Creating my first homeworld took 2 hours; my first character, 2 days. Granted, not 8 hour days or anything, but considering that I'm still not 100% sure I am doing everything right, that's quite a bit of time. Hopefully this will become a faster process by the same order of magnitude as the homeworld creation. If anyone wants to look this over (there's a lot) and let me know if it looks like I'm on the right track here, that would be greatly appreciated (especially if you find something wrong).
What follows are the steps I took to create my character. I am detailing them out here in case anyone cares to glance over them and let me know if I'm on the right track or not. I have been using the errata document as I go, so hopefully I caught all the issues.
Step 1: Create the homeworld
I will use the worlds from my previous post.
Birthworld: Sling C8B6435-8 Fl Ni
Homeworld: Gambit DAB846A-5 Fl Ni S
The homeworld trade codes will confer the skills Hostile Env-1 and Driver-1, plus the character will have World: Sling-0 (family left when character was just a child) and World: Gambit-4 (at age 18 the character will have spent 4 terms – 16 years – living on Gambit).
I missed that there's a check to see if you were born offworld (2 on 2D). Seeing as things fairly benign to the character creation process such as whether the homeworld is a planet or a satelite are in the checklist, maybe this should be added?
I also did not find the step to add homeworld knowledge skills in the character creation section or the checklist. This little nugget of information is in the skills section, but I think it could do with either repeating it in the character creation area, or at least adding it to the checklist.
Step 2: Character basics
Chose race (no random table for this): Vilani
Chose Gender (I decided to roll the dice, 1-3 male, 4-6 female – result [4]): Female
Chose name: Anne Caulder
Roll for...
UPP: 426B72
Genetics: 1126XX
Age: 18
Now that we know Int level we can assign Anne her native language skill: Language (Vilani-B). Again, I did not find this step in the character creation steps, but under the description of the skill language. I feel it should probably be added, at least, to the checklist.
Looking over what I know so far about Anne I figure she grew up in a very disadvantaged part of town (low Soc), was not very active or involved in sports (below average physical traits), but was a bookworm (high Int) and managed to 'beat the odds' by getting an average education (above average for her neighbourhood).
First Term:
Now, what to do with this character? Her stats are pretty below-average except for her Int. I decided to give her a PhD, as that would also bump up her Edu and further the image of someone who truly did 'beat the odds.' (The list of schools is after the list of careers, noble lands section, ageing section, Imperial calendar, and guides for birth-dates. If anything, as this is normally done before career selection, this should be at the beginning....but at the least it should come right after the careers.)
As Anne will be going for a PhD we are going to apply for University, not college. Her Edu is 7, so she just barely meats the requirements. (The University she applys to is The Red Institute with a Reputation Rank=15...good for her! Does that mean anything?) To apply I decide to check Int (as opposed to Edu) as this is Anne's highest stat. Target = 11, [7] is success.
To pass each year I need either 4x Int or Edu (which I assume means 4x Int or 4x Edu, right?). Again, I choose Int making the target number = 44. As it's impossible to not succeed at that roll I don't bother rolling. If it wasn't automatic I would roll once for every year until I failed or finally graduated.
Anne passes all four years and gains 4 levels in Language (her major) and 2 in Linguistics (her minor). She also graduates with honours giving her another level in Language. I found there was a lot of flipping back and forth between page 100, the schooling info, and 71/72, how to use the schooling info page (as well as 143, the skills page – but maybe that's normal? TNE came with a 'cheat sheet' that listed out all the skills on one page for easy reference...I think I will print something like that out). So, because each level of Language can actually be a new language (right?), here's what Anne receives for her bachelor's degree:
Language (Anglic)-A
Language (Gvegh)-9
Language (Zdeti)-8
Language (Trokh)-7
Language ( !kee: )-6
Linguistics-2
Anne also gains an increase in Edu to 8. Her UPP is now 426B82, and she's 4 years older. Her level of knowledge about her homeworld also increases to 5.
Major Life Event: When Anne first started at The Red Institute she met a guy, Kevin Vandenburgh. They dated for 2 years and then got married. Anne changed her name to Anne Vandenburgh. (Note: This isn't anywhere on the “life events” table, it's just my own flavour.)
Second Term (Masters):
With a PhD being Anne's goal she decides to apply for her master's at a different university.
NOTE: page 71 has this little note: “A character may select any Major and Minor (but they may not be the same) and change them each time a new Educational Institution is attended.” I'm not 100% sure I need to take it literally, but I decided to do that. So Anne will need to actually change Universities in order to change her Major/Minor. Is that right?
Anne applies to another university McCaffrey University (Reputation Rank=5, meh) while Kevin goes on to Med School. Anne checks vrs Int, target = 11, [7] = success. Still trying to figure out her direction in life she changes her major/minor to Designer/Robotics.
Her pass/fail checks vrs. Int x4 are automatically successful, as is her honours check, so she gets:
Designer-3
Robotics-1
Edu = 9
+ 2 years
Major life event: Anne gives birth to three children, a daughter and twin sons, during this time. Her family is incredibly supportive and their is also support through her school so she manages to make up the missed class hours fairly easily, but she doesn't get to spend as much time with her children as she would like.
Second Term (PhD):
Anne decides to go back to The Red Institute to finish her education as a PhD from there would be highly prestigious.
Apply to The Red Institute, check vrs Int, target = 11, [4] = success!
Major = Broker, Minor = Author
Pass/Fail check verses 4 x Int as well as honours checks are all automatic.
Broker-3
Author-1
Edu = C
World: Gambit-6 (homeworld)
+ 2 years
Character Summary:
Name: Anne Vanderburgh, PhD
UPP: 426BC2, Age: 26
Skills:
Author-1
Broker-3
Designer-3
Driver-1
Hostile Env-1
Language (Vilani)-B
Language (Anglic)-A
Language (Gvegh)-9
Language (Zdeti)-8
Language (Trokh)-7
Language ( !kee: )-6
Linguistics-2
Robotics-1
World: Gambit-6 (homeworld)
World: Sling-0 (birthworld)
Major Life Event: None. However, Anne's marriage is on the rocks. That, coupled with the stress of the PhD and trying to raise a family (her kids are now 2, 2, and 3) Anne has a bit of a midlife crisis and tries to join the Scouts that are stationed on her homeworld.
What follows are the steps I took to create my character. I am detailing them out here in case anyone cares to glance over them and let me know if I'm on the right track or not. I have been using the errata document as I go, so hopefully I caught all the issues.
Step 1: Create the homeworld
I will use the worlds from my previous post.
Birthworld: Sling C8B6435-8 Fl Ni
Homeworld: Gambit DAB846A-5 Fl Ni S
The homeworld trade codes will confer the skills Hostile Env-1 and Driver-1, plus the character will have World: Sling-0 (family left when character was just a child) and World: Gambit-4 (at age 18 the character will have spent 4 terms – 16 years – living on Gambit).
I missed that there's a check to see if you were born offworld (2 on 2D). Seeing as things fairly benign to the character creation process such as whether the homeworld is a planet or a satelite are in the checklist, maybe this should be added?
I also did not find the step to add homeworld knowledge skills in the character creation section or the checklist. This little nugget of information is in the skills section, but I think it could do with either repeating it in the character creation area, or at least adding it to the checklist.
Step 2: Character basics
Chose race (no random table for this): Vilani
Chose Gender (I decided to roll the dice, 1-3 male, 4-6 female – result [4]): Female
Chose name: Anne Caulder
Roll for...
UPP: 426B72
Genetics: 1126XX
Age: 18
Now that we know Int level we can assign Anne her native language skill: Language (Vilani-B). Again, I did not find this step in the character creation steps, but under the description of the skill language. I feel it should probably be added, at least, to the checklist.
Looking over what I know so far about Anne I figure she grew up in a very disadvantaged part of town (low Soc), was not very active or involved in sports (below average physical traits), but was a bookworm (high Int) and managed to 'beat the odds' by getting an average education (above average for her neighbourhood).
First Term:
Now, what to do with this character? Her stats are pretty below-average except for her Int. I decided to give her a PhD, as that would also bump up her Edu and further the image of someone who truly did 'beat the odds.' (The list of schools is after the list of careers, noble lands section, ageing section, Imperial calendar, and guides for birth-dates. If anything, as this is normally done before career selection, this should be at the beginning....but at the least it should come right after the careers.)
As Anne will be going for a PhD we are going to apply for University, not college. Her Edu is 7, so she just barely meats the requirements. (The University she applys to is The Red Institute with a Reputation Rank=15...good for her! Does that mean anything?) To apply I decide to check Int (as opposed to Edu) as this is Anne's highest stat. Target = 11, [7] is success.
To pass each year I need either 4x Int or Edu (which I assume means 4x Int or 4x Edu, right?). Again, I choose Int making the target number = 44. As it's impossible to not succeed at that roll I don't bother rolling. If it wasn't automatic I would roll once for every year until I failed or finally graduated.
Anne passes all four years and gains 4 levels in Language (her major) and 2 in Linguistics (her minor). She also graduates with honours giving her another level in Language. I found there was a lot of flipping back and forth between page 100, the schooling info, and 71/72, how to use the schooling info page (as well as 143, the skills page – but maybe that's normal? TNE came with a 'cheat sheet' that listed out all the skills on one page for easy reference...I think I will print something like that out). So, because each level of Language can actually be a new language (right?), here's what Anne receives for her bachelor's degree:
Language (Anglic)-A
Language (Gvegh)-9
Language (Zdeti)-8
Language (Trokh)-7
Language ( !kee: )-6
Linguistics-2
Anne also gains an increase in Edu to 8. Her UPP is now 426B82, and she's 4 years older. Her level of knowledge about her homeworld also increases to 5.
Major Life Event: When Anne first started at The Red Institute she met a guy, Kevin Vandenburgh. They dated for 2 years and then got married. Anne changed her name to Anne Vandenburgh. (Note: This isn't anywhere on the “life events” table, it's just my own flavour.)
Second Term (Masters):
With a PhD being Anne's goal she decides to apply for her master's at a different university.
NOTE: page 71 has this little note: “A character may select any Major and Minor (but they may not be the same) and change them each time a new Educational Institution is attended.” I'm not 100% sure I need to take it literally, but I decided to do that. So Anne will need to actually change Universities in order to change her Major/Minor. Is that right?
Anne applies to another university McCaffrey University (Reputation Rank=5, meh) while Kevin goes on to Med School. Anne checks vrs Int, target = 11, [7] = success. Still trying to figure out her direction in life she changes her major/minor to Designer/Robotics.
Her pass/fail checks vrs. Int x4 are automatically successful, as is her honours check, so she gets:
Designer-3
Robotics-1
Edu = 9
+ 2 years
Major life event: Anne gives birth to three children, a daughter and twin sons, during this time. Her family is incredibly supportive and their is also support through her school so she manages to make up the missed class hours fairly easily, but she doesn't get to spend as much time with her children as she would like.
Second Term (PhD):
Anne decides to go back to The Red Institute to finish her education as a PhD from there would be highly prestigious.
Apply to The Red Institute, check vrs Int, target = 11, [4] = success!
Major = Broker, Minor = Author
Pass/Fail check verses 4 x Int as well as honours checks are all automatic.
Broker-3
Author-1
Edu = C
World: Gambit-6 (homeworld)
+ 2 years
Character Summary:
Name: Anne Vanderburgh, PhD
UPP: 426BC2, Age: 26
Skills:
Author-1
Broker-3
Designer-3
Driver-1
Hostile Env-1
Language (Vilani)-B
Language (Anglic)-A
Language (Gvegh)-9
Language (Zdeti)-8
Language (Trokh)-7
Language ( !kee: )-6
Linguistics-2
Robotics-1
World: Gambit-6 (homeworld)
World: Sling-0 (birthworld)
Major Life Event: None. However, Anne's marriage is on the rocks. That, coupled with the stress of the PhD and trying to raise a family (her kids are now 2, 2, and 3) Anne has a bit of a midlife crisis and tries to join the Scouts that are stationed on her homeworld.
T5-skills.pdf
