Session 0: Character Creation

[Marullus]

Just to add one more wrinkle (this one in your favor), remember that everyone who starts out at PFC rank or above gets at least one skill advance, which can be used to improve an existing skill by one rank or to open a new skill at rank 2. This is a great way to either specialize in something important or round yourselves out with important skills (and equipment) you're otherwise lacking.

It looks like he is applying the rules under Ranks on page 2. Private gets one advance, PFC gets two advances, Corporal gets three advances. (If he is considering PFC to have 'one additional' then my guess is that he's applying the MOS advance as the other.) Enoch?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Right. I remember that now. It's a tough call between opening Criminal at 2 or bumping Medic to 3. For the team, I'll take the increase to Medic though. Maybe that will give him more access to better meds at the base.

[Marullus]

Psycho: My name's Francis Sawyer... but everyone calls me Psycho. Any of you guys call me Francis... I'll kill ya.
Leon: Ooooooh.
Psycho: You just made the list, buddy. Also, I don't like no one touching my stuff. So just keep your meathooks off. If I catch any of you guys in my stuff... I'll kill ya. And I don't like nobody touching me. Any of you homos touch me... I'll kill ya.
Sergeant Hulka: Lighten up, Francis. We're all in this together. One of these men may save your life one of these days, you understand that?
Winger: Then again maybe one of us won't.
- Stripes

Proposal: Call-signs.
Using nicknames instead of names is a long tradition. But trying to give yourself one is really lame.

An important part of it is that you don't get to pick your own; your squad picks one for you, based on some anecdote or story in your bonding process. I'd like to propose that after we set out the characters, that we do a final step where everyone else votes to pick the call-sign for each character. Thoughts?

Can we do this? After everyone posts their final backgrounds?

[Enoch]

I'd like to have a discussion about the free advances by rank. I'll be honest, I think Crane and Sorensen went for realism over playability with the ranks--starting as higher rank is better in most every way. Given that we have a large number of players, what do you all think about one additional advance (increase a skill by +1 or open a new skill at 2) in addition to the skill advance from MOS? (I don't think we have any Privates.)

This puts the Corporal at a significant disadvantage--it costs them far more to level up--but they also get much cooler rewards when they do level up.

Also, a point about backgrounds. You all have some very cool backstories. Be as individualistic and nonconformist as you want, but be aware that you all are the best of the best--the most elite fighting men the human race has ever produced, and when you leave the base you are a team. The USCMC does not tolerate soldiers who don't pull together.

[Marullus]

Oh dang! Sorry Marullus. Feel free to take Corporal! I think that is a great idea. Quick, go change your sheet!

Okay. I changed to Corporal. That requires I change my MOS to Unit Leader, getting Leadership at 2. My extra skill pick then goes to her former MOS of Admin 2. Under Enoch's new rule, Corporal only gets 1 pick, not 3, so that means I lose the pick I would've put in Soldier as a PFC. Resources goes up to 2, and Circles goes up to 3. Gear changes from Rifleman to Unit Leader; personal item stays as the Grapple Gun. I think he's right - that is more balanced.

Updated sheet is posted.
...I really want others to pick callsigns for us.

[Rusty Tincanne]

I'd like to have a discussion about the free advances by rank. I'll be honest, I think Crane and Sorensen went for realism over playability with the ranks--starting as higher rank is better in most every way. Given that we have a large number of players, what do you all think about one additional advance (increase a skill by +1 or open a new skill at 2) in addition to the skill advance from MOS? (I don't think we have any Privates.)

While i certainly wouldn't mind another bump/skill, I am happy to defer to your judgement on this Enoch. I am not really a game designer and could see myself breaking a game quickly.

In the meantime, I want to be sure that I've done things correctly so far. I have my PFC MOS advance, and then one more (bumping medic to 3). That is all I should have so far, correct?

When do we go over beliefs and instincts?

[Enoch]

@Rusty: that's correct. I plan on going over the posted character sheets today and make sure everyone maths right--assuming no one wants to start as a private you should all have an MOS and an advancement in the associated skill, and one free advancement (two advancements total). I'm not entirely sure this is what Crane and Sorensen had in mind, but hey--it lets me throw bigger challenges at you, right?

[Antman9]

I'd like to have a discussion about the free advances by rank. I'll be honest, I think Crane and Sorensen went for realism over playability with the ranks--starting as higher rank is better in most every way. Given that we have a large number of players, what do you all think about one additional advance (increase a skill by +1 or open a new skill at 2) in addition to the skill advance from MOS? (I don't think we have any Privates.)

I'm good with whatever is decided.

[Enoch]

Characters look good for the most part.

AntMan9, a couple of things (mostly in your favor):

• don't forget that all marines get Ultimate Bad-Ass as a trait.
• You also get 8 points to divide between Health and Will--you currently only have 5.
• You should also have Nature 4, not 3, from your answers to the Nature questions.
• You don't get the Survivalist benefit (+1 to camp) for being a PFC, unfortunately--that's only available to characters that advance from Private in play, and it's in lieu of taking an MOS.

MonkeyWrench, I need you to fill out the character sheet.

The last thing you need to do for your characters is to pick a Belief and Instinct (some of you have done this already).

Belief
You have a philosophy, code or belief that guides you, something that drives you (perhaps in desperation) to seek wealth or adventure. Invent one for your character and write it on your character sheet in the indicated area. If you invoke that Belief in play—if it guides your actions and gets your character into trouble—then you earn a reward at the end of the session.

If your Belief creates a crisis of conscience during play and you betray your own Belief (through dramatic play), you earn another type of reward.

Beliefs are things like "I lead this motley crew--I'll make sure we complete our mission, no matter what" or "I'm just looking for a good time; if it looks like fun I'll do it."

Instinct
Instincts are conditional statements of action. “Always do this” or “Never do that” or “If that happens, do this.”
Instincts allow you to take an action when they’re triggered.

There's been some debate about Instincts that allow a test to recover. I will allow them, but only during the Camp phase--there generally isn't time to recover outside of the Camp phase, except where specific items allow it. Even then, an Instinct allows you a single test. If your Instinct is to assist others and there are multiple people with a condition, you will get one free test to allow them to recover. Any other attempts need to be paid for with checks.

Goals
There's one final type of belief-type section called a Goal. This is generally adventure-specific. Since you don't have an assignment yet, leave this blank.

[Marullus]

Elizabeth Resen

Belief: I will always place the mission first.
Instinct:
Goal:

Instincts...
Is mapping a thing?
We have PDTs in the armor, a Personal Tracker to track them with the Leader, and wrist-mounted location transponders. What does any of that do? Are there checks involved, chances of failure?

[Enoch]

Okay, we're going to begin Session 0 with you four, which will basically be a "getting to know Torchbearer" session. I expect it will be relatively short, and we won't worry about Beliefs and Goals this session. If you want to earn Fate and Persona for them, however, you will need to have them up by the time we begin Session 1.

[Antman9]

I think I've got my CS all done now...hopefully. Ready when everyone else is.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Been having a hard time with a challengeable belief and then a not-so-overlapping instinct. I haven't checked out the mission thread yet, so hopefully you are okay with me using these:
Belief: The only reason to be a marine is to come back from a mission richer than I left it.
Instinct: Always tend to a marine when they get injured.

Also, using what I have learned in Steven's game, I have opted to change my health to 5 and will to 3. I think it works better for an addict, anyhow - weak willed.

[Enoch]

Those both work, and I like your reasoning on those stats.

[Marullus]

More rule questions....

Leader skill says:
"To counteract Griping, test Leader vs Nature"

Base operations say:
Marines may always test Griping to recover from angry or Carousing to recover from afraid but doing either increases Operating Cost by +1

Then Morale says:
Privates and PFCs: “I made a successful Griping test.”
Higher ranking marines: “Nobody in my squad failed a Griping test.”


So, what does it mean to "counteract Griping"?
If someone passes a Leadership test, the Griping in the unit doesn't increase Operating cost?
Does it help Griping pass to remove Angry, thus supporting the ranking Marine's goal of not having anyone fail?
Is Leader the follow-on test to remove the consequence of a failed Griping test? (Does it have worse failure than NOT removing the Angry trait?)

ETA:
Reasoning... I am considering one of three instincts, but the mechanics for the Marines are confusing.
1) Is there a need to map, track personnel, or otherwise use the equipment given? (hence previous post)
2) Is there a need to use Leadership tests to counteract griping? (I'll make the instinct to do that)
3) If not, I'm inclined to make a "always instruct my troops when we camp" as part of her goal to enhance skills and readiness and grow a crack unit.

[Rusty Tincanne]

My best guess is that it is related to failing a test against Anger. If you fail the test, you tax your nature by the amount you failed.
- It is not easy to regain taxed Nature.
- If you start with a low Nature, you don't want to tax it that way, particularly since Afraid leaves you no access to Beginner's Luck!

But Enoch understands the rules better than I do, so we'll wait on him...

[Enoch]

There's not a Cartography skill, so there's not a need to map in the sense that there is in Torchbearer (where you're essentially lost in the wilderness until you map, no matter how many times you go over the same ground). I may call for some sort of navigation-related test if necessary, but it will be more like Burning Wheel than Torchbearer in that sense, for those of you familiar with both.

Leader is primarily used in Conflicts, where it is tested heavily. The rules don't explain what it means to counteract Griping, but failing a Nature test will of course tax Nature as well as the standard consequences of a test. I can see Leader being used in place of the standard rules for a condition resulting from Griping. For example, if a soldier manages to psych himself out by Griping about Predators stalking them and gains Afraid...



...then you might test Leader vs. their Nature to let them recover, rather than them testing Will vs. Ob3. However, in almost all cases recovery only happens in camp or in base.

Make sense?

By the way, since we are all new to the USCMC game, I will be relatively lenient about when, where and how you all change Beliefs and Instincts.

[Marullus]

Makes sense, follow up question.

They can only test against Griping to remove the condition while in camp, so it already needs a check, right? Does the leadership test to help them cost another check?

(I am thinking of instinct #3, anyway)

[Enoch]

In order to enter the camp phase at least one person needs to have a check to spend. Actually entering camp does not cost a phase.

As the rules for this seem to be missing I'm basically making them up as we go. No, what I'm thinking is that you could spend a Check to test Leader so they recover, in lieu of them spending a check to test Will. However, if it is an Instinct it doesn't require a check. It is a free test. However, it is subject to the normal conditions of failure, since you are not the one recovering.

[Marullus]

Okay, so Leadership can be tested instead of Nature for recovery of Angry or Afraid... I like that a lot, thematically.