mrgroknroll
Full Member
Mild mannered middle-aged male mammal.
Posts: 58
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Post by mrgroknroll on Mar 18, 2024 19:54:27 GMT
Having gone through the quickstart material a few days back, I suddenly realized something really cool about skill sets: they tell a story. Or at least, the players can use them to tell little stories about their characters. In this way, each skill set can help flesh out the biography of a character.
What do I mean? Taking the example from the free material of Emergency Response Team Member > Team Leader > Field Surgeon: - What made the character go into this in the first place? A calling? Forced in? Making the best of a bad situation? Was there a mentor, a sponsor? Was it luck? Was it initially to prepare a con?
- How then did they become team leader? Hard work? Nepotism? The old leader was incapacitated? Did they want the job or did they just not run away in time?
- How and where did they do their sugery training? Did they come by that specialication by chance or by design? What were there most difficult operations so far?
And if it's a more cultural background based on the lottery of birth, you could still come up with an idea for some ancedotes that give snapshots of your life. Like with the Native > Teenager > Hunter's Apprentice example.
And the skill sets somehow need to fit together as well. It need to be plausible that you had the opportunity and time to acquire those skill sets at all and at the given level.
And the skill set stories probably will also explain other things about yoru character: the biomods and gear they got. Maybe even tags, tracks and ties. Why? Skills take time to learn, so tracing the development of those skills will very like give you a biography.
Or at least it would do this for me  |
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Post by Pawel on Mar 18, 2024 20:18:19 GMT
Having gone through the quickstart material a few days back, I suddenly realized something really cool about skill sets: they tell a story. Or at least, the players can use them to tell little stories about their characters. In this way, each skill set can help flesh out the biography of a character.
What do I mean? Taking the example from the free material of Emergency Response Team Member > Team Leader > Field Surgeon: - What made the character go into this in the first place? A calling? Forced in? Making the best of a bad situation? Was there a mentor, a sponsor? Was it luck? Was it initially to prepare a con?
- How then did they become team leader? Hard work? Nepotism? The old leader was incapacitated? Did they want the job or did they just not run away in time?
- How and where did they do their sugery training? Did they come by that specialication by chance or by design? What were there most difficult operations so far?
And if it's a more cultural background based on the lottery of birth, you could still come up with an idea for some ancedotes that give snapshots of your life. Like with the Native > Teenager > Hunter's Apprentice example.
And the skill sets somehow need to fit together as well. It need to be plausible that you had the opportunity and time to acquire those skill sets at all and at the given level.
And the skill set stories probably will also explain other things about yoru character: the biomods and gear they got. Maybe even tags, tracks and ties. Why? Skills take time to learn, so tracing the development of those skills will very like give you a biography.
Or at least it would do this for me That's precisely the idea, Jens!  That's why these mechanics exist - to tell stories. Some of them will describe the character's past, some of them their personality, some of them their passions, etc. Excerpting from the character creation chapter: Players select or create one skill set for each of the five following aspects of a starting character’s personal story. Exceptional and elite characters start with one or two additional bonus skill sets respectively. All characters can gain additional skill sets through character advancement. ORIGIN Skill sets related to where a character was born—or created—and the nature of their childhood. BACKGROUND Skills learned from the most formative events of a character’s life to date. OCCUPATION Skills or training necessary for a character’s current job or livelihood. EXPERIENTIAL Skills a character developed through schooling, past occupations, or other major life experiences. DEVELOPMENTAL Skills a character is currently learning or training in, which may or may not be related to their occupation. |
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mrgroknroll
Full Member
Mild mannered middle-aged male mammal.
Posts: 58
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Post by mrgroknroll on Mar 18, 2024 20:24:13 GMT
Ah, nice. Good to know it's explicitely in the stuff I'll get to see eventually.
(Now I'm even more sad that I missed the Kickstarter (yes, yes, I stop whining about that.))
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Post by Pawel on Mar 18, 2024 20:26:14 GMT
Ah, nice. Good to know it's explicitely in the stuff I'll get to see eventually. (Now I'm even more sad that I missed the Kickstarter (yes, yes, I stop whining about that.)) Haha, look at the bright side though - we've been eagerly waiting for these books for a fairly long time, whereas you're about to see them relatively soon. Much shorter wait time!  |
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That's why these mechanics exist - to tell stories. Some of them will describe the character's past, some of them their personality, some of them their passions, etc. 