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Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:10 pm
by jedion357
For ability scores roll 5 sets of scores the normal way as per AD rules and choose one set (Royal Marines are suppose to be a cut above this should ensure that). Choose a race (be forewarned that not all races start with the same money-see below) and apply racial modifiers to your ability scores.

Choose a position your character is applying for in the Royal Marines. The RM is only accepting a limited number of applicants for certain positions at this time so check for availability to see if the slot you desire is still open. The original slots available are 1(?2?) pilots, 1 astrogator, 1-2 engineers, 2-4 weapons officers, and 1 Medical officer. (I'm trying to not be too heavy handed about enforcing a balanced party thus the 1-2 slots on some. I hope we can fill 1 pilot, 1 astrogator, 1 engineer, and 2 weapons officers and possibly a medical officer though its likely some of these slots will be filled by NPCs. New players to an established and running game can assume an existing NPC or once they've finished their AIT with their new character they will be assigned to the team's ship and the NPC they replace will be re-assigned or promoted or retired as the story warrants.)

Note: as per house rules we are using Bill Logan's Skilled Frontier article from SFM #9 with some changes so you will pick 3 PSAs: 1 Primary and 2 secondary. It goes without saying that Military PSA will either be a primary or secondary PSA for all characters in this game. Gunnery officers are the most flexible as they are simply required to have Military PSA as one of their choices; prime or secondary and they may freely choose the others. Astrogators must have either Tech or Physical Sciences PSAs as prime and the other will be secondary with military as the last. Engineers will have to have Tech PSA as prime with Pysical Sciences and Military as secondary. Pilots will need Piloting PSA as prime and Tech and Military as secondary. Medical officers will need Life Sciences as their primary PSA with military as one of their secondary and get their choice of the other secondary.

Basic Training: spend 15 exp points on Military skills, STR/STA abilities or bank some of these points toward attending Scout School at the next level of training but at the end of Basic training every recruit must have Beam 1 Projectiles 1 and Unarmed Combat 1. Characters with Military PSA as prime will be able to purchase more skills (ie. demolitions or melee weapons skill)

AIT (advanced individual training): spend 20 exp points within the restrictions given for your particular AIT. (Note: we are using Menoitios' "Spacer Skills Revisited" article from SFM #10 to determine qualifications for Spacer Skills; meaning that you must meet the qualifications for first level star ships skills before taking them. The only changes to Menoitios's article are that Air Vehicles skill is substituted for Technician skill for the star ship pilot. A pilot must have Air Vehicles 2 and Computers 1 before taking Space Vehicles. An astrogator must have Computers 2 before taking Astro-Sciences skill. An engineer must have Technician 2 and Robotics 1 before taking Star Ship Engineering. An energy weapons officer must have Beam Weapons 2 and a rocket weapons officer must have Projectiles Weapons 2 and Gyrojet Weapons 1.

Pilot AIT (The only way to build a star ship pilot with the number of pts given is to have Pilot PSA as prime, Tech PSA and Military PSA as secondary) and must purchase Air Vehicle 2, Computers 1, Space Vehciles 1
Astrogator AIT (To build to astrogator skill you will either Tech or Physical Sciences PSAs as prime and the other as secondary and military as secondary) and must purchase Computers 2, Astro-sciences 1
Star Ship Engineer AIT (Tech PSA must be prime, and you'll need Physical Sciences and Military PSA as secondary for this position) and must purchase Technician 2, Robotics 1,Star Ship Engineering 1
Medical Officer AIT (Life Sciences PSA must be prime, and Military PSA as secondary and you're choice for the other 2ndary PSA) and must purchase Medical 2, Physcho-social 1 OR Bio-sciences 1
Energy Weapons Officer AIT(Must have Military PSA as any one of his PSAs) and must purchase Beam 2, Energy Weapons 1 and any 1 or the following skills: Technician 1, Robotics 1, Computers 1, Demolitions 1, Medic 1 OR attend Scout school (see below).
Rocket Weapons Officer AIT (Must have Military PSA as any one of his PSAs) and must purchase Projectile Weapons 2, Gyrojet 1, Rocket Weapons 1 and any 1 or the following skills: Technician 1, Robotics 1, Computers 1, Demolitions 1,Medic 1 OR attend Scout school (see below).
Scout School (possible if the character has the Scout PSA) must purchase Survival skill 1 and Navigation skill 1.
Any unused exp points may be spent at player's choice.

Three bonus exp pts can be earned for players doing 3 things: write a character description, write a character background, and come up with a character portrait.

Equipment:[flash=] (must be revised)[/flash]
All Royal Marines assigned to ship duty are issued
2 military skien suits (Royal Marine uniform BDU, camo schemed skien suits are available for all variety of environments and are issued as needed)
1 dress uniform (civilian skien suit), 1 issue ships jump suit (just coveralls but still a uniform).
1 side arm (laser pistol standard but possible to substitute other "Ship safe" fire arms and 1 clip of ammo)
1 Pressure suit
1 Suit of space suit armor
Spare pressure suit patches (2)
spare pressure suit life support
magnetic shoes and velcro booties
1 gas mask
1 chronocom and ID card
1 RM combat harness 5kg and 1 RM Combat Helm 2kg (see equipment folder for description)
1 Appropriate tool kit is issued to those with technician, robotics, computers, medical or environment skill- player chooses which in case of having 2 of the skills listed but a combat medic must have the med kit to gain the pay bonus; a star ship engineer’s tool kit is always available in engineering.

Severely damaged equipment and empty clips can be replaced at the quartermasters office (on planet or in the “Marine Country” portion of the space station) by turning in the item and filing the proper paperwork. In other words replacing a skien suit or the ammo clip while on patrol is not so easy but when docked at the station its QED as long as nothing tactical is happening. Plus players may buy extra BDU skien suits but the quartermaster only replaces the government issue.

Players may designate a “Foot locker” that holds stuff they are not carrying but will be readily available to him on ship or station. The foot locker is considered to be automatically moved from ship to station and back as the character transfers from one berth to another.

Core 4 races get 800 cr to start
Zebs races get 600 cr to start
(players get total choice on race the they play but the above starting money is designed to encourage a racial mix in the party that should reflect conditions in White Light system- not really fair but hey who said life in the marines was fair?).

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:36 pm
by jedion357
To sum up the House rules on Character Generation:

We're using Bill Logan's "A Skilled Frontier" article from SFM #9 with some changes:
1. System Vehicle and Space Vehicles skills are merged into one skill. Each level of skill qualifies a pilot for progressively bigger ships: level 1 can pilot fighters, level 2 can pilot HS 3 and smaller, level 3 can pilot HS 6 and smaller, level 4 can pilot HS 12 and smaller, level 5 can pilot HS 15 and smaller, level can pilot all ships. Additionally, each level of skill may pilot system ships of a size allowed for the next higher skill level (a level 2 pilot could fly system ships of HS 6 or smaller) and they may fly star ships of the next skill level up except for combat or difficult docking maneuvers (station docking).
2. Sciences PSA is split into Physical Sciences PSA and Life Sciences PSA. The reason being is that the ship's doctor should not be apt to cross train as the ships astrogator or engineer. Life Sciences PSA has the skills: Medic, Physcho-social, Bio-sciences (all rolls dealing with biology, botany, zoology and such that do not fall under medic skill), and others may be possible (vet medicine). Physical Sciences PSA has the skills: Environment (rolls dealing with terrestrial land, air and water sciences), Astro-sciences (rolls dealing with astrogation, astronomy, and sub space physics), Star Ship Engineering, and others are possible.

We'll be using the article "Spacer Skills Revisited" from SFM #10 with a few changes as well,
1. Air Vehicles skill is substituted for Technician skill for star pilots.

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:55 pm
by jedion357
Use the following character Sheet template to create a character and email it to the moderator for approval. once approved each character will be posted as a separate thread. Any necessary OOC talk about each character will take place in its thread and new updates of the character sheet will be posted to the thread as needed or will be edited if only for small changes (most recent character sheet is the valid one).
Players may also specify some equipment in storage which will not be accessible while aboard ship like a hovercycle stored planet side or a collection of rare and antique weapons stored at the space station. Storage fees are nominal: 5cr/month for a closet size space, 10cr/month for a unit large enough for 1 hover cycle, 20cr/month for a unit large enough to garage a car (only available planet side).

Name:
Player:

Race:
Gender:
Handedness:
Description:
Profession:
Employer:

STR/STA: /
DEX/RS: /
INT/LOG: /
PER/LDR: /
IM:
RW:
MW:
PS:

Movement
Walking:
Running:
Hourly:

XP (spent):
XP (earned):

Racial Abilities:

PSA's
Primary PSA:
Secondary PSA:
Secondary PSA
SKILLS:


Equipment Carried:

Equipment in "Foot Locker": (This is easily accessible but not carried)

Credits:

Background:

Medical Record:

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:43 pm
by jedion357
NPC Contacts

I stole this idea from Shadowrun rpg and its worked well for me in other games.
Usually I've created the NPC contacts and handed them out. but in shadow run the players created them as part of PC generation actually spending points for them (points are spent on how connected the NPC is within society and points are further spent on how loyal to the PC they will be)

For our game you can create a NPC by just writing a short blurb about them giving them a name & profession and background, plus tell us a little about their relationship to the PC. they dont need full details like ability scores or a full list of skills (its assumed they have the skill to do what ever they do). They dont even have to be in the White Light system as you could communicate with them via subspace but they'd have limited knowledge of whats happening on Clarion.
I'll rate them by their connectedness in society and their loyalty to your character though I'll certainly entertain your suggestions on these ratings.
If your not feeling creative I can whip one up or steal one I used in another game

Example I once created a quasi dirty cop who was moderately connected in the setting (hes a cop and can access criminal databases) but was marginally loyal to my PC as he was the cop who busted him in his teens. I like the cop as a character more than the prostitute contact who was very loyal but not so well connected.

The purpose of the NPC is he/she/it is someone you can talk to in character to ask for advice or information. during the adventure (I've seen a few players really run with this and because I liked their initiative in the role play of the encounter with a contact i let them have the very specific help they were looking for. Ultimately if you're asking really out there favors I'll not allow it but your contact can be a valuable source of information for you or you can even write in small talk between you and the contact in a post (I'm the final arbiter of what info the NPC will know or what they might give you.

I'll probably not be building as much mystery into this as I have in other games (but you never know- scratch that I like a little mystery) so the contact might not be as important in this game but its really up to how you play it.

I'd like a look at the NPC so email him to me as well as your character sheet

Edit: PS no one knows the queen as a contact to start but you may meet her in game
be creative with this

EDIT 2:-GM clarification on NPC contacts- you can have any number of family members that your PC is able to talk and meet with but they are not likely to amount to significant aid in the game. Your NPC contact is the NPC who you can always be turned to for advice or help that will constitute significant help, significant information or really good advice, all dependent on the GM's judgment call as to what they could know or what help they'd be able to provide. At times I will likely reduce it to a die roll based off your personality modified by their connectedness in society (lvls 1-6) and/or their loyalty to the PC (lvls 1-6) [this is an untested system based off vague memories of another RPG and likely to be changed if I dont think it works well-however you will always be able to turn to the NPC contact (if for no other reason than GM fiat can always come into play) at the beginning of an adventure or if an adventure is bogging down and you just cant make heads or tails of a clue that's part of the major story arch ]

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:30 am
by Will
Jedi wrote:Edit: PS no one knows the queen as a contact to start but you may meet her in game
be creative with this


Aw, damn! :lol:

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:34 pm
by Will
Jedi wrote:...but hey who said life in the marines was fair?).


The recruiting sergeant?

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:49 am
by jaguar451
A couple of questions....

<< Bill Logan's Skilled Frontier article from SFM #9 with some change

* Using Standard or optional linear rules for skill XP costs for 2nd level and above? Aka, does level 2 in primary PSA cost 3 or 6?
(Same question for ability score modification)
* If I read things right, per 'Skilled Frontier' article and above rules, I start with:
- Three 'first level' skills from the article (1 primary PSA, 1 any PSA, 1 any skill area)
- 15 XP from basic to spend on Military skills or STR/STA
- 20 XP to spend on AIP Training

Correct, or does Basic and AIP supersede the three starting skills from "Skilled Frontiers"?

* I'm working on the medical officer.... Or is there a preference for an Astrogator or Engineer PC? I'm flexible....

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:55 am
by jedion357
jaguar451 wrote:A couple of questions....

* Using Standard or optional linear rules for skill XP costs for 2nd level and above? Aka, does level 2 in primary PSA cost 3 or 6?
2nd level is the exact cost on the table ie first level is 3 and 2nd cost 6 so the total is 9

jaguar451 wrote: (Same question for ability score modification)
excellent question, I had thought about that part of the article but I didn't see it being an issue during PC generation and I got side tracked with working up all the other content for this campaign. But my thoughts were that Bills system, though well thought out, added too much record keeping and I was thinking a straight table of Ability scores. EDIT: non linear ability improvement now official but it only kicks in after PC generation (to prevent retro-active reworking of PCs) during PC generation the its 1:1 after PC generation see the House Rules thread for the table and my ruling.

jaguar451 wrote: * If I read things right, per 'Skilled Frontier' article and above rules, I start with:
- Three 'first level' skills from the article (1 primary PSA, 1 any PSA, 1 any skill area)
- 15 XP from basic to spend on Military skills or STR/STA
- 20 XP to spend on AIP Training
Correct, or does Basic and AIP supersede the three starting skills from "Skilled Frontiers"?

good catch, no were just using the PSA and skill system from the article with a few changes to suit my taste.

jaguar451 wrote: * I'm working on the medical officer.... Or is there a preference for an Astrogator or Engineer PC? I'm flexible....
excellent and I will now stop working up NPCs to fill holes in the party as you are now the the 2nd player to displace an NPC the day after I created him/her no worries though the pilot npc that was displaced got moved to another place in the adventure and I like how that developed him much better so no worries run with the medical officer.

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:22 am
by jedion357
Concerning buying starting equipmenmt:

A ships armory and stores reads like the AD equipment list (with a few goodies from Zebs)
list of rifles, pistols, heavy weapons, explosives, ammo, over 200 grenades (various types), and other stuff.
Its at the PCs disposal while berthed aboard ship and when not off duty. no marine is expected to pay for it.
Of course it cant be taken off ship when you're transferred to Clarion station.

Buy equipment for personal use during off duty hours like a power belt as your combat harness being worn off duty would raise eyebrows or buy extra defensive suits as the RM only issues 3 and those are all skien suits (albedo and grid suits with appropriate rank and uniform regalia are available but the RM wont pay for them). Screens are provided aboard ship (inertia, albedo, gauss)
You are licensed to carry by virtue of your position and by virtue of the tradition that any off duty RM can be called on to assist by any police authority during an emergency. (Medics have an obligation to assist similar to doctors in the real world). However, walking around polite society with a rocket launcher (or similar) in your back pocket or a sonic devastator tucked into your pants would not really be accepted so use judgment as to what you want to carry around off duty in civilian areas.

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:16 pm
by simplymenotu
Skilled Frontier #9 -- Spacer Skills Revisited #10
[ ] An engineer must have Technician 2 and Robotics 1 before taking Star Ship Engineering

















Name: Gilwa Milton
Player:Simplymenotu
Race:Dral
Gender:n/a
Handedness:Left
Description:Skinny for dral standards Gilwa stands higher than most of his race. His pale whitish-gray skin makes his very dark gray eyes stand out. He typically grows three arms and two legs when attending to the ship and swaps to three legs and two arms for combat.
Profession: Ship's Engineer
Employer:Clarion Royal Marines
STR/STA::45 / 65
DEX/RS::75 / 60
INT/LOG::70 / 70
PER/LDR: :35 / 35
IM::6
RW::38
MW::38
PS::+3


Walk/Run/Hourly 5/20/3

XP (spent):
XP (earned):

15 EXP for Military or Scout School
20 EXP for AIT

Racial Abilities: Elasticity, Lie Detection 5%

Primary PSA : TECH
Secondary PSA: PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Secondary PSA: MILITARY

SKILLS:

EQUIPMENT CARRIED

FOOT LOCKER
    (2) military skien suits (Royal Marine uniform BDU, camo schemed skien suits are available for all variety of environments and are issued as needed)
    (1) dress uniform (civilian skien suit),
    (1) issue ships jump suit (just coveralls but still a uniform).
    (1) Laser Pistol
    (1) Pressure suit
    (1) Suit of space suit armor
    --- Spare pressure suit patches (2)
    --- spare pressure suit life support
    --- magnetic shoes and velcro booties
    (1) gas mask
    (1) chronocom and ID card
    (1) RM combat harness 5kg and 1 RM Combat Helm 2kg (see equipment folder for description)

Credits: 800

Background:

Medical Record:

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:15 pm
by jedion357
For Ike by simplymenotyou

by my count you should have these skills:
Beam 1 Projectiles 1, martial arts or unarmed combat 1 with 3 exp left to spend on STA/STR training or bank toward scout school

then at AIT:
Technician 2, Robotics 1,Star Ship Engineering 1
that cost 16exp -leaving 4 exp to spend on anything.
plus 1 exp for description.

I already wrote you into the action so go ahead and post your first game post if we need a skill check I'll use these values till you finish your character.

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:21 am
by simplymenotu
Can I use #4-pg9 Cinematic Martial Arts for my unarmed combat skills?

Re: Character Generation Instructions and questions area

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:29 pm
by jedion357
simplymenotu wrote:Can I use #4-pg9 Cinematic Martial Arts for my unarmed combat skills?

good question and I want to say yes but let me reread it first- scratch that I just read it again- yes with provisions.

As i remember there are edges and flaws or some such in that system. oops just skimmed it- no flaws it does have a limitation- must have military PSA and all characters in this game do. it also requires that you write up a name for the form and a reason it exist plus a brief history, a mentor, a school (place the school in the setting- Port Royal or clarion station or the capitol) I get to approve your creative work and suggest tweaks to it. So if you can do all that creative work than I'll say yes with the caveat that I dont like the cinematic manuever of "dual melee weapons" as I expect that it will lead to dual sonic sword use and that would be way to much damage output I think.

So answer is yes if you do the creative work the article requires. regular ol' unarmed combat skill is akin to what most modern military's teach for basic hand to hand plus some nerve combat. Anyone at this point (week 1.5 of the game can retroactively change their character within limits of the character generation guidelines to have cinematic martial arts if done this week. same with I get right of approval for anyone else wanting to do this. Plus if you invoke "insanely cool moves" you better write a good description of the butt whoopin you lay on an NPC with it.


My thoughts are that this will shape up to be a very high powered campaign from the perspective of having tons of military hardware at your disposal 80% of the time with the only complication being you must not needlessly kill civilians or destroy too much private property. but its a KH campaign without lvl 6 pre-req skills which should give it a good feel.
That said; to have bad guys that can stand up to you they will have to come in large numbers or with lots of hardware themselves. If its lots of hardware, cinematic martial arts might not be that useful as combat will likely have lots of lead, light, and little rockets flying back and forth.

I'm even in favor of stuff like powered battle armor but that equipment is more likely to be found in the Royal Guard- your characters are suppose to be the fly boys and girls oops I mean persons of female gender. Did Lyssa here that?

EDIT: 1 more thing exp cost are as per Primary or Secondary PSA cost. not according to the article in SFman #4