Character Creation: The World of Species

I'm sure there's a fascinating story behind how West End Games wound up with all of these movie tie-in game licenses, but I don't know it, so here we are.

The Game: The World of Species
The Publisher: West End Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with the game, but I know the movie pretty well
Books Required: Species and the MasterBook core

 

It's not the weirdest movie tie-in RPG I've ever seen, actually. I've mentioned in other places that I think Species is a pretty good Chill movie, as it revolves around a team of people investigating and then hunting down a monster (sure, it's sci-fi horror rather than supernatural horror, but eh).

The Species game posits that Sil escaped the final confrontation in the sewers of LA and fled to North Carolina, where she had a few kids, who have then gone on to sire or birth progeny of their own. Meanwhile, the government agency that hunted her down in the first place is now under more capable leadership, so they've...injected alien DNA into soldiers, which grants them either enhanced physical prowess or limited shapeshifting skills (OK, so maybe they didn't really learn anything). The book assumes you're playing agents hunting aliens, but does mention that if you want, you can play aliens being hunted by agents. You know, if you have the kah-razy idea that you want to play monsters. If you're some kinda weirdo.

Anydangway, I do not wish to make an alien character, though I may wish to make one of the shape-shifty people. Character creation works with packages (lol); they're arranged into tiers and different worlds allow different spreads. In the case of Species, it depends on what I want to do. Alien hybrids, psychics, and normal humans all get different spreads (though I have to say, I'm not having any trouble finding the info I need so far, and the different Backgrounds are all offset in little sidebars, so that's nice).

Well, I guess I better start with some kinda concept. I really liked Forest Whitaker in Species (the cast in general is really good, much better than the material). I like how his empathy powers happen whether or not he wants them to, but you can see the difference when he gets a feeling without trying and when he tries to force it (which doesn't always work). I think I'd like to play a psychic who gets recruited by Project Proteus.

My character is Hector Maloney. Hector is a student at Duke University, currently taking a medical leave of absence arranged by Project Proteus. He's in pre-med, and he still wants to be a doctor someday, following in his father's footsteps. His mother is career Army Intelligence, and she knows a little more about Project Proteus than she should, which I think the brass might well hold over Hector's head if he just wants to go back to school (he's not even allowed to drink legally yet, for crying out loud).

So, building a psychic is just like building a normal human, but I have to select "Special Effect" as my Column III Advantage. No problem. First thing, though, I have to do my Attributes. I get 68 points to divvy up among the 8 of them, 5 is minimum, 13 is max, 8-9 is average. Hokay.

Well, I don't think Hector is necessarily physically adept, but I don't want him to be too much of a wimp, either. If I divided the points up evenly (as I like to do, at least at first), I get 8 into each with 4 left over. Hmm.

Well, I think I actually want to put Agility, Endurance, and Strength a little lower than average (7s), which means I've spent 21. I'll put Dexterity at 10 (he wants to be a surgeon), Intellect at 10, Mind at 10 (they're too similar for my taste, but whatever), that puts me to 51 spent. 17 more to go to split into Charisma and Confidence. I'll put 8 in Charisma and 9 in Confidence. Hector is pretty average in generally, but better than most in the smarts department.

I get 5 life points, whatever that means. My Strength and Endurance give me 9 toughness points (there's a chart). My movement rates are all 21 divided by something (they're based on Agility and Strength), so that's easy.

Skills, then! This system works on "skill adds," which are basically just "you add these points to the controlling Attribute when using the skill". I get one in a given psychic ability because I'm gonna take the appropriate advantage, and I can add more if I want to, though the book notes that in Species, psychics aren't terribly powerful and it's rare to have more than one power. I think I actually do want to choose my psychic power first.

Well, I don't want empath because I don't want to be just like Dan in Species. I don't want medium because I don't think ghosts really fit the genre. I'm kinda thinking astral projection - it's not combat-related, but it makes Hector a great spy, and that's a good reason for Proteus to want him.

OK, so, what other skills do I want? (The Species book adds a bunch, but then it gives us a chart that includes all of the ones from the core and the new ones thank you thank you thank you).

Well, I want Stealth and Unarmed Combat (Hector's had a little training). I want Resist Shock, assuming it's what I think it is. Data Analysis makes a lot of sense. I need First Aid and Medicine, obviously, though probably not much. Research and Computer Ops round me out.

Oh, wait, how many skill points do I have? I get 20 (it's based on my Intellect and Mind and just happens to work out to their sum). I've only spent 8 so far, so I have 12 left to throw around. I'll add one more to Astral Projection, two more to Stealth, one more to Unarmed Combat, Resist Shock, Data Analysis, First Aid. I'll keep Medicine where it is, and that leaves me five more for Computer Ops and Research, so I'll throw three into the latter and two into the former.

I could have bought specialization, but eh. I'm feeling pretty good about this spread. I need to do my Advantages. I get three from Column I, two from Column II, and one from Column III. I have to take a like number of Compensations (basically disadvantages). I already know my CIII; Special Effect, which lets me be psychic.

For my CI Advantages, I take Wealth (dad's a surgeon), Skill Bonus (I get a +1 to Medicine, First Aid, and Resist Shock - I'm a natural at this "doctor" stuff), and Contacts (my parents). For my CII, I take Luck...actually, hang on, these are the maximums I can take. I don't have to take all these. OK, so what I'm gonna do is bump Contacts up to II (since my parents are pretty influential), and I wind up with two CI, two CII, and one CIII. I now need to take corresponding Compensations.

I'll take Age at CI; I'm not a minor, but I'm also limited in what I can do and no one takes me seriously (I'm sure they call me "Doogie" sometimes). I have to take a Quirk because I'm psychic, so I'll say that Hector's Quirk is that - wait, hang on. I can take a Psychic Surge that means sometimes I just go astral if I'm under stress. I'm good with that.

OK, so now I need two CII Compensations. I'll take Employed (Project Proteus; they have a lot of influence over me between one thing and another) and Advantage Flaw: Contacts (asking his parents for info or help involves a lot of jumping through hoops).

For my CIII Compensations, ehhh. I don't really like any of them. I'll take Enemy, that's always fun. Hector's enemy is a gamma alien hybrid that went rogue from the project. That hybrid, James Adair, nearly mated with a coed. Hector found him in astral form and led a team to him, and he barely escaped. He took it personally.

That's it for the numbers. Hector is 20 years old, tall, slim, and has his dad's black hair and his mom's blue eyes. He is completely unaware how deep he's in with Proteus, and is still laboring under the delusion that he could quit if he wanted to. Like it or not, he's in for the long haul, unless he decides to go rogue, which probably wouldn't be good for him or his family.

And that's it!