The first thing needed for a new character is a set of attributes. I'm currently using nine attributes for 1st edition and the standard six for 3.5 plus Comeliness.

Roll five six-sided dice and drop the lowest two rolls. "Roll ones over" is not allowed. Do this eight times to generate seven scores; drop the lowest roll.

You can put these scores in any order you desire. All characters will start young to show their relative inexperience and lack of knowledge. After the scores are checked and modified I'll let you move any one point from one score to another. So if you'd prefer to have a Wisdom of 16 instead of 17 to raise your Dexterity from a 17 to an 18 you can.

Roll two 20 sided-dice and one percentile and record them on the sheet also. You can just label them 1-16, 2-4, a%24 for example. These rolls are used for background/plot/astrological information.

This campaign world has twelve months that are all 28 days long. The new moon is always on the first and the full moon on the 15th. Choose or roll up a birthday or one will be given to the character.

Pick your character's name; a family name may or may not be added depending on your background. If you have any ideas for a background history for your characer, write them down, create a background and we can work it into the game. Long lost brothers, a murdered grandfather who was of the nobility, anything you feel might make your character more interesting to play.

This is a human-centric world but I'll allow you to play just about anything. Just remember your character may or may not be accepted too readily into society or a town if you're a Centaur or Half-Ogre. Drow are universally mistrusted and actively hunted down by some organizations such as the Order of St. Vidmour. Shapeshifters are also viewed with great suspicion and killed on sight in many lands. If you can live with it go right ahead. But it might be a very short adventuring career.

Appearance: Left mainly to the player but it should follow, if loosely, the guidelines according to race. Any deviation can be ascribed to the natural mixing process. This is especially true of the present campaign areea since people from all over the Known World come to colonize or seek their fortunes. This, and the raids and invasions of different peoples, help ensure mixing will take place. It should be remembered that such strange features like red eyes, white hair, or great height will gain sometimes unwanted attention.

Languages: These will be reviewed by the DM depending on social background and culture. Everyone knows "Common" (Argossean in area of play), and all fighters will know "Camptalk" - sort of a universal mercenary's tongue made up of assorted words from different human, demi-human, and humaniod languages. Only very basic concepts can be expressed in Camptalk; like "You friend?" or "Me kill!" Fluency is another aspect along with accent. A person may be able to speak Elvish but may have a terrible accent or mispronounce half of the words to the amusement of the elves. A good Assassin can use accents to sound like a sheep herder from the boonies or impersonate a member of the higher nobility. Only Dwarf characters will be able to select Dwarvish as a language during character generation.

Master: Every character has a master who taught them the basics required for their chosen profession. The master may charge for his service or, in the case of most fighters, train and let the new fighter fend for themselves. A Magic-User's master may give the apprentice a replacement tome if the first is lost, or even give new spells in exchange for services though never for any spells higher than second level. A Cleric's master is usually his superior in the temple or might have been a teacher in a central "seminary." Thieves and Assassins will try to use their apprentices and keep part of their "take."
 

Religions: The gods worshiped are split into pantheons based on the tribes or nations who originally worshiped them. Most people are polytheistic and will pay at least "lip service" to many gods. Priests and special groups such as Paladins will have patron deities and some choose to worship one god exclusively. Others have the fortune (or misfortune) to be picked by the god. Most cities or kingdoms will have a patron deity, for example Mars is the patron god of Ternach, while others are patrons of certain spheres of influence or even several different spheres. Hades is a god of death but Apollo is a sun god plus patron of both music and archery. A few gods are worshiped by different people for completely different reasons and each think the other is wrong. The Kothians worship Ishtar as a god of love but the Shemites claim her as Iskoda, goddess of war. New religions are always springing up and old gods reappear under different guises. In the current era most deities are worshipped throughout the region. There is intense rivalry between certain sects and this leads to problems as in conflicts between the worshippers of Mars and those of Ares. Many gods are very active in the affairs of the world; some not at all.

More on Religions in this campaign can be found here.

It is up to the character to choose which god/gods he worships. The DM assumes the character follows the religion of his family unless stated otherwise. It is impossible to ignore the impact of these terribly powerful beings on everyday life.