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Thread: "Experienced" Characters?

  1. #16
    Originally posted by Sea Tyger
    Okay, before anyone else gets in a tizzy about how many advancements one of the series regulars have, you have to remember that these characters are going to be the pinnacle of the game.

    Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko and Co. are all the best of the best, and will always be built on more advancements than your scrawny PC could ever dream of.

    So, I personally wouldn't use the series stars as an example of character advancement.
    I just don't agree. Why are PCs necessarily "scrawny"? Why can't they be the stars of the galactic stage too? I guess I'm just in some ways not a typical RPGer. I sometimes want to play a newbie and sometimes want to play the legendary hero.

    Originally posted by Dave Biggins

    ELS: The Icon system actually did have classes: overlays. They just gave an "escape clause" if you wished to go simply by points. It all comes down to a matter of preferences. Some people prefer solid lines while others prefer the abstract. YMMV.
    Well, I don't want to get too deep into arguing semantics, but overlays aren't classes by my way of thinking. They are templates. Templates are guidelines. Classes are categories inherent in the gaming system. As you pointed out, you don't have to use the overlays. But you can't extract professions from the CODA system without the whole system coming crashing down...the same for classes in d20. That, to me, is the difference.

    Originally posted by Doug Burke


    The characters that will be provided in the NG are shown at the end of their particular series (although, in the case of Deep Space Nine, they are shown prior to Sisko's disappearance).
    Thanks for the info, Doug. Any speculation on where Janeway might have been at the beginning of the series?

    Originally posted by PGoodman13

    Thanks for the link. There's some interesting reading there.
    You're welcome.

  2. #17
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    Personnally, I'm OK with having starting characters that are not creme de la creme to begin with. IMHO, it's nicer to have the character evolving gradually, at least for one reason : that way, you can have the challenges rising gradually as well. For instance, if your player starts with something like 5 advancements, he's already rather good in his field, and will be able to complete interesting, but not too dangerous missions (think TNG or DS9 first season). When gaining advancements, his missions will rise accordingly in challenge - and renown rewards.

    Mmm... okay, this sounds much more mechanical than I thought it would ("you are level one - you clean the stables. When you're level 20, then you'll be asked to slay the dragon" ).
    What I meant was that, at the beginning of their respective series, Sisko and Janeway (a bit less for Picard) were not especially famous nor skilled (well... not too much anyway). And think about it : if you consider that an episode corresponds to a mission, and that it needs roughly two or three missions to gain an advancement, then a series character gains something like 7 advancements per season (accounting the fact that a character doesn't appear in every episode) - so something like 50 advancement from the beginning of the series to the end. There are Janeway's 45 advancements

    Besides, starting with a 45-advancements character may prove problematic for the balance of the scenario on the long term ("Hey, I've 60 advancements now. Okay, I'm gonna defeat these three Klingons single-handedly, then resume my building of a Soong-type android before returning to duty, where I'll fly the ship at warp 5 through the asteroid belt" ).
    "The main difference between Trekkies and Manchester United fans is that Trekkies never trashed a train carriage. So why are the Trekkies the social outcasts?"
    Terry Pratchett

  3. #18
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    Well, how about that: In 6 months time, when we all have had enough time to play with CODA, someone posts a poll to check the average number of advancement per character .
    Every procedure for getting a cat to take a pill works fine -- once.
    Like the Borg, they learn...
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  4. #19
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    I just don't agree. Why are PCs necessarily "scrawny"? Why can't they be the stars of the galactic stage too? I guess I'm just in some ways not a typical RPGer. I sometimes want to play a newbie and sometimes want to play the legendary hero.
    Okay, please understand that I had my tongue firmly planted in my cheek when I wrote "scrawny." IOW, I was being facetious.

    The entire point was that most PCs -- even the ship's captain, who could be a complete superstar in his/her own right -- won't start with anywhere near the advancements of the TV series' stars.

    Case in point: As a test, I wrote up my "superstar" starship CO from an online RPG, and was able to make a very nice representation of the character with just 21 advancements for a 13 year career. (He had two three-year combat tours in a row {6 advancements each}, 6 advancements in the preceding 5 years, and 3 advancements in the following 2 years. Yes, I loosely followed the PG's advancement suggestions based on time in service.)

    He has a broad skill base with some good modifiers (including +10 Tactics, meaning an 83% success rate with the Cochrane deceleration maneuver, or a 1 in 6 chance of successfully pulling off the Picard Maneuver...but I'd use a courage point or two on that anyway... ).

    At any rate, I think that it's a great campaign starting point for a 36-year old CO who, perhaps, earned the chair before he was completely ready and is just now coming into his own. And it didn't take 45 advancements to do it.
    Davy Jones

    "Frightened? My dear, you are looking at a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe! I was petrified."
    -- The Wizard of Oz

  5. #20
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    Originally posted by els1216
    Thanks for the info, Doug. Any speculation on where Janeway might have been at the beginning of the series?
    Honestly? No idea.
    Former Decipher RPG Net Rep

    "Doug, at the keyboard, his fingers bleeding" (with thanks to Moriarti)

    In D&D3E, Abyssal is not the language of evil vacuum cleaners.

  6. #21
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    Janeway's Location

    Just my 2 pennies,


    1) Hip deep in making sure Voyager was ready for her maiden voyage...ala Decker in TMP.

    2) Attached to Admiral Paris's staff working with Starfleet scientists on something or another.


    Just a thought

    Ronin84
    "The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank." -- Lt. Cdr. Montgomery Scott ("A Taste of Armageddon")

  7. #22
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    I seem to remember an add for Voyager when it was first coming out.

    Something about Janeway being one of the most decorated Captains in SF.

    Now we don't know a hell of a lot of her life before her Voyager command. But that kinda statement to me implies atleast a command or 2 under her belt before Voyager.

    Even then a fresh former science captain getting a mission to one of the most dangerous places in known space (Badlands) to apprehend extreme terrorists (Maquis); seems unlikely.

    Again the 45 levels might be when she's back home in 2376. Without having the stats 20 advancements seems okay for a fresh captain.
    ST: Star Charts Guru
    aka: The MapMaker


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