flame that burns
deep inside you — a fire that is not extinguished no matter the events that life throws at you.
Natures push you to action and, sometimes, handicap or clearly paralyse you.
Here is a list of the Natures available to your character. If you are playing a hornhead, then one of
your Natures will necessarily be that of the kind you chose (Golem, Possessed, Seraphin or
Succubus).

Natures (names subject to change as the translation and editing process continues)
 Addict/Boozer
 Already Dead
 Ambitious
 Avenger
 Believer
 Chameleon
 Code of Honor
 Comeback
 Coward
 Cynical
 Deviant
 Diehard
 Everybody’s Pal
 Femme Fatale
 Free Woman
 Fugitive
 Golem
 High Roller
 In Love
 In Search of Redemption
 Loony
 Loser
 Methodical
 Poser
 Possessed
 Protector
 Quiet
 Rebel
 Rotten to the Bone
 Sell out
 Seraphin
 Snitch
 Soft
 Succubus
 Violent
Advantages and Disadvantages
Each Nature offers one Advantage and penalizes with one Disadvantage. Here are a handful of the
many interesting possibilities:
Advantages
 Already Dead: you can be put out but never killed.
 Protector: you share an empathic link with your protégé, so you always know when he or
she is in danger.
 Snitch: you always have a name you can mention to get out of a bad situation.
Disadvantages
 Avenger: you will never miss even the smallest chance of pursuing your vendetta.
 Golem: a summoner who knows your tattoos and succeeds on his demonist roll may chant
the words that enslave you.
 Rotten to the Bone: no-one ever trusts you, ever.

2) BACKGROUNDS
After selecting two Natures, you define the Background of your character. Backgrounds are a
variety of things: periods of your life, resources, equipment, status or contacts, etc. You have 50
points to spend on Backgrounds, and may also develop one free Past.
Here is a list of your Background options:

Pasts
In addition to one free Past, you may purchase more of these for 10 points each. A Past is a period
of the character’s life that left such a mark that it can, even now, have repercussions, if only as an
obsessive memory. A Past can be a long period, a series of events, even a regularly frequented social
group.
Some examples offered in the rulebook are: took part on the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge,
went through a painful divorce, spent 10 years in the slammer, fought in World War Two, was a
local police officer, has long frequented the night life, had joined the International Brigades in
Spain, lost a very young child, was committed after a long depression, or was member of a
fraternity at college.
A Past can be a source of information, but usually non-specific information. For instance, if your
Past included hobnobbing with Heaven Harbor’s high society, you have doubtlessly heard of Mayor
Palmer’s numerous female conquests. However, only someone close to the mayor can really help
you identify a particular girl.
Pasts also allow you to launch Flashbacks during play. Flashbacks are a very important element
of the Hellywood system — and one of my favorites aspects of the game! Each character is allowed
one Flashback per game session he can launch at any moment he likes. Some natures grant a second
Flashback per session. A Flashback is ALWAYS linked to a past — that’s the reason characters have
one free Past.
At any moment, the player may launch a Flashback and take control from the VO (the GM, called
the Voiceover in Hellywood) and describe something from his past that influences the present
narration. A Flashback can possibly even change the situation or introduce more information: the
character has visited this place; he knows someone present, etc. What’s important is to use his
imagination and link the flashback to the character’s past and the current situation.
Here’s a Flashback in action as described in the rulebook:
The players forcibly enter the office of the lawyer of one of their enemies, determined to make him
spill some information. They get the lawyer by the collar and prepare to put the screws on him
when the door opens and a mountain of muscles enters. The bodyguard! Things are about to get
dicey. That’s when Loris spends a Flashback and explains how this guy served under him in
Normandy, how they took a bunker together and how he had carried the wounded big man to
shelter. The bodyguard recognizes his former lieutenant. The VO decides that the very confused guy
is not going to break the bones of an old brother in arms. Instead, he explains to his boss that surely
these guys are all right and he should perhaps listen to them…
It’s worth noting that characters with a horned Nature (golem, etc.) cannot launch a Flashback that’s
set prior to their arrival in Heaven Harbor.

Other Backgrounds
You also spend Background points on these options:
Connections: This represent the people the character knows and who he can call upon to get aid or
information. Of course, this kind of thing never works in one direction: it's not uncommon for a
connection to request help in return. A character’s Connections can be contacts (5 points), allies (10
points) or friends (15 points). The contact’s status also costs points: everyman (5 points), minor
authority (10 points), local big shot (20 points) or head honcho (30 points).
Possessions: Items or real estate the character owns. Very often these are not trivial items — there’s
no point in spending points for your razor or a pair of shoes. The item will often be an element from
your past and you have a strong connection with it. Examples are 5 points for a customized weapon
or 40 points to have shares in a casino.
Dough: This is essentially an income from your character’s activities. Each character starts with
level 5 “laborer” without any point spending. Notably, 15 points lands you “detective”.
Status: Your character belongs to an organization and has status and authority therein, with all
associated rights and duties. Status +5, that of “everyman,” is given free to each character. At 30
points you might be an advisor or assistant to the mayor. Status is a very special notion in
Hellywood. A Voice-over will only allow choosing this Background in specific conditions,
determined by the type of campaign he has in mind. The game you all wish to play may be entirel;y
“street level” and so everyone should accept being a 5 point “everyman”. That or take the bonus
point and chose the 0 point “scum”.
Demon Directory: This Background is reserved for the irresponsible individuals who want to deal
with the forces of the Maze (the origination of the hornheads). This directory is not a physical
object: it is a sort of abstraction measuring the familiarity the character has with the forces of the
Bound, his knowledge of their hierarchy, and his ability to summon the right entity.

Disadvantageous Backgrounds
Sometimes the past is very hard to bear. Your character may carry some past experiences or some
youthful errors like a ball and chain. Thus you can choose up to three “negative” backgrounds that
grant a certain number of points with which you can buy other backgrounds.
Your choices are Broke (worth -20!), Enemies, Negative Status (-10, you Communist!), and
Consequences. A consequence is a physical, mental or social scar, something remaining after a
strong, dramatic episode in the character’s life. The consequence can sometimes influence the
character’s actions by reducing his pool or increasing the damage score (permanently or not). This
is dealt with in its own section of the rulebook.
3) ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS
The final step of character creation involves spending a pool of points on Attributes and Skills.
A tough guy or girl has nine attributes. Each Attribute has a fixed score. This score is used as a
betting pool to attempt to accomplish an action. The pool can decrease and increase by large
amounts during the game, while the score itself remains constant, only increasing with experience.
Your character has a base score of 40 in all Attributes. During character creation, you may divide
400 points between them, though no score can be higher than 200 unless an exception is granted by
the Voiceover or by certain Natures. The distribution is made in multiples of 5: you cannot allocate
52 points to an Attribute, only 50 or 55.
The nine Attributes are divided into three categories: physical, mental and social. Each category
contains a Resistance Attribute (respectively Toughness, Guts, Cool).
Here is a list of the nine Attributes:

Physical Attributes
Dexterity: A character’s know-how and manual dexterity, his ability to handle objects and
materials. It’s ideal to perform rather complex actions like picking a recalcitrant lock.
Muscle: It represents brute force, combative pugnacity, speed and agility — the overall energy of
the beast. To strike strongly or accurately both depend on muscle.
Toughness: It’s the character’s resource for survival and physical might, his ability to make
physical efforts.

Mental Attributes
Brains: A character’s ability for abstraction, improvisation and memory, his cunning and
knowledge.
Mojo: This is the “animal magnetism” that makes the men act foolish and the ladies swoon. Mojo
also designates the character’s affinity to the world’s supernatural forces.
Guts: It represents the character’s nerves and courage. It’s what he needs to be able to draw a gun
under fire without trembling.

Social Attributes
Mug: It represents the character’s aura, physical presence, the capacity to intimidate, to intimidate
by inciting the most primitive reactions.
Chutzpah: A character’s eloquence and verbal ease, or the ability to swindle your neighbor or to
seduce through fast talk.
Cool: The mastery of self while in public, the capacity to take any sarcasm, insult or accusation and
remain wooden and apparently undisturbed.

Skills
This list of skills can be found on the character sheet: Actor, Admnistrator, Artist (), Athlete,
Bouncer, Brawler, Bum, Demonist, Diplomat, Doc, Driver, Entertainer, Gambler, Investigator,
Marksman, Mechanic, Merchant, Pilot, Psychologist, Safecracker, Seducer, Scientist, Technician,
Thief.
In principle, Attributes are enough to perform or attempt any action. However, a character’s skills
define his or her strong points: the areas in which the character is better than other people. it is not
necessary to have a skill to perform an action it covers.
Skills are rated in three levels – professional, expert and virtuoso – and each modifies the way the
dice are read. At character creation you have 9 skill levels to divide between the skills of your
choice. However, beginning characters may not have a skill of level 3 (virtuoso).

There's No Perception Skill

You’ll note that there is no Perception skill or the like. This is another small and ingenious
innovation of Hellywood. Any skill can be used to modify a perception roll. The skill must simply
be applicable to the action and it derives from another of the character’s areas of expertise. For
instance, Investigator allows attentively searching a room, Bouncer recognizing a disguise, Thief
listening to doors, or Driver to read a distant or mud-covered license plate.
F*ck*n’b*st*rd Points
F*ck*n’b*st*rd (also called FBP) are a means to cheat fate — except that it always comes back to
bite you in the ass. You can ask to reroll the dice – one and only one reroll per situation. In
exchange, you note down one FBP on your character sheet. You may accumulate as many as you
like; just know that they absolutely will blow up in your face.
That moment is left entirely to the discretion of the VO. When he sees fit, he can remove one or
more of your FBP and inflict on you, for your pains, minor inconveniences or huge catastrophes.
1 point: your car breaks down when your need is urgent, even vital. 2 points: the extreme measures
used against you count double. (NOTE: An “extreme measure” is a system term. It’s a weapon —
physical in the case of a pistol or a knife, for instance, or social in the case of physical evidence or
arguments like a secret threatened to be revealed — with a score between 10 and 200 that counts
against a character’s pool.)
5 points: you see your informant get run over by a bus before he had the opportunity to give you a
crucial piece of information you expected.
10 points: your mother-in-law is coming to dinner tonight; you have forgotten the kid’s toys for
Christmas and your ex will use it to take visitation rights form you; a demon is inside your head
ever since you fainted in your last brawl…
As you can see, the scale is very variable and the VO has the final word on the matter. You have no
say in the matter: you are always caught by Fate and you have been warned.
Example: Rinaldi has pushed his luck one time too many. He’s accumulated no less than 9
F*ck*n’B*st*rd Points. For now, the sneaky VO lets him be. And then you find Rinaldi running
breathlessly in an ally hoping to reach his car before the three goons that want to do him harm get
their hands on him. Rinaldi rejoices: he managed to outrun them and gets behind the wheel. But
Fate catches up on him: despite his panicked efforts, the car refuses to start. The three guys break
the window and pull Rinaldi out of the car. He has won a good, old-fashioned beating... later, when
Rinaldi emerges from alley, covered in bruises and spitting teeth, his F*ck*n’B*st*rd Points are
reduced to 4. Great…
Also, when your VO uses your Nature to push you in some direction, he must subtract one of your
FBP for it.
GAME SYSTEM

EXAMPLE:
You got an attribute (say "Muscle" at 75) and a skill (say "Brawler" at "++") and you want to punch
a face.
You bet some of your Muscle. Since you want to down the motherf*cker, you bet 50. Dangerous,
that but you really want to punch in his face.
Now you roll 2D6.
You got Brawler "++". That means :
- you are "succesful" on 6, 7, 8, or 11
- you "fail" on 2, 3, 12
- you are 50-50 on any other result.
Possible results:
a) You are succesful:
You punch that face for 50 damage WOW. Taken out of the Toughness of the guy. Also, you don't
lose what you bet : Muscle stays at 75 after the shot.
b) You are 50-50:
You punch that face for 25 damage (still hurts !). But you lose half what you bet (Muscle is at 50
after the shot).
c) You fail:
You fail to punch that face AND you lose what you bet : Muscle is at 25 after the shot. Careful,
man!
Those lost points can translate into other things described by the VO (Voiceover or gamemaster),
also.
For a punch in the face, it's more clear. For an investigation, what does succesful/50-50/fail mean ?
The GM (VO in Hellywood) defines a difficulty for the test. Let's say 30.
You have to beat that difficulty with your bet : if you bet 30, you have to "succeed" (you beat a
difficulty of 30). If you're 50-50, you only beat a difficulty of 15 (and lose 15 in your pool). If you
fail, well, you fail. You don't know the difficulty (VO does not tell) but you can bet huge amounts to
make sure you are succesful even in 50-50 case (in y example, you need to bet at least 60). But you
succeed at a biggest cost too. Finally, if you have not bet enough (you "succeed" but did bet only
15) : your best isn't good enough. You fail but with no problem. You might even be able to retry if
the VO is in a good mood...