Character #26: AD&D 2E

So going back in time to AD&D 2nd Edition. Another RPG I never played, although if I played D&D now I'd probably use 2nd Edition. Close enough to the 1E I played alot of, but now better and improved, right? I bought the PDFs from DriveThru.

To change things up I thought I'd use one of the alternate ability rolling methods. I went with Method II, rolling 3D6 twice for each ability.

STR 17

DEX 12

CON 14

INT 15

WIS 13

CHR 14

Not too bad. I always play fighters, and usually Dwarves, so I thought I'd go a little different route with these scores, and go Half Elf Fighter/Magic-User. Er, sorry, Mage for 2E.

Let's name this young (21) half elf Lykris Newlim. He's a little more of a fighter right now, since being an un armored Mage is kind of life threatening. If I have read 2E correctly, even a multiclass Mage can't wear armor. So Lykris is leaning into fighter initially, and focusing on his weapon specialization (Long Sword: 3 attack/2 rounds, +1 to hit, +2 damage) and proficiencies (short bow). Although not proficient in it as a weapon, he also carries a dagger for general use and last ditch poking if required. Down the road he hopes to acquire a ring of protection or other magical protection devices and be able to use more magic.

His non-weapon proficiencies are in Tracking, Swimming, and Navigation. His secondary skills are Painter and Gambler.

Being multiclass does give him the advantage of the better saving throws of a Mage over a Fighter.

His hit dice rolls (1D4 and 1D10) were 2 and 8, so the average of 5 is his starting point. 

He gets to use the most advantageous roll for starting money, which is fighter 5D4x10, rolling 14 total for 140 GP to start.

Assuming standard clothing (breeches, tunic, belt, soft boots, and a cloak), he purchases studded leather, a shield, and a helmet for an AC of 6. He went with the leather vice chain mail to have the money to also purchase a short bow, quiver and 20 sheaf arrows. A long Sword and dagger round out his weapons.

For additional equipment, he buys a backpack, flint&steel, 2 flasks of oil, a mirror, 50 feet of rope, a wine skin, a large sack, and a small belt pouch.

Lykris hails from the Gamboge Forest by the Kingdom of Nyrond, Greyhawk. While of unimportant heritage, he is loyal to the Kingdom of Nyrond and supports the future crown of Prince Lynwerd. Lykris is currently meeting up in Borneven with other adventurers recruited by the mysterious traveller Mo (Mophius Moreland), a half-elf Fighter/Magic User/Thief, to support Lynwerd. 

 

Character #25: Star Frontiers Dralasite

 

For this build, I went back to Star Frontiers because it is simple and fast. This time I choose to do a Dralasite. Dralasites are described as "short, rubbery aliens that have no bones or hard body parts. Their skin is a flexible membrane that is very tough..". Thus they have a special ability to change the shape of thier bodies, with up to Dexterity divided by 10 (round up) number of limbs (arms with functional hands, legs, pods, etc). 

They also have a 5% chance to detect a lie. This is listed as a Special Ability, which can be improved by expending experience points, just like a skill. A 5% starting chance to detect a lie doesn't sound like much of a special ability: I think most people's innate bullshit detectors are calibrated better than that.

Dralasites are also hermaphroditic, longed lived (250 years), and have a keen sense of smell that can identify individuals. They are philosophical and thoughtful, and judge themselves by the quality of their thoughts and ideas rather than wealth, power, or status symbols. Best of all, Dralasites are known for their strange sense of humor, loving old jokes and puns.

So I roll stat groups (Strength/Stamina, Dexterity/Reaction Speed, etc), percentile on a table. I then adjust for my race (+5 STR/STA, -5 DEX/RS), and adjust within a set by up to 10. This results in 

STRength 65 / STAmina 55

DEXterity 55 / Reaction Speed 45

INTuition 65 / LOGic 55

PERsonality 70 / Leadership 60                                                                          

So I have a very friendly Dralasite who is a good leader - maybe a bit more of a forceful personality than your normal every-day next door Dralasite.

I did not do skills on my first Star Frontiers character, as they are not in the Basic Rules. The Expanded Game Rules add skills, but not very clearly. There are three Primary Skill Areas (PSAs): Military, Technological, and Biosocial. It says there are 7 Military Skills, 3 Technological Skills, and 3 Biosocial Skills. Under some skills, like Computer Skill, are listed multiple subskills (8 in the case of Computer Skill). After some perusal, I think Subskills are really like skill tasks. Either way, whatever you call it, it looks like if you take Computer skill you can apply it to those 8 subskills/tasks.

So for character generation, you pick a PSA. Then you get one skill (at Level 1) in that PSA and can pick another skill from any PSA. I pick the Technological PSA for my Dralasite, who I've named Momen Vasilikous.

I take Technician as my PSA skill, which has the subskills/tasks of Operating Machinery, Repairing Machinery, Detecting Alarms/Defenses, Deactivating Alarms/Defenses, and Opening Locks. Each subskill has a base Success Rate %, to which the 10 x the skill level would be added (skills have level 1 thru 6). The Base Success Rate is based on Dexterity for Military Skills, and is just given for all others. 

Momen's Technician base Success Rates would be:

Operating Machinery: 50% + 10% = 60%

Repairing Machinery: 40% + 10% = 50%

Detecting Alrams/Defenses: 60% + 10% -alarm level = 70% - alarm level

Deactivating Alarms/Defense: 40% + 10% - alarm level = 50% - alarm level

Opening Locks: 50% +10% - lock level = 60% - lock level

For my other skill, I take Projectile Weapons under Military.  This covers automatic pistols and rifles, bows, needler weapons (magnetically propel a cluster of needles, so very quiet. Needles can be barbed for direct damage or anesthetic, machine guns and recoilless rifles(!) ). Baes Success Rate is 1/2 Dex, so 28% + 10% = 38%. Momen's not an ace by a longshot, but at least you don't have to worry about him shooting you in the back. Maybe.

At the end of a session/adventure, after experience points are awarded (usually 1-6), these points can be used to buy new skills or upgrade and existing skill per a chart-given cost.

I rolled 299 credits and purchased a needler pistol for 200, 5 10 round needler (barbed) clips for 50, and a Doze Grenade for 10, leaving Momen 39 credits in his bank account. The Equipment List does not give any costs for standard fare like food or drink. But an All Weather Blanket is 20 credits, and Sungoggles are 2, so let's say Momen is dirt poor and definitely looking for work!

Here's a Dralasite in action, but I'm not sure this would be Momen.

 But this is Momen:

#CharacterCreationChallenge

Character #24: Gamma World 1E, another Mutant!

 

I had fun with the mutations on my first Gamma World character, so I thought I would do another one and see what comes up. Hopefully it won't be this guy

 

Everyone that played 1E Gamma World was always on the lookout for these guys though

So 4D6-lowest for abilities:

Mental Strength 14, not bad

Intelligence 9

Dexterity 11

Charisma 11

Constitution 16 ..... so 16D6 for HP!

Physical Strength 13

So a good Mental Strength means I'm hoping for some good mental mutations with some attacks. Thos 16D6 for hit points from my constitution gives me 62 HPs!

I roll 1D4 each for number of Mental and Physical Mutations. 3 each.

Physical Mutations

1. First roll gets me a free choice. I take Partial Carapace, which means I take half damage and have a base AC of 6

2. Attraction Odor (defect): His body secretes a substance which will attract carnivores.

3. Increased Metabolism (Defect): Must stop every 5 combat rounds to eat for one round, or lose 1 point of physical strength and 2 Hp per turn (temporary loses). Must spend twice as much time as normal foraging, and also carry more food

Mental Mutations

1. Heightened Brain Talent: Takes only 1/3 the time to figure out ancient artifacts; gets 2 saving throws versus mental attacks; impossible to lie to

2. Telekinetic Arm: Can control a 20m long arm and hand that is fully functional with a strength of 18; must be able to see where it would be to control it; arm can only be hit by powered weapons; it it is hit then mutant takes the damage normally

3. Light Wave Manipulation: Invisibility at will including everything he's wearing; can negate the effect of a laser up to 10m; can create a 2m radius area of total darkness up to 10m away.

Wow, I'm loving these mutations! After the two defects in physical I was getting worried, but the mental more than made up for it! 

In my cursory reading of the rules though, I can't figure out what damage my telekinetic arm could do with a strength of 18. I thought it would be a physical attack, but there's nothing on the Weapon Class table to relate it to. So it's a mental attack, with my Mental Strength of 15, a better than even chance to hit up to pretty high mental strength levels in the target. I think just hitting with that arm would be his main form of attack.

Light Wave Manipulation though is the really over powered mutation. It's like getting an Invisibility Cloak at 1st Level! Plus negate the effect of lasers, and up to 10m range on that!

So here's Kona Moea, 30 year old mutant of the aftermath.

MS 14

INT 9

DEX 11

CHR 11

CON 16

PhS 13

HP 62

AC 5 (partial carapace plus shield).

Kona is always slightly sweating, and thus emitting a musky odor that seems to attract carnivores. This makes traveling, and sleeping, very hazardous. Kona's solution has been to use his Light Wave Manipulation ability to remain invisible. If a predator does approach, while their sense of smell would usually lead them right to him, Kona the uses his Telekinetic Arm to start pounding on the attacker at a range of 20 meters. For normal predators, this usually works to frighten them and scare them off since they can't see what is attacking them. At night he seeks shelter, or at least a tree, where he can set trip wires with noise makers to alert him, to once again use his telekinetic arm.

Perhaps these abilities are related to his heightened brain abilities. While he is of slightly below average intelligence, he can figure out ancient artifacts with amazing rapidity, and can detect anytime anyone is telling him a lie. All this brain activity and capability is fueled by a metabolism requiring him to eat twice as much as a normal human his size. If he is exerting himself, such as in physical combat, he would need to stop every 5 rounds to eat or start suffering weakness that would continue to increase until he was incapacitated. 

Kona takes advantage of his attraction musk as a source of food: he doesn't have to hunt, the meat is always hunting him!

Kona has also discovered he can manipulate light waves. This gives him the ability to turn himself (along with everything he is wearing) invisible by bending the light waves around himself. He can also create a 2m patch of total darkness up to 10 meters away. This ability also means he can negate a laser blast that is within 10 meters, so lasers are ineffective against him.

All in all, Kona is a good guy to have on your team. And he needs a team, to help battle the predators that constantly find him out. But you'll never be lied to, will have use of found ancient artifacts in no time, and lasers can't touch you. And the crazy mental arm can help in all kinds of situations. Not a bad tradeoff.

#CharcaterCreationChallenge

Character #23: Top Secret S.I. Redux

 

OK, I admit I'm kind of cheating on this one. Hey, on Day 23 this is getting somewhat challenging. It's taking more time than I thought, after work when I need to spend time with my family.

So yesterday I presented Mateo Delgado, former Spanish Policeman turned Secret Agent. I was a little put off by the skill selection process and skill costs, so I didn't feel like my 34 year old former policeman now agent really had the skills to fit his Secret Agent title. Reading a bit around the InterWebs today showed me that folks that played it back in the day felt the same way, and usually house ruled things. So I figured I would do the same.

I also started over with his attributes, using a straight point buy system (275 points), since I knew which attributes needed to be higher for good scores.

I ended up with 

STRength      49

REFlex          55

INTelligence 70

WILlpower   40

CONstitution 61

Yes, I guess I'm min-maxing, which something I usually frown upon. Like with CON: damage capability of each of 10 areas on the body diagram (head, each arm, each leg, each hand, pelvis, left/right chest) is 10% of CON, rounded up. So 61 gets me a 7 in each area.

One mechanic that is really cool in TS S.I. that everyone mentions is the combat system. For a physical attack, one roll with percentile dice gives you whether you hit, the damage, and the hit location. For an attack with a weapon, it gives the hit and location but a separate damage roll is done specific to that weapon. Pretty ingenious! 

So based on my new attributes, my Movement is 52 and my Dexterity is 63 (compared to 57 and 58 before: I was trying to increase my DEX).

Here's my house rules for skills.

1. If you already have a skill, then picking it again through this process increases the rank by one. So if you choose Horsemanship-0 for your Transportation skill, picking it again in Step 4 will give you Horsemanship - 1.

2. Basic Firearms - 0 means exposure to pistols, rifles, and shotguns, useable for all. Any increase after rank 0 must be put towards a specialization. Specialization starts at rank 1 (you don't have to buy a rank 0 in SMG, for instance). The same holds for Basic Melee and Close-Combat Skills.

 

3. Pick one transportation skill for a 0 rank (driving car, off road, snowmobile, etc) or horsemanship. Thinking most people have access to a vehicle, but if not then horses.

4. Then pick two other skills for a 0 rank from this list, plus Language 5 in your native tongue:

    Climbing

    First Aid

    Fishing

    Horsemanship

    Musical Instrument

    Parachuting

    Photography

    Radio Operator

    Sailing

    Scuba Diving

    Sign Language

    Skiing

    Swimming

    Throwing

    Language

    Any Driving skills #4-10

5. Use 22 of your 30 skill points to buy the skills and levels you think are appropriate for your chosen profession. Use the other 8 skill points to buy whatever you want (new skills, increase rank, etc), to include getting the rank you want in a career skill.

6. Get the Agent 101 Package. If you already have a listed skill, you gain +1 to the rank from the Package training. So if you already have Basic Firearms, Agent 101 Basic Firearms - 0 would be a rank towards specialization in the weapon of your choice. 

    Basic Firearms - 0

    Basic Melee - 0

    Pick a Close Combat skill for Rank 1

    Pick a Combat Skill for Rank 1 (can include going Rank 2 in an already chosen combat skill)

    Lockpicking - 0

    Shadowing - 0

    Surveillance - 0

    Pick one other Specialty skill (not yet trained/selected)

So here's what I did for Mateo:

Transportation: 

Auto Driving - 0

Base:

Spanish - 5

Off Road Driving - 0

Horsemanship - 0

Career (Policeman):

Basic Firearms - 0

Pistol - 2

Basic Melee - 0

Blackjack - 1

Basic Tool Use - 0

Shotgun - 1

First Aid - 0

Auto Driving - 1

Surveillance - 0

Others (free time):

Scuba Diving - 1

Off Road Driving - 1

Throwing - 1

Agent 101:

SMG - 1 (from the 101 Basic Firearms - 0)

Martial Arts - 2 (Basic Melee - 0 plus the free choice rank 1 close combat)

Rifle - 1

Lockpicking - 0

Shadowing - 0

Surveillance - 1 (since he already had Surveillance - 0 from the Police Academy)

Demolitions - 0

So here's the final revised Mateo Delgado, 36 year old Spanish ex cop. Decent set of skills, 73% shot with a pistol, 68% with Rifle, Shotgun, and SMG.

#CharacterCreationChallenge

Character #22: Top Secret/S.I.

My gaming buddy Craig bought Top Secret. But of course I had to run it because he didn't like to read the rules. I liked the idea of it, but never got into it. Granted I only tried to run a couple of modules maybe. So fast forward 40 years and somehow I end up with the intro module Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle, and Module TS 002 Operation: Rapidstrike in my stash. Maybe I bought them? Who knows. But I don't have the ruleset. 

I come across a post on my favorite blog Grognardia about Top Secret/S.I. (Special Investigators), and James has a fairly glowing review of it. I misread it though, I think, as I thought S.I was just an updated version that was backward compatible. I guess it technically is, but it's a different game. Top Secret is described as a more realistic, gritty, D&D-like game, whereas S.I. is a skill/percentile-based game, more James Bond super spy.

So I find a complete set of Top Secret/S.I. and buy it out of some type of misplaced nostalgia. Will probably never play it, but let's make a character for it. The set even had the original dice, so I used those.

First up is Attributes: Strength, Reflexes, Intelligence, Willpower, and Constitution, D60+10 for each. If total is less than 275, you can add points to get the total up to 275, but can't plus up any above 70. I roll poorly and end up with 72 points to allocate, and come up with this:

STR 52

REF 61

INT 54

WIL 50

CON 58

The base score in a skill is the Attribute, with each skill level adding 5 or 10%. I'll find out getting high skill levels initially is tough to do, so a couple of key attributes like INT or REF would have helped my skills out. 

MOVEMENT is a derivative of REF and STR, and comes out to 57.

DEXTERITY is a derivative of REF and INT (huh?) and comes out to 58.

You then select sex, nationality, general size and appearance, handedness, and name them. 

I choose Mateo Delgado, a 36 year old Spaniard, of average height and build (5'10", 170 lbs) with brown hair and brown eyes.

Next is a Psychological Profile, where you rate the characters standing in 6 traits from none to Total. My choices:

Cruelty: Low

Sanity: High

Passion: High

Loyalty: Total

Selfishness: Some

Piety: Some

Each character can pick one Advantage and one Disadvantage: I take Sixth Sense, and Color Blindness.

Another character-building item is picking/creating a Trait: Mateo is known to intently stare off into the distance. Only 50% of the time is he focusing on something intently, the other 50% its just a blank stare.

Next is selecting a Career Package, which is a background that will dictate the majority of your initial skills (by category at least). The choices are Military, Professional, Worker, Entertainer, and Other. I choose Worker (thinking a former policeman).

The Skill Categories are Mechanical, Combat, Specialty (the fun ones like Demolitions), Education, General, and Language. Each character gets 30 initial skill points, and 22 of them are going to be slotted into those skill groups for you, leaving only 8 to freely pick from any skill category. Worker puts 10 in Mechanical, 6 in Combat, and 6 in General.

Each skill has a point cost to buy Zero level (where you use the full related attribute as the score), a higher cost to buy levels 1-3, and another higher cost for levels 4-5. Because of the set costs, and the set amounts in the categories to begin with, I was limited to what I could buy if I didn't want to leave points on the table. I guess I could have just included by free 8 points in at the beginning and just made sure I spent at least the required amount in the set categories, but I didn't do that.

I really liked the skill categories and skills, I just wish I could have bought more to start with.

I ended up with Pistol 2 (had to spend a point on zero level Basic Firearms to start), Rifle 1, Auto Driving 1, Climbing 0, Scuba 0, Basic Tool Use 0 (another perquisite in mechanical), Electronics 0, and Computer Technician 0. Every character gets level 5 in their native language, so Spanish 5 also. My best score in Pistol is only 68.

Savings are calculated (2D6x$1000), and Mateo has $5,000. The last step says to purchase gear and equipment. The lists are short, with basic 1980s military weapons up to 105mm Howitzer (I shit you not), various and sundry cool spy gear, and vehicles from a standard car or bicycle, thru construction equipment, up to tanks and airplanes. I skipped spending my money, figuring it would be mission dependent. 

I'll need to read the rules completely to learn about getting into missions.

Overall though, I liked the generation process, especially the psychological profile, traits and such to try and define the personality.

 #CharacterCreationChallenge

Character #21: Thousand Suns

 

Here's one I did not have on my first post listing of systems, because I had the PDFs in a folder for the Grognardia blog, the home of the author James Maliszewski (and admitted Traveller fanboy none the less!). I was reading his blog today, like I do every  day, and it spurred the thought, so here I am.

Thousand Suns is James' science fiction role-playing game 

set in a future when humanity has traveled into the far reaches of the galaxy, colonized new worlds, encountered other intelligent species, and established interstellar states by which to govern itself. The game draws much of its inspiration from the classic literary “imperial” science fiction of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, so called because its stories typically featured mighty galactic empires and whose plots often hearkened back to events from the Age of Imperialism in the 19th century.

In thousand suns, a character hails from one of hundreds of settled planets. Numerous

species, whether alien, human, or genetically engineered clade, call these planets home.

Likewise, representatives of these species come from all walks of life, from highly trained

naval officers to determined explorers to wily merchants to almost any other vocation imaginable. As he travels the galaxy, he might explore alien ruins, engage in dogfights with enemy fighters, re-contact a lost colony world, fly amidst the spires of a world-city, or take up a life of trading. Despite the wealth of inspiration it draws from the classics of literary sci-fi,

thousand suns is not a game about recreating them; it is about using their plots, ideas,

and themes as springboards to create new science fiction adventures in which the players

become both authors and participants. 

The game intro continues, stating his desire that the rules "are flexible, easy to understand, and modular", to give the GM "a toolbox with which to add, subtract or emphasize whatever elements he wishes without having to worry about its effect on other parts of the game."

I think he wanted a streamlined, modern, flexible version of Traveller, not hemmed in by the Imperium or Mongoose. So harkening back to the OD&D days (and pre-Imperium Classic Traveller) of providing the system, you create the milieu how you want it.

I'm a Classic Traveller fanboy myself, but admit to the issues that perhaps Mongoose Traveller has attempted to address. I recently purchased the PDFs for Thousand Suns, and James is working on a revision/update. Check out his blog linked above and read all about it. I have not played or even created a character for Thousand Suns, so this will be interesting.

Interesting starts out with it being D12-based.

Character generation is 7 steps in 12 pages in Chapter 2.

1. Determine Ability Scores: Divide 30 points between the character’s five abilities.
2. Select Species: Choose the character’s species. Spend the bonus points listed under the
“Traits” section of the species on abilities and/or skills of one’s choice.
3. Select Homeworld Package: Choose one homeworld package for the character.
4. Select Career Package(s): Choose three levels of career packages for the character.
5. Create Hooks: Decide on five hooks for the character, one based on his species, one based
on his homeworld, and three based on your his career(s).
6. Benefit Points: Determine how many benefit points the character receives and spend them.
7. Finishing Touches: Give the character a name, age, and gender.

1. Determine Ability Scores. The five abilities are Body (strength and health), Dexterity, Perception, Presence (charisma), Will. Divide 30 points among these 5 abilities (min 1 max 12), or an alternate method is to roll 1D12 in order for each. Derived numbers will be Initiative Rank, (Dexterity + Perception)/2, and Vitality (HP), ([Body + Will]/2) x 5.

Skill tests have a target number equal to the characters skill rank plus the associated ability number (these are listed on the character sheet for each skill). All combat skills use Dexterity. 2D12 are rolled against the target number (roll under).

I allocate: Body 5, Dexterity 8, Perception 7, Presence 5, and Will 5. This results in an Initiative Rank of 7 (fractions are dropped), and a Vitality of 25.

2. Select Species. The available species (GMs are urged to create more of their own) are Terran (human), Clades (genetically engineered sub-species of humanity: Myrmidon - super soldiers, or Delphic - heightened intelligence), Czanik (friendly intelligent aliens, large ambulatory tree-like creatures), Hen Jaa (six-limbed cephlapod-like beings at odds with Terran civilization), Kriilkna (trilaterally symmetrical mute arthropods). Species are listed in Chapter 3, so I have to jump ahead to look them up.

Wow, those are some aliens! I think I'll go with a Mymidon. I note the free skills and ability increases (Body and Will) and increase my Vitality (+5 points!) as a result.

3. Select Homeworld Package. Homeworld selection comes with subsequent free skills, and suggested Hooks. Hooks are background info or personality traits that help define the character. Hooks are tied into Action Points, which are like luck points that can be expended for mechanical benefits in the game (bonus to a target number, free re-rolls, etc). Action points are regained by 'bringing hooks to bear in an adventure in ways the GM thinks makes the game more exciting and fun'. Interesting mechanic, will be interesting to play and see how that works. 

Instead of choosing a homeworld, you can also roll for it randomly. The options are Core (Upper/Middle/Lower Class), Civilized, The Marches (Frontiers - High/low population), Spacer (starship, spacestation, etc), or Wildspace (low or high tech). I roll (2D12) and get Core - Middle Class. This  Package gets me 5 more free skills.

Suggested Hooks are Arranged Marriage, Black Sheep, Friend of the Family, Only the Best Will Do, Your Good Name, but we're not there yet.

4. Select Career Package(s). A career package is a collection of skills and ability bonuses that represent training and experiences acquired by the character while “on the job” before the start of play. Career packages have three levels, Novice (1), Experienced (2), and Veteran (3), so you can take a number and level using your three level points (ie, three at level 1, or one at level 2 and one at level 1, etc). Career packages are listed in Chapter 4, so I have to jump ahead again. Sticking with my Myrmidon Clade species (genetically tailored super soldier), I'll go with Experienced Marine and Novice Colonist. I'm not seeing any information on officer vs enlisted in the Career info even though it lists skill differences for Officers, so I'll just go with enlisted. I note all the skills on my character sheet, adding skill levels to any I already have. 

5. Create Hooks. The 5 hooks consist of one based on species, one based on home world, and three based on career(s). I pick the species and home world hooks from the suggestions given: Watch your back (species), and Friend of the Family (home world). No suggestions are given for career hooks, so I make them up. For Marine I go with Pedal to the Metal (for his vehicle skills), and Embrace the Suck (for the general Marine attitude/mantra). For Colonist I come up with It's a Cute Kitty (picture a first encounter with a new species that goes south).

Ah, in the Hooks and also Action Point sections it explains a little about the career ranks, that those are chosen as hooks (and chosen to get certain skills too). Seeing as how my Marine character has moved on to being a Colonist, I won't sweat that I didn't do a rank Hook. 

6. Benefit Points. Benefit points are awarded based on career levels, and are cumulative. So Experienced Marine gives 1 point for Novice, and 4 points for Experienced for a total of 5 points. As a  Novice Colonist I get 1 point, for a grand total of 6 Benefit Points.  Benefit points are like a starting currency, "to acquire things that would be of use to them in the course of a campaign", such as cash, memberships, retainers, even a mortgage on a starship. All of this is GM/campaign specific, part of the 'toolbox'. One point equals 10,000$. I think I'll use 3 points for 30,000$, and 3 points on an Intersector organization membership, The Colonists Guild.

I was waiting for some explanation of when/how to use my species Bonus points (4) for skills or abilities. A note at the beginning said if not stated, points can be used to purchase ability points at 2 for 1, and 1 for 1 for skills. I think I have a good spread of skills, so I'm going to use my 4 points to buy one point of Dexterity and one point of Presence.

7. Finishing Touches. Name, age, gender are all selected. Age of course should be based on careers and levels. I decide on 10 years in the Marines (starting age 18), plus 4 years as a Colonist, so 32 years old.

So here's Markon Vassim, Myrmidom Clade, 32 year old ex-Marine, Novice Colonist.

Oops. I did not note the Target Number (TN) for all my skills. That would be the Skill level plus the applicable Ability score. So Shoot would be 4 (level) plus 9 (Dexterity) for a 13.

Thoughts on Thousand Suns

This is definitely a toolbox ruleset. Almost every item has some note about as the GM sees fit or in the GMs campaign. So the GM has to put in some definite amount of work to create their campaign environment, as that drives aspects of character development. I think James is working on a more defined setting for his revision, so maybe some of those items would be answered, or at least more well defined.

I like the character generation system in that you pick it and define the character you want (species and possible multiple careers), giving you generally the skill set you want. I don't like that species and careers, two major parts of character generation, are in separate chapters. Why not embed it in the character generation chapter? 

When I first looked through this the Hooks really threw me for a loop, but the more I read about it the more I like it. It looks like a cool mechanic to embed the character species, career, home world, upbringing and background into the gameplay. Very cool to build a mechanic that brings rulings and roles into rolls.

#CharacterCreationChallenge

Character #20: Classic Traveller RAW

 

Yes, this challenge is starting to get challenging. Didn't generate as many as I was planning over the three day weekend. And it's obvious that Traveller is my go-to since they're fairly quick and easy.

This time I wanted to do a Classic Traveller Book 1 character completely Rules-as-written (RAW), including dying if I didn't make the survival roll. I wanted to see if fate would play her hand, and let me get 4 terms into a great character and then squash him!

I rolled a D6 to see which service I would attempt to enlist in, regardless of my characteristics. The result was Merchant. Let's see how it went.

Rolled Characteristics:

STR 6

DEX 5

END 3

INT 8

EDU 6

SOC 6

A pretty average, vanilla set of stats, except for the below average Endurance. Looks like a chain smoker to me (is that even a thing in Traveller in space?). OK, maybe an asthmatic. But the INT does give bonuses for three areas for Merchant: Enlistment, Survival, and Commission. Darn - one short for a bonus to the tough 10+ Promotion roll.

Let's name him Bruce Filbert.

So Bruce successfully enlisted in the Merchant service, and easily survived his first term, working a subsidized liner on an established route. He was easily commissioned (at 4+, I guess everyone in the Merchant service is an 'officer', although most are probably stuck at 4th Officer). And he ALMOST got a promotion. He reenlisted easily, of course (4+ also).

For this first term, he took one Personal Development Skill (+1 Dex), and two Service Skills, both of which were Steward. I guess Bruce is a Steward!

His second term he barely survived a misjump scenario, and wasn't promoted, so he only earned one skill. He took an advanced education class, earning a rating in Electronics. Despite the scary situation with the misjump, Bruce finds he likes the Merchant service as a Steward, and reenlists for a third term.

His third term is fairly mundane, and his service skill earned is a rating in Vacc Suit. He decides to reenlist for one more term.

Bruce's fourth term is a little more exciting, with some brushes with pirates while refueling once. Promotion eludes him once again, and he earns a higher rating in Vacc Suit. 

Despite aging threatening at age 34, Bruce managed to maintain his health and fitness and has no impacts on his STR/DEX/END.

His four terms and on rank earn him five mustering out benefits. He takes 3 Cash and 2 Benefits. The Service is stingy given his lack of skills earned, despite his stellar record, and only takes home 11,000 credits, and a commemorative dagger. His Electronics course does qualify him for an increased Education rating.

Bruce Filbert, ex-Merchant 4th Officer

STR 6

DEX 6

END 3

INT 8

EDU 7

SOC 6

Steward - 2

Vacc Suit - 2

Electronics - 1

11,000 credits

Dagger

Well, he survived. And he would make a great Steward on anyone's ship. If you played him as a PC it would be all personality and generated background to make him interesting.

#CharacterCreationChallenge