CharGen Chatter

[Antman9]

Character Generation discussions...

[wolfpack]

http://www.spewai.com/details/ZKFrjkYz

[Rex]

http://www.spewai.com/details/ZYgvLF81

[OGRE MAGE]

Are we supposed to wait on the abilities and skills for right now? I have been tinkering a bit, trying to tweak them as close to myself as possible, but I don't really have a clue what I am doing yet.

Are we all going to be 42 years old?

[wolfpack]

I don;t understand how to do the ability and skills well enough yet, and the sheet won't save when I change the age

[Monsieur Rose]

Yeah, that age thing caught me off guard. I actually am 42, so for a second, I was wondering what the hell I did to have it know that.

[Rex]

The sheet won't save anything further as far as I can tell. I bought the survivors guide and that does a better job explaining it so I feel I have a good grasp of how to do the abilities and skills but I suspect the points I have are going to go quick but haven't tried yet.

[OGRE MAGE]

Yeah, that age thing caught me off guard. I actually am 42, so for a second, I was wondering what the hell I did to have it know that.

This game is really immersive!

[Rex]

That is for sure.

[Scott308]

http://www.spewai.com/details/g4yJjkHL

[Antman9]

Getting to know the system is the challenge here, but that's all good I guess. We'll get there. For now, get your SPEW-AI test completed. and assign your Ability tiers, then you can print the character sheet to save those stats. I've got an idea for the Skills (more to follow shortly).

Sorry for delay in posting last couple of days at work were a mess. I'll be posting a thread with with questions here shortly.

[Antman9]

DECISIONS
Preferences for the Real Life Option:

• Players will use the online SPEW-AI to determine their character stats.
• Character Abilities & Skills would closely match those of the player
• Starting gear would be what each player owns today (in real life) and can carry within reason.

Campaign Options:

• Hybrid Approach to Long term survival: Establish a Stronghold when the time comes and perform foraging/recon trips. May need to establish multiple Strongholds depending on how the campaign goes. Elimination of the threat (actively perusing some way to eliminate the scourge from the planet/city, etc.)

Campaign Start:

• At/near/prior to the apocalyptic event
• I’ll start prior to the Outbreak. A few weeks maybe? Depends on how things move along in my head

Starting Campaign Setting Considerations: Present Day
Local: Urban (small town)/Rural Suggestions?
Apocalypse Type: Native/Manufactured Virus
World: Familiar (the world we know today, i.e. New York City, Dalla, LA, etc.)

QUESTIONS
How do we want to deal with character death?

1. Start your Real Life character over? If so, where should that character be inserted into the campaign/world?
2. Create a new character, not based on you, using point buy system or the pre-gen cards in the Survival Guide?
3. Character death means a new player slot has been opened up. The next time a new slot opens that original player can then jump back in?
   Other suggestions?

Skills

• In light of trying to match the skills as close to possible to ourselves, maybe we start by making a list of RL experiences. So for me it would look like this:
  • Work History
    • US Navy - Aviation Electronics Tech
    • Telecom: Central office tech, small bus system installation/maint, wiring
    • Telecom Engineer: Designed switching equipment for LEC’s etc. (AT&T, SWB, Verizon, etc.)
    • HVAC: Residential installation & maintenance
    • HVAC Engineer: Designed air handlers (heat and AC units) for factories
    • Small Business Owner
    • Telecom (small business)
    • Decorative concrete & landscaping
    • Small project residential contractor
    • Telecom & IT project & program manager
    Education
    • BS in Electronics & Communications Engineering
    • BA in English, minor creative writing
    Hobbies/Activities
    Former Activities
    • Mountain biking
    • Adventure racing
    • Fishing/hunting/trapping
    • Gardening/plants
    • Backpacking/camping
    • Video games
    Current Endeavors
    • Woodworking
    • Running
    • Rock climbing
    • Roleplaying (tabletop RPG’s)
    Challenges
    • Chronic Sinusitis (nose doesn’t exactly work right)
    • Allergies (pollen, dust mites, ragweed)
    • Asthma
    • Personality Type: INTJ
  Match those experiences up as closely as possible with the skills in the game, if some don’t match we create new skills.Maybe we do this on the fly?

Thoughts?

[wolfpack]

Work History
- Carpentry (3 years during summer of high school)
- Army 19 Delta (Cavalry Scout) (4 years)
-Nursing Aid (3 years)
- Veterinary Technician(2 years)
- IT Analyst (18 years)
- Adhoc IT Professor (5 years)


Education
- BS Management Information System

Hobbies/Activities
Former
- Hunting
- Fishing
- Gun smithing
- Knife making/forging

Current
- Bush crafting
- Hiking
- Shooting
- RPG's
- Gardening

Challenges
- Allergic to penicillin
- near sighted 20/35 vision

possible useful
Connections with local militia group
access to small amount of NFA items

[Rex]

Work History
- Painter (house)
- Butcher
- Paintball Field Owner
- Chemistry Laboratory Instructor
- Analytical Chemist
- Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Manager/Trainer

Education
- BS Chemistry, Minors Mathematics (Pure), Religion & Statistics
- Have completed the course work for my MS in Analytical Chemistry but switched jobs before doing my thesis
- Adult First Aid/CPR/AED Certified (American Red Cross)
- Wilderness & Remote First Aid Certified (American Red Cross)
- Speed Reading Course (taken in High School, I am faster than most readers but useless for technical/scientific texts)
- Orienteering College Course
- VT Certified Hunter Safety Instructor

Hobbies/Activities

Former
- SCA
- Horseback Riding
- Competitive Paintball
- Off-Roading Obstacle Courses and Overland Off-Roading
- Collegiate ROTC Orienteering (4 years)

Current
- Hunting (Traditional methods, tracking, still hunting, canoe hunting and drives)
- Shooting
- Reloading
- Light Gunsmithing
- Hiking/Snowshoeing (I have completed the entire Long Trail in both the summer and the winter)
- Camping (mostly fall & winter)
- Canoeing
- Role Playing Games
- Avid Reader (Religion, History, Outdoors, Fantasy & Sci-Fi mostly)
- Cooking

Challenges
- Mild Thalassemia
- Type II Diabetic (medically induced, controlled through diet & exercise)
- Aphantasia (blind minds eye, I don't dream)
- Corrected Vision (20/15 with prescription glasses)
- Presbyopia (wear bifocals when I need to see things close in)
- Deaf to High Frequencies & some hearing loss
- Allergies: standard stuff + shell fish, most antibiotics & Morphine (and everything else in its family)

Physical/Medical Traits/Quirks
- 5' 10" tall, 170 to 175 lbs (13.5% to 14% body fat)
- Short legs (29" inseam) & long torso
- large lungs (I have to be cleared for a respirator for work so take a yearly lung capacity test, I consistently run around 140% for my height)
- I can do Basic Math (including long division), Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry in my head (no calculator needed)
- Probably some form of Animal Friendship, domestic animals love me, even the ones who hate everyone else
- High tolerance to pain (grew up with frequent pain caused by Thalassemia, have stitched myself up in the woods twice without any pain killers)
- Only sleep about 5 hours a day, been that way my whole life
- Night Person, work second shift by choice
- Personality Type INFP-A (Mediator)

Other
-Live in a rural VT town/county (town: population 2317, pop density 59.8 per sq mile, county: population 49,421, pop density 75.3 /sq mile)
- My walking/hiking companion is a 105 lbs Great Pyrenees mix named Arctic, last year we walked 1,498 miles together

[Scott308]

Work History

• Library
  Genetics Lab (work-study)
  Retail
  Made heads-up displays, optical filters. Involved lasers
  Surgical Technologist (Neurosurgery focused)

Education

• Associates Degree in Surgical Technology
  Several college courses, no degree
  Basic Life Support (Red Cross) certificate expired

Hobbies/ Activities

Former

• Hockey
  Football
  Baseball/ Softball
  Cards

Current

• Reading
  Role Playing Games
  Video Games
  Movies
  Music (Listening/ Concert Attending)
  Animals (Cats, Snakes, Spiders, Scorpions, Lizards)

Challenges

• Overweight/ Out of shape
  Sleep Apnea
  Very poor sense of smell

Other

• Good hearing and vision
  Usually only sleep 4-5 hours a night
  Near-photographic memory
  Good at trivia/ obscure knowledge

[Monsieur Rose]

Hey. Just a few clarifications needed.

Character creation.
1) take the spew AI quiz. Get character sheet.--I understand this
2) fill out abilities--not clear on this. Should we just pick some that would fit ourselves?
3) skills--seems like we are posting resumes, then working through assigning skills together based on that?

Are we using the gesalt points to advance stats and skills?

[OGRE MAGE]

http://www.spewai.com/details/zaVXIcLR

I messed with the abilities and gestalt points a little, but the system doesn't seem to be saving all of the changes I make each time.

It didn't save any of the abilities and messed up the points I assigned to my SPEW.

Is anyone else seeing this or is it just on my end?

[Rex]

Same for me. I think as far as assigning points you are better off doing outside the program.

[Antman9]

I'm working on a post about assigning attributes/completing CharGen. Look for that by end of day today. Trying to get a few responses in between conf calls

[Antman9]

CharGen Thoughts:

I think we should use the online generator to get your stats and then assign the rest manually to get as close to RL as possible, since that’s what we’re going for.

CharGen:

1. Get SPEW stats and Gestalt Level (starting points) from SPEW-AI.com
2. SPEW Stats
   • Add Gestalt points to bring your SPEW stats up to where you think they should be in RL.
   • Read the SPEW level descriptions here for context.
3. Abilities
   • Choose your Profession(s) first. Abilities with (Profession) after the name. If your profession doesn’t show up, we’ll add one for you.
   • Add 1 level for every 5 years of actual RL experience in your profession(s), to a max of 5 levels, in the appropriate SPEW attributes for that Profession. Some Abilities will have multiple SPEW attributes associated with them. Either choose how you want to distribute those levels or put them all in your highest SPEW attribute for that Ability.
   • Add the appropriate Ability (Profession) related Skill bonuses (+1 per level of Ability) to the appropriate Skills.
   • NEXT: Choose from the remaining non-Profession Abilities – Those abilities you feel match your RL self, and add 1 or 2 levels that match your level of ability. Jut use your best judgement. If you have question just ask. For Example: ARTISTIC – “This character is capable of deep and meaningful artistic expression in their preferred medium. This can include drawing, photography, writing and acting.” If you have zero artistic ability, your level would be 0. If you If you are a professional writer or photographer, etc. you would be level 5. If you have a little bit of experience then maybe your level would be 1.
   • Keep track of the points you spend (i.e. if you add 3 levels to your Profession, that counts as 3 Gestalt level points). You will use the remaining Gestalt Level points for Skills.
4. Skills
   1. Choose the Skills you believe best highlight your RL experience/skills. If you have experience/skills that are not listed we’ll add them. Let me know what those are and I’ll write up descriptions for you (we’ll work through it together).
   2. Read the Skills section either in the Players Guide or the Game Mechanics thread I created here. to gain a better understanding of Basic, Trained, and Expert Skills. Use the Unsupported dice if you do not have associated Ability with that Skill. Use Supported otherwise.
   3. EXAMPLE: If you have AGILITY as an Ability, then the Skill Balance would be Supported, and you would roll 2d6, keep the highest, to get your roll total.
   4. Spend 1 or 2 Gestalt Points on each Skill you believe you have in RL. Reading the descriptions will give you an idea of where you would be experience/skill wise. Roll one time for each point spent for each of your chosen Skills.
   5. Each Skill has two associated SPEW. Look at the downloaded character sheet from SPEW-AI.com. The first digit (tens digit) of each associated SPEW attribute make up your base %Chance...EXAMPLE: BRAWL uses Strength and Perception. If your STR & PER are 40 & 32 respectively, your base %Chance would be 43.
   6. Add the numbers rolled in Step 4 above to your base %Chance to get your total %Chance.
   7. If you run out of Gestalt Level points let me know and we'll discuss.

More to come tonight…