Character Creation: Shadows over Sol

Like moon over Miami, I guess.

The Game: Shadows Over Sol
The Publisher: Tab Creations
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

I picked this game because the company that made it currently has a Kickstarter going for a second edition, so I wanted to see if I liked the game enough to support it. Actually, looking at the cover, it reminds me of The Alters, which I just finished playing and really enjoyed. 

However, reading the game, I'm not sure if that's the vibe? Like, it's billed as "science fiction horror", but on a read it almost more of a dystopian sci-fi kind of thing? I mean, there are definitely alien/bioengineered monsters around, which could be a horror thing, but much of the initial chapters are history of the setting and the subcultures involved, and I did find myself wondering when we'd find Cthulhu in the stars, as it were.

That is by no means a condemnation of the game, because I actually found the history really interesting to read, which is rare. Basically, it's 2214, people have colonized parts of the solar system, corporations have replaced governments for the most part, and everything is on "the net." AR is a big part of most people's everyday experiences, and your world is overlaid with little tags of information. This plays into "subcultures", which are siloed social groups - physical location isn't really important, because you can "be" virtually almost anywhere. 

I really like that in theory. It's a logical, if horrific, extrapolation of where we are now, where everyone gets their own curated news and it's possible for two intelligent, educated people to have radically different beliefs about something just based on their online habits. I don't find the subcultures as presented especially compelling, but I think that's just my opinion, man. Shadows Over Sol also has the problem that a lot of detailed settings do, to wit, playing it would require either extensive info-dumping or that my players actually fucking read the book, but the concepts therein are familiar enough that maybe it wouldn't be a problem.

Likewise, the GM section has a nice, accessible discussion of both sci-fi and horror and the assumptions of both genres, so it's not like anyone just slapped "horror" on the cover and didn't think it through (the way "-punk" often gets added as to games that don't deserve it). 

System-wise, the game uses cards, so that's cool. Haven't played it, don't know if it would suck at the table (this particular system, not card-based games in general, which I know can work perfectly well). Let's make a character for this rather bleak future. (Side note: one of the things in this setting is "vatmeat," artificially created foodstuff that mimics whatever kind of meat you want, and I was thinking that this is made by factories, but no, you can have a vat on your counter like a rice cooker, which I actually think is cool as hell.)

Step One: Concept. Always tricky when I'm doing this, especially in a setting this big, with no GM to give me a framework. But there's a sample scenario in the book, so let's give those a look and pretend I'm making a character for that. (There are also a bunch of published scenarios, but I don't own those.)

So, our scenario has us being woken from cryo-sleep to answer a distress call, because that worked out so well for the Sulaco. Let's assume we're scrappers, because that's a setup I've always found compelling (again, Alien, but also Ghost Ship, which coincidentally is the name of the scenario here). I think I want my character to be a chemist of sorts, really good at analyzing constituent materials of things and then breaking them apart without destroying them. He calls himself an "un-builder." Let's say his name is Jocco Pereira. 

Step Two: Stats. I get an array (7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2) to plug into eight stats. Let's see. I feel like Intelligence and Perception are going to need to be Jocco's strongest points, though I probably shouldn't neglect physical stats. Let's put his 2 into Speed (Jocco prefers to take his time; his catch phrase is probably "don't rush me, dude"). We'll put the 7 into Intelligence and the 6 into Perception. The 5 can go into Strength, how about, and the fours into Endurance and Determination. That leaves 3s in Dexterity and Charisma. 

Step Three: Skills. Same drill, working from an array. There are 25 Skills, but I only get scores in 9 of them (I get three ratings of 3, 2, and 1 each, where 1 is basic familiarity and 3 is professional competence). 

Well, my 3s should go into Engineer, Mechanic, and Phy-Sci, obviously. My 2s can go into Comp-Ops (figure on there being a lot of software to help find break points and rivets and shit), Vehicles, and Ordinance (not so much for planting bombs as disarming them, though y'know, if he had to). Finally, my 1s can go into Bureaucrat, Awareness, and Athletics (I'm never sorry to take Athletics). 

Step Four: Geneline. Everybody has had at least some genetic modification, so which one Jocco has probably says more about his parents and what they could afford than what he'd want. Hmm. Let's assume that Jocco's parents were not people of means, but his dad always wanted to go into space and managed to scrape together enough money for the Spacer's Standard geneline.

What this means is that I get to raise my stats thusly: You raise it up a level when you accumulate experiences equal to your current level + 1. As such, my Strength doesn't go anywhere because I don't get anything there, but my Dexterity goes up to 5 (4 points from my 10 to go up to 4, then 5 to go up to 5, one left over). Neat! Speed goes to 4, Endurance doesn't change, Intelligence goes to 8, Perception goes to 7, Charisma goes to 5, and Determination goes to 5 (but I'd just need one experience to raise it again). That's pretty cool, actually. Now, what about this weakness? Oh, it gives you a card in play when it impairs you. Sure. OK, I'll say Jocco gets coughs easily, resulting in a -2 to Endurance sometimes when the air quality fucks with him.

Step Five: Subculture. Hrm. A couple of these vibe pretty well with Jocco, but I think Techno is the best - Jocco's "take it apart for the best bits" attitude meshes nicely with the Techno subculture's goal of transcending meatspace. That gives me two experiences each in Comp-Ops, Engineer, Mechanic, Phy-Sci, Program, and Vehicles. That boosts Program to 1, but just gives me experiences to bank in the others since I already had scores of 2 or 3 in all of them. I do need to actually pick experiences for these; basically when you gain experiences you note (very generally) what they were, and then you can get a bonus when that experience is relevant.

Well, for Comp-Ops, let's say AR and sensors. For Engineer: architecture and sensors (figure an experience that hits one might hit another). For Mechanic: jury-rigged components, demolition (in the "let's break this apart" sense, not the explosive sense). For Phy-Sci: chemistry and orbital mechanics. For Program, I actually get a level and then I'll take security systems. And for Vehicles, we'll take low gravity and groundcars.

Step Six: Scores & Traits. Derived traits n' shit. Damage reduction starts at 0, Defense is 8 ([Speed + Perception + Dexterity]/2 and then 16 to get a crit on Jocco (the sum of those stats). Edge is the average of Intelligence and Charisma (round down, so 6 for me). Encumbrance is 5, Shock is 9, Wound is 4. 

I get familiarity with the Techno subculture and I speak one language, which I'll say is Portuguese.

I can take more Weaknesses if I want. I want one more, let's take a Shortcoming and call it Combat Paralysis (-2 to Shock; Jocco freezes up easily).

Step Seven: Wealth & Gear. Aw, mom, do we hafta? Actually this doesn't look bad, so I'll g'head and do it. I get clothes for my Lifestyle (which I'll pick momentarily), AR glasses, a hand terminal, a toolkit, a Geiger counter, and rope. Let's say Lifestyle 5, that's about what I think scrappers on a team-owned ship would be at.

And that'll about do it! Jocco is probably in his late 20s, black hair, brown eyes, kind of a rasp to his voice because his throat is often irritated. He's got a real interest in how things go together and come apart, but literally no interest in how that applies to people (too goopy). He's saving up for some cool implants.