1 Character creation

You will note that the character creation rules are very generic,but you can take example on TUGS:Babel for more complete rules.Remember TUGS is only a frame for designing your own rules.

• 1.1 Primary Attributes

  Attributes are the character most basic abilities.They are represented by numbers, ant these numbers are used constantly during a game.
  They are used to see how rapidly your skills increase or how you succeed in the most basic actions.
  The number of attributes is up to the GM. For example Babel uses 14 attributes: Strength,Dexterity,Stamina,Intelligence, Stability, Will, Charisma, Education, Technology, Spot, Listen, Smell, Quickness and Social Status.

• 1.2 Secondary attributes

  Secondary attributes are characteristics based upon an attribute or are attributes not used to test if you succeed in a basic action. Like primary attributes, their number is up to the GM. A few Babel examples: Fatigue,Mass,Sanity,Initiative...
  There are two important secondary attributes who should exist whatever the primary attributes choosen by the GM:Hit Points (basically represents the health of the character) and Focus ( the number of skills character can increase during an adventure).

• 1.3 Skills

  Skills are all the things your character can do.Examples of Babel skills: Mathematics, Physics, Swim, Laser weapons, Law...
  A skill is related to an attribute called related attribute (in Babel, Intelligence is the related attribute of Physics). The rate at wich your skill improves depends upon the related attribute and the skill difficulty. There are four level of skills difficulty : (E)asy, (M)oderate, (H)ard and (V)ery Hard.
  Sometimes a skill has a pre-requisit skill. For example in Babel, Biology is a pre-requisit for Botany. So you must have Biology at a same or better level than Botany.
  Some skills are listed as Cascade.If you acquired one of the skill in the list ,the cost of all the other skills in the list are reduced.

• 1.4 Allocation points

  Character creation in TUGS assumes the players will design their characters, rather than leaving attributes to chance.

  • 1.4.1 Primary Attributes

    The GM should fix the average level for each attribute (generally an attribute range is between 5 and 15). Then the player will have the choice to customize his attributes. He could raise an attribute by one by lower an another by one.The maximum increase or decrease for an attribute is +3/-3. No attribute can be at zero or less!
    This system could appear a little restrictive but it allows a more balanced game between PCs and is still flexible for having the type of character you want.
    The average level for an attribute could vary according to the character's race.

  • 1.4.2 Secondary Attributes

    Secondary attributes are never customized by players, they are fixed by the GM or are related to a Primary Attribute. The formulas are up to the GM.
    Here are some hints about how to calculate Hit Points and Focus:

    • Hit Points should be between 5 and 15 (10 for an average human), it's the same range as a primary attribute.So Hit Points (or HPs) could be equal to a primary attribute or the average of several attributes.
    • Focus should be between 1 and 5, the bigger the skills list, the higher the Focus should be. In Babel, Focus is Intelligence/3 (rounded down).

  • 1.4.3 Skills

    It's the more difficult step. The GM should divide the skills between two categories: Common and Occupation skills.
    Common skills represent everyday things that your character knows (like Swimming or First Aid). Occupation skills represent skills that are specific to an occupation or skills not used everyday (it 's not all the people who knows space engineering).
    When making skills list, the GM should take care about the universe, Driving a car is a common skill for someone of the 1980's but not for someone of the 1900's.But in general, common skills are the same for the majority of the universes.

    See TUGS:Babel Skills list.

    The GM should allow skills points for each category.I recommend two types of skill points.One only for the common skills, and the other for any skills (free points).The number of points is up to the GM, it could be fixed,or related to the age,intelligence or any other attribute.The more specific the skills, the higher the number of skill points.
    Here are suggested total skill points number:
    

    • for Extremely Broad Skill Groups: 30 skill points.
    • for Moderately Broad Skill Groups: 70 skills points.
    • for Specific Skills: 100 skills points.

    I recommand that 70 % of these skill points should be free points.

    Skills have a default value varying with the Related Attribute (or RelA) and its difficulty:

    Difficulty	Default value
    Easy	RelA/2-1 (round up, minimum=0, maximum=10)
    Moderate	RelA/2-2 (round up, minimum=0, maximum=5)
    Hard	0
    Very Hard	0

    Buying a skill cost 2 points (now you are 'Familiar' with it) and your starting level is based on your Related Attribute (or RelA) and the skill Difficulty:

    Difficulty	Initial level
    Easy	RelA/2+1 (round up, minimum=2)
    Moderate	RelA/2 (round up, minimum=1)
    Hard	RelA/2-1 (round up, minimum=1)
    Very Hard	RelA/2-2 (round up, minimum=0)

    After buying a skill you can increase it by one by spending a skill point.There's a limit for each skill:

    Difficulty	Level limit
    E & M	RelA + 5
    H & V	RelA + 3

    After reaching the limit, increasing this skill will cost 2 points. You can't spend no more than 25 % of your free points on a single skill.

    Cascade skills : when you buy one skill in the cascade list the cost of buying any other skill in this list is reduced ( they cost only 1 point each).

  • 1.4.4 Character class or not

    Some GMs like the class notion (this can prevent the ultimate wizard- fighter-thief kind of character called 'Gros-Bill' in France). You can simulate this by creating Archetypes (wizard , trooper, scientist, spy ...). For each archetype there will be a basic skill points spending (suggested 40 % of the free points).The player should choose one of these archetypes for creating his character.
    For example a knight should spend a minimum of 10 points in Ride, 10 points in Edge weapons, 4 in Hast weapons and 4 in Etiquette.

  • 1.4.5 Hobbies

    You should only use Hobbies if you use specific skills (ie a huge list of skills). Hobbies are trivial knowledges that aren't covered by any skills (something like wargaming, insect collecting, punk rock history, shooting monsters in Doom II ...).They are Easy skills, the GMs should decide of the appropriate Related Attribute. Like ohter skills they cost 2 points for buying and 1 point for increasing of one level.
    The GM should distribute between 20 to 35 Hobbies points. Whith these Hobby points they could increase common skills ( 4 points to increase by one) and occupation skills ( 5 points to increase by one).
    With Hobbies points you can't increased a common or occupation skill to more of 15.

  • 1.4.6 Gifts/Drawbacks

    The GMs could use a Gifts/Drawbacks system.
    Gifts are special characteristics that aren't reflected by Attributes or Skills, they are inherent in the character.They could be physical (ambidextry, resistance to disease...) or mental (photographic memory, speedreading...).A gift can never be learned.
    The cost of a gift should be between 1 to 5 skill points.The uncommon the gift, the higher the cost will be.
    Drawbacks are characteristics which makes life difficult for a character.
    Drawbacks allow to earn between 1 to 3 skill points.For a question of playability, a character should never have too much drawbacks. Some races have automatic gifts or drawbacks at start, these gifts or drawbacks never cost/earn skill points they are assigned at start for free.