Character Creation and Backgrounds

"Okay, kids, I'm going out to see Trader Joel. Who wants something?"

"I want candy!"

"I want a new jacket!"

"I want a blaster rifle and riot armor!"

I think there are many, many ways that we can fluff buying our own equipment. We could have scavenged them along the years and any remaining credit being trading valuables that we can swap in for actual credits as soon as we can head to the market. That said, there also are also many, many narrative reasons that could complicate the plausibility of that narrative. Why would our Master allow us to have different gear? What if he doesn't? Would we hide it? How would we hide stuff from an actual Jedi? Or, I don't know, what if the caves are too far away from the colony? Why would there be stuff to scavenge, especially if we're deep into the woods/desert/forest/biome we reside in? Or, if we bought stuff from a caravan... Why would a caravan be there? As far as we know, doesn't the planet have only one colony?

Could all these questions be answered and for the premise to work? Well, yeah. Stars can align. It's just that... Wouldn't it be more likely what we don't have our own equipment? I'm saying all of this while having a character with a single point in Brawl and nada in Lightsabers. If anything, considering the starting circumstances, doesn't it make more sense for those that walked the path Master Selaak laid for us to be a bit ahead? Our PCs are going to be either teenagers or young adults, a time where people find themselves. Amidst our duty of becoming Jedi, and the vigilance we must maintain to protect ourselves and what's ours, we will be... Well, finding out about our own personalities. Growing up. If your character isn't meant to use a lightsaber, then, isn't it more enticing that your character realizes that a blaster feels righter in his hands than the tool he never could use properly his entire life during play? It super plays into the theme of growing up. At this point, I'm just ping-ponging ideas though. x)
I 100% agree! I tried to start a talk about that a few posts ago but I guess it didn't quite catch on. Soo... I dunno. It's just that, there are a lot of players. Maybe we could use one of those relationship tables thingies that are so abundant online to kickoff the brainstorming? Otherwise, what I'm observing is that there's the "Yeah go Jedi!" crew and the "Eh... Yeah, go Jedi, whatever" crew. We could start from there.

Or, Arina, if you don't mind, we could have a prequel RP thread? Everyone knows how successful prequels have been with Star Wars in the past so I'm sure this won't end badly at all. Failing that a relationship table might work.

(As a side note I am about 63% sure our first fatality will be at our own hands.)

Ok, i have pivoted on my concept. Now I’m going with a Pantoran (I love blue skinned humans) Consular/Arbiter. He’ll be 322233 so decent in combat (Lightsaber), but can also cover a few "face" skills Negotiation and Leadership (both vastly underrated IMO). After that, depending on the story, he will choose to focus on his combat or face sides.

I'm really not sure how to contribute to this discussion but I just go with the flow until everything's concrete! Lux (or anyone for the matter) if you want to establish some details with my gal Zafe go for it, they should be pretty easy to get along with, especially if you are a sparring partner.

Lux and somebox, would you be adverse to having had, at some point, Ian switching Zafe's and Avi's rooms? Either he was waiting until you two were getting special training or something or were just away from your rooms and he would have used muscles, lifts, the Force, hapless minions, whatever was handy to completely switch the physical locations of your stuff. Nothing missing or (intentionally) damaged just the beds, dressers, boy-band posters all of it meticulously switched from one cave or section of the cave to another.

Thoughts?

I was looking around for some relationship tables that could be useful, but the ones I found either has too many family options or don't quite work for our situation, so... I'll go ahead and lay some groundwork. Oh, and it's just an idea, but if there are two characters of the same species, they could be siblings or something.

And just for some context, I also imagine that Avi was very scared when she was a child. She wasn't brought up in the nicest of circumstances, and I imagine that at the very early beginning, anyone that would try to touch her would make her wince, for example. She'd eventually grow out of it and get comfortable with her situation and with the people around her, but those psychological scars of the past would make her always look for approval, and probably be seen as very helpful and sweet. At some point during her early teenage years, she would start to question why they were still hanging around the cave, realizing the context of our reality, and feeling super powerless about it - Reaching the conclusion that we should be out there, and not inside the cave. At some point, she would become a very angry and argumentative person, and may even have tried to escape. Maybe something happened when she was brought back, aaand.... I don't know. She'd either deflate because of that, or because of hormones, or something like that. And then, she would devolve into having the personality I described a good few posts back.

Anyway, here's what I think Avi would think and feel about the other mentioned/fleshed-out characters, and/or how their relationship would work. Feel free to chime in!

Smeeg's potential characters: Hm. As for Evelynn, it's as I said before: I don't think they would get along a lot. Maybe when they were children? And when Avi started to grow up, they probably grew apart very quickly. I'm not sure how Evelynn sees the force, though. As in, does she talk about it a lot? Is she all "The force shall guide us"? Is she very spiritual? Because if that's the case, Avi's probably annoyed at her. Unless they had a very big fight at some point, Avi would still trust her and see the Consular as an over-the-top sibling. She would like Kisasa more, appreciating her curious nature. If anything, it would be the reverse from Evelynn: Avi would feel that the Togruta was too intrusive when she was a kid, and as they grow up, they'd getter along better. I'm not sure how political Kisasa's curiosity is, though. Depending on that, they would either be good friends, or close friends. If Kisasa is someone more mature, Avi could even see her as an older sibling, someone she will usually listen and whose opinion she'll consider.

Piodas: Avi probably feels that this guy has the heart in the right place. That said, I do think she would consider him actually problematic. The fact that he doesn't like to speak a lot and that he worships the Jedi so much makes him incredibly dogmatic to her eyes, and that honestly prevented their relationship from having an actual good quality. When they're together, Avi is either uncomfortable at the lack of meaningful discussion - She likes to talk- or annoyed. She doesn't dislike him: It's just that they may be too different to ever get along in some way.

Ian: Of all presented characters, I think Ian may be the only one that Avi actually dislikes in some way. If he was like that when they were kids, he could have prodded a scar that was too fresh, pranked her or made a joke that probably caused her to feel either really bad, panic, or reacts very violently/irrationally. Nowadays, even if something like that never happened, Avi probably thinks he's too lighthearted about stuff, too annoying, too invasive. Too much, essentially.

Caro: I think they might get along. Avi probably feels that Caro's opinion validate her perspective - If they're grim as him, at least. Now, Avi is not necessarily the most outspoken person in the galaxy. She can appreciate silence, depending on the context. She does feel the need to talk to people, though, but I really feel like Caro and she could share a meal over a comfortable silence, you know?

Valad: I think Avi would approve of Valad trying to compromise our Master's teachings with his own interests, but aside from that, I don't think there's much to go on. Maybe Avi likes to hear him talking about his stuff? Even if she doesn't understand much about it. You tell me, Intro.

Taryn: I think they'd get along very well. Assuming that Taryn understands her pov, Avi would really trust him. They could even have been a thing, but Master found out about it aaaaaand yeah. The only thing she may dislike of Taryn is if he gets along with absolutely everyone. She would probably see that as compromising, and associate that with a lack of backbone, especially because she knows Taryn has beliefs and thoughts of his own but won't bring them up for the sake avoiding conflict.

Zafe: I really think she would trust Zafe the most. See, even Avi would get tired of arguing and fighting, and Zafe is the only person that she would feel she doesn't have to argue with. Even if she isn't a fan of physical violence, I can super imagine they hanging out, Zafe training while Avi reads a datapad or something, and they grabbing lunch, and then talking about stuff that is not the Jedi, the Republic, the good and the evil of the universe. Like... Joke around, or laughing about how Piodas had something on his face the whole day and didn't notice, or talk about who they are interested. Her greatest friend for sure. Best friend, if somebox agrees or chimes in a similar way.

Ugh, I'm tired of writing. I think I omitted one or two characters because there wasn't a lot of info about them. Sooo... Yeah.

Ha! Oh man, I didn't see your post before posting myself. But yeah, sure, that's completely in line with what I thought he could/would do. What a dick.

Seems like Computers might be a blindspot, yet? Anyone went into that? I'll work on a Sentry tonight.

Ian has had Computers and I actually changed him to a Sentry after I found out they existed, earlier today. Is my character set to public? Someone let me know.

As far as causing problems, though, Ian would probably be on this huge roller-coaster with everyone, I imagine. If he felt he actually hurt Avi he'd go to extra lengths to try and make it up to her. Like hand carving a sign that says "Avi's Room - Keep Out Ian, You Asshole" and add just the most intricate artistic designs on it. His motto will basically be 'if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing'.

Do we even have doors, though? Haha x)

But yeah, I think I get it. Then... Maybe they would have bonded over the incident, and since then Avi kinda keeps a leash on him? Metaphorically, of course. To make sure he doesn't overstep with anyone.

Hah, ok, I might just swap ya then and go Shien :P

I could see that. I really could. I wish her luck in trying to stop him from causing trouble. And even if they didn't have doors he would still make the sign.

But yeah, I actually thought they were going to be raised on a ship that was buried. Like the shuttle was a big passenger shuttle and our master buried it to hide it. And over the years the drive has been dismantled but that's how we'd train in things like Computers or Mechanics, Piloting since there would be simulations for pilot training, and it would be less Lord of the Flies and more like being raised in a Vault-Tech vault. Because those training sabers will need maintainance, we're going to need fresh water and waste disposal and if you left the shuttle out in the open it'd show up on sensors but if you bury it you hide it -and- us and having us live in a buried, scuttled freighter/shuttle just made sense to me from a resource management/hiding standpoint. If we all grew up in -just- caves, we'd have all gotten a couple training sessions with lightsabers and then it's sticks for us. We'd -all- know how to make bows and arrows from the forest but none of us would know how to open an email.

Arina, what do you think? If anything it deprives us of more resources but gives us an excuse to have these technical skills we'll need.

Edit: I realize now that I did not bother to explain that the lost resource was a functioning shuttle and that I, personally think it would be a good thing to have to work to get a hold of a functional ship with a hyperdrive.

Lol, You are welcome to it. I needed to make my own Coordination roll to make Shien work at -all-. I already used the left over XP to jump right into Ataru Striker for the Agility Lightsaber and then I'm going all in on Move.

Star Wars is a story of unlikely destiny.

How likely was it that Artoo and 3PO's escape pod landed on Tatooine? Or that Han and Chewie were at Mos Eisley that day? Or so on and so forth...

With a system that is so much about player agency - where ones dice pools are a literal signal to the GM that "this is an important part of my characters story", because the dice directly affect ones ability to literally tell stories in this system, this approach just caught me by surprise I guess. And with PbP, for better or worse the start/short term is very important because that's where you are for a long time.

Well, I don't think you're wrong. But that's why I assumed we were living on a buried/hidden starship protected by caves. Even if stars align to create events you can't have stars aligning to teach someone computer code or learn how to navigate hyperspace. And -probably- dad would not let us take actual ships out of actual orbit where other people might spot us.

And if it was a ship meant to haul Jedi around and Younglings it makes sense why it would have medical supplies, clothes of different sizes (because we all got bigger since we were 6 I assume). But only for Jedi. So that might explain why we have stimpaks but no blasters. We have to have a functional computer to learn basic education (because unless he's also a certified teacher we are ALL in trouble when we run into fractions and algebra) but not for ordering things off Space Amazon. Like the generator is still going strong because they last for decades but the thrusters, repulsor lifts and hyperdrive are all wore away by rust or something.

I'm totally behind the premise but 'just caves' on its own does have some pretty big hurdles. I know it's not my story but what does everyone else think?

Edit: Also it gets Avi that door and that's suddenly the most important thing to me.

Isn't it all of our stories?

Like I'm not even trying to derail anything here. The fictional positioning is available for all these things to be true at the same time. I just wanted to have the tools necessary to use the mechanical limitations of the spec that interested me most.

Like, I'd be fine with the stipulation, "you all must start with at least this gear - training saber Jedi Robes and two Stimpaks", or whatever the base creds will allow.

Kit Kono, Pantoran Consular/Arbiter, Age ~18
As a child, Kit was always small. Both he and Master Ke Ri felt that mastery of the Lightsaber was not in his future. As such, he focused on the skills of the Consular, learning to give sage advice, and act as ambassador and negotiator. When puberty hit, things changed and Kit grew quickly, outpacing most of his peers in both size and strength. Now, nearly at adulthood, Kit combines both of these aspects. He maintains a calm demeanor, looking to talk things out and resolve problems peacefully, but with his newfound skill, he does not hesitate to spring into action when necessary.

Among his peers/friends, Kit would be sorta the "teacher’s pet" always first to lessons, always studying an hour after everyone else stopped. Though it comes from a place of good will, Kit has a tendency to insert himself into any conflict, hoping to resolve it quickly.

I completely validate your point but I am so far down this rabbit hole that I'm now trying to figure out why we haven't all died from dysentery. And how we're not complete savages who have eaten the weakest among us for food.

Her perception is hardly high soooo haha. x)

As for your other post, well... As long as Avi gets her doors, I'm okay with it. :)
I don't believe you're derailing anything. We should talk about these things, I think. Set up expectations and all of that. It's healthy! As everyone said already, all of those things could happen, but I don't think the issue is too different than, for example, a GM narrating, idk, D&D 5th, and his premise basically being a war between Generic Human Village and Generic Elven Village, played from the human's side, where the GM asks everyone to play as humans/not play as elves. Could an elf fit the party? Of course. A spy, a betrayer of their own people, whatever. Still... It may just feel weird, and the GM may not want that.

To clarify, I do prefer for us to be able to spend our starting credits on our own stuff and try to fluff it as best as we can. I mean, until I find a blaster, I'll be throwing a single dice around when we fight. But idk, I guess I am fine with that.

As for your two other points: Well... Yeah, it's a story of unlikely destiny; I don't think I said it wasn't. It's still kinda weird, narratively, that everything happens as it happens. I'm also not sure I agree that FFG's Star Wars is a game with that much player agency. I might be misremembering, but I think that there were a bunch of rules in the game that reduced itself to "The GM should decide how to handle this". I mean, it has player agency as much as any other system, no? The die symbol thingies are signs, but the GM is usually the one who interprets and translates them into the game world.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I feel like Avi would find him nosy. His dedication would certainly be admirable, but she would also believe that it's for the wrong cause. Assuming he's always doing stuff, always either studying or whatever, then... Maybe he could hang out with me and Zafe, from time to time? Aside from that, I'm not so sure....