@2QUICK GENERATION OF CHARACTERS ============================== @1Fast Generator (c)@4 Rory O. McLean @1January 1994 The first thing is the basic character idea based on the referee's description of the overall campaign, maybe with comments on required characters, with maybe a brief (no more than 3 line) character background. A character name will also be required at some point. You are not normally allowed to swap points around after generation, or to/from stats and abilities etc, but a power might give a conditional stat (e.g. STR 6 while "powered up"). In simple terms there are six stats or characteristics: Strength (STR), Quickness (QUI), Toughness (TOU), Intelligence (INT), Willpower (WIL), and Charisma (CHA), and you have 25 points to divide between them, 3 being average, 1 being poor (about 5 on 3D6), 5 being good (about 15), 6 being very good (about 18), 7 being super-heroic (about 20), and 9 being called "make me laugh" (equivalent 23); 8 points may not be spent on one stat, only 7 or 9, but the actual value for that stat is 8 if 9 is spent (if this confuses, or you dont like this, dont allow stats beyond 7). Referees may "pin" some stats in some games, for example STR might not be allowed to exceed 4 in a superhero game except with a suitable power, or in a heroic game only one "heroic" stat could exceed 5. Alternatively a ref might allow powers to add to, rather than replace, a stat, e.g. a 5pt "power harness" might give +5 STR and TOU, rather than 5 STR and TOU; this should be looked at with great care, particularly in terms of being balanced with defences like armour. Seven points are then divided between skills/powers/abilities appropriate to the style of the character and the game to be played. For example a detective might take 5pts investigative skills, and 2pts combat skills, a superhero might take 3pts flight, 3pts energy blast, and 1pt telekinesis, or a psionic might take 7pts manipulation of fire. The points are non-linear, 1pt means you just have whatever it is at a very minimum level, 2pts means it is below average or weak in some way (e.g. jet pack flight, rather than an inate power), 3pts is average and probably represents at least three broad skills at average ability in other game systems, 4pts is good, 5pts is very good, among the best, 6pts is incredible, you will almost never meet someone this good, and 7pts is the best in the campaign at this. Normal break-downs are 3/2/2 for all-rounders, 5/2 for experts, 6/1 for specialists, and 7 is almost never seen as it is too specialist. Note that something might break-down into components which are not all at the stated value, e.g. 5pts "powered armour" could give 5pts armour, 5pts STR, 3pts environmental protection, 2pts flight, and 2pts radio comms; and the meaning varies by character, one character's "investigative skills" might include breaking-and-entry, and another's forensics. Where possible try to avoid these sort of complexities, this is supposed to be a "fast" generator. Another rather strange option is to allow "normals", who do not get any points to divide initially, but only during the course of a game, and have usually "spent" their 7 points after three gaming sessions at most. This allows the very fast ramp-up in ability sometimes seen in various fiction, but rarely supported in game systems. This does though require some play without converting characters to a "real" game system. Seven points are finally divided between character traits/disadvantages. These are generally a mixture of character personality (e.g. incurably curious, can't take orders), character shortcomings (e.g. wooden leg, no left hand, travel sick, illiterate, unlucky), and social interaction (hunted by police, irritating sidekick (who is rarely if ever helpful, unless also paid for above), alien race, distrusted subgroup). These are similar to the above, with 1pt being very minor, 2pts being infrequent or minor, 3pts being common (or infrequent and major, or very frequent and minor), 4pts being frequent or major, 5pts being frequent and major, 6pts being totally crippling, and 7pts being the worst in the world and almost never taken. More than 4pts is a bad idea unless it is totally central to the character, and then 5pts is the normal limit. Common break-downs are 3/2/2, 4/2/1, 3/3/1; rarely split more than 3 ways. Referees may allow people to not take the full compliment of 7pts, particularly if "normals" are used, as this is more for colour and picking-out the character's interaction with the campaign; points might possibly be allocated over the first few sessions. Dont forget, the overall character style is the idea, and any detail is for latter. Game mechanics using these characters can varry a lot. Following is a few ideas you could use. Otherwise use your favorite game system with suitable fudges, or as you quite often need little or no game mechanics, make it up as you go along! For example as a basic rule TOU is hit points, and if this drops below 1 are incapacitated, and if you drop below TOU value negative you are dead; a reasonably "heroic" (i.e. not deadly) game, particularly if there are no bleeding rules. Fist damage might be STR-2, STR-1 for knuckle-dusters, STR for knife, STR+2 for double-handed sword, damage could be reduced by armour, 1pt=leather, 5pts=plate, 3pts=average force field, etc. Critical hits (however these are worked) might modify damage; a "fixed" (unrealistic?) rather than random damage game. For a very simple system use a D6 with bonuses and minuses, a tightrope walk might involve rolling less than the modified "acrobatic skills" ability, lifting something a modified STR roll, hitting something a modified QUI roll, with their modified (e.g. by encumberance) QUI as a further modifier, spoting something or understanding something a modified INT roll, mentally hitting a WIL roll modified by their WIL, talking your way out of trouble a modified CHA roll, etc. A suitable skill or ability should always be more effective than using a "raw" (modified) stat roll, the modifiers the ref applies govern the difficulty of the game. For a more complex system add 6 to the stat/ability etc doubled, and roll less than this with modifiers on 3D6; modifiers should not exceed plus or minus five. For example resisting mind control (if the ref says this is possible) by someone with 5pts "mental powers" might be a WIL roll -2 (5pts-3=2) and with 3pts WIL require a 6+3x2-2 (=10) or less roll, someone with the specific "mind control" might be a further -1. Try not to make it too complex! For a percentage-based system use 20 times stat/ability with modifiers, for a D20-based system x4, etc.