ZeroSpace 3e EN:Creation
Making up a ZeroSpace character should only take about 15 minutes, once you are somewhat familiar with the process. The hardest part is thinking up a character background and choosing what kind of character to play. In this chapter, we offer a few suggestions to help you out, along with a checklist of the steps that you should probably follow. However, just because we list them in this order doesn't mean you must. Jump around if it makes you happy: feel free to fill in what you know, and come back to what you don't.
It is up to you to make up a character who can get along with the other player characters and add to the fun of the game. Realism in ZeroSpace, as in most games, takes a back seat to playability. Your character can be the most fascinating, detailed character ever written, but if they undermine the fun of the game you have failed to make up a good character.
Fortunately, making up a character is a fairly simple process, and if at first you don't succeed you can try again. It is possible to make up a fun and interesting character who gets along with the other PCs, and in the long run it is much more fun than making up a character that, despite being a brilliant creation, disrupts the game.
Before You Start
The goal of ZeroSpace to help you have fun with your friends. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions that we think will help point you in the right direction.
Create A Team
If at all possible, try to assemble the players and make up their characters together. That way, you can avoid having two or three players with the same fields of expertise. It's usually more fun if each character has their own specialties, and their own role to fill.
Form A Bond
It can sometimes be difficult to find a plausible reason for characters to stick together. Why would a brooding loner who likes to brood lonesomely ever join a team of space-faring vagabonds? You might consider establishing a reason before the game even starts, by having some previous connection between characters. The previous connection could be something as simple as, "Hey, you helped me fight those bounty hunters that one time". If every character has a connection to at least one other character, getting them past that awkward "getting to know you" stage will be a lot easier.
Character Checklist
We have found that it's easiest if you create a character by following these steps. However, it's just a suggestion. Jump around if it makes you happy: feel free to fill in what you know, and come back to what you don't.
- Sobriquet: what is the character's core identity?
- Background: what is the character's history and description?
- Archetypes: what basic role or roles does the character fill?
- Motivations: why does the character get out of bed in the morning?
- Complications: what keeps the character from achieving her full potential?
Once you have the important parts of the character worked out, then you can start buying attributes, skills, advantages, and (optionally) powers which are appropriate to the character concept you have in mind.
- Attributes: what are the character's basic physical and mental traits?
- Skills: what does the character know how to do?
- Advantages: what gives the character an edge over most normal people?
- Powers: what powers set the character apart from normal people?
Sobriquet
Before you start writing up your character, try to focus on who they are, rather than on what they can do. This core identity can usually be summed up with a sobriquet, or poetic title for the character. This sobriquet should be succinct, but should immediately convey the essence of the character.
Some sobriquets are literal descriptions of a character's abilities and powers: "spunky princess", "charming scoundrel", "enigmatic bounty hunter", and so on. Coming up with a good sobriquet can make the rest of the character creation process much easier, because it gives you a clear goal to work toward.
Background
In a tabletop roleplaying game, there is a temptation to pay attention to what the character does rather than who they are and why they do it. There is a good reason for this: what the characters can do is what makes ZeroSpace a space fantasy roleplaying game rather than some other kind of roleplaying game. However, what makes a game fun to play over the long term is the growth and exploration of each character's personality, the difficult choices the characters must make, and the interplay between characters.
Personality
How does your character act around other people? Are they serious but kind, grim and menacing, or wacky and easy-going? It's up to you to bring your character to life. If you have a clear idea of how your character interacts with others, you will have a strong foundation to build on when choosing the character's powers and motivations.
For example, what are the character's interests and hobbies? Are they intellectual, scrutinizing the world around them, or are they passionate and impulsive, doing what feels right without analyzing their motivations? How about the character's family? Do they come from a large, close-knit clan, or is the character an orphan? What is their education and their moral philosophy? Each clue to your character's personality will help you portray them realistically, which will add to your enjoyment and the enjoyment of the other players.
Description
What a character looks like is not as important as their personality, but it does have an impact on how they interact with others and how the players see the character. Describe the character carefully, starting with easily-noticed things like their height and general build. Hair color and general style of dress help emphasize the character's personality. Does your character wear a special costume or uniform? If your character has a special uniform, do they wear it all the time? Does the character have a wide variety of outfits, or would they stick with one they like?
Appearance takes into account such things as species, gender, age, and any mannerisms or odd quirks. Is your character wealthy, dressing in the most expensive fashions? Do they carry themselves loosely, or with a rigid military posture? What do people notice about the character when they first meet? Is your character attractive, or hideously scarred? The more detail you can add to your description, the easier it will be for you and the other players to imagine them.
You don't need to know all of this at the beginning of the first game, of course. If you aren't sure about the details, start with the broad strokes, and fill in the details as the character develops in play.
History
Unless your character in an amnesiac or was grown in a vat, they will have had years of life experience before the first game starts. Where did they come from? How were they raised? Have they been in the military? Were their childhood years relatively carefree, adventurous, or marred by tragedy? When did they first realize they had ambitions beyond staying on the same planet doing the same job for the rest of their life? Did this realization come suddenly, perhaps as a result of a trauma, or was it something they had always known on some level?
Archetypes
When writing up a character, it can be useful to have an archetype in mind for inspiration. An archetype is a brief description of the powers and modus operandi of the character, and their role in the group dynamic. Many popular characters actually combine two or more of these archetypes ("Scoundrel Pilot", "Mystic Knight", "Alien Warrior Engineer" etc.). You aren't limited to these archetypes, of course. These common archetypes are just here to offer you a jumping-off point for your character.
SIDEBAR: Goon
Most of the allies and opponents the player characters encounter will not be captains of their own destinies. For better or for worse, they will live their lives carrying out the will of others. If a character is simply following orders, their archetype is probably the Goon, particularly if the character is part of a group of such individuals.
- Alien
- Android
- Bounty Hunter
- Brute
- Cyborg
- Diplomat
- Engineer
- Explorer
- Hacker
- Knight
- Medic
- Mercenary
- Monk
- Mystic
- Pilot
- Scientist
- Scoundrel
- Scout
- Smuggler
- Soldier
- Spy
- Trader
- Warrior
Motivations
Leaving home is no easy task. Most people never leave the continent they were born on, much less the planet. Space travel is dangerous and expensive.
So why do they do it? What makes an individual leave behind the security of a gravity well and become a space-faring vagabond?
Here are a few motivations to get your creative juices flowing. Mix and match a couple, and think of some new ones, if you like. Take notice of the fact that a few of these are morally questionable.
Adventure
Your character has an adventurous spirit and rarely turns down the opportunity for a bold quest or a dare to overcome some daunting challenge, as long as these tasks are noteworthy, risky, and exciting. They tend to carry out any task with a bit of swashbuckling flair. This can be a good or a bad instinct depending on the circumstances.
Anger
People usually think of anger as a negative emotion, but anger is a strong motivator. Anger can drive a character to overcome challenges and exceed their limits. Perhaps the character is driven to destroy the source of their anger, or defend it. An angry character may be seen as inflexible or difficult to work with by people who do not share that anger, and this can cause friction with other characters.
Audacity
Your character is an adrenaline junkie driven by a desire to experience thrills and risk. They crave action and speed, and often leap before looking. On the positive side, this sort of person often deals well with chaotic situations that require quick reflexes and spur-of-the-moment decisions.
Control
Your character detests the chaos of society, and seeks to impose order and discipline. They conduct their own affairs with precision, and they impose that same order on others when possible. If they are truly ambitious, the character might seek to control events on a grand scale as a kind of benevolent dictator or as a mastermind pulling strings behind the scenes for the benefit of the masses, who aren't competent to lead themselves.
Curiosity
Your character lives and breathes to solve the mysteries of the universe. Their focus might be on cracking the puzzles of the natural world or on unraveling the enigmas of the heart and mind, but whatever their obsession, ignoring a riddle requires great effort. The expression "curiosity killed the cat" comes to mind.
Enthusiasm
Your character is reckless and enthusiastic, and may be young and naive. Though well-intentioned, following directions is not a strong suit. Sometimes this jolt of energy is just what the doctor ordered. Other times it is a recipe for disaster.
Exploration
Your character lives to seek out new places and new ideas, to "boldly go where no one has gone before." The same old routine is not stimulating enough, and though proper planning is important, cautionary tales are often ignored in favor of seeking the new.
Faith
The character believes in something which is not supported by empirical evidence, and this belief gives meaning to their life. They may feel compelled to adhere to a code of conduct inspired by their faith, or they may strive to spread their beliefs to others. Depending on how militant the character is about their faith, their beliefs may cause friction with those who require objective evidence for extraordinary claims, or those whose beliefs conflict with the beliefs of the character.
Glory
Your character wants fame and acknowledgment of their greatness. Self-sacrifice in the service of others is not out of the question, but anonymous acts of benevolence are not on the agenda. Practicing poses and quips for the holocams is a likely pasttime, as is hogging a certain amount of the credit.
Guilt
Your character is driven by a desire for redemption from real or imagined sins from their past. Doing good deeds, particularly selfless acts, assuages their guilt. On the down side, this can lead them to meddle where they aren't wanted, to try to rescue other lost souls, and to fall for sob stories without checking into them thoroughly.
Honor
Your character believes that their worth as a person is tied to their adherence to a code of conduct. This code of conduct may be formal or informal, but it includes such tenets as keeping one's word, appropriate use of force, and respect for rank. Depending on the character's other traits, it may also include a desire for respect by one's family, employer, or peers, and a sense of obligation toward them.
Idealism
Your character believes in some cause or ideology so strongly that they would willingly die to protect it or uphold it. (Whether they are willing to let someone else die as well depends on their other motivations.) Any challenge to these ideals is sure to provoke a strong response.
Individualism
Your character believes that the rights of the individual hold the highest moral value, above any society, religion, or philosophy. The character seeks to be self-reliant and independent, and encourages these traits in others. A character motivated by individualism might work with a team, but their reasons for doing so would be personal, rather than out of any sense of obligation.
Insecurity
Your character feels inadequate, as though they don't measure up to their peers or to some hypothetical standard. They might try to overcome this insecurity by performing extraordinary acts and pretending to have a bravado that they do not feel, or they might seek out characters that they look up to, and make an effort to emulate them.
Justice
Your character seeks to ensure that misdeeds are met with appropriate punishment. If the structure of society is such that the judicial system usually works as intended, then the character would seek to deliver criminals to the appropriate authorities (along with evidence of their crimes, if possible). However, if the system is corrupt (or if the character believes it to be so), then the character may decide that the cause of justice would be best served by taking the law into their own hands.
Love
Your character loves someone or something, or a group of someones or somethings, very dearly. They will go to great efforts and make tremendous sacrifices to protect what they love from harm or danger, real or perceived.
Materialism
Your character wants to amass great wealth. Whether they spend it freely or even pursue philanthropy on a large scale is likely based on other personality traits, but the accumulation of riches is an end in itself for this character. Some might even call them greedy.
Mentoring
Your character's true calling is the education and enlightenment of others. Nurturing talent and preserving or establishing a legacy are key goals in their life. They may seek to provide a moral compass to the wards in their charge, or they may be prone to probe and test their students' abilities.
Nobility
Your character was born to rule and command the respect of their lessers. They may look out for the little people based on a sense of noblesse oblige, but they take action because they feel it is necessary and proper to do so, not because someone else demands that they act. At best, a slight condescension is apparent in most interactions with others not of exalted lineage.
Passion
Your character has a visceral, perhaps even savage, nature that they often struggle to control. At the same time, they may have a strong sense of loyalty or compassion. In general, your character is ruled by emotions and has to work to fit into a rational world, but they may also have insights that logical people overlook.
Pride
Your character seeks to personify the ideal of something, whether a culture, species, social class, or profession. They hold to an exacting standard of behavior and expect to be in the public eye, commanding respect for what they represent. They are not likely to appreciate scandals or public slights.
Protection
Your character wants to protect others, particularly the innocent and the helpless, no matter who or where they are. Seeing people in danger brings out the character's strongest instincts to act. By the same token, the character will tend to be quite careful when using violence in public places.
Rebellion
Your character doesn't fit into the larger society, living as a loner due to prejudice or personal choice. The rebel scoffs at popular trends and pays little heed to public mores. They may seek out other iconoclasts who follow their own drummer or they may just want to be left alone.
Responsibility
Your character has abilities or burdens that they would rather not possess, but feels that getting rid of them or refusing to use them would be selfish and irresponsible. If offered the chance to become "normal", the character may have a crisis of conscience.
Serenity
Your character is or was plagued by inner demons and seeks freedom from the mistakes or tragedies of their past. Maintaining a spiritual, mental, and emotional balance is a daily struggle. It's probable that they try to avoid situations that might trigger bad memories or unhealthy behaviors, but learning to face these challenges is an important step toward recovery.
Traditionalism
Your character believes in structure, tradition, and the chain of command. They appreciate the value of respecting authority, and of following and giving orders. They thrive on stability, structure, and clear objectives. This can potentially create a crisis of conscience if those orders conflict with their personal morals.
Vengeance
Your character seeks revenge for some past wrong done to them or their loved ones. Any personal sacrifice is worthwhile. Depending upon the character's other motivations, sacrificing others might be worth the cost as well.
Complications
All of the most interesting characters have complicated lives. They may have physical or mental impairments, old enemies that never seem to give up on their quest for vengeance, or plain old social awkwardness. Think of one or two complications for your character. This will add depth to your character's background, and provide an easy way for the GM to come up with stories that are uniquely suited to your character. Additionally, when one of their character's complications causes a serious problem for them during the game, the player may gain a plot point. Plot points are spent to alter the game world, gain a skill bonus, or gain an advantage in combat. See Plot Points for more information.
Enemy
The character is an outlaw, hated and/or hunted by people more powerful than they are. Perhaps the character is on the run from a government agency, or perhaps one of the character's childhood friends blames them for some tragedy. Maybe the enemy is obsessed with the character, and won't stop pursuing the character until the character falls in love with the enemy or converts to the enemy's world view.
Gruesome
Sometimes being an adventurer isn't pretty. Perhaps an accident or genetic manipulation has twisted or changed them in some startlingly horrific way. Perhaps the character is from another world or plane of existence and is considered handsome among their own people, but hideous among humans. Whatever the reason, the sight of the character horrifies adults and makes children cry. They may have difficulty in social situations, particularly when meeting someone for the first time.
Vulnerability
The character may be injured by an otherwise harmless element or substance, such as water or sunlight. The character's Endurance is reduced by 2 during each round that they are in contact with the substance. If the affected attribute is something other than Endurance (Brawn, for example), the attribute is reduced by 1 during each round that they are in contact with the substance. This damage will not begin to heal until the character is no longer in contact with the substance. While painful and debilitating, a vulnerability of this sort will not actually kill the character.
Points And Power Level
Once you have the the important parts of the character sketched out, you can start writing up the character's abilities. Characters in ZeroSpace are created using "character points". The player begins with XXX (XXX 50?) of these character points, and then spends them to buy attributes, skills, powers, and so on.
On this scale, most humans attributes fall within the 3 to 6 range -- from "Typical" to "Great". Very few humans reach rank 7 in any attribute, and rank 8 is the peak of human potential. Curiously enough, most nonhuman sophonts fall within this range, as well.
| Rank | Description |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Poor |
| 3-4 | Typical |
| 5-6 | Great |
| 7-8 | Legendary |
| 9-10 | Superhuman |
| 11-12 | Monstrous |
| 13-14 | Unearthly |
Improving Your Character
Unlike most roleplaying games, ZeroSpace assumes that the player characters are relatively complete when they are created. In the books and films which ZeroSpace seeks to emulate, characters don't grow ever more powerful as time goes on, as is common in some roleplaying games. However, part of the fun of a roleplaying game is developing new skills and powers, so ZeroSpace uses the concept of "experience points", but the increase in power over time is relatively slow compared to most other games.
At the end of each story arc (every half-dozen game sessions or so), the GM determines how many experience points to grant each player, and each player adds that amount to the "Unspent Experience" on the character sheet of the character they played during that story. If they played more than one character (due to plot requirements, death or incapacitation of the first character, or any other reason), the player can pick which character receives the experience points. If the player receives more than one experience point and played more than one character over the course of the story arc, they can distribute those experience points among the eligible characters as the player sees fit.
Experience points may be spent at any time to improve or modify a character's attributes, skills, advantages, or powers. Each experience point is used just like the character points used to create a character: one experience point can improve an attribute or most powers by one rank, buy a skill or expertise in that skill, and so on. The GM should keep a close eye on any new powers the character gains, as well as on any increases in the character's attribute or power ranks that might make the character unsuitable for the game being run. It's never a bad idea for the players and the GM to discuss how the players plan to spend their experience points.
The GM should award experience points to players who role-played exceptionally well and made the game more fun for everyone. Here are a few suggestions.
| Activity | Award |
|---|---|
| Showed up for the game | +0 pts |
| Played the game enthusiastically | +1 pts |
| Concluded a lengthy series of games | +1 pts |
| Has the lowest quantity of experience points in the group | +1 pts |
| Role-played exceptionally | +1 pts |
| Was clever and inventive | +1 pts |
We suggest that only one player in the group receive the "Role-played exceptionally" award and that only one player in the group receive the "Was clever and inventive" award, and that these should be two different players. You might like to have the players vote for who they think should receive these two awards. If so, encourage them not to vote for the same two people every time. Also, remember that the purpose of the game is to have fun playing, not to rack up the highest score. If it rubs your players the wrong way to receive different amounts of experience points, it may be easier to just give each player two experience points at the end of each story arc and be done with it.