Characters are who we play. Who we want to be in order to get away from who we are. The characters are the life of the game and we as the players, provide their soul. Our characters, the Rogues and Wraiths, are unique. Each character has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. In order for them to work together they must use each member of the squadron for their unique talents. A team is only as good as it’s weakest member, so our characters must help compensate for the shortcomings of each other.
In the old system everyone was equal. Anybody could slice into a database or pilot a stolen speeder or impersonate a Stormtrooper. That may seem cool at first but the lack of diversity breeds complacency. Our characters could not grow and learn in the old system. A character might be great at doing something one day but be really lousy at it for the next two or three games. It’s important for us to grow. If our characters stagnate then we too stagnate, and soon loose interest. The new system will help this out a great deal.
CHARACTER SHEETS –
One new aspect of this system will be the “Character Sheet”. A blank character sheet can be found at the back of this manual. Go ahead and print one up. Now that you have a blank, you’ll see all the neat things there. Most of it you will have no idea about what it deals with. Some of you have played the Star Wars RPG or D&D before and so you may have a vague understanding of some of the concepts. Fear not though, we will explain everything.
The areas on the character sheet that are self explanatory we won’t go over. If you don’t know your character’s name, you’re in bad shape. The Bio section of the character sheet is where you will put down a brief history of your character. This is information that the character would tell another character. If there is something about your character that even he or she does not know about, then don’t put it down. That information is sent directly to the GMs and GMs only. Your current duty assignment for most of you will be Rogue Squadron.
The “Base” Skills section of the character sheet is divided into two sections. NATURAL Skills and JOB Skills. Natural skills are those skills we have and develop from birth on, such as Strength and intelligence. Job skills are those we have all learned through our experiences with the different jobs our characters have held over time. Skills such as Starship Gunnery and Starship Piloting are job skills.
In the next section of skills is the ADDED skills section. These are the blank slots in which you may choose skills to put in them. Each character starts off with two blank slots to fill with the skill of his or her choice. Additional slots may be awarded over time. Only “Pool” Skills can be chosen to fill in the blanks. There is a large selection of skills so please try to choose not only useful skills, but skills that complement your character as well.
The last skill section is for FORCE USERS/SENSITIVES only. Only Jedi or Force sensitive characters may choose skills from the “Force Skills Pool”. This is a non-negotiable rule and will not be broken, even by the GM. Any character caught breaking it will be disciplined with a reduction of 10 points in the base score of one of their skills at the GMs discretion.
The last section of the character sheet is the DROID section. Fill in what is needed. Droid skills are assigned by the GM for the most part based on droid model type. Being pilots we each have our own astromech, so this section is needed. Droids may have additional skills. There are four blank slots for “Droid Skills” . These are chosen from the list of droid skills. Only droids may use these skills.
BE YOURSELF –
Playing “in” character can be hard at times but it is vital to the flow and enjoyment of the game. To have a Jedi like Corran running around “Force Choking” all opponents would not do well for the enjoyment of the game. Not only that, it would send him over to the Dark Side real quick. If Wes didn’t crack jokes all the time, it just wouldn’t be Wes. If Wedge never took risks, well you get the point. The matter here is to play your character. Most of you have read al the Rogue Squadron novels. If you have not yet. I suggest you do. If you take an action in the game that your character would not normally do, it detracts from the game.
During the game all OCC or Out Of Character comments will continue to be surrounded by the (( )) that we currently use. If the comment however is only directed at one player or the GM, then please move it from the room to Instant Message. This will help alleviate some of the confusion in the chat room.
All “actions” taken by your character that is not verbal will still be handled the old way as well, with the -= =-. If your character is thinking to him or her self then that text will be in italics. This is important. No other character may respond to any text a player rights in the italics format.
The simple message about characters is this. Be yourself. If your character is Mirax Terrik, act like it. If you’re Myn Donos, then don’t act like Grand Moff Tarkin. These are just examples and are chosen at random, but you get the point. This will make the game much more interesting and enjoyable for all those involved.
