Well… that was interesting: ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.3 - Character Creation PC 2

Well… some of you may have figured out we’re not home yet, we’re only half way there. Mother’s interrupted the course of our journey. She’s programmed to do that should certain conditions arise. They have. It seems that she has… intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. She got us up to check it out.
Dallas – ALIEN

Havoc Dawn: Session 0.3 – Character Creation PC 2

In this third post of a multi-part series covering the session 0 of this new solo game, I’ll be performing the character creation for the second Player Character for my first solo game of the ALIEN Roleplaying Game.

You can read the other posts related to Session 0 by clicking the appropriate link below:

Character Creation begins on page 25 of the core rulebook.

Advice to the reader

In order to interpret the structure of my gaming session posts effectively, it is strongly suggested that you peruse A Readers Guide to Play Sessions on The Old Bard, if you haven’t already.

To better grasp what I mean when I bring up Fate questions, you might find it useful to keep the Mythic Fate Chart accessible, potentially in a new window or tab in your browser.

For the rest of the PCs I’ll be creating, it will be relatively more streamlined, hence their character overviews will be more succinct. Refer back to ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn Session 0.2 – Character Creation Overview & PC 1 if you want an overview of the details of each section. In the remainder of these, I’ll just be filling out the character sheet based on the specifics needed for each character without all the fluff.

How To Create Your Player Character

The core rulebook outlines the character creation process on page 27, which consists of the following steps:

Choose your career.
Spend points on your attributes.
Spend points on your skills.
Choose your career talent.
Choose your name.
Decide on your appearance.
Decide on your Personal Agenda.
Choose your Buddy and Rival.
Pick your gear and a signature item.
Roll for cash.

Step 0: Character Concept

This character will be a male Colonial Marshal. He is the embodiment of law and order on the frontier, maintaining peace amidst the growing fear and tension among the colonists. However, increasing signs of corruption and misdirection from the governments and corporations they serve force him into a position of conflict. He’s torn between upholding the law and standing with the colonists against the corporate and governmental powers. This character provides an insight into the political climate and the struggles of the everyday people in this universe.

Step 1: Choose your career

The Colonial Marshal career type is detailed on page 40 in the core rulebook.

The Frontier can be a lawless place. The Colonial Marines are spread thin—they have neither the time nor inclination to mete out local justice. Not to worry—there’s a new sheriff in town, and that’s you. Most law enforcement officers on the Frontier are firmly planted deep in the back pocket of one company or another—but not you. You don’t take bribes and you never look the other way. You’ve made a lot of enemies on both sides of the law, but your colony has the lowest crime rate in the system. It’s only a matter of time before you piss off the wrong CEO and corporate sends someone to take care of you, but that’s okay. You’ll be ready.
ALIEN RPG Core Rulebook – Chapter 2: Your Character – Page 40

I bookmark this career page in the rulebook as I will need to refer back to it quite often throughout the creation process.

Step 2: Spend points on your attributes

For the Colonial Marshal career type, the key attribute is Wits. I decide to distribute my 14 points allowed the following way and record them on my character sheet:

5 points on Wits
4 points on Empathy
3 points on Strength
2 points on Agility

Step 3: Spend points on your skills

For a Colonial Marshal, the key skills are Observation, Ranged Combat, and Manipulation.

I decide to spend my 10 skill points the following way and record them on my character sheet:

3 points on Observation
2 points on Ranged Combat
2 points on Manipulation
1 point on Close Combat
1 point on Comtech
1 point on Survival

Step 4: Choose your career talent

A Colonial Marshal has three options for its initial talent. These talents are Authority, Investigator, and Subdue. After reading the description for these talents on page 74, I decide to choose Investigator and mark that down on my character sheet.

Note: you’ll see the definition of this when I generate the backstory for the character later on.

Step 5: Choose your name

I once again decide to use Behind the Name to come up with a name for me and it generates Rick Dennis Seward. I’ve left the links to each of the name’s etymology and history for your reference.

Step 6: Decide on your appearance

From the list of options listed in the appearance block on page 41 detailing the Colonial Marshal, I choose a couple of things for inspiration. I write down Scar across face, Graying hair, Inquisitive gaze, and Old leather jacket on my character sheet. But of course, we are going to create a much broader Appearance for this character along with a backstory in just a bit.

Step 7: Decide on your Personal Agenda

I do have in my mind what so happens to be listed as an option for the Colonial Marshal which is “You dream of turning in the badge and settling down in peace. Work towards it“. I decide to write down “Retirement, almost saved enough, one last job.” on my character sheet. Money is a key driver for him. He’s on the constant lookout for that one last job that will give him enough cash to finally settle down the way he wants.

Step 8: Choose your Buddy and Rival

Just as before, we need to revisit this after we create the other characters and just move on for now.

Step 9: Pick your gear and a signature item

All gear is located in page 117 in Chapter 6: Gear. For Campaign play, your career determines what gear you can choose from at the start of the game. Referring back to the Officer career type on page 49 I decide on the following:

I choose the .357 Magnum Revolver and add it to my gear along with also adding to my weapons and it’s stats. I also write down Hi-beam Flashlight. He is an investigator of course.

For his signature item, it’s going to be a Gold Zippo Lighter he was gifted by his now deceased wife. I write that down on the character sheet.

Step 10: Roll for cash

Your career lists the formula to use when you roll for cash. For a Colonial Marshal, they receive 1D6x100 in cash. I roll 1D6 for a result of 4. Multiply that by 100 and my starting cash is $400. I write that down in the gear section of my character sheet.

Step 11: AI Details

This isn’t an official step. But it’s my custom step where I’m going to take everything we’ve come up with and feed it into ChatGPT and see what the results are, and possibly tweak it if I see something I don’t like, or it makes sense.

Also, I’m going to come up with Visuals for her using Midjourney.

ChatGPT

I use the following information and feed it into ChatGPT in my ALIEN RPG chat session I’ve established that contains everything we’ve done in this post series:

I’ve created the second of 5 characters I’m going to use in this first solo game of the ALIEN RPG. I want you to come up with a backstory for him.
His name is Rick Dennis Seward
He is in his late forties.
He is a Colonial Marshal.
He is the embodiment of law and order on the frontier, maintaining peace amidst the growing fear and tension among the colonists. However, increasing signs of corruption and misdirection from the governments and corporations they serve force him into a position of conflict. He’s torn between upholding the law and standing with the colonists against the corporate and governmental powers. This character provides an insight into the political climate and the struggles of the everyday people in this universe.
For his Attributes, he is stronger in Witts and slightly less strong in Empathy, followed by Strength then Agility with the following scores:
5 points on Wits
4 points on Empathy
3 points on Strength
2 points on Agility
His Skills are as follows with higher points meaning he is stronger in that skill:
3 points on Observation
2 points on Ranged Combat
2 points on Manipulation
1 point on Close Combat
1 point on Comtech
1 point on Survival
His Talent is Investigator which means he sees what others miss, and is skilled at noticing small details and
making sense of them. When he spends a Turn in a room or similar location, he can roll for OBSERVATION. Only one attempt is allowed. For each he rolls, he may ask the Game Mother one of the following questions. The Game Mother must answer truthfully, but she is allowed to give vague or incomplete information.

Those Questions are: “What happened here?”, “Is there anything hidden here, and if so where?” and “Are there any details here that are out of place, something that’s out of the ordinary?”

He has a scar across his face, graying hair, and Inquisitive gaze and wears an old leather jacket.
He carries a gold Zippo lighter given to him by his deceased wife that is his Signature Item.
His personal agenda is to retire. He’s almost saved enough money for how he wants to retire, and is always on the search for that “One last job” that will secure the remainding funds he desparately desires.
He carries a .357 Magnum Revolver and a Hi-beam Flashlight, along with $400 in cash to his name.

And the result we get is:

Rick “Ricky” Dennis Seward is a seasoned veteran of the frontier, bearing the battle scars of a lifetime spent upholding the law in a lawless expanse. A man of duty, Ricky has spent most of his life navigating the treacherous balance between the powers that be and the colonists who eke out a hard life on the edges of human civilization. This has honed his ability to discern details and piece together a broader picture, making him an exceptionally skilled investigator.

In his late forties, Ricky’s hardened exterior hides a sensitive soul. His piercing, inquisitive gaze has seen too much, and his graying hair is a testament to the years of conflict and struggle. But he carries his scars proudly, a silent badge of his resilience.

His most cherished possession is a gold Zippo lighter, a memento from his late wife. The old leather jacket that he’s seldom seen without adds to his rugged charm. The lighter and the jacket are constant reminders of a past that keeps him grounded and human amidst all the chaos.

Despite his dedicated service, Ricky is growing weary. His personal agenda is simple: retirement. The struggle of the frontier is taking its toll on him, and he yearns for a quieter life. He’s almost saved enough for a comfortable retirement and is always on the lookout for that “one last job” that will provide him the remaining funds to bid his career farewell.

Ricky’s reliance on his wits and empathy often gives him an edge over adversaries. However, when words fail, he’s not afraid to use force. His .357 Magnum Revolver and Hi-beam flashlight are ever at his side, tools of his trade as a Colonial Marshal.

Ricky’s journey is one of conflict between duty and morality. He stands at the precipice of a complicated struggle, striving to protect the colonists while maintaining the peace. But with corruption and mistrust growing, he may be forced to make difficult choices. Only time will tell if his dream of retirement will be realized, or if the harsh reality of the frontier has other plans.

There is nothing I want to tweak or change for now, so this will work fine.

Midjourney

And now that we have a description for “Ricky”, let’s generate what he may look like.

I used the following prompt to generate these images:

/imagine: <https://s.mj.run/YYgTGe29pko> A man on a space ship in the ALIEN universe. Scar across face. Graying hair, Inquisitive Gaze, Old Leather Jacket. Ultra Realistic. --aspect 2:1

And here are the results:

Initial Character Description & Sheet

I created a full character page for Rick “Ricky” Dennis Seward that you can view by clicking here with his description and details.

And below is his initial character sheet:

It should be noted that the Relationships section was not filled in until after all the primary characters were created.

Bookkeeping

I finalize what I can for now on the character sheet for this player character. We’ll need to revisit this sheet once we’ve finished the other characters to list his Buddy and Rival. I created a character page for this character here to store his visualizations and character description for later reference.
I also update the page description that will provide information on all characters in this solo game here. We’ll update this page after each character is created.

Next, we’ll create the 3rd player character who is a fanatical cult member!

Till next time!

Resources Used

ALIEN – The Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.
Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition (MGME2E)
ChatGPT for generating a description of various elements as noted.
Midjourney for creating imagery.
Random Name Generator – Behind the Name for the characters name

Well… that was interesting: ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.3 – Character Creation PC 2