Character Creation: The Stars are Fire

Which I think means, like, that the stars are really cool or catchy or something? Like, "whoa, these stars are fire!" I dunno.

The Game: The Stars are Fire
The Publisher: Monte Cook Games
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this particular flavor, but I've run and occasionally played Cypher
Books Required: The Stars are Fire and the Cypher System Rulebook

The Stars are Fire is one of the many genre sourcebooks for the Cypher System, much like Stay Alive! As such, it's a little bit of a stretch to include it here, but I like makin' characters. My usual inclination has been to make use of whatever new or expanded systems are introduced in the book (to make it at least somewhat distinct from the base Cypher game, and also to follow my guideline of using the chargen parameters of whatever game I'm doing). As such, I think I shall make use of the optional "posthuman upgrade" section in The Stars are Fire. 

There's a sample setting called The Revel, which suggests having PCs be people contracted to do exploration type stuff from the AI running things, so I'll use that as my starting point. I'll also assume that my hypothetical GM would allow upgrades (the setting is really harder sci-fi, so no psionics, but upgrades don't have to be so overt so I think they'd work). 

The sample adventure has the PCs doing a salvage job, which was good enough for such cinematic classics as Ghost Ship and Leviathan (neither of which were set in space, but the ocean is like space). That in mind, I think I'll take inspiration from one of my favorite sci-fi heroes, Ellen Ripley, and say that my character is here to run the heavy equipment - loaders and lifts and winches and cranes and suchlike. His name is Yutani Kruse (yes, I stole that first name, deal with it). 

As usual, characters here follow the "I'm a(n) [adjective] [noun] who [verbs]", so let's start with the noun. I don't picture Yutani as being an adept or a speaker, so that leaves warrior or explorer. I think his motivation is more the job than the discovery (though it'd be fun to play him warming to that part of the job as the game goes on), so let's say he's a warrior. That means my Might and Speed pools start at 10, my Intellect starts at 8, and I get 6 points to split up. Let's put three each into Might and Intellect, making my pools Might 13, Speed 10, and Intellect 11 (for now). I have Effort 1, of course, and I can take either Might or Speed Edge 1. Think I'll take it in Might. I'm practiced with light, medium, and heavy weapons.

And then I get four abilities. Let's see now. I think Yutani is a vet, but I don't want to make him a combat character, so I'll take Physical Skills (trained in climbing and running), Improved Edge (Speed), Overwatch, and Practiced in Armor.

For descriptor, let's do Mechanical. That sounds perfect. I get +2 to Intellect, and I'm trained in using, understanding, repairing, crafting, and identifying machines.

And then focus...hmm. Builds Robots, maybe. Defends the Gate is pretty cool; it's not actually about defending a literal gate so much as just acting as a bulwark against danger. Loves the Void is pretty cool, and very much in in-genre. Works For a Living is very much in-concept, though. 

Well, since I used my descriptor to get into the machine-y side of things, let's take Loves the Void as my focus. That'll give me a stronger hook to go exploring in space, too. That gives me the Vacuum Skilled ability, which makes me trained in two abilities related to space travel (in my case, let's say vacuum welding and spacecraft maintenance/repair). 

And then let's take a posthuman upgrade - we'll say Yutani is spaceborn. I can withstand long-term micogravity and high-radiation without a problem, I can handle up to 15G for an hour without passing out or dying, and I get +1 to Intellect Edge. Nifty!

Yutani is in his 50s. He's got ruddy skin and very little hair left, blue eyes and good teeth (genetic mods for the win). He's in shape, but he's nowhere near the badass he was when he was with the Luna One Marines. He tried doing mechanical stuff in the motor pool, but he misses the Void too much, and Anaxiamander picked up on the and offered him a job doing salvage, exploration, and so on. He puts on a gruff exterior, but the truth is he's happy to have a squad again, even if these kids are pretty soft.