 October 15, 2007 - 6:34pm | Okay, here's an idea. A d100 table with one hundred results... that's right, one hundred posts (not counting any discussions!!) Let's make them all different - cliche is fine and fun, but let's try not to be too silly. I'll do the first one... it's basically ripped from a character from a novel/movie. Maybe it can make a good collaborative article for the StarFrontiersman project: 01 - You were left for dead in a dumpster in an alley on Hargut (Gruna Garu - mostly Yazirian planet). Found sickly and starving, you were placed in government care and sent from foster family to foster family, mostly just laboring for them before being kicked out again. You have trouble trusting anyone, you've learned to fend for yourself, you're always able to see other people's selfish intentions... and you generally think the world hates you. So far you've been correct. However, as you will soon learn, you were dumped there for a reason. You are not as you seem... but what are you, and what will it mean to the Frontier when your true nature is revealed and you step up into the prophecies you're destined to fulfill? ...Next? 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
 October 15, 2007 - 7:32pm | 02 - Disenchanted with your life as a mercenary/adventurer, latley you've begun to reconsider your stint with adventure and have returned to
the domain of your successful father into which you were born. As most
young males are conditioned; your father didn't like you leaving the family
business. His words echo in your ears; "Adventure you want? Death you will get." he said as you left for the local space port. Now you have a choice, train the family business's militia or go back to the mercenary way of life.... Chost your own adventure. |
October 16, 2007 - 7:37am | 03 - You were born the son of two well known and respected scientists. Your father is a physicist while your mother choose psychosocial. You inherited all of your parents' talent but without the discipline associated with hardwork. Growing up in a wealthy home where everything was provided your skills improved quickley esculated by your natural wizardy with robotics and computers. You couldn't focus in school, your mind wandered to distant stars and the traditional education your parents had "forced" on you, the constant pushing you through school to become what they wanted you to become developed a resentfulness and pridfulness. In the end, the pressure to live up to his family's expectations was too much. Then it happened. Your mother and father were on a routine trip when their starliner was attacked by pirates. Now you endlessly join expedition after expedition searching for any clue of your parents wearabouts or the location of the pirates. |
October 19, 2007 - 5:42pm | I'm looking to do an article on my Skills of Origin table. I was wondering if we could produce 100 background stories that don't directly involve an environment or culture, but instead covers specific events, so that we could just combine them into a comprehensive Background Generator. It would take 3 rolls to provide an extensive background. I can put the foster description and the wealthy parents description into the skills of Origin table under Fostered and Privileged (I didn't have Foster in the table, but I did have Privileged, but hadn't yet provided a description). Below are versions of the ideas offered so far without indications of environment or culture. 01 - You were left for dead in a dumpster in an alley and were found sickly and starving. You have trouble trusting anyone, you've learned to fend for yourself, you're always able to see other people's selfish intentions... and you generally think the world hates you. So far you've been correct. However, as you will soon learn, you were dumped there for a reason. You are not as you seem... but what are you, and what will it mean to the Frontier when your true nature is revealed and you step up into the prophecies you're destined to fulfill? 02 - Disenchanted with your life, lately you've begun to reconsider your stint on your own and have returned to the domain of your successful father into which you were born. As most young males are conditioned; your father didn't like you leaving the family business. Now you have a choice, train in the family business or go back to your way of life . . . Chose your own path. 03 - You couldn't focus in school, your mind wandered to distant stars and the traditional education your parents had "forced" on you, the constant pushing you through school to become what they wanted you to become made you resentful and prideful. In the end, the pressure to live up to your family's expectations was too much. Then it happened. Your mother and father were on a routine trip when their starliner was attacked by pirates. Now you endlessly join expedition after expedition searching for any clue of your parents wearabouts or the location of the pirates. |
October 30, 2007 - 7:01pm | I'm looking to do an article on my Skills of Origin table. I was wondering if we could produce 100 background stories that don't directly involve an environment or culture, but instead covers specific events, so that we could just combine them into a comprehensive Background Generator. It would take 3 rolls to provide an extensive background. I can put the foster description and the wealthy parents description into the skills of Origin table under Fostered and Privileged (I didn't have Foster in the table, but I did have Privileged, but hadn't yet provided a description). Below are versions of the ideas offered so far without indications of environment or culture. Nope. Start your own topic. This one is my idea haha...01 - You were left for dead in a dumpster in an alley and were found sickly and starving. You have trouble trusting anyone, you've learned to fend for yourself, you're always able to see other people's selfish intentions... and you generally think the world hates you. So far you've been correct. However, as you will soon learn, you were dumped there for a reason. You are not as you seem... but what are you, and what will it mean to the Frontier when your true nature is revealed and you step up into the prophecies you're destined to fulfill? 02 - Disenchanted with your life, lately you've begun to reconsider your stint on your own and have returned to the domain of your successful father into which you were born. As most young males are conditioned; your father didn't like you leaving the family business. Now you have a choice, train in the family business or go back to your way of life . . . Chose your own path. 03 - You couldn't focus in school, your mind wandered to distant stars and the traditional education your parents had "forced" on you, the constant pushing you through school to become what they wanted you to become made you resentful and prideful. In the end, the pressure to live up to your family's expectations was too much. Then it happened. Your mother and father were on a routine trip when their starliner was attacked by pirates. Now you endlessly join expedition after expedition searching for any clue of your parents wearabouts or the location of the pirates. 04 - You were raised in the corporate world by parents who were administrators for Streel. Your whole life has been one of privilege. You have been accused of being a spoiled brat - a rich kid with too much time on his hands... etc. You were even brought into Streel with an entry-level administrative position. All was wonderful until you realized what your father was truly up to - and when you went to your mother with reports of the illicit activity - she turned on you and made you swear not to tell... even offered to pay you off! Filled with righteous indignation, you stormed off -- only later to read that the entire affair had been pinned on YOU! You are now an outlaw - allying yourself with notorious sorts - to keep out of corporate view. You work secretly to undermine illegal activities of the Megacorps, and hope to someday clear your own name. 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
 November 3, 2007 - 1:18pm | 05-You live on a corporation owned and controlled world all your life. You are exposed to many tech marvels your whole life. You get training in starship knowlegde of all sorts. You make friends out of robots one in particular named (dm or pc can pick name). He repairs docking arms of which at a later time must sell his skills for extra cash and use as a cover. You exchanged stories with outside spacers which captures your curiosity, maybe to much. When you get older(dm discretion) you hijack a ship and leave, little did you know it just wasn't any ship (dm discretion as to being the ship or contents on board) contains hightech equipment/information that the corporation would like to keep secret. Now you have to run for your life or be grounded in the worst ways. |
November 3, 2007 - 1:15pm | 06 - You were the youngest of nine children born to followers of "The Humble". A close knit community group who has shed the evils of modern-day technology. Despite your strict upbringing being the youngest you had lots of time to "get lost" and one day found your way to an adjacent village that housed a martial arts school. Your parents got word of the deception and immediately removed you from the home for "heresy". After graduating from Kin'She School for the Environment Martial Arts you look for work as an environmental officer with a heck of a kick! |
November 3, 2007 - 1:38pm | 07 - You owe your life to the pirates. At least that's what you have been told. Years ago your settlement became the focal point of a corp war. Unfortunately your home came under friendly fire leaving your parents and brother dead. The pirates have taught you everything you know. A skilled fighter pilot and deadly with a gyroget pistol your skills are complete to become "one of them". Just before your official inauguration a message arrives in a private mail box located on your home planet. Its your brother and he is alive. More importantly you discover you were not "saved" by the pirates. The pirates..... |
November 12, 2007 - 12:36pm | 08 - You were born on Hentz, the only child of servant class parents. They are a proud people and hard workers. Father was a handybeing, your mother a great cook and kitchen-manager for an wealthy family. Most of your youth was spent in the kitchens with your mother. As you grew up you became interested in your fathers work. Sometimes skipping school to help your father service the large ag machines and other systems you picked up the technology quickly. While other boys found life dull with their subservient lifestyle, you were exposed to many opportunities that would allow you to reach for the stars. That time has now come. |
November 12, 2007 - 8:54pm | 09 - You were born to parents of miners. Both of your parents have educational backgrounds making them experts in their field. They liked to bring you along on their paid missions, and you'd been working hard with them, learning some of their trade, for years. A few years ago, your parents left to set up a mining outpost on a rogue planet, to live on that rock for a three-year stint, engineering mining solutions for Streel. You begged not to go - you wanted to stay and continue your low-gravity volley puck athletic skills. You wish you never did that... because your parent's communications have become fewer and farther in between, and last week when you expected them home, they didn't arrive. Your last message from them was a cut-off plea for help from your mother. Determined, you set off to the nearest port in search of a ship and a captain that will have you. You hope to find your parents and learn what has happened to them. 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
 November 14, 2007 - 2:00am | 10 - You spent most of your childhood in and out of the juvenile justice system. Your father was living on the wild side, involved in the local hovercycle club scene. You have no idea who your mother was, no doubt some skank that was passed around said club. Despite a lacking upbringing, you still managed to get an education. Two educations per se, you're both booksmart and streetwise. So that makes you twice as smart. (make sure you roll a decent INT/LOG score LOL... perhaps a +10 INT/LOG and -10PER/LDR adjustment can be tossed in?) You reached adulthood and survived, beating the statistics. You tried enlisting in the local militia and didn't make it past basic training. You've tried the 6/10 work week out in manual labor and found it severely lacking in the motivation department. And then you spent a few weeks inthe local lock-up on several misdemeanor charges. Now you're out and free, and you have gathered what little belongings you managed to amass. Which brings you to your present day status: still looking for work. But this time it looks more promising, as you have left it all behind and are staking it all on your latest choice of lifestyles: this is the first day of the rest of your life as an adventurer. |
November 14, 2007 - 2:20am | 11 - Your parents were both officers in Spacefleet, and you spent a good portion of your childhood seeing the Frontier. In fact you've visited and/or lived in roughly 3/4 of the civilized Frontier Worlds. Shortly after your 15th birthday, while stationed at Ken'zah-Kit (Fortified) Station, you were on a school retreat on the planetary surface when a detachment of Sathar destroyers dropped in from the void to pay a little visit. The UPF frigate your father was serving on barely made it out of dry dock when the worms blasted it into pieces. Your mother's body was never recovered from the adjacent commercial station she was visiting, a station that was consumed in hot gases as the Sathar relentlessly unloaded torpedoes against it. The ensuing battle cost a lot of equipment, both in terms of spacefaring vessels and orbital stations. Flotsam and Jetsom rained down into the planet's atmosphere, and the worms even managed to get off a few attacks against surface targets that weren't affected by falling debris. After a long drawn out battle, survivng UPF forces were the only ones left to claim what could only loosely be described as a victory. After a period of mourning, you opted to remain on this war-torn world and finish your schooling. You learned common merchant practices from the vruskan inhabitants of that world, and graduated with honors from Ken'zah Kit Business Acadamy. You even managed to master the native vruskan tongue, although you're not biologically equipped to speak it you can fully comprehend anything said. Five years ahve passed since that fateful day, and you secured a job aboard one of the locally owned vruskan commercial trade vessels. Now that you've gotten a renewed taste of Frontier travel, that sour aftertaste of revenge is creeping up from your bowels. Someday, you begin telling yourself --- someday, those fraggin' worms are gonna pay... |
November 14, 2007 - 2:38am | 12 - Dad was an accomplished local Star Law planetary officer, mom was the presiding judge in the local court system. He hooked 'em & booked 'em, and mom cooked 'em. You were a top honors student in secondary school, as your parents expected a lot from you. During your final year, you yearned for a taste of freedom. Things got a little wild at a graduation party, and you tilted back one too many 30ml shots of fine Minotaurian Brandy. You staggered out to that clunker of a skimmer which you'd been restoring and rodding up in the past few years, and took off down the road like a flitter out of hell. You took a corner too fast, lost control, and plowed into a hovercycle being ridden by the son of one of the local prominent businessmen in the area. To this day he is still paralyzed from the waist down, a fact that constnatly nags your conscience. Sadly it was also a fact that nagged your parents. Said local businessman pulled out allthe stops, and both of your parents were disgraced. Mom stepped down from the bench and dad took a local constubalary job, and having aged to adulthood before the incident you found yourself in both criminal and civil court. Mom and dad were able to pull enough remaining strings to get you a good defense, but now you have to pay them back for legal fees. As such, every job you've taken has resulted in a 25% wage garnishment. You yearn for a quick job that can net 10K so you can get this monkey off your back once and for all. That brings you to your rpesent day status: this next job promises both adventure and profit, hopefully enough of the latter to get you back on your feet again. |
 November 14, 2007 - 7:19pm | What a great idea! Keep em coming folks! :) @}-,-`- "It is a joyful thing indeed to hold intimate converse with a man after one’s own heart, chatting without reserve about things of interest or the fleeting topics of the world; but such, alas, are few and far between." – Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350), [i]Tsurezure-Gusa (1340) |
November 15, 2007 - 12:31pm | Whenever we come up with 100, I'll add an optional button in the Online Character Generator to automate a background :P 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
November 22, 2007 - 2:02am | 13 - Medical experts claimed that you are suffering from amnesia as of several months ago. Shortly afterwards you met several beings claiming to be your spouse and family, you've actually been enjoying the amnesia ever since. Now if you could just remember if you had a blaster, where it is, and how well you once used it... |
 November 22, 2007 - 7:48am | 14 You are a child of the stars, you were born in space. Solid ground has always felt somehow less real to you than deck plating. A vast landscape or open plain for others, is a tiny closed world to you, the wieght of the atmosphere seems to almost press upon you. No fresh air that hasn't been filtered, ("I can't believe you actually breath this stuff"). Your lullabye was always the throb of a starships engines, repair robots were your best friends. The smell of lubricants and fuel are the sweetest perfumes. With this background reduce familliarization time with any new starships, character has almost perternatural ability to make his/her way through any starship, knowing almost by instinct where things are. Mess with the fish....you get the bone!!! |
November 23, 2007 - 1:40pm | 14 You are a child of the stars, you were born in space. Solid ground has always felt somehow less real to you than deck plating. A vast landscape or open plain for others, is a tiny closed world to you, the wieght of the atmosphere seems to almost press upon you. No fresh air that hasn't been filtered, ("I can't believe you actually breath this stuff"). Your lullabye was always the throb of a starships engines, repair robots were your best friends. The smell of lubricants and fuel are the sweetest perfumes. With this background reduce familliarization time with any new starships, character has almost perternatural ability to make his/her way through any starship, knowing almost by instinct where things are. ...and possibly take a STR deficit due to lack of constant 1G forces to strengthen muscles. This person is probably a pro in zero-G maneuvers, space suit combat...ect... I LIKE! |
November 26, 2007 - 12:00pm | 15 - Your parents were lower class, living in the shadows of the palaces and opulent corporate headquarters and plush business buildings of the city. Being a "bottomfeeder" as the suits called you - you learned that
nobody is looking out for you and that you needed to look out for
yourself. Naturally, you learned to defend yourself at a very young age, and had some brushes with Star Law involving some illicit activities they'll never prove you had any part in. One day you were on the corner of two major streets, and a hovercar came by and stopped, calling you over. They offered you a bundle of Credits if you would deliver a sealed case to a specific location within 10 minutes. You hesitated, but knew your parents could use that money. After all, you always heard "don't shoot the messenger" - surely if there was anything illegal here, you couldn't be blamed for anything, right? That started you down a path of organized crime. You don't, however, consider yourself a criminal. In fact, you've done some "delivery" work for politicians, actors, even athletes. You don't work for just one person - and your reputation for professionalism has earned you the rights to lift your family out of the gutters of urban decay and claim your rights in the sunshine of the upper levels of city life. Today, you wear expensive suits, drive expensive vehicles, and are never late with a delivery. Even when your occupation lands you in armed conflict - you always cling to your principled belief that (since you don't know what's in the package) you're not doing anything illegal. The work you've done for the city's higher-ups sometimes gets you out of certain troubles into which you occasionally find yourself. Life is good, and Credits are good. So why do you have trouble sleeping at night? 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
November 26, 2007 - 12:09pm | 16 - Your parents owned an eatery on a commercial mobile space platform. The first of its kind, you spent half your time planetside and half of it in zero-g, bussing tables and learning how your parents interacted with the customers. You were to inheret the business when you were of age. But hard times came, and taxes were raised to help the needy. Small businesses bore the brunt of that weight, and so your parents eventually had to sell. You lament the loss of the cafe, and like to find local small businesses to help them survive in this mega-corp-driven Frontier. Your parents couldn't afford to send you to a university, and after they sold the eatery they helped set you up with an apartment in a university town in hopes that you'd be able to earn your own way through a higher education. You couldn't. Instead, you started looking for a way to distance yourself from your family. After all, you were smart and capable, surely you would be fine. Your parents didn't need you there siphoning on their meager bank accounts. So you sold your apartment and signed up as a cargo hauler on a freighter that was posting "Help Wanted" ads in the local holo. Your zero-g experience helped you land an excellent job; and your parents thought they never gave you anything! 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
November 26, 2007 - 12:19pm | 17 - Your mother was a medical bot, your father a computer-driven drilling machine. Sortof. You were born on a mining colony, orphaned. You actually had a really good life, but you missed having family. You had few very close friends, having more in common with technology and robotics and computers. The orphanage allowed you to work on the medical bot, which you considered a friend and programmed it with motherly qualities (the orphanage's psychologist wrote three published papers on this alone!). Later, as you grew older, your robotics skills became the talk of the colony. The colony's council asked you to work on the robots of the mines - and you took the job quickly. It didn't pay that well, but you got to do what you love. Your "mother" the medical bot stayed at the orphanage, and you visited it often until the sad day when it was decommissioned. The mining colony was also decommissioned a few months ago, as the mines ran dry of the minerals they drilled for. Like many folks, you have been given severance pay and a few job leads and a "have a nice life" from the corporation that cares more fore its mining equipment than for the miners who worked for them. You recently received a chronocom message from one of the miners you used to work with who has a new job and needs someone to help him with improvements on the mining bots. It's "freelance" mining. You know what that means... pirate strip-miners. You have a moral decision to make and this time, your mother isn't around to ask her advice. 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
November 26, 2007 - 12:28pm | 18 - You were born mute. You had some missing vocal components to your body, and you simply couldn't produce the sounds needed for speech. It was very difficult for you growing up - always frustrated that you couldn't easily explain yourself to others. Learning sign language helped - but not everyone knew sign language. You needed an expensive implant to fix the problem, but lacked the funds. As you grew up, you learned that you could express much with facial expressions and body language. In fact, this helped you to learn to look at facial expressions and body language in others more closely. You've learned to trust what you read in them. Often, someone's eyes conceal more secrets about their truths than what their lips choose to share with you. When you got old enough to leave the home, your parents - worry in their eyes - sent you off with much love. You found a university that taught psycho-social studies and attended, excelling beyond comparison. Your unusual insight into a person's bodily movements and facial expressions helped you see a window into the soul of the person. Since you couldn't talk, you didn't rely on the words of the person you communicated with. It worked fantastically, and you received enough financial aid from UPF to get the operation to give you a voice of your choosing. Now that you've graduated with high honors, you are indentured to work for UPF for 5 years because of their funding. This has taken you on a life of amazing adventure the likes of which you never imagined for a poor little mute from a small town! 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
 December 2, 2007 - 7:30pm | 19 - Your father was a prominant politician, had some radial views and for that was assassinated. His killers took his place and his ideals as though they were their own and used them for their own gain. For fear of your life you don't use your real name any more and take any task that will get you the skills and position you need to avenge your father. But if and once you do, where do you go from there? In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
December 1, 2007 - 6:01pm | 20 - You never could get anything right. From an early age you remember hearing "Get your head out of the clouds and keep your feet on the ground" You did miserably in school. You were a bright kid with "potential" but couldn't stop daydreaming long enough to get your work done. Suddenly you realized that you had wasted the first part of your life. You tried higher education but without resources, you couldn't stay in. Dejected you took a job at the local spaceport handling cargo. One day while working you found yourself caught near a pirate frieghter when the port authority came to arrest them. In the firefight that followed you were inadvertantly shoved into the pirate's ship. It wasn't until they made the first jump you realized that you needed a plan and fast. Mess with the fish....you get the bone!!! |
December 1, 2007 - 9:18pm | ***Insert number here*** You never could get anything right. From an early age you remember hearing "Get your head out of the clouds and keep your feet on the ground" You did miserably in school. You were a bright kid with "potential" but couldn't stop daydreaming long enough to get your work done. Suddenly you realized that you had wasted the first part of your life. You tried higher education but without resources, you couldn't stay in. Dejected you took a job at the local spaceport handling cargo. One day while working you found yourself caught near a pirate frieghter when the port authority came to arrest them. In the firefight that followed you were inadvertantly shoved into the pirate's ship. It wasn't until they made the first jump you realized that you needed a plan and fast. y0 Doc, this is character backgrounds, not personal backgrounds.  Anywho...., tell us how life as a pirate was. Arrrrr.  |
