Klaus Kipling
Mongoose
Been looking over the point buy system, and while it generally produces pc's in balance with standard chargen there are a few issues.
The costs for buying skills and attributes are probably about right, but I do have some queries about the system.
Firstly, a statement of what is explicit and implicit.
Explicit:
characters DO NOT get Background skills or roll Events.
characters DO get Connections Skills.
Implicit:
characters seem to choose a career, as if they buy a rank, they get any associated skills with it, and so therefore must pick from a career rank table, and similarly with any purchased benefit rolls.
Question:
As characters seem to have to pick a career, do they get the Basic Training Skills? Also, do they get the Skills Package?
To me it feels like there's a skeleton of the points buy system but there's a few problems and some definite weirdness.
It's likely no character will ever have a rank higher than R1. You mostly get a free skill for that, but otherwise, in point buy, rank is mainly fluff. It's not generally worth it to buy up to R3 and the other skill, as you could get 2 skills for that price. Similarly, unless the character is really after a ship, most players would probably eschew these as being not entirely worth it, apart from maybe one for some starting cash. Characters will also have a tendency to have better attributes the older they are rather than older characters suffering physically due to aging. Cohen the Barbarian is certainly possible, nay, likely. Few characters, unless they want to be a noble, will have SOC of higher than 6. Finally, a point buy character has no connection to what is the really nice bit of MGT chargen, which is events, contacts, rivals etc. This is a shame, as they end up lacking the depth random characters have.
It is possible to get some truly bizarre pcs, especially at higher terms.
Eg:
6 terms, 999999 with Jack of Trades 3.
6 terms, 696CC6 with Jack of Trades 3, and a benefit roll.
The older (4+) characters will have at least an average of 7 or 8 for each attribute.
---------------------
Some 'reforms' might open up point buy a little.
Characters get benefit rolls as per normal, 1 for each term plus bonuses for rank. This tallies with the idea that these benefits accumulate over a career and add an incentive to buy those higher, none-skill-giving-ranks. To balance this out, Aging Rolls return - players can pay again to offset any losses incurred.
Characters can pay for contacts and rivals, etc.
Contact: 1 pt, Ally: 3pts, Rival: -1pt, Enemy: -2pt.
Characters can buy events (max 1 per term):
1pt for a Life Event, 2 pts for a Career Event.
The costs for buying skills and attributes are probably about right, but I do have some queries about the system.
Firstly, a statement of what is explicit and implicit.
Explicit:
characters DO NOT get Background skills or roll Events.
characters DO get Connections Skills.
Implicit:
characters seem to choose a career, as if they buy a rank, they get any associated skills with it, and so therefore must pick from a career rank table, and similarly with any purchased benefit rolls.
Question:
As characters seem to have to pick a career, do they get the Basic Training Skills? Also, do they get the Skills Package?
To me it feels like there's a skeleton of the points buy system but there's a few problems and some definite weirdness.
It's likely no character will ever have a rank higher than R1. You mostly get a free skill for that, but otherwise, in point buy, rank is mainly fluff. It's not generally worth it to buy up to R3 and the other skill, as you could get 2 skills for that price. Similarly, unless the character is really after a ship, most players would probably eschew these as being not entirely worth it, apart from maybe one for some starting cash. Characters will also have a tendency to have better attributes the older they are rather than older characters suffering physically due to aging. Cohen the Barbarian is certainly possible, nay, likely. Few characters, unless they want to be a noble, will have SOC of higher than 6. Finally, a point buy character has no connection to what is the really nice bit of MGT chargen, which is events, contacts, rivals etc. This is a shame, as they end up lacking the depth random characters have.
It is possible to get some truly bizarre pcs, especially at higher terms.
Eg:
6 terms, 999999 with Jack of Trades 3.
6 terms, 696CC6 with Jack of Trades 3, and a benefit roll.
The older (4+) characters will have at least an average of 7 or 8 for each attribute.
---------------------
Some 'reforms' might open up point buy a little.
Characters get benefit rolls as per normal, 1 for each term plus bonuses for rank. This tallies with the idea that these benefits accumulate over a career and add an incentive to buy those higher, none-skill-giving-ranks. To balance this out, Aging Rolls return - players can pay again to offset any losses incurred.
Characters can pay for contacts and rivals, etc.
Contact: 1 pt, Ally: 3pts, Rival: -1pt, Enemy: -2pt.
Characters can buy events (max 1 per term):
1pt for a Life Event, 2 pts for a Career Event.