[SS] Freeport Mashup

[double-c]

I'm doing a StarSIEGE variant of Freeport, where Freeport is a city state on 433-Eros in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

I started to design the races, but felt it would be better if the players defined their racial traits instead of me. So my question is, how much AP do I hand out for building your own version of what's laid out below? I'd like a flat rate for everyone to maintain some level of game balance.
Humans

Created the solar sails that allowed for travel between planets. These solar ships are the greatest achievement of mankind and saved Terra from over population.

-Adaptation

-Size 10, Move 1
Elves

Long ago the elves developed the technology to terriform and seed life on other plants, allowing for expansion. So far they have terriformed 7 planets in our solar system. They cannot however control the life that naturally grows on these planet's and as such has given birth to strange creatures.

-Enhanced Senses

-Twilight Vision

-Psi Resistance

-Psi Mastery

-Size 10, Move 1
Dwarves

Masters of gravitation technology, space mining, and cybernetics. Dwarves also build the massive self sustaining space stations that dot the Sol system.

-Deepvision

-Defensive Expertise

-Improved Fortitude

-Craftsman

-Size 9, Move 1/2
Orcs

When Mars was terriformed by the elves a warlike race awoke from beneath the surface. Stranger still is the fact that Orcs can crossbreed with the other races. [Might edit later, not quite sure this is the fluff I want].

-Darkvision

-Enhanced Smell

-Disease Resistant

-Martial Prowess

-Size 11, Move 1
Gnomes (Androids)

Better known as Androids, this race comes in many shapes and sizes, but are usually the size of a man (or bigger). They cannot however use Psi, or recieve Taint. Gnomes were created by the four core races and each has their own distinct look & feel from one another.

-Psi-Ban Flaw (-3 BP)

-Construct Flaw (-3 BP)

-Size 9-11, Move 1/2-2
Halflings (Crossbreeds)

On the genetic track a halfling is the term used for a crossbreed between two different races. Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Orc can all intermingle creating a Halfling. The player chooses what benefits he get's genetically passed down to him from two of the core races.

-Size 9-11, Move 1

[cheeplives]

I'd have to do some serious maths to make 'em all balance. You do know that the rules have built-in standards for balancing unbalanced Aliens, right (boxed text on Page 31)? Basically you either find out the most costly Aliens and then give everyone bonus XP at the start of game or you find out the *least* costly aliens and charge the more costly Aliens 1 XP per session until they've paid off the difference.

So a game with two 60 AP aliens, one 50 AP alien, and a 100 AP alien could either see the 60 pointers start with 40 XP and the 50 pointer gain 50 XP in the "Boost Up" option. Conversely, the 100 AP alien would have to spend 1 XP per session for 100 Sessions (you could choose to up that to 2 XP per session for 50) and the 60 AP aliens are charged 1 XP for 10 Sessions in the "Buy Down" method.

Heck, you could combine both methods and then set a standard AP level for your game... I'd say no more than 60 or maybe 70 AP as the outlier. Then you build the races without worrying about balance. Once you're done, those that are under the "Cap" gain extra XP to bring them up to the cap. Those over the "Cap" must pay one XP per session until they've bought off the bonus...
_________________
discreteinfinity.com -- my little corner of the internet.

Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon -- Available now from Troll Lord Games!

[double-c]

cheeplives wrote:
I'd have to do some serious maths to make 'em all balance. You do know that the rules have built-in standards for balancing unbalanced Aliens, right (boxed text on Page 31)? Basically you either find out the most costly Aliens and then give everyone bonus XP at the start of game or you find out the *least* costly aliens and charge the more costly Aliens 1 XP per session until they've paid off the difference.

So a game with two 60 AP aliens, one 50 AP alien, and a 100 AP alien could either see the 60 pointers start with 40 XP and the 50 pointer gain 50 XP in the "Boost Up" option. Conversely, the 100 AP alien would have to spend 1 XP per session for 100 Sessions (you could choose to up that to 2 XP per session for 50) and the 60 AP aliens are charged 1 XP for 10 Sessions in the "Buy Down" method.

Heck, you could combine both methods and then set a standard AP level for your game... I'd say no more than 60 or maybe 70 AP as the outlier. Then you build the races without worrying about balance. Once you're done, those that are under the "Cap" gain extra XP to bring them up to the cap. Those over the "Cap" must pay one XP per session until they've bought off the bonus...

Thanks for the extra insight! I'll see what I can pull together based off that!

[cheeplives]

I could have sworn I had done some "Fantasy Race" conversions early in the development process. I'll look through some of my older files and see what I can find.

Also, you might want to look at the existing Aliens in SSEH and see if any of them could be modified. The Oel immediately leap out as a good base for the Elves you have. Tweak the stats a bit and then change the racial description and you're good to go.

You might want to mine the Rykshi in Victory 2442 for either the Dwarves or Orcs...

Another option would be to just go ahead and build a bunch of Special Abilities that people can just plug into their races. Take the ones already found in the books and mock up the ones you have below... then give everyone some AP and let them model the races they want to see in the game. With stock abilities that should go much easier...

CRAFTSMAN: D0 P0 X16, Mechanics. +2 Mechanics Skill Bundle, Craft +2, Repair +2.
Building and fixing items are just innate to characters with this ability. It's almost like machines talk to them. Craftsmen characters gain a +2 Mechanics Skill Bundle bonus as well as an additional +2 to all Craft or Repair checks.

Or you could build something around this new Special Effect:

Machine Empathy (SFX): Machine Empathy allows the character to commune with all mechanical based equipment or lifeforms. The character need not be familiar with the piece of equipment at all, nor possess any training or ability in building or repairing such items. Mechanical things just seem to "talk" to the character. This Special Effect allows the Mechanical Empath to intuitively "know" what's wrong with a particular machine by spending a few minutes "tinkering" with it. This knowledge grants a +3 to any checks to repair the item in question or scavange for parts, but only if the Empath has proper tools and Tech level to fix the machinery. This bonus can also be used to temporarily increase the Empath's Tech score for the purposes of fixing the item in question. Thus a Tech 5 Empath could repair a Tech 6 item with a +2 bonus, a Tech 7 item with a +1 bonus, or a Tech 8 item with no additional bonus. Without the proper tools or Tech, the Empath can do nothing. This is a 3-point Special Effect.
_________________
discreteinfinity.com -- my little corner of the internet.

Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon -- Available now from Troll Lord Games!

[double-c]

I do want the player to define their characters race mechanically. No two Dwarf characters should be exactly the same. This still makes all Dwarves a builder race but to a varying degree, some may value their Improved Fortitude over building stuff.

I was looking for an average AP to justify this.

[cheeplives]

Ah... gotcha. Then I'd stick with the 50 to 60 AP range for "Average" and let those who want to be outliers to no more than 70 to 75. Just remember... APs are just Experience Points specifically relegated to creating an Alien Species. So you could just give a starting XP amount and let them build their character and such as a pool you could do that too. Just make a list of Abilities that are exclusive to the races (like you have) and you're good to go. Just remove the Special Abilities from each race and give an XP cost for a race...

So Humans with No Attribute Mods, Size 10, and a Move 1 (Personal) would cost 14 XP while the Size 9, Move 1/2 (Personal), Dwarves would be 10 XP base. Then they'd have a list of Abilities that are available to their given race that they could buy with their remaining XP. These XP would also be used to buy starting skills and such (per the normal character generation rules).
_________________
discreteinfinity.com -- my little corner of the internet.

Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon -- Available now from Troll Lord Games!

[double-c]

Ok, cool, this really helps!

I also like the fact StarSIEGE supports this kind of thinking.