Open thread for discussing team roles, character concepts, etc.

I've provided blank character sheets in the usual space for those of you who've already joined.  These are slight modifications of the one Rae uses for his T2k games.

You'll note that I've kept rads on the sheet.  This is intentional.  Everyone begins with zero rads (unless you really want some free ones at game start), but you may take some during play as you encounter alien space junk.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:37, Sat 01 Nov 2014.

Also, as I noted to Spartan in PM, I'm not wedded to the fixed four-year terms for character creation.  If you want to take a career path that the existing life path mechanics don't adequately represent, I'm perfectly willing to negotiate.

Guys, go ahead and start kicking character concepts around in this thread, if you don't mind.  This may help deconflict skill sets.

Also, don't feel like the team has to have all bases covered by PCs.  I can easily add a couple of round-out NPCs for any critical skills that you guys don't select.

Right now I'm looking at a comms/electronics guy with a smattering of combat skills.  Details soon.

I have a idea in my head for a linguist build using the Government Agent career path  - possibly DGSE - so also with some combat skills and possibly some sneaking around skills. Nothing fleshed out or set in stone yet though (I won't get near my rule books until tomorrow)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sat 01 Nov 2014.

I'm probably going with a female, Polish, GROM officer.  I had been thinking Electronics/Computer focus, but I can look at other options if you've got your eye on that Keys.

Great, a hot Pole. How is this not to be a sexspionage game, again?

I'm kind of struggling to come up with a realistic sciency-combat character setup. I'm also don't have the strongest foundation in the hard sciences (although I did score a 6 on the Anticipated IB bio test in high school) and I'm not sure how helpful a soft science will be in this game.

Here are a couple of ideas. Which one is the least unrealistic?

1. A guy who studied physics/astrophysics at the Naval Academy (is that even a major there?) and then went on to qualify for the SEALs.

2. Same as #1 but majored in some sort of advanced IT.

3. A guy who worked forensics for the FBI, applied for the HRT on a dare, and got in.

4. Same as #3 but a behavioral/forensic psychologist instead of forensics.

5. A combat controller who dug aircraft so much he went back and got his pilot certs then got recruited by the CIA to run black ops aviation.

6. Same as #5 but starting as pararescue.

Whoever it ends up being, he will have had a first hand UFO experience at some point during his life.

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I'm looking at a guy that starts TACP, transitions to the Joint Communication Unit (I'll build a draft career guide for it), steps out for an undergrad degree in  electrical engineering, then returns to the JCU.  One of his interests is theories of how to build an internet in space, how time lag would work for comms, etc...

To be clear, every PC does not need to be sciency (and as a semi-reformed English major, I won't be throwing an overdose of hard science into the narration).  With the task force's intelligence mission and the need to operate covertly, soft skills and stealth/B&E capability are going to be critical too.



Completely valid, and physics is a major at USNA (http://www.usna.edu/Academics/Majors-and-Courses/).  Note that, although astro is not a major, they probably have a few astro courses - the Navy has been in the astronomy business a lot longer than the Air Force (or even the Army Air Corps) because it's fundamental to navigation at sea.



These would certainly cover some of the investigative/soft skills.



If the team has a PC pilot, those points won't be wasted.  If no PC is an aviator, that won't be an impediment.  This is one place where the narrative will adapt quite readily to the team's capabilities.



Medical skills are never wasted in a game like this.

Thanks for narrowing it down for me. ;)

That Ancient Aliens guy would be hilarious if so many people didn't actually buy wholesale into the cockamamie bullshit he peddles. I guess I should give the guy some credit, though. Despite having only a very loose grasp of basic science, history, anthropology, and archaeology, he's managed to parley his lack of education into a career, C-list celebrity status, and internet memehood.

Good thing you don't need any degrees in order to become a professional pseudoscientist.

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This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Sun 02 Nov 2014.

Sounds like a lot of levels in Electronics.  Are you planning to on taking Computer in conjunction?