2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 19: Peter "Petey" Mitchel, CONN Officer

It is day nineteen of the challenge! Presenting another Starfleet officer serving on USS Phoenix.

Peter Mitchel, Flight Control Officer

It's not literally true that Mitchel mastered flight before he could walk, but it was a close call. His roots as a bush pilot in the surviving backwoods of Earth show in his cavalier attitude to the whole "landing" process. Fortunately, as Mitchel's Starfleet recruiter pointed out, that doesn't come up often for starships.

Peter "Petey" Mitchel is more than a gifted pilot. He always reports in early to his shifts on the bridge. He is attentive during meetings and carefully coordinates with his fellow officers. His management of flight operations and navigation is impeccable. He is genuinely concerned about the welfare of his pilots, personally performing safety checks and offering additional training to bring their flying up to Starfleet standards. The courses he plots are meticulously researched as long as he has reliable charts to work with. Mitchel's professionalism is beyond reproach.

Off duty, Mitchel is a chaotic mess. He drinks, smokes, gambles, and his few redeeming qualities are his respect for boundaries and the ability to accept a "no" (or less than enthusiastic "yes") gracefully on first hearing it. Mitchel thinks with his nerve ends and wears his heart on his shelve. His record is full of black marks due to his personal conduct and the list of starship captains willing to offer him a post grows shorter by the season.

Captain Sulok is willing to tolerate his personal behavior due to Mitchel's talents, but only to a point. Mitchel knows exactly where the lines are drawn and gives them a wide berth. The First Officer owes Mitchel a favor and giving him one last shot at flying a starship is her way of settling the score. That's why she keeps quiet about exactly how often she has to spring him from the local constabulary while on shore leave. The Security Chief looks upon all this with wry resignation.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 18: Alexandra Minerva, Chief of Security

Welcome to day eighteen of the challenge! I'll be warping back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) for a couple of entries. I might not be able to get full bridge crew done for USS Phoenix, but I'll give it a shot.

Alexandra Minerva, Chief of Security

There's no point to lying on Betazed. Not every Betazoid is a strong enough telepath to casually read the thoughts of others. But that's not necessary to make it obvious when someone is telling a falsehood. Even an empath can do that. And once it becomes known that someone is a liar, word among Betazoids spreads quickly and silently. Honesty is therefore the norm on Betazed.

Minerva misses the place.

Being fully telepathic quickly made Minerva deeply cynical after she left her homeworld. The differences between what people think and feel versus how they speak and act sets her teeth on edge. However jaded her outlook, she knows that what she senses won't hold up in court without evidence. That doesn't stop her from acting on what she picks up from others. Being "proactive" at her job has both benefited and limited her career in Starfleet Security.

Minerva finds her assignment to USS Phoenix to be refreshing. Captain Sulok is as honest as he is able to be, given his rank and position. Minerva also appreciates his wry humor and understanding of how life is as a telepath. Even so, there is the stark contrast between his outward stoicism and the firmly suppressed roil of emotions beneath it. Minerva's only real issue is the sense that something's off with the ship's counselor. She knows that she's not alone in her suspicions, but getting hard facts will take time to investigate.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 17: The Scimitar, Medium Modular Cargo Hauler

Here's my entry for day 17 of the challenge. I usually make these the night before and schedule them for posting on my blog in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling the best as I write this. Rather than putting it off, I'm cheating twice to get something out with the least effort possible. The first cheat is one I've done before - making a ship as a character. The second cheat is to pick a mechanically simple game.

The Scimitar, medium modular cargo hauler.

Bucket of Bolts is a solo journaling RPG by Jack Harrison of Mousehole Press. The narrative focuses on a modest cargo carrying spaceship from its days just out of the factory to its inevitable fate. Ships in Bucket of Bolts have some level of intelligence, but still need a captain and crew. As the ship grows more worn, it will outlast its first captain. And the next. But one captain will someday be a ship's final one. And so the story of a ship will be told.

Creating a ship in Bucket of Bolts is straightforward. The rules call for naming and drawing a ship, but the game download includes software that generates a name and picture of a ship. Thus, The Scimitar.

The next step is to come up with three traits describing the ship. I decided on:

• Ungainly.
• Utilitarian.
• Exposed.

So fresh from the factory that the cockpit still has that new ship smell, The Scimitar belongs to one of a bewildering array of mid-sized freighter designs. The eye slides away from its utilitarian appearance in favor of the sleek yachts and sporting craft elsewhere in the lot. However, The Scimitar's ungainly modular construction and exposed components make for an adaptable ship. A captain and crew handy with technology could make much of such a ship.

UN-73 considered the possibilities as the ship waited for its first captain.

Bucket of Bolts is available on itch.io.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 16: Throg the Stormrider

It's day sixteen of the challenge. Halfway through. Over the hump. Nothing but downhill from here.

I hope.

I came up with a NPC concept for X1 The Isle of Dread. He may not be used in the adventure. Normally, I would make a note and move on. I certainly wouldn't go to the trouble of creating a character sheet at this point. However, there is this challenge I'm participating in and it's nice to have him ready to go as an option.

Throg, Half-Orc Barbarian, 1 of 2

Throg was born on the frontier. His parents belonged to communities that were supposed to be at war with each other. The harsh reality of life in the wilds meant that they had more in common with each other than their nominal rulers in distant capitals. Half-orcs were accepted, if not common.

That acceptance disappeared from Throg's life once he left his home. Filled with wanderlust, he struck out on his own as soon as he was able. Throg found himself judged by his appearance, an outcast in both human and orc cultures.

Throg found ways to get by on the fringes of civilization. His knowledge of the wilderness meant he could hire himself out as a scout or guide. And there was always mercenary work.

He eventually found himself in a coastal village populated by outcasts like himself. It reminded Throg of home. To his surprise, he was able to apply himself to life near the sea. He took to sailing small boats, catching fish by hook or net, and learning all he would need to be useful to his new community.

Let's interrupt Throg's tale to come up with numbers for him. Throg is a half-orc barbarian. Before anybody objects, racial restrictions on classes and levels are not used in our campaign.

My dice were warm - a couple of good results and nothing that would impose penalties. Applying the modifiers for being a half-orc resulted in several modest bonuses. Most importantly, Throg's Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution more than met the requirements for the barbarian class.

Throg specializes in the sword. However, he finds the long bow, hand axe, and dagger useful in the wilds.

Throg, Half-Orc Barbarian, 2 of 2

One day, Throg was caught by a sudden storm. The fierce winds blew his small sailboat beyond the sight of land. He drifted for weeks until making landfall on the Dread Isle.

Throg adapted quickly. He found materials to repair his sailboat and began to explore the coast of the Dread Isle. The indigenous population came to an uneasy agreement with him. Throg traded the fish he caught and pearls he harvested for supplies. He lives away from the villages. It's a peaceful life, but he yearns to return to the pleasures of the mainland.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 15: Wyndham, Runaway Robot Hunter

It's day fifteen of the challenge! This time, I'm making a character for the solo TTRPG Lemuria Space Station from Scragend. Lemuria Space Station revolves around bounty hunters pursuing rogue robots. I'd call it Blade Runner (1982) on a space station, but the robots aren't humanoid. So it's more like Runaway (1984) on space station. Except without Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons.

Lemuria Space Station banner art

Everything about a Lemuria Space Station character is randomly generated. Even the character's name can be the result of rolling a die and consulting a table, although this is optional. I'm rolling for everything and doing my usual commentary of the process.

The results on the name table seem to be full of hard consonants. My character got Wyndham, which is awfully corporate sounding, being the name of a hotel chain IRL.

Every result on Character Origin table reflects the kind of financially unstable backgrounds one expects from sci-fi bounty hunters. Wyndham was dumped out of his cryo pod when the money in his account ran out.

Judging from the Character Traits table, bounty hunters on Lemuria Space Station are not the most well-adjusted folks around. Wyndham is a loudmouth who will never let his better judgement prevent him from making his views known.

With 20 credits, an antique book (Starting Trinket table), and a snub-e-gun (default starting weapon) to his name, finding and putting down rogue AIs is looking pretty good. It's the best of a set of bad options. At least Wyndham can set his own hours.

I rolled low for Wyndham's hit points (10), so he can't take much damage. His STR (12) and DEX (12) are alright.

It would be nice if Wyndham could afford better gear, but that can't be helped. Time to find a trail to follow and a bot to hunt.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 14: Cerulean Byrd-Skye, Android

It's the fourteenth day of the challenge! And it's back to Mothership. There's one class left - android. My concept for this character was Mr. Data, but made by Weyland-Yutani. Or Lore with better manners. Whichever works. I also wanted to make an androgynous android because of the wordplay.

Cerulean Byrd-Skye, Android

My rolls for Stats and Saves were alright. It helps that the low results went into things that received big bonuses from this character being an android - Intellect and Fear saves. Combat did take a hit, though. Maybe the manufacturer wanted to guard against an AI uprising? Finally, androids get an additional Wound, putting them on par with Marines.

Androids get a wide variety of skills: Linguistics, Computers, and Mathematics. Rather than getting an Expert skill, I picked out Geology and Archaeology to get a broad range of disciplines to be knowledgeable about. I find it interesting that an android can't start out with Piloting, given the inspirational material includes Aliens.

Rolling low for loadouts in Mothership results in more useful stuff. Rolling high offers quirky stuff. Maybe that Jump-9 Ticket (destination blank) will come in handy to get away from all this nonsense someday. Starting funds were enough to cover a flashlight and Geiger counter. My roll for Trinkets scored a copy of the I Ching, but missing some of the stalks used for divination. This character's patch displays the Mudflap Girl.

Cerulean Byrd-Skye was designed by the team of Doctors Byrd and Skye. They resemble a lean androgynous person of average height and indeterminate features. Or is supposed to. There's just enough uncanny valley to their appearance to mark them as synthetic. Byrd-Skye is intended to act in an advisory capacity. They are therefore soft-spoken, polite, and presents their arguments in a non-confrontational fashion. However, their ability to deliver accurate data and analysis is often hampered by company policies and directives. Byrd-Skye has therefore learned to lie effectively. If giving correct information will benefit them, they will do so and fail to report themself for violating regulations. If following company orders is in their best interests, they will knowingly offer falsehoods to those seeking advice. The effects this might have on others are less important to Byrd-Skye than their own continued existence.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 13: Ayani, Necromancer

It's the challenge's thirteenth day and time to do something vaguely thematic. I'm now running our group through D&D adventure module X1 The Isle of Dread as part of our Old School Essentials campaign. The module features - among other things - indigenous peoples who animate their ancestors as zombies as part of their culture. The requires the participation of somebody who can cast Animate Dead. Rather than go with a Magic User, I'm using the Necromancer class recently re-released by Necrotic Gnome.

Since Animate Dead is a fifth level spell, even for Necromancers, this character needs to be at least ninth level. This will not be a trivial NPC. Thus, I need a plot line to go with this person.

The "Zombie Masters" of The Isle of Dread seem to based on David Cook's and Tom Moldvay's perceptions of African diaspora religions. This contrasts with the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations they draw upon for the rest of the module. I don't feel qualified to step into any of that. Thus, I'll be treading carefully and respectfully in both running the module and making this character.

The cycle between unlife, life, and death is firmly established by sources both divine and arcane. The necromancers of the Dread Isle in the Thanegioth Archipelago believe that undeath fits within that cycle. Their magics allow their honored ancestors to serve as workers in the gardens and soldiers on the wall as they did in life.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 1 of 2

Ayani is a 9th level Necromancer NPC. All OSE characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

My dice were pretty spicy when rolling up Ayani's Ability Scores. The highest score naturally went into Intelligence. Ayani speaks the language indigenous to the Isle of Dread and picked up common from somewhere. She has two other language slots, but I don't see her having the opportunity to learn more. I put the next highest into Dexterity for the defensive bonus. Ayani comfortably meets the minimum Wisdom requirement for a Necromancer and gets a nifty bonus for saves against magical effects. The Constitution and Charisma bonuses are also handy. The Strength penalties should be irrelevant to a spell caster.

The optional racial abilities that humans get are not amazing, but are handy. Choices for her weapon proficiencies are limited. She knows her way around the dagger and staff. Her d4 hit dice go further than one would think with the Blessed racial perk and "re-roll 1s and 2s for hit points" optional rule. Still, a hit point total of 41 is nothing to write home about.

I made Ayani Lawful due to her accepted role within her culture. It's not popular, but necessary due to protect her people from the dangers of the Dread Isle. She's not doing it for selfish reasons.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 2 of 2

Below is Ayani's "walking around" spell list. She has access to a wider array of magic in her spell book. For example, Ayani might memorize Speak With Dead when needing extensive information from beyond the grace, but Death Recall's more timely nature meets her daily needs.

Ayani's Spell Selection:
1st level (3): Protection From Evil, Read Magic, Undead Servitor*
2nd level (3): Bone Armor, Choke, Death Recall
3rd level (3): Bone Staff, Drag From Death's Door, Hold Person
4th level (2): Inter, Wall of Bones
5th level (1): Animate Dead

* Ayani will only use Undead Servitor on the bodies of outsiders. Her honored ancestors deserve Animate Dead.

Ayani dutifully serves her role in the cycle of unlife, life, death, and undeath. Her matriarch speaks of opening trade with the wider world. Ayani has heard whispers on the ethereal winds of one who will come to the isle. They will exchange much knowledge and both will become wiser. It is with this power that Ayani will protect her people - both living and undead.


Resources:

The Necrotic Gnome has made the Necromancer class available as a free download on DriveThruRPG.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It's serviceable, but doesn't seem to support ascending Armor Class. There's also no place for spells.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 12: Tamlyn Sakai, First Officer

Welcome to day twelve of the challenge! Back to Star Trek Adventures (1e) and introducing another Starfleet officer. Every starship needs a Number One and USS Phoenix is no exception.

Tamlyn Sakai, First Officer

Lieutenant Commander Tamlyn Sakai was born on a Federation colony along the Cardassian border. Finding life as a farmer unfulfilling, she left her home for Starfleet Academy. Completing Command training, her career was unremarkable until she was recruited by Starfleet Intelligence. Sakai found covert operations to her liking. She heard rumors of some secret group interested in her, but news from home was taking all of her attention. The trading of colonies and the creation of the Demilitarized Zone between the Federation and Cardassian Union didn't sit well with Sakai. It came to a head when she learned of the Maquis. At first, she leaked a few intelligence reports to former Starfleet officers she knew in the Maquis. It quickly escalated to her grabbing what she could and making for the Badlands with Starfleet Security hot on her heels.

It all went well, at first. With the Obsidian Order destroyed, the Cardassians didn't have the means to effectively counter an interstellar insurgency. The Maquis were running rings around them. With the Klingon invasion of the Cardassian Union came a fresh source of support. Some spoke of a Maquis nation forming in the DMZ.

Then the Dominion came. Sakai was returning from a raid when she found out the hard way that Jem'Hadar attack ships had sensors that could peer through the murk of the Badlands. Worse, those ships were also small enough to navigate plasma storms. It took everything in Sakai's bag of tricks to get her ship and crew back to base. There they found that the bombardments had caught anyone out in the open. The Jem'Hadar went into the tunnel and had killed everyone else. There was nothing but bodies around her, panic on the Maquis communications network, and Dominion ships on the sensors. Sakai had no options. The Dominion was giving no quarter. She loaded her ship with every survivor who would go with her, escaped the Badlands, and found someone wearing a Starfleet uniform she could surrender to.

Sakai spent some time being rehabilitated before Starfleet came to her with an offer. Return to Starfleet and fight the Dominion in exchange for a pardon. Starfleet's causalities in the Dominion War left it short of experienced officers. It was willing to overlook "past misunderstandings" in redeemable former officers. Sakai thought the pardon was nice, but she would've accepted any deal for a shot at the Dominion.

To her own surprise, Sakai not only survived the Dominion War, but stayed in Starfleet. It was more than not having a home to return to. She liked being back. Still, her more "practical" approach to problems marks her as different. Some believe that it is a result of being a Maquis. They're wrong - it was the reason she joined.

Captain Sulok doesn't seem to mind. Although he is encouraging Sakai to embrace the idealism of Starfleet again. A nice, quiet exploration cruise sounds like a pretty good chance for that. Still, Sakai has a feeling that something's off with the ship's counselor. She's spoken to the security chief about it, but neither of them have anything solid to bring to the captain. In the meantime, Sakai is avoiding Counselor Benoit's attempts to speak with her in private until she can put her finger on what's bothering her.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 11: Sage Green, Intraplanetary Adaptive Pioneer

It's day eleven of the challenge. The name of the game for this post is Entity from Candlenaut. Entity is a solo TTRPG where you play a synthetic astronaut exploring a planet all on their lonesome. I'll be trying out this game after the challenge, so making a character for it now will save me a little time whenever.

The cover for Entity. Also not the character I'm making.

A few notes before I get started. Many examples I've found online of characters for this game seem to be waifus in spacesuits. I'm not here to kink shame, but I'm also not doing that. Also, because "astronaut" or "cosmonaut" is too boing, Entity uses "Intraplanetary Adaptive Pioneer" or "IAP" instead. I've be using the abbreviation to save myself some typing. Finally, I couldn't find a form fillable character sheet in time for this post. The stats for this IAP are therefore buried in the text.

There are three Traits that define an IAP: Technology, Analytics, and Adaptivity. Each Trait is divided into Edges, representing specializations within its Trait. As Entity has no combat, there is no "guns" or "beat folks up" equivalents. The Edges within each Trait are:

Technology: Robotics, Engineering, Information Technology.
Analytics: Physics, Biology, Chemistry.
Adaptivity: Survival, Communication, Navigation.

Character creation in Entity is not random. Instead, sets of numbers are allocated to each Trait and Edge. This is detailed on in the core rulebook. Here's my picks for what numbers go where:

Technology 4
Robotics 2
Engineering 3
Information Technology 1

Analytics 3
Physics 3
Biology 1
Chemistry 2

Adaptivity 5
Survival 3
Communication 1
Navigation 2

Our IAP can improvise and has a good working knowledge of hardware. His grasp of theory could use work. He's also not much of a talker.

What would be described in terms of hit points, armor class, and gear in other systems is covered by the Spacesuit in Entity. There are a limited number of Slots that can be filled with Strains (repairable damage), Impairments (permanent damage), and Upgrades (abilities that can be activated for bonuses). If all slots fill up with Strains and Impairments, the Spacesuit is destroyed - make a new character. Three Starting Upgrades are already built into the Spacesuit at the start of the game. These are basic tools. There are plenty of others that can be found in the game.

The Spacesuit also stores Energy (for activating Upgrades), Resources (for building Upgrades and fixing Strains), and Data (expended for bonuses during Encounters). Every Mission starts with 10 Energy, 0 Resources, and 0 Data. All of these things can be found while wandering around the planet.

Sage Green was created and launched from the solar system ten millennia ago. The humanity that sent his kind to seek out new homes among the stars is long dead. Green has opinions about that, but he also has a job to do. Little things like his makers dying out, the meaning of continuing to explore the galaxy, being the sole survivor of his ship's destruction, and getting stuck on an alien world are not going to stop him from getting that job done. Because if Green ever stops, ever gives himself a moment to reflect, he might realize that he's getting too old for this stuff.

Good thing Green likes to keep busy.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 10: Steve Bor, Scientist

It's day ten and a return to Mothership for the challenge. Let's make a scientist with a personality suited for climbing the corporate ladder this time. In his defense, he's not as completely useless as some folks depicted in space horror. He does have skills other than backstabbing others for a percentage. Make no mistake, though. He'll do the backstabbing thing too.

I previously stated that I'll be changing over to the advanced character sheet at some point. I'm having second thoughts about that. The basic sheet better explains the process to those unfamiliar with Mothership, so I might stick with that throughout the rest of this challenge.

Steve Bor, Scientist

My rolls for Stats were suboptimal. Intellect gets a boost since he's a scientist. I boosted Speed to since running would be a priority for this guy. He's not the guy to depend on in a fight. My dice warmed up when I rolled for Saves. The big fat bonus to Sanity is going to be handy when he starts poking at Things Humanity Really Doesn't Want To Find Out About.

The scientist class is the only one with access to a Master skill as a starting character. This makes sense, as those skills cover doctorate level stuff. However, it does make scientists a little more narrowly focused than the other classes. As command, engineering, hyperspace, and surgery are Master skills, it is possible to create a military officer, engineer, interstellar pilot, or medical doctor using the scientist class.

But this guy is chasing money and fame. I choose Exobiology and prerequisites Pathology and Zoology. Finding intelligent alien life would be his ticket to success. I picked Chemistry for his other Trained skill, since it would compliment his biological knowledge.

Rolling for a loadout turned up the quirky result. I'll say he uses the prescription pad for notes, since he's not that kind of doctor. The fountain pen/poison injector seems fun. He's going to wish he had better gear and something more protective than civilian clothes, though. I used part of his starting funds for a sample collection kit. For his trinket, he gets a moonstone ring. The image of an inverted cross adorns his patch.

Steve Bor is ambitious and cunning, but undisciplined and unimaginative. He was born of wealthy parents, coasted through his education, and landed a cushy job thanks to his connections. He'll eagerly steal the ideas and hard work of others to promote them as his own. Bor's growing reputation is that of a brilliant innovator, but he lacks the knowledge and dedication to be either. Bor will seize anything that looks like an opportunity to advance himself, no matter the cost to others. Favors black turtlenecks, black slacks, and black windbreakers.