Starting off Characters

[Crell Damar]

exactly... one of my players wanted to play a noghri, and i saw how quick he was to leave the empire, the only thing he knew for his entire life... so i refused to let him play one, and most of my players wont play a wookie because they don't want to be stuck doing the voice... I would think that'd be fun, one of the players in my last group had so much fun playing his wookie specforce pathfinder took a guy's head off with his garrote each species has something cool about them, and I'm going to start experimenting more and more when I get to be a player... which isn't often... and we've got so many games going already with my old group playing a different species will be difficult unless my character dies by the hand of a disgruntled jedi... which i suggest he doesn't try
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"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire. "

Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Rathe Ehtar]

The MOG allows 10D for skills and 10cps for an above average game. I like the idea of players being able to "spred the wealth" rather than stick to the chosen path. In my veteran game, for balance purposes only, I give 20D for skills and 10-15 cps. Most of the advanced characters in that game have way more D than that, but it's enough to start.
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"I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings." -Max Payne

"I don't buy that cluck like a dog, bark like a chicken stuff." -Col. Jack O'Neill

[Crell Damar]

[Phaedrus]

For the campaign I just started I used a merits and flaws system. If you're familiar with any white wolf product then you know what I'm talking about. I find it really helps flesh out the characters right in the beginning, even if it does increase the character creation time.

Usually, and I use that word fairly loosly , the character ended up with about 10D in skills, and no cp. Some more, some less, and quite a few background abilities that help through out the game. The only thing I've had to be really harsh about is people trying to rape the system. For example, if you decided to take the flaw of addiction, I'm really going to stick it to you because of it

And for Noghri, I don't let the players be them. I felt that they we're not really appropriate for my campaign due to their imperial ties.

~ phaedrus
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"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche

[Crell Damar]

That seems pretty cool Phaedrus, can you tell us some more? like cp costs for certain merits and such. Or, do you just use the same freebie point bonus/cost from straight out of the book... I've got one of my jedi students that eventually wants to become blind...
not until after mortal combat and the matrix revolutions... pssht...
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"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire. "

Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Son of Fire]

Kinda like that one species that only sees in the Force?
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"My schooling not only failed to teach me what it professed to be teaching, but prevented me from being educated to an extent which infuriates me when I think of all I might have learned at home by myself." - George Bernard Shaw

[Phaedrus]

Hiya Crell. Here's a little more info about how I've started this campaign.

I generally give out 9 freebie points for humans, and 6 freebie points for aliens. Its a given that aliens have some special abilities to compensate for the loss of freebie points, if not, I usually try and compensate in some way.

With all these freebie points you can then purchase your mertis, need some more points, then take some flaws. The merits usually run the whole spectrum of things, but here are some of my PC's favorites:

Law Enforcement: at a 2 point cost, a character has a permit to carry a weapon into most security zones.

Equipment: 1-4 points. Each point spent on equipment I give a credit amount equivilant. 4 points is about 20k for starting equipment, and top of the line stuff is available.

Cybernetics: exactly the same as equipment

Contact: This one is very popular among the bounty hunters in my group. 1-5 points. 5 points spent gives you many contacts that are always looking out for you

There are quite a few popular flaws as well. Criminal, Hunted, Debt. Things like that, but quite a few players have taken personality quirks, like cracks knuckles, or doesn't bath (a very popular one for wookies characters )

Any freebie points left over, I let the PC's use them as skill dice. The system does lend itself for abuse, but I really try and stick it to them with the flaws!! Also, I force the PC's to tell me what their background it, and if the merit or flaw doesn't fit, then they can't have it. hehehe...

There are many more. Unfortunatly, I can't claim all this as orginal. I found someone elses website and from there just tweeked it for my own style

http://users.vnet.net/seawolf/sw/adv/index.html

I have to give credit to the author of this site. I've used it almost extensivly as I've use this one


~ phaedrus
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"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche

[Crell Damar]

That's really cool thanks
a little off topic:
I was considering doing something like that for a resident evil game I was creating with the D6 system... although i did it because all of the characters were going to be human, and i wanted to make some stuff that could separate the characters other than just sheer skills and attributes

Anyway I still don't know if the merit and flaw system is right for me in the star wars universe I have seen numberous aliens and GMCs that have special little abilities that their species wouldn't nessesarily have. so there are pros and cons to doing that... maybe i'll talk it over with my players some and we'll see what we can come up with.
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"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire. "

Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Volo Enrunk]

as for the game im GM i started everyone out with the 7/5 but i gave them 2 extra cps and everyone and extra force point. also when ever you raise a skill for the first time instead of it only going up by +1 we have it go up by 1D then by pips. so im a little easier on them that way and i didnt kill them right off the bat so far the jedi's used 2 of his 3 force points one saving himself and one he used trying to save someone from dying but mishaped (DOH!) and then he did it again and succeeded so i gave him that one back and he used 1 somewhere else... but i can't remember.
but as we know from my previous posts i give out more cps per mission than normal i compensate by making my Npc's tougher to deal with i rarely have a merchant with a bargain under 6d when im making the random salesman. i mean that is his livelyhood his family depends on how well he can sell you that modified Blas-Tech dl-44 or that nova ruby.
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Sabbac anyone?

[Vartax]

For me it depends on the amount of experience the characters have. If I'm starting a new character with 4 other characters that have been playing for a while I am inclined to give a little bit more starting skill dice, but keeping up with the max 2 dice rule.

[Volar the Healer]

Always one to make it more challenging, I like to start my players with 13-15 attribute dice depending on the depth of the character background. This encourages detailed character development. I stick with the standard seven dice of skills unless the player comes up with a really cool character, then I give him 1-3 bonus starting skill dice.
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Know Jesus, Know Peace.
No Jesus, No Peace

[Son of Fire]

I took the opposite route.
My player’s start of pretty standard, and I just upped a bunch of the NPC’s and everything else.

They will never underestimate Stromtroopers again.
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"My schooling not only failed to teach me what it professed to be teaching, but prevented me from being educated to an extent which infuriates me when I think of all I might have learned at home by myself." - George Bernard Shaw

[P_L_Yoda]

I've always made my players use the 7sp/5cp way. I usually give them cooler than average equipment or contacts if they have a good backstory.
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"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Hellstorm]

I don't know about D6, but when I DM a game, I try to make my player's characters above average, lets not forget they are supposed to be the heroes. 8)
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Tuco: "But if you miss you had better miss very well. Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco."
-The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Peter Griffin: "Embrace The Fear." -Family Guy

[LoneStar]

Well the original rules state already that they are above average. A normal human has 12D for attributes while a new human character has 18D.

As for me, I usually give them the normal allocations (18D, 7D). For aliens, I keep the same ratio but change the max attribute limitations according to their race. I can also add 1D or 2 according to the backgrounds, but that comes with extra difficulties. For example, I had a player playing an alien species that has wings. To balance the fact that he could fly, I proposed a more vulture-like species that eats dead corpses only.

I also give 10 Character points (that's what I give for each mission) but they can't use them to advance their characters before the end of the mission.


LoneStar (finding a corpse for dinner isn't as easy as it seems)