Well… that was interesting: ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.6 - Character Creation PC 5

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Ripley – ALIEN

Havoc Dawn: Session 0.6 – Character Creation PC 5

In this sixth post of a multi-part series covering the session 0 of this new solo game, I’ll be performing the character creation for the fifth and final 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.

Like previously, this post will be a relatively more streamlined process, hence the character overview 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. Here, I’ll just be filling out the character sheet based on the specifics needed for this 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

For our final character, he will be a Ruthless Corporate Executive: This character is a high-ranking figure in Weyland-Yutani or a similar corporation, heavily involved in the suspected bio-weapon development. Guided by a relentless pursuit of power and profit, this character is willing to cross any moral and ethical line. This individual represents the face of corporate greed and the potential threats that the corporations pose.

Step 1: Choose your career

For this character, I’m going to choose the Company Agent career type which is detailed on page 42 of the core rulebook.

You’re hungry. Space is full of opportunity, and you’ve been assigned to the Frontier to find the next big thing. From insider information to new mineral deposits—or even a hitherto unknown life-form to exploit—it’s up to you to score a win for the company and use it to catapult yourself up the corporate ladder. You tend not to form long-lasting attachments, instead viewing everybody as a commodity to capitalize on. Worry about others later. Right now it’s all about the bottom line.
ALIEN RPG Core Rulebook – Chapter 2: Your Character – Page 42.

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 Company Agent 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
3 points on Strength
3 points on Empathy
3 points on Agility

Step 3: Spend points on your skills

For a Company Agent, the key skills are Comtech, Observation, and Manipulation.

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

3 points on Manipulation
2 points on Observation
2 points on Comtech
2 points on Observation
1 point on Mobility

Step 4: Choose your career talent

A Company Agent has three options for its initial talent. These talents are Cunning, Personal Safety, and Take Control. After reading the description for these talents on page 75, I decide to choose Personal Safety. This guy is a coward and only looking after himself.

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 Bran Sean Tierney after a couple of requests to regenerate to see something that catches my eye. I chose Irish as the category for names, as I had this vision in my head that he would be of Irish descent. 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 43 detailing the Company Agent, I decide to just choose from a few options here. I decide to include Expensive Rolex, Emotionless stare, and Monogrammed silk tie. I also choose for him to have a Pompous Stance about him. He is in his late 20s. I write all of this down on my character sheet.

Step 7: Decide on your Personal Agenda

I decide that his personal agenda is to Return an alien specimen to company. I mean, ya gotta. He’s a company agent, they are always obsessed with this. I write down “Return an alien specimen to company” in the Personal Agenda box on my character sheet.

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 Company Agent career type on page 42 I look at the options and decide on the following:

The first obvious chose is Rolex watch. and a Data transmitter card with corporate clearance level.

For his signature item, it’s going to be a gold pen given to him by his younger sister who was very proud of him and how he has excelled in his career at such a young age. He loved his sister very much and the pen brings back fond memories of her.

Step 10: Roll for cash

Your career lists the formula to use when you roll for cash. For a Pilot, they receive 2D6x100 in cash. I roll 2D6 for a result of 3 and 3. Multiply that by 100 and my starting cash is $600. 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 sixth and final 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 Bran Sean Tierney
He is in his late twenties.
He is a Company Agent.
He is career hungry. Space is full of opportunity, and he’s been assigned to the Frontier to find the next big thing. From insider information to new mineral deposits—or even a hitherto unknown life-form to exploit—it’s up to him to score a win for the company and use it to catapult himself up the corporate ladder. He tends not to form long-lasting attachments, instead viewing everybody as a commodity to capitalize on. Worry about others later. Right now it’s all about the bottom line.
He is a Ruthless Corporate Executive: His character is a high-ranking figure in Weyland-Yutani, heavily involved in the suspected bio-weapon development. Guided by a relentless pursuit of power and profit, he is willing to cross any moral and ethical line. He represents the face of corporate greed and the potential threats that the corporations pose.
For his Attributes, he is stronger in Wits, followed by equal values of slightly less in Strength, Empathy and Agility with the following scores:
5 points on Wits
3 points on Strength
3 points on Empathy
3 points on Agility
His Skills are as follows with higher points meaning he is stronger in that skill:
3 points on Manipulation
2 points on Observation
2 points on Comtech
2 points on Observation
1 point on Mobility
His Talent is “Personal Safety” which means: The interests of the company always come first, no matter what. And he represents the company. That means his own safety is paramount—other and crew members are expendable. If he is attacked or otherwise ends up in fatal danger, and if another PC or friendly NPC is within SHORT range (the
same zone), he can make a MANIPULATION roll (straight roll, not opposed, and does not count as an action). If he succeeds, he sees the threat coming and finds a clever way to make the other characters suffer the attack or hazard instead of himself. Using this talent increases his STRESS LEVEL by one.
He has an Expensive Rolex, an Emotionless stare, and a monogrammed silk tie. He always seems to have a Pompous stance about him.
His Signature Item is a gold pen given to him by his younger sister who was very proud of him and how he has excelled in his career at such a young age. He loved his sister very much and the pen brings back fond memories of her.
His Personal Agenda is to “Return an alien specimen to the company”.
He wears an expensive Rolex and carries a Data transmitter card with corporate clearance level, along with $600 in cash.

And the result we get is:

Bran Sean Tierney is a young, ambitious Company Agent in his late twenties. For him, the final frontier is more than just an expanse of stars—it’s a vast playing field of opportunities waiting to be exploited. Whether it’s insider information, uncharted mineral deposits, or an unknown life-form, his eyes are set on finding the next big thing for the company, hoping it will launch him up the corporate ladder. Interpersonal relationships take a backseat for Bran; for him, people are simply commodities to capitalize on. His primary focus? The company’s bottom line.

Bran is more than just an ambitious young executive—he is an emblem of corporate ruthlessness in the world of Weyland-Yutani. As a high-ranking figure involved in the development of suspected bio-weapons, he walks a dangerous path devoid of moral and ethical boundaries. His relentlessness in the pursuit of power and profit is a stark reminder of the peril that corporations can pose.

With his highest attribute being wits, Bran embodies strategic cunning and intellectual prowess. His physical strength, empathy, and agility are balanced, reflecting his practical and rational approach to life. Bran’s skills lie predominantly in manipulation and observation, reflecting his proficiency in using people and situations to his advantage. He’s also skilled in Comtech and Mobility, enhancing his versatility in different scenarios.

Bran’s talent, “Personal Safety,” asserts the idea that the company—and by extension, he himself—always comes first. His own safety is paramount, even if it means sacrificing others. If attacked or faced with mortal danger, Bran can manipulate the situation so that another character bears the brunt of the danger instead. However, using this talent also increases his stress level.

Visually, Bran exudes an air of opulence and arrogance. He sports an expensive Rolex, a monogrammed silk tie, and carries an air of pomposity. His emotionless stare paints the picture of a man desensitized to the corporate world’s harsh realities. His signature item is a gold pen, a gift from his younger sister who admired his career success. The pen serves as a sentimental keepsake that reminds him of his beloved sister.

Bran’s personal agenda is as daunting as his personality—to return an alien specimen to the company. He carries a data transmitter card with corporate clearance level, alongside $600 in cash. An enigma wrapped in an expensive suit; Bran Sean Tierney is a character that embodies the chilling reality of corporate greed in the farthest reaches of space.

I like it and don’t plan on changing anything for now.

Midjourney

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

I used the following prompt to generate these images:

/imagine: <https://s.mj.run/2Ho7NF32KL0> A man in his late 20s on a space ship in the ALIEN universe. Expensive Rolex. Emotionless Stare. Monogrammed Silk Tie. Pompous Stance. Ultra Realistic. --aspect 2:1

And here is the results:

Initial Character Description & Sheet

I created a full character page for Bran Sean Tierney 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.

And we are done with the initial character creation for all 5 of the player characters I’ll be playing in this game. But there is still one last step I need to perform on all of them. Assign their Buddy and Rival. We’ll do that in the next post and talk just a bit more on these characters before we get to our generation of the actual story origins and begin game play.

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 0.6 – Character Creation PC 5