Space Opera Heroes - The Star of Life

Following up from my dicussion of Space Opera Heroes' basic rules, I thought the next, best thing to do is try making up a character.

I don't know about you but this is what I always do when I come across new RPGs that I'm interested in. I learn the system's base mechanic and then try to make up a PC. This is the approach that gives me the fastest and most efficient 'feel for the game'.

Let's take a look at the Character Sheet.

Pretty simple and straightforward design I think. Easy enough to read. I did very little alteration from the Japanese version; just a few adjustments to accomodate the translations. I like that you can fit everything on one sheet, at least at the start. 

To assist me with this I have once again called upon my new friend Gidget Starseeker, an Alien Explorer currently venturing into the frontier sectors with her robot companion, GUS.

Before we get started, I want to be completely transparent: Space Opera Heroes is a little...well...a product of its time. That's not exactly right. Hmm. I'll try to explain.

Primarily emulating the Space Opera genre fiction of the 1930s to the 1970s, the game focuses on the Space Opera HERO, not the Space Opera HEROINE. Most of the Archetypes are assumed to be male because those were the protagonists in Science Fiction of the era most influential on the game. Buck Rogers, Captain Future, Captain Harlock, Crusher Joe, Flash Gordon, Lensman, and many other stories were very male hero-centric.

At the same time, the game seems self-aware and progressive enough to address this. It provides several Female specific Archetypes that are no less effective than their Male counterparts. Furthermore, the game acknowledges the increasing number of Female protagonists in the genre (remember this game was written in 1992). As influential as Perry Rodan and Star King were on the RPG, the game also lists The Dirty Pair, Gall Force, Queen Esmeralda, Rumiko Takahashi's story 'The Superwoman', and other Female protagonist-led titles as major inspirations.

In the end, I am going to run and play my game my way and my way says guys, gals, non-binary pals, and everyone else is treated equally. We're all using the same rules and we can all be Space Opera Heroes. To be clear, the game is not of a counter opinion. It is simply written from the standpoint of a Japanese guy from the early 90s talking about a genre whose Golden Age was in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. 

OK? Cool. Onward...

Character Creation

There are two ways to create a Player Character in Space Opera Heroes. The first way is the long way and creates a character from the ground up. I'll have to give that a try sometime soon. The second way interests me much more: Archetypes. Basically choose or even invent an Archetype - which is not unlike a Template in Star Wars D6 or a Career in ALIEN - allocate some Skill Points, make a few choices, get some gear, and you're ready to go. That's where I started so that's what I'm going to talk about. 

In order to create 'Alien Explorer', an Archetype that doesn't exist in the game, I looked at the over 40 different Archetypes and essentially combined elements of two together. Looking over the list, it seemed the closet relatives to what I wanted would be Female Doctor/Scientist and Lucky Heroine. My character is mainly built on the latter but I gave up Energy Sword in exchange for Sensors and I added a Science: Biology Skill. The other Skills that fill out the Archetype are Evasion, Firearms-Pistol, Intuition, Spaceship Navigation, and Spaceship Pilot. Your Archetype also provides you with a set of Attributes.

Most of the Archetypes have six Skills and if they don't, the Skills start at a higher Base Score and/or the character will have one or two Attributes that are pretty high.  

When spending the 11 Skill Points I received to improve these Skills, I added one or two to the numbers the Skills automatically came with (1 for everything except Evasion, which is 2) and had one point left over. I used the one point to create a Special Ability, 'Danger Sense', which helps to define Gidget as an Alien (it is her Antenna that give her this ability). 

I haven't figured out how money works or rather I haven't figured out how much money you start with. It is noted that PCs start with some kind of Starship and considering I will likely be using Gidget as a Solo Character, I decided to give her a Callisto Class vessel. These are typical of Player Character type spaceships and can be decked out for Smuggling, Fighting, Exploring, or virtually any other configuration. Remember, the game doesn't give Starships much detail, treating them like just another piece of equipment. I'm expanding the Starship rules by porting over mechanics from Space Ship Story (more on that in a future post). 

I gave her a basic Spacesuit, a Robot Companion, a Raygun (the lowest power type), and a few other minor devices. Overall, the PC's equipment was just stuff I decided to give her as opposed to actual 'purchases'. Once I figure out the money situation I'll pay off the debt she has [if any]. 

Here's what her write-up looks like:

 

I like her. I like her a lot actually. She was fun to create,  which if you know me you know that's a pretty big deal for me to say  I don't generally enjoy Character Creation but here it was fun. It felt like picking a Template like those in Star Wars D6 and getting a character that feels more like classic Traveller. She was simple and remarkably quick to make but has just enough detail and uniqueness for me to 'get her' almost instantly.

Fun Fact: In the example I used in the previous post I said she had a Sensors and Science: Biology Skill of 2 each but that was just a guess based on my initial eyeballing of the Character Creation system. Once I figured out I had accidentally given her too many Skills, I redistributed her Skill Points enabling her to obtain higher ranks in certain ones (as noted on the sheet above). 

Dang it, she's cool and I am looking forward to exploring frontier space with her. 

Next up? Most likely her starship, the GFI-S.S. Wanderer, a modified GP-JS-Zeta Callisto Class Explorer. 

Is there something you'd like to know more about or see? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Barking Alien

Origin of the Title: 'The Star of Life' was a Science Fiction Novel written by Edmond Hamilton and published in exerpts in Startling Stories Magazine in 1947