Talk:Sphere RPG Character Creation

Rim

The following includes a prototype system to determine how transgenic a character is and consequently what templates they likely have access to. Of course players are free to select whatever template they want.

Youth

Planet of Birth
One's planet of birth has a substantial effect on one's future. Cultural, educational, economic and transgenic differences can all have a lasting effect on an individual.

Backwater World: There are many backwater worlds in known space, often on worlds of limited economic value and borderline habitability. +2 Physique, +1 Endurance

Space Colony: While planets are preferred for obvious reasons, there are many small orbital stations or nomadic family-ships spread thinly across known space. 50% chance of being Floater genotype. +1 Intellect, +1 Perception, +1 Zero-G

Central World: A few of these major worlds are scattered across the Rim, centers of industry and commerce.

Someone else can maybe try to put this together. --Shrike 14:07, 23 January 2012 (PST)

Adulthood

For character generation purposes, a character's pre-adventuring adulthood is divided up into a number of 'periods'. These are essentially blocks of life during which the character gained meaningful skills and experiences. While the duration of a given period is flexible - typically 1-3 years, as a general rule characters generated with more periods are older and more experienced, though exceptions can happen!
Adulthood Periods can be spent in several ways.

Careers are substantial investments in time and learning and by default require three Periods of time - this means that most starting characters will only have one Career under their belt. Careers are generally assumed to include a substantial amount of book learning (or in case of some, nothing but) and consequently provide a broad spectrum of skills.

Vocations are shorter-term jobs, career extensions or side projects and as such take a single Period each. They may provide an unusual skillset or a combination of monetary rewards and useful experience. Three Vocations broadly equate to a single Career choice, though someone who has many Vocations has presumably jumped between many different short-term positions and consequently may be more 'street smart' than classically educated.

Promotions represent a character spending extended time in a given position or career track and thus recieving increased rank (be it military or otherwise), more substantial starting resources or some combination. Like Vocations, Promotions require one Period each. However, Promotions need to be directly linked to a Career.

Intensive Training is generally only available for very specific, often military or paramilitary skillset and requires two Periods. It provides comprehensive but narrow instruction and is a best fit for characters who are 'fresh from the academy' or the equivalent, though it could also apply to more unusual situations such as a doctor that cross-trained to also be a pilot.

It is suggested that starting characters recieve 3 Periods, ie, sufficient to allow them to buy a starting career, with more Periods being added for more experienced starting characters. Additionally to provide a measure of balance, it is recommended that in mixed PC groups baseline/classic humans recieve 1-2 extra periods, trading out ability for skill.
As a roleplaying suggestion, older characters should have a greater proportion of Promotions - few individuals spend their entire lives learning.