Vat Grown

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com

Today I continued writing the scenario chapter for Project Generations. The scenario is fairrrrrly hard SF, with the PCs playing Reserve Crew who are awakening from cryostasis to deal with problems on the ship.  You generate PCs using a set of chargen on-the-fly mechanics optimized for the setting. My default assumption is that Reserve Crew are highly skilled normal humans.

But I've been thinking.

Some of that thinking was stirred by Brad Murray's recent comments on FATE Core character generation, and its contrasts with chargen in Diaspora. With FATE Core you create a more or less fully realized character. But in Diaspora, you have options that recognize that some players take a few weeks to fully understand or articulate the kind of character they want to play... kind of easing into the role.

The mechanics I'm developing for chargen in Project Generations allow for a fair amount of player choice. But last night, I started to feel that my design could leave out the player who wants to run someone just a little bit...different.

So I have built-in mechanics so that a player can self-select to play an android, a vat-grown human born on one of Earth's orbitals (with the potential for special abilities), or a cyborg.

I think this works well within the Reserve Crew narrative framework, and will be fun for player who enjoy creating characters who are just a little bit different..