2022 Character Creation Challenge Day 15: Covert Ops

Day 15 of the Character Creation Challenge and I’ll be using the Covert Ops RPG from DwD Studios. This is part of their Barebones system.

For the previous entries of the various espionage RPGs, I’ve been creating characters based in the 1960’s. This character will be a spy in the modern times. Let’s see where the game takes us. I’m going to try to go as random as possible and play were the dice take me.

There are four abilities. Strength, Dexterity, Logic and Willpower which have a score from 1-100. Then there are ten skills which are Academic, Leader, Detective, Martial Artist, Medic, Pilot, Scout, Soldier, Technician and Thief. These have a level between 1 to 6. Characters also get Bones at the start of each session which can be used as a type of heroic luck (re-roll, automatic success, increased damage, etc.).

A chart is provided with different origins for your character. You can pick one or roll D100 to select randomly. I rolled a Medic. From the listing I got to choose one advantage and I selected +5 to my LOG score. For the abilities, I could select from some pre-rolled scores or roll 5D+30 four times and assign them. Wanting to roll dice, I let them fly. This resulted in 54, 49, 64 and 52. I spent a bone to re-roll the 49 and got a 61. Next for the skills you can select a primary skill or roll for a random. This skill is marked with +20. A secondary skill (also picked or randomly selected) is marked with a +10. Sticking with the dice I ended up with primary of scout and a secondary of martial artist. Now you can select or randomly roll one skill to gain a level in. I selected Soldier since I also wanted this character to be good with weapons. I also spent a second bone to get a level in another skill. So far this is turning out to be an interesting character.

The game wants you to select two descriptors for your character. One that is beneficial and one that is not. If you use these during role play, it can earn you development points (this game’s version of XP). While there are random charts for Master Villain descriptors, no additional suggestions are made for player characters. I really had a hard time coming up with two of them. I wished that I could have asked the GM if these could be developed while in play. Next came a Moral Code (an interesting way to do alignment)

For equipment each agent gets a basic weapon (I’m glad that I didn’t have to buy it like I did in other games) and an Operative Pack (very basic spy equipment). Then I had six allowance points to buy other gear (I can get six more by spending a bone if I want). Some equipment was pretty standardized, the other options were vague enough that allowed players to outfit their characters as desired if the GM allowed it and if they had the points for it. Here is the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

I like the percentage system in RPGs. I wonder how the system runs at the table. As I was creating this character, I could see where some homebrewing of characters from other sources could come into play. Now I just need a way to run/participate a game at a table or online.

Additional Notes:

This character was completed on Day 15, but with the technical issues on my website it wasn’t posted until January 17th. I posted a picture of the character sheet on social media. One of the unexpected benefits is that the DwD Studios twitter account responded to the post complementing the character. I love having the interaction with the creators/publisher.

Coming Up Next:

The Computer is your friend. Paranoia 2nd Edition