In this post I will be taking you through the generation of a sample crew for Five Parsecs From Home, which may form the basis for a future science fiction skirmish campaign. I am using the completely random generation method, with a six member crew, to see what comes up!
I roll for crew type first, which gets me 62, 65, 34, 42, 14 and 5 - this gives me as follows - two primary aliens and four humans. I need to roll for the primary aliens now, and get a 9 and a 63, which provides an Engineer and a Precursor.
By way of background, Engineers are described as "slim humanoids with a fragile physique...they have an innate talent for interfacing with machinery, making them highly desirable crew companions." The Precursors are "graceful and refined alien humanoids who were travelling the stars when other species were still lingering in caves."
I will need to have a rummage through my collection of figures for these two. The Precursors DO sound a little like the Eldar in Warhammer 40,000.
I will now flesh out my crew, starting with the four humans. Each character has a background, a motivation and a class. They also have starting equipment, but this seems to be rolled as a crew, with kit distributed between them.
Nasreem Akbar - Human
Hails from a giant, overcrowded, dystopian city, providing her with +1 Speed. She is fascinated by technology, so receives +1 Savvy. She is a bit of a scoundrel (+1 Speed). I'm seeing her as an ex-tunnel gang member from a hive city.
Kathos Slim - Human
Born in a subjugated colony on an alien world, Kathos gets an extra Gadget. He also pursues wealth relentlessly, so has +5 credits to his name. Kathos is a primitive, so receives a Low Tech weapon and +1 Speed. He has come from a planet where humans have been enslaved by an alien race - he has managed to escape somehow. The aliens obviously didn't want the humans to have access to advanced technology.
Dan "Cracker" Champion - Human
Dan comes from an industrial world, giving him an extra piece of Gear. He is interested in new discoveries, so gets +1 Savvy and a second piece of Gear. Dan was a bounty hunter, so gets +1 Speed, a Rumour and a Low Tech weapon.
Melissa Keere - Human
Melissa is a member of a wealthy merchant family and gets +3 extra credits. She is in search of adventure (and likely to get it) so has a Low Tech Weapon and +5 credits, taking her to 8. Despite her background, Melissa has fallen into petty larceny, so has +1 Speed. I'm seeing a rich girl turned thrill seeker here, like Domino Harvey as portrayed by Keira Knightley.
Pazrik - Engineer
Pazrik is a drifter, so gets an extra piece of Gear. He is very loyal and has a Patron and an extra Story Point. While drifting through the galaxy, Pazrik has also been trading so has 6 credits.
Illyrian the Mapmaker - Precursor (Eldar?)
Illyrian grew up in a military outpost belonging to the Precursors (Eldar?) so receives +1 Reaction. Illyrian is out for revenge, so receives 2 XP and a Rival. Illyrian is working class / low caste, so gets +1 Savvy and +1 Luck.
We move on now to the crew's equipment. All crews get three rolls on the military weapon table, plus for each crew member who has a Savvy advance (I have three), one of these rolls can be on the high tech weapon table. The crew also gets one roll on Gear, one on Gadget and one credit for each crew member. The equipment can be distributed across all crew members.
I decided to make two rolls on the high tech weapons tabe, and receive a duelling pistol (!) and a blast pistol. The military weapon is an infantry laser. I have two low tech weapons, plus three more rolls on top of this. I get two scrap pistols, a handgun, a blade and a colony rifle.
Cracker and Pazrik between them have three pieces of Gear. That gives me four rolls total - I get a fixer, a frag vest, a hazard suit and a concealed blade. Slim brings an extra Gadget, so I get two rolls here: a battle visor and an insta-wall (which sounds useful).
At this stage we also need to roll up our ship. I'll call our ship the Jessie Buckley. It is a strange alien vessel, probably of Eldar craftmanship, likely obtained somehow by Illyrian. While it does have an Eldar name, it has been renamed. It has 25 hull. The crew begins the campaign with 16 debt.
Filling in a few details of my own, the Jessie Buckley is forged from wraithbone, and 95 metres in length. It has a dormant spirit core and was used by Illyrian's father who was an Eldar outcast and wanderer.
Finally, on the crew flavour table, we find they are in pursuit of a random group member's motivation. I opt for Illyrian as his Eldar background is beginning to look increasingly interesting. He is out for revenge and has a Rival. We also find here that the crew are regarded as consummate professionals, which is nice.
A quick tot up of the key resources here: 25 credits, including 6 from Pazrik's trading activities, 5 from Slim and 8 from Keere's inheritance and further nefarious activities. We start the campaign with a Patron (Pazrik), a Rival (Illyrian), a Rumour (Cracker) and an extra Story Point (Pazrik).
Next time we will begin the campaign. I will distribute the equipment and weapons between the characters in the meantime. This is starting to look very interesting.
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