All About That Base

I feel like my previous post was a little all over the place, at least by my standards. It was a sort of 'stream of consciousness' brain dump of thoughts that have been on my mind for a while now regarding Bases in TRPGs.

Thing is, I didn't really address the most important aspects of Bases:

• What is a Base in a TRPG context?
• Why have Bases/What are they for?
• What do they do and what can you do in them?
• How do you improve your Base?

What is a Base?

We'll start with a definition, this one [which purtains to a location] from Merriam-Webster:

a center or area of operations

The company has its base in London.

such as

(1) a permanent military installation, a naval base - The troops were ordered back to base.

(2) the place from which a military force draws supplies

(3) a place where military operations begin

This is a fine explanation of the term but I'd like to define it a bit further in the context of Tabletop RPGs and my own personal meaning. 

A defined area used as the center of operations for a group of RPG characters. 

The PC detectives returned to their base to analyze the clues they'd found.

In addition to giving the PCs and/or NPCs in a TRPG a place from which to organize and execute their plans and actions, Bases may contain but are not limited to:

(1) Living Quarters, a Kitchen/Galley, Lavatories, and other basic living amenities.

(2) Security systems or other technologies and ways of protecting the Base.

(3) Rooms to assist in PC tasks such as Research, Inventing, and even Skill Training. 

(4) Storage of Gear, Loot, Pets, Vehicles, etc.

Now that we have an idea of what we're talking about, let's address why we're talking about it.

Why have Bases/What are they for?

The best part of PCs having a Base [IMHO] is that they become instantly more involved, invested, and immersed in the campaign. Why? Once they have a Base, the players and their characters own a part of the world. The Base may belong to the PCs or they might be in-charge of it on behalf of a larger power but either way, a piece of the game setting basically belongs to them, it's theirs. This is huge in my experience. 

There are also practical, in-game reasons to have a Base. Players, and therefore their characters, love to make plans and having a relatively safe, central place to do so is helpful. It keeps the PCs focused, organized, and gives you the ability to create and dish out handouts more easily. What do I mean? If you want to give the players a map of the region they're heading to you can have one of them [or an NPC] lay it out on a table or tack it up on a wall. What table? What wall? The one in their Base obviously. 

When PCs get their butts handed to them by a particularly tough opponent, where do they do to lick their wounds (or ya'know receive much needed medical attention)? Their Base! This often elevates the players' moods after a big loss and increases their determination to beat the enemy the next time they're encountered. 

GM: "You all limp back to your hideout and nearly collapse as you enter the main room."

Player 1: "Damn. We got our a$$e$ kicked! Who the hell was that guy?"

Player 2: "No idea and right now I don't care. I'm going up to my room and going to bed."

Player 3: "Not yet. Let Doc check you out first. That goes for all of you. (To the GM) I'll get Doc on the phone and tell'em what happened, then I ask him to come on over ASAP. While we're waiting for him to arrive I help everybody find a comfortable spot. Player #2 is hurt the most so I'll lay him out on the counch."

Player 2: "Thanks man."

Player 4: "Hey, don't put me in the big recliner. I'd hate to get blood all over my favorite chair."

What about storage? A place to keep your stuff? PCs in many games obtain items on the regular, from looted treasures to scientific samples, and then they...what? Sell them? Leave them there? Throw them away? I mean really, what is the point of obtaining stuff with no place to put it? Sure, you could find a Magic Wand and then immediately use it until it runs out of...charges ('cause Wands run on batteries I guess)...but what if you could do something totally insane like putting it away until you needed it. 

I know, I know. I'll give you a minute. Deep breaths. You good? OK, we'll keep going.

What if you could keep ancient relics, alien technology, or heck, giant pennies and playing cards in a secure chamber in your headquarters? I'm be down with that 100%. It's not just items either. You can store your horse(s), Speeder Bikes, a Pogo Plane, or other livestock, pets, or vehicles in a Base. Assuming you have the space that is. 

What can Bases do and what can you do in them?

Aside from having a place to meet, plan, recoup, and store things, what other uses does a Base have? That depends a lot on what your Base is and what its capabilities are. Here, some specific examples are necessary to best illustrate the options available to Player Characters and their GMs. 

Think about Ghostbusters (I often do). I mentioned having a GB Headquarters in my post on creating a Franchise a while back but let's take another look at it. What does a Ghostbusters Franchise HQ have, do, and possibly need?

We know it probably has an office or at least a front desk for whomever is answering the phone, doing the accounting, and dealing with the EPA. It has an Ecto-Containment Unit used to store captured paranormal entities. It has a garage to store your Ecto-vehicle. It might also (optionally) have/need sleeping quarters, a small kitchen and place to eat, a library, and a workshop for repairing and developing gear. All useful areas that add to the Franchise's ability to do their jobs. In my kitbash homebrew version of the Ghostbusters RPG this would play into and modify your Franchise Dice. 

A Space Station or Superhero base might have Sensors to detect danger or Deflector Shields to repel enemy attacks. They might have enhanced Medical Facilities or a Computer Archive to aid on research. Bases are like really large multifunction magic items that can aid the PCs in their quest to do, um, whatever it is they do. Depending on the rule mechanics you're using the Base could provide a bonus to Skill use 

I recommend the team's Base not start out with everything they want or need. The basics sure, appropriate to the genre/setting and narrative, but leave some room for the PCs to add and customize the Base to their liking and requirements, some of which they'll discover as they adventure. 

How do you improve your Base?

Since this post is system agnostic, I am going to paint with broad strokes here.

Essentially, what the PCs' Base begins with is very much up to the GM and what would make sense for the game being played. It is possible, as noted in the previous post, to take over a site that already has a certain amount rooms and components that would be 'a given' for the such a place. For example, if a team of PC Superheroes take over the headquarters of a previous super group that's no longer around, the local may already have much of what the PCs need, requiring only that they restart the power plant and do repairs.Similarly, a Horror group may have inherited a Haunted Victorian Mansion, which will be covered in dust and cobwebs but still basically be what it had always been, a Mansion. 

It is also not uncommon for a group to be given a Base by a larger political entity or organization. They could, for example, be awarded an abandoned towert by a King or other high political power. In these instances, the location isn't necessarily owned by the PCs but rather operated by them on behalf of someone else. Perhaps Starfleet has assigned the PCs as the Captain and Command Crew of Outpost 16-Gamma, a small deep space station on the border of the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. It is theirs to run but they operate it for Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. 

If the PCs are starting from scratch with an empty plot of land, they'll need an in-game source of income or influence that allows them to build a Base on such a site. Maybe one of the team members is a billionaire industrialist or were left the place by their uncle who mysteriously disappeared. 

Before I go off on even more of a tangent, let's assume you have your Base. Now after a big night of adventuring, crimefighting, or studying the planet below you realize you are either missing something or you figure out some things that would make your job a lot easier. 

Games that have Base Building rules as part of their DNA usually require PCs to spend Experience Points and/or Money to improve a Base. Otherwise, they may feature separate 'Building Points' used specifically for creating and modifying Bases. Another option commonly encountered is in point-based games like Champions/The Hero System, where XP that can be used as Character Points to improve your PC can be converted into Building or Creation Points at an established exchange rate (say 1 Character Point can be traded in for 5 Build Points or the like). 

A technique I use in Star Trek is to upgrade the PCs' headquarters [or starship] at the end of a series of roughly a dozen adventures (not sessions) I call a 'Season'. This works best IMO when the Player Characters work for a larger organization or power that does the upgrades for them, such as Starfleet Command in this case. It is a 'free' reward for the great job they've done but at the same time the PCs are definitely 'just doing their job'.

In the upcoming 'The Smurfs Roleplaying Game' each Smurf PC gets their very own Mushroom Cottage Smurf House [as I've mentioned a number of times before]. Experience Points in this game are, as of this writing at least, called Build Points. Players may spend these points to improve Player Characters, Equipment, and/or your Smurf House. Each single point gets you a single room/amenity, which has the dual function of doing whatever it is the feature does plus giving you a bonus to a Safety Roll. Safety Rolls are made whenever your character is incapacitated or unconscious, enabling your Smurf to suddenly awaken safe and sound in their bed in their Cottage (more on this in a future post most likely).  

I feel like I could keep talking about this subject ad infinitum. Seriously, there are so many other ideas I could put forth and I am really curious what your experiences have been with Bases. I'd also be happy to discuss Bases or answering any questions anyone might have on using this concept in your campaigns. 

Might have to do a post with some sample Bases in the near future. Something like 'The Top 5 Bases I Have Known' or some such. Hmm. 

Later Days,

AD

Barking Alien

All Your Base Are Belong to Us

Bases. Boy, do I love Bases.

Headquarters, Hideouts, Clubhouses, and Secret Sanctuaries, I am a huge advocate for the PCs in a tabletop RPG having somewhere to call home sweet home. One of the [albiet many] reasons the old school idea of the Murderhobo never clicked for me is that most of my heroes aren't aimless vagabonds. 

Batman has the Batcave, Captain Kirk has the Enterprise, the Fantastic Four the Baxter Building, and the Ghostbusters their Firehouse. Most heroes of Comics, Manga, Anime, TV, and film, especially those who work with a team, have a Base from which they head out to investigate problems and return to in order to analyze the clues they found, get the right gear for the job, and/or have a quick meal to keep up their stamina. 

Unfortunately, few games have great Base-Building mechanics. Those that do include a decent number of Superhero games - since that is a genre where Bases are common - and Science Fiction games of the Space Adventure variety. The latter usually appears in the form of Starship Construction but often cover both Orbital and Planetside Stations. A wonderful aspect of the Computer/Video Game 'No Man's Sky' is your character's ability to construct all sorts of cool outposts on your alien world of choice. 

And of course as I've mentioned before, the upcoming SMURFS RPG has Base Buolding rules for your very own Mushroom Cottage. Dang I like that game!

Since each system has different mechanics for handling the creation of Bases, I am going to go rules agnostic and focus on more on ideas for what you can do with the concept.

Base Assumptions

When creating a base, the key things you need to decide on are what form will it take, where is it located, and why is it there.

That last bit may seem rather obvious; after all, 'It's there because we need a base', right? Well sure, in a meta-sense, but let's get a little more creative.

What I'm really getting at is what are the Base's Origins. Before it was your group's headquarters, what was it and what purpose did it serve? It could have been nothing of note, you can even decide it was an empty plot of land bequeathed to the PCs by the local Duke as a reward for ridding the land of a monstrous beast. Perhaps it was a parking lot purchased the the team's billionaire industrialist.

It could also have been:

• An abandoned Space Station left behind by earlier interstellar explorers. 
• The former hideout of an old Supervillain. 
• A foreclosed upon Victorian House in the middle of the woods (possibly Haunted)
• An old Police Station in a rough part of town.

This little touch gives the location or the edifice itself a little more character and adds to your overall World-Building. It also opens up possibilities for adventures connected to the Base itself, likely tied to its past history 

Example: In the original Winghorn Guard campaign (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition w/ lots of House Rules), after the PCs went through the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Module, they set about clearing the place out completely and eventually converting it into a base for their team. I fleshed out a bit more of the 'Mountain's' background and the PCs were constantly finding new secrets, capabilities, and dangers within their unique, adopted HQ.

Underwater Base from No Man's Sky

The next thing I'll address is where the Base is geographically. You know what they say, 'Location, Location, Location!'. This really depends on your campaign and it's tricky to discuss this in generic terms since a Base's placement will be tied to a number of rather specific genre and setting elements. 

Consider the nature of your campaign...

Are you local heroes or criminals, mostly operating in and around a single neighborhood? Conversely, does your party protect a large city, a state, a country, or an entire planet? The Ghostbusters can easily cover New York City from their Firehouse on NYC's Lower East Side but its gonna take a while for them to drive the Ecto-1 to the outer burrows or Upstate NY. Clients might need to call one of the Franchise Offices if there a Class IV Repeating Phantom in Southern New Jersey. 

Is this a Secret Hideout like the Batcave or a publically known location like Avengers Mansion? One is underneath a remote hill some miles outside of Gotham City (a fictional city), while the other is on the Upper East Side of New York City near Central Park. This strongly effects how those using the facilities interact with other people and vice versa, from average, everyday people to their disgruntled enemies. How accessible is the Base to the public?

Cost of operating the Base might be a concern if tracking resources is part of your game. A group of 'Kids on Bikes' hanging out in an old bomb shelter would be focused on snacks, a way to generate power, etc., while a Private Detective Agency would be worried about the rent, the phone bill, and maybe paying a receptionist/secretary. Here Location matters because its a lot cheaper to maintain a Treehouse in your backyard then a fancy townhouse in London's Notting Hill or Knightsbridge. 

Seven Dwarfs' House by Seiji Yoshida

Now let's talk Form, as in 'What Form does the Base take?'. Arguably this could have been the first thing I addressed but I really wanted to put the idea of a Base having a 'past life' front and center.

As with other aspects of this subject, the Form a Base takes is highly dependent upon the milieu in which you're running or playing your game. So what general points can I make here? Well...there are some notes I can make based (no pun intended) on considerations I've made in past campaigns. 

First, when it comes to the size of the Base, one should choose a structure that is somewhat larger than you need it to be. This gives you room, in both a literal and figurative sense, to modify and expand the hideout in question. To put it another way, if you have a 3 or 4 person group of PCs, don't have them occupy a 3-4 person Base. Ideally, their HQ should have the capacity to house and support 6 members, their gear, etc. What if one of the PCs wants to add a laboratory several sessions in? What if a friend hears about your game and really wants in? I'm just saying, leave yourself a little extra space.

Second, have the Form of the Base share the same character as the PCs and the premise of the game. A grim and gritty group of rookie ne'er do wells is unlikely to operate out of a fancy locale. Give'em a place with problems - a leaky roof, right over a train station, and/or next to nosy neighbors - the objective being to reinforce the theme of their lot in life. The opposite is true as well; a government backed, top secret espionage agency should be operating out of a state-of-the-art black ops facility. Of course, if the spy agency is based in a decommissioned bomb shelter or the crooks have a luxury highrise, we know there is a story there. 

The Baxter Building, Home and Headquarters of The Fantastic Four

Marvel Comics

Also, as I've said about Starships in the past, the above is designed to give the Base its own personality. It makes the place are more direct part of the group and the campaign. 

As your game goes on, the Base will likely improve [or deteriorate] right alongside the PCs. When the team's reputation, roles, abilities, and so forth change, the Base will change as well, reflecting the state of PC party.

From Haunted Houses - Ghosts and Spectre, an Usborne Pocketbooks Publication

There is so much more I could say about Bases and may in a follow up post if there is any interest. Let me know if there is something specific you'd like me to cover. Do you and your group love Bases too? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

AD

Barking Alien

PS: Yesterday was the birthday of my dear departed friend David Cotton. Happy Birthday Dave. Miss you a ton.

Today happens to be my birthday so...Happy Birthday to me I suppose.

Adapt and Strike Again When The Moment Is Right

As you can no doubt discern, I'm not going to be able to complete the 31 Days / 31 Characters Challenge by months end. Again.

 
January is simply waaay too busy a month each year and I was quite sick over this past few days. 

I'd normally be feeling kind of down but today is a special day - Lunar New Year! 

It's the Year of the Snake and it represent wisdom, transformation, and growth! Hopefully I can shed (get it?) the mishaps of this first month and make the rest of the year far more productive. 

Gong Hei Fat Choy! 

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - JAKE TOPAZ

I've wanted to include this character in my 31 Days / 31 Characters posts since the very first year I participated but for one reason or another I never got around to him. A recent chat with the PC's player, my long time friend Nelson Marty, gave me what I needed to finally do this entry.

Nelson and I have been friends since I was in middle school, though he was in high school at the time. He is a few years older than I am. Later I would end up going to that same high school (The High School of Art and Design) and that began many, many years of us gaming together. Nelson's name has appeared on this site quite a number of times, mostly relating to Star Trek, Star Wars, and Superheroes, he began in the hobby just as I did, with Basic Dungeons and Dragons.

Art by Me using Midjourney and Photostudio.

Character: Jake Topaz

AKA: Jake Blue Star

Player: Nelson Marty

System: Dungeons & Dragons, Basic 1st Edition, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition

 

Nature: Medium Length Campaign

Gamemaster: Various, including Nelson himself. 

Circa: 1977-78 to 1980

Origins: Jake Topaz was Nelson Marty's first Player Character but actually began life as an NPC in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign he ran sometime in 1977 or 1978. This would have been Basic Dungeons and Dragons and Jake appeared to be Human but was in fact an Elf stats-wise. Later, Nelson played him as a PC when a friend he regularly GMed for wanted to try his hand at GMing.

When Advanced Dungeons and Dragons came along and his friends switched over to those rules (as a great many of us did), Nelson updated Jake and expanded on his background to flesh out his family. This lead to Nelson retiring Jake Topaz and has, over the decades, played his brothers, grandsons, and distant descendants.

It all started with a Grey Elf in a Mask...

Art by Me using Midjourney and Photostudio.

Backstory: Born Jake Blue Star, he is one of three sons of a Male Gray Elf and Female Human. Jake has largely Human features except for his clearly pointed ears and deep purple hair. His younger brother appears completely Human and goes by the name Silver Star. He became a Paladin when he grew to adulthood. The youngest of the three siblings was Azure Star and was Half-Elven in both appearance and physicality. He eventually became a Fighter/Magic-User and had a great many adventures in the Northern Lands (this is the brother from a campaign I ran).

The Star Family Emblem

Originally worn by Silver Star the Paladin, Nelson retroactively said that Jake wore it too

but sometimes hid it beneath his chestplate. Later, when he gained renown as a hero

he added it to the front of his armor. 

When the trio were still quite young their mother died protecting her husband and children from an attack on their mixed Species village. The nearby elves felt honor bound to take in the children and help raise them. Jake stayed as long as he was able but an insatible desire to see the lands and peoples beyond his home gnawed at him. He eventually left and went out on his own, making his way as a sellsword and an adventurer for hire. Unfortunately he learned that many Human locals did not like Elves overmuch and so he hid his ears beneath a leather mask and took on a new name, Jake Topaz. 

Overview: I was never in a game with Jake Topaz and Nelson himself confesses that he didn't play the character as much [or as long] as he did Jake's brothers and many of the subsequent members of the Star Family lineage. Jake is nonetheless worth mentioning for more than just being first. It was Topaz that began many of the 'Character Traditions' that Nelson's Fantasy PCs would embrace for decades to come. 

Among these are the idea that many of the characters that followed Topaz and his siblings are of the same family, however extended. Sometimes the connection to the bloodline is thin at best but it is certainly there. Oddly, this is implied to be true in some fashion even if the characters exist on different worlds and in completely different games. Though (purposely) never defined or clarified, Nelson absolutely intended to convey that there is some link between his collection of PCs. This creates a dynamic we've likened to Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion. 

On a practical level this approach helps Nelson as the player, thinking of these individuals as related gives an instant and easy to pocess buy-in. See, there is an automatic investment in your 'new' character if they're a relative of one or more of your 'old' characters (I've seen this myself in my Winghorn Guard/Aerth campaigns). An emotional connection is made more directly between the player and their PC under these conditions.

There is a tendency for Nel's Elvish Fantasy characters (and even some of the Humans) to wear Masks. It's his thing. I don't know why. Now when I say that I don't mean his characters wear them for no reason. There is always a narrative point to why the PC is wearing a Mask but it is funny to think there is a long history of Masked Adventurers like the Dread Pirate Roberts of The Princess Bride. 

Art by Nelson Marty. Most likely from 1984 or 89.

The Highlights: Not sure there highlights to speak of here beyond what has been mentioned above. Nelson didn't recall any particular adventure or event of note involving Topaz. While that's unfortunate, it also isn't unexpected. We are talking about a good 40+ years ago here. 

Game Info: 

The character sheet for Jake Topaz is long gone. While there is a slim possibility that it or a copy of it is stashed in one of Nelson's many archived sketchbooks he has in storage, there was nothing available for this post (time of posting). 

The initial version was a Fighter; even though he was an Elf by species he was written up as a Human Fighter stat-wise. Can you see why Nelson and I became friends and played a $#^%-ton of games together? Right from the get-go he and his group were changing things up to make D&D more interesting and flexible that it was.  

He was converted into an Elven Fighter for the switch to 1st Edition AD&D and managed to get to 6th or 7th level I believe. . 

Notes: Nelson remembers Jake Topaz's primary magical weapon, a variant of the classic D&D magic sword 'Frostbrand'. A long sword in this incarnation, it had the traditional powers of the item as described in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide-1st Edition, with the addition of a 'Cone of Cold' it could project from the blade once per day. 

While he didn't bring it up, I recall Topaz having a companion animal, a black wolf or dog (or wolf-dog) as confirmed by the image above. 

Legacy: 

Art by Nelson Marty

In many ways the through line of this entry is 'Legacy'. Topaz is most memorable at this point for being the first in a long history of characters connected by family and certain traditions. 

Versions of Topaz and his brothers exist as NPCs in my Fantasy setting of Aerth/The Winghorn Guard. 

It's been a very long time since I've gamed with Nelson and according to the man himself he hasn't played at all since the late 90s. That's a shame. Nelson always put the Action and Adventure into action-adventure gaming. He could always be counted on to have his PC swing on a chandelier or leap onto a moving horse. He kept these moving, always striving to push the narrative forward. 

Another custom started by an Elf in Mask named Jake (Blue Star) Topaz.

The oldest image of Jake Topaz that Nelson could find.

It dates back to the early-to-mid 80s

Art by Nelson Marty

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - IVAN PETROVO

One of my longest and best campaigns, at least by my own criteria, was a game of modified classic Traveller called Operation: PALADIN. The campaign began with a large group but not long after the first story arc a few of the players had to drop out for varying reasons. Luckily, a few new players joined including Hans, Dave, and Andy. 

Andy's character was...

Character: Ivan Petrovo

AKA: 

 
Player: Andrew Frank Rodriguez

 
System: Traveller - Classic version w/ modification from MegaTraveller and houserules.
 
Nature: Long Campaign: Operation: PALADIN

Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein

 
Circa: 2013-2015

Origins: Like most classic Traveller Player Characters, Ivan was very much a product of random rolls as much as he was any sort of plan by the player. Andy certainly chose which score went to which Attribute (a houserule - no one has to roll in order) and picked which Career to try for (though he still had to roll to Enlist, Survive, Reenlist, etc.). However he and Ivan both benefited from random generation. 

One of my houserules - which I've discussed before - is that if you fail to Survive a Tour of Duty you can decide to embrace the 'Death by Character Creation' that Traveller is famous for or you can say, "Well, he/she/they didn't REALLY die". If that's the case you stop where you are and only get half the skills/bonuses/whathaveyou of the final Tour. You then roll on some custom 'Alternatives to Death' charts that I made (largely based on Central Casting: Heroes of Tomorrow by the late, great Jennell Jaquays).

Here we learn that Petrovo crash landed on an uncharted planet and was presumed dead. In actuality... 

 
Backstory: ...Ivan survived, gravely injured but luckily found by the world's indigenous sentient species. After a month of healing and recuperation, largely thanks to a native plant with anagathic-like properties, Petrovo attempted to contact the Imperial but could not. His ship was destroyed, its equipment completely totaled. He was marooned on this planet where he remained for next three years. He learned to live off the world's resources, became close to the planet's people and learned their customs, and honed additional hunting and fighting skills against the local fauna.

Three of the planet's years later, an Imperial Interstellar Scout Service vessel landed after detecting the wreckage of Ivan's ship while doing a general Type 1 Survey. Telling his indigenous friends to hide, Petrovo makes contact with the Scout Ship's crew. They offer to rescue him and he decides to take them up on it, partially to prevent the Scouts from learning about and disturbing the native culture. 

Dropped off at Bussard Reach, the orbital highport at Leighton IV in the Leighton System (1023 Flux Subsector, Spica Sector), Petrovo searches the public Library Data Systen and discovers he has officially been listed as deceased. In addition, he learns his personal Safari Ship has been berthed at his last assigned base and remains there largely due to Imperial bureaucracy losing the impound order.

Bussard Reach Highport

While on the station trying to decide what to do next, Ivan is approached by a fellow who needs help on the surface of Leighton IV. The guy and his team are zoologists trying to capture an Amanook, a native creature resembling a polar bear crossed with a wolf. There are concerns about the mining operation on Leighton IV effecting the animal's habitat and they need to catch one to aid in the study. Something about Ivan's garb (a mix of standard clothing and accessories from his time on the low Tech Level planet) gave the potential patron the idea that Ivan might be a Scout or Hunter. With nothing else to do and having had a lot of experience with large fauna, Ivan joins the expedition. 

Amanook, Adlult Female

Solitary Arctic Carnivore/Hunter - Leighton IV

After successfully capturing one of the creatures, Petrovo returns to the station and ends up meeting the other PCs. He first encounters the late Dave Cotton's character, who is a Solomani Military Officer investigating some recent goings on in a nearby system (the initial adventure arc). He befriends Petrovo and promises to help him retrieve his ship. He does do this but 'borrows' the ship first to complete a side mission. Eventually the craft is moored at Bussard Reach but Petrovo isn't there at the time, having already left with the other PCs to investigate part of the larger plot. 

 
Overview: I loved Ivan Petrovo. Seriously, what a great character. In a game largely focused on Corporate Espionage and Political Intrigue, Petrovo brought in a much needed dose of action. Ivan wasn't alone in this but he was the most straightforward about it. Ivan was just, ya'know, Ivan. He was a good guy who could fight and would if he felt it was for a good reason. Petrovo wasn't motivated by money, politics, and had no personal agenda beyond 'doing the right thing'. 

What no one realized, including Ivan himself, was that his time on that low tech planet where the ship he was on crashed had changed him. He died during Character Creation, remember? Well it turns out that the native medicinal herbs he was given to save his life contained a unique mix of chemicals and microscopic parasites. The result was an incredible healing factor; a nearly superhuman ability to regenerate. Evidence of the ability revealed itself a few times in the early adventures but it was chalked up to lucky rolls and narrative time passing. It wasn't until a fight with an Aslan Assassin (See Highlights) where he realized, "Oh my gosh! I heal @^#&ing FAST!" 

 
The Highlights:

As other members of the team engaged an Aslan Assassin in hand-to-hand combat, Ivan was setting up on a roof above in hopes of taking the adversary out with a sniper shot from his souped up hunting rifle. The Aslan spotted him somehow and fired a laser weapon that sheered off a few of the fingers on Ivan's right hands and severely burned him. With only his ring finger, thumb, and in serious pain, Petrovo managed to fire off a shot that took the Assassin out completely. Rushed to a medical facility, the entire team, the doctors, and Ivan were stunned when within a day his hand had totally healed, regrown digits and all. It was then that the previous clues to his healing factors fell into place. 

In Andy's own words (slightly paraphrased for context: "The second [big] moment [I recall] was when they (the enemy) unleashed a dang horror out of that satellite vault. A Mech basically. I (Ivan) had to distract it was Hans' character could take out the legs with that massive firearm she'd invented.

The third was when all heck broke lose in the sewer system [of Amaro Highport at Aequine II]. I believe the female Alsan diplomat, Han's character, Marcus' character, his [NPC] sister, and Ivan were literally fighting for our lives as we were being chased by some crazed battle dressed Marines. I sniped 'Master Chief' with what that gun Han's character gave me. Han's kept creating these 'Frankenstein' rail gun rifles and when he finalized the design he was give me the prototype. He was like, 'that one was the experimental version, it's yours now.' lol

When Rex Kinkaid (Marcus' character) went rogue and then seemingly turned traitor, it was Ivan who tried to once last time to talk to him about it. Ivan had become close with Rex's sister Nova and the two had a bond (moreso than anyone else on the team did with Rex the loner). Rex refused to return to the rest of the gang with Ivan but with a nod approved of Ivan and Nova teaming up and maybe more. Rex said, "Take care of her and she'll take care of you." With that, we never saw Rex again. 

Game Info:

Not Available Right Now - Will Update Soon. 

Notes: 

Ivan was great. His simple, straightforward manner and willingness to take action was a wonderful counterbalance to often overly cautious nature of some of his other team members. He could always be counted on to do...not the wisest thing per se...but definitely the 'right' thing. 

In the epilogue of the campaign, Ivan returns to the low tech world where he'd been stranded 7 or 8 years earlier, this time with Nova Kinkaid and a female Aslan warrior who he'd become good friends with in the final 6+ months of the game. They are last seen walking into the dense underbrush, with members of the native species celebrating seeing their old friend once more.

Legacy: I had originally planned a direct sequel to Operation: PALADIN but that project fell apart unfortunately. Given the way Ivan's story 'ends', he certainly could return but I kind of like not knowing exactly what happened next.

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