How do you know each other?

:) You are right. Didn't notice that. So what is his name?
Yes. He knows about it. But it is nothing spacial for him. He has 3 like this in his second bathroom... But under glass of course...:) He advised Rafael what to buy to have something antique... not only something that imitates it. First asking some question about how the rifle was looking at Raf's homeworld. He even was probably so kind to act as he was believing Raf story about sealing his home planet. But did he really believed in this story?

But I like the idea that we can come across something that he will be "too much" interested in:)
My first thought: Once, when Raf was still a child his father had a duel in one of the minor, training mechs(imagine something slightly bigger and clumsier then battle dress) with his good friend(friendly noble from other house), but it wasn't his father day... his mech was almost shredded to pieces... so he had to get out of it and go by foot... but even then he didn't change his usual face... of calm determination, like a drop of water shaping the rock... his opponent pinned him down to the wall... making him drop his sword... leaving him only with his trusty laser pistol(rich looking with some expensive stones in the handle)... but every child at Ignomia knows... laser weapons are not so good against mechs(this planet's special kind)... so all seamed lost for Raf's father - Thobias was his name - apparently he was going to loose his bet with the friend... but then something strange happen Thobias has made this Lasaro's family move with hands that looks like folding hands in prayer, but with the handle of a gun between them. In a split second there was a strange flash and Thobias' friend's mech stoped to work... what allowed him to win in the end. As Raf was still a child, his father told him it was the Inner Strength of Lasaro Family that worked at that moment... From that moment on Raf wanted to have and use it too for himself. Was counting that when he will get back from the university, his father will finally teach him this power. Unfortunately it didn't ever happened.

Only after many years, being in the wide world Raf realized that probably it wasn't any special power of his family... but a cleverly hidden EMP charge in the gun handle, that was aimed at disabling mechanical/electronical things. That was probably not known by the people from his planet at all. He wondered how his father come to posses such device - a technology alien for their home world. But probably not so "amazing" outside of it? And it means that his father was noble... but also cunning. What surprised Raf.

So, now GM - I'm curious... can Raf have something like this when we star the adventure or it will be the thing to acquire in the future?

I think Raf was (trying) experimenting with such things in the fields of cybernetics, to have it in glove or something like that. To better hide it. But it is the story for some other time:)
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As in the next posts: I indeed was thinking about NPC here... but I like the idea when Raf and Cat were fleeing the civil war together they divided responsibilities of piloting and navigation their common ship... sound like a interesting thing to have some stronger bounds and potential interesting RP conflicts...:)

What do you mean by that?
I agree: the gaps will be more interesting. It's only natural for me will to be "prepared for everything" - but that's not what good stories are about.
There are a lot of Engineering related things on the ship. But we can ignore most of them (or hire NPCs) if we don't want to be the ones doing them in play.[/quote]

That's reasonable. As for now I think Raf would want to focus more on the Pilot skill and rise it from Skill Package if others will be ok with that? So others could be interested in fulfilling engineering role or we can leave it in background as you suggested.

With the rest things from this cited post of yours I simply agree:)

There are many random name generators out there. From your description he sounded vaguely Italian, so I did a search for 'random name generator italian' and got the common https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/italian-names.php; but was impressed with https://blog.reedsy.com/character-name-generator/language/italian/ mainly because it includes that 'First name means: "Famous warrior."' field which can help fill out the imagination; and https://thestoryshack.com/tools/italian-name-generator/ generated some cool sounding names in the first run. Of course he does not have to be Italian, so replace that term with whatever you are feeling like. Of course, you may be looking for a nickname, but I did not find anything very satisfying for that --nicknames need to be more evocative and descriptive.

Maybe ChatGPT can help if we feed it the right terms?
Ah, cool. That is a simple solution.
Oh, so this is not 'a gun from your homeworld', if is 'a gun like your homeworld's'? Cool.
There really is no trace of your planet, is there. :)
Again, I am not sure about the 'hidden' part. You could have EMP Grenades (I know they exist at TL9, but don't see them in the Core book).

Nuclear weapons --a main source of EMP-- are illegal, but any space-fairing society has to deal with solar-flairs which have the same effect as EMP, so these will be rather ineffective on ships or anywhere that has not become complacent due to shielding from atmosphere.

Cleverly placed and targeted EMP attacks could affect a ship, but that would require a lot of work to set up.
There could be a lot of interesting interactions with Cybernetics and EMPs. We can explore that in play?
Proximity and contact always increase such effects. It might be hard to hide the power-supply for such a device, but you know a bit about power systems, so you can experiment with that.

As with a Grenade, being single-use and disposable can help a lot with being small enough to hide. But anyone who sees it is likely to be suspicious.
@WhtKnt, are you keen on this Connection and its implications about how you got the Ship? (This could be on a different ship, of course.)
If you and an NPC escaped from a bad situation together, or have significant personal dramatic events in your past you are more likely to be loyal to them and vice-versa, they are not just someone you hired to do a job. This loyalty both means they are less likely to deliberately let you down (and that any betrayals would be significant and in furtherance of the story), but also that you are less likely to be willing to fire them if they mess up or to replace them when you find a level 4 Navigator who is better than they are. It is a two-way obligation in the story.
Remember, these are 'Pilot 1', not 'Pilot' or 'Pilot +1'. You can not really raise you Skill with these Packages (they are meant to fill in gaps). You can take another Pilot Speciality at 1. Remember that Capital Ships are the size of cities, you are unlikely to need that outside a military campaign.

Small Craft could be useful for landing a shuttle on planets and such.

I am good with the connection between Cat and Raf.

Nice selection. I liked the second one and choose: Benvenuto Venturi - sounds like someone who is dealing with guns... ;D First name means: "Well-arrived."
So you also did check its RPG adventure generating capabilities ? ;) What do you thing about it in this regard and in general?
Yes, I know. But now I'm more like "let's add complexity gradually, and head for starting the game".
"There have to be! Our mechs were different, more like symbiosis, then purely mechanical technology... and too valuable to simply erase it... if you would be the one having such power to seal the whole planet you wouldn't want to loose it! Unless... you were afraid of it... ?"

Unfortunately: the rifle is like the ones that were common in noble houses on Raf's home planet, but it is not from there :( But now... thinking about it... if Raf would ever come by the item that was certainly from his planet... that would be a strong lead or... bait for him:)
I like the direction of solar-flairs... "the power of sun"... :D I didn't thought it should be so powerful to affect ships - as they are indeed shielded from such things by design - I think. But robots, drones, smaller mechs, ship computers when you are onboard, not so far from them already? Why not? So could it be some kind of special looking small/miniaturized EMP grande, that is attachable/kept with to the gun. Thobias thing was something different, more alien(to the outside word) or advanced then what is wildly available off the planet. So in this case - what Raf have - for now will be rather an imitation of this with known technology, then "the same thing".
Cybernetics, EMPs and... symbiosis between human and machine, maybe even with more like organic way... would be cool for me:)
Yes, I was thinking about single-use, but rechargeable.
Ok, now I understand. Yes, this is interesting tension in such friend-like cases.
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A pity, but it looks like bing for the sake of a good game. Ok, let's see what our package will look like, I think I will choose something for Raf.

WhtKnt - so did you get Astrogation from this or we did hire some NPC to do that for us in that time? If hire: who s/he was and is s/he still with us?

So it looks that Raf's connections are almost resolved. Who's next or are they done too? :)

Apart from skill package - what we have to do, to start the game already?

I have never looked at ChatGPT. Just heard about it and thought it might have potential for nicknames as I wrote that.
I don't even use professionally written and tested campaigns or settings, I doubt random generated stuff would appeal to me... for more than 'as a curiosity'.

I have heard of people using such tools to replace Oracle tables. It would need to be about as easy as rolling on an Oracle or would have to offer something much more than a simple table. I even dislike automatic Oracle rollers since I tend to treat such rolls as suggestions, and not being able to see the results directly above, below, or next to the rolled result --as alternatives, or to add enhancements-- makes these single results uninspiring.
Noted.
To start we can stick to standard TL9 Grenades. You can work on miniaturizing them in your own time. An EMP requires a LOT of energy --it is the energy that does the damage-- so power is the limiting factor. You are a Power Engineer, so working on getting better at that may help you in this endeavour.
I was thinking 'single use' more like a Grenade. 'Rechargeable' sounds like lot like 'reusable'. With your skills you could always rebuild it, so potato/potato? You can work on getting multiple uses out of them later.
Yes. Power Systems, Cybernetics, Medic, Mechanic, Energy Weapons, Endurance... Looks like an interesting combination to get you 'where you want to be'. :)
Indeed. Something from myth and legend.
If you want Capital Ships you are welcome to take Capital Ships. Just making sure you know what they are, and that we won't be dealing with them very often. Your ship is 200 Tons, Capital Ships start from 5,000 Tons.

Hmm... Looking at this, and at those final Terms (and the Depot on page 259), I am having a 'game starting' thought that I will think about while standing in queues today and then write up later.

Everyone please remind me how you know Raf or Cat (or summarise your Connections for everyone).

To simplify things, I'll just have Cat pick up Astrogation 1.

Cool. Did you already know a bit about Astrogation before that or did you have to scramble to learn it quickly? With your low EDU but higher INT it makes some sense for you to needed to learn it in order to enact this escape. Maybe save finalising your answer till after we have chatted about the potential starting scenario.

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Also, Astrogation was one of your suggested Skills for the Package, which might give you first pick, but, if people/situation had not pushed you into it, would that have been your pick, or would you like to claim "dibs" on Recon as well?

vagueGM - to be clear: By that I meant a suggestion for Cat to take Astrogation 1 as "connection skill"? Or did she already choose both of those skills?

Doh!

Astrogation and Recon where WhtKnt's suggestions for Package Skills. If we turn this into a Connection Skill they can find something else for the Package if they want.

For my connection with Lio (he's maintaining my cyber implant), I'd like to upgrade my broker skill. Lio only did the medical part of it. If any parts were needed, Ronny would have to use his trader/smuggler knowledge to get those parts.

Is that alright?

Skills that nobody has: tactics and survival. This could work for Lio, he HAS been in the army after all. Trying to become an officer he would have studied tactics (but failed). And survival might have been a part of the search & rescue training. I don't know how to tie these skills to the connection with Raf and Ronny.

I apologize for my short answers, but I'm not that good at coming up with elaborate background stories. I'm more of a player that does it the other way around. Not to much background so it's flexible enough to fit/help the story if needed.

Am I correct that we need both 2 connection skills and 2 package skills? In that case the 2 skills above can become part of the package.
In that case I can find 2 other, not so unique, skills.

Sure. That makes sense.

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How do you know Raf or Cat? Is Raf maybe a source for your Cybernetics?

Sounds fine if you are interested in them. If no one is interested in taking and playing certain Skills we can leave them off-screen.
Package Skills are not related to the Connections, they are just arbitrary Skills the group might need. You can have picked them up at any point in the Character Creation process.Correct.

The Connections can bring a Skill up to 3, Package Skills are always at 1.

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That is completely fine.

How do you know Raf or Cat? Even if it is not an official Connection, it may set the scene for the start of play.

I think those have already been established.
Cat: no bonus
Raf: +1 persuade
Lio: +1 broker

Maybe answer how we know each other in the context of the Where do we start? idea. Only if we are interested in that starter and the ship-based complications it might bring.

This might change the desired Package Skills. We can decide on them once we know.

Ok, so can I put a TL9 EMP Grenade that has the same stats as Frag grenade but only works one electronic, not shielded staff? Yes, definitely Raf will be working some more on that:)
OK, I think we were thinking about it quite similar I the end:) So let say that only the shell of it stays(as there is no real explosion) - after one use - and it has to be charged in special way: by built by Raf device connected to ship power plant. Would that be ok?
:)
No thanks. I will stay with with my Spacecraft for now, but will like to develop it certainly with time. Now having a ship:)

Yeah, maybe take a look at the 1e SRD for Grenades to get started, but that does not add a lot to this conversation.
'Shielding' might work like Armour, reducing the effect. As with 'ship weapons vs ground weapons' a hand grenade will have little effect on ships' systems anyway, and ships' shields will be multiplied in effectiveness. But there is still the chance of some effect.
Your experimental designs might ignore some or all of the rules. It is not impossible to be against the rules, it is just against the rules! :)
Sure. That does mean you have to go in afterwards and pick up the shell of your grenade. If that is something you want to have to do that could be interesting. Else you can just rebuild the whole thing (maybe a battery/power source, an oscillator -> capacitor, a sidac as the trigger, and then a coil to dump the pulse? all that could just be wrapped in electrical tape if you don't have a 'shell'?). A reclaimable shell is cool, but 'cool' also means 'recognisable', so this could lead to trouble-of-the-criminal-type later, but you are used to that.