The Randolorians

Before releasing Shards of Tomorrow: Second Edition into the wild, I wanted to give my character generation system a good test drive; I figure I will make up four characters completely at random (hence, the randolorians), including their bots (if any) and their junker. I’m going completely random with everything; I’m going to trust the dice for every step of this. I expect that at some point, players are going to say “hm. That STR 12 is kind of wasted if I’m a tech with INT 4. Maybe I’ll swap those scores…” No such luck for me. All rando all the time. That is the randolorian way, after all.

Character 1 

Attributes: STR 10 | INT 7 | WIS 7 | DEX 9 | CON 8 | CHA 12

Rogue (+1 to CHA so now 13)

1 Gift: Body Armor +4 

Limitation: Small 

Deviation: 2 (slight deviation) (looks like a leprechaun) Red-haired male, battle sense gives +4 to AC

Bot: 4+7=11 (no bot)

Profile: The Kinnickin are a race of mischievous folk dwelling on a small forested moon. They believe in magic and enchantments, and particularly love platinum, which they collect and make into crafts. 

Talents: Defense +2 (his AC will be 18 without any armor. Dang) 

Gear: (90 credits) Blast Pistol [20 c]; Flex Vest [35 c]: 35 credits remain 

Thoughts: He seems like he’d be fun to play. His high CHA works great with his rogue vocation (perfect synergy that I got lucky on), and his high AC should make him stick around a while, despite his lower hit points due to his size.

 

Character 2 

Attributes: STR 8 | INT 11 | WIS 8 | DEX 10 | CON 8 | CHA 8

Savant (+3 to WIS so now 11)

2 Gifts: Leap, Poison Attack

Limitation: Belief

Deviation: 1 (like a Gallan) Dark-haired female; toxic breath; can leap (descended from a spider-like race that cross-bred with gallans. Yuck)

Bot: 7+11=18 (no bot)

Intuitions (starts with 2): Object Reading; Remove Fear 

Profile: Descended from the Ohn, an ancient race of arachnid folk, she is more gallan than arachnid, but spider blood still courses through her veins. She adheres to the ancient belief to reject all artificial healing, including med pads and intuitions that heal. She is able to breathe on her own wounds, recovering 1 hp per round when able to do only this.

Talents: Quickness, Tinker

Gear: (150 credits) Blast Carbine [50 c]; Flex Armor [75 c]; 25 credits remain.

Thoughts: She ended up being interesting; the high INT with the tinker ability is a nice synergy which I didn’t expect (maybe she wanted to be a tech, but was forced to become a savant due to her gifts, and she ran away?) I could see her being some sort of priestess of her order, but rejected that calling to travel the stars and learn more about the technology that she is drawn to but that her people abhor.

 

Character 3 

Attributes: STR 9 | INT 4 | WIS 8 | DEX 7 | CON 6 | CHA 9

Myrmidon (+3 to CON so now 9)

1 Gift: Ceremonial Item

Limitation: Small 

Deviation: 2 (slight deviation) (Purple skin) Hairless male with purple skin; ceremonial item is tattoos that give him one extra talent (+1 die shift to resolve)

Bot: Natural 20! (gets a bot) (synthezoid; speech; navigation bot; mischievous)

      AC 15 | hp 10 | Feat +8 | Move 4

Profile: The Qin are a race of expert weaponsmiths. The secrets of their craftsmanship are jealously guarded, and their weapons are only sold to those they deem worthy to wield them.

Talents: Expert (weaponsmithing), Strike

Gear: (110 credits) Blast Pistol [20 c]; Flex Armor [75 c]; 15 credits remain

Thoughts: He’s a little purple dude who is a stoic warrior. I’m thinking he was in charge of protecting an important watch post, and failed at his mission. He travels the stars seeking redemption for his failure. His species undergoes a ritual that adds tattoos which contain supernatural powers; his tattoos give him a bonus to resolve. His bot looks like a ten-year-old gallan named Jimmy - he's a Eddie Haskell type - polite to your face but always trying to get away with something. He is good at starship navigation (making him useful), but also wants to put his keeper in situations to prove his bravery (I was just trying to helllllp).

 

Character 4 

Attributes: STR 9 | INT 6 | WIS 8 | DEX 12 | CON 7 | CHA 

Tech (+4 to INT so now 10)

3 Gifts: Flight (move 8), Natural Affinity, Sundering

Limitation: Enmity

Deviation: 3 (moderate deviation) - Looks like a female version of manbat. 

Bot: 19 +10=29 (gets a bot) (quite mechanical; speech; culinary bot; insecure)

      AC 14 | hp 17 | Feat +8 | Move 2

Profile: The batak are bat-like humanoids that dwell in caves and hills, far from civilized folk. Her family was ousted as the rulers of their species, and were hunted down; only she survived, but the others of her species continue to pursue her across the stars.

Talents: Expert (starship engineering), Tinker

Gear: (60 credits. Ugh). Vibro spear (like axe) [25 c]; animal skins [3 c]; tool kit [15 c]; 17 credits remaining.

Thoughts: The talents completely lined up with everything else. She is a balanced character. She would fight with a melee weapon (thinking a vibro spear) that she can spin in a 360 attack once per round, but she also is saving up for a blast pistol. I figure that her expertise can be in starships, since nobody has vehicles ability; she knows about vehicle engineering, but not actually piloting ships (but will probably pick that up later). Her bot is a little box that rolls around serving meals, REALLY hoping that you’ll like the taste.  

 

Junker (Character 4 piloting)

Rel +10 | Cntl +1 | Velocity 3 | Jump 1

AC 12 | Shields 2D6 (2 zones) | Hull 6 | hp 34 (rolled REALLY well) | Carriage 10 (8 passengers + 2 tons)

Forward-facing blast cannon (+2 | 4D6)

Problems: The sensor array is burned out; the rear shields can only hold 1D of shield charge.

This was once an elite military dropship for a special forces group of 8 soldiers. It is called the Shadow Lancer. It was in the hands of the rival family of character 4, but she stole it when she escaped her homeworld. She (the junker, not the character) suffered heavy damage in the escape, destroying her sensor plate and doing damage to the shield projection pad. 

 

General Thoughts

Wow. This feels exactly perfect. I came up with a weird team of random misfits who seem to gel together well enough, who have a nice variety of abilities, and who I would not have developed at all without using a random system to do it. All four characters are entirely playable and seem like they’d be fun to roleplay. I like the ship that I rolled up for their junker, and was able to weave a narrative that connected the whole thing. Each of them has a motivation to be part of the crew (either working for or running away from something), and I see why they’d end up together. This would be a great starting crew for a game. This is so Guardians of the Galaxy that it hurts my head a little how well it fits.