Character generation (Copyright Tegyrius)

Attributes

Distribute 36 points across the six attributes (the items in bold: Strength, Constitution, Agility, Education, Charisma, Intelligence). Maximum value for each is 10, minimum value is 1.

Skills

You have 160 XP with which to purchase skills. Maximum value for each skill is 10. XP cost is as follows:



You get your native Language skill at 10 for free. You can buy a second native Language skill at 10 for a flat price of 10 XP. Non-native Language skills cost half (rounded down) if the tongue is in the same linguistic family as one of your native Languages).

The Medical, Ground Vehicle, Pilot, and Small Arms skills are cascade skills. At character creation, your highest sub-skill in each cascade is your primary sub-skill. You get free points in each other sub-skill equal to half your primary, rounded down. For example, if you buy Small Arms (Rifle) 7, you get Small Arms (Pistol) 3 for free. You can spend additional XP to raise your secondary sub-skills above these default values.

You can earn XP during play to improve existing skills or learn new ones. During downtime, you can use the Instruction skill to reduce someone else's XP cost if you're teaching them a skill you know.

Contacts

You get a number of contacts equal to the higher of your Charisma or Education.

For each contact, choose a general category (your choice, but should make sense within the framework of your character history):

•      Academic
•      Blue-Collar
•      Criminal
•      Entertainment
•      Government
•      Intelligence
•      Journalist
•      Law Enforcement
•      Military
•      White-Collar

Then roll 1d10. 1-7 indicates that the contact is of the same nationality as you. 8-9 indicates an allied nationality (e.g., if you're from a NATO nation, the contact is from any other NATO nation). 10 indicates a neutral or opposed nationality (e.g., if you're from a NATO nation, the contact is from a non-NATO nation).

At the beginning of play, these are potential contacts. Once per session, you can make a potential contact into an actual contact by generating a plausible reason to encounter that individual in the current scene. You then name that contact and provide a few key details on your relationship and that individual's capabilities. For example, if you're in a marketplace and are about to be in a confrontation with a group of Polish cavalrymen, you might activate a foreign white-collar contact. Suddenly, you recognize one of the cavalry troopers as Aleksandr Bukowski, a hard-drinking exchange student and lousy poet with whom you attended medical school in London.

Rads

Everyone has soaked up some radiation. It was a nuclear war, after all.

Determine your starting rads by rolling a number of d6 equal to your highest attribute.

Survival Points

TBC

Personal Equipment

Given the nature of the campaign and the amount of nations that had forces in theatre there's going to be a fair amount of latitude here. Pretty much any weapon that was standard issue for any combatant is going to be fine.

When it comes to concepts, don't worry too much about what the party needs. There will be some NPC's to fill any significant skill gaps.