When FASA was publishing the various supplements for their Star Trek Role Playing Game line, one of the books was Star Fleet Intelligence. This allowed game masters to set up espionage campaigns for players. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Trek Role Playing Game by FASA, I thought that I would submit an entry into the Character Creation Challenge by creating a Star Fleet intelligence agent. An in honor of my recently departed friend who cut his Star Trek RPG teeth on the FASA game, I’m going to name him Taylor, Roger Taylor.
One of the things that FASA did very well was create the character generation short form. I used this form quite a few times when generating FASA Star Trek characters. For the Star Fleet Intelligence Manual, this form is found on page 92 of the Agent’s Orientation Sourcebook. This version is slightly different than that found in the core rulebooks as it is geared towards creating an intelligence character.
Step one is to generate the attributes. For STRength, ENDurance, INTellect, DEXterity and CHArisma you roll 3D10 and add 40. For LUCk and PSIonic Potential it’s a straight percentile roll (D100). The only racial modifiers for humans is -30 to PSI. There are also bonus points (D100/2 rounding down). Final results are STR 57, END 55, INT 68, DEX 60, CHA 53, LUC 55 and PSI 07.
There are a large number of skills generated through the next several steps. These include Step 2: pre-academy skills (what you did before you attended Star Fleet Academy). Step 3: Academy Skills (what you learned at the academy). Step 4: Intelligence Branch School. Step 5: Cadet Cruise (how many cruises did you take? What did you learn on that cruise?) Step 6: Intelligence Command School and finally post-academy experience (how many tours has your character been on?). The last step is to determine the character age.
Roger gets six skills from his days before the academy. These are generated by rolling a D10 and half are taken from the educational background and the other half come from the personal development. I selected the skills I thought Roger would have. Added his academy skills. For his branch school, I selected the Field Operations and added those skills.
For his cadet cruise, I rolled the Operations Forces Subdivision. The result of this cadet cruise was Passed assigned as Ensign (barely missed getting passed with honors). I then added his intelligence command school skills on step 6.
With the post-academy experience, Roger ended up with three tours. I rolled an 85 which resulted in Starfleet Military Operations Command which lasted for 4 years and he earned an officer efficiency report of as expected. His second tour was with the Field Operations Department/Operating Forces Sector (he was studying for Klingon) which lasted for two years and he earned an officer efficiency report of excellent. For his last tour we rolled at Technical Department for the Klingon department which lasted one year and earned an officer efficiency report of outstanding. There were some skills advancements from the post-academy experience, which I wrote down.
Roger’s final age at the end of the process is 33 and he has the rank of Lieutenant. I’m pretending that the GM is going to set us up for a Klingon mission with the Klingon Field Operations division. I looked up what his SECLAR (security clearance) would be. Along with his combat and heal rates.
Afterthoughts:
I loved the image of the starship Claymore that was seen on the covers of these books. I always wondered what the long protruding wing was below the warp engine? Is it a solar sail? Is it a special scanner? Since I’ve never been able to find out I may have to sit down and homebrew this ship for multiple systems.
I had flashbacks to all of the times I was adding to this skill and to that skill. I can understand Roger’s comment about Star Trek Adventures having streamlined all of that for the player in creation. But I love how all of the different percentages on the skills make each character unique. I forgot how small the text was in the character creation short form.
Additional Notes:
I had a few people respond in regards to the Serenity character posted yesterday. One person recalled how they had been able to break the system by having a character gaining the capability to cause massive amounts of damage in bare hand combat. Another person responded that they were more than willing to run a game if I could get a group together. I’ll have to ask around to see if anyone is interested.
Coming Up Next:
Against the Darkmaster
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