Campaign Discussion

[FantasyChic]

I am still unsure of how to make the sheet for her younger sister...like do I just list the dice and what it goes to as it pertains to her or do I do it like the other sheet? It isn't really clear.

[Antman9]

I am still unsure of how to make the sheet for her younger sister...like do I just list the dice and what it goes to as it pertains to her or do I do it like the other sheet? It isn't really clear.

Ok. I'll put something together tomorrow and post it here. Unless Marullus beats me to it

Thanks for letting me know. We'll get you fixed up here in a jiff.

[Marullus]

For Milly's sister, I had specced out a sheet when first proposed. I did it like a PC, which is a "medium NPC" if that's okay with Antman. If not, then the rules are on page 270 for a "light NPC" and FantasyChic can just shave a few points to trim it back. (Or make something totally different.)

What if Milly had a little sister, and she survived the attack? She's too young and headstrong to be on her own and became Milly's ward, the only connection she has left. If FantasyChic is interested in playing (or having the GM play) a second related character.

• Mental d8
• Physical d8
• Social d8

Distinctions/Triggers
Sisters d8
No one understands you like your sister. You’ve always stood together.

• Dearest: Step up Treat when you help your sister remove a Complication before you help anyone else.
• Shift Blame: When you take a social Complication, spend 1 PP to step it back and give it to your sister.

Spoiled Dandy d8
You grew up with a proverbial silver spoon in each hand and never wanted for anything. Some folks think you don’t know the value of anything.

• Wild Ride: When you drive recklessly, double Fly for the roll. Take a Reckless d8 Complication after the roll.

Cocky d8
You’re a smug, self-assured sommbitch and you’re not afraid to say it.

• Craft d4
• Drive d8
• Fight d4
• Fix d4
• Fly d8
• Focus d8
• Influence d8
• Know d6 (Fashion)
• Labor d4
• Move d4
• Notice d8
• Operate d4
• Perform d8
• Shoot d4
• Sneak d4
• Survive d4
• Throw d4
• Treat d8
• Trick d8 (Lies)

Signature Assets

• Like, a thousand friends on Facechat. (d8) Nobody socials like a teenage socialite. They are a constant source of gossip, news, and occasionally helpful things.
• Trust fund. (d8) Your parents ensured you'd be set for life. You can't access the principal until you're 35, but the stipends keep you happy.

[FantasyChic]

I like that, it is essentially how I pictured her. Up to Antman though, I can shave off whatever is needed.

[Antman9]

I like it! Carry on soldiers...

FC: go ahead and add her as a second character sheet in the Character Sheets thread. You'll be managing her through the game.

[Zhym]

So I worked up an initial sheet for Gideon Wainwright, Attorney at Law:

Gideon Wainwright

Description
Posh. Hoity and toity. Well-manicured.

Background
Attorney at Law. Educated at the finest law school in the core. (Then what? Details TBD.)

Signature Assets

Attributes

• Mental: 10
• Physical: 6
• Social: 8

• Plot Points:

Big Damn Hero Dice

Skills (Specialties)

• Craft: d4
• Drive: d4
• Fight: d4
• Fix: d4
• Fly: d4
• Focus: d8
• Influence: d10
• Know: d12 (Law)
• Labor: d4
• Move: d4
• Notice: d10
• Operate: d6
• Perform: d6
• Shoot: d4
• Sneak: d4
• Survive: d4
• Throw: d4
• Treat: d4
• Trick: d10

Distinctions/Triggers
By the Book: d8
According to section 5, subsection c, paragraph 2 of the Federal Alliance Judicial Code...

• Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
• Standard Operating Procedure: Spend 1 PP to double Know for a roll when you rely on your knowledge of Alliance rules, regulations, and procedures.
• This Isn’t in the Manual: When the GM buys a jinx from you, you may step up a Complication to gain 1 PP.

Highlighted skills: Focus, Know, Operate

Intuitive: d8

• Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
• Now Is Not Your Time: When someone tries to attack you the first time in a scene, spend 1 PP to instead make them set the stakes against a Social + Influence intimidation Action. If you raise the stakes, they cannot attack you until you roll a jinx.
• Take Measure: When you come into conflict with someone for the first time, you may attempt to size them up with a Mental + Know Action. Create a Sized Up d8 Asset if you succeed or take an Overconfident d8 Complication if you fail.

Highlighted skills: Focus, Influence, Notice

Smooth Talker: d8

• Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
• Gift of Gab: Spend 1 PP to double your Influence die for your next roll.
• Start Fresh: Spend 1 PP at the beginning of a scene to step back all of your social or mental-based Complications.

Highlighted skills: Influence, Know, Trick

Episode Guide

I'm seeing him as a refined, highly educated core planet type who ends up with this bunch for reasons TBD. His skills are white-shoe lawyer skills: knowing things, noticing things, influencing people, and, possibly, having connections. Fighting isn't among his talents.

I'm going to skim the rule book to get ideas for specialties (other than the obvious Know: Law), and I think one of his signature items will be law books in some form, or maybe an account on NexLaw, the most comprehensive legal database in the 'Verse.

The problem I see is that although he'd be good at talking through situations, he's useless in a fight and can't patch up either machines or people. Is he going to be useless?

[Quaid Slauson]

Regarding the "open items"...

Time/date tracking - sounds fun.

Travel time / velocity / distance tracking - sounds interesting, yet tedious.

[Marullus]

Yay Zhym!

We have a lot of talkers on the crew, but you are the primary Know guy, and the best Liar. That's not shabby. He also could provide: Access. If he has an Asset that lets him get into places. Connections. What type of law did he practice? Petty criminal defense? Settler's rights? Corporate attorney?Give him an asset for all the folks in the 'Verse that owe him.

In progress. TBD:

• Spend 5 points on specialties and signature assets (Law (e)book as signature asset or Operate:Cortex?)

Ideas:
Good suit to help influence people (p. 180)
Sunglasses with a hi-tech heads-up display, so you always have cool info. (P. 180)
Alliance database access (p. 175)
Legitimacy: magistrate credentials, public defender license, etc. Like a Lawdog badge. (P. 175)
Blackmail Database connection. (P. 167)
Black Sun Security Pass. (P. 166)
Cortex Tablet (p. 163)
Alliance Ident Card (p. 159)

[Zhym]

Good ideas.

Who do you think it would be more useful to have connections with? If he was a JAG officer he could have pull with Alliance military/government. If he was a corporate attorney, he would know people in businesses in the core. Or he might have been (or still be) a defense attorney to whom members of the criminal underworld owe big favors.

I was thinking one of the specialties might be Influence (Negotiate).

Also, is it better to have an additional d6 skill instead of bumping another one? I spent a couple of points to bump Perform to d6, thinking that lawyerin' (dangit, it's hard to avoid those shortened gerunds, ain't it?) is part performance art. So he might have a specialty Performance (Speechifyin') (there I go again!).

Antman9: Could I replace Operate with Perform on Gideon's By the Book distinction, reflecting that what he knows by the book is law, not how to operate machinery (other than a Cortex tablet? Is Operate even needed to use a Cortex tablet)? That would free up a couple of points to put somewhere else.

[Antman9]

Zhym

Criminal Deffense vs. Corporate Attorney
Man, that’s a tough one. If he went criminal defense, he’d have “asset[s] for all the folks in the 'Verse that owe him,” (Marullus), but the corporate lawyer would have access to a whole host of other information and resources as well. The A-Team aspect, fighting for the little guy, who is most likely getting pinched on two sides, from the corporate giant and the criminal, could use both of these lawyers.

Assets
These all have good uses for an A-Team type lawyer. I would be inclined, form a personal point of view, to go with Cortex Tablet and Blackmail Database Connection to give me the broadest range of access on the net. But that doesn’t give me a physical asset to use necessarily, like the Sunglasses or Alliance Ident Card. If I had to choose 2, I would narrow down one form each of those pairs.

Another option might be to have a close female/male connection somewhere in the corporate or Alliance world, someone form his past that can discretely get information, or who has connections and can pull some strings.

Good suit to help influence people (p. 180)
Sunglasses with a hi-tech heads-up display, so you always have cool info. (P. 180)
Alliance database access (p. 175)
Blackmail Database connection. (P. 167)
Blue Sun Security Pass. (P. 166)
Cortex Tablet (p. 163)
Alliance Ident Card (p. 159)


Quaid
Thanks for the input on the Time & Travel Quaid. The travel item isn’t all that tedious actually, because the Firefly RPG Tool (Link) makes it super easy.

And I’m super jealous. Hope you’re having a good time on vacation. I haven’t had a vacation in six years. Working full time and squeezing in a bachelors degree is tedious and exhausting. It’s over now though, so I’ll be joining you in relaxing department real soon.

[Zhym]

Some really good ideas in there. Here's a shorter list to narrow down:

Specializations
Know (Law) (free)
Influence (Negotiate)
Notice (Deception)
Performance (Speechifyin')

Assets
Connections (Criminal or Alliance)
Cortex Tablet (His knowledge of the law is encyclopedic. He doesn't often need to look something up, but when he does, he has the Cortex.)
Alliance Ident Card (if a corporate/Alliance attorney)
Blackmail Database (if a defense attorney)

Would a cortex tablet give him access to the legal database, or would that be separate?

[Marullus]

Captain Percy already has d12 Influence with specialization in Negotiations. That might be too much overlap.

I think Performance is a worthy investment. I hope Antman goes with swapping Operate as the highlight for By the Book, which gives you the point back to make it a d8.

Assets are pretty fungible... I would think the Cortex Tablet useful for both legal research and other topics, both.

If you are choosing Alliance or Corporate: Jesse and Boscoe are both former-Alliance military, so you could be teamed up with us, or cover new territory as a corporate guy.

[Antman9]

Antman9: Could I replace Operate with Perform on Gideon's By the Book distinction, reflecting that what he knows by the book is law, not how to operate machinery (other than a Cortex tablet? Is Operate even needed to use a Cortex tablet)? That would free up a couple of points to put somewhere else.

Yep, go ahead and swap those out. I also like the idea of having a Corporate lawyer on board. Broadens the plot elements a bit and gives the crew additional resources.

[Zhym]

Yep, go ahead and swap those out. I also like the idea of having a Corporate lawyer on board. Broadens the plot elements a bit and gives the crew additional resources.

Thanks. I've made the swap and used the points that frees up (with Operate back to d4) to bump Perform to d8 and Focus to d10.

I hadn't noticed Captain Percy's d12 Influence (Negotiation). Negotiation is sort of a lawyer's core competence, though, right along with knowledge. In fact I was thinking of bumping Influence to 12 instead of Focus to 10. Maybe having a professional on board would let the Captain allocate those points somewhere else? Or maybe there's an influence specialization that would fit a lawyer (Persuasion, maybe)?

[Marullus]

Jack wanted the captain to have Influence 12 because of his special ability. Perhaps he's be willing to swap specialties, though.

"Lead the crew: when one of your crew directly follows one of your orders, spend 1 PP and give that Crewmember an Asset equal to your Influence die rating."

[Jack]

Jack wanted the captain to have Influence 12 because of his special ability. Perhaps he's be willing to swap specialties, though.

"Lead the crew: when one of your crew directly follows one of your orders, spend 1 PP and give that Crewmember an Asset equal to your Influence die rating."

Yeah, I'll drop the (negotiate) specialty for something else, but keep the influence 12 to give someone else some 12 assets. We could have us some really fun inter-PC influence-offs Percy's influence is different from Jesse (leader like, especially good with Alliance), Milly (upper class), and Gideon's (lawyering); because his tattoo won't convince the purple bellies, the rich, or middle class folk much.

Feel free to argue against things the captain asks or orders - deep down he's still an anarchist, and he's walking a tightrope between being captainy and not becoming what he opposes about the Alliance, so if someone (Rebecca?) calls him a fascist for ordering her to do something - that could really get to him.

[Jack]

Shuttle 1 is pretty awesome - much better than Serenity's shuttles, and closer to a Millennium falcon. I especially love the "Your pantry is stuffed with protein bars and canned goods." which I wanted to do for the main ship because of Percy's experience in the POW camp.

I'd still like to do planetary landings with the main ship to pick stuff up on planets and moons.

I like Antman9's Titan as the primary ship, tho it'll need airlocks where the shuttles/lifeboats dock. I'm fine with what works best with the PC distinctions and roles.

Shuttle 1 is powerful enough for bounty hunting and investigating. A big transport ship could also be good for both because it can blend in (like a taxi cab in a city)

Visual Aids/Supplements: I'd like these.

Time/Date Tracking: I'd like this, even if fuzzy. Do we start at the same date as the pilot episode: 2517-05/06?

Track/Determine Travel Distance & Times: The Kim Stanley Robinson fan in me loves that, but I can't ask someone else to do it because it's so much work. I like the idea of communications delays due to distance, but I don't know if that'll gum up the works during play.

[Jack]

Can we only include 1 skill die per pool, even if we have several skills that apply? Also only 1 specialty, and only 1 distinction die? But several dice lent from other PCs?

[Antman9]

Can we only include 1 skill die per pool, even if we have several skills that apply? Also only 1 specialty, and only 1 distinction die? But several dice lent from other PCs?

That is correct. Each dice pool consists of:

TAKING AN ACTION (PG 235)
When you decide to take an action, you roll the appropriate Attribute dice (plus) the appropriate Skill dice (plus any optional dice) and keep the highest two. The total is compared to that of the opponent, if your total is higher you win.

The Dice Pool will always have:

• Attribute die
• Skill die

The Dice Pool may also have:

• Specialty die
• Distinction die
• Signature Asset
• Assets in favor of your Crewmember
• Complications in favor of your Crewmember
• Scale die (if you have the advantage)
• Skill dice lent to you by other Crewmembers
• Big Damn Hero Die

[Antman9]

Time/Date Tracking: I'd like this, even if fuzzy. Do we start at the same date as the pilot episode: 2517-05/06?

Track/Determine Travel Distance & Times: The Kim Stanley Robinson fan in me loves that, but I can't ask someone else to do it because it's so much work. I like the idea of communications delays due to distance, but I don't know if that'll gum up the works during play.

I was thinking we might start a few years in the future, up to ten or so, but I'm not apposed to starting on that date. How does everyone feel about that?

I actually like to track travel times and distances, to a degree, as it helps me visualize things in my head. So basically, it's no big deal for me.