A few things about creating a character:
Above all else, leave blank spaces, think about what you want to accomplish, have fun!
There are no hard and fast rules about how paranormal or supernatural you can go. But in general the game leans towards realism tinged with weird. Think about it this way, the RA could exist in our reality, we just wouldn’t know it. These are things Scully and Mulder would investigate not urban fantasy or 100% surrealism.
Some characters will have experienced something anomalous in their past, this may be a part of their drive to join the RA. Some characters are something anomalous. Some characters will have had no clue until they were recruited. Look to your calling for inspiration.
Yes, but lean towards things closer to reality than not. There are no magic systems in this game, we are not leaning into anything mythic. But if you lived in a world where cryptids are real, you might be able to move a fork across the table with your mind on a good day. You might be especially attuned to anomalous frequencies. You might get impressions from ghosts. You might have created a machine that lets you see three seconds into the future but only on Wednesdays. You might have been raised in a cult that tried to sacrifice you to some unknown being. Lean towards specificity that’s what gives it its weirdness.
As always look towards our resources for inspiration. Anomalies, anomalous activity, parapsychology, the mood of the game is trying to label the unlabelable. Above all else, don’t stress, brainstorm with people if you’re nervous and the dropbox and Kate’s DMs are always open.
Refer to Day 1 and the Missing Year, but don’t worry too much about what your character got up to in the missing year. This is stuff you’ll be prompted to fill in as we discover more. Feel free to have some points you want in your character’s missing year, relationships started, new position at the RA, moved houses, things that might be noticeable as they investigate their life or beats you’ve plotted out for lines with other players. But overall it’s not something you need to plan or write out.
There’s two answers. One if you are a player whose been playing since the first month, you are welcome to backdate a character having been there since Day 1, but that’s probably not the easier way to play. If you are a player joining the game after the start, totally fine, but your character will be discovered in the CAM.