Corsairs of the Stars (Infinity RPG)

[PixelatedPixie]

I am still trying to figure out how badly I butchered things, especially with Earnings and that last career bit, but this is what I came up with.  I still need to do research/reading, but the basic sweep (mainly trying to connect things, certainly not anywhere near final) is:

She was born to an upper class family in (what is currently) Mongolia.  Her family worked for the government, and life at home was regimented.  Her brother was killed (I need to figure out something good for this) when she was still young.  She got a white collar education with the expectation that she would take an office job with the government when she grew up.  She was bitten by a goat at a petting zoo, and took an intense dislike to animals as a result.

Once she hit 18, she got into the party life on her family's money.  She socialized with the upper class, made connections, and generally was a stuck-up and self righteous woman who counted on her father to get her out of trouble.  Her father, happy that she was making connections with others, gave her a small raise in her monthly allowance.  However he eventually grew tired of cleaning up after her, and forced her to get a job when she hit 21.  The only thing available at the time was a technician working (somewhere), a job where she fell in with a lower class of people, and found a love of shooting.  She worked as a technician until 24 when, feeling stifled and pressured, she fled home and got a job as a guide for the rich and powerful in a remote wilderness region.  While working as a guide she met a (someone), a woman with who she fell into an on again off again relationship.  It was also where she met (someone), who recruited her to work as something more than just a guide.

At 29, she began to work as an intelligence operative for (someone), a job she enjoyed  more than she wanted to admit.  She was eventually betrayed by her former mentor and boss, left to take the fall on a mission.  She barely made it out alive, and now 33, still wears the scars of the betrayal.



Faction: Mercenary (formerly Yu Jiang)
Careers: Unemployed, Technician, Frontiersman, Intelligence Operative
Attributes:
Agility:        11
Awareness:      10
Brawn :          7
Coordination:    9
Intelligence:    9
Personality:    11
Willpower:      10
Signature Skills: Athletics, Persuade, Hacking
Talents: Rigorous Training, Charismatic & Enticer, Hacker
Traits: Animal Hatred, Vulnerable Lover, Untrusting

[Sprikut]

I've read/got all the books about the setting so if people have questions I'm happy to look up discuss setting questions (assuiming you dont have a problem with it Dhi?) Obviously Im not the GM so Im not the definitive source but could help to get any basics out of the way.

[wander]

Finishing off my rolly bits here whilst insomnia has me and I'll make the more formal bio for my character tomorrow when more awake to write properly. ^^

Lots more rolling and stuff

Decision 8 continued; 2nd Career Phase.

Medical

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d20
Comment: second career
Result: 10,
Total: 10

Mandatory skills: Medicine 1, Athletics 1, Psychology 1.
Elective skills: Animal Handling 1 (Rigourous Training Talent), Survival 1.

Medical Earnings Roll

Roll Result: wander rolled: 2d6
Comment: medical earnings roll
Result: 6, 2

That's a total of 4 (2 + rolled 2) and an Effect. That bumps my Earnings from 3 to 4, also Social Class rises to Upper.

Gear Added:
Armoured Clothing (Medical Uniform), Medikit (with 5 Serum), Basic Medical Supplies.

Career Event C

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: career event table
Result: 6

Rolled 10 on Table C... Again!

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d20
Comment: career event
Result: 10,
Total: 10

Learn 1 new Language

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: number of languages
Result: 1

Learned Malay as roving specialist

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d20
Comment: language
Result: 12,
Total: 12

Age up by 3: currently 28 years old.

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: age up
Result: 2

Going to spend 1 Life Point to get a third career. Then I'll spend another to roll on the Faction subtable, as I need some combat goodness if we're placing Mercs from Druze. That's 3 out of 5 spent, leaving me with 2 Life Points.

3rd Career...

Corsair

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: submondo career
Result: 2,
Total: 2

Mandatory Skills: Spacecraft 1, Extraplanetary 1, Thievery +1 (to Rank 2 + 1 focus).
Elective skills: Close Combat 1, Ballistics 1 (Marksman Talent).

Earnings

Roll Result: wander rolled: 3d6
Comment: corsair earnings
Result: 5, 2, 2

That equals a 4, so no changes there.

Gear Added:
Boarding Shotgun (with 4 normal shell reloads, 1 AP shell reload), Surge (x2), Vac Suit (with 3 oxygen reloads).

Career Event:

Career Event Table A

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: 3rd career event table
Result: 2

Gained a Criminal Record!

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d20
Comment: career table A
Result: 10,
Total: 10

Social Status goes back down to Middle and Earnings back down to 3. Ah well.

Need to make a Hazard check. 2D, so need 2 successes. I'll use Thievery, as I have a Rank 2 on it +1 focus, for a TN of 11 and a 1 will give me an extra success. So 2d20, need 11s or less.

Rolled 3 Successes! Passed!

Roll Result: wander rolled: 2d20
Comment: criminal record hazard check
Result: 1, 9

Age Up

Age Up: +4 years, Current age: 32 years old.

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: age up
Result: 3

Finishing Touches

Infinity Refresh Rate = 2.

I will boost Brawn and Intelligence both up from 8 to 9 each now.

I'll grab up Acrobatics Rank 1 and Stealth Rank 1 in expertises.

I'll take the Scout Talent for Stealth.

My starting Assets are 12 (11 Personality +1 from Education) but I have a 50 Asset Debt.



I have 2 Life Points left, I'm going to go ahead and boost up both Ballistics and Acrobatics by one expertise each, to Rank 2 for both.



Firewall: 11
Resolve: 13
Vigour: 11

Bonus Damage:
Infowar: +1N
Psywar: +2N
Melee: +1N
Ranged: +1N

Added Gear:
comlog, Cube, Basic Geist.

I have an Asset Debt of 50, I couldn't see anywhere in the Acquisitions rules how to repay that. Potentially I could remove my 12 Assets to reduce this Debt down to 38 and it shouldn't affect my character?

I know my character has a maximum Cashflow of 9 starting out (5 + 3 Earning +1 Lifestyle). Having no Assets just means I can't trade them in to help buy things, right?

As Farsi (Persian) is their home language, that makes me think they're a Recreation based off someone more Bourak Shanate sorta deal, from the Haqq. Or someone historically similar to there. Though having Japanese as a second language is interesting, maybe some JSA links given they're Submondo. I like that idea.

I'm feeling that as a roving medical specialist, they may have even been a sleeper agent and Malay makes me think they were out in PanO territory, specifically over at Varuna (just a single C6 route jump from Concilium) when they switched to being a Corsair where they're at today with Druze.

Because they have that Farsi home language, plus the JSA link, they may have been on the C4 route originally as a Technician.

[Dhi]

I see the asset debt as a story hook. It would be impossible for a starting character to pay that off. Whichever criminal organization you owe that debt to is going to call it in in various ways. I see a 50 asset debt as 5 risky favors, 2 missions, or 1 favor that will ruin your reputation.

Assets are used by starting characters to buy gear. If you decide to start paying down the debt now, it will limit your starting gear to just what your careers provide, and going forward I suppose it means you're living paycheck to paycheck.

[TheLaughingOne]

Question!
What is earnings then..? and wheresbout does one find info on spending them..? Cause due to luck tili has 24 assets and 4 earnings to burn!!

[TheLaughingOne]

Also, woot!!! Rpg bookand core mini books show today!!!

[wander]

Assets as far as I can see are spent on bonus dice for doing acquisition checks for extra gear (see below for the actual test. It's in the Acquisitions Chapter fairly late into the corebook, well past character generation, which is weird as you'd think buying gear would follow up soon after chargen...).

Cashflow is a more important number, it's basically your actual money used to get items and goes down when the Cost of an item is applied. Cashflow is totalled as 5 + Earnings + Lifestyle Expertise.

Before that though you need to find a seller for your item, doing a Lifestyle check and the number of successes needed is the Restriction number of the Item in question. Assets can be spent to get bonus d20s for this.

You can also spend Assets to add back Cashflow or remove Shortfalls (which you get either by spending too much Cashflow in one go or running it to 0). I can't immediately see what the effect of Shortfalls is at a glance.

[Voidknight]

Starting to think with things like earnings and assets and such I probably want to get myself a copy of the book!

[TheLaughingOne]

Assets as far as I can see are spent on bonus dice for doing acquisition checks for extra gear (see below for the actual test. It's in the Acquisitions Chapter fairly late into the corebook, well past character generation, which is weird as you'd think buying gear would follow up soon after chargen...).

Cashflow is a more important number, it's basically your actual money used to get items and goes down when the Cost of an item is applied. Cashflow is totalled as 5 + Earnings + Lifestyle Expertise.

Before that though you need to find a seller for your item, doing a Lifestyle check and the number of successes needed is the Restriction number of the Item in question. Assets can be spent to get bonus d20s for this.

You can also spend Assets to add back Cashflow or remove Shortfalls (which you get either by spending too much Cashflow in one go or running it to 0). I can't immediately see what the effect of Shortfalls is at a glance.

... So... You have to test to buy things at start up..? or is that just later on..?

[Dhi]

You have all your starting equipment, which is generally fine. It's possible to end up with no armor, or as a hacker without a program with a breach effect.

Step five of character generation talks about spending assets as the way to purchase extra equipment and upgrade Geists. I take this to mean that before actually starting a game session, your cashflow is 0 and you must spend assets to restore it.

But reading the acquisitions system for a fifteenth time, this doesn't make sense either, because if the cost of an item is below your Earnings you just get it, whether your cashflow is 10 or 0.

So I suppose ignore what page 71 says about spending Assets, and use the normal system. wander does a good job of laying out how that works. If you want to add gear, it begins with a Lifestyle test to set the price. If you're missing any sort of armor, if you're a hacker but have no hacking device, if you have a hacking device but no programs, talk to me and I'll walk you through making purchases.

[wander]

It does mention that there, though I didn't see anywhere how much it would cost in Assets to buy Geist upgrades. The Lifepath chapter just refers you to the Gear chapter that just mentions the usual way of generating Cost etc.

The Gear chapter just mentions that the things to do with Assets are 1) extra d20s for the acquisition check to find a seller or 2) additional d20s on the Asset Management check (to get back Cashflow or reduce Shortfalls).

I just read that Shortfalls increase the difficulty of an Acquisition test and Asset management test (and if you have 4 Shortfalls, you have officially ran out of cash and can't purchase anything anymore (you can use an Asset Management test to reduce Shortfalls down) ).

Potentially, the Lifepath may be saying you can trade in Assets on a 1:1 basis with an item's Cost, though it says that nowhere outside the mention of assets (and small 'a' at that) can be traded for extra gear.

Earnings are basically reduced from an item's Cost to gain the Actual Cost for your character in Cashflow (along with going toward their starting Cashflow total). You can then choose whether or not you actually want to spend Cashflow on the item. You cannot make a purchase if your Cashflow would be reduced to under 0 and if you spend 5+ in one go or get reduced to 0, you take on a Shortfall.

That's the basics as far as I understand it, though I'm open to deferral, especially after hearing what Sprikut may add also.

[Dhi]

Trading Assets 1:1 for cost is how I interpreted it the first time as well, but in practice that exchange rate is really terrible. Even the wealthiest characters will be bankrupted buying two or three mundane things.

Let's use the normal purchasing system and assume the step on page 71 is just a poorly worded reference to that. So that being the case, a lack of Assets won't completely stop your indebted character from adding gear. It will just limit what you can afford.

[wander]

Btw, I wasn't contesting your rule, I was making an aside point to educate TLO as they were asking in between and I kinda needed to get my head around the rules also. ^^'

[Sprikut]

I believe the asset comment in the character creation setting is referring to the normal purchasing process. The game generally seems to assume you're readily in a place that you can go to a market and make purchases/have goods delivered as needed.

Everyone seems to have a basic grasp of the rules for buying In the last few posts. Basically:

Earning determine cash flow.
Cash flow is your disposable income.(5 + earnings + lifestyle exp)
Assets are random valuables you can sell/trade.
Shortfall is when your cash flow falls to 0 or you spend more than 5 cash flow at once. If you have a shortfall of 4 or more you can't buy at all.

To buy something you do Lifestyle test to find it. Difficulty is Item restriction + shortfall + the amount in bulk - assets spent.

Then you roll cost. Tariffs are added on effects rolled.

Then you can choose to take the purchase from your cash flow.

It's important to remember cash flow resets at the start of sessions and small purchases (0 difficulty + 0 tariff + cost of earnings or less.)  can be bought as incidental purchases without a roll.

You can reduce shortfalls using assets and a life style test. And this can be modified by living below your means.

You can also change your earnings/social class with life style tests and living beyond your means. But this reduces your cashflow.

[Dhi]

wander, I get it. Thank you for getting the info out. There's a lot to go through in terms of characters right now.

Let's talk about Traits. Those who have Traits, what do you think they mean for your character?

[greenknight]

Dual Identity: Jaxx might be the new one, having been assumed after his first career. Carrying on with the backstory that he met Druze in jail and they had a job for him after getting out, I think they set up the basics and he tweaked it himself. If Jaxx is the new shoes, I'm not sure he'd care if anyone found out; "You met me in jail  ::) ."
Vulnerable Lover: So the alternate to vulnerable is very demanding, and I think that might be more appropriate. She's got money that she's more than willing to spend on him, so I figure he's always dressed well when he's not at work, and he probably doesn't have much worry about, lifestyle-wise. She's is possibly the daughter or niece or something to mid- to high-level Druze management, hence she has an idea about the family business and

   
• either she probably pushes him to to be less Zen, 'cause, "Don't you dare fucking embarrass me, tonight." Ding. "Mommy! Love the party...."
• or, she has money, but there's some things it can't buy. It's the souvenirs he brings back as presents that she craves(?). And he comes home empty-handed....

So if we're in a position where we have to do something right because we can't do something smart, he might not mind losing a trait. But if he puts up with that, she must be a very nice trait.
Is the Dolly Dagger big enough that she has/needs NPC crew? Is she "ours," as in the party's, or is she owned by someone else? This character could be "the boss" or something, and she may or may not regularly be aboard.

[Voidknight]

For my traits-
New Religion- I'll need to understand the setting better to understand where she is coming from and where she is going to. It's cool that the setting does religion where a lot of sci fi tends to gloss over it- but I think I need a stronger grounding in the setting before I say anything concrete, I understand the major religions have morphed a little.

Safety First - I feel like I'm on even less safe ground with this one- but I'm thinking my character follows safety checklists almost religously, don't do a pre-flight checklist? That's how engines fail. Don't follow proper airlock protocols? That's how you turn people into human pureé. (Dependant on setting) In firefight in space? Get your sodding vacc suits on and buckle up. That sort of thing.

As a curiosity, what sort of content level you thinking of aiming for?

[Dhi]

I'd like the entire crew of the Dolly Dagger to be your characters. For each of you there's also a Geist which can potentially help with the ship's systems. For Geists without upgrades we're probably talking about mundane, difficulty 0 tests.

The ship belongs to you. Ships in regions of piracy are in abundant supply, since any battle or boarding action results in a lot of craft left drifting. I don't know who the captain of the vessel is. My instinct would be the person with the highest Spacecraft, but nobody chose that as a signature skill and nobody is particularly Coordinated either, so it seems like a six way tie for best starship pilot.

Content level is generally NC to allow situations that may be wanted when armed conflict and smut are in the same proximity. I don't have plans to spring anything on your characters. I found a picture of a cute character in Uprising and decided she would make a fun NPC, but tabletop games being what they are she will probably get shot immediately and you will befriend some horrid alien slug instead. C'est la vie!

[Voidknight]

Non! C'est la mort!

[Sprikut]

Geist captain?

[wander]

For my Trait, I gained 'Annoying Parents' which I changed to 'Annoying Guardian' as my character is a Recreation, though their Faction was Submondo, so someone with 'connections' shall we say put the cash to create my character for 'the business'.  ::)

I mentioned before that they may have had JSA connections, who lore-wise are rebelling against Yu-Jing atm from what I can gather from recent metaplot hijinks. So I'm feeling they're probably a heavy from a criminal faction keeping tabs on my character like a mafia goon sent to guard the prodigal son kinda thing.

I am very open to expanding that or tweaking it to be more game-lore friendly. I also have a free day tomorrow, so I'll be putting together a little character bio like everyone else now I've pretty much done the character rolling stuff.

[Sprikut]

So I've got Suicidal. Im not entirely sure how to handle that one but given that they killed themselves ended up reborn in an LHost I imagine there is a burden attached. The burden of the cost of the LHost or the sort of futility of even death in a world with cubes? I also imagine Lhosts do a good job of  processing anything they might take to self Medicate.

It also begs the question of what do LHosts do in the serotonin/brain chemicals side of things? Does she feel better in a new body with a working brain?

I also got Hunted. Combined with Suicidal I pictured a steady burning bridges type history. Every time something goes OK a bridge is burned and the character carries on with some self destructive behavior of some sort.

I suppose that might be disruptive in a game though. Could adjust it. Perhapse she was framed stealing drugs or what have you from the office. And they went along with it do to a sketchy past?

[TheLaughingOne]

So I've got Suicidal. Im not entirely sure how to handle that one but given that they killed themselves ended up reborn in an LHost I imagine there is a burden attached. The burden of the cost of the LHost or the sort of futility of even death in a world with cubes? I also imagine Lhosts do a good job of  processing anything they might take to self Medicate.

It also begs the question of what do LHosts do in the serotonin/brain chemicals side of things? Does she feel better in a new body with a working brain?

I also got Hunted. Combined with Suicidal I pictured a steady burning bridges type history. Every time something goes OK a bridge is burned and the character carries on with some self destructive behavior of some sort.

I suppose that might be disruptive in a game though. Could adjust it. Perhapse she was framed stealing drugs or what have you from the office. And they went along with it do to a sketchy past?

Well.. from quick reading, it IS possible to die even with a cube, if its not reclaimed or damaged, the person is lost permanently. As for why they dont kill themselves, think of it along the lines of a Deathwish, they want to die, but they just dont want to snuff out but some Glorious sort of end. They want their death to have an impact in someway, Striking out against those that hunt them, against a faction that wronged them, or just in a way that would force the entire universe to acknowledge them..?

[Sprikut]

It is possible to have backups stored outside your cube as well though. You are right cubes can be destroyed. There's actually work interesting options they use to create Lhosts of people without cubes too.

I think the death wish idea is good. Definitely makes sense. Sort of lashing out for acknowledgement after the first attempt to end it didn't work out. Will have to think some more...

[wander]

I actually got as my childhood event there was a suicide, so perhaps before officially linking characters that could be a way to link ours, Sprikut? Especially as my character is a Recreation built by ALEPH too.

Also, potentially the Lhost could have a neuroligical fault when constructed, or gained later, that causes the suicidal tendencies.



Heavily leaning to Lee Je Hoon in their role from 'Anarchist in Colony' for a face-claim. Still floundering a little on a character name yet though.