Category: Science Fiction

Character Creation Challenge Day 26: Star Trek Roleplaying Game

Written by TardisCaptain January 26, 2021March 29, 2022

The Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher was the first Star Trek RPG that I played with my local Star Trek club. I was even able to GM a few sessions. I had a group of young Ensigns (the player characters) lead by an NPC Lieutenant as the CO, head to a shipyard to recover the USS Crockett for refitting just after the end of the Dominion War. Starfleet needed to pull some older, but still serviceable ships out of mothballs to rebuild the fleet and get back to the primary duty of exploring. Because the PCs got kicked off the station managing the shipyard, the team left with the Crockett before making sure the ship was ready to go. There was a very large nest of Talarian Hook Spiders that woke up from hibernation when the environmentals warmed up. As the crew tried to re-take back the ship, one of the PCs accidentally set the Lieutenant on fire who then fell in the turboshaft that they were traversing through. Luckily he survived despite being very injured. After the players recovered the ship and got to their destination, the poor Lieutenant was placed on a medical leave and eventually retired somewhere far away from the PCs.

For this entry in the Character Creation Challenge, I decided that I would make an Andorian Flight Control Officer serving on the Nebula Class, USS Ulysses NCC-66808. His name would be Ensign Rexun and is is a member of the Athrun keith (clan). Selecting the race and the profession was the first and second part of the character creation process.

The attributes used in this STRPG is Strength, Agility, Intellect, Vitality, Presence and Perception. For the random method roll 2d6 nine times and discard the three lowest results, then assign a score to the attribute. There is also a pic method but I felt like rolling dice today. With the racial modifiers Rexun ended up with the following attributes. STR: 8, AGL: 8, INT: 9, VIT: 8, PRE: 7, PER: 9.

Reaction tests are like savings throws. You select the highest of the attribute modifiers that feed into the four reaction scores. These also in turn generate your Initiative and Defense scores.

This is a skills based system. I’ve been a fan of these types of systems, but I’ll play the “general skills” games as well. I just feel that the skills list makes the character unique, especially when you are homebrewing a character seen in the show or in the expanded universe. These skills are selected by going through several steps including Personal Development (military brat was selected) and Professional Development (I selected Helm/Navigator)

The character creation process rounded out with wound status, courage and renown. There is a chapter on equipment, but it wasn’t part of the creation process listed on pages 20-21. In the RAW Starfleet equipment is assigned as per the mission needs. I considered the character done. Here is the sheet.

Afterthoughts:

Creating this character brought back lots of good memories. Especially with friends from Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet. We did some homebrewing in our games and it made me want to homebrew again.

There was a time I had to go find the Players Guide errata. Luckily I had it readily available. The book had a few rough edges while trying to navigate the character creation system. Quite a few bookmarks were used. I remember in the Fleet we had created our own Character Creation Guide to assist members unfamiliar with the game.

Additional Notes:

We are entering the home stretch towards the end of the Character Creation Challenge. Because I’m creating a character and writing a blog post at the same time, it takes quite a bit of coordination and energy. Especially when I have to stop myself from pulling out the other resource books and fan made homebrews after the character is created. I get distracted by the shiny things sometimes.

Coming Up Next:

Star Wars Roleplaing Game by Wizards of the Coast

Character Creation Challenge, Doctor Who, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

Character Creation Challenge Day 24: Doctor Who Roleplaying Game

Written by TardisCaptain January 24, 2021August 23, 2023

While I have played the FASA Doctor Who RPG many, many years ago. I have not had the chance to play Cubicle 7’s entry into the Doctor Who game universe. So this will be an introduction to the game for me. I picked up the book from a local game store a year ago and I also had a chance to get a lot of the PDF books in one of the charity bundle sales. I’ve also noticed that a lot of fans are homebrewing their own “publications” for this game with unofficial “Expanded Universe” sourcebooks. This gives me a little bit of hope and inspiration as I’d like to do this with other universes (Star Trek in particular). So I knew that I had to make an entry into the Character Creation Challenge with this game.

Since I made a Gallifreyan Time Lord with the FASA system, I think I’ll make a companion with this game. Tim Bronson was originally a police officer in a small city when he got caught up in some business with a mysterious stranger, some weird alien looking things and some para-military group that claimed they were working with the United Nations. Turns out, they were working with the UN and they all helped to stop a group of aliens from harvesting Human body parts for some intergalactic medical black market. The mysterious stranger, called The Baron, put in a good word with UNIT’s commanding officers. Upon this recommendation, they invited Bronson to join them in their quest to keep the Earth safe from the aliens that wish to harm the planet and it’s occupants. Sometimes he’s with a team heading off planet, other times he’s helping The Baron with some urgent tasks. But he’s been running ever since that fateful day.

The character creation system assigns you points to build a character. They can be spent on Attributes, Skills and Traits. The attributes are Awareness, Coordination, Ingenuity, Presence, Resolve and Strength. They have a score range from 1 to 6 in each attribute. For a law enforcement character I selected the following. Awareness: 4, Coordination: 3, Ingenuity: 3, Presence: 2, Resolve: 3 and Strength: 3. The Traits that Bronson had (which also pulled from the same pool of character points as attributes) was Brave, Lucky, Keen Senses (sight), Voice of Authority (aka The Policeman’s Voice), Quick Reflexes and Friend (all of his buddies back in the police force). There were a few other traits that were intriguing (including some bad traits that would have gained me points) but I decided not to go overboard on the character.

There are twelve skills listed. Each skill can also have an Area of Expertise (but they cost points to put into them). So I selected the following for my police officer turned UNIT operative. Bronson’s area of expertise was Interrogation (trying to get information out of a suspicious person). The Stuff section basically stated to select what you thought your character should have. So I picked a few things that a former police officer may still have in his possession and called it good. Here is the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

I liked the detailed explanation of the attributes. Ingenuity-3 represents this, Strenght-1 represents this, etc. It detailed what an average Human would have for statistics which, I think, helped players create their characters. This level of detail also went into the Traits and Skills.

I also liked that the end of the character creation process was noted in the book. Usually a character creation process just pushes you into the next chapter, then the next and so on. There were times I was wondering “Am I done or did I miss something?” Especially when I would see blank spots on the character sheet. I usually had to go look up the index to find the section to fill in that part of the sheet.

I really had to resist the urge to pull the other books out and check out what they had listed for stats and information. I may have to do that soon, especially the fan made stuff.

Additional Notes:

Dealing with a malfunctioning furnace made me wonder if I was going to be able to get a character made today. Luckily we were able to get a temporary fix going until we can get a professional in to look at the system. I really dislike the winter and the cold weather. I’ll take the heat of summer anytime.

Coming Up Next:

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition

Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction, Star Trek

Character Creation Challenge Day 21: Prime Directive

Written by TardisCaptain January 21, 2021March 29, 2022

So this is a licensed Star Trek RPG, kinda. Amarillo Design Bureau has the rights to create a starship tactical game based off of the Star Fleet Technical Manual published by Franz Joseph. This was the first tech book for Star Trek fans that captured a lot of imaginations in the 1970s. It was also a time when licensing for products based off of a canceled television show was loosely defined. The long and short of it is ADB could make games based on the elements of the Tech Manual which includes some classic and animated Star Trek episodes, but they could not cover the other Star Trek series. The game ADB is best known for is Star Fleet Battles. And they added to their universe with additional races and ships not seen in the other series. Some years ago, they added a role playing game based off of the SFB universe they had created called Prime Directive. After a 1st edition, they came out with a “2nd edition” of the game that used GURPS or the D&D D20 engines. Being a fan of the D20 system I had picked up those books from a local game store. Note: I am using the D20 version of the books which have been discontinued by ADB in favor of the D20 Modern (D20M) version of the game. I haven’t had the chance to get my hands on the D20M books to see how they compare with the regular D20 version.

This entry into the Character Creation Challenge will be straight from The Original Series era, but using one of the races seen in the SFB universe. Rigellian Ensign Paran Rei is a member of the Medical Department on the USS Hudson.

The Prime Directive core rulebook shown in the photo above is an “add on” book to the Dungeons and Dragons v3.5 Player’s Handbook. While the PD book gives information on races, classes, equipment, etc., it refers to the 3.5 PHB for rules on character generation, combat, etc. So I’ll be using the same character creation system when I did my D&D v3.5 entry into the Character Creation Challenge.

After rolling 4d6 (and dropping the lowest die) and adding the Rigellian racial stats I ended up with the following attributes. STR: 11, DEX: 10, CON: 13, INT: 13, WIS: 17, CHA: 13. Not bad rolls on this one. Noted down the savings throws, HP, racial feats and abilities and languages.

There were a couple of skills that were unique to the game. I also had to refer to the 3.5 PHB on a few things to make sure I was selecting the appropriate skills for a medical officer. There was also a section on Character Education. For this I selected Starfleet Academy and wrote down the appropriate skills.

I really didn’t select any equipment other than writing down what I thought a standard Starfleet medical officer would have. The RAW had a Purchase DC, but you don’t really purchase anything in Starfleet. Here is the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

Since I know and understand the 3.5 rules, this build was pretty quick and easy. Prime Directive didn’t throw too many extra rules at me that bogged things down. If I were to run a campaign, I’d probably homebrew a lot to bring in the other races, events, ships, equipment seen in the later shows.

There were a lot of other future reference books mentioned in this rulebook. I’ve picked up the Klingons and Romulans supplement for PD20 and a PD20M supplement. ADB advertised books for the Gorn and Feline Empires (as well as other races), but they have not released them as of yet. I wish that they could finish them up as I’d love to buy them.

Additional Notes:

I’m starting to get into a pattern with the Character Creation Challenge. I prep as much as I can a head of time (taking photos, prepping the outline of the blog entry, character concepts) so that the day of is just die rolling, deciding and writing my thoughts down in the blog. It’s still a bit rough when I’ve got limited time. Normally when making characters you are not under a deadline.

Keep posting your characters. I’m still trying to read them.

Coming Up Next:

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition

Character Creation Challenge, Doctor Who, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

Character Creation Challenge Day 18: Doctor Who Role Playing Game

Written by TardisCaptain January 18, 2021March 29, 2022 1 Comment

As you can tell from the title of this Blog of Holding, I am a big Doctor Who fan. I remember playing the Doctor Who Role Playing Game by FASA with my friends in the 90’s. I remember even running a game. However it has been a LONG time since I even looked at the rules that I hardly remember anything at all. So this entry into the Character Creation Challenge is almost like reading it again for the first time. Unfortunately there hasn’t been any opportunity to participate in an RPG session lately. One friend still uses the name of her Gallifreyan character as a nickname. Hi Agiani.

When this game was published, the Gallifreyans did not allow for interference in other worlds. This made The Doctor a bit of a renegade with the leaders of his people. To get around this in the game, characters could be Gallifreyans or companions participating in a group called the Celestial Intervention Agency (CIA). The agents in this rogue organization battle against the threats of Daleks, Cybermen and dozens other aggressive species across space and time.

Since I’ve never made a Time Lord character, the character that goes by the name The Barron. His birth name is Redbronovurudu, but that was too hard to pronounce by his Human companion. “Red what? Like Red Baron?” “Oh.. The Baron, I like that. It sounds very noble.”

There are six mental and physical attributes in the Doctor Who Role Playing Game. Strength (STR), Endurance (END), Dexterity (DEX), Charisma (CHA), Mentality (MNT) and Intuition (ITN). Attribute scores range from 1-30 (with 30 being the best) but they are also listed at Attribute Performance Levels. Level I is Handicapped. Level II is Untrained. Level III is Basic Performance. Level IV is Average Performance. Level V is Professional Performance. Level VI is Expert Performance and the last performance of Mastery is Level VII. Characters will also have Special Abilities and Skills. The skills, like Attributes, range 1-30 and have their own I-VII proficiency ratings from Unskilled to Mastery.

Your character’s initial attribute scores start at 6. To find out how many points are in your attribute point fund, roll 2d6+36. I ended up with 43 points to spend. The Baron was a Researcher in the Grand Library of Gallifrey before he unexpectedly found himself traveling the universe. So I gave him higher scores in the CHA, MNT and INT scores. They are as follows: ST: 10 (Level IV), END: 13 (Level IV), DEX: 10 (Level IV), CHA: 15 (Level V), MNT: 15 (Level V), INT: 16 (Level V). During the character creation process, a 3d6 die roll determines if your character has a special ability, and what it is if present. My roll ended up earning a Luck special ability. This added 5 to my INT making it 12 (Level VI). Endurance rates for health was quickly discovered and written down.

Like the FASA Star Trek Role Playing Game, there is a large number of skills used in the game. This skill system in the character creation process was… ugh. After reading through the books several times I finally just selected some skills I thought a brainy guy would have (with some skills he would have needed in the field without getting greedy) and not worry about points. This is probably a section that I would have needed an experienced GM to explain things to me. I then decided to wrap it up and scan the character sheet.

Afterthoughts:

The character creation process is explained in the middle of the Player’s Manual after they have explained the items that go into a character and a short story with play examples. The rules talks about selecting a race, but there are no stat adjustments for the two races playable in the game (Human or Gallifreyean).

The books kept switching between the use of INT and ITN. This must have slipped through the editing process.

The Game Operations Manual had a section on Judging Character Creation. I had to refer to it in order to get some of the numbers needed in the character creation process. The section for determining skills was needlessly complicated and it took several read through to understand it all (I think). I understood that skill points from one attribute would purchase more skills that fell under that attribute (Higher STR score made it easier to buy STR based skills), but the way it was processed was just overly complex. There could have been a better way to figure these out.

If I recall correctly, we used pre-generated characters when we played this game. After going through this process, I can see why. I think this is the first day I got frustrated and ended the process.

Additional Notes:

I’m still looking for more blogs or message boards of people participating in the Character Creation Process.

Coming Up Next:

Tall Tales BX

Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

Character Creation Challenge Day 5: Frontier Space

Written by TardisCaptain January 5, 2021 1 Comment

If FrontierSpace gives you the same vibes as Star Frontiers, that’s because the designer was a big fan of the Star Frontiers game. However this is not a retro-clone. Far from it actually. It has it’s own universe and a very interesting D100 based system that has intrigued me. Your character has a set of abilities and skills and the referee determines what combination of the two you need to combine to come up with your target score to roll under to succeed. This was the first time I had seen this style (I saw this game just before Star Trek Adventures was released) and it made sense. Not only did I have to buy the PDFs from DriveThruRPG from DwD Studios, but I’ve been buying the community created content that DwD allows in the game license. I could very easily see myself creating material for this game.

As mentioned above, the abilities that a character possesses is Strength (STR), Agility (AGL), Coordination (CRD), Perception (PER), Intelligence (INT) and Willpower (WIL). You rolled two d10s and added the two together and consulted a table to come up with the score. Instead of taking the rolls in order, you found out the scores and then elected which ability to put them into. The race you select for your character may add or subtract from these scores. I decided that Gax, a member of the Novim race, would have the following ability scores (these have been adjusted for the racial modifiers). STR: 65, AGL: 65, CRD: 60, PER: 55, INT: 50, WIL: 45.

Next the skills may seem a little weird. A score of zero means that you are trained in that skill and your character has overcome any of the negative modifiers from not being proficient in that skill. A -5 or -10 score means that you know something about that particular skill. If you get into the positive modifiers, you are an expert in that skill. Any untrained skills are basically -20. The RAW instructed me to select one skill that is of primary importance to what I wanted my character to be. That would have a score of zero. Two other skills can be selected to have a -10 modifier. Everything else would be unskilled. The skills are Academic, Artist, Commander, Diplomat, Explorer, Marksman, Medic, Pilot, Scientist, Technician, Thief and Warrior. I decided that Gax would be a good at flying ships, I put his Pilot score at 0. Being a member of a mercenary group he should also be good at Marksman and Warrior which I marked down at -10 each. Thus if the Referee stated that I needed to make a check for flying through an asteroid field, I he could tell me to make a roll for my AGL+Pilot (65+0) for my target number of 65. If I rolled less than this on percentile dice, I would succeed in my task.

I continued to write down my stats based off the Novim race. One of these is determining which Ark I came from. The Novims were genetically engineered as a slave race that escaped from their masters in Arks. Members of each Ark generated certain tendencies that would be beneficial to the character. Gax came from the Anthem Ark which gave him the ability to heal 3 BP (body points) per day instead of 1 with no scarring.

The character creation process has you select a personality such as a moral code and descriptors. If you role-played within your character’s personality, you could earn additional developmental points (DP) for the session. For the moral code I selected Honorable (Very) and for the two descriptors I selected “I do the job I was paid for” and for the second one I rolled for a random one from the list provided and got “Delusional belief in the supernatural”. I wonder how a member of a cloned race got that one.

For equipment, luckily there is a standard equipment pack and this counts towards two of my six items granted to me durring the character creation process. I also selected a Security Ballistic suit, an enviro suit, a monoknife and an auto-pistol. I filled in the items and tallied up my character’s body points, melee damage bonus, ranged damage bonus, movement and initiative. I only earned one destiny point that I could use durring the game to change a result. Here is the final character sheet which I believe I filled out correctly.

Afterthoughts:

This system looks pretty simple and quick to pick up. It’s been a while since I’ve read the entire book, but just going through the character creation process was pretty straight forward. It also looks like the system is set up to be used in a sandbox for homebrewers. I just wish the company could come out with additional supplements to flesh out some other ideas. I could see myself playing this RPG.

Additional Notes:

I found a couple more blogs with people participating in the Character Creation Challenge. I’ve added the links to the page. I would also like to give a big thank you to the visitor who clicked on one of my DriveThruRPG links and purchased a lot of games. I get a little kick back from this that will be used to purchase additional games for future reviews.

Coming Up Next:

Gangbusters B/X by OSR.