If I must have a game in which PCs use spaceship skills, I'll start 'em with all the prerequisites. This is rather like skipping dungeon exploration in D&D and going straight to domain management.

I'm trying to C/P from my word document... don't know it will work on the forum

Star Frontiers UPF character generation

                Since we are creating United Planetary Federation Space Fleet characters as opposed to enrolling existing characters in the UPFSF, I present a modified character creation process. If you wish to go it the standard way that is also fine but also use the "standard creation" notes herein along with the regular rules as I’m not starting you as beginning SF:Alpha Dawn characters.

                You will be the crew of a not yet named UPF Space Fleet frigate. If some of you want to be fighter pilots we could have a very small number of fighters piggy backed on the frigate even though that isn't actually standard. Normally only space station and assault carriers have fighters and are equipped to rearm and repair a fighter during combat. Piggy backed fighters will be entered via space walk and cannot be rearmed during battle.  I'm neither encouraging nor discouraging you from making a fighter pilot; it's just that the setting isn't like Star Wars with massive numbers of fighters waging battle. If your Frigate had fighters it will be in very small numbers, as in less than four (and no extra fighters or NPC fighter pilots). The setting is somewhere between Star Wars and Star Trek in ship to ship combat tone.  It is definitely lower tech than both of those.

I'm assuming all officers have been instructed to at least be familiar with ship equipment even if they didn't learn it well enough to have the skill. This means the medic could fly a ship or the pilot could shoot the rocket battery

I want one of you to play the captain. The rules state that each space fleet rank you gain also needs to be coupled with you learning another level in a space skill. I'm going to ignore that.

Follow the steps below for generating your two characters.

Step 1

Pick a starting space skill which "package".  Space Ship Skills are found at KH pg 53.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Piloting (Level 2) 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Technological PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Technician (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Computers (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 0

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Astrogation (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Technological PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Computers (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 18

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Spaceship Engineering (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Technological PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Technician (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Robotics (Level 1)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 14

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Gunnery: Energy Weapons (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Military PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Beam Weapons (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 24

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Gunnery: Rocket Weapons (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Military PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Projectile Weapons (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Gyrojet Weapons (Level 1)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 20

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Medical (not actually a Space Skill)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Biosocial PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Medic (Level 2)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Psycho-Social (Level 1)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 38

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Gunner/Pilot: Rocket Weapons (Level  1)/Pilot (Level 1)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Military PSA or Technological PSA

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Gyrojet Weapons (Level 1)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Standard Creation

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Choose you PSA -- While I’m not using a commonly used fan house rule from the Star Frontiersman #9 article: Skill Frontier at this time I’m open to the idea of making up PSA’s.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Pick your first PSA skill. It starts at level 2.  Your second starting skill is the one in Step 2.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Bonus Experience Points: 50 if you are making a Spacer

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->Role your abilities or Use the ability array in Step 3

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o   <!--[endif]-->You still will need a reason to be on the ship.  While it is possible to be enlisted I wanted the PCs to all be officers in Space Fleet.  So the Standard Creation option should consider buying into one of the above Spacer skills (or Medical) or coming up with a good explanation as to why they are in Space Fleet while not actually possessing any Spacer Skills.  I’m using reduce prereq’s for Spacer skills found here http://starfrontiers.info/wiki/index.php/Spacer_Skills_Revisited.  This same article can also be found in Star Frontiersman #10 article: Spacer Skills Revisited.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->§  <!--[endif]-->Really the only reason I can think of you might make your character using this “standard creation” option would be if you wanted to make a Spacer out of some kind of Biosocial PSA character that isn’t the ship doctor.

Step 2

Choose another skill at level 1. This skill may be from any PSA.   The main skills section is at AD pg 40. 

 

Step 3

Place you attribute pairs using the following four pairs into the four attribute pairs. All officers in Space Fleet must have a leadership score of 51 or more. Personalize your pairs as you wish by sliding up to ten points from one side of the pair to the other.  FYI you can use experience points to increase ability scores in Step 5.   Ability scores are at AD pg 28.

Abilities Score pair array: 45/45, 50/50, 55/55, 60/60

Step 4

Choose your Race. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->Adjust your ability scores by your racial modifier (AD pg 28)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.       <!--[endif]-->Record your starting Racial abilities if non-human

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.       <!--[endif]-->Record your racial movement rate

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.       <!--[endif]-->Optionally here are a few good articles about certain races.  Each race has a tremendous amount of diversity among individuals so don’t take these articles as any rule that your character has to be like this.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a.       <!--[endif]-->Note for Marty – Look for “Core Four” project in the forum.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b.      <!--[endif]-->Dralasite articles

<!--[if !supportLists]-->                                                               i.      <!--[endif]-->Mol

<!--[if !supportLists]-->c.       <!--[endif]-->Yazerian articles

<!--[if !supportLists]-->                                                               i.      <!--[endif]-->Frontier Explorer Issue 2 – The Family of One

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->Even for non-Hentz yazirians the section starting with background might be interesting on a little racial history

Step 5

Spend your Experience. 

I’m starting you with the skills you have in the steps so far (which could vary from 2 or 3).  Each of the categories in Step 1 had a Bonus Experience Points value (ranging from zero to 50).  Add that bonus amount to 15 and then use that experience to “Improve” your character.  See pages 52 of the Alpha Dawn for the main advancement section and also Knight Hawks Page 53 for the costs of advancing your Space Skills.  Basically you advance your character by increasing abilities or buying or raising skill ranks.  The Skill Rank costs are at AD pg 40.

This amount of XP represents characters in the alpha dawn system as having been through 6-8 adventures.  I really don’t have a feel for if this will make you to powerful or just correct the old school starting character weakness so many of the games from that era liked.  Remember if you are building a “Standard Creation” you probably need to buy into your space skill or come up with an explanation why you are a leader in Space Fleet.  If you really want to play an enlisted person (as in a non-officer) then we probably would need to talk about it.  I’m thinking most of the enlisted are much lower in skills then fully trained academy graduates so I’ll probably start you with much less in the way of experience points.

Step 6

Equipment.

                Your ship is supplied with a defined list of equipment and supplies.  Each character would also have some small amount of personal belongings stowed away in your bunk  

 

 

 

Even D&D has a default for low level dominion settings. Look no further than B2 (Keep on the Borderlands) for a stronghold run by a 6th level fighter (one can argue that the Castellan is a ward of the Duke of Karameikos etc, nonetheless it's still run by a low level staff). The entire Keep staff is detailed enough to allow War Machine rules to be utilized. Low level characters, with sufficient recruiting efforts, could overtake the Keep. Granted the BFR between the Keep staff and the Caves of Chaos occupants weighs heavily in favor of the Keep by about three to one, it's still entirely possible for a group of characters far from reaching Name Level.

The main barrier to vessel ownership (or castle ownership) is money.  If the characrers have it from background, or from acces to it somehow let them have a ship.  The KH rules goes into to much detail of applying for a loan (how fun...) but what they outlines about tracer implants is valuable.  Just have the PCs decide who wants to be the ship captain and owner and they either have to have a background for it or they are the guy with the tracer impant.

Background being for it... doesn't have to be rich family (but it could)... it could be that you are in, or have contacts in a mega corp or even a smaller shipping company.  The background might impose some requirements (like delivery jobs, or family members who be imposing).

This all assumes that you are using the greatly reduced ship skills prereqs though.  The KH's ones are INSANELY HIGH.

How they get to the derelict is a question... like working for a salvage company?  Obtain it on the very cheap from a scrapyard of derelicts somewhere?  Abandoned there to die by pirates?

I mean ship skills are already more expensive in XP.

While this is true, I have no qualms allowing anyone to own either via conquest or funding. If they can pull it off, more power to them. I've had low level characters acquire salvage/wrecks etc and throughout their early career fix them up. But they still need the skills to operate them upon completion.

As for the skills, ships are not common in the Frontier so it stands to reason that crew won't be common either. If the skills are to be made easy enough for anyone to operate one, then the Frontier needs to be adapted to a Star Wars flavor where anyone can burst out with "10,000 credits?!? We could buy our own ship for that much!" 

Probably the not much more than the aforemenbtioned $10K. Solo exclaims to Chewie after the $2K now/$15 when we reach Alderaan" deal that 17 would save his hide.

The restored & remastered footage of the meeting with Jabba afterwards also details this when Solo begs with Jabba that he has a sweet charter but needs more time to pay him off and Jabba makes an exception for an extra percentage.

In Star Frontiers, a small spaceship is roughly equivalent to a cheap US space shuttle for those same terms.

Han Solo could not fly a space shuttle given merely a couple of days instruction. Flying a space shuttle requires realistic, in-depth knowledge of the mechanics of the ship and of physics. Shuttle pilots have the benefit of ground control and fixed mission objectives to back them up; Star Frontiers characters have no such benefits.

Star Frontiers goes for the more realistic approach. I, for one, appreciate that much more than the automobile expertise needed in Star Wars.

But this does reflect the simplicity factor in Star Wars that was mentioned, if even a kid can do it (since birth, at that). Also the ships have "navi-computers" to plot the jumps so you don't even need an astrogator, and astro-mech droids basically replace the engineers. All that's left is someone to man the yoke and trigger the guns.

As such the ship crews will be equally rare, hence the "ridiculous" PR requirements for spacer skills. I personally feel the "ridiclous" requirements are spot-on considering the frequency of locales where those skills can be used, but others feel differently and prefer quicker routes to gaining skills. Simple fact is there's already a quick route in canon: join Gollwin Academy. Or simply offer an alternative method for a spacer skill quick-wash, like my Star Fighter Corps game. What's a couple years of a character's 150+ year lifespan learning a skillset and a mini-campaign to play along the way?