Creating The Characters
The very first thing a player must find out is what sort of scenario or campaign their GM is planning. If the adventures are for beginning characters (i.e. those pilots and TCS/N crew who have just left the academy), you should follow just the Green PC career guide. If the adventures are for more experienced characters, you move on to the Veteran PC career guide before spending your freebie skill points (don’t worry – all will be revealed)
First of all, you roll up your six attributes: Strength (ST), Endurance (EN), Agility (AG), Intelligence (IN), Willpower (WI) and Reactions (RE). These are rolled using 2d6. You may rely on luck for the attribute scores, or place each result in whatever attribute you want. Once this is done, you may spread 3 points around to increase the attribute scores a little. No more than 2 points may be put into a single attribute, and no attribute may be increased above 13 by this method.
The next step is to decide upon a career, although the choice can be severely reduced by low attribute scores, as is shown below. Each career is followed by the section of the Terran Confederation (TCS – Terran Confederation Spaceforce, TCN – TC Navy, or ConInt – Confed Intelligence) that the branch belongs, and the miminum attributes required.
Fighter Pilot TCS EN:6, AG:8, RE:7, IN:6 Engineer TCN/S ST:5, AG:6, IN:8 Helm TCN/S EN:7, IN:7 TCN Marine TCN ST:6, EN:4, AG:5, WI:4, RE:5 Turret Gunner TCN/S AG:5, IN:5, RE:6 Confed. Agent ConInt All at 7 except IN:8 As you can gather, a PC with attributes which allow them to be a ConFed Agent will be able to pick from any of the careers except Fighter Pilot (and even that will be open with an AG of 8+). If you are unable to choose the career of choice, and if you ask nicely, the GM might allow you to change your attributes around so that you can select that career, or even increase attribute scores to their minimum score needed for that career. Referees that intend to run a typical Fighter Pilot, Confed Agent, Marine, etc. campaign should adjust dice rolls (by giving the player a couple more freebie points to increase attributes to minimum).
Apart from the skills that the character gets from their career choice, all characters have the following “everyman” skills: Unarmed Combat, Survival, First Aid, Handguns and TCN/S Regulations. All of these are at level 0 (zero).
Fighter Pilot
The first contact with the Kilrathi was in space, and it stands to reason that the majority of conflict would continue in this particular battlefield. The fighters of the TCS, or Terran Confederation Spaceforce, are fast, powerful and armed to the teeth! The lightest operational fighter, the Arrow, is as heavily armed and armoured as the heavy fighters of the first part of the war, with superior shields, more powerful engines, and a weapons choice that an early TCS pilot would have given their right arm for.
Green PC (Rookie, Bait, etc)
TCS Rank: 2nd Lieutenant (O1)
The baby-faced pilots of the TCS can expect a short lifespan if they ignore the flight manuals. The regulations on what a pilot should and should not do during a dogfight are written by veterans that have flown at least a hundred combat missions in spacecraft much less combat worthy than current fighters. To ignore these WILL guarantee a pilot’s death.
Veteran PC
(Fighter Pilot, Ace, etc)TCS Rank: 1st Lieutenant + (O2)
If a pilot survives the first ten missions or so, it can usually mean that they have enough skill and luck to buy themselves a few more weeks of life. This is not to say that an experienced pilot is unbeatable, as there will always be a Kilrathi pilot who is that little bit quicker in reaction, or more accurate with a laser cannon than you.
Skills
Select two Fighter Pilots skills from light, medium or heavy) 0, Battle Awareness 0; Gunnery: Fighters 0; Countermeasures 0; Astronavigation 0.
The player can then use 4 skill points to increase any of the above skills, but no more than 2 points on any one skill. They can also spend 1 point to take the third Fighter Pilot skill at level 0.
Skills
Two existing Fighter Pilot skills +1; One Fighter Pilot skill 0 (+1); Battle Awareness +1; Gunnery: Fighters +1; Countermeasures +1.
The player can then spend 8 more skill points on any skills already known, but no more than 2 points on any one skill.
Engineer
Confed Military Command (CMC) often presume that their cruisers, battleships carriers and fighters fly without any problems. The Engineering sections of TCS and TCN know that this is not the case. Without constant attention, the perfect spacevessels that were built by perfect robotic shipyards, programmed by humans that are anything but perfect, would not fly beyond the speed of light, weapons would not work, and countless other miracles that CMC expect from their ships in the front line. Engineers know more about a ships system than most pilots and helmsmen, and most engineers know it. The result can be abusive, abrupt, and sometimes mentally questionable crewmembers that als happens to be a certified genius with ship drives, weapons, sensors, etc.
Green PC (Apprentice, Trainee)
TCN Rank: Spaceman (E1)
Apart from a supernova, blackhole, or a Kilrathi capitalship torpedo, the most dangerous entity in the universe is a Trainee Engineer. With a head full of data that isn’t quite absorbed, and an itch to get “just one more percentage of efficiency” from whatever shipboard systems that the spacevessel concerned has the misfortune of putting into their inexperienced care, trainees are seen by the rest of the crew as walking disasters waiting to happen. Listen to your superiors. Always read the instruction manuals – twice! Never touch red buttons! Do not active, deactivate, operate or otherwise touch anything unless you have specific orders to do so… and then maybe!
Veteran PC
(Engineer, Fighter Mechanic)TCN Rank: Veteran Spaceman + (E2)
Experience and common sense results in being given responsibility for an engineering station on board a capital ship, or the maintenance of part of a carriers fighter systems, such as weapons, shields, hulls, etc.
Skills
Engineering Hulls 0; Eng. Weapons 0; Eng. Drives 0; Eng. Sensors and Comms 0; Eng. Shields 0; Eng. Electronics 0; Eng. General Mechanics 0.
The player can then spend 3 skill points on any of the above skills, but no more than 2 points on any one skill.
Skills
Two Engineering skills +2; one Engineering skill +1; Kilrathi Engineering 0.
The player can then spend 8 skill points on any skills already known, and can spend one skill point to purchase Pilot: Dock-Tug at level 0, but no more than two points on any one skill.
Helm
Moving a ten tonne fighter around in freefall is pretty complicated (one of the reasons why TCS and the Kilrathi both use a sophisticated flight computer system to simulate atmospheric flight, but in space), but compared to twisting a 25,000 tonne light carrier, is as easy as falling off a log. While the piloting operations used are similar to planetary navel vessels, there is one item missing that is central to the art of piloting a capital ship – Friction. Without water, and in freefall, once you start a destroyer forwards, the only thing that will stop it is either by it hitting something much bigger, or more preferably, the pilot slowing it down and bringing to a relative stop (hitting other capital ships can be fun, unless you are one of the crewmembers in the bow, or onboard the other ship).
Green PC
(Junior Helmsperson)TCN Rank: Ensign, 2nd Class (O1)
With a reputation for disaster that comes second only to trainee engineers, the junior helmsperson is handed the controls of at least 1,000 tonnes of armoured capital ship, to do with as she pleases, within reason. The knack of accurately piloting what can only be described as the space equivalent of a flying barn is not learned in a few hours. It takes time to place a capital ship in a geo-stationary orbit (the vessel orbits at the correct speed and altitude as to be stationary from a point of view on the planet below). Basic rules are: “No Joyriding”, and “No Joyriding, or else!”.
Veteran PC
(Helmsperson, Helm, Driver)TCN Rank: 2nd Lieutenant + (O3)
Once experienced with the haphazard maneuvers that often exceed the stress loadings set down in a capital ship’s design specs, yet are regularly expected in battle conditions, and once of senior rank, they become a primary, or even Chief Helm of the capital ship on which they serve.
Skills
Two Capital Ship pilot skills (corvette, destroyer, cruiser or carrier) 0; Pilot: Transport 0; Astronavigation 0; Gunnery: Cap-Ship Guns 0; Battle Awareness 0.
The player can then spend 4 skill points to increase any of the above skills, but no more than 2 skill points in any one skill. The player can purchase a third Capital Ship pilot skill at level 0 for one point.
Skills
Two Capital Ship pilot skills +2; One capital ship pilot skill 0 (+1); Astronavigation +1; Gunnery: Cap-Ship Guns +1; Naval Tactics 0.
The player can spend 8 skill points on any skills already known. They can also spend one point to purchase another Capital Ship pilot skill at level 0.
TCN Marine
When the TCS fighters have destroyed the enemy fighter cover, and the TCN capital ships have destroyed the enemy capital ships, any Kilrathi troops that have made it onto the planets surface have to be neutralised, and the only way to do this effectively is face-to-face combat. Considering the average Kilrathi stands at around 2.2m (7ft) tall, and weighs in at a typical 140kg (280lb), and come ready fitted with hand-to-hand equipment (big claws, sharp teeth and the fighting personality of a predatory animal), it seems madness to send a human being up against such a monster. Luckily, Kilrathi lack manual dexterity, and some might say they are not exactly well-loaded in the intellect department. As far as CMC is concerned, this squares the odds back to even, which is good enough for them… Unlike other sections of the TCN, ranks are expressed using terrestrial army terms.
Green PC
(Cherry, FNG, Grunt, Rookie, etc.)TCN Rank: Private (E1)
Much like every other conflict that has been fought on and off Earth, the “new guy/gall” isn’t worth the time of day until they prove themselves in combat. Contrary to what the majority of Marines would say is common sense, women are allowed in this arm of the TCN, and fight alongside their male counterparts. There is even a female holder of the TCMH (Terran Confederation Medal of Honour), the highest medal awarded to military personnel, although the medal was awarded posthumously. Rookies stay Rookies until they first firefight.
Veteran PC
(Vet., NCO, Mother, etc.)TCN Marine Rank: Corporal + (E4)
The combat veteran has been bloodied in combat, and usually wears the ears of their Kilrathi opponents on a string around their neck. The TCN Marines are tough hombres, and some are chosen for covetted positions within a TCN Marines Special Operations team.
Skills
Rifles 0; Heavy Weapons 0; Daggers 0; Handguns +1; Unarmed Combat +1; Survival +1.
The player can then spend 4 skill points on the following skills: Handguns, Rifles, Daggers, Heavy Weapons, Demolitions, Traps, First Aid, Stealth, Spot Hidden, Listen, Kilrathi Anatomy, and Language: Kilrathi. No more than two points may be spend on any one skill.
Skills
Rifles +1; Stealth +1.
The player can then spend 12 skill points on any of the skills listed in the Green PC skill list, but no more than 2 skill points on any one skill.
Turret Gunner
Quite possibly the least glamourous of careers in the TCN, the Turret Gunner has one of the most important jobs onboard a capital ship or bomber: its defence! Armed with powerful laser and ion cannons that are far more powerful than those on most of the larger fighters, these men and women can deliver a withering hail of firepower that will turn most fighters to scrap in seconds. The turret is not the weapon of choice against a Dralthi screaming towards your carrier at 500m/s, the first choice being another fighter. Never-the-less, the Turret Gunner does the job, and as long as those blasted TCS pilots stay out of the way, and with a little luck, can knock out their targets without too much trouble. If you are wondering, turrets are controlled from a gunnery station by remote control, and the gunner does not sit inside it (unless the turret is a fighter/bomber turret). Turret Gunners are also responsible for launching countermeasures against enemy missiles.
Green PC (Loader/Gunner’s Mate)
TCN Rank: Spaceman (E1)
There is always a step between the academy, and getting your own gunnery station. The loader/gunner’s mate is responsible for the upkeep of the gunnery station and, with the help of Engineering, maintenance of the turret. Unlike other fields of the services, the Loader is seen as quite an important part of the ships crew, much like the powder monkeys during the Napoleonic naval battles. One Loader might well be Gunner’s Mate for several Turret Gunners.
Veteran PC (Gunner, Spotter, etc)
TCN Rank: Veteran Spaceman + (E2)
An important occasion within the Gunnery section of a ship’s crew is the advancement from Loader to Gunner or Spotter. The gunners will celebrate noisily, and usually require the new Gunner to pass an improvised gunnery test, failure punishable by some ridiculous penalty, such as crawling through the turret control tunnels, hanging a childish sign on the Chief Petty Officer’s back while in the Gunnery Control Centre, or stealing the Wing Commander’s flight helmet.
Skills
Gunnery: Turrets 0; Battle Awareness 0; Kilrathi Vessel Knowledge 0; Spot Hidden (good for finding weak spots in armour) 0; Countermeasures 0.
The player can then spend 5 skill points on any skills that are already known (level 0+), but no more than 2 points on any one skill.
Skills
Gunnery: Turrets +1; Battle Awareness +1; Spot Hidden +1.
The player can then spend 8 skill points on any skills already known or that the referee will allow.
Confed. Agent
Anybody human who volunteers to be captured by a Kilrathi patrol, or actually sneaks around a Kilrathi base, has got to be certifiable, yet every day over 40 men and women do exactly that. Many loose their lives because of it, others are maimed for life. Why do they do such insane things? Information… Compared to the 20th Century’s Cold War, espionage against the Kilrathi is like playing Russian Roulette, but with five bullets in a revolver’s six-shot cylinder instead of one. Confed. Intelligence (ConInt) agents are, without a shadow of a doubt, the bravest and most insane members of the Terran Confederation.
Green PC
(Analyst, Decoy, Cadet, etc)ConInt Rank: Agent
Before an agent is trusted with high risks missions such as sneaking into a Kilrathi listening post, rescueing a high-ranking pilot, assassinating a Kilrathi sympathizer, or working with rebel Kilrathi factions, they must prove that they are capable of such actions by doing tasks that, while no less important to ConInt, are of less risk to the Confederation if the agent is captured, such as interrogating prisoners, guarding higher ranking agents, locating and appropriating a Kilrathi prayer mat for the ConInt Director’s Aides Secretaries Personal Assistant’s 3rd cousin (don’t laugh, this mission required 3 months of surveillance, a 10-man TCN Marine Special Operations team, of which only 4 returned, and cost the average taxpayer over C-50,000,000 (the C- is the symbol for TC Credits)).
Veteran PC
(Special Agent, Covert Operative, Assassin, etc)ConInt Rank: Special Agent +
Once ConInt headquarters are happy with an agent’s progress, they will give them some of the more gritty jobs to do.
Skills
Handguns +1; Language: Kilrathi 0; Unarmed Combat +1; Stealth 0; Spot Hidden 0; Kilrathi Unit Markings 0.
The player can then spend 4 points on absolutely any skill that is on the character sheet, even ones that the character doesn’t yet know, but no more than two points on any one skill.
Skills
Language: Kilrathi +1; Code-Breaking 0 (+1); Stealth +1; Handguns +1; Rifles 0 (+1); Unarmed Combat +1.
The player can then spend 8 skill points on absolutely any skills whatsoever, but no more than 2 points on any one skill.
Freebie Points
After all the career skill points have been spend, all players get an additional 5 skill points to spend on any skills, following any restrictions according to their career.
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The Original Wing Commander RPG is Copyright © 2000, 2002
Michael Coe. All Rights Reserved.