Character Generation

[shaidar]

Thanks, that makes perfect sense.

Character sheet updated.

He's also gained a middle name, James, so his nickname can be DJ. That's better than the original which would have been DD or even double-D, which would get old very quickly.

[TheMyth]

Thanks, that makes perfect sense.

Character sheet updated.

He's also gained a middle name, James, so his nickname can be DJ. That's better than the original which would have been DD or even double-D, which would get old very quickly.

So.... If I make Val originate from Beau, wanna make our characters cousins? Their moms are sisters but the cousins hadn't seen each other in years - Dwight in service and Val doing something rumored in the family to be shady ...until they ran into each other by chance while Val was on-the-run?

[shaidar]

That could work. Val's mum could have married well, hence the difference in social scores. Dwight is certainly originally 'trailer trash', so I can see Val's parents not wanting them to mix with that side of the family. Or we could switch it round and have Dwight's mum married low after falling in with the wrong crowd, a mirror of Val's early years.

[atpollard]

That could work. Val's mum could have married well, hence the difference in social scores. Dwight is certainly originally 'trailer trash', so I can see Val's parents not wanting them to mix with that side of the family. Or we could switch it round and have Dwight's mum married low after falling in with the wrong crowd, a mirror of Val's early years.

Perhaps you want to really OWN the difference in SOC and have fun with that.

The Dawsons and Meridians were once both wealthy respected families related by intermarriage ties, until a Dawson (your Grandfather) was involved in a giant Ponzi Scheme that blew up and made the Dawson name "infamous" in the Business World (you are the Madoffs of BEAU). It is the association with the "Dawson Scandal" that makes the respectable members of the Meridians react so violently at any scandal from Valencia. The Dawson reputation is part of Dwight's motivation for going into Merchant ... it is in his blood. The shared experience of living under the "Dawson Scandal" cloud [DJ by birth and Valencia by family accusation of following the same path] provides a commonality to bind the two cousins together.

[shaidar]

I love it!

[Gorethirster]

I feel like I'm holding things up, so here we go!

Noble, name TBD
78648A

1st term:
[NAME] was never the brightest bulb. His tutoring went to waste as he spent his early years carousing with his social circle on Oxford, getting into brawls, and patching each other up before the next day's formal social events. Brawling and Medical -1

2nd term:
"The Boys" escalated from mere drunken and disorderly conduct to what they considered a criminal racket, and what their parents paid the law to consider a small matter. During this period [NAME] was the one on-call to smooth over disagreements between buyers and sellers of illicit goods, usually with a small payment at the right place and time. Liaison and Bribery -1

3rd term:
The Boys get in over their heads. [NAME] finally finds a use for his education, and starts designing cheaply-producible motorcraft made with local resources. This comes to the attention of a less-than-scrupulous interstellar corporate conglomerate, who attempt to dissuade The Boys from their entrepenurial activities. Violently. Engineering and Gun Combat (pistols) 1

4th term:
The Boys take the hint and dissolve. Finally divested of his youthful energy, [NAME] decides to attempt to find a place in the family business. He drifts from department to department acquiring sundry useful skills before finally being settled into a theoretically pointless position in HR. Jack o Trades and Admin-1

5th term:
Despite his family's best efforts to find him a pointless yet cushy job, [NAME] gradually expanded his functions, becoming actually useful in HR. In his spare time, he's taken up the family hobby, playing with the heirloom fowling pieces and competition rifles. Admin -2 and Gun Combat (longarms) -1

While he has enjoyed his time with the family business, [NAME] once again feels the reckless adventurism of his youth. He has resigned his position, sold his stock, taken some personal time with the pistol he used back with the boys, and struck out once again.

Final Skills and stats:
[NAME]
78648A
Admin -2
Blade cbt -0
Brawling -1
Bribery -1
Carousing -0
Computer -1
Engineering -1
Gun cbt (pistols) -2
Gun cbt (longarms) -1
Hunting -0
Jack o' Trades -1
Leader -0
Medical -1
Navigation -0
Pilot -0
Ships boat -0
Vehicle (air raft/grav) -0
Vehicle (wheeled/tracked) -1

350k credits
Automatic pistol

As far as relationships go, I think it might make sense if my character knew Dwight during both their final two terms. Maybe the family business for my character was involved in one way or another with the shipping company Dwight worked for, and my character helped get Dwight reshuffled to the various departments he wanted to try working in? Since I've already got admin -2 that makes sense, and maybe I had to fudge Dwight's credentials a bit and thus bumped my computers -0 up to 1?

[shaidar]

That's an idea. Perhaps his family owns the business, or a significant share of it, and the buy out which resulted in cuts and Dwight loosing his job was also an influencing factor in your character deciding to resign and go travelling.

I need to have a think about which additional skill to pick up which sort of ties in with either connection. I'm leaning towards a more social skill like streetwise.

[TheMyth]

Our UNNAMED NOBLE's first term sounds like it would coordinate with Val, but the ages are off!

The Noble's 3rd term overlaps Val's 1st.... Perhaps her gang's new leader was UNNAMED's old boss? Or one of The Boys trying to jumpstart his own enterprise?

[Eris]

Name:	Joe Black		Age:	42	UPP:	8A4997
Career:	Mechants		Terms:	6	Str:	8
Rank:	2nd Officer				Dex:	10
					End:	4
Skills:	[12]				Int:	9
Admin	1	Blade	0		Edu:	9
Auto Pistol	2	Bribery	0		Soc:	7
Shotgun	2	Grav Vech	1
JoAT	2	Steward	0		Assets:	44,000 CR
Mechanical	1	Electronics	0		4,000 CR Yearly Pension
Navigation	1	Gunnery	0		Blade
Pilot	1	Medical	0		Auto Pistol
Streetwise	1	Computer	0		Shotgun
Vacc Suit	2	Engineering	0		High Passage

* converted from spreadsheet to table with https://theenemy.dk/table/

Background:
Joe is from a nameless chunk of rock ... literally. "World 2517" is an airless ball of rock half the size of Earth's moon, scorched by its binary stars [D-100758-9]. If one had access to a Military Ship, it is only two jumps away at J3, however, following the J2 route that Merchant Ships are restricted to, you are 12 jumps from home.

Joe is just your average Spacer. He could have stayed home and been a success, but he always had a wanderlust, he wanted to see what was over there, out there! The Stars are the ultimate "out there", so when he turned 18, he enlisted with the Merchant Service and he's never looked back...only forward and out there!

Joe is a friendly, cheerful sort of fellow, but he does hold a grudge, so don't get on his bad side. He is average sized, more dexterous than most, and familiar with just about anything that needs doing aboard a ship. Over the years, his jobs always focused on working the Bridge rather than other things, but no Spacer worth his salt doesn't help out everywhere it's needed, and Joe was always smart enough to learn a bit about everything as he went.

Working on the frontiers where Piracy is a problem and unscrupulous traders are almost the rule, he had to become more expert than most with fighting. He quickly learned it's never a good idea to bring a blade to a gun fight, so Joe became very good with his auto pistol. After his leg wound in a fight with pirates off Inth Joe took up the shotgun to give him a little more range. He's pretty good with that, too, however he'd rather talk his way out of a fight if he can. He's learned that wounds hurt and they keep hurting for a long, long, time!

Joe's Strength and Endurance started dropping as he passed through his 30's. He worked hard to keep his strength up, but endurance proved hard. Breathing an exotic atmosphere through a faulty air mask on your 3rd term will do wonders in lowering your lung capacity! There was only so much physical training (or the Doctors) could do and Joe went from about Average to well below. His breathing is better than it was at one point, but if he's tired Joe will still start to limp...that leg wound never completely healed. "Damn Pirates! They should all be breathing vacuum!"

Joe would have liked to make it to First Officer, and he dreamed of being a Captain of his own Starship, but alas that was never to be. Not in the Merchant Service anyway. The Merchant Service, like all bureaucracies, seems to thrive on "who you know" not "what you know" as you go higher and Joe's background was too humble to know anybody who could get him higher in the ranks. He got to 2nd Officer and got stuck with less qualified and less capable people passing him by. It became a matter of him doing the work and them reaping the rewards. It was hard not to get bitter, but rather than taking that road Joe decided to take another.

So, at 42, he left the Merchant Service and struck out on his own. He's got some credits saved up, he's got a pension, he's even got a High Passage he can use to get to somewhere if he needs to...and he's got a lifetime of experience to draw on. He's ready for an adventure!

"Hey Universe! Here comes Joe!" he thinks to himself with a smile, "Maybe I'll have better luck with an independent ship. A bunch of free thinkers. A Free Trader perhaps?"


Joe Black eased onto a stool at the bar and looked around. Beau isn't a big place, should be folks he's run into around.

JoeBlack.png (90.41 KiB) Viewed 317 times

Anybody here he recognizes?

Barman comes over, Joe nods to him and lays a coin down on the bar and says with a smile and a wink, "No booze today for me, my friend. Just caff, black and strong. Need to stay sharp."

[Eris]

I wasn't looking at anyone else's characters when I rolled up Joe Black this morning. He was almost completely rolled, however, I did pick a couple of skills during the process, and when he made his survival roll exactly I made a note to say he got a big gulp of exotic air and applied that when he failed his Endurance Aging roll. He failed it again and that's when I gave him the leg wound. In the end, Joe ended up with 13 skill levels and I so I dropped his Computer from 1 to 0.

After reading the Ref Bribe post...I'd be happy to work out a "Hey! Don't we know each other?" with any or your PC's or "Didn't we served on a ship together?"

I have no idea where Joe is from, I never do when I roll up characters. I tend to figure that out during play. However, if you would like Joe to have been from a particular system tell me and it will be so. In my mind, however, he is far, Far, FAR from wherever it was he was born and he has no desire to go back there. Why that is, though, will have have to percolate up from my sub-conscious.

Oh, and if it wasn't clear from the PC post, Joe hates Pirates.

[Gorethirster]

The Noble's 3rd term overlaps Val's 1st

Val and Noble both have Liaison -1, yeah? I think if Val's boss was one of the boys then it would make sense that our characters knew each other. Maybe when my guy decided to go back on the straight and narrow he passed on what he knew of managing under the table business transactions, hence both our characters have liaison 1?

[TheMyth]

The Noble's 3rd term overlaps Val's 1st

Val and Noble both have Liaison -1, yeah? I think if Val's boss was one of the boys then it would make sense that our characters knew each other. Maybe when my guy decided to go back on the straight and narrow he passed on what he knew of managing under the table business transactions, hence both our characters have liaison 1?

That works!

Now for Joe Black...his connection to fellow Merchant DJ Dawson seems obvious. I guess we all don't need multiple connections...just one to connect each of us.

Atpollard, may I ask how many players we will be?

[atpollard]

Atpollard, may I ask how many players we will be?

At least FOUR players.
Probably a fifth.
A sixth looks to have bowed out.

I will know for sure by Monday when I just "move on" and quit waiting.

Next week (Feb 4-11) I get my "ducks in a row" and we start the game by Feb 12.

[TheMyth]

...so I use BROAD groups. It makes skills useful rather than hyper-specialized.

For "Gun Combat"... do you also use broad groups there too? Like " handgun" instead of each individual weapon?

[atpollard]

...so I use BROAD groups. It makes skills useful rather than hyper-specialized.

For "Gun Combat"... do you also use broad groups there too? Like " handgun" instead of each individual weapon?

Yup. The concept that you are a master with an automatic pistol, but suffer a -4 penalty if you attempt to point a revolver is foolishness to me.

Handgun (1 handed)
Rifle (2 handed, including Shotguns)
Machine Gun (full-auto burst fire)

Chemical projectile or Gauss or Lasers make no difference … they are all more alike than different compared to “1 hand” vs “2 hand” shooting.

[atpollard]

I guess, technically, heavy weapons would be another group. Shooting a RPG or FGMP is different from a pistol or a rifle. I have just yet to have one come up in a game.

[shaidar]

Yes, it does make some sense that DJ and Joe know each other, logically from both their last terms. It doesn't mean they had to have worked on the same ship, but they could have simply moved in the same circles. Or Joe could have been training DJ in his last term (less capable people passing him by). DJ also feels he didn't survive the cuts because of his background, so they have that in common.

I'm now thinking I might up my electronics skill with that free skill point, but not fully decided yet.

[shaidar]

I've decided to go with vacc-suit. As he's spent quite a bit of time in space they would have had regular training.

Pic below in spoiler.

DJ_small.jpg (863.87 KiB) Viewed 456 times

[atpollard]

Same way that I hate TOO MANY Vehicle Skills and TOO MANY Weapon Skills ... I hate too GRANULAR of SOCIAL INTERACTION skills.
LBB1 gave us ADMIN, STEWARD and STREETWISE ... THREE seems like plenty of skills for interacting with other people. (Formal, Professional and Informal)

Supplement 4 (Citizens of the Imperium) duplicates these basic functions with new names. Adding skills without adding function just dilutes the value of a skill. We will link the old and new skills together into a combined skill:

Admin/Legal Skill (formal interaction)

Steward/Carouse Skill (professional interaction)

Streetwise/Liaison Skill (informal interaction)

Forward Observer/Recon Skill: They do the same thing, but the name "Recon" sounds much cooler.

Pilot Skill (Pilot/Ship's Boat): a Pilot is a Pilot as long as it goes into SPACE. (VEHICLES operate in Atmosphere.) How High is UP is a philosophical question where Pilot and Vehicle (grav) skills overlap. Beyond Low Planet Orbit is definitely Pilot skill.

[atpollard]

I have no idea where Joe is from, I never do when I roll up characters. I tend to figure that out during play. However, if you would like Joe to have been from a particular system tell me and it will be so. In my mind, however, he is far, Far, FAR from wherever it was he was born and he has no desire to go back there. Why that is, though, will have have to percolate up from my sub-conscious.

Your wish is granted.

Joe is from a nameless chunk of rock ... literally. "World 2517" is an airless ball of rock half the size of Earth's moon, scorched by its binary stars [D-100758-9]. If one had access to a Military Ship, it is only two jumps away at J3, however, following the J2 route that Merchant Ships are restricted to, you are 12 jumps from home.

Since there is no reason for the population of a large city living in 0.05 G surface Gravity to take a "Vehicle" anywhere, replace the free home-world "Vehicle" skill with VaccSuit-1 [essential for survival on an airless world].
Joe left home and has NO desire to return to his Non-Agricultural, Vacuum place of origin.