Chapter 0 - Characters

This thread is specifically for character creation and questions.

By the way, thank you for the character sheet I found in the Repository. :)

Also, if we're creating our own, are you allowing any non-core supplements? In this case, I was wondering about Twilight 2000: More Civilian Career Paths for the EMT career. If not, no biggie, I can change up if need be. :)

Thanks for the invite! Rolling on chart

35, American Combat Support Officer, First_Lieutenant; STR:B, AGL:C, INT:C, EMP:A, CUF:C; Stamina:B, Mobility:B, Ranged_Combat:B, Survival:C, Tech:D, Command:C, Persuasion:D; Load_Carrier, Historian, Combat_Engineer, Locksmith, Brawler

Sweet! Now I just need to know what all of that means! :D

Thanks for bringing me along! Here goes my character roll:

31, American Combat Support Officer, First_Lieutenant; STR:A, AGL:B, INT:A, EMP:C, CUF:C; Close Combat:D, Stamina:D, Ranged_Combat:D, Recon:C, Survival:D, Command:D, Persuasion:C; Runner, Psy_Ops, Combat_Engineer, Improvised_Munitions

Now to port this into a character sheet. If I can figure out where all of it goes. :/

This is fine by me.

Ratings Explained
Twilight 2000 is a dice pool system where you roll at most two dice. Anything 6 or above is a success. Anything 10 or above is considered 2 successes.

The A, B, C, D rating tells you which dice you roll.

A = d12
B = d10
C = d8
D = d6

Example:
Let’s say your character has a STR rating A and a Stamina rating C.

Now let’s say your character is exposed to disease and they need to resist it. They would roll using their stamina skill. In this example they would roll two dice: a d12 because their STR is A and a d8 because their stamina is C. If either individual die is greater than 6 they resist the disease. (You don't add the dice result together)

If they didn’t have a rating in Stamina, they would just roll using STR.

Encumbrance
Encumbrance units are the measure of how much stuff you can carry. They are represented in the character sheet template as a group of 4__ that you can type in.

- A ration takes up 1/4 unit.
- Water takes up 1/2 unit.
- A M16 takes up 1 unit.

I would track the info on the sheet something like this, for a person with 1 day's rations, 1 day's water, and a M16.



You can only carry a number of encumbrance units equal to your STR die size. (i.e. STR A can carry 12 units, STR D can carry 6)

If you have a backpack, it allows you to carry an additional number of encumbrance units equal to your die. However, while wearing the backpack you suffer -2 to mobility rolls.

@Dmbrainiac and @ForeverDED (and anyone else who would like it), I'll provide a summary of your character's abilities soon. Feel free to submit your character early, and I can help fill out the sheet.

I don't want us to get too bogged down in the character creation process.

@SpiritualSock511 I submitted a placeholder character for now. Nothing there yet but you can start filling it out if you are so inclined. I’ll have more time to get in depth with the sheet tomorrow morning.

@Dmbrainiac Your character is a 35 year old American Combat Support Officer with the rank of First Lieutenant.
I updated your character sheet with details. You just need to come up with their motivation, moral code, and name.

Here are your specialties explained:
Load Carrier: You can carry 4 additional encumbrance units in your combat gear and 4 more in your backpack.

Historian: Roll RECON when you arrive at a new location. If you succeed, the Referee can tell you something significant that happened here in the past (if anything did happen)

Combat Engineer: +1 modifier to TECH rolls for placing and disarming mines and explosive device, and to RECON rolls to avoid mines.

Locksmith: +1 modifier to TECH rolls for picking locks, cracking safes, and disarming alarms.

Brawler: +1 to CLOSE COMBAT rolls in unarmed combat.

I made a couple of small modifications to the Twilight 2000 character sheet template.

Hello everyone. As mentioned in the General thread, hoping to make my own PC, and it might be a few days before I find the time to do that. Hope that’s okay…

@Harrigan, that should be just fine. I think it will take a couple of days anyway to get everyone up to speed and answer questions.

Everyone in the Group

Please name your character so that the first letter of their name isn't the same first letter of another character's name. This is so I can easily identify characters on a map by using the first letter of their name.

Daniel Cunningham here. I've filled out as much of the character sheet as I can for now and will submit it after I post this.

Jedrick Kowalski here.

So far, it looks like we were part of an Engineering unit maybe?

I don't know how I missed the invite notif. Rolling now.

Of the group, who would like help with setting up your character sheet?

Tedic Reed, Private 24, American Conscript, Private; STR:B, AGL:A, INT:C, EMP:B, CUF:D; Stamina:D, Driving:B, Mobility:D, Ranged_Combat:C,
Command:D, Persuasion:D; Mountaineer, Linguist, Scrounger

Somehow I don't think Tedic will live past 25, but someone needs to be at the bottom of the pecking order.
I assume CUF is Coolness Under Fire? I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the blank spaces.
An explanation of the specialties Tedic has would be appreciated as well.

Well, I don't know what CUF (Is Saevikas right? Coolness Under Fire?) or where it goes on the character sheet.

Also should I put these skills (Runner, Psy_Ops, Combat_Engineer, Improvised_Munitions) under the Skill section on the sheet? Oh, and if I could get an explanation for all but Combat Engineer (you already explained that to Dmbrainiac), that would be great. :)

CUF is indeed Coolness Under Fire.

@SpiritualSock511 Thanks for the help! I've downloaded the Player's Manual so that I can refer to it. I'll put the finishing details on my character soon.

Nonsense, He'll probably outlive the group! :D

Those go on the specialties line near the top of the sheet.

Runner +1 to MOBILITY rolls for running.

Psy_Ops +1 to PERSUASION rolls for changing someone's mind about a particular issue.

Combat_Engineer +1 modifier to TECH rolls for placing and disarming mines and explosive device, and to RECON rolls to avoid mines.

Improvised_Munitions +1 to TECH rolls for making zip-guns and IEDs.

(A zip-gun is an improvised single-shot firearm using parts easily found at Home Depot)

@ForeverDED, I updated your character sheet.

Mountaineer +1 to MOBILITY rolls for rappelling, ascender-climbing, and knot-tying.

Linguist You know another language of your choice, well enough to be taken as a native on a PERSUASION roll. (Your choice I suggest Polish or Russian.)

Scrounger +1 to SURVIVAL rolls for scrounging.

@saevikas, I updated your character sheet. It's worthing noting that you have a backpack and an absurd amount of firepower.

Everyone in the Group
It looks like we'll be ready to start this weekend. The chapter 1 thread is locked but available if you want to see how things start. In the interim, feel free to ask questions about your character, the setting, the system, or anything else.

Wow. I guess that's kind of a morale check, right?
Thanks!
Is that the one on Scribd?

Chief Petty Officer Kowalski should be ready. :)

He's a country boy, raised by Polish Grandparents. Enlisted in the Navy to earn college money, got out went to a Tech College to become an EMT which he spent six years doing before reenlisting in the Navy and becoming a Navy Seal.

The last official message from HQ was "Good luck, you’re on your own now", so you wouldn’t act as if there is an official chain of command. However, military habits would be ingrained in all of your characters, and I think it would be hard to not naturally fall into those patterns. Ultimately, it’s up to you on how you want to handle it.

When you get shot at (hit or missed) you have to make a CUF check. If you fail the check, you become suppressed, you immediately drop prone, suffer one point of stress, and lose both actions on your next turn.

@Dmbrainiac, @ForeverDED, and @saevikas
Let me know if you have any questions about your gear.

Mine looks pretty self-explanatory.

Good to go.

I'm good to go as well.

If you haven’t already, think about a moral code for your character and add it your character sheet.

EXAMPLES OF MORAL CODES
- You have a moral obligation to help those worse off than you
- War is a glorious thing and you are meant to command.
- Freedom is everything. No one tells you what to do. Ever.

Can I ask that everyone share their character sheets so I can see what's already on the table and bring a PC in who's a good fit?

A quick summary here would work as well. Looks like everyone is from the US armed forces, correct? All the same unit?

I would say a sniper or someone with more firepower. There are 2 officers, 1 warrant officer ( navy seal with medical training), and a private with a M249 and a bunch of grenades. Go with your gut though l, anything should work out well.

Got it. Planning to just choose a template from the Player's Book. Any different rules to follow? Looks like maybe people have multiple specialties?

Knighthawke asked to use Twilight 2000: More Civilian Career Paths. Everyone else used the the d1000 method. If you’re using the template,go ahead and pick 3-4 specialties of your choice.

K. Interestingly, I couldn't even find that d1000 link when I went looking for it!

Here is the link again if you’re interested.

T2K1K-stats.docx (wordpress.com).

Normal Baker is done! Don't call him Normal, though. He goes by Sheepdog. Army Ranger, in country a long time. His sheet's up to date, I think. Just need the group morale and such.

Boy I love this system. There are few RPGs this detailed these days that I really enjoy, but Härenstam hit this design out of the park.

Oh, I also need a Buddy. Here's the 411 on Normal... any takers?

Actually, I think Tedic looks a great fit. A kid Normal would want to take in under his wing. What say you, Saevikas?

The unit moral rating is C. This is based on the highest command rating in the group. (Chase Hunter)

I’ll keep this thread open while we iron out character details. I think we can figure them out while we go through the story.

I’m unlocking chapter 1. Feel free to discuss in that thread on how your characters handle the situation. I encourage you to ask me lots of questions as we go.

Radiation
After the nuclear exchanges between NATO and the USSR, radiation is a deadly hazard in large areas of the world. Your characters have been affected already before the game starts. This is part of the character creation process.

I went ahead and rolled for some characters to help facilitate character creation. Your character could have been exposed in variety of ways, and radioactive areas are not uncommon in Poland.

Ranged Combat
You find it, you can use it. You’re correct about heavy weapons vs ranged combat.

Actually, as far as permanent radiation goes, I was wondering what effect it had in game terms, like dice rolls.

I assumed that they'd all been exposed to fallout already.

You can get radiation poisoning when exposed to radiation. The more radiation you have (permanent or temporary) when exposed makes it more difficult to resist.

Like other diseases you take a point of damage when sick and can’t heal damage while sick.

Good questions @ForeverDED. I’m glad you brought them up.

You all can call me DED. Save yourself a few characters of typing. :)

I'm open to the idea of Tedic being buddies with Normal, but I'm probably going to wait until I see what the other characters are like before I fill that space in.

Couple of questions:
Who is attacking the convoy?
Why are we in a convoy headed to Glucholazy?

You don't know. It could be a number of different groups: marauders, soviet troops, a rogue militia, etc... Someone would need to make a recon check looking for that specific information.
The government and social systems have broken down, and you've been left stranded in Poland for months with no word from home. The last word from HQ is that you're on your own. You have information that people are being transported out of Poland through Glucholazy via a humantarian organization. As of right now, that is the only hope you have of getting out the country.

The convoy is a mix of civilians and military.

I'm locking this thread. We can move any character discussion questions to the general thread.