I need a crew

[Bujar]

Hello !

I need 400 Crew Man, where can i find them ?
Is it diffituclt to find them ?

thanks

[Owen E Oulton]

I'm assuming you need game stats for your crew, not 400 players...

Not all crew members need full stats, and indeed most of your crew need not even be defined. For the most important half-dozen or dozen NPCs, (Captain, et cetera), you'll need to roll up a full character and come up with a background. You can either create these characters yourself (getting in a lot of practice at character generation), or use the characters available in different places. Many LUG supplements have full character writeups, and there are a lot of fully developed characters available here at http://www.trekrpg.net in both the Personnel Records area and included with many of Dave Biggins' adventures in the Tactical area.

For other NPCs on your ship, you'll need to simply list their Attributes and major Skills/Specialisations, with maybe a Trait or two and quick notes on who they are. A couple dozen should do. Here's an example...

Ensign Fred Smith
Human, age 22, red hair/blue eyes/freckles
Fresh out of Academy. Shy, somewhat clumsy Engineering officer

Fitness 2
Coordination 2
Dexterity -1
Intellect 2
Perception +1
Presence 2
Willpower +1
Psi 0

Energy Weapon (Phaser) 1 (2)
Propulsion Engineering (Warp Drive) 2 (3)
Shipboard Systems (Sensors) 2 (3)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 2 (3)

Disadvantages: Shy (-1) (must make Willpower roll to avoid stuttering or babbling when speaking to officers above Lieutenant (j.g.))

Note that the above doesn't even come close to completely describing the character. It does establish what basic job skills he has, so that you know that he might be piloting the shuttle on an away mission, or manning the Sensors on the Bridge, or working to get the Warp engines on line before the Romulans attack again. He's got a couple of distinguishing features - note that the Shy -1 Disadvantage isn't one from the books. You can make 'em up on the fly, just make sure that the costs are reasonable and that effects of the Trait make sense.

For the background characters (NDE, or "no dialogue extras," they're called in the TV biz) you don't even need that much. A simple list of names to drop at need (Ltjg Sokar, Vulcan astrophysicist, or Lt Gorrth, Tellarite Ops officer) will spice things up. You may need a couple dozen or so.

Most on the ship's crew aren't even background. You don't need to say anything at all about them. They're there, they do their jobs. Leave 'em open for further development or flash inspiration.

Any time you use a character, make notes on anything new you decide. F'rinstance, if at some time the fact that Fred Smith (remember him?) has a bit of a crush on a female PC, note it. If Fred becomes an important character, full stats can be generated for him.

Such characters can be jotted down on 3x5 index cards (like your grandmother uses for recipes) and kept in a pocket sleeve in a binder (available at most stationery stores - I'm assuming here that this is true in Europe as it is here in Canada). Fully developed NPCs will need their own character sheets. The NDE types can simply be listed on a page.

So, here's what you'll have detailed:

3-6 Player Characters (of course!)
12 Full NPCs
24 Summarised NPCs
24 Named NDEs

The other 330+ of the crew are there for expansion. Don't try to detail them all - you'll just get a headache and when you need a specific NPC you won't be bale to find him. Too much detail can bog you down quickly.

Look at your ship as being a town. You know a lot about your friends and family (the PCs), and quite a bit about your schollmates/co-workers (full NPCs). You know a bit about your neighbours, and the the clerk at the corner store (summarised NPCs) and next to nothing about the people on the next block (named NPCs) or the town council (also named NPCs). The people you ride to school/work with on the bus are NDEs - you know nothing about them, but you might notice them in passing.

I hope this advice is of some use to you...

[Greg Davis]

Oh wow...Owen has just managed to describe, in game-mechanics, my entire town...

When you get a chance Owen, could you tell me what level everyone is, just so I can know how much experience I'd get for defeating them in combat?



Just kidding, of course!


Greg

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Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay.

The worst is Death...

Death shall have his day.

[Paul]

Sometimes, names can be fun, and I have a cople of running gags like that...

Such as the Security team comprised of Ensigns Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, and Beretta.

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Why do banks charge you an "insufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?

[Dave Biggins]

Thanks for the nudge Owen, there's another adventure waiting in the hopper as we speak.

Bujar, here are another four characters from my old campaign.

CAPTAIN ROBERT DESOTO
Commanding Officer (Human Male)

Attributes
Fitness 2
Coordination 4
Dexterity +1
Intellect 3
Presence 3
Willpower +1
Psi 0

Skills
Administration (Starship) 2 (4)
Athletics (Climbing) 2 (3)
(Fly Fishing) 4
Command (Starship) 3 (6)
Computer (Research) 1 (2)
Culture (Human) 2 (3)
Diplomacy (Interstellar Relations) 1 (3)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1 (2)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
(Human) (2)
Language
Federation Standard 3
Law (Interstellar Law) 2 (3)
(Starfleet Regulations) (3)
Life Science (Exobiology) 1 (2)
Personal Equipment (Tricorder) 1 (2)
Planetary Science (Geology) 1 (3)
(Hydrology) (3)
Planetside Survival (Mountains) 1 (3)
Shipboard Systems (Command) 1 (3)
(Sensors) (2)
Space Science (Stellar Cartography) 1 (2)
Starship Tactics (Federation) 2 (4)
(Romulan) (3)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2)
World Knowledge (Altair III) 1 (2)
(Earth) (2)

Advantages/Disadvantages
Argumentative –1
Contact (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) +2
Contact (Commander William Riker) +1
Department Head (Science) +2
Promotion (Captain) +10
Rival (Tam Elbrun) –1

Courage 5
Renown 60
Aggression –7
Discipline 8
Initiative 8
Openness 13
Skill 24

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JAMES TORRES
Executive Officer (Human Female)

Attributes
Fitness 2
Coordination 4
Dexterity +1
Intellect 3
Perception +1
Presence 2
Willpower +1
Psi 0

Skills
Administration (Starship) 2 (4)
Athletics (Climbing) 2 (3)
(Running) 4
Command (Starship) 1 (3)
Computer (Research) 1 (2)
Culture (Human) 2 (3)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1 (2)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
(Human) (2)
Language
Federation Standard 3
Law (Federation) 1 (2)
(Starfleet Regulations) (3)
Personal Equipment (Tricorder) 1 (2)
Physical Science (Mathematics) 1 (2)
(Physics) (2)
Planetside Survival (Urban) 1 (2)
Shipboard Systems (Command) 2 (3)
(Flight Control) (3)
(Sensors) (3)
Space Science (Astrogation) 1 (2)
(Stellar Cartography) (2)
Starship Tactics (Federation) 1 (2)
(Romulan) (2)
Systems Engineering (Flight Control) 2 (4)
Unarmed Combat (Starfleet Martial Arts) 1 (2)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 2 (3)
World Knowledge (Earth) 1 (2)

Advantages/Disadvantages
Department Head (Operations) +2
Innovative +1
Mild Phobia (Q) -2
Promotion (Lieutenant Commander) +6

Courage 5
Renown 57
Aggression –6
Discipline 13
Initiative 4
Openness 9
Skill 25

LIEUTENANT ORFIL SOLIS
Flight Control Officer (Human Male)

Attributes
Fitness 2
Coordination 4
Reaction +1
Intellect 3
Perception +1
Presence 3
Willpower +1
Psi 0
Skills
Administration (Starship) 2 (4)
Athletics (Climbing) 2 (3)
Command (Combat Leadership) 2 (3)
(Starship) (3)
Computer (Research) 1 (2)
Culture (Human) 2 (3)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1 (3)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
(Human) (2)
Language
Federation Standard 3
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1 (2)
Personal Equipment (Tricorder) 1 (2)
Physical Science (Mathematics) 1 (2)
(Physics) (2)
Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) 1 (2)
Planetside Survival (Urban) 1 (2)
Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) 2 (4)
Systems Engineering (Flight Control) 1 (2)
Unarmed Combat (Starfleet Martial Arts) 1 (2)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 2 (3)
World Knowledge (Earth) 1 (2)

Advantages/Disadvantages
Department Head (Operations) +2
Intolerant (Minosans) -1
Promotion (Lieutenant) +4

Courage 5
Renown 43
Aggression 0
Discipline 10
Initiative 5
Openness 7
Skill 24

LIEUTENANT JG LIAN TSU
Operations Manager- (Human Female)

Attributes
Fitness 2
Strength –1
Vitality +1
Coordination 4
Dexterity +1
Intellect 3
Perception +1
Presence 2
Willpower +1
Psi 0

Skills
Administration (Starship) 2 (3)
Athletics (Climbing) 2 (4)
Riding (3)
Command (Combat Leadership) 1 (2)
Computer (Research) 1 (2)
Culture (Human) 2 (3)
Dodge 2
Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1 (2)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
(Human) (2)
Language
Federation Standard 3
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1 (2)
Personal Equipment (Tricorder) 1 (2)
Physical Science (Mathematics) 1 (2)
(Physics) (2)
Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) 1 (2)
Planetside Survival (Urban) 1 (2)
Shipboard Systems (Mission Ops) 3 (4)
(Sensors) (4)
Space Science (Astronomy) 1 (2)
(Stellar Cartography) (2)
Systems Engineering (Mission Ops) 1 (2)
Unarmed Combat (Starfleet Martial Arts) 1 (2)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 2 (3)
World Knowledge (Earth) 1 (2)

Advantages/Disadvantages
Intolerant (Minosans) -1
Promotion (Lieutenant) +2

Courage 5
Renown 48
Aggression -3
Discipline 7
Initiative 8
Openness 7
Skill 23

[Don Mappin]

Hey, hey, hey. Lets not turn this into a character-posting fest, okay?

Don

[Owen E Oulton]

"James Torres" "Human female?"

I've never run into "James" as am Hispanic name, especially for a woman. Isn't the Spanish form for James "Jaime?" 'Course, this is the 24^th we're talking about... Tell us more!

[Dave Biggins]

Don: Sorry about that

Owen: As far as the "Female" part goes, my only adequate response is D'OH.
James Torres was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has no Anglo-Irish-Scots heritage in his lineage. His father (who never served in Starfleet), however, was a big fan of James T. Kirk and named his son after him. He pushed his son forward into Starfleet and would accept nothing less from him than to be a command officer. Being the dutiful son he complied.

Although his scores were adequate for command, he truly excelled in operations. He had an uncanny knack for understanding many of the ships systems inside and out. When he was assigned to the Utopia Planetia ship yards, he was the man to go to if the flight control systems on your project just weren't acting as they should.

When he was assigned as the First Officer of the Hood, he did well on the onset. His technical know-how made him the dream XO for every Chief Engineer. As far as front-line leadership went, however, he got the job done but his inherent introversion prevented him from being inspiring.

Crunch time came in orbit of Psellus III when a Romulan Warbird decloaked, the planetside government changed hands, and Captain DeSoto was trapped below with the Away Team. He thought of his father and what Captain Kirk would do. He engaged the Warbird with the old Excelsior-class vessel.

Torres had a general familiarity with Romulan tactics. His opponent, Commander Modex, was very well versed in Federation tactics. It seemed as if they were hopelessly outmatched. Lieutenant Solis was a savvy Conn Officer and kept the Hood from being blown out of the sky on the onset. Torres was at wits end pacing the bridge fromend to end. When the Hood's Assistant Tactical Officer, ENS Mordok, scored a lucky hit on the warbird, however, things suddenly fell into place. Judging by how the Warbird listed for a split second, Torres was able to deduce almost intuitively what they hit and how it affected the systems of the ship as a whole. After a drawn out melee of feints and evasions courtesy of Solis and pot shots taken by Mordok, Torres was able to create a sort of mental "circuit layout" of the warbird. He know what to exploit and when to exploit it and in the end, a heavily damaged exploratory cruiser emerged victorious.

Well, I probably told you way more than you wanted to know Owen. Sorry 'bout that.

[Howlin' Mad Mark]

400? Must be a party or something. Anyway, Like Owen said, you don't have to 'flesh' out every single character on the ship. I have separate pools of names and basic stats for Major NPCs, Minor NPCs are those oh-so-useful-pregenerated characters in the Next Gen Core Book. Change a racial attribute and BOOM ( ) a bullet, or should I say disrupter stopper.

Names are even more fun. I don't generally allow my people to use names of actors(actresses) because that limits the NPC name pool. Just Imagine having your charater wake up on a starbase infirmary being tended by Dr. Quinn, Dr. Burns, or Dr. Pierce! You don't have to go into detail about them as the name gives most of the charater details.

Hope this helps some.

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In Craziness
Howlin' Mad Mark

[Dr. Jonas Bashir]

Dave, that must be the first Argentinian character I've ever seen that was created outside my country! Kudos to that.

You may like to attach Arrogant (-1) to his disadvantages... it's a well known (and stereotyped) deffect from our people, especially when talking about porteños (people from Buenos Aires city).

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Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality

[Dave Biggins]

Live to serve, Mr. Bashir!

Any other insights that you could provide me would be greatly appreciated (although I find the idea of most Argentinians being arrogant hard to believe...granted that I've never been south of Panama and you're the only Argentinian I know...)

[Robert Lai]

Originally posted by Paul:
Sometimes, names can be fun, and I have a cople of running gags like that...

Such as the Security team comprised of Ensigns Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, and Beretta.

Heh. Likewise, we had Smith & Wesson onboard during the FASA era. We suspected a Colt and Browning might be lurking about, too.

[Robert Lai]

For the majority of your NPC crew, you can get away with a name, rank, position and species.

How necessary are full stats? Consider the following ...

If we were looking at 'Hollow Pursuits' as a game session, it wouldn't strictly be necessary for Barclay to have full stats. We only need know that he's shy, a bit of a bumbler when under scrutiny, and he has a holo-addiction.

A few sessions later, we run 'The Nth Degree' as a game, and Barclay's back. Do we need his stats? Surprisingly, no. The story still turns off a personality trait and its sudden reversal.

The stats don't become necessary unless you're writing an adventure to share; need to benchmark a set of NPCs in relation to feature characters (Kirk, Picard, etc.) or other players; or are striving for per-point accuracy in skill/combat resolutions.

However, beware of making super-NPCs that can upstage player-characters.

Bob

[Dave Biggins]

When I create red shirts (ie: the guys listed in the scripts as "Science Officer #1"), I just put the race and class...er...template and overlay together and leave it at that

[SIR SIG]

Originally posted by Robert Lai:

However, beware of making super-NPCs that can upstage player-characters.
Bob

But that takes the fun out of it.
Upstaging PCs is very rewarding

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator