Main Character Creation and Starting Out Cheatsheet?

[psiredeye22]

Hey folks. Ordered this game (5150: New Beginnings) very recently and have been going through the PDF, waiting for my production copy to arrive. I have so far found it extremely difficult to parse the information presented, and especially difficult when starting out brand new. This rulebook appears written for people already intimately familiar with the systems in the game, as information is presented in groups of data relevant to the action/s in their entirety without touching on what is relevant when kicking off your adventure.

I have found many, many tables, and I think I've pieced a few together from various places of the rulebook that are relevant to character creation and starting out. I want to make sure I didn't miss anything, and that led me here. Can someone give me a basic checklist/action plan of what to do to make a character and start a first adventure? Thank you all for your time.

[atomicfloozy]

The best place to start is the Defining Characters section on page 6 of my copy. There you will see a group of bullet points with questions. Start by answering these questions.

Immediately below the Defining Characters section is the section Star or Grunt to answer the first question. If this is your main character, he or she will be a Star, if the character is a sidekick or NPC, it will be a Grunt.

The next two questions on Race and Gender are answered in the section Race starting on page 7 through page 11 for the major Races, if you wish to play one of the minor races or a robot or android as your character, those lists start on page 125 through 146. For your first characters, I'd start with one of the major Races.

Next step is to determine your character's profession, what he or she does for a living - pages 12 through 15.

When selecting your character's Race, you are given an attribute for that race. For your Star, you have a second attribute which is rolled randomly - page 16. For example, if your Star is a Basic Humanoid, you can choose one attribute from the tables as you wish and then roll to randomly select your second attribute. If your Star is a Xeog, you would have the Quick Reflexes attribute and the Smooth attribute and then roll for one random attribute.

Next is determining the Reputation. It is suggested you start a Star with a Reputation of 5, but you can choose any Rep you wish if you are a glutton for punishment. If this character is to be a Grunt, then in the Race section you roll for the Grunt's Rep.

After that, you assign the Skill Levels for your character on page 19.

The question on Items is a nebulous one that can increase as you play encounters. I'd keep the Items simple - a place to live, a starship if a pilot, maybe a vehicle & things like a data tablet or whatever you envision your character carrying on his or her person. Don't include weapons or armor, that is next. Items are discussed on pages 20 through 27.

Weapons and Armor are chosen next beginning on page 21 & are a part of the Items section.

Finally, answer the question as to whether your character has any enhancements or has psionic abilities - pages 28 - 34.

I usually record this information on an index card for each character.

After building your Star character, you may recruit Grunts to accompany your character. This process is in the Recruiting the Band section on page 35.

If you've never played a THW game before, it would be a good idea to play "Your First Campaign" starting on page 153, the characters & linked encounters are done for you & by playing these encounters you can learn the game by playing it.

This seems a lot, but it is a lot less reading than getting into Pathfinder or D&D.

[psiredeye22]

100% agreed it is far less than D&D, thank you. I was nowhere near page 153, and it seems if I got that far down it would have answered quite a few questions. Thanks a ton!

Edit: I'm also going to print your reply as my cheatsheet, extremely helpful.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

As was mentioned, go to page 6 and create your character step by step.
Don't recruit anybody yet as you're still getting used to the rules.
Go to page 44 for the combat rules, very short.
Be sure to read and use the Stop boxes after each section of rules.
Once you feel comfortable go to page 74 and play the encounters that interest you. All you usually need to play is on page 240 to 243.
Start small, ask questions and you'll get used to it pretty quickly.

Also try these links.
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