Career mode rules AKA Reinvigorate system

Step 1: Mentors

Your wrestler will begin play with two mentors, one Primary and one Secondary. These are the wrestlers who have trained, sire, or inspired your wrestler to step into the ring; they will be the biggest influences on your wrestler in the earliest stages of their career. You may select these mentors yourself or you can randomly generate them.

If you choose to randomly select your wrestler's mentors, there are several routes you can take to accomplish this, but I will present you with two.

The first is perhaps the easiest. Simply start an Exhibition match, randomly generate competitors, and take the top two on opposing sides. The one on the left will become your wrestler's Primary Mentor, while the one of the right becomes their Secondary Mentor.

The second is for those who have an interest in simming a bit more and who also want their rookie to be more varied. Randomly select two C or B Rank wrestlers and sim a match between them. The winner of this match will become your Primary Mentor. Do this a second time with two A or S Rank wrestlers and, again, sim a match between them. The winner of that match will become your wrestler's Secondary Mentor.

Once you've generated your wrestler's mentors, you'll need to note a few things. I hope you like taking notes.

Note down the following details about your mentors:
- Attack and Return Styles
- Recovery, Breathing (both bloodied and not), and Spirit (both bloodied and not)
- Move Speed and Ascend Speed
- Special Moves and Finishing Moves
- Absolute Highest and Absolute Lowest Parameters for Attack and Defense

Armed with this knowledge, you're ready to move on to the next phase of creating your rookie.


Step 2a: Creation, Basic Details

So you've got your mentors and you're ready to get in the ring? But you don't have a face yet! Or moves! Where are you even from?! Well don't worry, here's where we sort that out.

Now, from the off, I'll tell you that you can make this a little easier on yourself and use a template to expedite the process if you prefer. DJKM77 has a jobber template on the workshop if you're using the Steam version, it's a solid place to start from. Alternatively, you can do everything by hand. Entirely your choice.

A good place to start with character creation here will be by giving them a name. If you want, you can make one up yourself or you can use any number of online generators to do it for you. Behind the Name is a pretty decent one if you're wanting a generator. Lots of options with that one and you can also use it as a springboard for other details.

After you've got a name, go ahead and sort out date of birth, nation of origin, and gender. All of these things are useful to know about your wrestler and can give you a sense of where they've been as well as where they're going, even if they don't necessarily have in-game purposes.

Next, sort out height and weight for your would-be wrestler. Again, you can make it up yourself or you can generate it. If you're interested in generating it, I'll present one option (because, again, there are plenty of ways to do this including using the details given by Behind the Name).

To randomly generate height and weight, get you some good old fashioned nerd dice. Y'know, the weirdly shaped ones people use for playing Dungeons and Dragons. You've got a set of nerd dice, don't you? No? Well, that's fine, there are plenty of random number generators online, get one of those open. Got it? Alright, cool. Roll on the table below.

Male Height (in inches and feet): 2d10 + 5 ft. 5 in.
Male Weight (in pounds): 2d10 x 5 + 145 pounds
Female Height (in inches and feet): 2d10 + 4 ft. 5 in.
Female Weight (in pounds): 2d10 x 5 + 95 pounds

This will give you men between 5'2/157 lbs and 7'1/345 lbs while women will be between 4'7/105 lbs and 6'1/295 lbs. Because wrestlers are usually bigger than most people. This doesn't, of course, give you many giants, but that should be rare in the first place.

Now that you've got the basic details down, move on to appearance.


Step 2b: Creation, Appearance

At this stage, your wrestler should be as generic as possible. Black trunks/shorts and short wrestling boots/shoes for the men, black shorts, a sports bra, and boots/shoes for the women. Nothing fancy, nothing beyond that. Basic young lion look. You can add a little personality with the hair, but you should try not to go overboard.

Stance-wise, try to find a happy medium between your mentors or, if no happy medium exists, favor your Primary Mentor's stance.

Size-wise, follow the chart below or use your own interpretation.

For Men:
Small - <6'0
Medium - 6'0 - 6'5
Large - 6'6 - 6'9
Giant - >6'9

For Women:
Female - <5'7
Small - 5'7 - 5'11
Medium - >5'11

If your wrestler skinny for their height, use edit parts for a size smaller (if the wrestler is male) and scale down the size a bit until you get it to "feel" right.

With that done, you can move on to other fun things. Things like...


Step 2c: Creation, Skills and Parameters

Here's where your Mentors really start coming into play. Remember when you had to take those notes on them? Remember how I told you to do that? Did you do that or did you skip past that part? Okay, go back and take those notes, then come back.

You back?

Cool.

Alright, so here's this scrub, thinks they can be a wrestler. Well, let's find out what they're made of. First, right off, bust 'em down to E Rank. They're not good enough to even think about being D Rank. And forget about C Rank, they wouldn't have a clue what to do in the ring with C Rank wrestlers.

For Charisma, get your nerd dice back out because you're gonna roll for that. Get you a d6 and roll to find out how good this rookie is at connecting with the crowd. Check the table below to find out how they did.

1 - E CHA (they're horrible)
2 - D CHA (they're not as horrible)
3 - C CHA (they're acceptable)
4 - B CHA (they're pretty decent)
5 - A CHA (they're good)
6 - S CHA (they're amazing and everyone loves them)

Now that that's sorted, look at the Attack and Return styles of your Mentors. As with the Stance back in Appearance, try to find a happy medium between them, favoring the Primary Mentor.

Your wrestler's Critical Skill should be Finisher and they'll have no Special Skill at this time. All endurances should be neither strong nor weak.

From there, look at Recovery, Breathing, Spirit, Move Speed, and Ascend Speed. Take the lowest ratings in all categories from both of your mentors, but also take the highest rating from your Primary mentor in a single category (normal and bloodied being separate categories for this purpose). If they have no highest or lowest ratings and are completely medium/normal across the board? Congratulations! This wrestler is absolutely average in those areas.

Feel free to alter voice and music and so on according to your personal tastes, then move on to parameters.

Look at your Mentors. Wouldn't they be proud of this hybrid monster they're both responsible for creating? Now look at their Parameters. You're going to be inheriting some of those parameters.

Your wrestler will begin with a 2 in every Attack and Defense Parameter. If your wrestler's Mentor is highest rated in a Parameter, increase your wrestler's score in that Parameter to 3 (or 4 if both Mentors are strongest in that Parameter). If your wrestler's Mentor is lowest rated in a given Parameter, decrease your wrestler's score in that Parameter to 1.

But what happens if the Mentors conflict? Well, don't worry! Because your Primary Mentor takes precedent. So if your wrestler's Primary Mentor is really good at something their Secondary Mentor was bad at? Well, your wrestler gets to take the good Parameter instead! But if your wrestler's Primary Mentor is really bad at something the Secondary Mentor is great at? Sucks to be your wrestler, doesn't it!

Now that you've sorted out strengths and weaknesses, you can move on to the next step.


Step 2d: Creation, Moves and Logic

So now you know your wrestler's strengths and weaknesses. You might have an idea of their personality. Heck, they may even look spiffy in that black, generic ring gear. But don't forget that they're journeymen right now. And that means lots and lots of bottom of the barrel, basic wrestling moves.

Headlocks, chest slaps, Boston crabs, dropkicks, backdrops, flash pins. These are your bread and butter. You can probably do a young lion/jobber moveset by heart. But what about their Mentors? What have they got to bring to the mix?

Well, that's a good question!

Look back at your wrestler's Mentors. Look how happy they are to have trained such a fine, young blue chipper. They're as pleased as punch with how this kid is turning out. So pleased, in fact, that they've passed on one of their special, signature maneuvers to your wrestler. Not their Finisher, oh, gosh, no, never that, your wrestler is far too inexperienced to learn the ultimate attack of their Mentor. But one of those other moves? Yeah, they'll teach your wrestler that.

Select one special move from each of your wrestler's Mentors. These will become your wrestler's first Finisher and Signature moves. The less advanced the better for this. And, as before, the Primary Mentor gets priority. Whatever move you inherit from the Primary Mentor becomes your wrestler's Finisher. And whatever move they get from the Secondary Mentor becomes their first Signature. Leave all the other Signature spots empty for now. This wrestler is only really good at these two things.

On the Logic side, these two moves should be the match-enders. If your wrestler is going to win a match, it should be with one of these two moves more often than not. Even if they have to spam those moves from now until the heat death of the universe, those are their go-to finisher spots. You might get some wins with other moves, but these are the moves you want to put over.

Also in the logic, feel free to build some character with the priority slots. After all, your wrestler is the lowest of the low right now, but they don't necessarily have to be boring or have no game plan.

After you've got your wrestler about where you want them from a logic perspective, you can move on to the next step.


Step 3a: Career, Starting the Road

So they've finally graduated wrestling school and they're off on their road to become World Champion. Bully for them! But how would one go about doing this?

Start where everyone else starts, kid: at the bottom. Put your wrestler in the lowest/smallest company you've got or, alternatively, put them in a company with one of their mentors. From there, sim your wrestler in ten matches against the lowest ranked wrestlers in that company (five singles, five tag matches; 30 minute time limit, Level 5).

Take note of wins, losses, criticals, and what moves your wrestler uses to win as well as anyone your wrestler trades wins back and forth with or has good tag team chemistry with.

Wins and losses matter in wrestling (no matter what certain booking philosophers might say) and they'll matter to your wrestler because that's how they'll earn points. The point system is as follows, lifted entirely from the Reinvigorate Career System):

Loss (or Partner Loss) - 3 points (or 4 if the match had a 96%-100% rating)
Draw - 4 points (or 5 if the match had an 80%-100% rating)
Win - 6 points (or 7 if match the had a 90%-99% rating, OR 8 points if match achieved a 100% rating)
Successful Title Match - +1 point

But what's the point in all these points? Well, you can use them to improve your wrestler, obviously!

Improvement Costs:
- Increase Strong Parameter - 6 points
- Increase Average Parameter - 9 points
- Increase Weak Parameter - 12 points
- Improve Bloodied Skill - 10 points
- Improve Non-Bloodied Skill - 15 points
- Increase Body Part Endurance or Move Speed - 7 points
- Increase Ascend Speed - 5 points

Special Skill Cost:
- Stardom - 25 points
- Quick Return - 30 points
- Overturn - 30 points
- Start Dash - 30 points
- Guts - 40 points
- Strikeback - 30 points
- Finish - 25 points
- Blood - 30 points
- Hardcore - 30 points
- Focus- 30 points
- Adapt - 35 points
- Hardbody - 50 points
- Superstar - 50 points
- Warrior - 60 points
- Second Wind - 60 points
- Rage - 60 points
- Banish - 60 points
- Spirit - 85 points
- Monster - 85 points
- Do Or Die - 100 points
- Reborn - 120 points

Critical Skill Cost:
- Suplexes - 30 points
- Power Moves - 30 points
- Technical - 40 points
- Striking - 50 points
- Submissions - 50 points

As you progress, your wrestler will also learn new moves, acquire new attires, and develop into the sterling example of professional wrestling we all know they can become. Or they might get injured and end up out of wrestling altogether. But more on that later.

At 15 points earned (and every 15 points thereafter), your wrestler will learn a new move. Remember when you were noting down what moves won matches? Well, this is why. Pick from among those winning moves and add one of them to your arsenal. And if your wrestler has been winning consistently with a given move that isn't your finisher or Signature, congratulations! Pick a flashier version of that move (if you can) and make that one of your Signature moves.

At 30 points earned (and every 25 points thereafter), your wrestler will unlock the ability to add some flair to their wardrobe. At that point they can recolor their trunks, get better boots, throw on some knee or elbow pads, tape their wrists up, paint their face, or get a shiny new mask. This doesn't cost any points, they're just milestones to unlock; class features.

Additionally, if you find a wrestler your wrestler competes with evenly, you can consider them Rivals. Or, if you find someone your wrestler teams with very well, you might consider them Partners. Partners and Rivals a great way to learn new moves and, in fact, can be as influential to your wrestler's growth as their Mentors were to their creation.


Step 3b: Career, Rivals and Partners

So you've got this one wrestler that your wrestler just can't get past. Or maybe you've found their one true tag team partner. Well that's neat! It also influences how your wrestler will develop.

If you find a wrestler that fits as a Rival or Partner to your wrestler by the time you've earned 50 points, give them a big match together. This can be a grudge match, a title match, whatever you like. Consider it the culmination of a big storyline; a character arc that your wrestler just completed, win, lose, or draw.

During that match, note down the winning move just like normal. Afterward, your wrestler will learn that move as well as your choice of one additional move executed during the match. One of these two moves will then become a Signature move for your wrestler.

Also, you might consider tossing together a tag team costume for the wrestler and their partner because that just looks nice, y'know? You can do that for free. Go nuts.

If you've got both a Rival and a Partner, have two big matches unless the Rival also has a regular tag team partner in which case, obviously, the big match should be between the two teams. Because that's just basic booking.

Once you've found a Rival or a Partner and had your big blow-off match, go ahead and look at your rival's Parameters. Note down your Rival's Strongest Attack Parameter(s) OR your Partner's Weakest Attack Parameter(s). Then go to your wrestler's Parameters.

If you have a Rival, increase the Defense Parameter equivalent to your Rival's highest Attack Parameter(s) by one point. If you have a Partner, increase the Attack Parameter in which your Partner has the lowest Attack Parameter by one point.

Step 3c: Career, Criticals, Injuries, and the Bump Card

The old-timers say that every wrestler has a Bump Card and you never know exactly how many punches you've got left on it until you take the last one. Well, thankfully, we can quantify exactly how many punches are on your wrestler's Bump Card. Because math.

Grab your nerd dice and pick out a d10. Give it a roll. The result of that roll is many times your wrestler can get Injured before they're flat-out unable to wrestle again.

Now. As you're simming through your wrestler's career, they might get Criticaled sometimes. Google doesn't recognize that as a word, but you and I know what's going on. Somebody done goofed, basically. Call it a botch, call it a screwjob, call it someone being stiff, whatever the case may be, when your wrestler gets Criticaled, they're at risk of becoming Injured.

Don't panic, though! Stop freaking out! They're not dead yet! They might be alright!

Still got your nerd dice? Good. You'll need them.

Whenever your wrestler gets Crit'd, you'll need to roll what the DnD nerds call a "Saving Throw" to see if they're Injured or not. You'll be rolling a d20 (that's the super nerd die you may have seen before on comedy shows) and trying to beat a "Difficulty Class" or "DC" which is a number determined with a simple formula.

The number to beat will always be 10 + (however many times your wrestler has been injured). At first, it'll be DC 10. Then, DC 11. It can potentially go all the way up to DC 20.

If you beat the DC, your wrestler is fine. If not, they become Injured and that's a punch on their Bump Card. In they get enough punches on their Bump Card to exceed the number you rolled on that d10? They've got to hang up their boots. They're done. Game over for them.