Character Creation: Freedom Squadron

Heck, it's been over a month since I did a Savage Worlds character.

The Game: Freedom Squadron
The Publisher: Evil Beagle Games, which is out of business, but the game is still available through Mobius World Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this particular game, but I'm very familiar with Savage Worlds and I watched G.I. Joe a lot when I was a kid
Books Required: Freedom Squadron and some flavor of Savage Worlds

Freedom Squadron is one of those Savage Worlds games that splits the itself into two books for no good reason, and I just realized I only have the Player's Guide (sorry, "Commando's Manual"). For my purposes, that's fine, because I just need chargen. I'm also gonna use the SWADE character sheet because it's fillable and I prefer that.

The premise of the game seems pretty easy to understand - it's 2051, there was another World War (hah! Fiction! It's not like we'll...oh...) and Freedom Squadron is an international force dedicated to fighting the evil forces of VENOM!

(I want to note that I've actually made a character for another game, ACE Agents, with a similar if more overtly satirical premise, and that the evil villain organization in the M.A.S.K. cartoon was called "VENOM," wherein it stood for "Vicious, Evil, Network of Mayhem," and no, I didn't have to look that up.)

SO ANYWAY. Characters in Freedom Squadron are more capable than your standard starting SWADE character, and there's some lifepath-ish rolling that happens, so that's pretty cool. The step-by-step isn't very good, because it should start with rolling on the Narrative Hook table, but that's fine, I'll just g'head and do that!

My result:

Cool, OK. I was a spy, possible in service to a nation, possibly not, and Freedom Squadron recruited me. I can dig it. 

So now I select a Vocational Framework, which then propels me to make 1-3 rolls on various tables. One of the Frameworks is "Spy," which would seem the logical choice. But I dunno, maybe Criminal instead? I was just watched a Youtube video the other day wherein a dude who robbed a bunch of banks was critiquing the realism in movie bank robberies, so how about we make a character who was a corporate espionager or sabotager? That sounds fun. I'll take Criminal as my Vocational Framework. Sorry, Ex-Criminal. 

OK, so I get a bunch of shit because of that. I start with the Thief Edge, which is pretty cool. I also start with Stealth, Athletics, and Thievery d6, which conveniently takes care of most of the pre-reqs for Thief (just gotta make sure my Agility is d8 or better, which I was gonna do anyway). I also get Streetwise d6 and the Zone Specialist (Urban) Edge; I'll have to look that up. And finally, I get a choice of a bunch of Edges to represent my particular specialty in the criminal underworld, so I should think about that.

Oh, wait, hang on. Streetwise isn't a Skill in SWADE, it's an Edge. Hmm. Well, let's assume I get that Edge, how about. As for my professional criminal Edge, I'll take Demolitions Expert (also from Freedom Squadron). 

Moving on! I get two Hero's Journey rolls, made from my choice of 8 different tables: Black Ops, Close Quarters Combat, Infantry, Intelligence, Logistics, Mechanized, Physical Training, and Tech & Engineering. I believe I shall roll on Black Ops and Intelligence. 

My roll on Black Ops gives me...Sabotage! I get a die type in Demolitions and the Demo Expert Edge. Hah! Um. I guess I could go back and take a different Edge from before. Sure, I'll take I Know A Guy. And for Intelligence, I get Linguist, meaning I have the Linguist Edge and +1 Charisma (which is not a thing anymore, so let's just assume I get a d6 in Persuasion, how about). 

All right, now that I have more shit than a Veteran character already, let's spend the basics. I have the normal five Attributes, but I can't actually be below a d6 in anything, and I have to have d8 in Agility when I'm done. So I'm gonna put everything at d6 right now and I'll bump up Agility when I take Hindrances.

Skills! The book says 15, but let's assume I'm doing SWADE rules (since that's kind of what I've been doing). That means I get 12 (this is why I assumed a d6 in Persuasion rather than the usual d4). 

OK, I know I need d8 in Demolitions, so I'll spend two there. Actually three, because my Smarts is d6. I'll buy up...oh, hang on. There are other requirements for being Freedom Squadron material. I need Athletics d6 (got it), Healing d4, Shooting d6, Fighting d6, and either Piloting or Driving d4. I shall take Driving. I've spent 9 of my 12 points. I should check my Edges and see if there are any prereqs I need to consider. Nope, I'm solid. 

Well, I'd better put a d6 into Notice, and then I'll put my last d4 into Computer. 

Nifty, now I get another Edge (I still get the free Edge from being human). I want Charismatic, I think. Oh, wait, shit, I need d8 in Spirit. Erm. OK, fine, I guess I know what I'm doing with all my Hindrance points.

Speaking of which, Hindrances! I need the full boat, here, and there are a bunch I can't take because they don't make sense for the elite folks in Freedom Squadron. Let's see what I can roll with.

Well, I want my character to be a former ecoterrorist (hence the focus on blowing shit up), and I'm sure he still has that mindset. Is "Vegan" a Hindrance? (Oh, there it is, but it's called "Anemic"! I kid, I kid.) 

Oh, well, I'll take Hard of Hearing as a Minor, since he's around explosives a lot. I don't want him to be Wanted (that comes with a whole host of issues in this game), but I think I do want his past to be an issue, so how about Shamed? I'll take it as a Major; everyone knows he used to blow up dams and logging operations and whatnot. And then I'll take Big Mouth; like most vegans, he can't wait to tell you about it.

And that's basically it, because we don't do Gear in this game because it's assigned based on the mission) not that I'd do it anyway. So, backstory!

Oren Conaway grew up in a survivalist compound in the US (he won't say where, but it had trees). He was raised to believe in the coming ecological disaster and lo and behold! It's been happening for years (I don't actually know how climate change is looking in this setting, but it doesn't much matter for Oren's purposes.) When the War geared up, Oren and his family/commune-mates took that opportunity to blow shit up strategically and make life hard for the big polluter corporations, and when the war ended and Freedom Squadron started, a lot of his buds got overtures to join. Oren was one of the few realistic enough to know that while Freedom Squadron was part of the military-industrial complex and therefore was doing a lot of bad shit, environmentally speaking, VENOM was more likely to make a radioactive mess of the world and poison it six ways to Sunday. It's a lesser of two evils kind of situation, but Oren is gritting his teeth and doing the work, all the while reminding his superiors every chance he gets that if they don't take care of the planet, it won't matter who wins the war.

Oren is a big guy - over six foot, lean and muscular, but would definitely be stronger if he ate real food. He's good great hair but bad teeth, and has a bunch of tattoos commemorating victories over "despoilers". His nickname in Freedom Squadron is "Treehugger," and if you think that's an insult then you haven't hugged enough trees, man.