Character Creation for The Andromeda Project Series
Introduction
Players in the Andromeda Project series will be playing members of a Special Operations Team. There is no allegory for the SOT in the United Federation of Planets because the UFP has the resources available to divide the responsibilities of the Andromeda Project's SOT among various institutions. The easiest way to think of the duties of the SOT would be to think of the duties of the US Coast Guard combined with the FBI, CIA and a Diplomatic Corp.
When the participants of the Andromeda Project pass through the wormhole, never to return to Federation space, they will not have the benefit of the many agencies that exist there. There is no Starfleet Intelligence in the Andromeda galaxy. There is no civilian or Starfleet Diplomatic Corp. There is no Federation Investigative Bureau. There are no special investigations teams for unusual phenomena such as the Temporal Investigations agency first seen in an episode of Deep Space 9.
Many people would think that your average Starship crew could adequately fulfill these tasks for a small population group. This is based on the fact that our Star Trek crews from television are frequently seen being dispatched to meet with ambassadors, sneak into Romulan space, uncover conspiracies, etc. There are a few things you should keep in mind if you are thinking along these lines:
This is a tall order to fill for any small group of officers, even if they are only providing these services for 1000-odd officers and another 1000 civilians. The members of the SOT must therefore be exceptional people. The players should do their best to create skilled and interdisciplinary characters that could be valuable to such a team. That said, super-characters who can do anything or who are overly skilled are not desired. No one can have any fun if one ridiculously powerful character can pull the proverbial rabbit out of his hat in every situation.
Guidelines
To achieve the right balance between adequately skilled and overly skilled characters, a few guidelines must be observed in the creation of your characters. There are always exceptions to any rule, and anyone who has a problem with a guideline can e-mail me from the index page for further discussion.
Every step of character creation should be included with a submission so that I can follow what you did and help correct problems or mistakes (sometimes in your favor).
Some guidelines exist not for game balance but for game setting. Issues of character race, certain advantages and disadvantages and other issues are not suitable. I want everyone to have a character they enjoy, but as narrator I have a pretty good idea of what lies ahead for these characters. What you may think you're going to like may turn out to be a useless or boring individual.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: The most important thing is, of course, to have fun. That said, the most important thing to keep in mind when you're creating a character is to make one that you feel comfortable playing. What do I mean by that? Simply put, don't make a character that you can't play adequately if you want everyone to have fun.
About a year ago, I checked out a "sim" or simulation game on IRC. I was new to this kind of game and had just made an inexperienced Conn ensign to get the hang of things. Everyone else was a department head about two ranks above me or higher and had been playing for a while. In short time, however, I felt like I was running the show and not having very much fun because the other players weren't being true to their characters.
Some problems I had: I had to explain to the Chief Medical Officer what an anesthetic would do and why we should use one. I tried to diplomatically suggest to the vulcan character what would be the 'logical' thing to do (and I was supposed to be playing a bolian). I even told the aggressive Klingon character that we didn't need to run away! This was obviously some weird version of Star Trek that I was unfamiliar with where the ensign straight off his cadet cruise is the most assertive character, the flight controller is giving the doctor medical advice and a bolian gets away with calling a Klingon cowardly. After about twelve more instances of this type of lunacy I decided this campaign wasn't for me....
Do you have to have medical knowledge to play a medical officer? No. DeForest Kelly never made any diagnosis more complex than "He's dead, Jim." Should you be comfortable waving a medical tricorder over someone and giving them a hyronalin injection for radiation poisoning? Yes. Technobabble is unfortunately part of the Star Trek experience. I don't think anyone would ever want to hear their engineer say "Um, I think this warp drive thingee isn't working... uh, yeah - I think it's going to blow. What should I do?" If I were a member of the crew my answer would be "Load yourself into a torpedo tube and launch it as soon as possible, but first let me stop the breach in the warp core so you don't kill us all."
You don't have to be an expert on everything your character knows but you should be an expert on the character itself. I will provide as much help or info as possible with the 'technobabble', the background or the setting, but I should never have to explain to a vulcan how they mind meld or see an andorian asking "Can't we all just drop our phasers and have a group hug?" I'm flexible for the most part, but in cases like this you'll find I can turn into a prick - with good reason.
DEVELOPMENT POINTS/TOURS OF DUTY: A maximum of 3 additional tours of duty beyond the first are allowed in the creation of a character. This translates to 140 maximum development points.
RANK: The average rank of the officer characters should be Lieutenant. I would prefer not to see any characters above Lt. Commander. There are two reasons for this:
1) If you're using your development points to achieve the highest rank possible in this campaign instead of spending them on the skills you're going to need to survive, you've just taken the fast track to the Red Shirt Hall of Fame. What you will have is a young, high-ranking, low-skilled DEAD officer.
2) If someone wants to create a lower ranking character, I do not want extremely high ranking characters looming over them. The person playing Ensign Bookworm, the highly knowledgeable science officer, should not have to second guess himself or ask permission to speak from the person playing the bureaucratic oaf Keptain Kourageous. Most people don't play games to be bossed around every step of the way, at least not outside the realm of S&M.
RACE: Almost any "canon" Federation race will be accepted. If the racial template does not come from an official Last Unicorn Games source, I'm afraid I will have to go over the template first. Non-canon Federation races (fan or author created) are allowed but the player is responsible for coming up with some details about the culture and history of these people. Finally, races that are definitely not a part of the Federation cannot be player characters. Sorry, no Klingons. Half-breed characters such as a half-klingon, half-human or a half-romulan, half-vulcan will be permitted but there had better be a damn good explanation for them. I have no desire to tell stories about a group of characters that are supposed to be from the United Federation of Planets that are comprised of a Klingon, a Romulan, a Tholian and a Ferengi.
OVERLAYS: Any Last Unicorn Games overlay can be used as long as it describes Starfleet officer or enlisted personnel. It is possible to play, for example, a civilian scientist or a reporter but it will be difficult to work one into the story every game session.
If anyone needs help creating a character because they don't see the overlay that describes what they want, I will be happy to help by providing an overlay or helping to create one. I have at my disposal The First Line, the Starfleet Intelligence sourcebook; the Price of Freedom, which includes some non-traditional overlays like the Theoretical Engineer or Rapid Response Team and the Player's Guide, which includes details on enlisted personnel and many new training packages.
PSIONICS: Psychic abilities are certainly admissible and have long been a part of Star Trek. One or two characters with such skills does not seriously effect a series. A series with a couple of vulcans, a betazoid and a deltan would certainly not be unmanageable even though all these characters have some kind of extrasensory ability.
However, I offer the same advice here that I provided under RANK: If you make a super-telepathic officer, therefore using development points on psionics instead of a lot of different skills that may be useful in different situations, you will have an under-skilled, DEAD super-telepath - someone who was able to sense that the aliens were hostile but couldn't shoot straight, dodge them or talk their way out of getting shot. Getting a psychic flash that the warp engine is about to have a core breach but not being able to fix it just gives you a few extra seconds to kiss up to the deity of your choice before you meet him, her, it or them.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES: There are certain advantages and disadvantages that are going to be totally useless in the Andromeda Project. Obligation (Starfleet Intelligence) -2 is a disadvantage which is never going to be used against the character because there is no Starfleet Intelligence in the Andromeda galaxy. Disadvantages such as this essentially become 'Freebie Points'. Since there is no such thing as 'Freebie Points' in the LUGTrek system, players must buy off these disadvantages or replace them with disadvantages that are not linked to the Milky Way galaxy before play.
Further, it would behoove players to avoid electing to take advantages that are rooted in the Milky Way galaxy as well. You can replace such advantages that are provided by certain packages or tours of duty, or convert them into development points, but go over it with me first.
Other advantages that will do a player character no good are advantages that revolve around a post on a starship. As a member of the Special Operations Team, there is no use for the Department Head advantage, because there are no discrete departments within the team.
SUBMITTING A CHARACTER: If you have a character or need help creating a character for the game, you can e-mail it to me at the link provided below. If you are submitting a character, please include each step of the creation process and any alterations you have made so I can review it fairly and objectively. Any reasonable character that meets the guidelines above should not be turned down.
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