93gamesstudio ([info]93gamesstudio) wrote,
@ 2007-10-25 10:40:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: jubilant
Current music:John Fogerty - Revival

Update

So I guess its time for an update. We've been extremely busy tieing up loose ends and finishing sections. I am real excited as things start to draw down and fall into place. We've hit some snags along the way but I am confident it has helped us put together a better system in the long run. I've also got the oppertunity to work with some incredibly talented people along the way. Most importantly is Clayton Oliver. This is a man of incredible vision and understanding. I am nothing short of amazed and awed at the work he has put forward and I can't wait to share that with the world.

Some technical notes - several completed chapters have been delivered to the editor and we've received about 130 peices of art. I'll post a few more when I get a get some spare time ;). As had been noted before the cover art is done and the layout is almost there. We are mostly waiting a writing on a few sections. Everything still looks good for a 2007 release, just in time for the holidays.

I am looking to post a few more promotional items at Cafepress in the next week or so, so if you're interested head over there and help feed the coffers.

No on to the main attraction...

Life Paths

No character springs fully-formed into being in mid-2013.  A lifetime of experiences combines to make him what he is.  Twilight: 2013 models this through a life path character creation system that walks you through your character's life a few years at a time, gradually improving his capabilities at the same time that you act as his biographer.

The character's life path after his 18th birthday is divided into phases.  Each phase describes a particular activity to which he dedicates one or more years of his life.  From the character's perspective, the act of entering a life path phase represents career change or other major turning point in his life.  Accordingly, some sort of logical progression between phases may help you in describing your character's history.

It's perfectly acceptable for a character to pass through the same life path phase multiple times.  In the real world, many people stay in the same career (though not necessarily with the same employer) for decades.  Unless otherwise stated in an individual life path phase's description, a character may repeat any phase indefinitely, so long as he continues to satisfy its prerequisites.  Your character continues to gain the benefits of a phase in each pass through it.


Here is the list of just the 41 civilian life paths to choose from that we are including in the core release:

Big Business
Civil Aviation
Diplomacy
Emergency Services
Engineering
Entertainment
Farming
Industrial Labor
Information Technology
Journalism
Legal Practice
Medical Practice
Nursing
Office Work
Outdoorsmanship
Politics
Religion
Service Industry
Sports
Teaching
Technical Trade
Transportation
Exile
High Life
Homemaking
Slacking
Petty Crime
Organized Crime
Prison
Violent Crime
White-Collar Crime
Intelligence Analysis
Intelligence Support
Tradecraft
Criminal Investigation
Local Police
National Police
Executive Protection
Insurgency
PMC
Survivalist

There is also an equally long list of military life paths to choose from as well.

(Post a new comment)

Consolidating the List: Categories, not Laundry
[info]septembervirgin
2007-12-14 09:35 pm UTC (link)
I think you might benefit from looking at background categories rather than a list of professions that in many cases suggests dual-profession backgrounds or backgrounds that have large overlap.

Consider wealth category (split between youth and adulthood), formal education if any and crime activity in youth and adulthood, and adult profession category. Have rule limits on what can be central and constant in life: a criminal character might commit any number of crimes but usually specializes in two or three, same for a student or hobbyist. Intelligent dabbling occurs but experience in a focus category is always predominant in any high pressure situation. We must assume intelligent characters can achieve a great many aesthetic accomplishments and pastoral achievements but these are of minimal use in a firefight. Chalk it up to general ability of human charm and wit: good for pacific morale purposes.

A long list of classes will be useless in amassed tactical simulation even in a game. For an RPG it only loans a sense of futility when the accountant or semiology professor is not truly differentiated at all from the multimillionaire or video game designer.

Short of a few ambivalent situations thrown in by the GM to make past background lists such as these useful, I think it hardly matters if a character is a mafia guy or a US ambassador. What matters is their predisposition, their martial training, and their rank (if any, given this must allow for post-armageddon games).

I know it might be fun to throw alot of lists and percentile chances together, but the only consideration besides predisposition, relevant fighting skills, and rank are resource and affiliation of any given combatant given the wide range of simulated situations the game may begin with.

It's best to assume that a high technology post-armageddon setting with military focus is largely a "camo-savage" game where society is schismed into regional tribes based on terrain boundaries and attempts to overcome social and terrain boundaries. It might even be useful to assume that a feudal system of terrain governance based on military rank is standard in some regions.

This opens up a whole nest of interesting ideas. One person suggested that should civilization collapse but people remain in relative health, polyhedron dice might be a new form of currency while RPG would be the games of kings and rulers. Be that as it may, I think religion and military would be central. Eh.

Fors Fortuna, Stars.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…