Recruiting: Fringers, Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, and Ne'er-do-wells of All Sorts

[Ash DuQuennes]

Oh, and Ash, looking through my supplements last night, I think there's a combination that would be even better for your character. In the Fly Casual supplement for the Smuggler Career, there's the Charmer specialization, which would give you spec. skills of Charm, Cool, Deception, and Skulduggery. It's fairly impossible/impractical to try to convey a trait diagram in text form, but I'll try to find a PDF of them (also I'd like to take a moment to thank FFG for clearly spelling out that it's okay to make scans of those trees...).

My EoE book showed up on Wednesday, but work schedule precluded me getting to the leasing office to pick it up until today; started looking it over (in between standard "weekend stuff" like chores, errands, and rest & recuperation), I hope to bang out a "first try" character some time next week.


ETA: And any "goodies" you have to assist w/char.gen. will be greatly appreciated. The system is somewhat similar to FFG's Blue Planet RPG, so structurally, it's not a complete mystery to me, but getting used to the new dice system is going to present some challenges.

[boccelounge]

Take a look at this-- you can import it to your CGen program.

EDIT: Hmm, I can't seem to attach a file to this post. What? I'll PM you, cold.

EDIT2: Hmm, I can't seem to attach a file to PM. What? I'll email you, cold.

[boccelounge]

And any "goodies" you have to assist w/char.gen. will be greatly appreciated. The system is somewhat similar to FFG's Blue Planet RPG, so structurally, it's not a complete mystery to me, but getting used to the new dice system is going to present some challenges.

Did cold send you the CGen program he sent me? Let me know, I can forward it to you. I've never bothered using them before (or I make my own) but it's quite good, especially for a system I know nothing about.

[Vanger Chevane]

No worries, there's no strict timetable here.

Also, you can always spend XP to pick up a new specialization if you wanted to. Same career (in the Gunslinger's case, Smuggler) would cost you 10XP, and for 20XP, you can pick any other specialization you want, opening up its 4 skill set as "tax free", and giving you access to the talents.

Finally, to all: does anyone still operate an IM client of any sort? I remember lots of good conversation on AIM and Y! years ago, but now, FB Messenger is about the only one I still use...though if a bunch were using another client, I could certainly get back into the habit. Is Skype as a chat medium the new AIM?

I still use the free Trillian to manage my Yahoo, Aol, & Google IM IDs and do not have Facebonk nor Skype. Skype is IIRC more of a videoconferencing than messaging app.

I find Custer rather interesting on a number of levels. That makes everybody to-date a Human Male (possible Imperial Influence on part of the Employer?), and Ash's character the only one with an Urbane childhood...


I've been driving myself insane trying to mill Saji through OggDude's program. Since I have about zero info on a lot of things - obligation/duty, what Grit & Resolve do, motivations & some skills (what does it take to pilot a swoop?) - along with odd things the program itself does, I'm largely frustrated at this point.

I did email what I managed to bash together to you Cold.


On a side note, are we going to use a gDrive folder similar to Ash's shared IC, or something else? I've a few jokes / scene snippets for Saji & posting them here or OOC thread before including in IC might not be the best idea.

I do think I figured Saji's voice & Toprawan accent based largely off the novel description - Antonio Banderas.

[boccelounge]

I find Custer rather interesting on a number of levels. That makes everybody to-date a Human Male (possible Imperial Influence on part of the Employer?), and Ash's character the only one with an Urbane childhood...

Glad to hear it. I played him before as more of cowboy/western sort, kind of a cross between Solo and a younger Sam Elliot. Judging from the tone of cold's intro, that might not work as well here, but I can easily tone that down.

I've been driving myself insane trying to mill Saji through OggDude's program. Since I have about zero info on a lot of things - obligation/duty, what Grit & Resolve do, motivations & some skills (what does it take to pilot a swoop?) - along with odd things the program itself does, I'm largely frustrated at this point.

That would be Piloting - Planterary. I was thinking of taking that myself; the original idea was that Custer was half gearhead, half gunslinger. I'm finding it harder to focus on the mechanics part of it, and finding the Gunslinger traits/skills/whatever are pretty bad ass.

Assuming you guys stick with the pilot/face-man and medic roles, I think I can stay more combat-oriented. Agreed?

[Vanger Chevane]

That would be Piloting - Planterary. I was thinking of taking that myself; the original idea was that Custer was half gearhead, half gunslinger. I'm finding it harder to focus on the mechanics part of it, and finding the Gunslinger traits/skills/whatever are pretty bad ass.

Assuming you guys stick with the pilot/face-man and medic roles, I think I can stay more combat-oriented. Agreed?

Good thing I put a rank in that skill on a wild guess. Saji's not a combat character, but did work his way through College & Med School as a Paramedic so he has some skills from working with the Local Constabulary during his post-primary education as well as growing up in the country/wilderness.

Most of Saji's background is identical to the one I linked to in my 1st post, except he hasn't decrypted anything useful from the files Pappy Sato gave him...yet.


I don't think we have a dedicated Pilot.

I bleev Ash's character might be able to handle the job on a "fly casual" basis, but it'd take a real stick-jockey if things get furballish.


Interesting how after a loooong dead spell I'm starting to see some old names pop up on occasion, like FVBonura and Fred Getce. There may be hope for the H'Net yet...

[boccelounge]

I don't think we have a dedicated Pilot.

I bleev Ash's character might be able to handle the job on a "fly casual" basis, but it'd take a real stick-jockey if things get furballish.

Hmm, yeah re-reading his description I see what you mean. In that case Custer could very easily crossover into the Pilot role, both in terms of the rules and the concept/way I want to play him. My only hesitation is you hate to invest to much into something so specific if it's never going to come up... any hints, GM man?

[Ash DuQuennes]

Did cold send you the CGen program he sent me? Let me know, I can forward it to you. I've never bothered using them before (or I make my own) but it's quite good, especially for a system I know nothing about.

No, I didn't get that.

[Vanger Chevane]

No, I didn't get that.

Check your Gmail and drive, sir.

[Ash DuQuennes]

Check your Gmail and drive, sir.

Ok, I see now that cold did send them...to my gmail box, which I haven't looked at in...a year? More, perhaps?

[boccelounge]

Sorry, Ash; I got caught up with trick-or-treaters, guests, World Seres, and what-not... was going to send you those files earlier. Luckily you already had them. I recommend the CGen app-- like you I know little to zero about FFG, and it's really helped me get my head around the system.

Speaking of, I figured out how to "multi-class" and now have a Custer that's good at Mechanics, Guns, and Piloting (in descending order). I don't have any computer/slicing/lock-picking ability to speak of, so if anyone wants to invest a little in Skulduggery and/or Computers, I think we'll have most of our major needs covered (well, besides social skills and con-man/face-man stuff... but who cares about that).

I have a 2nd draft ready to go, I can send the .xml file to you cold. But I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll have some time to figure out a little script so we can convert the CGen export file to a HoloNet-friendly .html format, so we can post stats to this thread or the OOC thread.

Going to go back to the baseball game; I'll check in with you guys later.

[coldskier0320]

Okay, wow!

Good to see a ton of posting while I was otherwise occupied over the course of the weekend!

To address some concerns expressed, in no particular order:

• Ash, glad you found the stuff I sent you. I just typed "Ash" into my Gmail 'To' field, and of the ones that popped up, I picked the Gmail address, since I knew you had an active GDrive for The Departed...sorry for the confusion/guessing wrong. Glad you got it sorted out, though.
• Vanger, I'll take a look at what you sent me (along with boccelounge's stuff too) either later this evening or tomorrow, but regarding your technical difficulties, did you DL via the link I sent? If so, I'm not sure what the problem is, as it's been working flawlessly for me. It operates pretty much exactly the same as the Okina-rdae program except with a bit more of a "pretty" UI, and a few cases where it handholds a bit more. The data file that I sent along with is simply information to fill in the text boxes in the Gen program with the actual material instead of the page references. To import all of that, you must go into the folder where you unzipped the CharGen, open up the Data Editor, when it loads, click the Import button up top. When the file dialog box opens up, there's an extra menu selector to the right of the file name text box. Change it from "Data Set ZIP Archives" to "Zip Archives" which will allow the Vegomatic file to show. Navigate to that Vegomatic file in the dialog and open it up, and poof, you know have all of the flavor text. RE: Grit, Duty, etc. I'll explain that stuff a bit more thoroughly in another post.
• bocce, I haven't had a chance to look at your character yet, but should by either later tonight or tomorrow night.

To ALL: While I appreciate the eagerness to delve into the stats, I'd definitely like you to also give some thought to the response piece to the intro post. That will help me to better understand your character concept, which will, in turn, allow me to provide better help on the stat end, or identify any significant concerns/issues that may need to be addressed prior to a bunch of statting work. I'm certainly happy to talk numbers too, as that can help the creative process as well, but I'd like to see a bit of exposition regarding how you see your characters...how they ended up in jail, what they think of that, how they react to their release, and how they respond (both openly and privately) to their benefactor('s emissary). For my own machinations, it's also important for me to see how they spend the next few days on the outside, using the cash provided.

On a side note, are we going to use a gDrive folder similar to Ash's shared IC, or something else? I've a few jokes / scene snippets for Saji & posting them here or OOC thread before including in IC might not be the best idea.

While there may eventually be a shared GDrive for reference info, as of now, there are no plans for it, and even if I do set one up, there won't be a Shared IC section. I'd much rather have the IC posting be more regular, if shorter posts, than occasional massive posts. This is to keep the IC thread fresh and moving, to lower the barrier to posting (I don't want anyone to skip on a short post because everyone else is putting up 2,500 word entries), to avoid discontinuity (as long posts tend to encompass more than just a brief moment of in-game "present"), and to avoid a lot of back and forth flashbacks. If you want to elaborate on a character's history, that's great, but it's something for the OOC thread. I'd like to keep the IC full of posts somewhere between 2 sentences and 2 pages...enough for your characters to react to the situation and move the story forward, but not so expansive that everyone else then needs to go back to react to things that happened in the beginning of one IC post that are ancient history by the end of it.

The Departed is a bit of a different animal, with flashbacks from various historical points baked into its very essence. This story is designed from the ground up to not came much about the details of the past, and focus on the present and future...which, by the way, is wholly subject to the actions of the party.

For the first arc, I've got about a half dozen different possible major outcomes, with details that will be specific to however things shake down. If/when we get into the second arc, all of those things will help define not only how others react to you, but even what options are available in various circumstances (for example (not necessarily directly pulled form my notes, but a decent example), if you decided to take the extra files you sliced from the imperial database and sell them to the highest bidder, you may find in the future that you have a lot of credits, POed imperials, and no real allies from that transaction...if instead, you decided to leak the info to Black Sun or the Bothans, you may have earned a favor from one of them, and ired their rivals. If instead, you took that data and cross referenced it with shipping schedules and used that to warn black sun about a customs raid, tip off pirates to an unguarded convoy, and prove to the Hutts that you have inside info on the regional patrols, you're earning favors, gaining respect, making contacts, and possibly might get access to opportunities you'd not otherwise be offered if these parties hadn't been impressed by your knowledge/intel/access).

[boccelounge]

bocce, I haven't had a chance to look at your character yet, but should by either later tonight or tomorrow night... While I appreciate the eagerness to delve into the stats, I'd definitely like you to also give some thought to the response piece to the intro post.

Will do. And don't spend too much time on what I sent you; it's already changed quite a bit.

[Vanger Chevane]

To ALL: I'm certainly happy to talk numbers too, as that can help the creative process as well, but I'd like to see a bit of exposition regarding how you see your characters...how they ended up in jail, what they think of that, how they react to their release, and how they respond (both openly and privately) to their benefactor('s emissary). For my own machinations, it's also important for me to see how they spend the next few days on the outside, using the cash provided.

I think I covered almost all of it in this thread already.

Saji's been accused of a crime he wouldn't commit (I've already got a line set for that "I heard you were..." IC bit), and has been released once ISB and/or II dealt with the Rebels/criminals wanting to (forcibly?) recruit him. Aside from him turning Rebel, Saji getting into Organized Crime is another thing that makes ISB lose sleep.


The chip & related "debt" are interesting to him, but he's waiting for someone else to speak first as he's carrying most everything he currently owns on his back...in a big pack. Once I know where "here" is, I can plot Saji's next leg of his Walkabout, and give Custer & "Zylo" a chance to either tag along or convince him to go with them instead.

For Saji, he knew the charges were vapor, and fully expected to walk away completely clean once the Imps were done with whatever required his "protective custody / bait" experience, so he's a lot less relieved than his current company, and mostly annoyed by the whole show.

IMHO both would know Saji by reputation if not personal experience in the Prison Infirmary. I've managed to work up several "one-liners" for Saji, including a few about his accent. The fact he looks about 16 is up for y'all to play off of.



Think I sorted out a large part of the problem, I was firing up the CGen directly instead of the Launcher.

[coldskier0320]

Okay, let me shed a bit more light on what I'm asking for here...I'm not so much looking for a brief rundown of their situation, but an honest-to-goodness bit of IC writing. Not just a generalized overview, but an actual bit of writing, if short (like the intro) describing their out-processing and interaction with the young lady that meets them. Be sure to include their thoughts, mannerisms, etc. Anything that helps make them what they are.

If the others want to be on the same cell block as you, that's completely fine, but not necessary. You could have been held on any of a few hundred worlds that are home to an Imperial prison complex, and if it's important in your intro, I leave that up to you to decide which one. As an extra bit of information, the player group is far from being the only ones selected in this manner, and in fact, it's entirely possible that you find yourself going through the out-processing with anywhere up to a dozen other inmates of various backgrounds, to be addressed as a group by the young lady. If it fits your story to be just you, that's fine as well...just something to consider.

One possibly significant point, though, is that every PC will be starting with 10 Obligation of the Sponsorship type, to signify your being 'sprung' by this benefactor. This in mind, if your history for Saji revolved around being completely innocent of all charges, perhaps there is some other reason (not hard to imagine, given the SOP of Imps in this era) for a reasonable individual to believe that it was not really a situation where Saji could be content to wait the system out and have his name cleared, but rather a case of ISB wanting to put him away at any cost, and somehow "finding new evidence" (whether in the form of planting said evidence, falsifying records, or simply paying off/threatening local officials to look the other way in his case) and having him "temporarily detained" indefinitely.

Basically, had Saji not been "selected" for release, he should have had no reasonable expectation of release any time soon. He wasn't likely to be held forever, but his case wasn't even up for preliminary reconsideration for another six months to a year. The idea of a political prisoner would work just fine, but the idea of "if you hadn't gotten me out of there, I'd have been walking out free in a month or two anyway" isn't really an appropriate premise (in the same way that, for a military game, a premise of "this guy thumbs his nose at leadership and regularly goes renegade, but he's so good at what he does that they keep promoting him and now he's the leader of the group" wouldn't really work in a group where the PCs should be fairly green grunt troops).