IJIS Character Ideas

Use this page for discussing character ideas. Also it would be good to try and figure out what kind of ship you want. Take a look at those which are in Seldon's 1 from the rar.

Discussion

To promote cooperation its probably a good idea for everyone to discuss what their characters will do. Secrets are still appropriate, and encouraged, this is just for keeping people from having overlapping roles.

Questions for the Group

These questions should be discussed by everyone. Whatever you choose will be what happens.

What kind of ship will you have?

--Tad: So far my favourite option would be the Denoba Class. It seems pretty versatile, and is small enough to be crewed just by the PCs without the need for NPCs (except maybe as passengers?). The main problem is it's a bit more expensive than the other small ships, and I don't really know what kind of funding we'll have to pick our ship.

What condition is it in?

--Tad: Depending on what we decide to do to support ourselves, some modifications might be in order. A Millenium Falcon meets Serenity from Firefly ship could be cool and a lot of fun, if we go the smuggler/mercenary route. Or we could make it more along the lines of an armed science vessel and do some archaeological exploration. Or a mash-up of both. In general though, I think a ship that's kind of beat up and patched together has character. Using the same argument though, I can also see how it'd be cool to start with a new ship and beat it up ourselves.

How do the characters support themselves? Some examples: commerce, mercenaries, mining, smuggling (if this, whats the cover), transport, something else? The possibilities are endless.

--Tad: As one might guess from my other comments, I tend to lean toward leaving our options open. I figure if we're crossing big tracts of space, we might as well be multi-purpose... do some legal commerce, maybe a bit of smuggling on the sly, carry a few passengers, and all the while be researching where we can do some mining or archaeological digging. This of course really depends on our characters and what they would want and be willing to do, so I won't say too much more at this time. Cheers!

Questions for Characters

Each player should answer the following questions about their character. It does not have to be here, it can be in an email to me, but all of these things should be addressed during character generation.

How are you connected to the other character(s) in the group (this should be strong)?

Where did you learn your skills?

What are your goals?

Why are you part of this crew, and what is your motivation for staying?

Where are you from?

Why are you here (if different from above)?

Gabe: So just adding this in even though it seems only 2 of us are interested! My character concept so far is the researcher type. He spent a lot of years as basically a kind of page at a university. He was great and finding things to professors went to him. As he learned more about the subjects he was finding information on he realized he could be making far more money with actual items of FR tech. He wouldn't be too combat savvy but have a lot of contacts, knowledge skills, and be best off ship. I was thinking of giving him two abilities like "Study study study!" which would be a LS - diminished sleep with charges (regenerates either weekly or monthly) and speed reading.

--->This sounds good. Where would you be from? If you could answer the questions from above about this character that would rule.

I also had another one for if we were going to do the 2 character thing. She is a alien navigator, most likely either aquatic or humanoid (like maybe bald with blue skin). She would be the navigator with psionics. I was thinking telepathy (either machines only, or machines and other races), Electric Shield (force field, maybe with damage shield), and Stunner (EA, no range, stun only, area effect one hex-to represent she only needs to touch the person). While her powers are psychic, they would work along the lines of electricity. Like, all life forms, well humans anyway, have little electric impulses running through their bodies so she has minor control over this. She basically has spent all her life on various ships or stations. Her homeworld was lost in a war over 10,000 years ago. I was even thinking she requires a special suit and seat in the ship for her to survive. She would be primarily a ship only character. (And yes I realize that an aquatic creature with power over electricity is odd and would most likely have to buy her immunity to electric attacks.)

--->This is fine too. You realize, however, that astrogation is done with a slide rule and a T square, or a powerful computer; its --->not a psychic ability. Also, fun fact, water does not conduct electricity, its the impurities in the water that does.

The last character idea I had was a FR tech robot. Well actually he is unknown make. He is very self aware and would be the mechanic. He would have been found in ruins by the other characters and was judged too useful, and annoying, to sell. I was thinking of giving him little mini-bots that can detach from him to aid him in ship/equipment repair. Primary role would be on ship.

--->This might be fun as well. Pick the ones you like best and answer the questions.

--Gdaze 23:16, 19 September 2007 (MST)Sweetness. I need to read over the books, I just haven't had time and don't have winrar at work. Also can't find my thumb drive... Anyhoo, yeah most likely I'd play the first one. And really about water? I had no idea that was the case.

--76.164.21.217 09:46, 20 September 2007 (MST)You can un-rar them at home and email them to yourself...duh. Man, youre no good at this time wasting thing.

Gabe - Dude those files are way too big! Plus I hate reading anything on screen too much. Anyway, most likely he would be from the Terra sector or Merchant sector.

Gabe again - Jason, while I do intend to read all the SO books, most likely this weekend, well at least get through some... Which book is best for showing like the general technology level of space fairing races? Or ones that talk about the highest level? Just like to get those ideas down again, thanks.

--76.164.21.217 12:11, 21 September 2007 (MST)This is something I am working on myself. Each star sector atlas talks about the TL of the people inside of it. Generally, however, I think they leave a lot of this up to us as a group. Here is what I am thinking: Standard civilization is TL 8, TL 9 is considered high tech (like cutting edge consumer technology), while anything 10+ is either super-secret or above the general tech. In general the MekPurr are about 1 TL above for automation and cybernetics.

--Tad: Just finished reading through the various Human Star Sectors. So far, here are the basics of my favourite character idea so far. I'll do a more detailed response to all the questions as well to either email you Jason, or just have it ready for when we all get together. -He's a pilot from Talos III, and embodies the relaxed, easy-going personality typical of Talosians, which often comes across as lazy to others. He tends to assume everything will always work out, optimistic to the point of irresponsibility in times when more caution is called for. Despite this, however, he's a damn fine helmsman, able to pilot almost any craft after just a short time familiarizing himself with the controls. In a dogfight, or during evasive maneuvers, his personality works to his benefit and allows him to keep his calm and get the ship through tough spots. Planetside, he's charismatic, friendly and confident, making him good to have along on negotiations, as long as someone else is there to make sure the financial needs of the ship are met.