Character Creation

Character Creation #

Use an index card to keep a record of your character. Follow these steps:

1. Birth month and name #

Roll a random Birth Month below. Examples given are for the imperial calendar. The corresponding personality trait represents general beliefs about people born in that month. Play into it, against it, or ignore it.

Give yourself a name.

Birth Months #

Month (1d12) Star Sign Personality Trait
1 Crane Aloof
2 Bear Stubborn
3 Sword Clever
4 Archon Domineering
5 Deckhand Practical
6 Sage Wise
7 Merchant Shrewd
8 Boar Loyal
9 Desert Mouse Flighty
10 Firebird Confident
11 Fox Private
12 Navigator Ambitious

2.Luck & Physical Characteristics #

Your maximum luck starts at 10.

Roll 2d6 each for your Strength and Agility characteristics to find their starting rank on the table below:

Roll (2d6) Characteristic rank
2-5 0
6-8 1
10-11 2
12 3

3. Career #

You are 18 years old.

Choose a career below, and gain a free listed skill of your choice at rank 1.

Undergo as many Career Terms as you wish. In each term, roll 2d6 and consult the Career Term table, below. Your character can gain skills, injuries, lose luck, or die as indicated. If you don’t die, add 5 years to your character’s age. A character dies if their maximum luck falls to 0 or less.

On any result higher than 3, you will make a skill roll. Roll 1d6 and either gain the corresponding skill from your career path at rank 1, or increase its rank by 1 if you have it already. On a 6, your character moves to a new, randomly determined career path. Roll again on the new path. If you roll a 6 again, ignore it and re-roll. Roll skills from the new career path in subsequent terms.

When you gain the weapon skill and a specific weapon category is given, gain that skill at rank 1. If none is given, roll for a random weapon category.

If you gain the weapon skill again you may increase any weapon skill you already have, or roll a random new one.

You may end your career after any term your character survived. Continue character creation.

Career Term Table #

Roll (2d6) Result
2-3 Death
4-6 Make a skill roll. Suffer an injury: Lose one rank in a physical characteristic. If Strength and Agility are both 0, lose 2 Maximum Luck.
7-9 Make a skill roll, lose 1 Maximum luck.
10+ Make a skill roll.

Careers #

Spacer (1d6) #

  1. Helm
  2. Weapon: Scattergun
  3. Gunnery
  4. Engineer
  5. Computer
  6. Roll 1d6. On a 1-2 become a soldier, on a 3-4 become a merchant, on a 5-6 become an outlaw.

Soldier (1d6) #

  1. Weapon: Carbine
  2. Weapon
  3. Engineer
  4. Medic
  5. Vehicle
  6. Roll 1d6. On a 1-2 become a spacer, on a 3-4 become a merchant, on a 5-6 become an outlaw.

Merchant (1d6) #

  1. Business
  2. Weapon: Pistol
  3. Gunnery
  4. Gambling
  5. Computer
  6. Roll 1d6. On a 1-2 become a spacer, on a 3-4 become a solider, on a 5-6 become an outlaw.

Outlaw (1d6) #

  1. Weapon: Melee
  2. Helm
  3. Vehicle
  4. Forgery
  5. Gambling
  6. Roll 1d6. On a 1-2 become a spacer, on a 3-4 become a solider, on a 5-6 become a merchant.

Random Weapon (1d6) #

  1. Melee
  2. Melee
  3. Pistol
  4. Scattergun
  5. Carbine
  6. Long Rifle

4. Downfall, Details & Personal Item #

Roll a random Downfall, the reason you moved from your previous life into a wandering life of adventure.

Roll a random Personal Item.

Consider the details of your Career. Who was this person before the game? Discuss it with the referee. Give your Career a title and note it along with its rank. A player whose character’s skills come from the Spacer and Merchant careers might decide they were a smuggler. A Soldier character might have been a mercenary, a rebel, or member of a state’s armed forces.

Name your character and give them a strong visual detail.

Downfalls #

1d12 Downfall
1 Betrayal
2 Accident
3 Violence
4 Murder
5 Debt
6 Corruption
7 Illness
8 Misunderstanding
9 Lies
10 Incompetence
11 Love
12 Accusation

Personal Items (D66) #

Roll(d66) Item Roll(d66) Item
11 A silver pocket watch, showing the time on a distant world 41 A pet rodent, small enough to fit in your pocket
12 The signet ring of a fallen noble house 42 A stained cookbook
13 A ceremonial crystal knife 43 A bottle of perfume
14 A belt buckle shaped like the face of a snarling feline 44 A letter in a sealed, tear-stained envelope
15 A large carnivore tooth on a loop of leather 45 Watercolor paints, a brush and a sheaf of paper
16 An eye patch 46 A handmade string instrument
21 Whale-fur cape 51 A drawstring bag of laquered divination chits
22 Hydrocycler suit in need of new filters 52 A box of fine tea
23 An ivory comb 53 A pipe and tobacco
24 A makeup kit 54 A costume jewelry necklace
25 A hip flask 55 A small tin of expensive fish roe
26 A gilded snuffbox 56 Half-full bottle of hot sauce
31 A replica sword 61 A hand-thrown clay coffee cup
32 A datastick containing every season of “Lovers and Singularities” 62 An inch-tall statuette of a saint
33 A salamander-skin vest 63 A loop of plastic prayer beads
34 A portable gaming console 64 A worn copy of Practical Astrology, 12th Edition
35 gardening gloves and pruning shears 65 A new copy of 13 Daily Practices of Effective Leaders
36 A game board 66 The Handbook of Approved Mantras

5. Gear & Credits #

Start with any weapons in which you are skilled. If you have the Medic skill, start with a medical kit. If you have the Engineer skill, start with a portable toolkit. If you have the Gambling skill, start with a deck of playing cards and dice.

Each PC starts with a portable computer called a terminal. A terminal can have nearly any form factor. Touch screen tablets, glasses, watches and decorative jewelry are all common.

Roll a number of d6’s equal do the decade of your age and add them together. Start play with that many credits.

6. Conspire #

Before the game starts, discuss your personal and group goals with the other players, help drive the initial action. Give the referee something to respond to. If you start with a ship and a shared debt, you may want to figure out how to make next month’s payment.

Calendar March 30, 2023