2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 10 - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game

   Warhammer is probably better known in the US as a science fiction and tabletop army game than as a RPG, even though it has gone through a number of editions and spawned the Zweihander retro-clone.  I have only used in as solo-play and not much of that honestly.  I still like to use it's settlement patterns in world building and really I sit down and read through all the different occupations over and over again.  That's where it's so different from D&D and most other games - your character might be adventuring, but they have occupations with specific skill sets they can learn and then use on their adventures.  Almost all starting professions have at least one skill that should  be immediately useful, although if you're a Fisherman - maybe not.  Rather than leveling you spend experience points on acquiring Skills and improving your Characteristics.

  Let's jump into rolling up a character, lots of dice rolling to do.

Characteristics - Fourteen characteristics, nine physical and five mental.  The characteristics are either expressed as integers or percentile.

Movement (M) - the creature's speed humans average 4 or 8 yards/10 seconds

Weapon Skill (WS) - Melee skill, some weapons require a Specialist Skill to use them

Ballistic Skill (BS) - Missile combat

Strength (S) - self explanatory

Toughness (T) - damage resistance, in terms of saving throws not subtraction of damage to the body

Wounds (W) - Hit Points.  Most humans start with 6, if you're lucky your careers will give the opportunity to add a few more.

Initiative (I) - described as 'speed of thought', it's reaction time

Attacks (A) - The number of blows the character can strike in a round

Dexterity (Dex) - A measure of a character's manual dexterity 

Leadership (Ld) - Ability to lead others

Intelligence (Int) - IQ

Cool (Cl) - the character's ability to remain calm under pressure

Will Power (WP) - Mental and magical resistance and awareness

Fellowship (Fel) - A measure of the character's social skills

The character profile is expressed as a two row stat block

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

1      25     25      1     1    1      1    1     25      25     25     25     25     25

I have a choice of Human, Elf, Dwarf and Halfling.  Dwarves are pretty standard portrayal of the race.  Elves are a bit more androgynous and divorced from humanity than we usually see, but not nearly as far off as Runequest takes them.   Halflings - this is the only system where the halfling race is provided a backstory that makes sense as to why they aren't miserable slaves and food to dragons.  But, yeah, they'd fit in in Bag End, Hobbiton, The Shire.

I'm going to choose human, because there are so many more occupations they can start with.  I need a d3 (which I've had ever since I was a kid) and two d10s.  Note each race has it's own variation on what they roll for characteristics, Dwarves & Halflings for example roll D2+2 for Movement.

Movement D3+2 = 2+2 = 4

Weapon Skill 2d10+20 = 9+2+20 = 31%

Ballistic Skill 2d10+20 = 9+10+20 = 39% (This guy is a good shot!)

Strength D3+1 = 3 +1 = 4 (Strong too)

Toughness D3 +1 = 1 + 1 = 2 (Sad trombone)

Wounds D3 + 4 = 1 + 4 = 5

Initiative  2d10 + 20 = 4 + 10 + 20 = 34%

Attacks 1 = 1 (no randomization to begin with)

Dexterity 2d10 + 20 = 9 + 6 + 20 = 35%

Leadership  2d10 + 20 = 5 + 4+ 20 = 29%

Intelligence  2d10 + 20 = 10 + 8 + 20 = 38% (Smart!)

Cool  2d10 + 20 = 9 + 2+ 20 = 31%

Will Power  2d10 + 20 = 3 + 7 + 20 = 30%

Fellowship  2d10 + 20 = 6+ 9 + 20 = 35% (Plays well with others) 

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

4      31      39     4     2    5     34   1     35      29     38     31    30      35

Next is Racial Abilities

Speaks: Old Worlder

Night Vision: Zero

Alignment: Neutral (Human Player Characters must start as Neural)

Height: 5'4" + d10" (Male); 5' + d10" (Female) Think I'll roll up a female character so roll a 9 = 5'9"

Psychology: No special rules (Dwarves have Hatred for Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins)

Age: I have a choice 6d6 for a younger character or 6d10 for an older character.  If the score is below 16, I roll again and add the scores together.  4,4,4,2,1,1 = 15.  Do it again.  5,5,4,4,3,3 = 24 - 24 + 15 = 39.

Fate: Each character has a number of Fate points they can spend to change a bad outcome (like death).  Humans have D3+1 = 2+1 = 3

Now I'm going to choose an initial class, which will determine initial skills and occupation.  The four classes are:

Warrior - minimum 30 Weapon Skill

Ranger - minimum 30 Ballistic Skill

Rogue - minimum 30 Initiative (except Elves who need a 65!)

Academic - minimum 30 Intelligence and Will Power.

She qualifies for all of them, so I'm choosing Academic.

Initial Skills:  Each character stars with D4 + N skills, where N is determined by age and race.  As a 39 year old human, she gets D4 + 2= 3 +2 = 5 skills.  Humans roll for all of their skills randomly, non-humans have a mandatory first skill (Halflings - Cook) and a choice of second skill, if they have more than one (Elves  -Dance, Musicianship, Sing).

Rolling on the Academic/Human chart -70, 35, 08, 86, 78.  She has Read/Write, Drive Cart, Ambidextrous, Super Numerate, Silent Move Urban

Now for a roll on the initial occupation: 34 = Herbalist  As a herbalist she gains the following skills:  Arcane Language - Druidic, Cure Disease, Heal Wounds, Herb Lore, Identify Plant, Read/Write (already has it), Secret Language - Classical, Secret Language - Guilder and a 20% chance of Prepare Poisons (57 = no).

She also has the Trappings of her trade.  A mortar and pestle and a string bag with dried herbs.

Herbalists have an Advancement Profile (characteristic increases and any skills not initially available) of 

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

                                       +1  +10         +10            +10

She can spend XP to buy 1 more Wound or a 10% increase in Initiative, Dexterity, or  Intelligence  or the skill Prepare Poisons.  As an adventurer, she gets a 'free advance' and chooses to increase her Intelligence.  Which is reflected in her Current Profile

Elena Acerbi 

Starter Profile

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

4      31      39     4     2    5     34   1     35      29     38     31    30      35

Advancement Profile

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

                                       +1  +10         +10            +10

Current Profile

M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    Dex    Ld    Int    Cl    WP    Fel

4      31      39     4     2    5     34   1     35      29     48     31    30      35

Skills:

Ambidextrous - no penalty to using off-hand weapons.  +10% on all Dexterity based risk tests.

Arcane Language - Druidic: The tongue of the Old Druids and the most ancient men.  Found on many tomb inscriptions and artifacts.

Cure Disease - recognizes common illnesses automatically, rolls an Int test to recognize rare diseases.  Can cure a disease on a test against her Int plus the patient's Toughness.

Drive Cart - she can drive any animal drawn wheeled vehicle without needing a risk test.

Heal Wounds - she can bind Wounds in the field and restore up to 1d3 Wound points.  And afterwards if she makes an Int +20% test once per day for a patient, the patient will regain their Toughness in Wound points (otherwise they regain 1/2 Toughness.)

Herb Lore - recognizes the properties of different herbs and how to gather them

Identify Plant - a lesser version of Herb Lore, but also includes identifying plants that are not herbs.

Read/Write - She can read and write all the languages that she speaks

Secret Language - Classical: The Academic language akin to Latin or Greek.  Used in many academic and religious texts.

Secret Language - Guilder: The secret language used in Guild Rituals.  She would be considered a member of Guild of Physicians, although she could never rise in it as a mere provider of nostrums.

Silent Move Urban - she can move through built up areas almost silently.  Listen tests against her are a -10%.

Super Numerate - she has "an uncanny and deeply irritating ability to work out maths in almost no time at all." She gains +20% on Estimating tests and +10% on Gambling tests.

 

Trappings: A mortar and pestle and a string bag with dried herbs.

   For twenty years, Elena and her husband crisscrossed the Empire, gathering herbs and selling them to the apothecaries and physicians in the cities, while providing healing to people of the countryside.  In the heavily patriarchal Empire, most assumed her husband was doing all the work and she just drove the cart and kept the camp.  In truth, she is a brilliant accomplished woman with a great depth of learning.  Her husband, their cart and home were destroyed in a recent beastman attack.  She has decided that she would like to settle down as a physician - but that requires that she gain enough money to live on for several years, pay the fees at the hospitals to study and the bribes need to get the physicians to overlook that she is in point of fact female.  While not a front line fighter, the adventuring party that recruits her has a much higher chance of coming back in one piece.

Character Creation Challenge Posts:
2021 Character Creation Challenge
Day 1 - D&D 0e
Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne
Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha
Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e
Day 5 - Traveller
Day 6 - Runequest
Day 7 - Gamma World
Day 8 - The Morrow Project
Day 9 - There was no Day 9.  Bumping the schedule back a day.

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 8 - The Morrow Project

 

  The Morrow Project is a post apocalyptic RPG where characters have been frozen, awaiting the wake up call to restore the world after World War III.  Sabotage has delayed the call for around 150 years, meaning that your mission of finding and gathering survivors to rebuild the United States has suffered a bit of 'mission creep'.  There are three types of teams Recon, Science and MARS (Mobile Assault, Rescue and Strike) who were intended to have complementary missions - now it's as scrambled as the DM or 'Project Director' wants to make it.

  I didn't get the books until last year when it came to me from the estate of one of my best friends and fellow gamer of almost 40 years.

I may have played it once in college, but I feel like maybe it was a different game with a similar setting.  Anyone know of candidates?

   Reading through the character generation rules, it uses an odd 4d6-4 system to generate scores between 0 and 20 on a bell curve.  The stats are mostly self-explanatory Strength Constitution, Dexterity, Accuracy (how good is your aim), Charisma, Psi (mental strength if you roll 15+ you may have psionic talents) and Luck.  Interestingly they have no Intelligence of Wisdom stat - but they solve that later: 

   As reading further through the rules, I found a separate handout containing ANOTHER character generation system based on Runequest, complete with percentile skills.  And it's complements of Chaosium and Tadashi Ehara himself!  RPG game design was a small world in 1980.  In this system they drop accuracy and replace it with intelligence.

I'm going to go ahead an use the original system.

Harrison Black

ST 11       CON 11       DEX 14       ACC 14

CH 9        PSI 12         LUCK 13

The next item is to calculate "Structure and Blood Points", in other word Hit Points

Structure & Blood Points (ST * CN) + 100 = 211

Now it gets fun, calculating S&BP by hit location and they have more hit locations than Runequest.  I cheated and threw it into a spreadsheet and created an image of it.  I can't imagine doing this by hand, fortunately back in the day I had my trusty TI-30 hand calculator.

Then roll d20 for Blood Type: 4 = Type O

 Look up Movement Points:  Dexterity 14 = 4 Movement Points.  Each action has a number of MP, from FIre Weapon (1 point) to Don or Remove Powered Armor (30 points)  Kind of like this system actually, but it does show it's roots in hex and counter board games.

And calculate Endurance = DX* CN = 154.  Lose 1 point per combat round

Harrison Black

Mutant Wolverines
capable and willing to 
attack vehicles

ST 11       CON 11       DEX 14       ACC 14

CH 9        PSI 12         LUCK 13     S&BP 221

Blood Type O              Move 4         END 154

Harrison is a member of a Recon Team charged with scouting for survivors and recommending aid from other more specialized teams.

In addition to his standard issue kit (basic clothing and survival gear ~10.5kg); he carries a #7 (Demolition) load with a Ingram M-10 submachine gun/6 mags; 1 M83 Demolition Charge, 4 M2A1 Detonators, 2 M1 Timers 2 M26A1 (Fragmentation) Grenades and 1 M34 White Phosphorus Grenade (~20.1 kg).

He's the team expert in breaking and entering.

A bit more about the system, the first four pages are a list of US cities and military bases and the type and warhead of the Soviet missile that hit them.  Character creation is only three pages, followed by setting background fluff and 16 (out of a total 62) pages of illustrated weapons and equipment statistics.  10 pages of combat rules, descriptions and tables, then setting encounters and creatures.  Finishing with four pages of mutants, that I'd forgotten about.  Need to update my random table generator.  The crunch is strong in this game.  

Character Creation Challenge Posts:
2021 Character Creation Challenge
Day 1 - D&D 0e
Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne
Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha
Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e
Day 5 - Traveller
Day 6 - Runequest
Day 7 - Gamma World

Tomorrow looks a bit iffy for posting, as I have work to do down at Traveller Adventures farm and will be stopping to play some AD&D on the way home.

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 7 - Gamma World

   Today we get to the first game on my shelves that I have never played.  In fact this is the first character I've ever rolled up for Gamma World.  Mainly because I just picked up the reprint back in 2019 and earlier because we really didn't play any post-apocalyptic RPGs in college.  Oh I had Metamorphosis Alpha and Cucch had Morrow Project (tomorrow's post) but other than a single Morrow Project one shot we were AD&D, C&S and Traveller.

So without further ado

Gerigel-Gande Kia                           Humanoid

Mental Strength : 6           Intelligence: 10             Dexterity: 8

Charisma: 11                     Constitution: 13            Physical Strength: 9 

Hit Points: 53

Other than his CON, I'd rate him as below average a marginal character, despite rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest when rolling.  He rolled very well on is Hit Points.  One die per point of CON.

As a humanoid he has d4 Physical and Mental mutations.  I rolled one of each.

Physical I rolled double ought and get to chose.

Mental I rolled Mental Control

And I rolled two 2's when determining the number of Defect Mutations, so he has one. I randomly determined it would be a physical mutation and rolled Double Physical Pain.

There's no roll for cash, just whatever the DM allows you to start with.  They recommend only primitive tools and armor.

Gerigel-Gande Kia                           Humanoid

Mental Strength : 6           Intelligence: 10             Dexterity: 8

Charisma: 11                     Constitution: 13            Physical Strength: 9 

Hit Points: 53

Mutations: Heat Generation:  Projects beams of heat from his eyes.  4d6 damage once every three turns.

Mental Control: Allows the mutant to take control of another being's body and operate it as their own.

Double Physical Pain: Mutant takes double damage

Spear 1d6/1d8

Furs and Skins AC 8

Gerigel-Gande looks human and resents his tribe's attitude towards him due to his Heat Generation ability

that he revealed as a child.  Small, weak, slow and easily hurt he kept his Mental Control ability secret when he developed it, but used it to put a number of his tribesmen into embarrassing or dangerous situations to avenge real and imagined slights.  Because of his low pain threshold and generally low stats he is cowardly and prefers to use his Heat Generation or at least keep opponents at spear's length.

While I haven't played it I do often mix elements, equipment and monsters into my own games.





Character Creation Challenge Posts:
2021 Character Creation Challenge
Day 1 - D&D 0e
Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne
Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha
Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e
Day 5 - Traveller
Day 6 - Runequest

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 6 - Runequest

  Another game I would love to play more.  I played it once in the service and ran it once a year or so ago.  Despite that I have done quite a bit of playing around with it, to the point of writing javascript to create
descriptions of ruins in the city of Pavis and a generator to create stat blocks for creatures.  (The function for equipping weapons and armor seems to be broken now.)  I've used it as a source of inspiration in countless posts and have delved into it's mysteries on occasion.  I backed the Kickstarter where they republished the classics and have picked up a number of third party and Mongoose Runequest publications that expand on it.

    Things I love about the game, no levels, learn whatever skills you want and advance by using them.  That everyone use magic is odd, but not destabilizing. And the setting - not so much Glorantha in it's magnificent, glorious weirdness (OK, I like Ducks, the annoying little buggers) but Pavis and the Big Rubble a whole unique adventuring site, with a consistent history and reasons for monsters and opponents being there.  Not to mention the Lunar Army Occupation bureaucracy - they know about the secret tunnel and have a tax collector waiting for you.

  The system is fairly well known as it became the basis for Basic Roleplaying and Call of Cthulhu.  Seven stats: Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power (Magic Points), Dexterity and Charisma.  A whole raft of calculated values come off of them - Hit Points equal Constitution plus of minus bonuses for Size and Power.  High Power in addition to fueling spells gives a character an advantage in almost everything - as one of the rationals reads "It's nice being on touch with the Universe".  Humans roll 3d6 for their stats, other races may roll individual stats differently, such as Ducks having a 2d6 for size.

   The combat system tracks the location you hit, so you can have different hit points and AC in different locations and they handle it elegantly.  You see it on the right hand side of the stat block below R LEG 0/7 is Right Leg AC 0/ 7 Hit Points.  He has three points of natural armor in his head.

Other parts of the stat block. 

Dragonnewt from
Runequest 

Def = Defense, a passive capability subtracted from the opponent's attack, 

ENC = Encumbrance, how many 'things' can a character carry.  Tracks bulk as much as weight.  

TF = Treasure Factor a rough guide for how tough a monster is.  

SR = Strike Rank, calculated for each weapon, modified by Size and Dexterity, more or less far does your weapon reach and how fast can you move it. 

Pry% = Parry, active defense; 

Pts - Hit Points in the weapon - you take damage, so can your weapon.  If it takes enough you need a new weapon.  The butt is natural, if you break his head he's dead anyway. 

  I thought about doing a Dragonnewt, but decided to roll up a Broo.  Broo being the satyr like evil humanoids who breed with anything they can catch (regardless of gender) and let the young eat their way out of the host.  For various reasons most are vaguely goat like, but there are occasional exceptions such as the rhinoceros broo of the Big Rubble and Razalkark, the Unicorn Broo ruler of cursed Dorastor.

Half the broo carry disease and many of them, like the one below have mutations.

Blord the Greasy     Broo

Broo from
Borderlands 
& Beyond

STR 16      CON 18       01-04 R LEG  0/7 
SIZ 15      INT 13       05-08 L LEG  0/7 
POW 13      DEX 15       09-11 ABDOM  0/7 
CHA  5      HP  19         12  CHEST  0/8 
Move 10     ENC 16       13-15 R ARM  0/6 
Def 15      TF   7       16-18 L ARM  0/6 
                         19-20  HEAD  3/7 
Weapon         SR Atk% Damage     Pry%Pts 
Butt            5  25   1d6+1d4    -    0

Skills: Tracking 60, Listen 40
Feign Death 35

Basic Magic: Binding, Bludgeon
Detect Spirit, Extinguish 2, Healing 2

Special: 
The creature exudes a
greasy, flammable oil from it's skin. 
it receives a +10% bonus to skill
checks involving navigating tight
places or escaping bonds. 
The
creature is infected with Wasting
Disease


Base Attack 10  Base Parry 5;Base Manipulation 10  Base Stealth 5  

Base Knowledge 5  Base Perception 5  Base Oratory -5 Base Move 10
Strike Rank (SIZ) 1  Strike rank (DEX) 2

Kitting him out

Blord the Greasy     Broo

STR 16      CON 18       01-04 R LEG  2/7 
SIZ 15      INT 13       05-08 L LEG  2/7 
POW 13      DEX 15       09-11 ABDOM  4/7 
CHA  5      HP  19         12  CHEST  2/8 
Move 10     ENC 16       13-15 R ARM  3/6 
Def 15      TF   7       16-18 L ARM  3/6 
                         19-20  HEAD  3/7 
Weapon         SR Atk% Damage     Pry%Pts 
Butt            5  35   1d6+1d4    -    0
Long Spear      4  25   1d6+1+1d4  25  15
Armor: Leather Hauberk (Chest & Abdomen);
Leather Pants (Abdomen and Legs) Cuirbolli
Vambraces (Arms) 

Skills: Tracking 60, Listen 40
Feign Death 35

Basic Magic: Binding, Bludgeon
Detect Spirit, Extinguish 2, Healing 2

Special: 
The creature exudes a
greasy, flammable oil from it's skin. 
it receives a +10% bonus to skill
checks involving navigating tight
places or escaping bonds. 
The
creature is infected with Wasting
Disease


Base Attack 10  Base Parry 5;Base Manipulation 10  Base Stealth 5  
Base Knowledge 5  Base Perception 5  Base Oratory -5 Base Move 10
Strike Rank (SIZ) 1  Strike rank (DEX) 2
And I want to say that coding html stat blocks to display and print evenly is a pain.


Character Creation Challenge Posts:
2021 Character Creation Challenge
Day 1 - D&D 0e
Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne
Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha
Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e
Day 5 - Traveller

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 5 - Traveller

 Played a LOT of Traveller in college, as I recall the much of campaign was done in concert with playing out 5th Frontier War.  But haven't played since.  I have used the generation tables to teach myself a number of programming languages.  I find that having a specific goal and good requirements makes it easier to learn.  And the Little Black Books generation systems are better than 90% of what I have gotten in professional career.

    The system is of course, notorious for characters dying during the generation process.  I even got a T-shirt shown above and it's even similar to the classic Traveller pseudo-Optical Character Recognition font.

   Still this guy survived without an issue.

Merchant 4th Officer Ilbak Mullens   973644  Age 26    2 Terms Cr 6,000

Gun Combat -1, Medical - 1, Jack-of-all-Trades -1

Born: Wardn/Lunion/Spinward Marches

Discharged: Bendor/Glisten/Spinward Marches

1st Term:   Young Ilbak did poorly in school, knowing that his family connections would get him into the Longshoreman's Guild at the starport.  Shortly after starting there as laborer (+1 Endurance), he was working inside the cargo bay of the Free Trader Luisa Karnak when a group from the Sword Worlds' based Nightmare Snow pirates attempted to hijack the ship by rushing up the ramp.  When a nearby guard went down in the initial volley, Ilbak picked up his weapon and returned fire (Gun Combat skill), enabling the crew to raise the ramp and lift ship.  The ship's doctor having been caught dirtside, he grabbed a bulkhead mounted EMT unit and used it to stabilize the wounded (Medical skill).  

    The captain enlisted him in the Merchant Service on the spot and as the Karnak's 4th officer had been killed in the firefight, appointed him acting 4th Officer based on his quick responses in the emergency. (Commission)

2nd Term:  While eager and likeable, in the long run Ilbak's lack of education was destined to stall his career.  He was willing to help everywhere (Jack-of-all-Trades) but didn't have enough background to do the work on his own.  After his second hitch he left the service with 6000Cr in savings and was presented a shotgun to commemorate how he joined the ship.   

He's now on Bendor/Glisten/Spinward Marches, looking for adventure.

Reasonable physical stats, intelligence, education and social standing are poor: Strength 9, Dexterity 7, Endurance 3, Intelligence 6, Education 3, Social Status 4

He enlisted without a problem in the Merchant Service, having a +3 for meeting the bonus Intelligence and Strength scores.  He survived gaining +1 Endurance, Gun Combat and, surprisingly, a commission as 4th Officer, which gained him a skill point in Medical.  

He successfully reenlisted and survived, but wasn't promoted.  He did pick up the coveted Jack of all Trades skill allowing him to perform any skill check without a penalty.

Mustering out he got a shotgun and then had the two lowest rolls on the cash table.  The rest is fluff. 

Character Creation Challenge Posts:

2021 Character Creation Challenge

Day 1 - D&D 0e

Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne

Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha

Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 4 - Chivalry & Sorcery 1e

   

Day 4 brings me to the first game I ever bought, Fantasy Games Unlimited Chivalry & Sorcery by Ed Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus.   It's been one of my favorite games for over forty years and I did a write up of it here several years ago so I'll let you follow the link rather than repeating the text in this post.  I've written a fair number of posts over the years about or referencing the game.

I will say the mechanics are kind of kludgely and after spending 2020 doing solo-play with it off and on, I'm probably done with most of the game system mechanics.  Other systems are just more streamlined.  With that said, it is still, after four decades on my shelf, one of my go to books for world and campaign design.

    Character creation would take me about two hours - if I hadn't wrote my own Google Sheets character generator.

Name: Aquila Heyworth

Aquila did very well on his d20 characteristic rolls.  The 20(2) Superhuman strength level makes him into a killing machine, for as we'll see below C&S doesn't add damage - it multiplies it.  His only real poor characteristic is his low Constitution, probably due to poor childhood nutrition or something like that.  The Frame of Average Height & Average Weight determined how to read the tables on which his height and weight were rolled.  He's very average.

The only calculated value in this section is Charisma and his is through the roof due to his Appearance (helped by his Dexterity, Bardic Voice, Intelligence and Wisdom.  His Strength is the cherry on top as people have a lot of respect for someone who can tear them apart.

The Combat section are all calculated based on the Characteristics.  His Body & Fatigue (hit points basically) are mostly due to his character class (see Vocation below), Superhuman Strength and his Intelligence - he fights smart.  His low Constitution isn't low enough to penalize him.

Carrying Capacity is calculated as a multiple of his Weight - in this case 5* again due to his Superhuman Strength.  And I just discovered two bugs in my character generator, his Strength is really 20(20). not 20(2) so there's a display issue and I haven't factored in that Strength has a Constitution minimum, he should have a Constitution of 14!  Oh well.

Military Ability is tied into the Campaign Battle rules in C&S (no need for Chainmail) and is a determination of how good a Military Commander he his.  And if not a Napoleon, he's at least equal to U.S. Grant.  It's the sum of Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Strength and Charisma divided by 10 with bonuses for high Wisdom, Charisma and Dexterity.  

Command Level is half Military Ability plus a bonus for Charisma.  It determines how well he can lead the rather flighty feudal troops he may be working with.

Personal Combat Factor is just how good a fighter you are.  It's calculated from Carrying Capacity, Military Ability, Dexterity plus a "Class Factor" that depends on what you do for a living and where you are in Feudal society.  Experience will improve it, but this guy is a first level killing machine.

Finally we have background data.  I created an algorithm based on Social Class and the Characteristics to determine if the character would be a Fighter, Magic User, Cleric or Thief.  The only classes C&S offers in Feudal society.  With his Strength and being the younger son of a Serf, Man-At-Arms, where he has been accepted into the service of his feudal lord, is the best he could do.

Every Character gets a Horoscope and he's a Well-aspected Libra enjoying a 5% experience bonus.  His father was a herdsman Serf with NO social status, but being very Charismatic, young Aquila has a very good chance of Influencing people.

To finish him off. using my Wilderlands charts - he is quite Exotic looking with his Metallic Silver hair, Dark Brown skin (unusual around the City State) and Violet eyes. 

Character Creation Challenge Posts:

2021 Character Creation Challenge

Day 1 - D&D 0e

Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne

Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha

2021 Character Creation Challenge: Day 3 - Metamorphosis Alpha

     The second RPG I ever bought - I think.  I'm really no longer 

sure when I picked it up, I believe I wasstill in High School, so that puts it in the 1977-1979 date range.  I only played it once or twice, but made a lot of maps of the various levels of the starship Warden.  There wasn't enough setting details to give me traction on how to run a campaign in this system.  After a few decades of experience, yes, just make a McGuffin and build a few adventures around it.  I have used the mutation tables as a source of inspiration and had a duralloy shield show up as a treasure once.  That campaign took a different turn and they never encountered the landing party.

    Anyway, it's James M Ward's "Fantastic Role Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventure"  and cost me a cool $5 plus tax new.  Players have the option of playing human, mutated human, or mutated creature (animals or plants!).  All of them are barbarians living in a generation ship voyaging between the stars, a la Robert A Heinlein's Orphan's of the Sky - from which it draws obvious inspiration.

   It's influence is seen in Gamma World (coming up on the January 7th) and, of course, the classic module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

Six stats are created by rolling 3d6:

 Radiation Resistance - the ability to withstand the damaging effects of radiation

Mental Resistance - the ability to withstand psionic and mental attacks.  This one is increased by one for every 5 successfully resisted attacks.

Dexterity, Constitution, and Strength are the same that we see in so many RPGs, although Your Constitution determines the number of d6s you roll for Hit Points.

 Leadership Potential - Really it's D&D Charisma stripped of the unfortunate connotation of physical beauty.   It's how many followers you can have and how likely a friendly mutant will follow you.  Only humans have Leadership Potential, no one likes the mutants.

Radiation Resistance, Mental Resistance and Poison all use cross reference charts of attacking strength vs defending strength that were so basic to the hex and counter military board games of the day.  The intersecting values for Radiation showed how many turns you would last before taking damage; Mental Strength gave you target number or auto success or failure - rather like the Clerical Turn Undead charts.  Poison works against Constitution and shows which of three possible outcomes are faced by comparing the Poison Strength to the Constitution: Ignore it, Die and 'Get an Antidote with N Turns or Die'.

Mutations:  Character's roll d4 apiece for Physical and Mental Mutations.  The DM rolls d4 and assigns "defects"

Character

Name:  Ix Kaknab                         Mutated Human

Radiation Resistance:  11              Constitution: 12           

Mental Resistance:       10             Strength:        13

Dexterity:                     12             

Physical Mutations (2)                        Mental Mutations (3)                       Defects (2)

1. Poison Claws or Fangs                    1. Telekinesis                                    1. Hemophilia (physical)

2. Heightened Touch                            2. Density Control (others)               2. Epilepsy (mental)

                                                             3. Force Field Generation

Ix Kaknab often passes as a regular human with his brunette hair and reddish brown skin.  His eyes give away his true nature as they are milky white orbs including the pupil and iris, so he is usually encountered wearing a deep hood.

His hands have short claws that can inject a Strength 11 Poison.  His Heightened Touch gives him a better chance of figuring out the use of ancient technology or identifying weaknesses in an object.

He can use Telekinesis to mentally move objects around.  Useful when you want to see if that's a vine or snare on the ground.  Once a day he can project a Force Field ahead of him that will absorb 5 dice of damage.  He can also change the molecular density of another being once a day, increasing their armor class (useful for a friend) at the expense of their speed (a slower enemy is one he can run away from).

He avoids combat, as Hemophilia means he needs attention to every cut to avoid bleeding to death.  His epilepsy is triggered by joining large (>4) groups.  There is a 5% chance each time he is in one that he suffers an attack of paralysis.

Character Creation Challenge Posts:

2021 Character Creation Challenge

Day 1 - D&D 0e

Day 2 - Empire of the Petal Throne