This topic exists to support experimentation related to the Battlestar Galactica RPG published by Margaret Weis Productions.

Character creation, streamlining the game for online play, and other technical aspects of the game system itself are fair topics for discussion.  If an experiment or line of inquiry looks as if it will take over this topic, a new topic will be created for it.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 01:06, Sun 25 Aug 2019.

An Overview of Standard (Non-Random) Character Creation for This System

1.)  Set Starting Level:  GM chooses power level for starting characters.

     1.1)  Recruits:           42 Attribute Points
                               62 Skill Points
                                0 Trait Points

     1.2)  Veterans:           48 Attribute Points
                               68 Skill Points
                                4 Trait Points

     1.3)  Seasoned Veterans:  54 Attribute Points
                               74 Skill Points
                                8 Trait Points

2.)  Concept:  "highlights and general personality".  Includes setting roles (pilot, grunt, politician, mechanic, etc.) and homeworld.

3.)  Buy Attributes:  Agility, Strength, Vitality, Alertness, Intelligence, Willpower.
Assign a die type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d12+d2, d12+d4) to each, paying
Attribute Points equal to the sides of the die type(s) selected for each.

4.)  Buy Traits:  Spend any Trait Points to acquire Assets;
gain more Trait Points by acquiring Complications.

NOTE:  Each character must take at least one Complication and one Asset.
Max Trait Points from Complications = 30.

Similar to how Attribute Points are spent, Trait Points buy
Trait dice at one point per side of the dice.

5.)  Buy Skills:  As before, Skill Points buy Skill Dice,
with the die type (number of sides) equaling the points spent.

Skills can start with a die type of d0 (dee-zero).

General Skills max at d6

Specialties are assigned within the context of a General Skill,
and start at d8, with no upper limit

(Starting characters cannot have more than d12 in any Specialty.)

Specialties "start over" at d8, costing 2 Skill Points per level.

Table:  Skill Costs:


6.)  Calculate Derived Attributes:

     Life Points = Vitality + Willpower + any Trait effects
     Initiative Dice = Agility Dice + Alertness Dice + any Trait effects

7.)  Finishing Touches:  gear, personal details, etc.

If we need to cover Random Attribute Generation, I'll do a backgrounder on it later.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:54, Sun 25 Aug 2019.

What I like about this system it keep the basic elements but add new flavor. The traits and "Complications" is a fun idea to me as it gives more "usefulness" to get more points.

The cost with AP (Advancement Point) while high with:

- 1 Attribute point cost 8
- 1 Trait point cost 7
- 1 Skill point cost 3

makes it reasonable, and solve the problem, that some characters are experts at everything and can be *pistachio'd* that they can't be the XO, president and fix the starship.

How does it work when a skill reach "Specialty" level? Let's say I take the skill "Covert", and I pay 2+4+6 to reach d6 level, does the next rank only cost 2 and the last 10 points?

The "Trait" that have the d2+ have me somewhat confused. I can buy skills at the rank d2 and upwards or in some cases d2-d4, but where is the cost and how much do you get for taking "Complications"?
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Tue 27 Aug 2019.

Yeah, Traits (Assets and Complications) are an integral part of most Cortex-based games (and the one Cortex Plus game I've seen).

I'll be making page references further down.  These are from the actual page count given by the PDF reader, so are probably "off by one" from those printed on each page, since the reader counts the covers as pages, too.




I haven't really looked that closely - didn't see it like this during creation.  Hang on a tick...

Uh... yeah.  Table 2.4 on page 53 of the PDF.  I generally don't like a cumbersome point conversion mechanic like that one in my games, but then I'm a simple-minded kinda guy when it comes to game mechanics.  I see the point in this case, though.

Yeah, the last thing a Battlestar crew needs is a bunch of 1337 polymath haxors who can fix any-bleepin' thing.



Well, I reproduced Table 2.3 from p. 51 in my backgrounder for reference.  Specialties are acquired after one acquires a D6 in a General Skill.  Once that happens, pay 2 Skill Points (or 6 Advancement Points if after creation) to attain a D8 in an associated Specialty Skill.  Here's an example:

Smokin' Joe the hot-shot fighter jock has Guns at D6 (having paid six Skill Points to get there), and two Skill points burning a hole in his player's pocket.

Player looks in the skills list and finds Guns listed on p. 70.  Specialties are listed for this general skill, and, after perusing this short list, the player chooses grenade launcher ('cause nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven) and pays his two Skill Points.

This gives him Guns at D6 (its maximum value) and Grenade Launcher at D8 for a total of eight skill points spent for both the general skill and the specialty.



During creation this is covered in the backgrounder, but not in great detail, so let's break that down:

Traits listed as D2+ can advance all the way from d2 t0 D12+D12, just as Attributes can.

Traits listed for specific dice types, or over a specified range can only take on those dice types listed.

Complications pay you Trait Points equal to the sides of the die type selected.  See Table 2.1 on p. 47.  If the Starting Level is set to Recruit, this is the only way to get points to purchase Assets, and you can only take 30 points worth of Complications starting out.

Example:  Allergy is listed as "d2/d8".  This means you can take it at either d2 or d8, but at no other value.  If you take it at d2, it pays two trait points.  If you take it at d8, it pays eight trait points, and comes with an even heavier liability for your character.

Lightweight, just for counterpoint, is listes as "d2 - d6", so it can be taken a d2, d4, or d6 for a payout of 2, 4, or 6 Trait Points.

That help you any?

That help very much, nice to have you explain this to me.

- So the specialty skills is for example for picking grenade launcher for guns, then it's the same pilot where the basic skill is for everything that flies but speciality is MK 2 Viper? Nice and simple.

And the same seems to be with Trait cost as you listed, take a d8 trait and pay 8 cost. I like it.

Will try and have a character up during the weekend and see how it goes.

Sure.  I want to be clear:  we are only creating characters here, and helping you gain familiarity with the system.  I cannot commit to running a game at this time.

In reply to Chief Tinker (msg # 6):

Oh, I know :) but this is the best part to ask for help/advice so I know when starting the game. Should I post the character here or the other thread?

Here, definitely.  I do have a BSG Character Record Sheet ready to go in 3200 - Character Sheets and Other Forms Developed Here.  It was also, in an earlier version, accepted to Heaven - Gaming Resources.  After we create the first couple of characters here, I'll likely re-submit it with any final adjustments.

Oh, yeah, something worth mentioning:  during creation, a character can have more than one related Specialty per General Skill:  If Smokin' Joe also decided to take Pistol d10 along with Grenade Launcher d8, the total would break down as:  Guns d6 (6) + Grenade Launcher d8 (2) + Pistol d10 (4) = 12 Skill Points.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:56, Thu 29 Aug 2019.

A quick version of the man I might use as the captain of the Battlestar, at the end it was hard to pick skills to set points on actually as I wanted him to have some "personality" ;)

Found it strange though that Adama's profile didn't have the skill "Capital ship" under pilot, either for Valkyrie or Galactica....

Didn't pick any "complications" mostly due to see how this turned out with traits that was really fun actually. 4 points for veteran didn't go far :)

The Skipper of the submarine on which I served qualified Helmsman when going through ship's qualifications, but never stood the watch afterward.  He also qualified Engineering Officer of the Watch but never stood that watch - his business was command, control, and communications, strategy and tactics.

(The man had a voice like Fred Rogers until he took the Conn...)




Yeah, well, that's why Complications add to your trait points total.  The more Complications you take, the more Assets you can afford.  (It's the same way in the Firefly {Cortex Plus} and Serenity {Cortex} games.)  So long as you don't exceed 30 points worth of Complications, you're golden.

Yeah, perhaps some notice about the points for starting level would be useful. Even if I mostly will have the players start at the bottom.

Quick question, forcing the players to pick a complication. Good or bad idea?

Nah.  The game is difficult enough without all that.  Let the players decide whether they want Complications or not.  (Of course, at Recruit level, zero trait points, so the only way to gain assests is by taking complications...  (they might need to know that to make an informed choice.))

You are welcome to crib from the Backgrounder I did above to start this thread if you find it useful... it covers the various points scores for the three starting levels.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 07:30, Wed 04 Sept 2019.

Your simple table of the cost made it very simple and as such the whole creating of the character was very easy and fun.

Will make a list when the game is up for the skills and assets, so it becomes easier to pick.

You mentioned supplements books right? What do they add?

They mostly cover specific episodes of the series. To be totally truthful, I haven't looked very closely at them.  (I got 'em in a bundle...)

So nothing of real "value" for creating a character? Huh, I must admit this was easier then expected :)

Also, is there stats for the "Valkyrie" in the other books?

Can't speak to the question about the Valkyrie in the books yet, but I know there's some online resources that do cover it:

https://galactica.fandom.com/w...yrie-type_Battlestar

has a nice article on this class.