Character Creation

This is the thread to discuss character creation and backstory

Hi everyone, I thought i'd help you all kick off your character creation discussion by posting some information that you have each told me individually about your characters.

This is what you each told me is your initial character preference (not a requirement, you can completely change whatever you want, just thought i'd kick off the discussion).

will.colona30
- Rodian Bounty Hunter Assassin

AndymcD
- Human Technician or Human Colonist

Lewis
- Open to fit the group but maybe Colonist, Explorer Trader or Pilot

Nalfein
- Colonist Politico (later maybe become a General Specialization Tree, Imperial Academy Cadet)

My role in this thread is to help you guys get organised into characters that compliment each other and have awesome back stories and deep motivations that help your epic adventure start off strongly.

As you all most likely know, Edge of the Empire is not a hack and slash min/max type game, the focus is 100% on story instead of building some OP character. So don't worry too much about making your party fill every single conceivable role or situation.

First decision I suggest you make

Your party will be a group of 4 individuals who each owe a debt of obligation to a Hutt Cartel crime lord named Bargos The Hutt. You have been called to the palace of Bargos the Hutt to perform just one small favor to reduce your debt...

How does your crew fit together and how does your debt fit into the story / group / world?

Many of you said you really like it when a crew has a solid reason for being together. I have a few suggestions for that backstory but its totally up to you all to work this out in the end:

A. Maybe your crew have run a few jobs for Bargos before and may or may not have some shared stories already

B. Maybe you all meet for the first time for this job (strangers with fates thrust together to form a crew for this mission), or

C. Something else unique you guys can think of

Woo! Backstories!

I'm not sure how I would prefer for our characters to know each other starting out. Right now I would lean towards option B, but that's probably because we as players don't know anything about each others' characters yet. So I'll start with my character's backstory. I apologize if it's overly long and I've tried to be somewhat brief.

https://gamersplane.com/characters/starwarsffg/7557/

Erek Drefive is a human male from a high standing, controlling, and apathetic family in the Core Worlds. I don't have any specific ideas about his family or home planet though. I'm flexible to have his backstory be linked to another character in this way, if anyone has any ideas.

Anyways, Erek was always interested in the galaxy as a whole and his family generally disapproved of this. They wanted him to focus on trivial family responsibilities that mostly included shadowing boring business meetings and organizing dull records. Eventually, Erek decided to join the Imperial Navy because, from his viewpoint, it offered a chance at adventure and doing good in the galaxy. Not to mention freedom from his suffocating and uncaring family.

His family heavily disapproved of course, but Erek didn't need or wait for their blessings. The family name still set him up to be trained as an officer and maybe even a commander position someday. Unfortunately, Erek's personality did not agree with standard Imperial protocol. After barely graduating from the academy, Erek never rose above the rank of ensign. In fact, his habit of suggesting leniency towards "enemies" of the empire and his general questioning of his superior officer's commands resulted in Erek creating a number of dangerous enemies.

So he was eventually ordered on an impossible and suicidal mission. It was the Empire's favored method of dealing with non-compliant ensigns. Erek was able to see the mission's true goal before being completely caught in its web. He was able to escape with his life, but now he's a known fugitive fleeing the Empire: wanted for desertion of his post.

His family considers him an embarrassment and a threat to their credibility, as the Drefives are completely loyal to the Empire that has been so good to them. Erek believes they would sell him out in a heartbeat. Thus, he was forced to the edge of the Empire to avoid capture (and probably execution).

Erek values freedom, for himself and for anyone else he sees that suffer under authorities abusing their power. As for his debt to Bargos the Hutt, I think it makes sense for him to fall in debt in order to have the resources to stay on the move. Or to hire shady slicers to somewhat bury or alleviate his wanted status in the Empire.

Eventually, Erek wants to be able to explore the galaxy with absolute freedom, but he wonders if that will ever be possible while the Empire is in power. He feels betrayed by it as a whole, but feels even more so betrayed by the officers he was forced to work under. Erek also holds a grudge against his own family, the Drefives, for their apathetic and selfish lifestyles. They never cared for his goals in life and now would sell him to the Empire at their earliest convenience.

I know a few groups typically write a few lines then pass to the next player. The next player typically writes a few lines on how his/her character knows the first one, then everyone passes again until the sheet gets back to the original player.

Anyways, I'll write up a few quick notes on my character and we'll go from there?

Gwekk Simla, a young male Rodian Bounty Hunter, has recently finished his degree in bounty hunting with a minor in assassinations. With a fresh bounty hunter's license in his pocket and eager to work his trade, he has started doing small jobs for Bargos the Hutt. One day, Gwekk hopes to become one of the galaxy's premier bounty hunters that continues the proud Simla line of bounty hunters.

I love this!

Which university did he attend?

I was playing around with doing a Star Wars-y analog for ITT Tech or some other for-profit university, but couldn't think of a fun name.

Also, just to make things gel with Nalfein's Erek a bit better, I'm going to swap Gwekk's Obligation from duty bound (originally it was duty bound to the bounty hunter creed or similar notion) to "A Score to Settle" from the Hired Gun splat book and "Antagonist" from the Smuggler splat book.

This way, Gwekk wouldn't feel "duty bound" to turn Erek in as a fugitive from Imperial law.

Shad Rosek, Gwekk's longtime nemesis and rival, have always been at odds against each other. The burly Klatooinnian decided that the life of a hired gun was a more profitable one and dropped his study of bounty hunting. This eventually lead Shad down the road of becoming a bodyguard for hire. Now, Shad and Gwekk are in diametrically opposed professions, which causes both the Rodian and the Klatooinian to search for the next opportunity to one up the other. So far, neither has managed to kill the other, but both suspect that their deadly game has only one conclusion.

Mechanically speaking if our starting obligation is 10, this should be split 5 "A Score to Settle" and 5 "Antagonist". If Ian_PC is up for it, I'd be willing to let Gweek take on extra obligation and let him have a burning desire to find the next opportunity to one up his longtime cunning rival.

If Nalfein is up for it, Shad's next big gig might be protecting a head of the Drefive family or other Imperial officer.

I think it would be interesting for Gwekk to have conflicting interests between working with his comrades versus collecting a bounty on Erek (whenever Gwekk would find out about the bounty anyways). Of course, that only works out for the game if he chooses the former. So thanks for shifting his obligation around and I hope you're still happy with it.
Protecting a member of the Drefive family, or even its head, sounds like a great idea to me and I'm all for it. Maybe because of that, Gwekk seeks out Erek so he can get more information on the Drefive family. The two could have ended up deciding to work together since their goals align so neatly.

I can see the two having a pretty fun dynamic between each other. One being a bounty hunter and the other having a bounty on his head and all.

Hey Andy,
As I really open to playing any build, I'd love some insight into your character. From there I'll put a character/backstory together.

Looking forward to getting to know Gwekk and Erek!

Awesome everyone, we're starting to take shape!

Here are the 2 draft character sheets we have so far for everyone's reference:

Will:
https://gamersplane.com/characters/starwarsffg/7551/sheet/

Nalfein:
https://gamersplane.com/characters/starwarsffg/7557/sheet/

As I sit at my desk hard at work brainstorming characters, I've got thinking about our band of heroes/criminals/spacers.

With a bounty hunter (stealthy damage dealer I would assume?) and our 'face' in tow, I'm thinking about what we might be lacking (perhaps I'm overthinking it!)

Historically, I've almost always played as a pilot, I would be entirely happy doing that again and this time serving as a sort of 'Wheelman'/smuggler.

Alternatively, if it would make more sense for me to play as more of a tanky-bruiser or some sort of purpose-built droid, I'd be happy to do that too.

My apologies for being a little slow, I've been busy in work and am currently switching my broadband to a different provider which has limited my access at home but all going well I should be all set over the weekend.

In brief, my character (Jack Convoy) will be an outlaw technician, he left his homeworld to set up in this world, borrowed money from the Hutts to start a repair/junk shop. he had been paying down his debt and had nearly settled when his shop was broken into (he suspects by the Hutt he borrowed money from) which left him in debt. He has an aptitude for repairing things and has a middling skill in slicing. The Hutts have been happy to keep him in debt for his skills and for his ability to keep his mouth shut and not ask stupid questions.

He may have interacted with the other characters before if they visited his shop.

My general rule of thumb for games is do whatever is fun. I have faith that Ian_PC isn't looking to destroy us in a tactical combat game.

So this is to say, I'm not exactly bothered by the concept of "missing" a role like a tank. Though it might be a bit boring if we had, say two "face" characters since it would be a bit hard to have a spotlight at times.

I agree and think that we shouldn't feel pressured to try and hit every role we can.

Concerning my character, Erek, as the "face" of the group, I want to say that he is not good at dealing with underhanded situations. He's not good at lying or anything like that. So that's one area where you don't need to worry about overlapping with him.

I'm seeing Erek as a bit of a Jack of All Trades, at least once he hits his second specialization tree.

I agree entirely. In that case, I reckon I know where I'd like to go character-wise. I'll finalize them this evening and write up some flavor text.

Hehe. Definitely focused on the story here, so yep no role is strictly necessary to have an awesome time.

Look forward to seeing your character sheets Lewis and Andy, if anyone has any questions on character creation just let me know, but looks like its all coming together reasonably well and you're all laying an awesome foundation.

I'm curious about one thing - which of you would have gone to Jack Convoy's repair/junk shop before it was broken into?

Which one of you broke into it! ;-)

Hi, here is my draft for the character. I'm new to this sort of thing so let me know if I've done anything wrong. Cheers. https://gamersplane.com/characters/starwarsffg/7566/

That link didn't seem to work - I think you may have to submit your sheet for approval to the game in order for us to see it

Ah, ok. I've submitted it now. A quick question, do we get extra XP for the obligations?

Awesome I can see your sheet. I love your back story, such a raw deal.

Regarding obligation - you each start with 10 obligation (as recommended in the core book).

But you can take up to 10 extra obligation in exchange for more starting experience, or additional credits to purchase starting gear.

Here is the extra obligation table for you to reference:


Note: there is no requirement to take extra obligation

Note 2: I just created a destiny point thread here to keep track of destiny points and for everyone to jump in there now and roll 1 white dice to establish the initial destiny points pool.

Pardon the late response! Dud Lento's character sheet has been submitted.

https://gamersplane.com/characters/starwarsffg/7614/

Hoping that link works. I typed up a bit of 'how did he get here' for Dud. Pardon any spelling and grammar issues!

Hey everyone! I just reviewed all of those character sheets and aside from a few small tweaks or questions below I think we are good to go. I can see everyone has been thinking about their character stories a lot and they are all really good and unique in their own way, I can already see some awesome plot hooks involving each character coming together in my mind.

Here are my questions and tweaks on the character sheets:

Erek Drefive
- I added Expert Tracker Rank 1 to your charater sheet (which is a race talent)
- Would be awesome to have any other talents added to your character sheet for quick reference (no rush with that, can sort it later)

Dud Lento
- Your strain and wound calculation was the wrong way around, I just adjusted that, please let me know if I'm wrong

Gwekk Simla
- You spent 90 / 100px and you have 10 XP left is that right?

Jack Convoy
- I have updated the obligation part of your sheet to reflect "Debt" as the specific obligation you spoke of and noted down that you took 20 obligation, please correct me if I'm wrong there
- I believe your race (human) allows for 2 extra non-career skills which you are welcome to choose and add to your character sheet

Note: Also can each player please track their credits balance on their character sheets so we can all see

I'll leave your character sheets in draft form for 24 more hours and then approve them (however I believe you can still edit them after that point to adjust as you need to, e.g. to adjust your current strain or wounds or add new gear or talents)

I think we'll be good to start with the chapter 1 introduction and first steps into the game world on Monday!

Last thing - Ships!

Since Lewis is a pilot I feel like its reasonable that he already has a ship for the crew (or if there is another reason why you have a ship let me know). As you guys may know you can choose any ship within a 120k credits budget (give or take a little). I'm going to post 3 options below and their respective floor plans BUT if you really want something else please just note down and vote for it below and the ship with the most votes wins:

Ship A: Lonar E9 Explorer
Ship Stats: http://swrpg.viluppo.net/transportation/starships/469/
Floor Plan: https://i.imgur.com/wMeWzc2.jpg

Ship B: Wayfarer-Class Medium Freighter
Ship Stats: http://swrpg.viluppo.net/transportation/starships/442/
Floor Plan: https://i.imgur.com/7XHujXS.jpg

Ship C: Ghtroc 720 Light Freighter (AKA space turtle)
Ship Stats: http://swrpg.viluppo.net/transportation/starships/470/
Floor Plan: https://i.imgur.com/wEOVWnj.jpg

Look forward to seeing your votes and thoughts!

I've added the two non-class skills, reduced my obligation to 10 and recorded credits in notes.

I added Expert Tracker Rank 1 to my character sheet. I'm not sure I understand the race talent aspect to it though, or just how it plays into my character.

I don't have any other talents for my character since I spent all of my experience on Erek's characteristics.

Thanks mate. My apologies.

I've also added Dud's unspent credits to his character sheet.

I updated my character sheet and used the last of the XP (I was debating whether I should take extra obligation) on increasing my skill with Ranged (Heavy).

As for ships, my votes would be:
A > C > B.

I think I'd vote the same way. Ultimately, they'd all do the trick I reckon!

A C B for me to.

I've always been the fan of the space Turtle. I've outvoted, but C > A > B is my choice.

Looks like we can all agree that option B is not an attractive one!

The real issue begins when we have to name the vessel...

Excellent everyone. It looks like we're all ready to get started. I have approved your character sheets now. So good!

Head over to the Chapter 1 thread and take a look at the introduction and opening crawl. Basically - the adventure has now started its time for you to get into character!

I have posted up some more detailed schematics on your chosen ship in the resources forum.

Please also note I have posted a note in general chat about being away for 2 days this week.

The last ship I played with was called the Bicentennial Pigeon. But that was a YT-1300 and technically my character owned the ship so we stuck with it. Peering over to the Chapter 1 thread, looks like I'll be deferring to Dud Lento for ship names.

I ended up with The Hood. I thought it would be nice to name the ship after a famous vessel and the HMS Hood was sank during the Battle of The Denmark Strait. Plus, the name suggests concealment and hiding ones face/identity.

As you can tell I'm an overthinker!

"Just a bunch of boys from The Hood"

"Come to The Hood and talk business"

"The Hood is going to blast yo ass"

So many possibilities

When our adventures are turned into the next major Star Wars movie trilogy, Eazy E's 'Boyz-n-the-hood' will play over the credits...

Haha! Ok fine - changing our game name to "Adventures of The Hood and Her Crew" :D