Character Creation: Xenopolitan

Here's an odd little RPG.

The Game: Xenopolitan
The Publisher: A. Hagen, I guess? Maybe Willy Elektrix?
Degree of Familiarity: None; system-wise it's Fudge, so that's easy
Books Required: Just the one

This game perplexes me a little. The introduction tells us that it's meant to be an RPG about people living their normal lives:

...yeah. You didn't get very far before deciding to throw in aliens because RPGs in which you portray normal people doing normal shit is boring. Even the dirty hippie indie games that have you doing (relatively) normal shit either have some kind of mechanic gimmick that make them interesting, are designed to played as one-shots, or both. 

There's a reason this is a joke, is what I'm saying.

But you introduce the idea of a floating city above Earth populated by species from all over the galaxy and run by a kind of hyper-capitalist hive mind, with a system of laws that would make libertarians a little hot and squishy, then you've got a pretty compelling setting for an RPG. But it's hard to argue that it's about "stories about everyday life."

I have to say, though, that the description of Ingress (the aforementioned city) and the in-game setting text is well-written and engaging, in stark contrast to the game I did yesterday. 

Well, anyway, let's do a character. Ingress came to be because the Federation of Planets (I think that's what it's called - Confederation of Worlds? No, that's HoL. Democratic Order Of Planets? That's Futurama) wanted to buy some of the raw materials on Earth, but humans were destroying them so fast that they'd all be gone by the time we figured out that life existed beyond our planet. Can confirm, sadly. 

So I think I want my character to be a kind alien version of Tom Smykowski, someone who deals with both an off-planet business and the various human governments. He (more on gender later) is from a planet whose name is unpronouncable in human languages (it requires organs they don't have), so for ease of use they refer to it as Community 3. 

The principle residents of Community 3 are humanoid and display some characteristics that Earthlings recognize - bilateral symmetry, interal skeleton, skin, front-facing sight organs, stuff like that. They don't reproduce the same way humans do; reproduction requires a long and kind of arduous compatiblity process in which two (or more) Communitites gradually alter their biochemistry to allow it. They're capable of physical intimacy, and that's a rabbit hole I don't necessarily need to go down. 

Anyway, Communitites are here for one very specific reason: the ocean sunfish (google it if you want). The Communitites don't actually need the fish per se, but there are parasites that feed on the fish's skin that can be rendered into a paste that the inhabitants of Community 3 finds very useful (rumors state that it's medicinal, or it's cosmetic, or it helps narrow down the mating game, or it's a sex aid, or it's a delicacy - really no one knows and there aren't many Communitites in Ingress, so it doesn't get discussed all that much). Since the sunfish ranges every ocean, Community 3 sent a couple of reps to Ingress to deal with various Earth governments and negotiate fish-scraping rights. And then they discovered that "international waters" are a thing, so they downsized the "liason" program and now it's pretty much just my guy. 

His name - again, adopted for Earthling purposes - is Mo (/m/ and /o/ are very easy sounds to make and almost every Earth language uses them, plus it's often short for "Mohamed" which is one of the most common names on Earth). Mo isn't really "male", but he's learned that a) he/him or she/her pronouns are the easiest ones for most humans to grasp and b) he/him pronouns get a better response in the world of business. Mo is about adult-human sized. Like all Communitites, his skin is gray, mottled, lump, and looks like it has the texture of an oyster shell (it's actually much softer than that to touch). 

Mo is 116 years old on his planet; it equates to about 30 Earth years. He's lonely - there aren't many of his species in Ingress and they rarely come to visit (Ingress kinda sucks, if we're honest, unless you're very rich). His job is probably safe, and he likes being able to go to Earth periodically. He lives in Franc (all of the districts in Ingress are named after Earth currencies, in a fantastic bit of world-building), and the only two other Communitites he knows get together with him to get dinner once a week. They don't have a lot in common other than their homeworld, which is enough to maintain the relationship, but it's not like he'd considering reproducing with either of them (it would take forever to get compatible).

So Mo is looking for something to get his attention. He's disaffected, aimless, but affable. Unlike Mr. Smykowski he really does have people skills. Also his skin feels like a horse's nose if you touch it, and he's learned that a lot of humans seem to enjoy that. 

So! That's the first bit of chargen done. Now we move on to Skills. I get 22 points to bump Skills. Some of them start at Fair, some start at Poor. Let's see here. 

Well, Friendship, Persuasion, and (sorry to say) Deception need to get some love. Culture, Technology, and maybe some kind of Professional Skill to represent maritime law? Let's check how it works.

Of course all of those default to Poor. Spending two of my points bumps a Poor to Fair (same ladder as Fate). I think Friendship is Mo's go-to strategy, so I'll put 3 points into it and go to good. I'll put two into Deception (Fair), and three into Persuasion (Good). And what the heck, I'll put one into Romance and knock it up to Mediocre. That's 9 of my 22 spent.

I'll spend one on Alertness (Mediocre), three on Insight (Good), one on search (Mediocre)...and then we're into Mental Skills. Well, Professional (Law) is how I make my bread and butter, so I'll dump four points there and put it up to Great. Actually, no, three points for Good, and I'll make Culture my Great Skill. That gives me one point left. I'll put it into Politics (Mediocre). 

Keen, then Advantages and Disadvantages. I get two Advantages free, and if I want up to two more I can take a like number of Disadvantages. Any Disadvantages I know I want? Sorry, Drawbacks? 

OK, for crying out loud. Look at this.

I thought we were telling stories about normal people (in context) doing normal shit. But my dark secret, you know, normal stuff like having an affair or BEING A SERIAL KILLER. 

Anyway. All of the listed Drawbacks a little too dramatic for my tastes. Advantages? Sure, I'll say that Communitites are Amphibious (oxygen-breathing, sure, but they can breathe it in water or gaseous form), and I'll take Marsupialism (Communitites are even more composed of water than Earthlings, with the effect that their bodies are squishy and malleable, enabling them to fold their "skin" and create pockets). 

And that's it! Let's go to Tchochke's.