The Breeding Vats (Character creation)

[Thumper]

I'm confused by other characters' HP, XP. Did I miss something? Are we starting at Level 1, or did we agree to begin higher and I missed it?

[Grognardsw]

We start at level 1 with a HP house rule and other...

Here are my concessions that I think would make up for starting at first level:
• All PCs will get a kicker of ½ their Constitution score added to starting hit points, to make them more durable/heroic.
• You're probably going to start with extra skills (see the skills discussion below).
• XP to level progression is going to be faster than btb SWN. You'll only need points equal to your current level to advance to the next one, thus: 1 xp for 2nd level, 3 for 3rd, 6 for 4th, 10 for 5th... (I don't know the formal name for this, I call it the bowling pin sequence). The single XP needed to make 2nd level can be awarded for playing through a training or flashback scene. Hint, hint.

[Thumper]

Aha! Thanks! I didn't find that looking back through last night. Appreciate the info.

[subaltari]

EDIT: changed Death Saves to Luck Saves!

We start at level 1 with a HP house rule and other...

YES! This is correct... mostly. Bill, thank you for reposting those notes and keeping me accountable.

I decided not to give out an extra skill-0 after all. I added Specialties which SWNRE doesn't have, but using the advancement rules I think it will balance. I was also waffling about the faster XP chart... but I already posted it, so we'll stick with it.

Let's go through the US.com character sheets together...

• We are starting at FIRST level with 0 XP. House rule: You need 1 XP to get to the Second level. You'll need a total of 3 XP to get to Third.
• House rule: You start with Hit Points equal to ½ your Constitution score (round up) and add your rolled die + bonuses to that. I think everyone has rolled correctly.
• On the "Class" line put your class of course! On the "Alignment" line put your Background.
• House rule: We're using Descending AC. If you already bought armour out of the book, subtract its listed AC from 20 to get its D.A.C. If not, don't worry about that now. If you're human and not wearing armour, you have AC 9. Don't bother with "rear/no shield." (Shields do exist in high tech, but they're rare.)
• If you are human and not Encumbered (p.61), your Movement is 10 meters. Asxerthsis (cybersavant's PC) is a Pé Chói and capable of faster movement at times.
• On the "Languages" line type ALL your Skills, their levels, and any Specialties in parentheses. (House rule) Only skills at level 1 get specialties, and only some of those. That will be my next post in this thread. If you have Psychic Skills list those here, but list your Techniques on the Spells tab. After skills, type "Foci: " and list ALL your Foci in the same field. I think only one PC has two Foci, and that is "Ike" Heinlein.

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Saving Throws.
For now we'll be going with four (house rule, 4) saves: LUCK, PHYSICAL, EVASION, MENTAL. ("Death rays" and other unmodified saves will fall under Luck.) You can list these four under the D&D saves on the sheet, skipping "Rod, Staff or Wand" if you like.
• All saving throw target numbers are 16, minus Level, minus Attribute Bonus, minus species and class bonuses.
• Attribute bonuses are the better of (Str or Con) for Physical; (Int or Dex) for Evasion; (Wis or Cha) for Mental. No attribute bonus for Death.
• House rule for Species: Humans (and human clones) get +1 vs Death. Pé Chói have no save bonus. Other species TBD.
• House rule for Class: Full Psychics get +1 vs Mental. Full Warriors get +1 vs Evasion. Adventurers and Astronauts have no class save bonus.

We'll get to the weapons tab soon. Weapons will basically have their SWN stats, with the addition of AP (armor penetration) and a Str modifier requirement for some heavy weapons.


Here, I worked up a sample sheet for you to look at and emulate. This is a conversion of Freda, an NPC from a previous Traveller game. This does not mean she's joining your crew!

[Dicey]

Let's go through the US.com character sheets together...

My sheet is set!

[Grognardsw]

I believe mine is too. Ready to play.

[cybersavant]

You can browse the equipment chapter, but hold off on buying anything!

[subaltari]

For the party genesis and opening "episode 0" scenes, here's a sketch of what my pea-brain has come up with...

Our story begins with Asxerthsis... perhaps fitting, as the wise and benevolent Pé Chói were traversing the stars thousands of years before humans. This individual has Administrate among his diverse skills, and has made himself useful within the myriad windings of the bureaucratic maze that serves the Autocracy, a.k.a. the Humanspace Empire. The particular agency he reports to is a department of the Scientific Observation, Recording, and Analysis Group (SORAG).

He is also a limited Psychic, and now tasked with forming a small crew of fellow psychics for a deep space mission. Asxerthsis has not been briefed on the details of the mission, but understands at least some of the work will be investigative in nature.

He's been given a contact from another department of SORAG, a young Human named Evangeline, to assist him in the task of recruitment. Not only is this woman a Telepath and highly sensitive to fellow Psychics, but she is quite gifted in finding, assessing, and motivating fellow humans to work as a team in various endeavors.

Asxerthsis and Evangeline have traveled to the Dubhe system (Alpha Ursae Majoris, the 'spout' of the famed Big Dipper) having a short list in hand of leads to locate there. Top of the list, above a handful of ex-marine candidates, is one Astronaut Isaac Heinlein. He was recently dropped off at Dubhe by the 69th Survey Wing, having completed his service with the Ministerial Order of Precocious Expiration of Deep Space (The MOPEDS). "Ike's" service file shows that along with his combined military and scout training, he too has a limited psionic rating.

It will be by compete happenstance (... or will it?) that this growing crew will cross paths with a young Pilot down on his luck, name of Skip Wilson. No coincidence, surely, that Skip is also a talented and lethal telekinetic fighter.

Sooner or later, these four will find themselves at a remote lunar station in Dubhe, looking over the lines and curves of their home-to-be, their assigned space ship.

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We could simply consider the above as backstory, or we could play out some of the scenes as part of Episode 0. I'd like to leave it partly to you guys to decide how deep you go with the initial contacts and travel. Who knows what those interactions could spark later on, or what glimmers of mystery might beckon during the prelude.

The Episode 0 thread will be up soon, as the heavy flywheel of the PbP slowly gains momentum.

[subaltari]

I’m imagining Skip was unceremoniously fired and dumped in this system. A stranger in these strange lands trying to get by with a freight-Corp shipping company leaving him on a blacklist after a short piloting career with the Corp. Skip is just a kid. Pretty cocky, too.

As you can tell, I haven't forgotten this bit of background. I must point out that in more 'modern' systems (GURPS and Savage Worlds come to mind), what you wrote about Skip could tally as character flaws/hindrances which in turn give you more points for character abilities. Not so in SWN! You just gave him a bit of a temp handicap, but we'll take that into account in the intro storytelling.

Do think about what we'd see, if the roving camera randomly zoomed in on Skip shortly after he's dumped in the binary-star Dubhe system. Where is he and what's he doing? (If it helps, in Traveller terms you can think if this as an Imperial system with more than one settled planet, medium population, a class B starport, and some lesser mining and trade bases.)

Oh and if you like, come up with a fun name for the company, business, or merchant ship that just sacked him...

You can browse the equipment chapter, but hold off on buying anything!

Yeah, it's coming. For now, you can roll your cash if you haven't already (2d6×100 cr) and just think about what you'd get with it... IF all you had were the btb gear lists.

[Thumper]

[2d6]=7

700 credits…decidedly average

[subaltari]

700 credits… decidedly average

Yup. That's enough to get some light armour and a decent TL 3-4 firearm, or a better weapon at the expense of armour.

Note that you could get a TL 2 gun, a melee weapon, and a Vac Suit all together for about 200 cr.

[Dicey]

Our story begins with…

We could simply consider the above as backstory, or we could play out some of the scenes as part of Episode 0. I'd like to leave it partly to you guys to decide how deep you go with the initial contacts and travel…

This background story seems good. Are we doing the background thread at the same time as getting the adventure going?


On gear, there is also he starting equipment list based on class. Some of those add up to more money than you could roll.

[Thumper]

Do think about what we'd see, if the roving camera randomly zoomed in on Skip shortly after he's dumped in the binary-star Dubhe system. Where is he and what's he doing? (If it helps, in Traveller terms you can think if this as an Imperial system with more than one settled planet, medium population, a class B starport, and some lesser mining and trade bases.)

Oh and if you like, come up with a fun name for the company, business, or merchant ship that just sacked him...

Fired from United Package Service (UPS), his ship was The Brown Derby, corrupt Capt was David L Roth, the corrupt station agent was Edward V Halen.

He's wondering what to do with himself now. He found a temp living quarters. Once he discoverd he was blackballed at the Starport, he decided to get anything he can get. Been looking into an "Operate" job (equipment or driving) or any in-system off-port flying opportunity...just to get some income.

Tonight, he's hanging out in O'Flannigan's (the starport dive pub at the starport bar he knows Ed Halen frequents) nursing a beer. A 10 credit stick lies under a napkin next to the drink that doesn't seem to empty very fast (the cred stick is payment to the waitress should he depart in haste).

Ed Halen and Dave Roth are here tonight, at the bar, the night before The Brown Derby departs. Skip is hanging out deeply inset into a back corner booth. He's let his facial hair grow for the past 5 days since his firing (he never does that) and he bought second hand clothing of a more local variety. Once Ed and Dave are well and truly drunk, he's looking for a chance to use Telekinetic Manipulation to lift a wallet and other valuables off them from the shadows of a dark or curtained booth in the corner then pop out to the street outside his booth window. If they set a billfold, cred stick, comm pad, etc. ends up on the bar; he'll apply his telekinetics to drag it to the edge and onto/near the floor and slither it across/slightly above the floor to where he sits being careful to route it along a wall that's not very visible or under other people's booth/feet rather than over the open floor where it's more visible. He can move items with telekinetic manipulation at 20 meters per turn (twice walking speed)....but slowly may be more stealthy this time. If he takes something less conspicuous, he'll just drag it someplace to the side where Skip can walk to it with his back to the corrupt men and pick it up then proceed to the lav for his teleportation...that may be his second act.

Skip is not a routine criminal. These men are. But they stuck it to him when he refused to smuggle drugs of all things for Capt Halen, then Roth ruined him...intentionally. He needs personal remuneration for that. They wanted to use his talents for evil then took retribution on him. He'll show them!

He has enough psi points for the scene to telekinetically lift two items then teleport to the darkness on the other side of the street out his window. To justify the risk, the items have to have some value and can be quickly disposed of for cash or not traceable. He knows there's a comm pad dealer down the street that could probably wipe one if he can get it.

He has half a mind to drop an anonymous tip to customs about the smuggling op.

[subaltari]

... we could play out some of the scenes as part of Episode 0. I'd like to leave it partly to you guys to decide how deep you go with the initial contacts and travel.

This background story seems good. Are we doing the background thread at the same time as getting the adventure going?

Episode #0 (of Season 1?) starts now, with the various PCs gathering at a spacer tavern on Dubhe V Main Port. Look for the action post tonight! I plan to post Episode #1 sometime next week, beginning with the party aboard their issued ship, en route to their destination.

The two threads will overlap in real time, but not game time. Episode 0 will remain open for the PCs to interact and get to know each other during the long days of travel (by triluminal drive or Three-Light Drive, as translated from the Pé Chói who invented it long ago, but nicknamed "spike drive" by uncouth human pilots). I will close that thread whenever it seems appropriate.

[subaltari]

Fired from United Package Service (UPS), his ship was The Brown Derby, corrupt Capt was David L Roth, the corrupt station agent was Edward V Halen.

Here's what the AI thinks Skip would look like in his UPS livery. (I don't have time to teach the models what a real derby hat looks like!) The first face is a more common ethnic type found in Humanspace today, though the second is closer to what you'd expect a "Wilson" to look like.

Skip was forced to return issued gear and such, but he can keep the nice brown uniforms.

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Skip +hat +UPS.jpg (40.93 KiB) Viewed 789 times

.

Skip is not a routine criminal. These men are. But they stuck it to him when he refused to smuggle drugs of all things for Capt Halen, then Roth ruined him... intentionally. He needs personal remuneration for that. They wanted to use his talents for evil then took retribution on him. He'll show them!

Yes, should be interesting...

[subaltari]

For the sake of our new player(s), here's a review of our House Rules concerning new characters.

This follows SWN Revised Edition, page 4, "A Summary of Character Creation."
.
1. Attributes
. A. If you decide to roll attributes, go to https://www.unseenservant.com/index.php (hereafter "US.com"), create a new character with the Campaign ID 1079, then enter and roll the macro: [3d6] [3d6] [3d6] [3d6] [3d6] [3d6].

. B. You may roll a total of six (6) attribute sets as above on the dice roller, then choose the set you want. Keep the order consistent, either SWN order or the US.com sheet order (same as Basic/Advanced D&D: Str-Int-Wis-Dex-Con-Cha). After choosing your set, you may pick one attribute to substitute with a 14 (gaining a +1 attribute modifier).
Note: your other five sets are saved in the roller history for potential future PCs!

. C. If you instead choose the standard array (14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 7), assign the scores as you wish and then add three (3) points anywhere you like.

3.−5. There are two new skills available via Backgrounds. Generally you can substitute Operate when either Fix or Pilot come up on the tables, and Study when either Know or Talk come up.

6. There is a fifth class available, the Astronaut, a type of Adventurer which combines aspects of the other three classes with an emphasis on space travel and adverse environments.

7. Like an Expert or Warrior, an Astronaut gains an additional level in any focus (as long as you can justify its being related to the Background you’ve chosen).

8. Currently there are four non-human species available as PCs: Ahoggyá, Pé Chói, Tinalíya, and Cymeks (the latter are VIs installed in android or robotic bodies). Each species has its own Origin Focus, conferring certain benefits and flaws. You may also choose to play a Militant Human Clone (either N'lyss or Sulyat) with the option to take either an Origin Focus or an alternate attribute rule.

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9. Along with the standard non-psychic skill, Astronauts choose one additional skill, which can be a psychic skill (and picking this would qualify the Astronaut as a ‘limited psychic’ in step #10).

At this point you may have chosen a skill twice, which makes it level-1 instead of level-0. If it is a Specialized Skill, you must pick one specialty at level-1. You can take a second specialty if you're an Expert or Partial Expert and it’s a non-combat skill; or if you’re a Warrior or Partial Warrior and the level-1 skill is either Exert, Stab, or Shoot; or if you’re an Astronaut and one of the two level-1 specialties relates to an activity you’ve done on a space-going vessel or habitat.

For more information see Skills and Specialties in the Research Station Zeta subforum.

11. Astronauts add 1 point (not 2) to their 1d6 Hit Point roll. In addition, all human characters add a kicker equal to ½ their Constitution score (round up) to their maximum Hit Points. Other species may get a greater or lesser HP kicker.

12. Astronauts start with a +1 attack bonus and have the same attack progression as Partial Warriors.

16. We’re using Descending Armour Class, like the original SWN Core edition. An unarmoured human has a base AC 9. An attacker's modified d20 roll, when added to your AC, must total 20 or higher for the attack to hit you.

17. Saving throws:
. A. Along with Physical, Evasion, and Mental saves, the fourth saving throw (also from SWN Core) is Luck. Unlike the others, this save gets no attribute modifiers, but all humans get a +1 species bonus, so their Luck save starts at 14 and most other species at 15.
. B. Class bonuses: Full Psychics get +1 to Mental saves. Full Warriors get +1 to Evasion saves. Adventurers and Astronauts get no class save bonus.

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Page 5, Character Sheets: For uniformity, we'll be using a hack of the linked sheets on US.com. Consult your sheet as you follow these instructions.

Character Information tab (left column)
• On the "Class" line put your Class of course!
• On the "Alignment" line put your Background.
• On the "Languages" line type ALL your Skills, their levels, and any Specialties in parentheses. (House rule) Only skills at level-1 get specialties, and only some of those (see Skills). If you have any Psychic Skills list those here, but list your Techniques on the Spells tab. After Skills, type "Foci: " then list all your Foci and their levels. (Only one PC has two Foci, and that is ‘Ike’ Heinlein).
• Speaking of languages, the universal tongue in this setting is called Sunaz.If your PC knows other languages (via species, the Study (linguistics) skill, or other training), you can list them in the "Description" field or the Notes tab.

Character Information tab (right column)
• We are starting at FIRST level with 0 XP. House rule: You need only 1 XP to get to the Second level. You'll need a total of 3 XP to get to Third.
• House rule: You start with Hit Points equal to ½ your Constitution score (round up) and add your rolled die + bonuses to that.
• House rule: Descending Armour Class. If you already bought armour out of the book, subtract its listed AC from 20 to get its D.A.C. If not, don't worry about that now. If you're human and not wearing armour, you have AC 9. Don't bother with "rear/no shield."
• If you are human and not Encumbered (p.61), your Movement is 10 meters. Asxerthsis (cybersavant's PC) is a Pé Chói and capable of faster movement at times.

Saving Throws tab
There are four (house rule, 4) saving throws: LUCK, PHYSICAL, EVASION, MENTAL. ("Death rays" and other attribute-neutral saves fall under Luck.) You can list these four by name and number under the D&D saves on the sheet, skipping the "Rod, Staff or Wand" column if you like.
• All saving throw target numbers are 16, minus Level, minus Attribute bonus, minus Species and Class bonuses.
• Attribute bonuses are the better of (Str or Con) for Physical; (Int or Dex) for Evasion; (Wis or Cha) for Mental. No attribute bonus for Luck.
• House rule for Species: Humans, Human clones, and Tinalíya get +1 to Luck. Robots/VI, Pé Chói, and other alien species have no save bonus.
• House rule for Class: Full Psychics get +1 to Mental. Full Warriors get +1 to Evasion. Adventurers and Astronauts have no class save bonus.

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[DexterWard]

Here is first pass on my character. Sorry for the delay. I am open to any suggestions for revision.

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[subaltari]

Here is first pass on my character.

Thanks Marcus, you're off to a good start! You left out your attributes (Ability Scores). Always click the blue triangle to save changes to the field − this still gets me now and then. Also if you still have them, post a link or screenshot of your dice rolls.

On the "Languages" line list all your Skills and Foci. Saving Throws go in the "Saving Throws" section in order: Luck, Physical, Evasion, Mental.

Your "Background" paragraph cuts off mid-word. I don't know if there is a character limit, but if there is you can move some of it up to "Description."

Mr. Cassian Bell will be introduced shortly!