Character Generation and Other Rules Issues

Characters should be built on 120 points with a recommended (but not absolute) limit of 40 points of disadvantages and 5 quirks. They should be built so that they can perform some shipboard function. Possible character roles include captain, first mate, ship's surgeon, sailor/marine, carpenter, cook, chaplain, or navigator. However, any other reasonable role will be permitted. All characters are, of course, subject to GM's approval. For those without access to GURPS rules or leisure to build characters, I have posted some pregenerated ones below.

The nominal TL of this campaign is TL4. Bad Sight is correctable, with the appropriate adjustment to point value. This period is at the change from Illiteracy being the default condition to Literacy being the default. Therefore, Semiliteracy is the default condition. Complete illiteracy is a -5 point disadvantage, and full literacy a 5 point advantage. Higher ranks in the navy (as well as other military organizations) are available for cash, so the rank-for-wealth option in the Basic Set (p. B22) is active. "Asian" and "American" weapon and combat skills (Karate, Judo, Bolas, Lasso, etc.) are inappropriate for this campaign. However, Boxing, Wrestling, and Brawling are appropriate and Fencing is strongly encouraged.

Exceptional Abilities

Certain exceptional skills and abilities are available, but anyone wishing to use them must make a choice between science and magic. The Gadgeteer advantage is available, as is the Science! skill. The Rationalist disadvantage (the Dana Scully disadvantage; contact me for a fuller explanation) is encouraged for characters with Gadgeteer or Science! Note that the Science! skill cannot directly be used with Gadgeteer. Alchemy skill, and the magic of GURPS Voodoo are available to characters who pay a 10 point Unusual Background cost, although the GM reserves the right to arbitrarily limit starting levels of mystical skills and powers. Any character with mystic skills or abilities may not take Gadgeteer or Science!, and vice versa. A dedicated rationalist may have increased resistance to mystical attacks and interfere with use of mystic powers.

Weapon Master and Natural Shooter are both available. The following cinematic skills from Martial Arts are available to Weapon Masters: Blind Fighting, Breaking Blow, Power Blow, and Zen Archery (although bows are outdated). All cinematic maneuvers from Swashbucklers are available to Weapon Masters as well. Natural Shooters may learn a corresponding "Zen Shooting" skill, requiring Meditation at 15+ and a Guns skill at 20+ as prerequisites. Characters may not start the game with Trained By a Master, although they may encounter characters with TBaM.

Two different sets of extra attack rules will be use. Characters without the Weapon Master or TBaM advantages get an additional attack for every eight full points of skill over 8 (that is, two attacks per turn at skill 16, three at skill 24, etc.). Characters with WM and TBaM will get an additional attack for every three points of skill over 12 (two attacks at skill 15, three at skill 18, four at skill 21, etc.).

Other extraordinary but non-magical skills may be available with the GM's permission and an additional Unusual Background cost. Possible skills include Alchemy (which at this point occupies a grey area between science and magic), Autohypnosis, Body Control, Dislocating, Enthrallment, Fire Walking, Light Walk, and Nei Tan. See the Compendium I or ask the GM for further details.

Starting Resources

Starting Equipment

Starting wealth is $1000. For those without a copy of the most recent low-tech equipment list, e-mail me. Since these are the days before massive military appropriations, characters are not issued equipment as such. For example, officers are expected to pay for their own uniforms (sailors don't have uniforms, although traditionally they dress more or less the same). However, the ship's stores include knives and cutlasses for the crew and a few muskets and pistols.

The Ship

The HMS Resolute is a 300-foot, three-masted military sloop with a crew of 30 officers and men. Typically, she carries sufficient provisions for a month. Most of the crew are quartered below decks in two large bunkrooms, although senior sailors have bunks in the forecastle. Officers have cabins in the rear castle. One of a new class of fast, light ships, the Resolute can make 25 knots under a moderate wind. She is armed with six twelve-pound guns (in broadsides of three) and a six-pound swivel gun in the forecastle. She is also equipped with a small strongroom, occasionally used to store extremely valuable cargoes but more often used as a brig, and a surgery.

Sample Characters

Ship's Captain

ST 10
DX 14
IQ 14
HT 11

seamanship 14, leadership 15, navigation 14, swimming 14, climbing 13, acrobatics 14, administration 14, fencing 15, musket 16, pistol 16, brawling 14, tactics 13, strategy 13, survival: island 14, savior-faire 14, FD: sword 14, fast talk 14

Duty (15+)
Overconfidence
Unlucky
Gentleman's COH

Wealthy
Rank 4 (rank from wealth +1)
Fully Literate

Physician/Scientist

ST 10
DX 11
IQ 16
HT 10

diagnosis 16, physician 16, surgery 16, naturalist 16, chemistry 16, botany 15, zoology 15, physics 15, math 15, geology 15, meteorology 15, diplomacy 15, Chernieve 15, swimming 11, fencing 11

Fat
Bad sight
Vow: Hippocratic Oath
OPH: superior intellect

Status 1
Comfortable
Intuition
Fully Literate

(as written here, the doctor is actually a civilian)

Sailor/Swashbuckler

ST 11
DX 15
IQ 11
HT 11

Fencing 17, main gauche 15, climbing 15, acrobatics 15, musket 15, gunner: cannon 15, swimming 15, brawling 15, escape 14, streetwise 11, stealth 15, pickpocket 11, shadowing 15, lockpick 11, 1st aid 11

Berserk
Pirate COH
Duty (15+)
Overconfident

Danger Sense
HPT
WM: rapier

Big dumb sailor

ST 16
DX 13
IQ 9
HT 13

Club 15, climbing 13, seamanship 9, swimming 13, survival: island 10, jumping 13, throwing 13, gunner: cannon 13, musket 13, brawling 14

Ugly
Pirate COH
Illiterate
Duty (15+)

HPT

Carpenter/Gadgeteer

ST 10
DX 12
IQ 15
HT 10

seamanship 15, climbing 13, swimming 13, navigation 15, fencing 15, 1st aid 16, carpentry 17, armory 17, shipbuilding 16, woodworking 14, gambling 15, mechanic: clockwork 17, boating 13, lockpick 15, physics 15, riding 13, driver (wagon) 13

Compulsive gambling
Hard of hearing
Duty (15+)

Eidetic memory I
Gadgeteer

Sailor with mystic skills

ST 13
DX 13
IQ 12
HT 10

Seamanship 12, 1st aid 12, climbing 13, stealth 13, broadsword 13, survival: island 12, tracking 12, gunner: cannon 12, swiming 13, brawling 13

Ritual magic 12, Path of luck 12, Path of protection 12

Night blindness
CB: superstitious
Duty (15+)
Enemy: noble family (rare)

Unusual background (for magic)
2nd level initiation

Big thanks to the folks at GeoCities for providing me this space.