Ragamuffin
Character Generation, Part 1
Jim Vassilakos (jimvassila@aol.com) & Jaron Martin (tabriskn@aol.com)
Past Articles
Introduction to Ragamuffin (A&E 298)
Replies to Comments on Ragamuffin (A&E 307)
STL vs FTL in SF-RPGs (A&E 310)
Introducing Jaron Martin
Jaron, a recent high school grad from
Portland, Oregon, has helped quite a bit in
fleshing out the Ragamuffin system. In fact,
much of what you are about to read was
written by him. He first contacted me in
November of last year after having downloaded
my 3d Starmapping program
(http://www.geocities.com/jimvassila) and
wondering whether or not there was any more material
available on the Ragamuffin setting. For several months,
we discussed various aspects of the project, everything from the
science to the aliens to the politics of the setting. As those of you
who have scanned the Ragamuffin archive are aware, I was in
similar discussions with others as far back as 1995, most notably
Anders Sandberg of Sweden and Joerg Rhiemeier of Germany,
among others, however, whether it was the vigor of youth or
something else, Jaron seemed different, more intent on seeing the
project through to fruition, and to be perfectly honest, that was
exactly the sort of kick in the butt that I needed. In April, he sent
another one of his long and well-formulated emails, part of which
went like this:
“I came to the realization last night that the reason hard science
RPG’s are so rare is because there’s so much debate about the
science. The problem is, science is constantly changing... <big
snip> I’m not saying ‘ditch the hard science approach.’ I am
saying this though: let’s work on the GAME. So far, the only thing
we have that affects characters in any NECESSARY way (in
terms of what you need to roleplay) is the background story, and
much of that is a GM’s secret anyway. We need to get some rules
down, a character creation system, and some basic truth’s about
the game as well. By the latter I mean we need to stop asking ‘can
ships travel faster than light’ and just say yes or no.” (04/21/2001)
And by George, the instant I read that, I knew he was right, and I
knew that with his help and quite a few man-hours, we could put
this thing together. Whether or not it would hold up to public
scrutiny is another matter, but that’s what you guys are for. In any
case, without puffing up Jaron’s ego too much, I just wanted to let
you know a little bit about him, as well as say that I am
continually astonished by both the quantity as well as the quality
of his contributions. Of course, his real forte lay in alien design.
I’ll share some of his creations with you in a future issue of A&E,
but for the time being, I want to concentrate on character
generation. But first…
The Premise:
Date: 2127 AD.
Situation: Earth has just been devastated in the Ikkadju-Solian
war, also known as The Desecration, The Apocalypse, or
Armageddon. Although humanity drove the invaders back, it was
at a heavy cost. The Ikkadju fled in the wake of humanity’s fierce
counterattack, but not before they managed to bombard the Earth
with antimatter bombs. The destruction was
terrible: out of a population of 10 Billion,
over 90% were killed in the
bombardment. Evacuations are in
order as great clouds obscure the
sun, plunging the world into sub-
freezing temperatures. Most of the
major cities have been destroyed
(“Buenos Aries has been wiped
off the map...”), and civilization
has virtually collapsed. Many
places on Earth are nothing more
than charred wastelands, and,
needless to say, entire ecosystems
are gone.
Fortunately for humanity, the
Hafaru had aided us in forming the
colony on Poseidon in the Sirius system, as
well as New Home where a number of humans
still live. These colonies are so secret that most people on Earth
didn’t know about them. So although humanity has been dealt a
major blow, we aren’t dead yet.
Here’s where you come in. Taking the role of a survivor of the
chaos, you must rescue and rally together the remnants of our
tattered race, decide on a course of action, rebuild our
civilization... and when the time is right, kick some alien butt-
equivalents.
The fate of humanity hangs in the balance. Do you have what it
takes?
The Five Basic Stats:
Strength (STR): This is your character’s brute strength. How
much can you lift? How much damage can you do with your fists
or a melee weapon? Likewise, it should play a roll in intimidation.
Durability (DRB): This is a combination of your endurance, your
resistance to disease and fatigue, and also your ability to withstand
physical punishment.
Agility (AGL): This is a combination of your hand-eye dexterity,
your body coordination, and your reflexes. Its importance in
modern combat cannot be over-estimated.
Perception (PER): This is quite simply how well you notice
things. It’s a combination of your sensory acuity as well as your
ability to process the input of your senses into meaningful
information.
Intellect (INT): This is how smart you are, mainly in the school
sense. It’s a combination of your memory, your ability for logical
reasoning, as well as a dash of creativity in coming up with
workable solutions. Needless to say, it is extremely important in a
science-fiction setting.
Designer’s Note: I started with the notion that we really have two
parts to ourselves: body and mind. Some would also include spirit,
but this is a hard-sf-rpg, so I didn’t want to codify a character’s
spirit, and besides, I figured that it’s better to let players define the
character’s spirit through roleplaying. Hence, we’ve only got mind
and body, but that’s too few stats. I wanted about five, so I chose
stats which range from mostly physical to mostly mental. The
basic argument is that strength is almost entirely physical, whereas
durability is mostly physical but somewhat mental, agility is about
half and half, perception is mostly mental but somewhat physical,
and intellect is almost entirely mental.
The initial method of rolling is 3d20 for each stat, sort rolls as
desired (meaning you roll 3d20, jot down the total, and then repeat
until you’ve got five totals, then you place them as desired). Then
you’ve got 30 extra points to place as you like, but for every point
you increase a stat over 70, it costs two of these extra points. Right
now it seems a bit capricious to me. I sort of like the Gurps system
better, in that you create your character from a fixed number of
points, no rolling necessary. However, I think it’s fair to say that
not all folks are created equal, and 3d20 does seem to approximate
a decent curve.
Character Careers:
After stats are rolled, the player than chooses a career for his or
her character. Here they are in all their glory:
Contact Specialist: Blasting aliens is sometimes the only course
of action, but very often a carrot works better than a stick when
you’re dealing with these other beings. You’ve been trained to
accept these strange creatures, learn from them, and deal with
them on their own terms. No matter what the captain says, he can’t
win every battle. Sometimes it’s necessary to negotiate one’s way
out a potentially thorny situation. Besides, not all aliens are bad...
just look at the Hafaru. Contact Specialists may be treated with
some derision from more “action oriented” characters, but when
an Altairian Choggamuk asks you “Chzbit horsklak gzhindra
sosk?”, you may be the only one who knows what to say to keep
everyone from quickly becoming clouds of reddish vapor.
Doctor/Scientist: Scientists can be from one of the colony worlds,
or they can be military consultants who were on warships during
the Solian invasion. Depending on their specialty, they may be
able to coordinate rescues, decipher some of that bizarre alien
technology, or just find ways to keep the group alive in not-so-
ideal situations.
A sub-set of scientist is the doctor, and any campaign can use
one. Their duties may extend from simple first aid to full blown
surgery... or even medical examination of alien bodies.
Driver/Pilot: Fighting may be what the army is all about, but if
the troops can’t get to the battle, then what good are they? That’s
where you come in. You fly the dropships and drive the armored
vehicles that get the soldiers where they need to go. In a pinch,
you might also double as combat driver, using the latest tanks and
attack hovercraft. You might also fly the latest in one-man assault
craft, as well as perform other duties, such as piloting shuttles,
reconnaissance, and even taking the stick of interstellar spacecraft.
Note, if you want a command post, you must purchase either of
the two command advantages: section command or starship
command.
Military Specialist: The Marines may be the strong right arm of
the military, but they can’t do it alone. That’s where you come in:
you’re the specialist. Perhaps you’re an unconventional warrior,
knowledgeable about the sneak and peek as well as the shoot and
loot. Or maybe you’re an investigator, capable of figuring out
what’s going on when everyone else is standing around looking
clueless. Or, quite possibly, you’re just skilled at dealing with
various military equipment such as sensors or vaccsuits. There are
so many military specialties that it’ll be impossible for you to
learn them all, but one thing is for sure... your skills will be highly
unusual.
Survivor: You were on Earth during the Ikkadju assault. Good
thing you didn’t live in the city. A rescue operation picked you up,
and now here you are, an everyday nobody stuck with all these
military types and scientists and so forth. That doesn’t mean
they’re better than you, however, there are a few things they could
teach you, and if you want to prove useful, you’d better start
learning. A Survivor character will have the greatest potential
diversity of skills, since he or she isn’t trained in one main area.
However, they also tend to have less training in those areas, for
precisely the same reason. The upshot is that you’ll start with
fewer skills than everyone else, but you’ll have a number of
reserve points to stick into new skills as the campaign progresses
(that is, once you figure out what you want to learn).
Techie: Life aboard a starship isn’t all fun & games. There’s some
actual work to be done, keeping the engines humming and making
sure that life support doesn’t crap-out at some awkward moment.
You’re the person who does all that. You’ve always been good at
taking things apart and putting them back together. Sure,
sometimes you might end up with a few extra mystery parts, but
that’s part of the fun.
Trooper/Marine: You went through every conceivable army
training program, and here you are: the best of the best. Sure,
those aliens may be tough when they hide behind their laser
cannons and duralloy hull, but on the ground, or in a ship, you can
take ‘em! It doesn’t hurt to have that powered armor, either.
Troopers work hard and play hard, because life is rough... and
Troopers never die of old age.
With the development of strength-enhancing exoskeletons, the
human body can be the most versatile infantry weapon in
existence. Using the latest in Army development, the powered
armor gives one marine the firepower of an entire company of 20th
century tanks. Troopers start with a wide variety of weaponry, but
are almost always subordinate to officers.
Aside from the basic gist given above, these careers each have a
particular skill package which is expressed as follows:

Fleet Officer: With the high command largely Career A E G H M P S V W X Z

destroyed, you’re pretty much on your own. If Contact Specialist 0 2 2 8 0 1 3 2 1 6 0
you’re an executive officer or a section head on a Doctor/Scientist 0 14 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 0
large ship, you’re solely answerable to the Driver/Pilot 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 9 4 6 0
commanding officer onboard (so long as nobody Fleet Officer 4 2 2 0 0 1 4 3 3 6 0
tosses him out the airlock). Or perhaps you’re the Military Specialist 0 0 1 0 0 2 10 2 4 6 0
commanding officer of a smaller ship, in which case Survivor 0 4 4 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 8
the ball is squarely in your court, so what are you Techie 0 8 0 0 9 0 0 2 0 6 0
going to do with it? Great for players who like to Trooper/Marine 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 2 10 4 0
take charge, but be careful about being too bossy.
After all, with the JAG division largely incinerated,
nobody really has to listen to you any more.
Skills are divided into the following skill areas: there’s a penalty of one degree of difficulty for each attack. Here’s
a summary of combat modifiers for having a gun in each hand:
A Administration
E Educational 1 target 2 targets
G General No Advantage one level harder two levels harder
H Humanities Ambidextrous no penalty one level harder
M Mechanical Dualdextrous no penalty no penalty
P Physical
S Specialty Animal Sympathy: Although you don’t necessarily have
V Vehicle professional training as a biologist, you are wise in the ways of
W Weapon animals, and usually have a inner sense of their likely behavior
X Extra patterns and modes of communication. In a way, you see them as
Z Reserve people, and hence you’re given to understanding them better than
most regardless of whether they are native to earth or
Hence, once you choose a career, you have a certain number of otherworldly.
skill points to spend in each skill area. Before we get into skills, This advantage won’t protect you from attack, but it does allow
however, let’s first cover advantages & disadvantages. the GM to kibitz with you on what the critters may be thinking,
and with that knowledge you’ll have one up on understanding
their behavior.
Advantages & Disadvantages Bad Ass Mother: Danger is your middle name. You face death
with a grin and don’t fear pain. You have a reputation as well;
Advantages Disadvantages even those who dislike you will grudgingly admit that you are one
Ambidextrous 2 Artificial Limb 2 tough mother.
Animal Sympathy 1 Awkward/Clumsy 2 First, you get all the benefits of being a body builder (qv).
Bad Ass Mother 4 Body Odor 1 Second, due to your combat reflexes (qv), you receive a +20
Bilingual 1 Butt-Ugly 2 bonus toward all combat skills which rely on AGL. Hence, this
Body Builder 2 Close Dependent 2 advantage supercedes body builder and combat reflexes.
Combat Reflexes 2 Cowardice in Combat 2 Now for the good part. Because you have honed these two
Cute 1 Deaf as a Post 3 advantages in conjunction with one another, you also get three
Danger Sense 2 Dependent 1 additional damage points above what your DRB normally gives
Dilating Pupil 1 Flatulent 1 you, and best of all, you can take one extra combat action at the
Drop-dead Gorgeous 3 Halitosis 1 end of every other round (basically resulting in 3/2 attacks per
Dualdextrous 3 Head Trauma 2 round).
Exceptional Sense 1 Illiterate 4 In short, you are a monster! Now remember to play nicely.
Handsome/Beautiful 2 Part Deaf 2
Linguistically Inclined 2 Obese 2 Bilingual: Most children grow up in an environment where only
one language is spoken. You are not most children. You were
Sleeps w/ One Eye Open 1 Old & Feeble 3
exposed to two languages during your earliest years, and as a
Mechanically Inclined 2 Overweight 1
result, you are fluent in both of them, to the point of being able to
Memory 3 Severe Stigmatism 2
think in either. You speak both flawlessly and without accent.
Section Command 2 Sickly 1
Starship Command 4 Sleeps like the Dead 1 Body Builder: You are a workout junkie in the extreme sense.
Workout Junkie 1 Ugly 1 Not only do you like to press some weight, but you’ve developed
a bit of fetish for pushing your muscles to their extremes. That
The basic rule here is that you can select up to 8 points in each, means taking protein supplements whenever you can get them and
and as one would expect, you have to have as many points in even taking steroids to give you an extra boost.
disadvantages as you have in advantages, so if you want to be a Note: Over the last few decades, steroids have improved in
starship captain, you have to select at least four points of terms of safety and no longer cause sterility, but you might still be
disadvantages to pay it off, as it were. Keep in mind that if an running the risk of internal organ damage depending on the quality
advantage or disadvantage goes away for some reason, you need you can get and the frequency with which you take them (1-3%
to rework your points so they balance. For example, after the non-cumulative risk per year of use depending on the quality,
captain lost his ship (4 points), he had plenty of time to work out double that if you’re taking them w/ a high frequency... if you fail
(1 point) and lose weight (1 point) at Alpha station, and he was this roll you will need organ replacement surgery, usually liver or
also less of a bundle of nerves, no longer bumping into everything kidney, or you will die).
all the time (2 points). Sort of silly, but you see how it works. In Body Builders get double the STR bonuses of workout junkies
this way, players can swap out non-permanent advantages and and the same DRB bonus:
disadvantages that don’t seem to be working out.
+10 STR & +5 to DRB if no gym is present.
Advantages +20 STR & +10 to DRB if you have access to a gym.

Ambidextrous: You are equally skilled with both hands, and can
write, draw, operate a computer, shoot a gun and other simple
tasks with either hand. However, this advantage does not confer
the ability to use both hands independently (see the dualdextrous
advantage).
In combat terms, you can use two weapons against a single
target with no penalty. If you’re attacking two separate targets,
Bodybuilders can also get an additional +10 STR by taking
protein supplements (bringing the max up to +30), however, these
are not always available in space.
Steroids use gives an additional +10 to +20, depending on
frequency of use (bringing the potential max up to +50!).
At these extremes you might also injure yourself whenever
you’re called upon to use your full strength. If you use more than
+30 STR, you suffer a 1% chance of ripping yourself a nice little
hernia or tearing a critical tendon because your muscles are no
longer always the weakest link.
Combat Reflexes: You are naturally in tune with your
surroundings and have a situational awareness, giving you a +20
bonus to combat skills which rely on AGL.
Cute: Aww... there’s just something about you that people find
appealing, in a weird sort of way -- it’s probably something not
quite tangible, though big eyes or a button nose may be factors.
Note that there are different criteria for this. If men find a
particular woman cute, it could be due to a slight build and
energetic personality, while women may find shyness or an
outgoing personality cute traits in males. In short, members of the
opposite sex react to you somewhat better than normal. GM’s
discretion.
Danger Sense: Whenever something truly bad is about to happen,
you tend to get this prickly feeling down the back of your neck as
your hairs stand on end. The GM (on a hidden luck roll) must
warn you of any impending danger, though he need not explain
further. Note that this advantage is a genuine life-saver and should
be treated as such, however, the ability only triggers when the
character is about to step into an ambush, a trap, or an extremely
unfortunate situation. This isn’t useful for avoiding ex-girlfriends
and such (unless she has a gun and a vengeful streak).
Dilating Pupil: Your eyes quickly adapt to changes in lighting,
meaning you can turn off the lights and see almost as clearly, as
long as there is some ambient light. In total darkness, of course,
this is worthless. You can also look directly into a camera flash
with no ill effect.
In game terms, negative modifiers due to darkness are halved or
may be discounted entirely at the GM’s option.
Drop-dead Gorgeous: Not only do members of the opposite sex
react well to you; they often can’t stop staring. You’ve gotten so
used to seeing people’s jaws drop when you enter a room, their
tongues rolling out like big red carpets, that you’re almost
convinced it’s a natural part of breathing (at least for that half of
the population). Needless to say, many of the opposite sex will
often go out of their way to please you, often stirring up
unwarranted jealously, while others will be too intimidated to even
speak to you. Sometimes you just wish you were normal. Nah!
Dualdextrous: Due to intense training or genetic “tweaking”,
your brain is capable of handling two separate tasks at once, and
you can, for example, type with one hand while operating the TV
remote with the other. For this to work, you must be able to see
both objects you manipulate, and this does not allow you to focus
your eyes independently. Only simple tasks can be performed.
Makes the ambidextrous advantage obsolete.
In combat terms, you can use two weapons without penalty
regardless of whether you are attacking one target or two. Here’s a
summary of combat modifiers for having a gun in each hand:
1 target 2 targets
No Advantage one level harder two levels harder
Ambidextrous no penalty one level harder
Dualdextrous no penalty no penalty
Exceptional Sense: One of your senses is more acute than is
normal; choose one. If hearing, you can discern whispers at a
distance or pick out subtle sounds from background noise. If sight,
you can read fine print at arm’s length or spot a gaboon viper
hidden in leaf litter. Smell/taste allows you to identify individual
ingredients in a substance. With touch, well... you do the math.
Any time you need to notice something with the relevant sense,
your PER check is one level easier.
Also note that your sensitivity can backfire: a camera flash
would be painful to exceptional sight, and stereo feedback would
give an individual with exceptional hearing a migraine on the spot.
Handsome/Beautiful: Between cute and gorgeous. You turn
heads in a crowd, and members of the opposite sex react quite well
to you. In fact, you’re probably somewhat used to getting your
way, although it may cause jealous reactions if you’re not careful
and may also bring you more attention than you’d like to deal
with. GM’s discretion.
Linguistically Inclined: Many people have a gift, some with
music, others with a sport. Your gift is language. Not any
particular language, but language in general. Just as a child can
pick up new words and add them to his or her vocabulary, so too
you have the ability to pick up languages more easily than
everyone else. It is as though the very patterns and structures of
linguistics (both earth-based and alien) are hardcoded into your
brain.
In game terms, language is usually rated as Very Hard (V). For
you it is only Moderate (M). That means, essentially, that you can
learn languages with twice the ease as other people and you
probably know a smattering of many.
Sleeps w/ One Eye Open: You sleep light, and can go from a
dreaming state to full awareness in seconds. Anything out of the
ordinary will wake you. The downside is that you may very well
have mild insomnia as a result.
For purposes of being woken, the PER check is two levels
easier.
Mechanically Inclined: While your peers were out playing
stickball, you were taking apart radios, peering into the innards of
computers, and crawling around underneath whatever machinery
was available. You’ve always likes machines, figuring out how
they work and fixing them whenever they don’t work.
Needless to say, you are good with your hands, and have an
innate sense of scale and dimensions. Likewise, you have a can-do
attitude when it comes to dealing with machines (people, of
course, are another matter). Finally, you have a keen sense of what
will work and what won’t, and how to best and most quickly fix
something that’s broken.
In game terms, you get a +20 bonus to all mechanical skills.
Memory: You are one of those people who can recall all sorts of
miscellaneous factoids and remember the little details of life. For
example, you’ve been known to recall recent conversations word-
for-word. Likewise, if that pen on your desk has moved by a few
centimeters, you’re apt to notice. But your most shining
achievement is that whenever a friend wants to know who was
pitching in the 1952 World Series, or what is the average air speed
of a South American swallow, they always turn to you before
consulting a book or an online database. You’re basically known
as the walking, talking library.
In game terms, any attempt to recall specific information is two
difficulty levels easier than usual.
Section Command: You are in charge of a squad of troopers.
Because of your command, they obey you without question.
However, you are also responsible to them, and will avoid sending
them into a fight where there will be heavy losses.
This can also represent command of a fighter
squadron or even a department head position
on a large starship.
Starship Command: You have the unequaled
privilege, and responsibility, of commanding
a full-blown military starship. Since
starships outdo any war vehicle in terms of
complexity, there are special crew in charge of
each station. You, as Captain, are responsible
for giving orders and making decisions,
including the decision to launch a ground
operation (once the troopers are free of
your ship, though, they’re under army
jurisdiction). Your ship is your life,
and you will not abandon her or
expose her to undue risk unless
absolutely necessary.
Note: Starship command carries
considerable power and will most
likely unbalance a campaign, and
so it is recommended that the
entire group approve this
advantage before it is put into
play.
Workout Junkie: You like to stay in shape. Revise that... you are
addicted to staying in shape. While most people talk about it and
think about it and make promises to themselves, for you it is an
integral part of life, like breathing and eating. Granted, if no gym
is present, you’re going to have a harder time, but nothing will
keep you from getting your workout.
+5 to STR and +5 to DRB if no gym is present.
+10 to STR and +10 to DRB if you have access to a gym.
Disadvantages
Artificial Limb: You got severely injured somewhere in your
past. It might have been a traffic accident, or it might have been
during the desecration. In any case, a limb got torn off, and the
doctors had to replace it with a cybernetic version. The end result
is you don’t have the same agility you used to have. In game
terms, your AGL is reduced by a quarter.
This isn’t merely because your new limb doesn’t have the same
abilities as its predecessor. It’s also due to the fact that the doctors
had to screw around a bit with your nervous system in order to get
this hardware properly hooked up. Hence, your brain is still
somewhat weirded out by the whole ordeal.
Note: The GM has the option to ignore this penalty for actions
which have nothing to do with the limb in question, such as a
prone sniper with a mechanical leg. However, most all combat
takes place as much with the feet as the hands, and if you don’t
have your original equipment, you’re at a disadvantage.
Awkward/Clumsy: You have a tendency to trip over your own
feet, knock over priceless Ming vases, and in general cause
accidental trouble wherever you go.
In game terms, at least once per session the GM should have
your character make an AGL check to avoid accidentally
smashing into something or someone. Particularly cruel GMs may
require this check whenever the opportunity for disaster presents
itself.
Body Odor: You stink, man! Maybe you just don’t bathe often
enough, or maybe it’s the garlic with every meal. Whatever the
case, your smell is unpleasant and most people will try to avoid
being near you if they can help it. In general, people react worse
to you as well.
Butt-Ugly: Some people get hit with the ugly stick;
you were beaten senseless by it. This is not merely a
general ugliness. The player must choose one or two
particularly repulsive features (such as missing teeth, massive
burn scars, etc). During the Desecration, a lot of people
wound up with an assortment of injuries, so you’re hardly
alone. Even so, old prejudices die hard, and so most people tend
to react rather poorly to you, and you may, in fact, frighten
children.
Close Dependent: Someone out there needs you.
This could be a spouse/significant other, a child, or
perhaps a sick grandmother -- someone in whose
life you play an important role (and they in
yours). You are responsible for taking care of
them, giving them food and shelter, money, or
just companionship. You will be very careful
about anything that could leave your dependant
without a source of support. Most likely you live
with your dependant (as in the same quarters),
and so they will very likely take an active part in
the campaign. This is good on the one hand, because it gives you
an NPC-ally that you can trust, but on the other hand, you won’t
want to expose this person to danger, so you’ll constantly have to
think up new ways to protect them.
Cowardice in Combat: You can take a punch just as well as the
next person, but there’s something about lethal combat which
makes you freeze up. Perhaps it’s an irrational fear, or perhaps it’s
entirely sane. You don’t know. All you know is that when bullets
are flying past your head, you have a tendency to seek cover and
hide until the threat passes.
In game terms, you must roll vs INT to participate in lethal
combat in any meaningful way. If you fail, you’re frozen in terror.
Even if you succeed, however, you must roll again if injured.
Deaf as a Post: You are clinically deaf. You can hear no sound,
but with time and experience, you may learn to lip-read. So far,
however, you haven’t yet learned this skill. Your hearing loss may
have occurred during the Desecration, as deafening explosions
were rocking the planet, or it may have occurred in space when a
compartment lost air pressure for a few moments. Either way,
you’ve got to carry around a translator unit which converts from
speech to text so that you can read what other people are saying.
Even so, the device makes mistakes (GM’s discretion). Likewise,
you can’t hear the bad guy sneaking up on you, or the cry for help
down the corridor. This is a very serious disadvantage and should
be treated as such.
GM’s note: Lip reading should be treated as a separate language,
and during the learning phases, should be rife with error. Once
sufficient skill points have been spent on it, however, this
disadvantage doesn’t carry as much weight, and hence falls from 3
points to 1 point in value.
Dependent: Like a close dependent, but not as close
(and consequently not as involved). This person is
probably a close friend or a relation who shares the
same ship but not the same cabin (such as a
sibling or parent or child who is grown up). You
definitely have an emotional attachment to this
person, but they could conceivably get on
without you. Nonetheless, you may be called upon
to do favors for them (and they in return may do
favors for you). In total, this is both an plus and
a minus. It gives you an NPC-ally who you
can trust, but at the same time, if any harm
should come to them, you’d be extremely hard pressed not to do
something about it.
Note, due to time dilation, your dependent must be situated on
the same vessel as yourself. If you can leave them behind to get
old while you’re off gallivanting, then they were never really all
that dependent to begin with.
Note to GM’s: Dependents who end up being ignored should be
taken away, and loss of a like number of advantage points should
occur. Basically, this should be treated as a roleplaying bonus, not
an opportunity for easy points.
Flatulent: You seem to have a gastrointestinal problem, and you
fart a lot. Other humans find it annoying after the first few, and
from then on you suffer a minor reaction penalty, except around
children, who always think it's funny. Aliens may react any
number of ways: "My you have a lovely singing voice"; "No, no...
add hbb to ppppt, then carry the ppbbbfth!"
Any time you are around others, roll luck (d6) for every ten
minutes during the first hour following a meal: a 1 means you let
one rip out loud and proud, and a 2 results in an SBD. The GM
may also require the player to make this roll at any point during
the game. Great disadvantage for breaking up those serious
moments.
Halitosis: You have bad breath that just won’t go away. The
reaction penalty is the same for flatulence, but it is always on and
only applies in close quarters.
Head Trauma: You got injured during battle or during the
desecration, and you suffered a major head trauma. Fortunately,
you pulled through, but it was a near-death experience and has left
permanent scars, both inside and out.
Due to brain damage, you lose one quarter of your INT. Also,
you suffer from flashbacks, often waking up in the middle of the
night in a cold sweat. You feel as though a part of you has been
ripped away, and when you dream, death is still calling your
name.
Illiterate: You were born in some backwater area and never
learned to read. That, of course, means that you’re not likely to be
of much use around computers or have a degree in astrophysics.
Consult with the GM as to which skills you may have access to.
Note: If the character does learn to read, a similar number of
advantage points should go away.
Part Deaf: Your hearing is unusually bad. PER checks based on
sound are two levels more difficult. Get a hearing aid.
Obese: You’re significantly overweight, to the point of health
problems, You have an overworked heart and lungs, high
cholesterol, and your joints creek under your own weight when
you move around.
As a result, your DRB is down by half, making it much more
likely for you to get sick, easier for you to get out of breath, etc.
However, on the flipside, it’s also easier for you to stay afloat, and
hence you swim at +30.
Old & Feeble: Back in your day, they did things different!
Well, this ain’t your day. You are at least 70, and have a few
problems: you must sleep more, you are likely to have
dentures or a hearing aid, and you cannot normally
participate in extreme physical activity unless you exercise
every day to keep in shape (via the workout junkie
advantage). The other disadvantage is that you’re probably
going to die soon. Actually, considering the quality of life
on a starship, that might not be such a bad thing after
all. However, health problems are very common,
making what life you have left even less bearable.
Heck, you’re getting crotchety just reading this.
In game terms, your STR and DRB are down by half. On the
flipside, you’ve still got your mind, but not everyone knows that,
so feel free to have some fun.
“Back in my day, we didn’t have no starships. All we had was
these spaceshuttles that kept blowing up. Hell, if it wasn’t an O-
ring, it was something else. Why, I remember the first time I took
a whiz on Mars. Let me tell you about the joys of vacuum. Hey,
where ya’ll going? Dang nabbit, you youngsters don’t know how
to show respect! Heh heh... got rid of those twerps in less than a
minute… I must be improving.”
Overweight: You’re somewhat overweight, not outrageously, but
you’ve got significant flab. As a result, your DRB is down by a
quarter, making it more likely for you to get sick, easier for you to
get out of breath, etc. However, on the flipside, it’s also easier for
you to stay afloat, and hence you swim at +30.
Severe Stigmatism: You have a severe stigmatism which could
not be corrected by either contacts or eye surgery. Hence, you are
required to wear glasses. Without them, all PER checks based on
sight are two levels harder.
Sickly: Whatever god hands out colds and flus must have your
number, because whenever there’s something going around, you
always seem to get it. Fortunately, if you’re in the military, you’ve
been inoculated against most of the serious pathogens, but
anything you haven’t been specifically inoculated against is fair
game.
Note: with the population reduction, colds & flus will tend to be
less common, but they will still occur, and the cramped quarters of
spacecraft make sure that everyone gets exposed.
In game terms, sickly characters check DRB at two levels harder
than usual, almost ensuring that they will come down with the
latest virus, whatever it is.
Sleeps like the Dead: You are a heavy sleeper. A firework could
go off outside your door and you wouldn’t know. Being so
difficult to wake can be inconvenient at times, however, at least
you never have insomnia and you are always fresh and rested
when you wake.
For purposes of being woken, the PER check is two levels
harder.
Ugly: Something about you is vaguely unappealing. It’s not easy
to pin down... people just don’t like the look of you. Maybe it’s
that big nose or those squinty little eyes. Whatever it is, you’re
stuck with it, so rejoice! It’s the inner you that really counts.
Next time I’ll get into skills and task resolution which is where the
system really comes alive. However, keep in mind that none of
this has been playtested, so things may end up changing as we find
out what works and what doesn’t. I’m presently working on a
program which will make the entire character generation process
quick & easy, but it’s not quite done yet. If you have any
questions or comments, feel free to reply in A&E or email me
directly at jimvassila@aol.com.