As soon as I figure out how to do the Character sheet I will post it.

If any of you have any questions for the group, or public questions for the GM, feel free to post them here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:49, Wed 10 June 2020.

Hello, all! Not sure where things are at yet, or if we should be working on something?

In reply to mesneaky (msg # 2):

I am happy with all of the proposed Character Concepts so far. There is space for up to 4 more, but with 5 we can start.

I am frantically trying to get a good Adobe product to make transcription easier, but I will have a Character Sheet up by Saturday.

For now, Character Creation should be the current step. I will answer questions in this thread or through PM, if prefered.

Old Torg was Much, MUCH, more focused on Template creation. If you can, pick a template that works best. If you need to, you can tweek the Attributes (minor tweeking, please) as long as the sum doesn't change. Other tweeks should be run past me first. ... If no Template you can find is going to work, I can suggest a few; and if even that won't work, the Storm Knight's Guide... has creation rules that Will work. Note: those rules take over 7 chapters, so....

Heya stormers:)

For now I should be playing a transformer aysle barbarian beauty !

One of you has requested a name change. Another has their suggested name in their RTJ. Does anyone else have a name ready for me to Change your game-name to be?

Mine should be Jalia please :)

I have one quick question -- in moving us back to the old TORG system, are we also moving the setting back to the like... 1980s/'90s, when the original game was set?  Or are we updating to the more modern setting and figuring out what that means as and when it comes up?

Good morning everyone. Delighted to play with you all

With regards to the question of 'when is it set' I'm neutral. I like the present (because I live in the present so will make fewer mistakes), but the 1980s/1990s were interesting. I might have to tweak my character description if we are in the past though! I think the issues of computer privacy were less important

I'm going to mildly differ with Apeiros on the templates. I've played a Torg campaign for years, and played in maybe ten torg games ran by other GMs (we really liked it). I've never seen anyone use a template: not once. I think the templates are great as ways of showing the results of the character creation, and great as a tool for describing the game, but I've not seen them used in play because they are 'pre-gens', and the player group I was with didn't do those. Most games have pre-gens and for a 'con game' or a one of they are super. They take 10 minutes to understand and play, but 'you' are not in the character, it's a pre-gen made by someone else.

Torg character generation is perhaps 1/20th the effort of a M&M character. I have to use a paid for tool to do that (Herolabs) and I've just done one taking perhaps 10 hours. Torg I can do in one hour, perhaps a second hour for review and thinking about her. I get the GMs comment about 7 chapters, but it's still simple

All that said I like playing con games. In con games I sometimes get pre-gen's that turn out to be awesome and then I make the character my own. I still have one pre-gen from a Conan game that turned from being a con game to a regular game and she's great. I don't think the character creation makes 'better' characters, simply ones that are closer to your vision of what you want to play, and if the template looks good: go with it.

In reply to Utsukushi (msg # 7):

ST actually covered this in the intro, we are back in the 1990's.

In reply to Apeiros (msg # 3):

Spoiler, the group's introduction will include the day lasting 28 hours.

And yes, I see this as late 1990.
Con: Current events and items (cell phones?) haven't happened yet (except possibly in Japan/France)
Pro: We don't have to guess at what the "Near Now" is going to look like.

Also: All special abilities are available. Psychic powers are available even though Space Gods have not landed, but before you think about changing your concept...we already have one person requesting to play a psychic.

Due to splitting XP:PP, every character will start with 5 of each instead of 10 Possibilities.

There are 3 options for PCgen: Straight Template, all you need to do after picking it is Skills, (Spells/Miracles/Powers/Psionics) and spend any of the XP if you want; Tweeking, start with a template and change any→all background (including equipment) to fit, play with the attributes a bit (1 to 1 of course), then do skills, specials, and XP as desired; and Scratch which follows the tSKGttPW protocall. I was not impressed with the "Revised" rulebook at all, and least by the creation system therein--might as well be playing Heroes (decent enough game, but it's not TORG).

I have every OT book, so any template you want to use is available, except the ones that aren't "here" yet. No Tharkoldu, no Akashans, no Ravagons (here, but still loyal to the Gaunt Man), and, sadly, the Revised Realm Runner (Delphi Council) doesn't work yet either (Though if someone were building a Realm Runner and wanted their Tag to be Reality instead of Land vehicles, that would be fine. I also know most of the templates, so if you want a suggestion of where to look for inspiration, I am happy to help

Thank you. late 1990 it is! The internet exists but not that many people use it. Still have AOL! I remember borrowing a mobile phone (a 'car phone') it was the size of a brick and the spare battery was huge.

Good thing the Tharkoldu aren't a character option! In our game that book came out a few years after we had playing. We had a character death and someone rerolled as one of those. He was a starter and as good as a character that had been playing for years (which was fine in that game)

The others seem pretty balanced. Or rather all slightly unbalanced in their own area of awesomeness which is even better.

I have to admit I am always torn at this stage. There are so many uber character options. I have a soft spot for the Nile Empire. The Wierd Scientists and the Mystery Men are both great. The Orrorsh werewolfs and that magic system is scary and powerful: as a player you can cast 'wish'... like 'wow!'. But it's so scary. There's the obvious major win from RP of being a core earther as well. I think it would be hard to be a lizard man, but that has RP goodness too...

Still I have settled on Sapphire now. Looking forwards to playing her

Can I ask what everyone else is playing?

You can see from my description I'm an Aylse priestess type. Everyone in Aylse has magic (it's a world law) so I have a little bit too. When it comes to combat I think I am mostly a melee combat type. I suspect I am more a glass jawed ninja than a tank, so I'm glad of the GMs optional rule for that.

Could you please give me the complete Barbarian archetype profile, so I can use and tweak it a bit ? :)

And as a transformed Aysle girl, Jalia won't have any magic, Sapphire :p

I was planning on playing a Realm Runner. Apparently I'm missing out on all the magic and special stuff to min max my character though. =)

Well you get a decent tech rating. So you can use guns and heavy weapons and things. So as an elf I'm pretty much restricted for ranged damage to a bow, instead of an assault rifle. I (if I had the spell) buff my bow, but I could just as easy buff your rifle. A buffed rifle is a lot better than a buffed bow.

What's interesting is that if you spend xp on cool stuff like magic, your combat skills like trick, manuver, and so on, will probably be quite low. The game system rewards those. So Realm Runners typically do well there.

Another really good thing that you could do (that I can't) is get martial arts. Martial arts are Great! with a capital G. And as you get higher level they get better. You need a decent social axiom to get them, and Aylse doesn't have them.

As the game progresses you could get Faith or Focus. After all you will have proof that the God's exist. Core Earth faith spells are pretty good. You can also learn psionics: especially if there is another psionic in the party to learn from...

If you want to be a jack of all trades character I think it works quite well. Especially if the other players buff you: you will have a better starting point than they do because they need to spend attributes/skills on things you don't

Summary:
* Get lots of high damage weapons!
* Get a friendly mage / cleric to buff you
* Learn Martial Arts
* Put points into the skills other people don't bother with that actually work really well
* The upgrade path into esoterica is pretty good: minor magics, psionics, faith/focus

Well my next character will be a Ronin from Nippon Tech, lol!