Definitely sign me up.

Name: Jordan Dark
Archetype: Intrepid explorer

Gifts:
    Knack with languages
    Good with Computers

Faults:
    Lack of commonsense
    Self Centered at times.
   
Mission:

    To discover the truth about who he is and find out why he is so drawn to the stars.
   

ABOUT:

Jordan Dark began life in an orphanage left on the doorstep one rainy night. He was taken in and raised by the nuns that ran the orphanage and they soon discovered he was good at computers at a young age and had an uncanny knack at languages, not only learning them, but understanding them after a few times of hearing it. He told them that he doesn't understand the words or how to speak them, but somehow he just knows what they are trying to say.

His sheltered raising and prompting from his teachers showed in his lack of commonsense and being self centered at times. After growing in to an adult he left to space as mining ships, but felt a draw to the stars, at night he felt they were calling his name. He decided to become an explorer and discover what it is inside him that beckons to the stars.

Name: Johnny Wizzer
Archetype: Brilliant Young Inventor (modeled after Tom Swift)

Gifts:
    Gadgeteer/Inventor
    All-Around Scientist

Faults:
    Insatiable Curiuosity
    Social Inept with anyone but scientists
   
Mission:
   He is compelled for reasons he doesn't understand to expand his knowledge of science until he understands the true nature of all things.
   
Background:
The only son of brilliant scientist parents, Johnny was a child prodigy. Home taught by his parents, he was already multiple grades ahead when he entered public school. An outcast because of his genius, he never got along with other kids. Designing a revolutionary particle accelerator at 12 years old probably didn't help. Even after skipping from high school into college while still in his early teens, he was still an outcast. Faculty disliked him for correcting their latest research in class. Tragedy struck with his parents death in a terrible accident on the day he graduated with double doctorates in biological and physical sciences at age 18 for New Earth's most prestigious university.  With nothing to tie him to the world he grew up on, he hungers for travel to the stars and the amazing discoveries to made there!

It's all right guys, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm just waiting for a few more to show some interest (hopefully) and then I'll get underway explaing things a bit more and giving you the character creation info.

For others, there are plenty of 50's sci-fi characters waiting to be snapped up: the flyboy, the combat specialist, the mystical occultist, the sneaky agent, the smooth talking schmoozer and a whole lot more.

I'll look for two more at the least, and will probably take six at the most, so if you want to have some role-playing fun while you're here, join in. I guarantee you won't be the only one not to have done it before, and I'll explain everything as we go along.

I keep trying to get Ann to join and play - we need a damsel in distress - although she threatens to play either a mysterious occultist or a femme fatale super spy 

Darn. No damsel in distress? The geek in me is disappointed. But I'll go for a femme Fetale.

Name: Ming Ming
Archetype: Young emperor-to-be

Gifts:
    Hypnotism
    Followers

Faults:
    The Ladies!
    Ugly
   
Mission:
   He wants to restore the Ming Empire albiet one adventurre at a time.
   
Background:
He is one of the many illegitimate sons of Ming the Merciless, wanting power over the known universe!!!

fudgebob wrote:

Name: Ming Ming
Faults:
    The Ladies!

LOL. The fault of all men in the galaxy.

paul wrote:

I keep trying to get Ann to join and play - we need a damsel in distress - although she threatens to play either a mysterious occultist or a femme fatale super spy 

Well, if she were a femme fatale there would certainly be some guys to twist round her finger...

Then again the occultist would have some pretty handy info, and if she wants to be truly mysterious she can PM me her character design (that goes for other people too).

Anyway, let me finalise the character creation stuff, and I'll post that soon for you all to follow through, it shouldn't take too long.

Character creation

OK everybody, here are the character generation rules. I have tried to keep them simple and to help characters conform to the usual pulp archetypes.

If you think they need a little tweaking to get right, let me know, particularly if they are hampering your efforts to get your character "right".

OK, you've all selected 2 gifts and faults, based on some of the skills below you might like to give them a tweak as they are more likely covered by a particular skill. Perhaps they shed light on some aspect of that skill, or you can change them completely.

Each character gets the free gift Star Patrol Officer. I suggest one of you steps up and takes a further rank gift to become team leader, alternatively you can split it amongst you, or assign it to one player freely if you want.

OK, so here are the skills with corresponding example actions, to get a feel for them:

Athlete
Running, jumping, endurance

Businessman
Appraise, haggle, finance

Crafter
Pottery, engineer, artist

Criminal
Break and enter, contacts

Fighter
Brawling, karate, fencing

Marksman
Raygun, grenades

Medic
Surgery, diagnosis

Occultist
Magic, mysteries

Officer
Investigate, interrogate, alertness

Outdoorsman
Survival, hunting, animal

Pilot
Driving, piloting

Psychic
Telepathy, telekinesis

Repairer
Maintain, mechanic

Scholar
Knowledge, research, "soft" sciences

Scientist
Mathematics, astronomy, "hard" sciences

Socialiser
Impress, deceive

Spy
Stealth, disguise

Technician
Computer hacking, sensors

There is a certain amount of overlap in some of these skills, and some may initially appear more useful than others, but because of the nature of the format, with the "Previously on Star Patrol..." section you can very easily work them into the story.

Due to the breadth of each skill each character has:

1 Primary skill (Great)
1 Secondary skill (Good)
2 Professional skills (Fair)
2 Background skills (Mediocre)

One important thing to consider is that these are your Star Patrol assessments and they are very rigorous, if you really were a Superb Pilot you'd likely be the best they have. It's something to aim for if we get that far, plus it allows a good roll not to break the ladder. Also I will be assessing all other people you meet on the same criteria, so the average citizen would easily register as Terrible or Abysmal in comparison.

I think everybody should start with 4 Fudge Points, I expect I'll give them back at a decent rate so don't be afraid to spend them!

They are used for re-rolls, a +1, or to transmute damage per the Fudge Factor article (so a Taken out result would mean imminent doom!).

I'll run through the equipment and combat mechanics next, as there a couple of tweaks here that I think ought to work but I the above should keep you busy for a little while!