Whee! I'm totally going to end up the only normal looking person on the crew. That's awesome.

(I totally have dibs on a slitheroid should another game come up. Just FYI.)

You could still chose an infomorph: normal looking avatar, but not a physical body. Would let you become something special too.

Totally love the picture of the Doc! Did you mention the not-so-normal legs?

Knowing Doc and myself, we'd have been from opposing factions, and the salute would be one fingered.

I've got the general idea I like, but I'm just not finding the time to get the concepts for the character creatino down. Erg.

If it helps you any, I'm working from the perspective that my character was originally either from the United States Air Force or Navy (I'm still not sure which one fits best quite yet; leaning heavily towards Air Force), and is currently either in the Scum or Criminal faction (again, I'm not sure which fits the best). Even if we were from the same faction, I doubt it would be an issue anyway considering it's just an honorary title at best now.

Now that I've looked over them again, the Brinker faction may be an even better fit. Damn decision making! <shakes fist again, despite protests>

Are we going to have access to a cornucopia machine or other nanofabricator, or do we need to buy one ourselves?

Since no one else has offered up any suggestions, I found a few websites that might help. There's the Pirate Ship Name Generator that spits out some pretty cool (and sometimes hilarious) names. Pirate Names.net offers up a bunch, too, based upon real world pirates and other sources. And, finally, Pirate Master has a list of some of the most famous pirate ships from history.

Maybe people can post a few of their favorites, leading to us coming up with some ideas that everyone likes?

*ahem* The Centurion Hawk

Ocean's Shame
The Greedy Raider
Devil's Doom
Good Fortune
Good Riddance
The Charming Mary

Cool names so far! I'm still debating some in my head. I thought giving the drop ship something cool but humorous might rock, too. Like The Flying Purple People Eater or something. Maybe paint a face on it. Gotta be intimidating if it's the ship we attack with! Rawr! And if we use smart paint, we can clean it up (and even change the ship's name) if/when we need to dock somewhere more legitimate, too.

By the way, how's everyone coming with their characters? I've gotten pretty far with mine, though the details of his concept has changed quite a bit. He's very much a dedicated hacker and hardcore Spock-like telepath now; his only piloting skills are coming from skillsofts. Luckily most ships have an AI pilot, so that won't be a big issue most of the time! Also, since we don't have a face, I hooked Col. Blackmoor up with a few social 'softs until we can get someone who can handle those situations better. Even gave him a psi power to help out, though I'd prefer something else in its stead. (Hint, hint.)

Which reminds me, has anyone talked to Critias yet?

Will work on my character over the weekend. Name is fixed, though: Tyrone "108" Jackson.

I'm going to be upset if he's not full-on blaxploitation with that name.

I did put some points into "face" style social skills... so between the two of us, Doc, we may make a pretty good face.

Oh, nice. I read over the rules for Teamwork and they were pretty simple and straightforward (much to my amazement), so that might work out really nice indeed.

His slitheroid morph will have to be a black-skinned one, right?

Or at least a bad-ass afro!

I've been doing a little more work on my character. I was able to afford a Tactical Network for us and I should be more than capable of keeping it secure and boosting our all-around effectiveness when we go raiding and pillaging. I also bought about ten skillsofts that I think I can share with anyone else who gets a Skillware augmentation (hint hint). If anyone else is thinking about getting either Skillwares or skillsofts, let me know and I'll post the list of 'softs I bought so we can coordinate a bit.

I also talked with OneTrikPony and it looks like we'll have a tiny Cornucopia Machine and Fabber (which I presume is specialized for food and drink production) onboard our ship. A larger Desktop Cornucopia Machine would be awesome, but I simply can't afford one on my own. They're [Expensive], which means 20,000 credits or 20 Customization Points, and I just can't spare that many points without crippling my guy. Maybe we could all chip in for one? I certainly have the skills to take advantage of it for us (with both Hardware: Electronics and Programming: Nanofabrication), so we wouldn't even need to worry too much about blueprints. It would basically mean free ammo, weapons, armor, drugs, nanoswarms and pretty much anything else you can think of. All fueled by our rubbish. I'd even be able to manufacture smaller pieces to build larger devices, though at the moment I'm only skilled enough to do that with Electronics. If we did do this, some of you may want to consider some of the other Hardware fields, too, for the same reason.

In case it's not evident, I'm really looking forward to this game. Sorry if I'm talking about it too much.

Totally love the idea of sharing skillsoft and having a character than can handle Cornucopia Machines!

I'm going with a re-instantiated (born in 1950s black guy who spent his time in Vietnam and law enforcement) and is now a member of the Ultimate faction (hence his synthmorph). During his years as infomoprh after the Fall he got more and more into the idea that human life as we knew it is in-efficient and too short-lived. Yeah. Something along that line. Spent his time in a mercenary unit, equipped with a cheap synth moph, until he had earned enough money to buy his Slitheroid morph.

There are going to be a lot of tentacles aboard that ship. I also like the idea of pooling our abilities. I've taken another look at my character and am going to try and grab some skillwires as well. (You're right, Doc, they are the awesome.)

Edit: Ship name: Tentaculous MWAHAHAHA...

Tentacles are the shit! Two normal arms, two tentacles at the hip and one or two on the back. Awesome!
And yeah, skillwires are a must-have.

Hahaha, that's awesome! The only complication I see is that I think it may be too far in the past. I got the impression that memory backups and ego transfers and all of that hubabaloo won't be invented for quite some time from now. And since he'd be pushing 60 today, how were you going to account for that? I know they're keeping the exact date of the Fall nebulous, but I don't think it takes place anytime soon. I mean, the timeline on page 37 goes as far back as 60+ years before the Fall, and egos/backups didn't show up until 20 years before. So, even if those early events took place tomorrow, your guy would be pushing 100 or so.

Anyway, as for the skillsofts, here's the ones I currently have jotted down: Deception, Fray, Free Fall, Kinesics, Intimidation, Navigation, Persuasian, Pilot: Aircraft, Pilot: Groundcraft, Pilot: Spacecraft, Protocol, and Psychosurgery. I may juggle them around a little depending on how things go, but you should get the gist of what type I'll be focused on.

I was talking to OneTrikPony about them the other night, too. The rules are really confusing, but it basically came down to this: All skillsofts have a dynamic rating of up to +40 and boost your ego's natural aptitudes by a variable amount. So for determining the actual rating of each active skillsoft, you use the formula (40 - Aptitude = Effective Rating). Then you can add in your morph bonus and any other applicable bonuses as normal. So if one person has an ego with a COO of 20 and another has a COO of 10, the skillsoft will run at a rating of 20 for the first guy and 30 for the second guy.

These ratings are used to determine how many skillsofts you can run at one time. Skillwares support up to 100 points.

Hope that helps anyone else who may get confused.

Wow, my math was really off - somehow I placed the Fall at 2000. Uh. How cheesy can the background story be?
Sort of "was part of a research team at Area 51, got mortally wounded when an alien run amok and thus got placed in experimental cryostatis thing to be awaken when his mortal head wound could be healed (shortly before the Fall)". Or I give him Edited Memory and don't care about it at all.

Dude. Go with the Area 51 thing. That's awesome. Just give him the EP equivalent to Mysterious Cyberware: Implanted Alien Larvae.

Oh man. You know what's even more awesome? Our histories could almost coincide. My guy was part of an Area 51-ish program that he doesn't remember anything about, too!

That's cool, we so have to combine that!

Mysterious Implant would be pointless, since he has a new body

108 was the commanding officer of Doc Funks character (aka 56). Awesome, isn't it?!

And Fist was the subordinate of 56? Will my character be the ONLY non-militant aboard the ship?

Well, with the time difference it would more likely be that I was looking after your frozen ass. But it's still an awesome connection, especially since OneTrikPony was laughing with maniacal glee at my own little part of the story. I'm sure he could work you into it, too. Especially with the little footnotes he asked me to include on my sheet.

Technically I was the commanding officer. I can live with that.

By the time difference, I mean I probably wasn't even born when you were put under ice. So I may have simply been at the same place you were being stored (and maybe doing some work on the alien that infected you). Or something. Hell, I dunno. Just a vague idea at the moment!

For ship names, here's a few I really like.

Clarion's Call
Nietzsche's Valor
The Crucible
The Fires of Orion
The Wrath of Achilles

I also like this ship design the most out of the ones listed. I still think our drop ship should have a menacing name or something. Part of being a pirate is being all intimdating. Rawr! With that in mind, my number one vote goes to... <drum roll>

Tentaculous Maru

With Maru being a common suffix for Japanese ships. Because tentacles + Japan = win. Now we just need someone with Art: Digital Art to use the drop ship's smart pain to design a squid or octopus or something on the hull of it. I imagine our drop ship with be a General Exploration Vehicle (p. 348)? And maybe a Courier (p. 347) for the main ship? It seems a little small (passenger capacity of 13), but the next most appropriate one is the Bulk Carrier, and that seems way too big (passenger capacity of 110).

360-degree-vision! Wohoo!

I'm sorry I must have confused you even more.

The skillsoft stat replaces the character's stat and skill.

RAW: If a character is running a skillsoft, his target for using that skill is the rating of the skillsoft. (Maximum 40, modified by situational modifiers such as using a multi tool when making a hardware test with a hardware skillsoft or using a chameleon cloak when making an infiltration test with an infiltration skillsoft.) The rating of the skillsoft replaces, is not added to, any ego or morph attributes or skills.

OTP house rule:
You add morph bonuses and implant bonuses to the rating of the skillsoft to determine the target for any test with that skillsoft.

The rating of the skillsoft is not adaptive. Your skillware implant can run 100 total rating points of skillsofts. If the rating of the skillsoft you are running is 40 then you can also run an additional 60 points of other skillsofts. But the max 100 and the rating of the software does not change.

Implications: If you're in trouble and , for example , trying to repair the massive radiators on your ship because some one shot them with a laser and the engines will melt spectacularly if you run them without radiators, (Just an example of something that might happen to pirates. )
Anyhow, if it's your job to repair the radiators you will probably need the skills; Free-fall, Hardware:Aerospace, and Interfacing. If you're relying on skilsofts to get the job done and you only have those at rating 40 then you'll be spending a quick action every turn that you need to swap one skill for another.

You have multiple quick actions each turn so it's probably not a big deal.

However. What if , for example , you've pissed of the Ultimates on Kronos (which is a micro gravity habitat) and you only have the skills; Fray, Free-fall, Infiltration, Kinetic Weapons, and Unarmed combat as skillsofts? Well then you'll be using multiple quick actions every turn to swap the skills that you need and you'll be running out of quick actions pretty quick. Additionally, you'll suffer a distraction modifier because you'll either be screwing around with your mesh inserts swapping stuff or you'll be counting on your MUSE to do it for you and just have to pray that it swaps the appropriate combat soft in when you need to dodge incoming fire.

Skillsofts are a good idea. I like them in the game. I like how they've been handled in EP better than in SR. But don't go looking for a magic bullet.
I apologize for the confusion Dr. Funk. I've gone over this so much on other boards in the last six months that I've kind of given up on the argument. I might have implied agreement because I was already tired of rationalizing the arbitration.

OTOH... Any character that requests a Magic Bullet shall be provided with one immediately upon request.
Coming straight at you at Mach 5.

Hmm. That really doesn't jibe with the text though. Skillsofts don't come in variable ratings. You either have one or you don't, but they can be "up to" 40. No price difference or anything. Why can they be "up to 40" if they're all 40 by default? Likewise, Skillwares can only run 100 points worth. If they're all 40, then... why is the limit 100? 80 or 120 certainly makes more sense. But yeah, I thought we were in agreement with the previous description which does exactly the same thing as a default rating of 40, but conforms both to the "up to" and 100 rating limit.

I mean, how is it any different to say that they override your ego's aptitude (which doesn't make any sense in and of itself; it gives you a skill, it doesn't change how smart, coordinated, or strong you naturally are) to give you a base score of 40, versus incorporating your ego's aptitude up to a maximum base of 40? The former makes the "up to" and 100 limit nonsensical, while the latter accounts for both... and the end result is exactly the same: A base score of 40 that can then be modified by your morph's bonuses and everything else.

Anyway, just continuing with the argument there. Sorry if I confused anyway! I was pretty confused myself, obviously.

Correct. Skillsoft ratings are not variable. The have a rating it is independant of and unrelated to the character's aptitudes. And, the rating of the skillsoft can be any integer between 0 and 40.

The rating of the skillsoft is not 40 by default. It seems like it should be because the DAMN HIPPIES! who write EP are fucking around with new RPG ecconomics paradigms and think that in DAMNHIPPIEUTOPIA skillsofts should actually be free.

Don't get hung up on ecconomics at CarGen. Right now you're building a character, which means every thing you buy with a price tag that says [High] is costing you 5000 credits.

This works well for Adam, Rob, Jack and Co. because they don't have to waste time making tables and putting Dollar amounts on every single piece of gear when they could be degrading the fabric of Society with their DAMN HIPPIE ideas and free game books.

It works really well for GM's because when I look at your sheet I can do your budget in my head and I don't have to waste time that I could be using to look at German Porn.

However; You're getting Screwed. Bigtime. By one pervert, and a bunch of DAMN HIPPIES!

Open your Bible please to page 296. There you'll see it say; "And Cain Strucketh Able, saying unto him; "That's fer bein a Damned Hippie!" ... never mind.

Open your EP book to page 296. In the GEAR COSTS table it says; "Range (in Credits)" and for the [High] Category it says; 1500-9,999
This means that after your done making your character, if your character tries to pay credits for a Freefall (is anyone getting a theme about freefall here?) ... a Freefall skillsoft you'll pay something in a range of 1500 to 10000 credits depending entirely on my whim and how my wife performed last night. If you only want a rating 10 skillsoft and she was really good, you'll pay something closer to the 1500 end of the scale. If you want a rating 40 skillsoft and I spent last night watching some frauline do something slightly disturbing, you'll be paying almost exactly 10000 credits?

I hope I've been more clear this time. The points are; don't read too much into the ravings of DAMN HIPPIES, (because it doesn't work unless you read every word), and you should be doing everything in your power to get me laid.

Speaking of which, Talk to you tomorow.

Having a bad night?

I dunno, man. Your interpretation just seems contrary to everything written on Skillwares and Skillsofts. Comments like "boosts skills up to 40," and the 100 limit all scream that they're variable by nature. Which, honestly, is covered by Occam's razor. How is "ignores everything and gives you a base score of 40" any different or sensible than "incorporates everything and gives you a base score of 40?" The first one is kind of just... illogical. The latter covers all the rules and the spirit of those rules just fine. And it results in exactly the same thing: a base score of 40.

I mean, really, how is the skillsoft overriding your natural ability? Any training in the skill you may have had, sure, I can see that (even though the description of Skillwares suggests that you'd more likely only be able to use the higher rating of the two). But your natural intelligence or agility? It's a game where adaptive AIs, muses, and nearly magical nanoware exists. Why wouldn't a skillsoft be adaptive, too? It's not turning you into a robot, it's just teaching you a skill, but can only do so to a certain level of overall proficiency.

I'm not even going to ask where the hippie stuff is coming from.

The way I understood the skillsoft entry is more in line with Dr. Funkenstein: Skillsoft are binary in nature (you have it or you don't) and have a flexible rating from 1-40. You can decide, how much of it you want to upload, depending on the free space in your skillware.
Once uploaded, a access to the skill is given and the attribute is added to it. Skill rating plus attribute rating is the way it's handled in EP - I can't see why skillsoft should be different.

Three additional limbs: two tentacles (one ending in a multiool, the other in a blade) at the hip, one tentacle (with a hand-ish sort of thing at its end) sprouting from the back.
Gonna take Kinetic Weapons, Beam Weapons (old school meets new school ) and blades (for the tentacle-attached blade). And Ambidextrious three times, of course.

Maybe you should rename yourself Kali 2.0.

Character Name
Concept
Background
Faction
Current Morph
Gender Identity
Morph Gender
Actual Age
Current Apparent Age
Credit Balance
Motivations
Special Modifiers

Aptitudes Base Morph+ Total Reputation
Cognition --- --- --- @-Rep ---
Coordination --- --- --- C-Rep ---
Intuition --- --- --- E-Rep ---
Reflexes --- --- --- F-Rep ---
Savvy --- --- --- G-Rep ---
Somatics --- --- --- I-Rep ---
Willpower --- --- --- R-Rep ---
Current Aptitude Max:

Stats
Ego Initiative ---
Lucidity ---
Trauma Threshold ---
Insanity Rating ---
Moxie ---
Morph Speed ---
Durability ---
Wound Threshold ---
Death Rating ---
Damage Bonus ---


Ego Traits
Morph Traits

Active Skills Aptitude Base Morph +/- Background/Faction Specialization/Other Bonus
Animal Handling SAV --- --- --- ---
Beam Weapons COO --- --- --- ---
Blades SOM --- --- --- ---
Climbing SOM --- --- --- ---
Clubs SOM --- --- --- ---
Control WIL* --- --- --- ---
Deception SAV --- --- --- ---
Demolitions COG* --- --- --- ---
Disguise INT --- --- --- ---
Exotic Melee: SOM --- --- --- ---
Exotic Melee: SOM --- --- --- ---
Exotic Ranged: COO --- --- --- ---
Exotic Ranged: COO --- --- --- ---
Flight SOM --- --- --- ---
Fray REF --- --- --- ---
Free Fall REF --- --- --- ---
Freerunning SOM --- --- --- ---
Gunnery INT --- --- --- ---
Hardware: COG --- --- --- ---
Hardware: COG --- --- --- ---
Impersonation SAV --- --- --- ---
Infiltration COO --- --- --- ---
Infosec COG* --- --- --- ---
Interfacing COG --- --- --- ---
Intimidation SAV --- --- --- ---
Investigation INT --- --- --- ---
Kinesics SAV --- --- --- ---
Kinetic Weapons COO --- --- --- ---
Medicine COG --- --- --- ---
Medicine COG --- --- --- ---
Navigation INT --- --- --- ---
Networking: SAV --- --- --- ---
Networking: SAV --- --- --- ---
Networking: SAV --- --- --- ---
Networking: SAV --- --- --- ---
Palming COO --- --- --- ---
Perception INT --- --- --- ---
Persuasion SAV --- --- --- ---
Pilot REF --- --- --- ---
Pilot: Groundcraft REF --- --- --- ---
Programming COG* --- --- --- ---
Protocol SAV --- --- --- ---
Psi Assault WIL* --- --- --- ---
Psychosurgery INT --- --- --- ---
Research COG --- --- --- ---
Scrounging INT --- --- --- ---
Seeker Weapons COO --- --- --- ---
Sense INT* --- --- --- ---
Spray Weapons COO --- --- --- ---
Swimming SOM --- --- --- ---
Throwing Weapons COO --- --- --- ---
Unarmed Combat SOM --- --- --- ---

Active Skills Aptitude Base Morph +/- Background/Faction Specialization/Other Bonus
Academics: COG --- --- --- ---
Academics: COG --- --- --- ---
Academics: COG --- --- --- ---
Academics: COG --- --- --- ---
Art: INT --- --- --- ---
Art: INT --- --- --- ---
Art: INT --- --- --- ---
Art: INT --- --- --- ---
Interest: COG --- --- --- ---
Interest: COG --- --- --- ---
Interest: COG --- --- --- ---
Interest: COG --- --- --- ---
Language: INT --- --- --- ---
Language: INT --- --- --- ---
Language: INT --- --- --- ---
Language: INT --- --- --- ---
Profession: COG --- --- --- ---
Profession: COG --- --- --- ---
Profession: COG --- --- --- ---
Profession: COG --- --- --- ---

OneTrikPony: Would it be okay if I describe my Specs as a pair of contact lenses? I only ask 'cause I don't want to lose them should I get in a fist fight, and they may prove beneficial during one.

Way to push buttons! Kudos.

The damned hippies thing was just my way of jokeing that about the New Economy of the outer system. I though it was funny. Oh well, should have used more emoticons.

The point is that the rep ecconomy and 'post scarcity' of the outer system don't represent the actual value of anything you might obtain through rep and favors. Because the prices for all gear (except some morphs) are based on the New Ecconomy. It's hard to argue that any piece of gear has any particular value or atribute based on the level of favor it will cost you to obtain.

Regardless; Ego Aptitudes are not added to skillsofts. The skillsoft runs at it's rating on your skilware.
I have to say I'm a little surprised that this is a point of contention. My interpretation has been the most liberal I've encounterd up till now.
And specs regardless of form factor are a legitiment target in a fight.

Another thing that might have been obscured by my failed atempt at humor. Everyone should get the Freefall skill at some level.

Also I want to make sure every one knows they can take 20 points of Profession:Piracy skill for free.

We can pick up the Freefall skill for free too?

Nope. Just Profession:Pirate

Because it's an invented skill for this adventure and it's not in the book.

Ooh ooh, if we invent more skills, can we get them for free?

How about... Interests: Rum, Profession: Scallywagging, and Language: Pirate Speak?

I am definitely taking Profession: Scallywag!

LOL. you're in the navy fisty, I think you should take profession:Boatswain Mate.

For those of you who don't get navy humor:


Speaking of Navy Humor, am I the only fan of
TubeDaze, http://tubedaze.squarespace.com/
&
Hey, Shipwreck, http://tubedaze.squarespace.com/heyshipwreck1stseason/

:D:D

There's only one Shipwreck, buddy.

OTP, when shall this game start? I feel I need a deadline for character creation...

That's probably a good idea. I need a deadline to finish the maps and stuff.

I don't know what everyone's schedules are. Do we actually schedule times to meet and play like A F2F game? That' can't work because you're (9?) hours ahead?

I'll start the IC thread and post the opening sequence a week from monday. Will that give everyone time to get characters ready?

Let me know how you're doing and if you need any help or advice.

You know he's actually "Holy Diver"now, right?

It's pretty freeform, with posts averaging one every other day or so. There's often bursts of activity when everyone is on around the same time, but it almost always tapers off. The weekends, in particular, tend to be really slow.

Fisty's recent game is a good example.