Ad Astra - Character Creation

Here we can hash out tone and theme, party dynamics, character creation, and setting-specific homebrew.

I guess one important thing to hash out would be what magic (or supernatural) means in this specific setting

I was thinking of a character with a nanotech implant, which she can use to do weird stuff. Does that sound ok?

EDIT
Its use would look like biotics in Mass Effect.

Biotics or psionics would be what I would have in mind as well for magic.

The idea I'd be interested in for a character would be a merged consciousness. A host body and a parasite or symbiont that combine to create a distinct personality. Think Trill in Star Trek or (for any potential Germans here) Co-Drivers in Collector.
For what niche in the crew I'd fill, I'm open to different things. I'm not super interested in being the muscle but from face to scientist to engineer to pilot, I could take whatever niche nobody else wants to fill.

Good read on magic/supernatural so far. Cybernetics of course would be tech. At which point we've got two supernaturals so far!

Are either of you a human base? That'll impact the "race" creation.

I'd probably be human as a base but then changed through the symbiosis/connection

Edits, but here are a symbiote and nanite model for the "race", such as they are.

Symbiosis:
The Symbiote has its own Will score (either), which can be made a strength if you choose out of your usual pool. When an event happens that requires the symbiote to take over completely (you lose a battle of wits in a conflict of interests, it's simply more experienced, etc.) it deals you 1x Tool damage (for the strain on your body), and 1x Will damage if you don't consent to the action. You always roll disadvantage on charisma checks (since you're a composite - can be avoided if one takes over with Will, but resets next time they see you as a composite) and folks who know what you are naturally look upon you with concern (until they know better). Since the symbiote has a vested interest in keeping you alive, treat your milestone as one higher for the purposes of calculating health.

So, acknowledging the symbiote with a new mechanic, a negative, and a boon.

Nanites:
Start Body (if enhancing existing abilities) or Tools-Supernatural (if learning new "weird stuff") at a d8. You now have 2 strengths left. Electricity and radiation do 1d extra damage (since they effect the nanites). When you hit half health (and all damage moments after), roll Will-Leader to see if you can power through your body glitching. If you fail, you fall unconscious while the nanites glitch, even if you have health left.

So a stronger being, but it comes with risk.

Thoughts?

The way I imagine it, the symbiote and host would be combined inseparably, so there wouldn't be a way to tell where one ends and the other begins anymore so the suggestion wouldn't really work for that.
It doesn't even really need a mechanical basis for me. I'm fine with it being a purely RP thing.

Why is a d8 better than a d6?

More damage/healing on that die, and more options for character design (since the difference between balance and unbalanced is a wider range). Also, it unlocks more intense crits.

So Bowl, let's simplify to disadvantage on charisma and 3 extra health (not stacked).

I think I'll just play a regular human maintenance tech for this one.

(lavtodd, could you remove my permissions for the other games? just for my own forum organisation ;) )

I'm not sure how to do that. I can change your permissions for this entire forum, but I can't find it for threads.

You cant do it for threads. You'd have to separate the games into their own subforums

Ah, gotcha, gotcha. I will do that for the games themselves.

Ah yes, sorry. I thought it was subforums already. You can easily move threads once you have the subforums to separate the games :)

Oh, even existing threads? Great!

And I'll play a human, too. Probably a daredevil type girl, flying ships and other vehicles, addicted to adrenaline.

My character concept (Sheet is submitted, have a look, Lavtodd)


Professor Janine Bale was an expert on Anthropology and Xenobiology, successful and well liked both by her students and researcher colleagues.
During one of her field missions, the human scientist was infected by an unknown, symbiotic lifeform that attached itself inseparably to her nervous system. The two beings have become one, dramatically altering the personality the human host had previously displayed. They, now calling themselves The Sisters and using plural pronouns for themselves, have since then completely resigned from teaching in favor of furthering their studies on foreign cultures and biologies.
They're known for possessing vast knowledge, derived from both halves that make up their new identity but also for being emotionally detached and cold. Owing to their unprecedented condition, they are generally mistrusted, though so far, they have not given any indication they may have hostile intentions towards humanity.
This mission is exactly the type of opportunity they are particularly interested in exploring and suited for due to their expertise.

After considering it, I'll go with a different type of character for more variety. TBA.

As folks work on character sheets, let's talk tone. Obviously a mission like this wouldn't be sent out in the first place if there wasn't hope for a brighter tomorrow and all that, but how dark do you want reality? I could see this leaning towards horror if it gets dark.

I'm totally up for a darker tone. Maybe not full-on survival horror but horror elements and real risk of death, sure!

How are we feeling about intra-party conflicts? I love having some tensions between PCs but I also know that there are people who don't enjoy that.

The mechanics exist. A party rife with conflict wouldn't be put on the same ship, and they'd need to be able to set things aside in crisis (or at least try). But considering you're part Slug, I imagine there'd be some ruffled feathers.

Thanks Lav, though I can still see the other game subforums :D
You will need to press Administrative Control Panel buttom, click on the right subforum listed on the left and then go on the Permissions tab. You will see all the players listed there and you can set all permissions to NO ;)

Interesting, I always assumed turning against each other was the definition of time of crisis :D
I'll try to play a gullible PC this time.

Listen, what lets you keep your job on a spaceship and what actually happens may be two different things haha

How is this coming along? Are we ready to get started or still missing something?

Coming soon to a thread near you!

Posted! Go ahead and introduce yourselves and any pre-launch rituals you may have. Short posts, long posts, dialogue, whatever.

Is my PC ok? Can you approve it? (Probably you didn’t notice it as I added it late)

Yeah, looks good!

Fun fact, the communications expert is a two-headed alien known as Lieutenants Altok Leya. They can be addressed individually, but people rarely do just cuz it's not like you're keeping secrets from the other head anyway. So referring to a person as a dual isn't unheard of, but Janine only has one head, and a normal number of thumbs, and a human base, so that's still really weird. Like, the sisters don't even use the naming convention of that race.

Frankly, Altok Leya will probably think you somehow consumed your mate, or that you're using some sort of cultural appropriation, or you're insane.

Might be a rough first meeting but maybe they'll be able to relate to each other once they've gotten to know each other 😄

Hopefully!

The purple alien I made for your game, once I can find the sketch. I loved the design too much to keep it in mothballs haha.

I don't remember a purple alien right now 🤔 Just a Scottish engineer and her tortoise friend

Oh, wait, they were for a different game! Went through a few sci fi games at a time there.

Here we are. Altok Leya. Yeah, it was a different game. So many thumbs.....

Did we already lose some people for this game?

I decided on a soldier who's very in love with his partner. Not enough to not follow the call for space adventure, but I think it could be fun having this sort of character who might be slightly distracted with love-y feelings near the folks here. Not like he'd be like this all the time, he'd be helpful too, haha.

Sounds definitely interesting. I like characters with previous engagements.

Nice!

I’m not one for intrigue but a crush on bowl’s weirdo girl could be a reason to follow the call for space adventure 😆

I thought you were all for intrigue, CESN 🤨
And I don't think that's what Paviinka meant. Rather that their PC has someone waiting for them at home

Kidnapping then. Extortion. A suitor challenge. Maybe defending the wife’s honor 🤔maybe... aliens 👾

Captain Hamilton (I like Hero Forge)

Will you please let me know what the Sisters' requirements are? Doc would know but I don't haha

Probably just some restrictions on what medicines to use or avoid, an x-ray to show where exactly the symbiont is located so it doesn't get unnecessarily hurt during an operation or something like that.
Nothing too far out

Sounds about right. Cool!

Rule 1 of running a game: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle :P

You know, the Sisters read Hamilton perfectly, but I still cringed on the captain's behalf haha

(Can I timeskip a few days?)

Sure

timeskip it's so sci-fi :D

Good point haha

All right, everyone please share two rolls. They can be in here unless you want to give a snapshot into your character's day to day.

1. A roll for your job
2. A roll for watching for anything suspicious

I'll skip about 3 days and post the results when everyone's rolled. Thanks!

You trying to not play with me? 🙀

You Evil

Oh, this just means that I can infect more people.

um

I mean

Show more people the game system.

I am enjoying this so far. I'm not a Curse of Strahd level horror person, but this is stretching me a little.

I have taken some of this playtest's comments into consideration, from char-gen in all 4 games. Qralloq would like to join us, and I'm asking khakiphil from One More Job (waiting to hear back).

If it's all right with folks, we may as well shift to this sheet if we're adding folks. I'm easier to reach via Discord (lavtodd) for questions.

What do you think?

Scary space howdy!

Qralloq really needs more games to join 😁
Howdy there

As for the sheet, I'm okay with updating. I'll just have to read and see what the changes are

Harsh! I mean, fair, but still..😉

Hey, I'll never complain about you joining a game I'm in

Well, on the flip side, I’m struggling to have my character chilling about people dying with alien spiky crystals 😂

Updating should be easy enough :)

Cool cool :)

Sounds like KP is interested!

Some suggestions for those joining us:
Second in command, who would have been captain during the meeting
Medbay assistant who is now chief medical officer since the current one got impaled
Security detail from the Antimony shipment (so, exposed in loading)
Bridge Data Entry (so, exposed in the meeting)
Or, of course, any other sort of engineering, security, research, supplies, etc. that would be on a Star-Trek type ship. Heck, I'll help you roll up a stowaway if you want to deal with the diplomatic backlash.

Here's my pitch:

Modben Tarch is a genetically engineered, one-time scientific prodigy with penchant for distraction and a weakness for obsession. After graduating summa cum laude from the prestigious Polytechnique Chandrasekhar, he immediately dropped scientific research and became a freelance journalist. While an accomplished writer, having had two pieces nominated for Pullitzers, he nonetheless has failed to achieve lasting recognition. Rumours in the dark that he is a government spy are, of course, completely unfounded.

Assigned to the Archangel in a PR role, he is also an undeniable expert on Antimony. His real task is to track down secrets and expose them. The mission is simply too important for personal agendas.

To reflect the unbalanced focus the scientists used when engineering him, let's say Mobden can always roll advantage on Book Smart, but must always roll disadvantage on Brute Force.

CESN, you...are aware that you're in the medbay right now too, right? XD

Spinach, please either roll Fine Motor to shoot, or Head or Book Smarts to examine the doctor. You have time for one.

CESN, please roll Head or Book Smarts to figure out how to lock down the medbay.

I like that this scene is basically ~
Sisters: Imma shoot it.
Jonh: NOPE NOT FAST ENOUGH

Alright, I think I updated my sheet to the new version

yes... though I may have not mentioned the nearest outside computer :D

Wait, HP still refers to the body score but that doesn't exist anymore, right? What's it based on now?

I totally didn't :(

Added a roll to my last post. It didn't go well. I don't really want to shoot yet. This is too scientifically interesting

mine did ! so you can be locked investigating it if you want :D

Feck. Still Brute Force. Gotta go change all the terminology raggin fraggin....

Q pointed out I mix levels and milestones too, so I'll work on that. Thanks for the heads up.

I gave you "Mistrusted" due to your symbiote state, right? Otherwise it looks good. Health would be 2*(1+0) so 2 health and frick that makes this a fatal game XD

I think mine is now updated.

For the symbiote, I got Mistrusted and +3 Health

Ah, I remember now. Thanks.

CESN, your health would be 2.

I adjusted the "finishing touches" section so someone could roll their Power die to add health at Milestone 0. I see you don't have an extra habit, so if you wanted to be just a little less of a Book Smart nerd, you could do that.

Once command realizes how bad this is, I'll distribute armor.

And I'm just putting a quick pin in things because with all the yelling and screaming, the other characters may be able to make it in to this scene....

Here's my draft for Modwen:
Beta.3
Power(Fine+) d4(2) (Brute always with Disadvantage)
People(Extrovert+) d6(3)
Perception(Book Smart+) d6(2) (BS always with advantage)
Problems(Head+) d4(2)

Milestone: 0
Health: 2*(1+0) = 2
Damage: 0

Advances
0: Strengths People, Perception; habit Scientific Prodigy; adjust BS to 2

Looks like the Sisters can't think under stress 😆

Oh, and Lav, maybe you can remove all the characters from the dead games from this game. That would make it easier to find my sheet in the list

Good call. That should help.

I suppose we should shoot the dead doctor just in case no? :)

Zombies

Hey, man, the choice is yours.

He's not dead yet. Just....extremely close.

Nice call of the summary, CESN. I'll add some stuff.

Thanks for the Notes! Always helpful to have

Hey, I'm sorry for ghosting. I've had a lot going on. All fine! Just a lot, and I honestly lost track of time. Do you want me to continue from where we are, or time skip?

If you're not interested anymore, no hard feelings. Just let me know.

Thanks

I'm interested in continuing. I think that moving us ahead from the current place might be helpful to reset us. But happy to do what the consensus wishes.

I'd like to continue. Either way works for me, do whatever the majority says

Same here :D

Sounds like we're all on board with continuing!

Very long post, finally. Thank you so much for your patience.

I took Yen'kos over briefly to streamline that lore dump. If khaki wants to expand or not, he can.

Yay, the game is back! Too late for me now but I'll check in tomorrow 😴

Hey guys! I've done it again and need to downsize as work is about to get busy :(

Sorry about this. lavtodd, we didn't get to test the system in depth, but as far as I can tell it looks good. Love the roll low/high duality :D

Tha n you for the feedback, and I'm sorry I dropped the ball. Character creation in different settings was already a huge help, but I think the writing's on the wall. Thank you, everyone!

Yes, it seems like this game is dead, unfortunately. I did enjoy it, though. And I do think it has potential as a sort of extension of L&F!

If you ever want to run something in this system again (and if the setting interests me), I'd definitely be up for joining again

Thanks, lavtodd!

oh yes sure. If you start another one of these (and I have the time) count me in :D

Thank you, everyone!!