We will go step by step in this thread.  Feel free to talk about ideas here, both individually and for the group as a whole.

It's okay if you don't have a firm idea yet about who you want your character to be.  What we know so far, just based on the premise of the game, is that you used to do clandestine work on at least a semi-official basis - probably for someone's military or government intelligence agency, or maybe for the private sector, or for a large but not necessarily legal organization.  In any case you're out of that job now, not necessarily on good terms, and doing some kind of freelance work instead.

In my experience on this site, taking time to discuss group template or related details (e.g. developing the covenant in nearly every Ars Magica game) drains away that valuable start-of-game momentum, so to prevent that I'm going to give you your group template - whatever your individual backgrounds, you are now a team offering "security consulting" work on the gray markets of Amsterdam.  You're free to come up with your own reasons for why you are in this place, doing this kind of work, but this is how we're starting.

But back to you as an individual.  Start by deciding who it was that you used to work for - CIA, MI6, FSB (or KGB if you're old enough), IRA, Hamas, or whoever else you want.  It doesn't even have to be someone that operates in this region of the world, although it might take a little more effort to decide why you're here now.

You might also want to have a general idea of what your line of work was (if you don't know now, you can always come back to it later).  The book offers a number of templates, which also come with suggestions for how to spend some of your skill points:
Analyst
Asset Handler
Bagman (i.e. the guy who delivers the cash)
Bang-and-Burner (i.e. sabotage and demolition)
Black Bagger (breaking and entering)
Cleaner
Cobbler (counterfeiter, usually of false identities)
Cuckoo (grifters, con artists, deep cover operatives)
Hacker
Investigator
Medic
Mule
Muscle
Watcher
Wet Worker
Wheel Artist
Wire Rat (gadgeteering)
You may take one or two of these templates, or come up with your own, or don't worry about it at all.  If you do want a template from this list I'll give you the book's recommendation for the associated skill point distribution, but don't feel obligated to take it.

The other thing to do at this point is to decide on investigative abilities.  With a team of four players, you each get 22 points to spend, plus 1 free point in each of Streetwise and Tradecraft.  You'll want to make sure that all investigative skills are covered (i.e. that at least one character has at least 1 point in it), so this is worth talking about as a group.  Some overlap is fine, so don't worry if you really wanted, say, Intimidation, and someone else said they plan to take it as well.  For the full list of investigative abilities, see http://site.pelgranepress.com/...-out-for-players.pdf or your character sheet.

Narratively, having even 1 point in an investigative skill means that you are an expert at it.  Having 2 or 3 points in a skill means you have worked extra hard at it even compared to other experts, and this is where you are definitely looking for some spotlight time.  According to the book, there is generally little reason to put more than 3 points into a single investigative ability; I don't have enough experience with the game to judge that, so I'm going to say that's probably correct.  Two exceptions to this are Forgery and Languages, where each point gives you a specific benefit:
Forgery - each point gives you one specific item where your forgeries are perfect and undetectable, e.g. American passports, MI6 ID badges, or Da Vinci notebook sketches.  You don't have to choose ahead of time; you can fill in one of the blanks when it becomes useful.
Languages - each point gives you more languages that you can read and speak fluently.  A rating of 1 gives you 2 extra languages, a rating of 2 gives you 3 more languages after that, and a rating of 3 or higher gives you another 4 languages for each point you put into it.  You get your native language for free, and also English (or whatever language you as a group want as your common tongue); if your native language is English (or whatever) then I will say you can have Dutch for free to account for our starting location.  As with Forgery, you can wait until you need a particular language to fill in one of the blank slots on your sheet, although defining at least one or two of them ahead of time can be a way to flesh out your character.  You can also choose Lip Reading, for which one slot covers all languages that you know how to speak.  Sign languages are also an option.

There's more, but I will stop there for now.  Once you have all figured out your investigative abilities then I'll go on to the next step.

If you have your Investigative abilities figured out, then you can move on to the next step, which is General abilities.  You start with Cover at 10 and Network at 15 for free, and then get 70 points to spend wherever you'd like.  You can also put these points into raising Health and Stability if you'd like (and you probably should).  There is no limit to how many points you can spend in any one ability, except that it cannot be more than twice as high as your second-highest.

You can still use an ability even with a rating of 0, but you only have very basic competence with it.  4+ indicates professional level training, and 8+ indicates an area of particular badassery.  Also, most General abilities grant some kind of bonus (called "cherries" in GUMSHOE) with a rating of 8 or higher.  I'm not going to list them out for all of the abilities right now, but you can ask about specific ones you're interested in, and I will give you the info for any that you take without asking.

One that I will tell you up front is that taking Athletics 8 moves your Hit Threshold up from 3 to 4, so you'll definitely want that if you plan on being in the front line of combat (and possibly even if you don't).  As a side benefit, it also opens up some options for athletic stunts in combat or chases.

You can coordinate General abilities with the group if you want to, but it's not necessary.  There is no pressure to have all your bases covered with this like there is with Investigative abilities.

Lastly, you'll want to mark one General ability as your MOS ("Military Occupational Specialty," though it can be any ability you have).  Once per mission, you can get an automatic success with any use of your MOS.  Depending on circumstances, this can potentially go beyond simply having a good die roll - for example, you could invoke a Shooting MOS to automatically kill a human target.  Multiple players can choose the same MOS, but it's probably better to spread them out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:53, Fri 21 Aug 2020.

Final steps:

First, your sources of stability.  These are three different connections you have with the world that help you to restore lost Stability (at least as long as they stay safe).
Symbol - an image or item that reminds you of something important to you - the flag of your home country, a photo of your significant other, etc.  Ideally it should be related to your Drive, but it doesn't have to be.  Taking a moment to contemplate your Symbol in some way lets you restore 1 point of Stability, once per mission.
Solace - a person with whom you share a strong connection, and who keeps you linked in some way to the world outside of the shadows - a best friend, a lover, maybe even your old handler.  If you can spend 6 hours of quality time with your Solace, safe from violence or the supernatural, you refresh 2 Stability, once per mission.  If you can spend a whole day with them in between missions, your Stability is completely restored.
Safety - a place of refuge, ideally (but not necessarily) connected to another person - your parents' home, the hunting lodge where you go with your best friend every year, the bachelor pad you held onto after you moved out.  Just knowing that this place remains safe lets you restore 1 Stability at the end of a mission.  If you actually go there and get an hour or more to rest, you restore your full Stability pool, and also fully restore up to three General abilities of your choice.

Then you need a Drive.  This is your motivation to keep going when every survival instinct says to get the hell out and never look back.  In other words, it's what makes you a PC instead of a bystander.  A single word or short phrase will suffice - Altruism, Patriotism, Need to Solve the Mystery, etc.  You can describe it in more detail in a private message or the OOC thread, or an expository monologue in the middle of the game if that's your style, but you only need a couple words on the character sheet.
If you put yourself into a bad situation by following your drive, you may immediately refresh 2 points in any one General ability, once per game.  On the other hand, if you ignore your Drive and avoid taking action, you become stressed - all Investigative spends will cost 1 more point than usual, and all General ability rolls will have 1 point higher difficulty.  This lasts until you are following your Drive again.

Lastly, gear.  Don't worry about it too much.  If you have any points in Shooting or Weapons, you probably have one simple item to go along with the ability - a handgun, a combat knife, a police baton, etc.  If anything else stands out to you as the kind of thing you would always have on you, go ahead and write that down.  Don't worry about having a detailed list of all your spy gear - when you need something, a Preparedness roll will let us know you've had it there all along.