Spaaaaaace!
The Game: Starblazer Adventure
The Publisher: Cubicle 7, but it's out of print
Degree of Familiarity: None with this game specifically, but it's Fate (kinda)
Books Required: Just the one
Starblazer Adventures is based on a comic series that sounds pretty cool, but that I have no familiarity with. It's pulp sci-fi/space opera, though, so that's easy enough to get one's head around. The character creation process seems more reminiscent of the older versions of Dresden and Spirit of the Century. This version, however, uses the take on the Fate rules that you can do if you don't have any Fate dice (like a damn weirdo); roll two six-sided dice and subtract one from the other, giving you a swing of -5 to +5. I mean, sure.
It also gives you a method of doing some of chargen randomly if you don't have a group. So since I don't really have a concept in mind, let's do that, at least to start off. So first I roll for background (that is, where I grew up). 1 gives me...a small village (the saga begins). Quality of life? 1 again, which is "second class citizen." So I'm basically doing OK. Actually, more like Luke than Anakin at this point. Next, background twist! 0, which is "nothing unusual." Allllll right. And at this point, the handy tables to create things just kind of end. For cryin' out loud.
OK, well, back to the normal chargen section. Oh, wait, there's a random world generator, maybe I can use that to make up my home planet. Ice Dwarf planet...wait, didn't I already make a dude from an ice planet? Try again. Well, I'll just reverse the dice and it comes out to Gas Giant. That's cool, let's continue. We've got an atmosphere incapable of sustaining life by default. We've got a full ring system and a large number of moons. The population is in the hundreds of thousands; small colonies. And then I could roll a bunch of times to determine what skills the planet has, but that's a) dumb and b) time consuming. So.
The planet is called Aqua Vitae, and it is completely incapable of sustaining human life. That's because it's made of a dense, almost soupy matter that causes plants and other small organisms to immediately bloom. Diluted and processes, it's a superfuel that makes farming on even the most lifeless rocks possible. Unprocessed, it makes gut flora and any other bacteria or fungi on the body explode into life, killing a person in seconds. So no one lives on/in Aqua Vitae, but lots of colonies exist on the outlying moons, all designed around traveling to "the Well", scooping up some liquid with big mechanical drones, and then processing it for farming and shipping out to other planets.
My character's family works in that industry, as do a lot of people on his colony moon of Cade U4 (thank you random name generator!). He basically had the "normal" upbringing for his planet, though let's say his mom worked with the drones that collect "the Goop" and made frequent trips to Aqua Vitae, so my guy's been on such runs, too. His father was/is a schoolteacher. He's got a younger brother and an older sister; his brother is still in school on Cade, and his sister joined whatever the equivalent of the Democratic Order of Planets (DOOP?) is in this setting - Star Corps, there it is. His name is Ren Rubid.
Characters here can be gritty, standard, or heroic. I'll go with gritty - Ren hasn't been off the colony world that long. That gives me:
OK, so now we're into phases. Phase One is "training," which is where I'd be in academy or otherwise coming into my own. Let's say that for Ren, he got a job with the company his mother worked for, but worked on a different rig (company regs prohibit family members from working the same rig). His rig, the Big Dipper, was crewed by a bunch of guys in Ren's graduating class and overseen by Brix Caesi, a gruff but fatherly figure to all of them. They were on a routine run when an meteor shower tore into the Well, smashing their rig and puncturing Brix' suit. He patched it as best he could and kept all the guys calm until a rescue rig could be dispatched, but he knew he was done for and didn't board. Only Ren saw what happened to him. I get two Aspects from this whole time in Ren's life, so I'll take Crew of the Big Dipper and No Way for a Man to Die.
Phase two! Ren's first Starblazer Legend! I kind of want to say that Ren and his buds stuck together after the tragedy, but didn't work for the company anymore. In fact, let's say they all discovered that even their minimal exposure has left their bodies...changed. The Legend is: Ren Rubid and The Search for the Black Comet! Synopsis: Ren Rupid and the crew of the Big Dipper know that their days are numbered after coming into contact with the liquid atmosphere of Aqua Vitae. Together, they search for the Black Comet, a strange celestial body made of an isotope that can counteract the effects - but will it leave something worse in its wake?!
Aspects: "No one dies without my permission!", I Can Race a Comet
Phase three! Guest star! This really requires more players, but whatevs. Let's say that Ren's sister, Rayl, contacts him. There's a group of corrupt Star Corpsmen out on a colony world not dissimilar to the one they grew up on, except it's largely cut off from other worlds due to an asteroid belt so the Corps doesn't really bother with it. As such, the Red Giant Ring runs the world with an iron fist. Rayl can't get the Corps to back her, so she goes with Ren and his chums to clean up the colony! Legend: Rayl Rubid vs. The Red Giant Ring! Synopsis: Left out in the cold by the uncaring higher-ups of the Star Corps, Rayl Rubid has no choice but to call on her reckless but loyal brother Ren and his band of daredevil space jockeys to take on a group of corrupt Corpsmen!
Aspects: Daredevil Space Jockeys (hey, it works), My Big Sister Needs Me
Cool! Now we're done with phases as I am gritty, and we move on to Skills! I get 15 points, and I've gotta do the standard pyramid. But, since I only have 15 points, I can't really put stuff too high. Let's see what Skills I need for Ren. Oh, god, there are too many. Hokay. I need Starship Piloting, Leadership, Engineering to be decent. I feel like some rating in Starship Engineering (yes, they're separate Skills) and Starship Systems wouldn't go amiss either. Well, I can do six Average Skills, three Fair, and one Good.
Let's make Leadership my Good. We'll put Engineering, Starship Piloting, and let's say Alertness in Fair. And in Average, let's take Starship Engineering, Starship Systems, Fists, Guns, Survival, and Athletics.
Stunts! I get three. This is old-school Stunts where it's a discrete list rather than a system for making them up. I'll take Bounce Back (I heal quick; side effect of the Aqua Vitae exposure, maybe?), We Need it Now! (I can fix starship stuff on the fly) and...hmm. Kinda want something to represent the crew, but the only stunt I can take that makes sense is Minions and I don't love that. Let's keep looking.
Erm. No, that's really the best fit. OK, then.
That's actually it, I think? That's all the steps in chargen, anyway. Man, later Fate incarnations are so much better.
Well, anyway, Ren Rubid is tall, straight (as in, good posture), black hair, brown eyes. He cuts an imposing figure and he's well aware that leading means making decisions based on the goal, not the sentiment, but he's also a firm believer in Brix' style of leadership: Command respect, don't demand it. See your men as people, not resources. And always remember, if things go badly, you do not have permission to die if your men are still alive and need you.
That'll do it!
