Character Creation

Character Creation #

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

1. 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

2. Career #

You begin at 18 years old. Your Career rank starts at 0.

Choose a skill group 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, feel the effects of age, 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 skill group at rank 1, or increase its rank by 1 if you have it already.

When you gain the weapon skill and a specific weapon category is given in parenthesis, 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 a skill you already have, or roll a random new one.

Before any term after the first, you may choose to switch to a different skill group. You may only do this once, and do not a free skill.

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 feel the effects of age. Lose one rank in a physical characteristic, or 1d3 maximum luck. Characteristics may not be lowered to less than 0.
7-9 Make a skill roll, lose 1 Maximum luck.
10+ Make a skill roll.

Skill Groups #

Spacer (1d6) #

  1. Helm
  2. Weapon (Scattergun)
  3. Gunnery
  4. Engineer
  5. Computer
  6. Choose from 1–5, increase Career rank

Soldier (1d6) #

  1. Weapon (Carbine)
  2. Weapon (Carbine)
  3. Engineer
  4. Medic
  5. Gunnery
  6. Choose from 1–5, increase Career rank

Merchant (1d6) #

  1. Business
  2. Weapon (Pistol)
  3. Helm
  4. Drive
  5. Computer
  6. Choose from 1–5, increase Career rank

Drifter (1d6) #

  1. Weapon (Pistol)
  2. Weapon (Unarmed)
  3. Drive
  4. Forgery
  5. Gambling
  6. Choose from 1–5, increase Career rank

Specific Skills #

Weapon (1d6) #

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

3. Personal Details & Past #

Roll a random Birth Month. Examples given are for the imperial calendar. The corresponding personality trait represents general beliefs about people born in that month.

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. For example, a player whose character’s skills come from the Spacer and Merchant groups might decide they were a smuggler. If their Career rank was 2, they’d write “Smuggler 2” on their character card.

Name your character and give them a strong visual detail.

Birth Months #

Roll (d66) Month & Star Sign Personality Trait
11,12,13 1, Crane Aloof
14,15,16 2, Bear Stubborn
21,22,23 3, Sword Clever
24,25,26 4, Archon Domineering
31,32,33 5, Deckhand Practical
34,35,36 6, Sage Wise
41,42,43 7, Merchant Shrewd
44,45,46 8, Boar Loyal
51,52,53 9, Desert Mouse Flighty
54,55,56 10, Firebird Confident
61,62,63 11, Fox Private
64,65,66 12, Navigator Ambitious

Downfalls #

Roll (d66) Downfall
11,12,13 Betrayal
14,15,16 Accident
21,22,23 Violence
24,25,26 Murder
31,32,33 Debt
34,35,36 Corruption
41,42,43 Illness
44,45,46 Misunderstanding
51,52,53 Lies
54,55,56 Incompetence
61,62,63 Love
64,65,66 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 Computer skill, start with a portable computer console. 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.

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 June 16, 2022