Your Character Page

Your Character

The main character of Joe Paw Dog is you — not a hero whose decisions you're watching from the outside, not a character with a personality already written in. You.

Joe is your dog. When he disappears through a mirror, you decide to follow him. From that point forward, the choices belong to you.

You Decide Who You Are

You'll make decisions about your character before and during the story. Some determine what they look like. Others shape what you own, what you know, how you respond to people, and what kind of person you become once the adventure starts. You're not picking from a list of preset personalities — your decisions are what create the character.

Your Choices Matter

Joe Paw Dog is an interactive story. At different points you'll decide what your character says or does. Some choices have immediate consequences, others don't show up until much later. A decision can affect:

• how another character feels about you
• whether someone trusts you
• whether a character becomes a companion
• what information you learn
• what items you obtain
• what quests become available
• where you can go
• what happens to another character
• what happens to you

There is not always one correct answer.

There may not even be a good answer.

Character Relationships

Every major character you meet has a relationship with you.

That relationship is tracked by a Character Meter.

Your words and actions raise or lower that number. A character who likes you might speak to you differently, trust you with information, help you, or eventually agree to travel with you. One who dislikes you might do the opposite.

Once a character's meter reaches +10, they become eligible to join you as a companion — though hitting +10 doesn't guarantee they'll follow you right away. What's happening in the story can still matter.

Learn how companions and Character Meters work.

Your Inventory

You'll pick up and lose possessions as the story goes — clothing, food, weapons, tools, supplies, gifts, and things whose purpose you don't understand yet. What you're carrying can affect the choices available to you, and something that looks useless when you find it might turn out to matter a lot later.

Your Story

There's a larger story happening around you, and you don't control all of it. Other characters have their own goals. Things happen whether you want them to or not. People can help you, betray you, leave you, or refuse to join you.

What you do control is your part in it — what you say, who you trust, what risks you take, and occasionally, whether following your dog through a mirror was a terrible idea. Unfortunately, by then it's a little late.