This page walks you through building a Chrome & Covenant character step by step. Or skip to the quickbuilds and start playing in five minutes.
1. Choose your concept
Before numbers, decide who this person is. A CRB saboteur who lost everyone in Operation Obsolescence. A street doc who installs black-market chrome and asks no questions. A Conduit who hears an AI voice they can’t identify. The concept is the engine — everything else serves it.
2. Choose your strongest stat
Mind — You solve problems with intelligence, analysis, and technical skill.
Body — You solve problems with strength, speed, and physical resilience.
Soul — You solve problems with charisma, intuition, and spiritual awareness.
Your strongest stat should match your concept. A datarunner leads with Mind. A street fighter leads with Body. A Conduit leads with Soul.
3. Choose your class
Your class determines your role and what mechanical systems you access. Each class branches into paths that represent specialization. Full class descriptions at Classes & Paths.
4. Choose a background
Where did you come from? A corporate dome in Aurora-9? A CRB silo in the Forgotten States? A flotilla on the Fallen Shore? Your background gives you starting contacts, knowledge, and a relationship with the world.
5. Choose starter gear
Pick a weapon, basic armor, a few tools, and decide how much Coin you’re carrying. Cyberware is optional at creation — but if you install it, every piece costs Humanity.
6. Choose a problem
Every operative has something unresolved. A debt. A betrayal. A memory that doesn’t match reality. A relic that won’t stop humming. Your problem is what makes you interesting — and what the GM uses to make things personal.
7. Choose an Echo complication
Something from your past that echoes forward. A choice you made, a person you failed, a signal you followed that you shouldn’t have. This connects your character to the Echo system from session one.
8. Download your sheet and start
→ Character Sheet PDF
→ Run The Milk Run
→ Start in NSL
Skip the build? Grab a Quickbuild — five pre-made operatives with stats, skills, gear, and a secret. Ready in five minutes.