Character generation for MechWarrior, Transformers, or Star Trek (part 2)

As a rule of thumb, characters should be as likely to lose their Individual Resource ('Mech, informant network, etc) as they are to lose their own arm, and as likely to have it replaced as they are to have their arm replaced.

When a resource is lost, roll to see how long it will take to replace (or if it will be replaced at all). Then reduce the resource score by 1 and, if necessary, reroll the specific item, rank, etc.

Items or resources gained via shared skills (such as Driver or Small Arms) indicate shared resources (such as a shared truck or common armory) which can be lost and replaced more easily.

The following skills, when allocated as an Individual Field, have a particular effect on resources:

Streetwise: ability to navigate the bottom of a social pyramid (common merchants and laborers, low-level military personnel, common criminals, whatever). The Individual Streetwise Field indicates cooperative relationships with spies or information brokers. The breadth & usefulness of this network is proportionate to Resources; how quickly the character can connect with a local network depends on skill. Expands rarity of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Bureaucracy: ability to take advantage of local laws and regulations, and efficacy when requisitioning supplies. The Individual Bureaucracy Field indicates a trusted place in the local bureaucracy or on-planet garrison. Resource points indicate how much intelligence and non-hazardous assistance (licenses and facility access vs. restricted information and rescue from legal or administrative difficulties) the character can get without risk; the speed and cost (in bribes or favors) of the assistance depends on skill. Expands legality of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Protocol: ability to navigate the top of a social pyramid, and to negotiate contracts. The Individual Protocol Field indicates a place in the interplanetary House hierarchy. Ability to improve the party's status or future assignments is proportional to Resources. Improves selectivity of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Leadership: ability to command NPCs, keep NPCs loyal, and expand the amount of situational bonuses party members can give each other. The Individual Leadership Field indicates higher rank, or a more prestigious lateral assignment, with authority proportional to Resources.

Administration: ability to keep an operation running smoothly. The Individual Administration Field indicates a land grant, business or other interest which generates surplus revenue in proportion to Resources. Elevates this individual's Field items and shared items into a pricier tier.

BattleMech [or Tank/Starfighter/Spaceship/Etc] Operations: ability to pilot the vehicle and operate its sensors, weapons and other systems. (Note that the "driver" common skill applies to ubiquitous everyman transportation, though [Vehicle Type] Operations may be a common skill as well in some settings.) Resource points indicates how much regular support the character's vehicle receives from a larger military. This may be a little high or low for the vehicle actually assigned.



Transform [Vehicle]: Transformers gain their "resource" bonus only when transformed. The bonus applies not only to Individual Field tasks, but also to any tasks which are dependent on (or characteristic of) their vehicle type.

Transform [Gestalt]: All characters on the sheet combine into a single larger robot, which receives the "gestalt" bonus to strength-based tasks and to firepower.

[The way that these Individual Fields affect the character's supply situation is inspired by the way that a user called Monbvol uses the Vehicle Trait in the 3rd edition MechWarrior RPG.]

Character generation for MechWarrior, Transformers, or Star Trek (part 1)

Multiple characters per player. The player has 10 points to divide between the Individual Fields of his characters; another 10 points to divide between the Shared Skills of his characters; another 10 for Background; another 10 for Resources. The points each character spreads across Individual Fields, Shared Skills, Background and Resources must combine to the same total as each other character. If four characters, then each character must total 10 points; if five characters, then each must total 8 points; if six characters, then four must total 7 points and the others must total 6 points.


Using "Falco" as an example:

Individual Fields describe a broad area of expertise. Central tasks (e.g., Gunnery, Piloting, Sensor Operation) are made as trained rolls with full skill bonus. Fringe tasks normally associated with other skills (paperwork, repairs) are made as trained rolls but without any skill bonus. Field tasks which somehow relate to the character's Shared Skill (e.g., firing a 'Mech weapon carried like a giant pistol) receive the Shared Skill bonus as an additional bonus.

Shared Skills are basic training common to every character on the sheet (e.g., all four characters "Drive" as a 2-point trained roll). They also indicate the strongest attributes of each individual character. Any untrained roll which relies on the same attributes as one of that individual's Shared Skills receives the Shared Skill's points as a bonus (e.g., Small Arms requires steady hands and good eyes, so "Falco" gets a 2-point bonus when catching a thrown object, which also relies on steady hands and good eyes).

Background skills represent the characters' upbringing, affiliations, hobbies, or other specialized fields of knowledge. Social class or geography/climate indicate familiarity with associated culture and survival skills; affiliation skills represent knowledge of culture, language, and specific social hierarchy. Ridiculous future sports, future pop media genres, and specialized careers (gastroenterology, archaeology) are background too.

Resources indicate the quality of equipment all characters receive for any Shared Skill any character has, and the quality of equipment individual characters receive for their own Individual Fields. (E.g., all four characters receive a 1 point medkit and 1 point survival kit; "Falco" alone receives a 4 point 'Mech.)

2 points of skill is equivalent to "Green" MechWarrior skill.
4 points of skill is equivalent to "Regular" MechWarrior skill.
6 points of skill is equivalent to "Veteran" MechWarrior skill.
8 points of skill is equivalent to "Elite" MechWarrior skill.

[Edit: "Advanced Field" and "Basic Skills" renamed to "Individual Fields" and "Shared Skills," respectively.]

What Do I Play?

Two irregular campaigns, both on break for the holidays. Not sure if/when they'll resume.

One is a New World of Darkness mish-mash with the same 5-7 players meeting biweekly. We blunder into lots of little evil plots which we always (mistakenly) dismiss as unrelated and unimportant. This lead naturally to my Frankenstein and friend's Wolfman getting themselves killed just before Thanksgiving.

Necromancers are behind everything in that game so I need to optimize my next character for hunting necromancers. I know little of Mage: The Ascension Awakening and would welcome suggestions.

The other is fantasy adventures in a West End Games D6-derivative. (I designed my character for big parties and he feels flat with small ones; I didn't expect him to survive so long. I know what kind of character I want next, though, so I think I'll just start tacking those skills and persona onto him.) This group happens anytime any 4-9 of about 15 people are in town. We play weekly when we're lucky, quarterly when we're not, and whoever has a quest idea gets to run that day's game.

I'm not active on any RPG forums or social media sites, so instead of actually discussing RPG design, for the last few years I've been finding good blogs to read through from beginning to end. Anything interesting gets either paraphrased into a .txt file or bookmarked, depending on its length and complexity:

Jeff's Gameblog had ~1.98 irreducible posts per month
RPGPundit had ~1.73 irreducible posts per month
LotFP had ~1.23 irreducible posts per month
Zak S has ~8.71 irreducible posts per month (I'm only up to May 2010)

Those four happen to focus on old D&D, which I haven't played. I have tried D&D3.X; it's a bit too fiddly for me, and I tend to forget modifiers. BRP Cthulhu I've played even less but like much more (I'm very curious to see how Raiders of R'lyeh turns out).

What I'd really like is to run or play in a MechWarrior campaign. Problem is there's no good way to step the level of detail up or down during combat. So instead I might try running a game of TRANSFORMERS CTHULHU. I originally envisioned the players as humans and the robots as Lovecraftian horrors, but prospective players all want to play as the robots. I can work with that. It puts all the action on the same scale as MechWarrior while being more flexible.