Help me build a character!, 400 BPs and a background, have fun! Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Penta]

OK....Allow me to explain my situation.

I'm building my character. I get the concepts behind chargen, but I'm having a hell of a time trying to turn the background in my head into stats.

And now the background. Character name is left a variable because I haven't thought on it. This is for a MU* environment, so presuming there'll be a team is ill-advised.

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<Charname> was born to a middle-class family along the Jersey Shore (in NJ, UCAS) in 2039. Had a fairly normal childhood, parents were a civil servant and a realtor respectively, and he had an older brother to provide adversity. He had rather good grades, and being a more-or-less observant Catholic, applied to Boston College among other places. It was initially just to make his grandparents happy, that he might be going to school near them, but then the school came back with a better financial aid package than he figured likely.

4 years later, he graduated with a double-major in Political Science and Criminal Justice, and a 3.8 GPA; To keep his options open, he'd reply with a grin when asked why he'd picked them. When it came time to figure out what to do with himself, he had almost too many options. Diplomacy or law weren't his pick; He was too much an adrenaline junkie, though he had found he had a gift for languages. The military, honestly, had never occurred to him. But law enforcement? Yeah, it had. Knight Errant won out; They paid better and just seemed more professional, compared to Lone Star or many of the other choices. It had a really restrictive non-compete clause in the contract, but everything else seemed to outweigh that, and how likely was he to be changing jobs?

So it was to Knight Errant; After finishing training, he was posted to a patrol unit working a low-class residential suburb of Boston. His language skills came in handy here, and he developed a rapport with neighborhood kids that proved very useful, besides generating good PR for his unit (and Knight Errant).

His life settled into a routine for the next while, then, until a notice in his precinct's muster room appeared, advertising openings in the SWAT division in the New York metro area. The chance to head home appealed to <char>, and the difficult training and action-packed nature of the job was even more of an inducement. So he applied, not expecting he'd be accepted (he tends to be self-deprecating about his abilities, see). So, 2 weeks later, on a train from South St. Station, he left Boston.

SWAT training, in the Adirondacks Mountains, in New York, Newark, Trenton, and even on the Jersey Shore where <char> had grown up, was difficult. No, perhaps difficult is the wrong word. It was hell. But it was good training. At the end of 3 months, <char> graduated in the top 20% of the class, and wound up posted to a SWAT team in Newark.

Not exactly a plum assignment, but he was okay with that. His career was promising, skillful saving had enabled him to pay off the cyberware he'd gotten in training 2 years early, and he found friends in his fellow officers, and mentors in his Sergeant and his Lieutenant. Of course, that would be what would end his career, as well.

He'd been in SWAT for 3 years. He'd just turned 30. Unfortunately, while his Lieutenant was a good boss, he was also a maverick, who'd rubbed some people the wrong way and who'd stepped on a few toes. One of those people, unfortunately, had come into a position of minor influence. The Lieutenant, in securing funding and gear for their unit, had bent (but not broken) minor acquisition and funding regulations. When Auditing came by, they'd normally smack him on the wrist and move on; everybody did it, corporate profits weren't hurt, and their operational effectiveness was superb, which reflected well on the chain of command. This time, unfortunately, was abnormal. Lieutenant Marks found his career ended, informed he would be retired with his pension when he reached his 20-year-mark in 3 months. Sergeant Vasquez and much of the unit found themselves shuffled about, using what influence they had to save themselves.

That left <char> in the lurch. He was informed that he was going to be separated in the next round of attrition; he'd done well, but his number just happened to be up, they said. In reality, he had no real influence to call on to keep his job. He was given an honorable discharge and severance, but when he filed his paperwork and turned in his gear, the personnel sergeant noted his contract's non-compete clause. A surprise to everybody, including the lawyer they called over with a "this has gotta be a misprint, right?" question. It was exceptionally broad, essentially barring him from work in the security industry *worldwide* for 5 years. Apparently, it was a contract KE's recruiters had only used for a very short time (during which time recruitment dropped like a rock) before the language was changed back to a more normal non-compete clause. The lawyer made a few checks, and found that, regardless, Detroit was holding to it. Depressing, indeed. However, he was lucky. Sergeant Vasquez, as they met for lunch that afternoon, recalled a friend of his who might be able to give <char> some work, regardless of any contract language, so long as he was willing to move out to Seattle.

And so he's arrived in Seattle.
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What I have thusfar in terms of CG:

<char name>
Human Mundane

After that, nothing.