Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

2022 Character Creation Challenge Day 21: Prime Directive 1st Edition

So in the 2021 Character Creation Challenge I created a character for the D20 Prime Directive roleplaying game. I talked about how this is a licensed game set in the Star Fleet Universe, which can only use races/events referenced in the original Star Trek series. Because of this, they would never lose the license (a good thing) but the company has had challenges coming out with newer supplements (still waiting for the various Gorn and cat races supplements). Since the first edition of Prime Directive (also known as PD1) was a different game than the D20 and GURPS versions, I decided that I would create a character for the 2022 Challenge.

The characters in Prime Directive are members of Starfleet. But instead of serving as a Captain or Department Chief, they serve on Prime Teams. A troubleshooting group that, if needed, are expendable. These specialists can come from various backgrounds that are sent to emergency hotspots on various missions.

The first step in character creation is selecting a race. There is the standard Federation races seen on Star Trek like Humans, Vulcans and Andorians. For some reason Tellarites are not listed in the core rulebook. Then there are Rigellians (large humanoids), Alpha-Centauran (Female dominated humanoids) and Cygnans (albino humanoids good with tech). All of these races have different characteristics which are Strength (STR), Accuracy (ACC), Speed (SPD), Leadership (LDR), Logic (LGC), Intuition (INT), Discipline (DIS), Technical (TEC), General Knowledge (GKN) and Perception (PER). All the races have set numbers except for Humans and Alpha-Centaurans. Later in the character creation process you can adjust these numbers.

Let’s go for a race I’ve never played before. Between the three new races I selected this character to be a Cygnan named Kovil. Next for Kovil is deciding which Starfleet service division he would be a member of out of Command, Engineering, Marine Service Combatant, Science, Medical and Psionic. I’m going to make an Engineer.

There are a series of skills that each character has. There are basic skills that each member of Starfleet has plus the skills acquired for the service division and branch. Apparently the Engineering division has only one branch, Technical. As a member of Starfleet, each person has a rank. They could be enlisted or an officer. This was the first dice roll of the game as the rank was randomly assigned. 2d6 and check the chart for your division. Kovil rolled a 10 which resulted in a Lieutenant (j.g.) rank. And, for some reason, you roll for the seniority of your character. Afterwards you come up with the Professional and Heroic Reputation scores along with the Initial Background Ratings. (boy there are a lot of these things in here, I wonder if they will all add up in the end)

Now, that I’ve received my “free” skill points, I get to use Initial Character Improvement Points (which is 56 to start out with plus some bonus points based upon my seniority). Character improvement points can be awarded after adventures to improve your characters. These can be spent on skills or characteristics. Now that we have our final characteristics and skills, we add the two together and divide by 2 (round down) to determine how many d6 dice you roll when using that skill. Ugh, this is a lot of complication, but now this section is finally done.

Now comes the section where you determine how much damage you can take in various forms. These include Stun Damage and Lethal Damage. Had a few movement stats to fill out. Oh gheez, now you get 10 more points to put in to skills that are just personal interests. While this is a kewl idea, I swear this paperwork never ends. Had I known this section was here, I wouldn’t have picked a few things in this category earlier.

There is a whole page for equipment, which is assigned before missions. So yea, I’m done making this character and I’m only scanning in the sheet that I actually filled stuff out on. There was still a few blank spaces, but I think I’m done.

Afterthoughts:

While going through the branches, it looked like the had some branches pretty well fleshed out while others seemed lacking. There was a lot of focus on rank and seniority while trying to warn players not to abuse it. I haven’t seen this come up in other system documentation.

I don’t know what it is, but the way this rule book is laid out has made my eyes glaze over. Eventually I was wishing that they could just get to the point when things were being explained. I seriously doubt I’d play this system without seeing it in action first. While it’s a Star Trek game and I want to homebrew for them, this one may be on the bottom of the list. I haven’t heard of anyone playing this game.

I did get the urge to make an actual checklist for character creation that would have helped.

Additional Notes:

10 more days left in the 31 day challenge. We can do this. You can do this. You can still jump in and have fun if you want. That is all this is for, is to have fun. I’m learning a lot. Some good, some bad, but I’m learning. I’m having fun, when my college age kid calls me every night one of the things she asks is “What character did you make today?”

Coming Up Next:

Werewolf The Apocalypse

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

Character Creation Challenge Day 21: Prime Directive

Character Creation Challenge Day 21

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.

Paran Rei character sheet
Paran Rei 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

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