Character Creation

Mu-Ahaha, It’s ALIVE

Like all good RPG’s we need a character to play … that’s right it’s gonna be you. Now it doesn’t have to be exactly you. In fact, when I created this game I was Samuel Ward and he was a motherfucking debt fighting machine! He was a dashing man
with broad sholders and a tight ass. Women loved me, err, I mean Mr. Ward.

Do you wanna be a wizard that blasts debts to char? Or how about a space marine that mows down alien debt. Be creative. Or if you want, you can be you. If you can’t confront your debts however then create an alter ego that can.
Grab a piece of paper and jot down a name you choose at the top.

Stats

Monthly Damage, Additional Damage, Total Damage

Your first stats is how much damage you or your alter ego can dish out. Your damage is a representation of how much you earn. An alter ego is an excellent idea here if you feel embarrassed or upset about your income. Once created, it’s not your income its your character’s
damage rating and you can wash your hands of it.

For instance: If you make $2200 a month then that is your monthly damage. Under the name write down Monthly Damage and the amount after it.

*I chose not to include a dollar sign. You can if you want but it detracted me. I wanted as little associations to my actual income and debt as possible. It made me feel better seeing my damage represented as strict numerical value rather then a monetary value and it further disassociated that number from my bills and obligations.*

Additional damage is any monies you make that isn’t tied to your job. This can be from making and selling jewelry on your spare time, selling junk one Ebay to working the street corner. Whatever you do to make ends meet on the side is included here. If you don’t have a single job that is your main source of income then represent all your streams of income here.

Total Damage is the total of your Monthly Damage and Additional Damage.

WT / AT / FT:

WT, AT and FT are expressions of the time you have on a weekly basis. It might seem odd to include your time as direct indicator of your debt, but the E.D.O is trying to control your one true commodity … your time. The E.D.O weaves a spell where your time becomes directly tied to your income.

WT: Working Time – This is the time you spend making money for someone else. This also includes making money on any kind of time basis. Plain and simple. An interesting correlation is that people that get paid more money for their time end up working considerably more hours for that money. This is typical of people in the fields of law, health and finance.

Another interesting observation about WT is that working on a salary is potentially worse then working for an hourly rate. People that work on salary tend to work an additional 10 to 30 hours per week but don’t see an extra dime for those hours. You might make a decent salary but your hourly earnings are horrible because you put in 65 hour work weeks. Being a salaried employee sounds more important but that’s just the E.D.O’s sell pitch to capture your soul!

AT: Active Time – This is time you spend working on yourself and/or your ideas. Another interesting correlation is that people who put the most emphasis in active time tend to have greater portions of wealth. Active time includes working out, going to school, starting a business and learning new languages (among a great many other activities). This is time spent on modifying and enhancing you and your life.

You might think that starting a business should go into WT but it doesn’t. Activities you take on that generate an income for yourself rather then someone else only enhance your life and well being (the difference is in how you make money in relation to your time. In WT you make a fixed amount of money for your time and in most cases someone else dictates those details. When you make money in AT you dictate the money time ratio. You also dictate what work you want to do to make that money. More on this later).

A great example of people maximizing AT is Felica Day. She is constantly creating and producing stuff which in turn enhances her life. Her activities whether it is on the screen or on YouTube are constant.

FT: Free Time – This is the time for leisure that doesn’t  attribute to AT. Actions like playing video games, Dungeons and Dragons, hanging out nude in your basement, going to the movies or watching TV are examples of free time. Here is another interesting correlation,  people that place high percentages in FT generally have very high percentages in WT.

Calculating WT/AT/FT

Base = 119

First you need to calculate your base number. The base number is the total amount of hours in a week less hours sleeping. The base is a representation of the amount of time we have awake per week. Because we all require different amounts of sleep to function I took an average of 7 hours per night. On the weekends we generally get more sleep and we get less sleep during the work week.

Total hours in a week =168 (24 hour multiplied by 7 days)

Total hours sleeping = 49 (7 hours avg sleep multiplied by 7 days)

Base = 119 (168 – 49=119)

If you feel you get more or less sleep per week you can always change your base. Just observe your sleeping patters for two or three weeks,calculate how much sleep you get on average during those three weeks and input that number in “total hours sleeping”. Subtract that from 168 and you will have your base.

WT

Add up the amount of hours you work. This is from the time you clock in to the time you clock out. Add up the amount of time it takes to get ready to go to work and the amount of time it takes to travel to and from work. Add all your numbers together and you get your total WT.

Work = 45 hrs, Travel = 5hr, Prep time = 5 hr

WT= 55

Divide WT by your base to get your percentage of time spent in WT per week.

55/119 = 46%

WT= 55 @ 46%

AT

Add up the hours spent in activities that enhance your life. The term “enhance” can be open to interpretation. For instance, a trip to a museum could be considered AT but it can also be consider FT, where time spent in a college course is AT. When confronted with activities that are subject to interpretation ask yourself how the activity is enhancing your life? How is this activity progressing your cause and helping you become the person you want to be? If you find yourself coming up with crazy explanations for how an activity belongs in AT chances are it doesn’t (“Playing Mass Effects 3 totally belongs in AT because it gives me ideas about creating better video games while increase the strength and stamina in my thumbs…” )

Only add up time spent in those activities. Time wasted on travel or prep is included in free time. As well, once you have your number, divide it by your base to get your percentage of time in AT per week

AT= 12 @ 10%

FT

Add up all time spent elsewhere. This ranges from playing games to grocery shopping. This also includes time used driving to destinations with the exception of WT travel. FT consumes an amazing amount of time and for those that are locked into full time jobs, increasing AT will result from streamlining FT.  As well, once you have your number, divide it by your base to get your percentage of time in FT per week

The quick way to calculate FT is to add WT with AT and subtract that total from your base.

55 (WT from above) +12 (AT from above) = 67,  119 (base) -67= 52

FT = 52 @ 43%

*Just as a side, must people complain that they don’t have enough free time in their lives. People wish they could separate from the rat so they can focus more on what’s important to them. I was one of those people. The numbers used in the above examples were my numbers from when I started playing Debt Slayers.*

I was spending 43%  in free time and I was complaining that I didn’t have enough time to do what I wanted! Almost half of my time was spent in FT and it didn’t feel like enough. Keep that in mind when you run your character’s numbers.*

E.D.O Hit points, E.D.O Bosses and E.D.O Villains

You will need to know what the Evil Debt Overlords hit points are. Under your time calculations write out E.D.O HP.

The E.D.O’s HP is the total of all your debts (Bosses) and all of your reoccurring expenses (Villains). In essence, E.D.O  HP is the total of all the money you owe on a monthy and yearly basis.

E.D.O Bosses

E.D.O Bosses are the Debts you have to pay. Once you kill them they’re done. Bossed include credit cards, mortgages, money owed to friends and bills placed in collections. If your payments can end by simply paying off the expense then it’s a Boss.

Under E.D.O HP write out E.D.O Bosses. List out your re envisioned debts stats (If you have not read the section on Monster creation click here.) Total up all of your bosses Hit Points (both month and annual stats) and write those number at the buttom of the list.

E.D.O Villains

E.D.O Villains are bills you pay on a regular basis. (If you have not read the section on Monster creation click here.) Repeat the E.D.O Bosses Process with Villains. Make sure to total up all Hit Points.

Add up Boss and Villain totals to get the E.D.O’s monthly and annual HP.

Mission “Character Sheet” Accomplished.

You now have a working character sheet. You have all of your essential stats and you have the beginnings of a road map to start hacking away at the E.D.O