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Character Creation Guide
Topic Started: Dec 30 2016, 03:54 AM (144 Views)
Echoes

1 Character "personnel file":
Welcome to your interactive character creation guide! I’ll be your host, Bob Barker Coyote!

The character creation guide is your first, best, but hopefully not your only source of information for how to craft a new character for Star Wars: The Echo Wars. So, without further ado, let’s not jump right in!

That was a funny prank of mine. Yeah, I did enjoy it. No, I’m not put off that you thought it was dumb. That’s just how this dynamic is gonna work.

Let’s go over the high-level organization of the character profile. When you create a character, every time you create a character, you will start a thread and add at least two more posts to it before it’s ready for staff review. The posts are: 1) the first post, the thread itself, which should be titled with your character’s name and contain the “personnel profile” of your character; 2) the second post, the various assets (good things) and liabilities (bad things) your character possesses right off the bat; 3) the third post, the abilities and powers your character possesses from the beginning.

Now that the high level organization is out of the way, let’s actually jump right in! You're gonna see some "Coyote's Fun Facts" quotes spaced throughout the rest of this guide to help you along and give you pointers. Make sure to read them!




[img]Url Location[/img]
Play By: Dude/Dudette


Personal Data
Name(s): John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
Nickname(s): Smitty Jack, John Smith
Allegiance(s): Independent Corellians
Rank(s): Smuggler
Title(s): Captain
Birth Date: -33 ZY

Coyote’s Fun Facts
 
This is the simple stuff… or so you’d think! Remember that different species have different naming conventions and more likelihood to jive with certain factions, certain lines of work, and even certain titles! Try to do some research and pick a “fitting” name, an appropriate age, and match it to the rest of the character.


Physical Description
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eye Coloring: Blue
Hair Coloring: Blond
Body Coloring: Pale

John is a tall, spare man with the physique of a runner. He has a chiseled jaw, a cold stare, and a peculiar tendency to glower viciously at everyone who passes in front of him. His right trigger finger twitches like it’s getting tugged by a fishing line and his walk is a stiff, strutting sort of affair with a disconcerting glide to it, like a puppet moving across a stage. He’s got a rippling white scar beneath one eye, an aquiline nose, and an imposing set of mutton chops to go with his oiled handlebar mustache and bushy eyebrows. His thin-lipped mouth gets thinner still when he presses it in an unamused line, which he just about always does.

Coyote’s Fun Facts
 
You’ll note that in spite of the bolded sections, there’s still extra description. Generally speaking, a better physical description will be detailed enough to give a full picture of the character without droning on too much. Don’t be afraid to nix the bolded sections entirely and go freeform either. If you can describe the character with writing, that’s preferred!


Psychological Profile
Personality Type: Type A
Likes: Red meat, red beans, cats, hats, nooks, crannies, and grannies
Dislikes: White rice, white toast, bags, hags, crags, and overly long gags.
Fears: The sound of a hollow wind, tumbleweeds, and harmonicas.
Strengths: Good poker face, intimidating demeanor, and good with elderly people.
Flaws: As charmless as a rattlesnake and twice as temperamental.

John got raised on the wrong side of the law and learned to distrust authority figures, the homeless, the needy, the greedy, and just about anybody else he ever met. He knows what it’s like to be hungry and has an uncanny drive for avoiding that feeling again. He works for a living and fights anyone who says different. He’s got more prickles than a cactus and his bone-dry sense of humor blossoms just about as often. He’s a serious man who’s all about his business, his, and nobody elses’s. He makes his own way by doing the jobs he chooses to do for the people he chooses. He’s got a serious problem with authority and tends to show it with a blaster pistol clearing leather.

Coyote’s Fun Facts
 
The personality maketh the character. This is going to be what makes them “who they are” and it’ll be what the staff looks at when they try to discern whether you’re breaking oe of the cardinal rules of roleplaying: metagaming. The better impression you can give for a character, the more we’re going to feel comfortable passing them through to play.


Background Information
Birth Location: Corellia
Citizenship(s): Independent Corellian State
Life Story: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt was born on the sweeping plains on Corellia. He grew up with his father and uncle, a pair of destitute sharecroppers who barely scraped together enough pennies between them to put food on the table. Never-you-mind outlandish gadgets like datapads and commlinks. If the Schmidt family ever had enough money for something techno-logic-all, it was gonna be a good working blaster.

Well, one day John got it. He socked away the credits from two hard teenage years working his butt off in the blistering summer heat and the chilling summer cold, then went and bought him a good belt and a sturdy blaster pistol. He didn’t have the credits for a holster, but he practiced with just the belt until he could shoot the fringe off a falling wheat head and draw before it turned over twice. He turned that skill into a real livelihood back in the big city of Coronet, where the local law enforcement needed quick gun hands to deal with riff raff of every shape and size—not to mention those Imperial bastards and the slimy Republicans.

Corellian Security turned him into a right good hand at the law, good at sniffing people out and dragging them back in for the hard questions in the small rooms. The bosses yelled a lot, though, and that chafed him raw. One day he tossed that badge on the desk, hopped on a freighter bound for the stars, and worked twice as hard there as he did those two summers back on Corellia. The captain understood him right down to his bones and took to him like kin. They whittled away the wee hours between the end of work and the beginning of sleep on those long trips along the space lanes, talking about all manner of things.

Well, one day the captain got killed. An old war buddy of his came looking, liked what he saw, and went after it with a blaster in his fist. The soldier gunned down John’s boss and came for him next. Those long days practicing paid off in a flash of fury and fire. The man fell down dead and left John alone and alive to deal with his boss’s looking after. The funeral was a nice’un, nothing special, and after it was over a slick man in a nice suit took him aside. He said he was the executor of the old man’s estate and that John’s name was the only one in the will. He inherited that junky old freighter and the business it ran.

The weirdest thing happened one day. Without ever really thinking much of it, an echo John heard his entire life started to get louder and louder. It kept him up nights. It distracted his days. It started to get harder to think, harder to work, until one day he threw up his hands and went looking for it. The echo took him deep into the Core, past the damned Empire and the shady Republic, straight to a big ol’ church building on Empress Teta. The people there taught him a thing or two about magic or the Force or some weird some-such, but their prissy holier-than-thou attitude got on his nerves and he hared out of there before they sucked him too deep into their cult.

He works as a smuggler now, getting goods where they need gettin’, and blazes his own trail across the stars.

Coyote’s Fun Facts
 
The life story is the capstone for justifying what your character has. When the staff reads up on your character’s possessions, abilities, and Force powers, we’re going to start looking through the character’s life story to see where they might have gotten them. The life story is your chance to paint an interesting tale about how they ended up how they did.


Code:
 

[center][img]Url Location[/img]
Play By: Dude/Dudette[/center]

[b][big]Personal Data[/big][/b]
[b]Name(s):[/b]
[b]Nickname(s):[/b]
[b]Allegiance(s):[/b]
[b]Rank(s):[/b]
[b]Title(s):[/b]
[b]Birth Date:[/b]

[b][big]Physical Description[/big][/b]
[b]Species:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Height:[/b]
[b]Weight:[/b]
[b]Eye Coloring:[/b]
[b]Hair Coloring:[/b]
[b]Body Coloring:[/b]

[b][big]Psychological Profile[/big][/b]
[b]Personality Type:[/b]
[b]Likes:[/b]
[b]Dislikes:[/b]
[b]Fears:[/b]
[b]Strengths:[/b]
[b]Flaws:[/b]

[b][big]Background Information[/big][/b]
[b]Birth Location:[/b]
[b]Citizenship(s):[/b]
[b]Life Story:[/b]
Edited by Beruk, Jan 15 2017, 09:00 PM.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Echoes

2 Character assets (and liabilities!), etc.:

Possessions
Home(s): Schmidt Homestead, Corellia

Weapon(s): A heavy blaster pistol, well-worn but polished to a shine and a damn fine weapon.

Armor(s): None anybody can see, but he wears a blast vest beneath his shirt.

Vehicle(s): An old cargo dolly with a single person seat.

Starship(s): A well-maintained classic from the YT-2400 lines, with a nifty upgraded hypderdrive and a surprise missile launcher mounted on the saucer.

Clothing/Style: John wears a wide-brimmed hat, sharp-toed boots with the kind of heel that can dig into the dust for a firm stance, and tough denim pants. His shirts are usually button-up and long sleeve, but he usually rolls those sleeves up and never wears a necktie. He wears a heavy gun belt slung across his hilts, another narrower one to hold up his pants, and a rawhide strip around his right thigh to keep his holster firm on the hip. He usually dresses in browns, tans, coppers, and grays.

Coyote's Fun Facts
 
So there’s a few actual rules for this section. Here they are—

  1. New characters start with only one inexpensive home, unless you’re willing to invest in a “Well Off (+1)” ability for the character (for an nice home), a “Rich (+2)” ability (for a luxurious home), or a “Wealthy (+3)” ability (for a mansion).

  2. New characters can start with four cheap and not-too-good personal weapons, three okay-ish personal weapons, two good personal weapons, or one great personal weapon.

  3. New characters can start with one suit of armor, or any of the pieces thereof, but none of it can be of exceptional quality—even if they are a Mandalorian or other “warrior” type. When you think armor, think stormtrooper armor.

  4. New characters can start with one personal vehicle, like a speeder bike or a landspeeder, for use on planets.

  5. New characters can start with a personal starship in the light freighter class or smaller, even something with some modifications, but nothing heavily improved.

  6. If you choose to deliberately take fewer items, lower quality items, etc., the reviewing staff member may determine that your character has a “Ill-equipped (-1)” or similar negative ability and give you an essentially free ability point in the character creation process in return for sacrificing assets.



Code:
 
[b][big]Possessions[/big][/b]
[b]Home(s):[/b]
[b]Weapon(s):[/b]
[b]Armor(s):[/b]
[b]Vehicle(s):[/b]
[b]Starship(s):[/b]
[b]Clothing/Style:[/b]
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Echoes

3 Abilities & Powers:

Abilities:
  • Gunslinger (+5)
  • Pilot (+2)
  • Poker Face (+1)
  • Force Sensitivity (+1)
  • Unfriendly (-1)
  • Cheap (-1)
  • Outlaw (-1)
  • Hair-trigger Temper (-2)
  • Bad Pilot (-3)
  • Anti-Authoritarian (-4)

Powers:
  • Initiate Improved Reflexes (+3)


Coyote’s Fun Facts
 
At this stage, it’s important to remember the Powers & Abilities Guide. You need to balance your abilities. There’s some guidance and two big rules for this section of the character profile. The guidance is this: don’t try to sneak stuff by us. We’re going to pay attention to what you put and what numbers you put it at, so remember that when you try to sneak “Ticklish (-5)” into your character thinking it’s a clever flaw. It’s not. Trust me, that will come back to bite you. Here’s a breakdown of the scale we use, using “Gunslinger” as an example:

      (+5) Perfect; even the fastest can’t draw and shoot faster than you.
      (+4) Great; you’re a real professional, competition-tier.
      (+3) Good; you can draw fast, aim fast, and hit your target.
      (+2) Okay; you can draw or aim fast and usually hit the target.
      (+1) Decent; you’re smooth enough to outshoot a regular Joe..
      (0) Neither good nor bad; don’t even list these.
      (-1) Iffy; a regular Joe would win most duels with you.
      (-2) Poor; you might get close to hitting someone if you’re lucky.
      (-3) Bad; if you hit something ahead of you, you’re doing well.
      (-4) Awful; you’re more likely to drop the gun than fire it.
      (-5) Crippling; if you try to use a gun, you’ll shoot yourself.

Keep this in mind when you’re writing your abilities, and don’t be shy about adding explanations for why they’re pluses and minuses. If your gunslinger is a +2 because they’ve got great aim, but they’re slow as molasses, that’s probably fine. Just keep balance in mind and try to be reasonable.

These are the two rules:
  1. Force Sensitivity is always listed and always starts at a (-1), a (0), or a (+1). There is no leeway or in-between or special circumstance that will change this. A negative Force sensitivity at the beginning means the character cannot now, nor will they ever feel the Force. A zero means they can’t feel it now, but they might someday feel the Force. A positive Force sensitivity works like the other abilities, with a plus five being akin to Yoda and a plus one being akin to Luke when he very first starts training on the Millenium Falcon.

  2. New characters start with a +12/-12 balance, without exceptions. No character may have more than +12 total ability and Force power points during their first approval. We don’t allow people to introduce highly skilled, highly experienced, very powerful characters to the roleplay. You can develop these characters over time and bring them to that level, but they will not start that way.


Code:
 
[b][big][big]3 Abilities & Powers[/big][/big][/b]

[b][big]Abilities:[/big][/b][list][*] A list
[*] of abilities
[*] your character
[*] will have.[/list]
[b][big]Powers:[/big][/b][list][*]A list
[*] of Force powers
[*] your character
[*] will have.[/list]
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