Current Concept Characters

[Dan Gurden]

OK, this is partially brainstorming, and partially an ideas thread.

I recently saw 'The Mummy Returns' which I enjoyed for its pure entertainment value.

However I was struck by the ancient egyptian Halberds and their similaritys to the Lirpa (and its Romulan descendant), a staff weapon with a half circle scythe at each end instead of weight at one... Now in the real world we know this is due to design influences, however in the Star Trek wold this is a coincidence...

Further consideration led me to begin envisaging an Egyptian character, versed in the myth and history of his homeland, possibly skilled in several ancient arts, and also serving in Starfleet. And then on his interaction with Vulcan after noticing these design similarities...

And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to play the character. The only drawbacks are real-life gaps in my knowledge, such as this weapons name.

But this is the sort of character that gets me to do extra research, fill in the gaps and devlop further. Besides, I always enjoy character creation.

I was wondering if anyone would care to share some of their 'high-concept' Trek characters that have either been a blast to create, or simply never materialised as the character became too complex to build correctly...

Ideas and Stats are fine. And once complete, I will be adding the stats of this egyptian character as they become completed (if anyone cares to see them).



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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"

[mactavish]

I have two such character concepts, one of which I ran in a GURPSTrek game while still in college.

The first is Lt. Cmdr. Michael Swift Elk, a Native American serving as Chief Engineer aboard the U.S.S. Liberty, a Nebula-class vessel serving near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Swift Elk was a scion of the Cheyenne, an American Indian tribe that had re-settled on another planet centuries before.

This character is one that I researched for weeks before getting into the game. I spent many long hours studying local Native American culture (the Hurons) and other, related material at the library. In the end, I'd say Swift Elk was one of the best characters I've played in any game. He is slated to become an admiral in my upcoming Series.

The other character concept that I've toyed with is that of an ancestor of an African warlord. The character (whom I've been calling Mykelti) is a security officer or tactical officer hailing from Nairobi. He is very much a religious man, following the traditions and rituals of his ancestors closely. In this way he is similar to Chakotay.

On the other hand, his tribe was one of the most brutal, opposing all interlopers and devastating several other tribes in the region. For this reason, I also decided that he would be a brutal warrior, learned in the fighting arts of his people as well as the martial ways of the Klingons and the Andorians.

Dressed in the standard Starfleet uniform, he enchances his look with a traditional African stole and a necklace passed down from his tribe.

There are couple of other that I've been making notes about, but they're not quite ready for the light of day just yet. When I've put together some stats for them (as well as those presented above) I'll slap 'em up here for your perusal.

mactavish out.

[Kaiddin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Gurden:
Further consideration led me to begin envisaging an Egyptian character, versed in the myth and history of his homeland, possibly skilled in several ancient arts, and also serving in Starfleet. And then on his interaction with Vulcan after noticing these design similarities...

And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to play the character. The only drawbacks are real-life gaps in my knowledge, such as this weapons name.

But this is the sort of character that gets me to do extra research, fill in the gaps and devlop further. Besides, I always enjoy character creation.

Ideas and Stats are fine. And once complete, I will be adding the stats of this egyptian character as they become completed (if anyone cares to see them).
</font>

I would be interested. I ran a two parter with a kind of 'Who Mourns for Adonis' and 'Stargate' the movie inspiration. A race of beings similar to Apollo, who I called the Retids (or Children of Ra) assumed the place of gods to the people or Khem (not the Khem on Earth).
The Excalibur was attracted to this system when two starships were detected in the system. Matet (becoming strong), was a size 10 vessel and the primary ship of the Retids. Although a capable warship, Ra could not afford to risk it in battle. Its loss would result in his people being restricted to the planet. The Semktet (becoming weak), was a size 4 ship used as a scout/escort. Sekhmet, commander of the Semktet, was beginning to become conflicted with her role as 'inforcer' in space and on the planet and allowed the Excalibur to get close enough to learn how the native population was being exploited. She did defect at the end but plans to have her join the crew were shattered when the player who was going to run her moved.

Sekhmet
Retid female
Although professing to be much older looks to be equivalent to 25 - 30 Earth years.

Fitness 3 Vitality +1
Coordination 5 Dextarity +1
Intellect 3
Presence 5
Psi 2

Skills
Administration (Starship) 4(5)
Athletics (Jumping) 2(3) (Running) (3)
Charm (Influence) 2(3)
Command (Starship) 4(5)
Computer (Research) 2(3)
Culture (Retids) 2(3)
Dodge 3
Energy Weapon (Staff of Ra) 4(5)
History (Retids) 2(3)
Languange Khemet 4
Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) 2(5)
Primitive Weapon (Staff of Ra) 4(5)
Projective Telepathy 2
Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) 3(5) (Tactical) (4)
Starship Tactics (Retid) 3(5)
Unarmed Combat (Brawling) 3(4)
Vehicle Operations (Shuttle) 2(3)
World Knowledge (Khem) 1(2)

Traits
Eidetic Memory (+3) Strong Will (+2) Rapid Healing (+1) Rival (-2) Sexy (+2) Obsessive Tendencies (-3) Athletic Ability (+2)

Did not do a check to see how many points were used to create Sekhmet but would have reduced some skills if she would have become a PC. Loss of connection with her 'source of power' thing.
The potential player liked the idea of a 'war goddess' who was starting to feel trapped in her job. We talked about how Nimoy said he had trouble controlling his emotions when off the set because of the strain of his role.

Did not really go into any depth on the Staff of Ra. Everyone had watched Stargate and just let them use that image. I did use the Lirpa for melee stats and phaser stats for its energy potential. I did decide that it could only be fired 'to kill' about 20 times before it required recharge but only if too far from the mother ship.

As a side note, the Excalibur did not destroy the Retid ships. The Federation Council is debating what response should be taken towards the Retid.

[John Raynor]

I seem to recall a T.O.S. episode featuring
an "immortal" going by the name of "Flint,"
who was born in ancient Mesopotamia. It's
very easy to envision other such immortals,
and one (or more) of them might have been
born in ancient Egypt, or at least spent a
few centuries living as an Egyptian...

[Dan Gurden]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by John Raynor:
I seem to recall a T.O.S. episode featuring
an "immortal" going by the name of "Flint,"
who was born in ancient Mesopotamia. It's
very easy to envision other such immortals,
and one (or more) of them might have been
born in ancient Egypt, or at least spent a
few centuries living as an Egyptian...</font>

Its an idea, but not one I was going for with this thread. I was looking for other such 'High-concept' characters developed by others due to similar experiences...



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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"

[Don Mappin]

Awesome thread, Dan!

For sometime now I’ve wanted to do a character with multiple personalities in Star Trek (probably only two for simplicities sake). My problem has been first representing this properly in Icon (I imagine two sets of characters, each with the same physical stats, and the DP somewhat evenly spread out) and doing so in such a way that the character isn’t viewed immediately as a “twink.” (Hey, even the most supportive players at a table get a little jealous when someone steps in with a “cooler” character that breaks the norms and has “perks.”)

My other problem has been rationalizing how the character made it through Starfleet training and past the various psychological tests and counselors. In the 24th century I imagine it is pretty difficult for any serious psychological ailments to get past medical screening. Oh sure, Captain Maxwell going renegade is one thing, but a person with multiple distinct personalities?

If anyone has some thoughts on how any of the above problems could be handled, I’d appreciate it.

Qualifier: It’s a concept that I’ve been toying with but have had little (read: no) time to research or try to develop. As such, this idea really hasn’t been developed by me at all. This thread just happened to make me type it up quickly.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Dan Gurden]

mmm.

Multiple personalities...

It happened in a World of Darkness game late intoi a campaign. At that time it was simply a matter of recording the character sheet and providing experience points in direct relation to the achievments of each personality in direct relation to each's actions during the game...

The late developing mental problem is possibly the eaiest way of introducing the character type.

Theres also the Binar possibility, but thats more two of the same...

But in a similar note, how about a new Federation species, one with two dominant brains, while one sleeps, one personality is dominant, and when that sleeps, the other is active...

Mild mannered Scientists by day, and Hard hitting Security chief by night...



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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"

[Don Mappin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Gurden:
But in a similar note, how about a new Federation species, one with two dominant brains, while one sleeps, one personality is dominant, and when that sleeps, the other is active...

Mild mannered Scientists by day, and Hard hitting Security chief by night... </font>

Nah. That screams “twink” to me.

I’m thinking more along the lines of a potentially “normal” person who developed multiple personalities either naturally or through a traumatic event.

The problem is generating the character with some degree of equitable distribution – you can’t have a 200 DP character at the table, just like creating playable Trill characters was difficult for play balance reasons. Dividing XP through play is easy – that’s not my concern.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[qerlin]

We've got an Orion girl who was raised as a slave and sex servant, then rescued by Starfleet officers and raised on Earth through her teen years. She eventually became a Starfleet officer doing intel work against the Orion Syndicate.

We've also got a new, very life-like gynoid (female android) made by the Daystrom Institute, who is currently undergoing her cadet training.

A Klingon exchange officer who is finding he likes working with the Federation and is fascinated by Efrosian culture.

A human engineering officer who got married to two Andorian sisters (and another Andorian male, of course) and has gone completely native, getting into the culture, the fighting arts, and the like.

[Diamond]

I can work within those parameters, Don. If one of my characters wanted to play a mutliple personality character in a game I was GMing, here's how I would run the ICON game mechanics part:

The character has the same number of DP as any other character in the campaign. Next to each skill, the player writes which personalities have access to that particular skill.

Now, if the player controlled which personality was dominant, nothing more need be done: the mechanics of the character are done, the rest is roleplaying with those statistics. But if the GM or other outside events had an influence on which personality was dominant, I'd give the character a few DP worth of a disadvantage: multiple personalities. The number would be dependant on how often I expected it to come up in the game, and be similar in scope to the DP cost for codes of honor.

[Aedh Rua]

I created a number of Vulcanoid Rigellian characters -- NPCs really, for my K-Reach campaign. They were pretty high-concept. Had to give them a culture and everything.

I also came up with a Swedish captain descended from a long line of Baltic Sea sailors. This was in case I needed to use an NPC captain, if none of the players wanted to be captain. He was pretty standard except for his lack of visible emotions, and love of boating, including "Storms at Sea" holodeck adventures.

Another NPC was a Centaurian doctor descended from a long line of Healer-priestesses. This didn't give her any special abilities except maybe a knowledge of some Centaurian herbs, but it did make her a bit more colorful.

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Slan agat!

[mactavish]

Don said: I’m thinking more along the lines of a potentially “normal” person who developed multiple personalities either naturally or through a traumatic event.

How about a character that was psychically (or technologically) imprinted with one (or more) additional personalities? Perhaps an entire civilization's populace psychically recorded into the mind of a child who, growing into adulthood, must deal with these thousands or millions of personae.
Maybe with the assistance of Betazoid or Vulcan counsellors, or maybe simply misdiagnosed and confined to a sanitarium.
How about creating one character, but with multiple players, each with a different set of mental Attributes, Skills, and Advantages/Disadvantages?

Oh, and by the way, it's now called Dissociative Personality Disorder rather than multiple personality disorder. Just FYI.

mactavish out.

[Perrryyy]

I'm not really sure this qualifies as "high concept" but I created a character that I modeled after myself!

A rather hard-headed, strong-willed computer science officer of Elaysian persuasion, who might in the future tend to lean toward being anti-social, just for the "anti-social geek" stereotype factor

You see, I myself am disabled with spina bifida and have my CIS degree. To me, it just naturally came to pass that I'd have to play myself online sometime


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[billy135]

Oujr ship has a chracter that is a Ferangie who is the Quartermaster of a Galaxy-class Starship. He is over Supply and Requissions, Transporters, Cargo Operations, Shuttlebay 2 and 3, Room Assignments, ect... He is like Radar on M*A*S*H. he can get ahold of anything. He is a Lt. Cmdr. in the Command Division and owes alot of favors, and Favors owed to him. He is also very tight with the Chief Administrative Officer, and Captains Yoeman. LOL

[Lancer]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don:

My other problem has been rationalizing how the character made it through Starfleet training and past the various psychological tests and counselors. In the 24th century I imagine it is pretty difficult for any serious psychological ailments to get past medical screening. Oh sure, Captain Maxwell going renegade is one thing, but a person with multiple distinct personalities?
</font>

Maybe this character is not a member of Starfleet at all. A civilian scientist or technician comes to mind, who has valuable knowledge and get's assigned to the ship for a few specific missions/experiments.

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"To seek, to strive, to find and not to yield" - Alfred Tennyson