C is for Character Background Generator

C is for Character Background Generator!

I have always tended to enjoy the more random nature of some RPGs that generated a character completely randomly. To me it was the most exciting way to generate a character. No archetypes, no point pools, no character theme. This was especially true in classics like Villains &Vigilantes, but also in Traveller (a real revelation) and in the new Warhammer 40k RPG as well. So to go along with my posts on cobbling ideas together for a sic fi campaign, I thought I would write a completely random character background generator to put some umpff in each characters story. It doesn't take the burden off the player and the GM from working together on the players background, but it does fill in some high level background of where the character came from, and its a jumping off point for the player to fill in some of the grey areas of the distant past of a character. And it will help the younger players grasp on to the fact that there is a background to every character that lead them to the point of their first adventures.

Birthplace (roll d100)

01-75 Planetary

76-98 Space

99-100 Other

Planetary

World Type (d100 roll)

01-60 Terran(earth like)

61-65 Aquan (water planet, less than 2% land)

66-70 Semi Arid (less than 50% surface water)

71-75 Arid ( less than 25% surface water)

76-81 Frozen (water at surface is frozen)

82-85 Tropical/Jungle (high water,humidity, temp, and fertility, lots of jungle/forest vegetation)

86-90 Islands/archipelagos (>75% water, no continental sized land masses, many islands)

90-91 Techno/Archology (extreme population has covered over 50% of land surface in heavily built up cities/archologies, nature is an oddity)

92-96 Moon or Atmosphereless (only fully enclosed habitation is possible)

97-100 Heavy Gravity (mineral rich, higher temperature, higher water content in atmosphere)

Civilization Level/Type( d100 roll)

01-05 Nomadic hunter/gatherer (pre history, pre permanent dwellings, pre metal)

06-10 Tribal (community groups, gathered for mutual reasons, riding animals, rudimentary          farming, both seasonal and permanent dwellings)

11-20 Ancient/Medieval (villages, towns, cities, metal working, stone etc buildings, armies, government, religion)

21-35 Low Tech (industrialized, dense population centers, transportation systems, high quality   agriculture, high output resource gathering)

36-50 Mid Tech (tech level for basic computers, micro technology, high end ballistic weapons, instant cellular communications, medical advancement)

51-70 High Tech (tech level for solar travel, instant planetary communications, fire and forget weapons, robotics, nano technology, biotechnology, computer environment emersion, energy weapons, artificial intelligence)

71-100 Stellar Tech (tech level for interstellar travel and colonization)

Region Type (roll 1d100)

01-40 Temperate

41-50 Tropical

51-60 Coastal

61-65 Mountains

66-70 Desert

71-80 Grasslands

81-85 Forest

86-95 Jungle

96-100 Snow/Ice

Community Type (roll 1d100)

01-40 Traditional Mixed Community

41-50 Farming Community

51-60 Mining Community

61-65 Technology Center

66-70 Manufacturing Center

71-75 Higher Education Center

76-85 Governmental Center

86-90 Transportation Center

91-100 Military Center

Community Size(roll d100)

01-20 Nomad/Solitary

21-30 Village

31-50 Town

51-80 City

81-100Archology

Governmental system (roll 1d100)

01-35 Democratic (citizens have rights and vote for their leadership and laws)

36-50 Oligarchy (religious institution(s) are the outright rulers and law makers)

51-60 Republic (elected senate representatives make law and rule for their people)

61-70 Dictatorship (supreme control rests in hands of singular ruler, board, etc)

71-80 Feudal (Lords, barons, princes, family lineage rules, most are not a part of the ruling class)

81-90 Collective (everybody equal, everyone works for state, state owns everything for people)

91-100 Corporate (Corporations rule, employer is the government, company policy is law)

Space

Location Type (roll 1d100 for birth location, roll 2^nd 1d100 for where you were raised)

01-50 Spaceship

51-60 Space Station

61-75 Asteroid Farming Base

76-90 Manufacturing Base

91-100 Military Outpost

Spaceship Type (roll 1d100) (roll 2^nd and 3rd 1d100 for mother and father position on ship)

01-05 Luxury Liner (cruise ship for vacations or travelling in luxury, could be crew (01-75) or passenger (76-100))

06-10 Slave Ship (slave haulers to sell people to far off worlds, crew (01-10) or slave (11-100))

11-15 Penal Ship (prison ships idling around galaxy, no destination, crew(01-10) administration (11-20) or prisoners (21-100))

16-35 Research/Explorer (science and exploration ships, highly educated,well rounded crew, crew (01-25), admin(26-35) scientists(36-85), marines/security/away teams(86-100)

36-45 Military Ship (Frigate(01-10), Destroyer(11-20), Cruiser (21-30), Dreadnaught (31-35), Battleship (36-40), Carrier (41-50), Flagship (51-55), Support Ship (56-100))

45-55 Freighter (Bulk Freighter (01-25), Hospital Ship(26-35), Trader (36-75), Passenger Hauler(76-100))

56-75 Colony Ship (crew (01-10), admin(11-20) scientists(21-35), marines/security/away teams(36-50), engineers and constructors (51-75), other colonists(76-100)

76-92 Corporate Ship (crew (1-10), admin (11-30), security personnel (31-60), specialized personnel (61-100))

93-97 Refugee Fleet (crew (1-10), specialists (11-15), refugees (16-100))

98-100 Pirate/Raider Ship (crew (1-35), raiders/assault teams (36-60), specialists (61-80), labor crews (81-100))

Space Station (roll 1d100) (roll 2^nd 1d100 for type, if needed)

01-35 Trading Hub (crossroads for travel, trading, etc.)

36-60 Research Station (Private stations paid for by national (01-35), corporate (36-75), or military interests (76-100))

61-75 Customs/Diplomatic Station (control points for legal immigration, goods traffic, diplomatic relations, etc.)

76-80 Military Station (forward operations station (01-10), system station (11-35), major operations station (36-60), support station (61-97), top secret station(98-100))

81-90 Mining Station (processing station (01-35), mining operations station (36-60), transportation/hauling hub (61-75), material storage station (76-90), entertainment station (91-100)

91-100 Agricultural Station

Asteroid Farming Base (roll 1d100)(see previous post A is for Asteroid Farm)

01-30 Family Farm

31-75 Corporate Farm

75-90 National Farm

91-100 Bandit Lord/Pirate Farm

Manufacturing Base (roll 1d100)

01-25 Processing Base

26-40 Shipyard

41-60 Storage/Hauling/Transportation Hub

61-70 Arms Manufacturing Hub

71-80 High Tech Manufacturing Hub

81-95 Corporate R&D base

96-100 Secret R&D base

Military Outpost (roll 1d100)

01-20 Fueling/Armament Base

21-40 Training Base

41-45 Repair Depot

46-60 Minor Outpost

61-75 Major Outpost

76-95 HQ Base

96-100 Specialty Service Branch Base

Other

01-25 Unknown – you just don’t know anything

26-30 Alien and Human mixed race

31-35 Found floating in a capsule in space

36-40 Found on an abandoned/destroyed ship

41-45 Found on an abandoned /destroyed outpost

46-50 Raised feral with animals

51-55 You have no knowledge of your birth except for a series of strange tattoos

56-60 Vat grown by a National Power

61-65 Lab created by a Corporate Power

66-70 You may be a synthetic organism

71-75 You have amnesia and a sack full of random objects for clues of your past

76-80 You are the only surviving member of your race

81-85 You are the surviving member of a failed colonization

86-90 Pick any Planetary Background

91-95 Pick any Space Background

96-100 Pick Any Background

Please excuse the formating

B is for BAR!

B is for Bar!


Everyone needs to get some R&R when getting done with that difficult run/mission/assignment/orders and needs to blow off some steam. Or a place to blow that card full of credits you just got. Or needs to get some intel on that local hightech gunner. Just head to your local bar. So here's a chart to help the DM let you know what kind of joint is available outside of that scrap yard you just sold that boosted trawler to.


What Kind of Joint Is It? (D100 roll)

01-17 Dive

18-25 Local Joint

26-30 Dance Club

31-45 Ethnic Bar

46-50 Racial Bar

51-60 Street Joint

61-65 Supper Club

66-68 Sex Club

69-72 Holoclub

73-82 Cantina

83-92. Nightclub

92-95. Luxury Club

96-97 Gangster/Organized Crime Bar

98-99 Fight Club/Gladiator Club/Animal Fights

100 Mega Club

Dive – A Dive is a low rent, lower class, dangerous place. Usually found in the back alleys, under basements, lower levels and in the seedier parts of town. Most dives are under 100sf big (avg 15'x 50'), a single owner/bartender, no waitresses, a long bar the whole length of the building with 3-4 small tables, and rudimentary menu of light (crappy) food and snacks. Dives are intimate and are good places to meet contacts, plan jobs, and gather local info. Dives also tend to be filled with dangerous drunks, drug addicts, and end of the roaders. Almost anything is available here for a price. But the quality and reliability leaves a little to be desired.


Local Joint – Local Joints are typical bars catering to the neighborhood where it is. Filled with patrons on most nights from the neighborhood, local joints are good places to gather info on local goings on and people. Ranging in size from about 600 sf to 3000sf, local joints usually have ample room to sit, booths, a long bar, a bartender, and a couple of overworked waitresses. They also serve local drink favorites and food.

Dance Club (sorry gang its late. I will finish tomorrow)
Ethnic Bar

Racial Bar

Street Joint

Supper Club

Sex Club

Holoclub

Cantina

Nightclub

Luxury Club

Gangster/Organized Crime Bar

Fight Club

Mega Club

A is For Asteroid Farmers!

A is for Asteroid Farmers

Asteroid Farmers live a secluded existence, farming the rocks, minerals and precious metals out of asteroids and dead comets across the galaxy. Sometimes families will have been asteroid farming for centuries, others are corporate farmers, working the asteroid fields for their employers, and trying to eek out whatever else they can from their life in the far reaches of the solar systems.

Asteroids – Asteroid farming became important when planetary resources of minerals and precious metals became depleted and no terrestrial sources could be easily obtained.

During the formation and subsequent cooling of a planet, the internal gravitational would pull heavy and precious metals into the interior of the planet, thus locking those resources deep into the planet. As the crust solidified, and when and if the planet was subjected to bombardment from planetoids, meteors, asteroids and comets, the mineral and precious metal components of those bodies would embed their contents in the crust of the planet. These resources were the typically available minerals and metals that could be easily extracted for use. Once those resources were used up, the cost of burrowing deep into a planet to extract resources would not be cost effective. Alternatives were sought. It was quickly realized that the resources locked into asteroid bodies could be many times over the available resources of entire planets. The challenge was how to get the material from the field to use.

Enter the

Inter-System Drive

. The Inter-System Drive allowed the rapid transit, with  either freighters filled with raw or refined material, or in some cases, embedded directly into an asteroid, of asteroid material to orbital or terrestrial manufacturing facilities, storage yards or processing plants within an asteroid rich system. Minerals mined include gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium and ruthenium.

Asteroid mining was turned into a race when Ozminium was found during a routine extraction operation. Ozminium, is the key element to FTL travel, and is the most precious of all elements in the known galaxy. A family operation that finds 10 kg of Ozminium will be wealthy beyond even their wildest dreams.

Operations – Asteroid mining operations are either Family or Individual Farming operations, Corporate Operations, or National operations.

Family or Individual Operations are typically stationed out in the asteroid fields themselves, with home bases on repurposed freighters, cruisers, mothballed military, or luxury liner ships, or even on purpose built platforms to house the crew, administration, workshops, storage, materials, and fueling operations. Some are also based on mined out husks of asteroids. These home bases bristle with domes, spires, defense turrets and buildings. Virtual fortresses to guard the buried treasure that is mined out of the fields.

Most family operations are small ventures, eeking out a living on the frontier, with all members of the family pitching in on all aspects of the operation. Maintenance, equipment failures, protection of resources, shipping, and survival are real challenges to surviving as a family operation. Some family operations have grown quite large and prosperous through cooperative agreements with other small operations. Some large family operations have turned into the most successful Corporate Operations. Verskool  Enterprises is a good example of a successful family operation that went corporate.

Some Individual operations have become famous or infamous for their more piratical nature, and some fields have become ripe for hasty set ups of bandit kingdoms and pirate lords in abandoned corporate asteroid operations bases.

Corporate Operations are governed by one thing – profit. Corporate farmers move in, extract, process, haul, and move on. Most operations are based out of purpose built bases and ships, especially after the lesson learned in the so called ‘Blackbeard Skirmishes’. Most corporate operations are run by a board of directors on-site who direct the day to day operations of the venture. Additionally, there is an overall Manager of Operations who is the corporate authority in all issues, and who has the final say as they see fit on operational issues. The Sendai Conglomerate, CGF Exploration, and OXXON are all examples of corporate operations that may be encountered.

National Operations may also be encountered in the fields. National operations tend to be more like forced labor or penal operations. National operations are notoriously brutal, under supplied, and one step from rebellion at any time. And in fact on several occasions, full scale rebellion has occurred and led to the loss of thousands of people and billions of credits in loss of equipment and material. Most National operations have ceased, unable to successfully compete with the family or corporate operations.

Most farmers work in isolation when in the fields. They will work from a type of universal/mining/extracting/blasting/sampling vehicle fitted with plasma cutting/laser cutting tools, drills, graspers, and explosives. The operators will, once they have created enough loose material will call in remote robotic diggers and haulers. Once a fissure has been opened up, remote controlled extractors are set up on the surface of the asteroid to begin the extraction in earnest. These extractors burrow deep worm-like holes in throughout the asteroid, testing as they go, as they deplete the asteroid of its precious cargo. Once completed, a new asteroid is targeted, and the process starts again.

Some highly valuable (based on testing) or large asteroids are fitted with their own Inter-System Drive, cockpit and quarters, and are flown to a processing station or orbiting manufatcturing plant somewhere else in the system. the drives, cockpit and quarters assemblies are then removed, shipped and refitted to another asteroid in the system.

Daily Life – Daily life on the fields can be difficult. Long hours are spent every cycle mining, processing, loading, hauling and storing materials. Most work cycles are 12 hours long. And a typical week of cycles is 10 days long before a 2 cycle break. Most workers are trained on multiple operations so they may be rotated to reduce the fatigue and dementia associated with long farming operations.

Off time during a cycle is spent sleeping, exercising, eating and whatever else can be found to do. Some operations are known for their offwork entertainment, and in fact, some farming operations are followed by a train of pleasure ships, gambling and entertainment ships and the like to meet the needs of the farmers. Drugs, illegal implants, and other illicit things are rampant through some seedier operations, as the Manager of Operations knows a happy farmer is a busy farmer.

Family operations tend to be more sedate, as they focus on survival and how they will keep their equipment operating to hit the next score.

Challenges – Challenges for the different operations vary. Family operations are challenged with struggles in keeping operating, delivering material and finding someone to buy their material, and with defense of their bases and their claims. Many a skirmish or full out war has erupted between family, corporate, or national operations based on claim rights, claim jumping and assassination for the rights to farm individual asteroids or whole fields. Many family operations wind up on the short end of the stick in these skirmishes, because of their smaller size and limited resources. Mercenaries, protection fleets, even navies have interjected in some of these occurances to defend the rights (just or not) of their family, employers or nation.

Equipment failure, fatigue, supplies, health, and psychology, are but a few of the significant challenges that face every farming operation. Equipment failure, metal fatigue, electronic or propulsion issues all can bring an operation to its knees. The most important facility in any operation, next to the bar, is the maintenance shed and workshops. Without these mechanics and engineers constantly ensuring that the equipment is running, the operation will make no money.

Worker fatigue, health and psychological issues run rampant through a mining operation. It’s a dirty, grimy, hard life for anyone. Most family operations deal with this issue better than any other. Their life is in the fields, so they aren’t concerned with returning home or to a space port to spend their R&R time. Corporate operations rely heavily on providing entertainment to their farmers during their down time, to curb the long term effects of isolation, fatigue, and deteriorating health. Most corporate farmers only farm for a few years, before they give it up for an easier lifestyle.  

Some Real Facts:

(At 1997 prices, a relatively small metallic asteroid with a diameter of 1 mile (1.6 km) contains more than $20 trillion US dollars worth of industrial and precious metals.[1] …gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium and ruthenium… In 2004, the world production of iron ore exceeded a billion metric tons.[4] In comparison, a comparatively small M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 1 km could contain more than two billion metric tons of iron-nickel ore,[5] or two to three times the annual production for 2004.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)

April A to Z

Welcome to the A to Z Blog a day first day for April, 2011. I am going to focus my efforts on Roll 2 Hit on creating background, places and random tables for an upcoming Sci Fi campaign I want to start with our group. Our group consists of me, and my best friend (42 and 41) our kids (12,11,10,9) and some of the guys from our normal wargamming group (young and grognard alike). We like sandboxes, and most of our games are that way. Wind them and let them go! No railroading here. So what better sandbox than the stars?

I’ll post the first entry up next….

A is for.....?

Wow its been a long time.

Way too long.

I have been doing things. Playing RPG's , Wargamming, painting, living and working. Life is a busy thing. Embrace it.

So I have decided that I will participate in the A to Z Blog a Day challenge for April, on both this blog and my wargamming blog at http://leadaddict.blogspot.com/.

Should be fun. Blog a day starting April 1st with A, each day is a different letter. No posts on sunday. At the end you will have 26 posts of some substance.

So I intend to focus this blog on woring through a new Sci Fi campaign, and a Mutant Future campaign. I am going to limit myself to those two subjects. Enjoy.

StarLord

StarLord-that's what I am going to call it. I have decided to port D&D B/X, Labyrinth Lord, and Advanced Edition Companion, and do a Sci Fi game with it.

I have written the first 5 pages on ability generation, I have character classes, and am working on those next. We shall see how that goes next.

X-Plorers

So I was trolling around at lunch yesterday and got more curious about the X-Plorers game that Eli at I See Lead People http://leadpeople.blogspot.com/ has been making characters.

So who knew it had gotten such good reviews from everyone. Could this be what I was looking for? A SciFi game that is based on ODD or Red Box?

I read the majority of the rules and I would say it seems a good game. The Yahoo group has a bunch of members and a good group of downloads. The rules have been turned over to Brave Halfling Publishing to make a revised edition, so I have big hopes.

Does it do what I want? I don't know yet. It is definately rules lite. which is good for OSR. Some good stuff here, simplicity, skills, character classes, weapon options, space combat. Overall a good set.



But it is missing a few things that would have been nice, like ground vehicles, and a few more weapons and monsters. I did have a few issues. But they are preference really. It goes back to the whole skill system issues with games. I hate the micromanaging of skills in D&D3+. Classes should come with a set of skills that they have regardless. And attribute tests should do the rest. thats why Basic D&D does it right in regards to the thief skills. And thats how it is incorporated here. Character classes have a set of skills the give them a skill roll chance on a d20 to succeed. Scientists for example have medical, computers, psychosocial, and one other I can't remember. The target number gets easier as you level. GReat, just how I like it. Except that every scientist has the same skills at the same level. Every 3rd level scientist is as good at medical as every other. It takes some of the specialization out. So in Star Trek parlence, even though Spock and Bones are both in the Science category, they have very different skills. And that cant be represented here. I don't want a Trek game, but I would like to model a planetary geologist/scientist character who can't do squat about a shotgun blast to the gut. Easy enough to fix, and the author encourages tweaking as a part of the game.

Overall I like it. Is it my holy grail for Sci Fi Space Opera. Probably not, but neither is Star Frontiers or Traveller. Please don't make me write my own.

I would like to see a direct port of B/X or Labrynth Lord (and maybe Advacnced Companion) to a sci fi game. That may be what I do.

Here's the cover of the printout that I made for the free rules. In order to get the free rules, join the X-Plorers Yahoo group.