Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: February 10-16

My reaction to most things these days.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of February 10th through February 17th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

February 10
“You will come.” Lawgiver “We’re not going anywhere.” Kirk “It is the law. You must come.” Lawgiver “I said we’re not going anywhere.” Kirk- Return of the Archons, Stardate: 3157.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

February 11
Happy Birthday to Philip Anglim. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Philip_Anglim #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

“I suppose it must be nice to have that kind of faith. I’ve always preferred to believe in nothing. That way I’m never disappointed.” Mirror Bareil- Resurrection, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

February 12
“I am the Goddess of Empathy. Cast off your inhibitions and embrace love, truth, joy.” The Goddess of Empathy- Hollow Pursuits, Stardate: 43807.44 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

February 13
“I’m a doctor, not a dragonslayer.” The Doctor- Bliss, Stardate: 52542.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

February 14
Happy Birthday to Andrew Robinson. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Andrew_Robinson #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me to expect the worst.” Garak- Favor the Bold, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

Happy Birthday to Simon Pegg. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Simon_Pegg #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #Quote

“You are Montgomery Scott!” Prime Spock “You know him?” Kirk “Aye, that’s me. You’re in the right place, unless there’s another hard-working equally starved Starfleet officer around.” Scotty- Star Trek (2009), Stardate: 2233.04 #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #Quote

February 15
“The will of the patient is the cornerstone of Denobulan medical ethics.” Dr. Phlox- The Breach, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

February 16
Happy Birthday to LeVar Burton. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/LeVar_Burton #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

“You’re different than we are. Part of what we do is learn more about other species.” LaForge- I, Borg, Stardate: 45854.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Website

SitRep- Completing the 2025 Character Creation Challenge

The graphic I commissioned for those who have completed the challenge.

So, I’m sure a few of you are wondering what has happened. Here we are on February 7th and I haven’t finished posted my 31 characters for the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge. Let me just say three words. “Real Life Sucks.”

First, I’m not having serious health issues. I wanted to say that up front so no one would panic. I’m also not losing my job. But some of the job stress has contributed to the perfect-storm of suck that 2025 is handing me right now. The hosting company having two hiccups in January didn’t help. There were also other real life and family duties that required my attention. It has not only affected my challenge entries, but my other relaxation pursuits as well. I think this has only led to some of the stress I’ve been feeling. Make sure you guys are taking care of yourself mentally as well as physically.

I commissioned artist Aurora Stark (yes I’m a proud Papa) to design and draw up the graphic for those of you who have completed all 31 characters. I didn’t want to delay getting it to those who were able to complete the challenge on time. If I haven’t responded to your email/private message, feel free to virtually tap me on the shoulder again as I have two sizes of the graphic to send you.

Aurora Stark does concept art and visual development with her art degree from the University of Utah. They based this design on the old black-and-white art seen while studying my older role-playing game books. It’s a medieval flail with three D20’s spelling out 2025. If you would like to see some of their other artistic examples, or perhaps even inquire with them about commissions, feel free to visit their website at https://aurorastark.art/.

So what is next for me on this project? I will finish the remaining characters as I hate leaving something half-completed. Especially since a friend surprised me with an RPG publication that had recently been my ‘Holy Grail’ of books that I’ve been searching for. I will be making a character for this game and I may need some curries or gazpacho soup to complete it (major hint there folks). When I post them, they will be back-dated to the dates they would have been posted on originally. But, I will post the links on my various social media sites and message boards. Once that is done I will write up a proper post-mortem that I usually post at the end of the challenge. That will not be post-dated, but it will have links to all of my entries along with my thoughts on them.

I’ve also received some KickStarter rewards. I should have some first-look articles posted in the next few weeks. I can’t wait to talk about one that I’ve been waiting for more than a year for. So I do have some articles in the pipeline.

If you are still reading this post, thank you very much for sticking with me. If you participated in the challenge, thank you. If you completed it on time, I hope you take a moment to be proud of your accomplishment. I didn’t make it within the time allotted, but I will complete it to join you guys.

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: February 3-9

How January felt.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of February 3rd through February 9th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

February 3
“I’ve seen old photographs of this period. An economic upheaval had occurred.” Kirk “It was called Depression, circa 1930. Quite barbaric.” Spock- The City on the Edge of Forever, Stardate: 3134.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

February 4
(sees Mirror Worf) “Look who the Regent is!” Rom “So?” Quark “So who’s president of the Federation, Gul Dukat?” Rom- The Emperor’s New Cloak, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

February 5
“We found better ways to handle our conflicts but I think that no one can deny that the seed of violence remains within each of us.” Picard- Violations, Stardate: 45429.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

February 6
“Perhaps you should forget logic and devote yourself to motivations of passion or gain. Those are reasons for murder.” Shras- Journey to Babel, Stardate: 3842.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

February 7
“I don’t understand why humans would feel compelled to frighten themselves.” T’Pol “Gets the heart pumping.” Archer “Cardiovascular activity would be more efficient.” T’Pol- Horizon, Date: January 10, 2153 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

February 8
Happy Birthday to Ethan Phillips. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ethan_Phillips #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

“On Talax, it’s a tradition to share the history of a meal before you begin eating. It’s a way of enhancing the culinary experience.” Neelix- Flashback, Stardate: 50126.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

February 9
“I am tired of lies.” Soren- The Outcast, Stardate: 45614.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: January 27-February 2

How I’m feeling so far.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of January 27th through February 2nd. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

January 27
Happy Birthday to James Cromwell. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Cromwell #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekDS9 #StarTrekENT #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“Only got an hour to go, Doc. How are you feeling?” Riker “I’ve got a four-alarm hangover either from the whiskey or your laser beam, or both, but I’m ready to make history!” Cochrane- Star Trek: First Contact, Stardate: 50893.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #Quote

January 28
Happy Birthday to Gillian Vigman. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gillian_Vigman #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“Eh, stupid undercover plastic surgery jobs. I didn’t go to Starfleet Medical for a costume party.” Dr. T’Ana “I’m sure we look great.” Tendi “I’m a doctor, not whatever the bleep this is.” Dr. T’Ana- Fully Dilated, Stardate: 59499.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

January 29
“The cause you fought about no longer exists. Give yourselves time to breathe. Give up your hate. You’re welcome to live with us. Listen to me. You both must end up dead if you don’t stop hating.” Kirk- Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Stardate: 5730.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

January 30
“There comes a time in every man’s life when he must stop thinking and start doing.” Sisko- Paradise Lost, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

January 31
Happy Birthday to Paul Scheer. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Paul_Scheer #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“Everybody dies, but it’s the engineers who really get to live.” Billips- Upper Decks, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

February 1
“Should I have The Doctor prepare a hypospray?” Neelix “Excuse me?” Janeway “So you can absorb the caffeine more directly. Save time.” Neelix- Think Tank, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

February 2
Happy Birthday to Brent Spiner. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Brent_Spiner #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekENT #StarTrekPicard #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“Does the Admiral have children?” Data “Yes, I believe he does, Data. Why?” Picard “I am forced to wonder how much experience he had as a parent when his first child was born.” Data- The Offspring, Stardate: 43657.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games

2025 Character Creation Challenge Day 25: Twilight: 2000 2nd Edition

The Day 25 entry in the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge and I’m using another GDW game from the 90’s, Twilight: 2000 2nd Edition (2.2 specifically). This is around the same time frame that GDW released Traveller: The New Era, so the character creation also includes a character generation worksheet. In the early 90’s had played the first edition of Twilight: 2000. I don’t remember much about the system, but I do remember enjoying the campaign the GM was running.

I’m going to be using the steps listed on the worksheet as the book recommends it. On page 16 is the start of the Character Generation process in the book. I’ll be returning to the book when the worksheet fails to provide the proper amount of information. Like the Traveller: TNE worksheet, I wish that page numbers were present.

First item on the sheet is selecting a name. I pulled up a random name generator and selected Blaine Dawson. The second item is the gender and I wrote down male and I selected American for the third step of Nationality. Native Languages and it says “See Army/Nationality/Native Language Table). I wish the PDF had bookmarks but eventually I was able to find it on page 47. Um… wow, it’s broken down by Family, Group and then Language. I’m not certain why. But being an American boy I wrote down Germanic/Anglic/English.

Moving on. Basic attributes. They are Strength, Agility, Constitution, Charisma, Intelligence and Education. Roll 2d6-2 and re-roll any zeroes. I believe that I do this down the line. If the total added together totals less than 30, I can bump it up. Luckily I rolled high enough and I wrote down the numbers in the “roll” column of the worksheet.

Step six on the worksheet just says “Background Skills” with four blank spots with +2 next to it. There is a list under it so I’m assuming that I pick four of these. I picked the four for this character.

And our next step is Careers. There is spots for six different terms and moved back to the book to see if more details were provided. While I’m assuming that this is like Traveler: TNE, I’m double checking. I finally found it on page 30. The first term has a set listing of skills that is provided to the character. After looking them over, I decided that Blaine Dawson was going to be a medic in the US Army. I think I roll a D10 to see if he earns a promotion, which he did not in the first term. I’m not certain how many terms he has to have, but I rolled a 1 to see if war started on his first term so World War III has started. All sequential terms have some additional items since they take place in wartime. This includes an automatic promotion (still in the enlisted ranks). And I found that there is only one more term since war has started. Works for me.

Now there are several rapid fire steps. The Initiative, Rads, Age, Hit Capacity (per body part), Weight, Load, Throw Range and Unarmed Combat Damage. Basically determined by several mathematical formulas later and I had the worksheet filled in.

Equipment. Each character was provided with some basic equipment from their military unit. There is a chance for a vehicle for every three characters in the group (whoops). Then there is some starting money that I can use to finish equipping Sgt. Dawson. I couldn’t find any standard list. So I just started writing down stuff I thought an Army Medic from the US would have. Here’s the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

As I mentioned above, I had played the 1st edition game. I’m not certain how this game compares to that one. I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to try. I did play a one-shot of the latest Twilight 2000 game at a SaltCON in 2023. But I don’t recall much from that event as it seems like just a blur now. I don’t know if I’d ever get a chance to play this game right now.

Additional Notes:

Phil Hatfield on MeWe responded to my GI Joe entry for the Character Creation Challenge with the following.

“I picked this up, as did a good friend of mine. We played it once. I generated a character, he ran it. The game plays “fine”, but it seems like it it just approaching something that could be really cool, but doesn’t quite get there. The biggest issue we experienced was the fact that not a single known Joe was statted. Cobra was, but not the Joes. Oh, eventually they released stats for a dozen or so Joes, but that was many months before that showed up. It was an unfortunate game system. It flirted with “cool”, but just never got there. My buddy picked up every much everything for it, I only got one or two other things for it. Like you, I don’t know and never heard of any other person playing this. You are honestly the first other person I have seen even talk about this.”

Roger B on MeWe responded to Phil.

“I have this at home, this and the Transformers RPG. I’m just intimidated to run it because my friend, who would be a player, is such a bigger Joe fan than me. And I haven’t finished my first pass through the rule book.”

Coming Up Next:

The Strange

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

2025 Character Creation Challenge Day 24: Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition

On Day 24 of the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge I’m going to be using the original 1st edition of Metamorphosis Alpha. Some sources state that this is the first science fiction roleplaying game. It was originally published by TSR in 1976 and was written by James Ward. I had picked this up in a bundle sale from Goodman Games where they were releasing some new material for this game. The first edition was included in the bundle.

In the original document (the PDF scan provided by Goodman Games had some weird page numbers) the Developing Characters section started on page 9. I’m instructed to roll 3d6 for several abilities down the line. These are Radiation Resistance, Mental Resistance, Dexterity, Constitution, Strength and Leadership Potential (if the character is Human). Since I’m going to make a mutant, I did not roll for this last one. Mutants roll for a physical mutation and a mental mutation. The book instructs me to roll a D4 to see how many mutations the character receives. There were 30 physical mutations and 12 defects (for some reason they were numbered together from 1-42). The total number of both mental mutations and defects came up to 45 (37 and 8 respectively). I’m going to vary from the rules and instead of picking my own mutations, I’m going to randomly roll because I feel that it would have happened that way in the game universe. For physical it was easy, the d4 gave me two mutations to ‘pick’ and I rolled a d30 twice (as long as they didn’t conflict and came up with Gas Generation (um…… no…. don’t say it) and Shapechange (that is how it’s spelled on the list). I rolled a d12 so the GM could pick the one defect and it came up with Near-nearsightedness. For the two mental mutations, had to get a little creative. I used the d30 and a d7 from my Dungeon Crawl Classics Dice Set #7 along with a d6 all rolled at the same time. If the D6 came up with a 5 or 6, then I added the D7 to the D30 for the final number. Yea, I’m probably putting too much thought into this. But for some reason, it seemed fitting. This resulted in Density Control (Others) i.e. I can slow other people down, and Mental Paralysis i.e. I can mentally disrupt the nerve centers of another being causing non-movement. If I do this for more than three melee turns in a row, the target will die. The ‘gm’ rolled a d8 to give the character the mental defect of Multiple Damage. Basically if the character takes any damage it could be doubled or tripled. Ouch.

Then the character development steps just end. The brief description combines both character creation and instructions for the GMs to “set the stage” and running a set of “continuing adventures and experiences”. I continued reading and it went into combat (wow, it looked complicated), random monsters, treasure. Oh, there was an original character sheet on page 29 (of the original document) but I’ve already printed out one that had come with the bundle for first edition. The sample characters shown in the development process don’t have any hit points, but the original character sheet has one. Ah I tracked it down under the Constitution description. Roll a D6 for each point of constitution the character has. And apparently it was explained under the example of a Human type character but not the other character types.

I guess the characters would find equipment in the adventure. Yea, this is really basic. But I have to remember that this was printed in the mid 1976. I’m going to give the character the name of Drixxian. Here is the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

In the 70’s several RPGs were written by those in the wargaming community and these rules seemed to follow the same format. Broken down by sections and sub-sections all identified with a letter number combination. It looked very technical, which isn’t a bad thing, but something I’m not use to seeing very often in my RPG books.

The scan provided by Goodman Games was the original text with some changes. If there was new information from an Errata, then there was a side note saying “See page ## for entries on ____”. I can see where Goodman Games was trying to make this a usable document. With how much care they had put here, I wish they had made bookmarks in the PDF.

I was getting the urge to re-write the rules when I see potential, but confusion. But I know it would be redundant since there are other editions already available.

Additional Notes:

So I posted my GI Joe RPG character on the Renegade Game Studios discord server and one of the games writers responded to me in two different posts.

“The art on the cover seems to indicate that it’s either their own “universe” or a comic series recently released.” The universe is based on Hasbro’s evergreen takes on the characters, which is basically “80s unless recently updated”. It primarily draws from the toyline lore, but dips into the various cartoon and comic series.

This is a solid concept and you went through the steps basically correctly, with one big misstep: Your Skills. When you increase an Essence Score, you get Skill Points that you can invest into Skill Ranks. So your Strength 2 means you should have two Skills at d2, or one Skill at d4 (or 2 Conditioning). You do have some Skill Ranks, but they don’t match the Essence Scores they’re tied to, so I’m not sure how you got them.

So apparently I missed a few items and the character of Spacebar should have some additional skills. This made sense because being a member of a special tasks force is usually filled by well-rounded individuals. But I also guess this is why making characters with someone who is familiar with the game would help. However before someone can become familiar with the game, they’d have to do the same thing I’m doing and crack open the book and read through the process. Again I want to say how grateful I am that the people who have worked on these games have responded to my posts. They do clear things up or lead to more insight.

Coming Up Next:

Twilight 2000 2nd Edition

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Spy-Fi

2025 Character Creation Challenge Day 23: No Day To Die

Day 23 of the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge and I’ll be using the single player espionage roleplaying game called No Day To Die. I picked up this game because I liked the name. It sounds like No One Lives Forever video game or the title of the James Bond film Die Another Day. The book says you need is pen, paper and a deck of playing cards and some imagination. I’ve never been big on solo RPGs, but let’s make a character for this game.

OK, character creation is presented on page 5. Step one- pick a name. Since this is a British secret agent, I went to the random name generator and selected Daniel Knight. Step two is create a prior history. It gave some information on what options could be available, but it provided a random history that could be selected by drawing a card. I’m going to test this out with my 20-in-One Card Deck. The Seven of Clubs gave me the Special Air Service (aka the special forces of the British Army).

Attributes are the next step. These are GRIT (Strength, action, energy and physical skill), WIT (awareness, cleverness, education, social and technical abilities) and HITS (the health of the character). Both WIT and GRIT start out at 5 and I am instructed to draw four cards for both of them. Which ever suite has the most number of drawn cards gets that many additions to the attribute. For GRIT I drew an Ace of Spades, Six of Clubs, Three of Spades and Ten of Spades. Since there are three cards from one suite, GRIT gets +3 points. I drew the Eight of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, Nine of Clubs and Eight of Clubs. So +2 gets added to WIT. Interesting way to do this.

Now we determine the expertise of Agent Knight. Each character has four of them that you can pick from the list or do a random draw (yep, I’m drawing). First is Two of Diamonds, a two is Stunt Driving. The five of Spades selects Seduction (Hey baby….). Seven of Diamonds points to Stealth (sneaky, sneaky). And finally the expertise of Piloting is provided by the Jack of Spades.

Each character has a Flaw. I can pick (heh, no) or randomly pull. The Ace of Hearts says that Agent Knight is addicted to gambling.

Decide Appearance is the next step. I hate coming up with appearances. But I could pull a picture down from the internet. Let’s be inspired by a famous spy song.

Next the book tells me that the agent will be assigned a Concealable Pistol. Then there is a list of standard items that an agent would typically carry (12 items). Then there is a list of possible gadgets, but it says gadgets are whipped up on the spot if you pull a Joker from the deck. So why list it here? The part that confuses me the most is that the character sheet says you only carry a maximum of 4 items. Is this both regular equipment and gadgets? I’m skipping this for now.

Well the next chapter goes into Resolving Situations. It is broken down by the draw of a playing card and looks pretty interesting. I may have to run a solo session later and blog about it. But let’s see if there is anything else left in the character creation. But scanning through the rest of the book there’s nothing left. So I guess he’s done. I transferred everything from my notes to the sheet and put it in the scanner.

Afterthoughts:

For a small publisher, I like how the graphics were done on the character sheet. The paperclip and the fingerprints on the dossier stood out to me.

I thought it was interesting that on the random Expertise list, Stunt Driving was listed twice. I wonder if this was a mistake or intentional. One of the Flaws had “Sick of always handing in his resignation”. I understood all of the other Flaws, but this one confused me (insert Data and Lore meme here).

I am going to run this later for myself. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Additional Notes:

OK, I fully admit it, I’m bad at math. Stark Maximum on BlueSky pointed out that I had misread the step for starting gold in my Old School Essentials entry. It is 3d6x10 not 3d6x100. That slapped me like someone was hitting me with a trout in a Monty Python sketch. I could have sworn I went back and re-read that when I was confused. I don’t know what I was thinking.

On another note, reading the entries that others have posted on the various blogs, message boards and social media will introduce me to a game that I’ve never heard of. There is an RPG out there called “Teddy Bear Holding a Freaking Machine Gun“????

Coming Up Next:

Metamorphosis Alpha 1e

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games

2025 Character Creation Challenge Day 22: GI Joe Roleplaying Game

GI Joe: A Real American Hero is one of the classic 80’s memories that a lot of people my age have. Between the animated series and the Marvel Comics, we ate it up. So when a charity bundle sale came up last year for the new GI Joe RPG, I had to pick it up. This is my day 22 entry in the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge. Now I do have to note that there has been a ton of other entries for the GI Joe franchise that included new TV and Movies, additional comics and other media. While I’ve been aware of these, I haven’t really followed them as much as I would have liked. The art on the cover seems to indicate that it’s either their own “universe” or a comic series recently released.

The PDF file is 354 pages long. The character sheet is two pages long. The Character Creation process starts on page 33. This is a cold read as I’ve not had any chance to look at these rules before hand so be warned.

There are eight steps listed ranging from 0-7. 0- Discuss with your GM & Other players, 1- Character Concept, 2- Set Starting Essences, 3- Select Influences, 4- Choose and Origin, 5- Select a Role, 6- Describe your Character, 7- Form your Squad. (OK, I’m really trying to avoid the Teen Girl Squad joke here)

OK for step 0 I tried to talk with the voices in my head about who would GM and who would play what. But I got everything from silence to curses to responses in a language that I didn’t understand. The description for this step did say that the game could be an 80’s GI Joe cartoon or a gritty modern game or one more focused on Snake Eyes and the ninja clans. While that later one is tempting, I’m going to stick with what I know. This will be a character for the 80’s animated series that is an on-site hacking expert. I guess this also takes care of Step 1, character concept.

So, moving to Step 2, Set Starting Essences. this is the core abilities for the characters. They are Strength, Speed (which also covers balance and reflexes), Smarts and Social (confidence, leadership etc.). The book tells me that I have 12 Essence Points to spend between the four attributes. Luckily the descriptions tell us which types of Essences is good for the type of character that I’m trying to create. I scrolled down and read deeper descriptions on the four Essences and spent my points as I saw fit for the character concept.

Step 3 is Selecting Influences. This is what kind of character I want this to be along with some background information. These will provide some benefits and hang-ups for the character. I’m instructed to pick up to three, but each Influence past the first one will cost a hang-up. I looked over the descriptions of the Influences and selected Gearhead for the first since they had some computer experts listed. The background bond can be randomly rolled on a d12 and it came up with “My speech is peppered with jargon that I rarely take the time to explain.” That sound about right for this type of character. I’ve decided that I’m going to take a second Influence of Greenshirt. This is a person who was a regular member of the military before he got called up to the Joe team. The bond that I rolled was “Someday I will turn my time in G.I. Joe into an anonymous biography.” As for the hang-up (since this is not the first influence), the only one listed was “You have trouble seeing yourself as an equal on your team.” Basically other members of the team can’t lend me an assistance on a skill test unless they also have the Greenshirt influence.

Alright, step 4 is choosing an origin. This appears to be what the character did or learn before he became a member of the GI Joe team. It can affect the character’s starting health, movement, Essence and Skills. I selected Army for my unnamed Joe and wrote down the appropriate details.

Step 5 has me selecting a Role. This is the position that the character fulfills on the Joe team. In this Role is a Role Focus that I must select at 1st level. And from that I noted down the Role Perks, Training and Qualifications. There are also additional Essence Points provided for use. The available roles were Commando, Infantry, Officer, Ranger, Renegade, Technician and Vanguard. I read the description for Technician and yea that was the one I was thinking of for this character.

Describing your character is step 6. This can be distinguishing features, personality, etc. It has a list of adjectives that you can use based off of your Essences. But I’m not really sure what these are for. This currently unnamed Joe is quick and attentive I guess. Gear is mentioned here but it just says you don’t have to buy the gear now as it is provided to you before the start of your mission. Handy, I guess. I think I’m going to pick a code name of Spacebar for this character. I was thinking USB, but that wasn’t really used in the 80s.

Step 7 Form A Squad. OK, I can’t resist. If you haven’t been introduced to Teen Girl Squad from Strongbad, here you go. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Seriously there would have been some discussion with the other players on who is doing what, how your character’s all know each other and the like. And that’s basically it according to the book for character creation. I transferred what I did have over to the sheets and scanned them. There were still a lot of blank spots on the sheet, but I assumed they would have been filled in during game play.

Afterthoughts:

Not really a concern about the character creation process, but I had to download the PDFs that I had purchased in the charity bundle directly from the vendor’s website. While I did get all of the titles I had purchased, they all had weird PDF file names that were just a series of numbers and letters. I’m certain it had to do with fulfilling my order, but I had to go and rename the core rulebook so I could find it easily when it was time to do this challenge. The only other time I’d had issues downloading my purchases came from Paizo’s poorly run download page. I can understand that some publishers want to save a few bucks by not going through another provider like DriveThruRPG, but at least make the download process easy and non-confusing for your customers. Issues like this make me hesitant to pull the trigger on future purchases.

I think I understand the system. The better at a skill you have, the higher of numbered die you roll.

All members of the GI Joe team had the “Yo, Joe!” battlecry that gave them benefits in game. Considering how much this was used on the show, I’m glad to see it here.

While I may play this at a con, I don’t know if I’d run it or homebrew for it. No one that I’m aware of is playing this. There is also a ton of books already out for this game. While I haven’t had a chance to go through them all yet, it looks like most bases were already covered. Has anyone played this? How did it play at the table?

Additional Notes:

Stark Maximum (no relation) on BlueSky responded in regards to two of my past challenge entries. This first one was from my recent Star Wars Edge of the Empire entry.

“Hey, we both made Star Wars pilots! Of course, mine is from Age of Rebellion, the book of soldiers, rather than Edge of the Empire, the book of smugglers. But it’s cool how that kinda lined up! Maybe they’d be friends, or perhaps rivals.”

And in response to my Doctors and Daleks entry.

“I am not a Doctor Who fan so my knowledge of the series is limited, but I looked up what a Sontaran looked like for context on this post, and now I have a new favorite species of Doctor Who alien.”

Thanks for reading Stark Maximum.

Coming Up Next:

No Day To Die

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

2025 Character Creation Challenge Day 21: Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy

Day 21 of the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge and I’m going to create a character using the Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy book from Necrotic Gnome. This is a clone of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition which I used to create a character in a past challenge. This PDF from DriveThruRPG also includes the expansion with extra classes, optional rules and spells. There are 257 pages in the PDF and the character sheet is two-pages.

This is a standard D20 clone so it uses the ability scores that we should be familiar with. The character creation options are listed on page 14. There is a basic, advanced an optional character creation option. The basic option states that the class selected also determines the character’s race. If you pick an Elf or Ghome, that is both your race and your class. If you pick a Fighter, Thief or one of the other regular classes, then you are a Human. In the advanced option your race and class are separate (which is how I remember it in AD&D1e). In the optional rules, you still create the character with the two methods just mentioned, but there is an option for secondary skills and weapon proficiency. I think I’m going to let the dice decide. If I roll an even, it’s basic and odd will be advanced. I rolled a five so we are going with the advanced option. On page 16 is a step by step guide for basic creation and on page 18 is the guide for advanced creation.

Step 1 is to roll the ability scores. 3d6 is rolled for each ability. It doesn’t have an option to choose so I’m assuming that we are going down the line. There is a note about sub-par characters with ability scores of 8 or less results discarding all of those rolls and starting again. Let’s see how we do. Actually rolled pretty well and with a high strength, I guess we are making a fighter. This is how it was originally done, roll and then select the class from the abilities.

Step 2 is to pick a race and then adjust the ability scores from the racial descriptions. Our options are Drow (dark Elves), Duergar (grey Dwarves), Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Human, and Svirfneblin (deep Gnome). Some of these races had minimum requirements that my low CON roll of 8 didn’t meet. So my only options were Drow, Elf, Half-Orc and Human. If I have made an Half-Orc in a past challenge, I haven’t made one in a while. So we are going with that one. I added/subtracted the ability modifiers and wrote down the languages and other abilities. It also listed which classes were available for this race, luckily Fighter was one of them.

Step 3 choose a Class. As mentioned above, I’m selecting a Fighter for this yet-to-be-named Half-Orc.

Step 4 is to adjust the ability scores. Only the STR, INT or WIS can be lowered by 2 for 1 point addition to another ability score. I could drop my WIS by 2 and add the 1 to STR to give me a higher modifier. Yea, I want this guy to be tough so I’m doing it. I really can’t drop my INT because it would go below the minimum of 9 in the adjustment formula.

Step 5 is to note the ability score modifiers now that they are set. I wrote them down.

Step 6 is to note the attack values. Warning, warning, there is a THAC0 involved. While there is an option to use the Ascending AC I’m going to stick with the THAC0 since I haven’t seen it in a while.

Step 7 is to note the savings throws and class/race abilities. There is a listing for weapon proficiencies here as well, but I’m not following that path today.

Step 8 is rolling Hit Points. Unfortunately I can’t add any CON bonus as there isn’t one. But there is an optional rule to re-roll any 1s or 2s for the first-level character. I had rolled a 5.

Choose alignment. The only options were Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic. Had this been an actual organized game I would have inquired with the GM. So on this challenge entry I’ll just use Neutral.

Step 10 is to list down the known languages that the character knows. Since the INT score isn’t high enough to add any new languages, this unknown character only knows what his race and class lists. Alignment, Common and Orcish.

Step 11 is purchasing equipment. I see the familiar 3d6x10 for starting gold and rolled it. Luckily the Fighter can use all weapons, shields and armor.

Now that we’ve got our equipment. Step 12 is to note the AC of the character. I included the DEX bonus.

Step 13 is to note the level (first) and XP (zero). I also noted that the character needed 2,000 XP to reach second level and that he gets a +10% bonus due to primary attribute bonus.

Step 14 is an optional step for Secondary Skill. I looked at the list and it was randomly rolled on a d100. Sure lets see what we get. A 73 shows a… Miner? I’m, sure I guess. Perhaps he was a slave before he escaped the mines?

The last step is to name the character. I pulled up a random Half-Orc name generator and selected Thamar. Sounds good enough. I transferred my notes to the character sheet and scanned it.

Afterthoughts:

I like how the character sheet lists information on how to use the ability check and savings throws. I remember suddenly needing to look them up during some games in the past.

I ended up rolling for 1,000 starting GP. (5+2+3=10 x 100) and the costs of the equipment, armor and weapons left a lot of GP for a starting character. I wonder if this was correct? I went back to the AD&D 1e players handbook and the starting money ranged from 5 to 200 GP on page 35. I thought it was a little strange.

Additional Notes:

I had something really good happen today that has caused me to switch out one of my games that I was going to use in an upcoming Character Creation Challenge entry. I don’t want to announce it now, but you’ll know it when it’s posted. I’m quite excited by this.

Coming Up Next:

GI Joe

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: January 20-26

OK, 2025, you can stop now.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of January 20th through January 26th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

January 20
Remembering DeForest Kelley who was born on this date in 1920. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/DeForest_Kelley #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

“I never eat until the crew eats.” Dr. McCoy- The Corbomite Maneuver, Stardate: 1512.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

Happy Birthday to Rainn Wilson. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Rainn_Wilson #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #Quote

“So, Harcourt Fenton Mudd, the USS Discovery is yours.” Lorca “As am I. You win.” Burnham “Don’t try and con a con man.” Mudd- Magic to make the Sanest Man Go Mad, Stardate: 2136.8 #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #Quote

January 21
“Then send them to a planet in the Halee system, where they can meet death on their feet with a weapon in their hands, not tied and helpless.” Worf “When one of us dies that way it diminishes all of us.” K’Nera- Heart of Glory, Stardate: 41503.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

January 22
“Actually, since I’ve been on Voyager, I’ve tried to be more like you.” Paris “That’ll be the day” Kim “I’m serious. You’re my role model. You’re reliable, hard working, extremely punctual. Did I mention polite?” Paris- Favorite Son, Stardate: 50732.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

January 23
Star Trek: Picard premiered on this date in 2020 with the episode Remembrance. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Picard #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

“There’s no legacy as rich as honesty. Who said that, Number One?” Picard- Remembrance, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

January 24
“Gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy! I got a clean bill of health from Doctor McCoy!” Adam- The Way to Eden, Stardate: 5832.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

January 25
“Tucker to Enterprise. Mayday. I’m losing power. Mayday! If you can hear me, I’m making an emergency landing, thrusters only. I take it back, Travis. I could use a flesh and blood pilot right about now.” Tucker- Dawn, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

January 26
“Humanoid death rituals are an interest of mine.” Odo “Death rituals?” Quark “Everybody needs a hobby.” Odo- The Alternate, Stardate: 47391.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

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