#RPG-a-DAY2026 Week 4 Cyberpunk 2020

For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. this week I will create one for Cyberpunk 2020. Buckle in because this is a long one. 

There are Three Concepts you need to remember in Cyberpunk 2020:

1) Style over Substance

2) Attitude is Everything

3) Live on the Edge

Cyberpunk 2020 uses what is called the Interlock system and I really like it, this is my favorite cyberpunk RPG full stop. I also think with a little tweaking the ruleset (ability stat + skill + 1d10 against a difficulty number) is almost ideal for the late 19th century to the near future. In fact I'm not the only one to think there, check out this fan site, with full permission from "Maximum" Mike Pondsmith himself, to expand the rules: https://datafortress2020.com/InterlockUnlimited.html

Today we will use the Cyberpunk 2020 Second Edition core book to make a character. In the spirit of rolling the character's randomly this month I'm going to use method 2, roll 1d10 for each statistic, rerolling any scores of 2 or less. Unlike method 2 where you then put them where you want I'm going to do it in order and go from there. 

Intelligence (INT) 10

Reflexes (REF) 4

Cool (CL) 5

Technical Ability (TECH) 10 

Luck (LK) 3 

Most stats in the game are self evident but Luck takes a little explaining, I really like way it is implemented by the way, it reminds me of Karma in Marvel Super Heroes but without tying it into experience points.

To use Luck, you may add any or all of the points of luck a character has to a critical die roll (declaring your intention to use Luck before the roll is made) until all of your Luck stat is used up. Luck is always restored at the end of each game session.

Attractiveness (ATT) 10 

Movement Allowance (MA) 7 

This is listed in two ways on the character sheet: RUN (your MA x 3) which is how far you can move in a single 10 second turn, and LEAP which is RUN divided by 4, by the way in Cyberpunk 2020 you always round down.

Our RUN is 21 and our LEAP is 5. 

Empathy (EMP) 8

This is how well you relate to other living things, a mix of charisma and sympathetic emotions. In Cyberpunk 2020 you have a secondary statistic under EMP of Humanity (EMP x10). Every cybernetic implant has a Humanity cost and every 10 points of humanity you lose lowers your EMP by 1 point. When it gets too low you suffer cybernetic-induced psychosis and become a non player character.   

Our humanity starts at 80.

Body Type (BT) 9

Strength, Endurance and Constitution are all based on the character's Body Type. Body Type determines how much damage you can take in wounds, how much you can lift or carry, how far you can throw (pg. 99), how well you recover from shock, and how much additional damage you cause with physical attacks.

Our body type is Strong, we can carry up to 90 kilograms and dead lift 360 kilograms. Our Save Number is the same as our BT, in this case 9. There is a secondary value called a Body Type Modifier (BTM) based off your BT, in our case it is -3. This means we would subtract three points from any damage we take. To make a save you roll 1d10 and try to get equal or under the Save Number. There are two types of saves in the game, Stun Saves used when you take damage or have to save against knockout drugs. If you fail you will be knocked out of combat and unable to recover until you make a successful save in the following combat turn, you get to try every turn until you succeed. The other type of save is a Death Save, this is when you have been Mortally Wounded (instead of hit points this game uses a wound track depending on your BT) or have to save against some poisons. If you fail it is time to roll up a new character. 

Now for the fun part, we are going to use the life path system to roll up our background and find out who we are! I'm going to roll a d6 to decide the gender, I rolled a 5 for a female. 

1. Dress and Personal Style

I roll 2, 1 and 5 which gives tells us she wears blue jeans, has a mohawk and a nose ring.

Ethnic Origins

I roll 7 which is Black American 

2. Family Background

I roll 3 for Corporate Technician, a 7 tells us that something has happened to one or both parents. 4 indicates that her parent(s) have amnesia and don't remember you! A 9 shows the family status is OK, I guess they lost memory of her after she grew up. Another 9 tells us the childhood environment was an aquatic pirate pack! For number of siblings I roll 6, let's do them one at a time.

Sibling 1: 9, 6 is younger than our character and their feeling towards her is neutral.    

Sibling 2: 3,8 is older and they hero worship our character!

Sibling 3: 7, 8 is younger and they hero worship our character (maybe they are both still stuck with the pirates).

Sibling 4: 10,5 is our twin (!) and feels neutral toward the character.

Sibling 5: 6, 2 is younger and dislikes our character.

Sibling 6: 10, 9 is another twin, so triplets, and hates our character. 

Wow, lots to ingest there but we'll put it all together at the end.

Next we need to roll for our character's 

3. Motivations 

Personality Traits: a roll of 7, she is silly and fluffheaded 

Person You Value Most: a roll of 3 is a lover

What Do You Value Most? a roll of 7 is love

How Do You Feel About Most People? 1 is neutral

Your Most Valued Possession: a piece of jewelry

 4. Life Events

I need to roll 2d6+16 for our age, I rolled 5 and 4 so she is 25. Now we roll once on the major event chart for every year past age 16, or 9 times.

17 years old 8, romantic involvement I roll a 8, fast affairs and hot dates.

18 years old 6 friends & enemies I roll a 3 tells us we made a friend, a 2 tells us it is a male, and a 9 tells us it is a childhood friend we reconnected with. Let's see what they are like. 7, 3, 7 tells us he wears camouflage clothes, has short & spiked hair, and long fingernails. A 10, 5 Tells us that he is Italian and a 3 tells us he is arrogant, proud, and aloof.  

19 years old 9 nothing happened that year.

20 years old 9 nothing happened that year.

21 years old 5 friends & enemies I roll a 5 tells us we made a friend, 3 tells us it is a female, 8 tells us it is a relative. I'm going to roll a d6 and on 1-4 it is a sibling I rolled a 5 so this will be an aunt. This aunt, 2, 3, 0 wears blue jeans, has short & spiked hair, and wears fingerless gloves. She is also arrogant, proud and aloof, seems like our character has a certain type of person that she gets along with!

22 years old 8 romantic involvement I roll a 4 tells us this was a happy love affair. Let's she what the other person was like, a 10 tells us male, 9, 6, 10, tells us he likes to be nude, has a striped hairstyle, but does wear fingerless gloves. 9 tells us he is Central or South American and a 1 tells us he is shy and secretive, interesting I wonder if their are scars or tattoos on his palms or the back of his hands that he wants to cover? 

23 years old 7 romantic involvement I roll a 7 tells us this was a love affair with problems, a 6 tells us that we fight constantly, a 10 tells us that they still like us but we hate them. 1 tells us this is a female, 9, 3, 3 tells us she also likes to be nude (I have an idea to make that work), has short & spiked hair as well as ritual scars. A 1 tells us she is Anglo-American and a 2 tells us she is rebellious, antisocial, and violent. 

24 years old nothing happened that year.

25 years old 6 friends and enemies I roll a 7 tells us it is an enemy, a 9 tells us it is a female, a 4 tells us this is a childhood enemy, a 3 tells us one of us caused the other a major humiliation, 10 tells us the felling is mutual, 2 tells us if we meet we "go into a murderous, killing range and rip his face off!", a 4 tells us that our enemies resources are her and a few friends, and lastly we need to flesh her out a little. 1, 7, 2 tell us she wears biker leathers, has tinted hair, and wears mirrorshades. A 10, 1 tells us she is French and finally a 3 tells us she is, you guessed it, arrogant, proud and aloof!

Now we need to pick our role or career. With three 10s we have lots of good options, Netrunner, Corporate, Techie, Media and Rockerboy (Rockergirl). Our low stats in Reflexs and Cool tells us we might not be best suited to be Solos, Nomads, Rockerboys or Fixers. I'm actually going to go with Netrunner because I have never played one. They would be great in a solo game or in a duet game (one game master and one player) but the netrunning rules are a little time consuming and not best suited to group play, we always hired NPC netrunners in the games I played so their activities didn't slow down the game.

There are two kinds of skills, Career Skill Packages and Pickup Skills. The first are skills related to your role or career and the second are skills you picked up "knocking around, living his or her life." All characters start with 40 points to spend on their Career Skill Packages and each role or career has 10 Career Skills. To determine how many points you get for Pickup Skills you add your REF and INT, so in our case she gets 14 points to spend. I should also mention that you can't mix points from Career Skill Packages and Pickup Skills. All skills are related to one of the stats, I'll put the related stat next to each skill. Remember when doing a skill check you roll stat + skill + 1d10 and check against a target number.

As you go through the game you will get Improvement Points (IP) a number of different ways and you can use IP to get better as skills you already have or learn new skills. You'll notice some of the skills below have an IP multiplier after them, like CyberTech (2), that means it takes twice the normal number of IP to improve that skill.  

A Netrunner's Career Skill Package consists of:

Interface (INT)

This is the "special ability" of the Netrunner role and they are the only ones that can take it. 

This skill reflects the Netrunner's ability to manipulate Interface programs, and is the Skill used when operating Menu functions such as locate Remote, Run Software, Control Remote, Downlink , Load, Create and Delete. Other players can enter the Net, but cannot use the Menu. Interface is based on the INT Stat. 

Awareness/Notice (INT)

This is the equivalent of a "trained observer" skill, allowing characters to notice or be aware of dues, shadowers and other events. With an Awareness of +2 you will usually spot small pieces of paper with notes on them, doors left ajar, and obvious expressions of lying or dislike. An Awareness of +5 or better allows you to spot fairly well hidden clues, notice small changes in expression, and fairly sophisticated attempts to "shadow" you. With an Awareness of +8 or greater, you routinely perform the sorts of deductive reasoning seen in the average TV cop show ("The murderer was left handed because this knife has a specialized handle"). Sherlock Holmes has a + 1 0 Awareness. Players without this skill may only use their Intelligence Stat.

Basic Tech (TECH)

The required skills for building or repairing simple mechanical and electrical devices, such as car engines, television sets, etc. With a Basic Tech Skill of +3 or better, you can fix minor car problems, repair basic wiring, etc. A Basic Tech Skill of +6 or better can repair stereos and TVs, rebuild an engine, etc. A Basic Tech Skill of +9 or better can build a simple computer from scratch, put together a race car engine, and maintain any kind of industrial machinery. However, they do not know enough specialized knowledge to apply it to complex things such as aircraft (just like Mr. Goodwrench doesn't know how to build and service an F-16}.

Education (INT)

This skill is the equivalent of a basic public school education, allowing you to know how to read, write, use basic math, and know enough history to get by. In effect, it is a "lore" or trivia skill. A level of + 1 is a basic grade school education. A skill of +2 is equal to a high school equivalency. A Knowledge Skill of +3 is equal to a college education, +4 or higher is equal to a Masters or Doctorate. At +7, you are an extremely well-educated person, and are asked to play Trivial Pursuit a lot. At +9 and above, you are one of those people who 'knows a lot about everything (and hopefully has the good sense to keep his mouth shut).

System Knowledge (INT)

Basic knowledge of the geography of the Net, it's lore and history, as well as knowledge of the important computer systems, their strengths and their weaknesses. At +2, you can generally navigate around the Net and know where all the local places are. At +6, you know the locations of most places in the Net, and have a working understanding of its largest and most well known systems. At +9, you know the entire Net like the back of your hand, know the general layouts of the important systems cold, and are aware of the layouts for the rest of them.

CyberTech (2) (TECH)

The required skill for repairing and maintaining cyberwear. At level +2, you can keep your cyberwear tuned up and can replace its power batteries. At level +6, you can strip down most cyberwear and even make simple modifications. At level +8, you can design your own cyberwear to order.

Cyberdeck Design (2) (TECH)

The required skill for designing cyberdecks. At level +4, you can modify an existing cyberdeck for greater speed or memory. At level +6, you can design a deck equal to most existing designs. At +8, you can design decks that are substantially improved over existing designs.

Composition (INT)

The required skill for writing songs, articles, or stories. A Composing Skill of +4 or greater gives your character the ability to produce salable work. A Skill of +8 or more produces work of such a high caliber that the creator may have a strong literary following and not a little critical acclaim.

Electronics (TECH)

The required skill for maintaining, repairing and modifying electronic instruments such as computers, personal electronics hardware, electronic security systems, cameras and monitors.

Programming (INT)

The required skill to write programs and to re-program computer systems. This skill does not allow players to actually do repairs on a computer (this requires Electronics). With a Programming Skill of + 1, you can do simple EBASIC programs. A Programming Skill of +3 or better allows you to know some higher level languages and be able to write reasonably complex programs (including video games). Players with a Programming Skill +6 or better are considered to be professionals, who can build operating software, design mainframe systems, and hold down a steady job at your average Silicon Valley firm. With a Programming Skill of +9 or better, other programmers speak your name with reverence ("You invented Q? Wowl"}, young hackers set out to crack your systems, and any computer software you design instantly gets used by every business application in the world.

Here is how I allotted the points

Interface (INT) 8

Awareness/Notice (INT) 4

Basic Tech (TECH) 2

Education (INT) 4

System Knowledge (INT) 6

CyberTech (2) (TECH) 1

Cyberdeck Design (2) (TECH) 4 

Composition (INT) 1

Electronics (TECH) 4

Programming (INT) 6

The game allows you a default for performing skills you don't have (just use 0 in place of the skill level when you do your check although the Referee may rule that some things can't be done without some training in the skill) but we need to use Pickup Skills to fill in some gaps. The following are the ones that I think would be pretty useful: Personal Grooming (ATT), Wardrobe & Style (ATT), Streetwise (CL), Human Perception (EMP), Persuasion & Fast Talk (EMP), Library Search (INT), Dodge & Escape (REF), Handgun (REF), Melee (REF), Electronic Security (2) (TECH). I only have 14 points so we need to whiddle down those 10 skills choices to maybe three or four.

Normally I always put points in Personal Grooming and Wardrobe & Style (Rule Number One is Style over Substance!) but since those skills relate to ATT I'll trust on her high score to pull her through. Unless she is working for a corporation a Netrunner has to have some level of Streetwise to survive. Human Perception, being able to pick up emotional clues from others, is pretty important when you are an entrepreneur on the black market. Persuasion & Fast Talk is super helpful for talking your way out of corners. Library Search is obviously important. Dodge & Escape Handgun and Melee all are important since it is rare to see a role playing game sessions that doesn't involve combat. Electronic Security would be very helpful because sometimes you have to get into a secure area to jack into the network. 

Here is what I went with

Streetwise (CL) 3

Human Perception (EMP) 2

Persuasion & Fast Talk (EMP) 2

Library Search (INT) 1

Dodge & Escape (REF) 4

Electronic Security (2) (TECH) 2

I have decided to start her off as a non-combatant. No doubt as she gains IP she'll be putting some in Handgun and Melee but for now she'll have to hope her companions can handle any physical threats that come the crews way.

Another important trait characters have is Reputation.

Reputation is a measure of things your character may do so well (or badly) that he has actually become well known for them. A reputation for something is always established by a character's actions, and is then awarded by the Referee. Whenever a character encounters new people in new situations , his reputation may actually influence how they react to him. Sometimes this can be very good. Other times, it can be very bad.

Now we have to outfit her! There is a standard outfit for characters in the game, the slang (another major part of the game) for what you carry around is your outfit.

A typical outfit might include:

• Inflatable bed (folds to a 6"x6"package for easy storage).

• Compressable down sleep-bag (wads to the size of a paperback book).

• Micro-stereo combo (a microsized boom box with stereo speakers or headphones, possibly CD, chip/tape player, TV and certainly radio).

• Handful of tapes or datachips.

• Laptop or pocket computer (for notes, writing, business, links to computer networks).

• Cybermodem, cables (for Netrunners).

• Pocket Cellular phone (the phone is bought, the service is rented by the month).

• Handgun, knife or both. Possibly an assault rifle or SMG, and a couple backups as well. Always extra ammo.

• Body armor (usually an armor jacket or bullet-proof T-shirt).

• Personal things, like clothes, toothbrushes, etc.

Most of this is crammed into a shoulder bag or duffle sack. 

For her starting outfit I'm thinking a Federated Arms X-22 in purple, a switchblade, and a light armored jacket (SP 14). If some of that looks out of place remember this game has an alternate time line that deviates from ours in 1990 so some tech is more advanced then in the real world and some never advanced as far as in the real world.

To find out her starting funds he check her Interface rank on the Occupation Table, that tells us she is a Net Cowboy (Cowgirl?) making 5,000 euros a month. Not bad at all! Now we multiple that by 1d6/3 to see how many consecutive months she has been employed to see how much cash she has on hand to spend on other gear. I roll 4 for one month's worth (remember we round down) or 5,000 euros starting funds. Next I roll a 1 so she is still employed this month, if I had rolled a 4 or higher she would have just lost her current gig. 

Before we worry about the rest of her outfit we should consider her CyberWare, what enhancements does she have? I'm going to keep it as basic as I can, being very intelligent and attractive she isn't going to want to impair her natural looks and knows the dangers of of cybernetic implants. Plus she is very confident of her own abilities. 

NeuralWare Processor (1d6, I rolled 3) 3 Humanity Loss

Cybermodem Link 1 Humanity Loss

Machine/Tech Link 2 Humanity Loss

DataTerm Link 2 Humanity Loss

Interface Plugs (in wrists) (1d6/ pair, I rolled 5) 5 Humanity Loss (she probably hates seeing them sticking out of her wrists)

Chipware Socket (allows up to 10 chips to be loaded) (1d6/2, I rolled a 1), 1 Humanity Loss (probably behind the ear where she can't see it)

Thats a total of 1,700 euros and 14 Humanity Loss. 

I expect out of the 3,300 euros she has left she would spend it on the best cyberdeck she could get her hands on and go from there. I'm not going to do that today as it would involve some decisions by the Referee. She would probably spend 600 on a Handgun Level 2 chip and 300 on a Melee level 2 chip if she could afford them. 

It is finally time to write up her backstory!

Sandra's parents, Kip and LaFawnduh, were living in Detriot when the United States collapsed. The corporation they worked for moved them to the West Coast but they ended up getting kidnapped by pirates while on a second honeymoon and were forced to work for them. They had a large family, some of which assimilated with pirate life well and some who did not. Sandra did not. She was trained as a netrunner but always watched for her chance to escape. When she was 16 her parents risked everything to assist her in getting to the mainland away from the pirates but their involvement was discovered and they were brainwiped by the pirates and now have no memory of Sandra. 

Sandra was able to get to into a crew in Night City and put her skills to work. She was a skilled netrunner and well liked even if she was too irreverent for some of her new partners. Sandra went through a series of flings and one night stands. When she was 18 she met Lorenzo, who she knew from the pirate pack as a child. He had escaped as well and was now working in Night City as a solo. She keeps in touch with him and over the years they have done favors for each other.

At 21 she ran into her aunt, Deb, who moved to Night City after Sandra's uncle disappeared, she believes he is still alive though. Deb works in the fashion industry and stays in touch with Sandra who has promised to keep her eye out for anything leading to Deb's husband's location. In fact following a lead took Sandra to a nudist colony where she spent the next couple years. While she was at the nudist colony she didn't find her uncle but she did have some serious relationships, first with Carlos and then with Trisha who knew her uncle many years ago. Still this was a dead end and Sandra eventually moved back to Night City.

Earlier this year she made an enemy in Camille, another childhood acquaintance from the pirate pack. Now the leader of a small gang Camille and Sandra are out to get each other any chance they get. She is definitely a problem Sandra will have to take care of soon but right now Sandra and her crew have a cushy gig that is paying the bills and she is just trying to get better gear before tackling the Camille problem. 

So mechanically Sandra looks like this:

Sandra Lucas

Netrunner, REP ?

Intelligence (INT) 10

Reflexes (REF) 4

Cool (CL) 5

Technical Ability (TECH) 10 

Luck (LK) 3 

Attractiveness (ATT) 10 

Movement Allowance (MA) 7 RUN 21 JUMP 5

Empathy (EMP) 6 Humanity 66

Body Type (BT) 9 Strong Lift 90 SAVE 9 BMT -3

Skills

Interface (INT) 8

Awareness/Notice (INT) 4

Basic Tech (TECH) 2

Composition (INT) 1

CyberTech (2) (TECH) 1

Cyberdeck Design (2) (TECH) 4 

Dodge & Escape (REF) 4

Education (INT) 4

Electronic Security (2) (TECH) 2

Electronics (TECH) 4

Human Perception (EMP) 2

Library Search (INT) 1

Persuasion & Fast Talk (EMP) 2

Programming (INT) 6

Streetwise (CL) 3

System Knowledge (INT) 6

Cybernetics

NeuralWare Processor 3 Humanity Loss

Cybermodem Link 1 Humanity Loss

Machine/Tech Link 2 Humanity Loss

DataTerm Link 2 Humanity Loss

Interface Plugs (in wrists) 5 Humanity Loss 

Chipware Socket (allows up to 10 chips to be loaded) 1 Humanity Loss

That is all for this week, see you next Sunday, 30 August, when I create a character for Dark Conspiracy 1E! By the way I don't have a financial stake in Mongoose but they do appear to be a company that cares and does right by their employees. I mention them because there is a crowdfunding campaign going on right now over at Backerkit for an updated version of Dark Conspiracy that uses the Mongoose Traveller ruleset. 

#RPG-a-Day2026 Bonus Episode Marvel Super Heroes Ultimate Powers Book

 For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. This is a bonus episode where I create one for TSR's Marvel Super Heroes Ultimate Powers Book by David Edward Martin plus the errata by the author that appeared in Dragon Magazine #122.. 

Since I covered character creation for the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set in the last blog entry I am going to concentrate on the differences between that and the Ultimate Powers Book in this one. This book gives an alternate character creation system an expanded set of powers. It is also infamous for being unbalanced, it will be interesting to see what we get!

Here are the seven steps to creating a character:

• Generate a physical form.

• Generate an Origin of Power.

• Generate Primary Abilities.

• Generate Secondary Abilities.

• Generate a Weakness.

• Generate Powers.

• Give your character life.

Step 1: Physical Form

I roll a 49 which gives us Modified Human, Organic. This person started as a normal human who has had their internal organs and nervous system altered but not their DNA. They roll on column 1 when generating abilities  and heal twice as fast as normal humans. The organization that modified the character should be one of the Contacts and they start with one less Power.

 Step 2: Origin of Power

I roll a 16 which gives us Maturity. According to the book the character did not gain full control of their power until maturity. Sadly we will have to tap into one of the other origins to really explain the source of the power since this character is not a mutant. I'll come back to this after we generate the powers to see what will make the most sense. 

Step 3: Primary Abilities

Fighting I roll 78 for Remarkable (26)

Agility I roll 96 for Incredible (36)

Strength I roll 04 for Feeble (1)

Endurance I roll 01 for Feeble (1)

Reason I roll 61 for Remarkable (26)

Intuition I roll 75 for Remarkable (26)

Psyche I roll 45 for Excellent (16)

Good thing he heals fast, definitely not a rough and tough type.

Step 4 Secondary Abilities

Health is the sum of the first four abilities 64

Karma is the sum of the last three abilities 68

Resources start at Typical (5) modified by a roll on the Ability Modifier Table, I roll 76 for Increase by two ranks so it goes up to Excellent (16)

Popularity starts at 10 but is reduced by 5 because he will have a secret identity so he actually has two Popularity scores, one for the secret identity and one for the heroic identity. He can split Contacts between the two but not anything else. The Popularity of the two can be different depending on what happens in the game but they will both start at 5 so it looks like 5/5.

Step 5 Weakness Generation

You would think his Strength and Endurance would be enough but the book wants him to have more issues. The book wants us to determine a Stimulus, an Effect and a Duration for the Weakness. If we have a power with a rank over Remarkable the weakness may be fatal otherwise they recommend it only max out at Incapacitating. That is nice of them. 

For Stimulus I roll a 33 which gives us Energy Allergy, to trigger this one of the elements from the Periodic Table must be in its pure state, in a quantity of at least an ounce and within 20 feet.

For Effect I roll 41 which is Power Negation meaning the character's powers cease to work within 20 feet of whatever element we pick. His Primary Abilities are also impacted and receive one Column Shift down per turn of exposure until they are all down to the rank of Typical. Also his Powers automatically fail if he directly attacks or tries to use them on the Stimulus.

For Duration I roll 04 for Continuous with Contact. As soon as he moves more than 20 feet away his Powers return and they regain 2 lost Health points a turn.

It recommends you work with the Judge to determine the Stimulus but the more power the character the more common the Stimulus should be. Let's generate our Powers and come back to the specific element that is our "Kryptonite."

Step 6 Power Generation

We need to roll once for Powers, once for Talents, and once for Contacts.

For Powers I roll a 61 for 5 out of 7 powers, because of our Physical Form we only start with 4 out of 7 Powers.

For Talents I roll a 32 for 1 out of 6 possible Talents.

For Contacts I roll a 71 for 3 out of 3 possible Contacts.

At this point I can decide to spend Resource ranks to get extra Powers, Talents, or Contacts. Powers cost two negative Column Shifts each where Talents and Contacts only cost one negative Column Shift each. I can't drop Resources below Feeble. I'm not going to do this but it is an option.

Okay, time to roll our 4 Powers. 

First up I roll 33 for Lifeform Control and 44 for Hypnotic Control. I roll 60 for a Power rank of Excellent (16).

The hero can dominate a target's behavior and actions by implanting commands, not by direct psionic control. The Hypnotic command may pertain to current conditions or lie dormant until triggered by future conditions (post-hypnotic suggestion).

Second Power, 91 for Self-Alteration and 93 for Shrinking with a roll of 45 for a Power rank of Excellent (16)

The hero can temporarily decrease his body’s size. The hero’s primary and secondary abilities remain unaffected. 

That sound good until you keep reading

it is much harder for a shrunken hero to gain enough leverage to perform tasks that would otherwise be simple to perform.

And that isn't all

As the hero shrinks, he becomes harder to hit but conversely suffers greater damage if struck.

With a Power rank of Excellent he shrinks to 3% of his normal size and which results in one negative Column Shift if someone tries to hit him but if he is hit the damage is shifted up one Column Shift.  

Next we have to roll to see how he shrinks and I rolled a 09 for 

Atomic Collapse decreases the distance between the body’s atoms and subatomic particles, thus decreasing overall size. Mass and strength are unaffected.

I guess he won't be riding in anyone's pocket! But there is an optional associated Power that I can take in the place of rolling my next one, Diminution, the ability to reduce the size of a target. I'm going to take that.

So my Third Power is Diminution and a roll of 67 gives us a Power rank of Remarkable (26) which reduces the target to 1% their regular size! I'll keep Atomic Collapse as the how he shrinks his targets, which can include living beings. 

Last Power, 38 is Magic and 52 is Power Simulation 

The book says:

If a Magic Power appears at any time during the character generation process, the player should convert the entire character to a Mage and convert all the Powers into their Magical equivalents.

This is why you don't put too much thought into anything before you roll everything up! 

We need to figure out the "Mechanism" of magic for this character, or how they manifest the "Effect" or power. Rolling a 80 we get Summoning. 

The Mage can summon supernatural beings and compel/ bribe/ beg them to go do the actual work that produces the Effect.

Nice! I can work with that, all the Powers this character has are done by the entities they summon. The Power rank of the Power dictates the Power rank of the being they have to Summon and we are told:

The Mage runs into danger as he attempts to summon more Powerful beings, many of whom might resent the Mage for dragging them away from their home dimension and sending them off on some ridiculous mission. Should the Mage loses control of the situation, things might get nasty, messy, and probably fatal.

Time to find out what "Power Simulation" is:

This is not an actual Magical Power. What it is is a Magical version of any Power in the Ultimate Powers Book. The player simply rolls the dice again at this point to randomly determine another Power. Such a Power is to then considered to be Magical in nature and follows the rules for Magic rather than for relatively normal Power. 

Of course, that makes perfect sense. Now I roll 04 for Defensive and 09 for Body Armor (Artificial) Power rank roll 100 for a rank of Amazing (46)

The hero possesses artificially-created armor that provides protection and possibly a way of possessing other Powers. 

We should circle back to the Weakness now. Lead would be sense as the element since his powers are magical in nature but I worry that would be so common as to cripple the character. Maybe Silver? Probably also too common but what the heck. It does have to be at least an ounce to 

For his Talent he rolled is 61 Professional Skills and 7 for Engineering. 

For Contacts I think two will belong to the Secret Identity, Engineering and a Mystical Contact. This wouldn't be Mephisto but a "friendly" contact that is helping guide him on the path of possible redemption. Friendly is in quotes as this contact is no doubt using him as a pawn in their battle against evil. The other one will belong to the Heroic Identity, a Hero Group the Defenders (remember my touch stone is 1970s and 1980s comics so my Defenders are characters like Dr. Strange, Namor, the Hulk, The Son of Satan, and Valkyrie. 

Step 7 

Let's put this all together. Robert Faust was a smart but sickly boy who loved learning how things worked. He also is somewhat self taught in Aikido although he was never really healthy enough to attend actual classes (this explains the high Fighting but low Strength and Endurance as well as the lack of Martial Arts Talent). By the time he was in high school his organs were failing and he took at chance. Using a magical tome he found in an abandoned house he summoned Mephisto and traded his soul for the ability to summon demons to do his bidding. Regretting his choice he tries to use these powers for good with the misplaced hope he might win his soul back. He balances his career as a respected biomedical engineer with his other identity, The Green Scarab.

As The Green Scarab he wears a green business suit with a hooded cape and a mask over his face, all green except for the black full face mask. He wears a ballistic and stab resistant vest, like police officers wear under their uniform shirt, under his suit to hopefully protect against silver knives or shotgun slugs that would go right through his magical body armor. 

To use his powers he has to summon demons. His armor manifests as demonic scarab beetles that cover his body and their ever shifting mass absorbs damage. A slightly larger, rainbow colored demonic beetle appears when he uses Hypnotic Control to mesmerize his victim. It puts forth a kaleidoscopic ray that works either visually or audibly. Shrinking and Diminution is done by a half humanoid beetle demon that only the targeted person can see.    

Mechanically he looks like this:

The Green Scarab

Robert Faust, Modified Human, Organic

F Rm (26)
A In (36)
S Fb (1)
E Fb (1)
R Rm (26)
I Rm (26)
P Ex (16)

Health: 64

Karma: 68

Resources: Excellent

Popularity: 5/5

Known Powers: Body Armor (Artificial) (Am), Diminution (Rm), Hypnotic Control (Ex), Shrinking (Ex), heals twice normal rate

Weakness: Silver

Talents: Engineering

Contacts: As Robert Faust: Undefined Mystical Contact, Undefined Engineering Contact. As The Green Scarab: The Defenders

Equipment: Concealed Ballistic and Stab Resistant Body Armor (Gd)

Obviously there is a ton the player and Judge will need to work out with this character before they are ready to play but he could be a lot of fun and has a nice juicy hook the Judge can use against him. 

That is all for this week, see you Sunday, 23 August, when I create a character for Cyberpunk 2020!

#RPG-a-DAY2026 Week 3 Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set

For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. this week I will create one for the Advanced Box Set of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes. 

My favorite super hero game is TSR's Marvel Super Heroes. I actually prefer the original yellow box Basic Set with a few rules ported over from the Advanced Set but for today's character we will use the advanced set rules as written. 

(There is also the controversial, and fairly broken, Ultimate Powers Book that has its own generation tables, I'll do a character with it midweek as opposed to extending this already long entry.) 

Before we get started let's talk about the Universal Chart.

The above chart is where all the action happens. You find your ranking across the top, roll the dice and find the result on the left hand side. Cross reference them and the color tells you the result. Some things will have you do a column shift (CS) to the left or right. That in a nutshell is the core mechanic of the game. 

Two other things, first you should know that to help the game feel more like a comic book ranks have names, from the worst to the best they are: Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good, Excellent, Remarkable, Incredible, Amazing, Monstrous, Unearthly, Shift X, Shift Y, Shift Z, Class 1000, Class 3000, Class 5000, Beyond. As far as most characters go Unearthly is the top, the others are for column shifts and cosmic beings. The last thing to know is that the ability scores (Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intution, Psyche) spell FASERIP which is a common nickname for this system. 

There are a couple ways to get characters in the advanced game but we will use the Generated Characters method to randomly roll one up. There are five steps: generate an origin, generate primary abilities, generate secondary abilities, generate special abilities, and lastly fill in the blanks. 

When you generate your origin you roll percentile dice and have a chance to get the following: Altered Human, Mutant, Hi-Tech, Robot, or Alien. I rolled a 60 which gives us a Mutant, here is the what the book says about them:

Mutants are members of the race of Homo Superior, a new race of man born from the race of Homo Sapiens (that's us). Mutant powers often (though not always) first manifest themselves in the teen-age years. Mutants are generally feared and disliked by the populace at large. Examples of mutants include the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants. When creating a mutant character:

• Random ranks are rolled on Column 1 of the Random Ranks Table.

• Mutants gain one additional Power, up to the total number of Powers available to the Hero (maximum of 5).

• Resources are reduced by one rank.

• Starting Popularity is always 0.

• Mutants gain and lose Popularity at a slower rate than other character types.

• Endurance is raised by one rank.

• The majority of a mutant's Powers are inborn as opposed to equipment-based.

• They may be affected by mutant detection and mutant nullification devices. 

Now we need to generate primary abilities. The chart is pretty neat as each origin type has different maximums, for example normal humans max out at Excellent, Mutants at Amazing, but Robots and Aliens can have abilities that are Monstrous. Let's see what we get:

Fighting roll 58 for a score of 16 Excellent

Agility roll of 79 for a score of 26 Remarkable

Strength roll of 05 for a score of 1 Feeble

Endurance roll of 82 for a score of 36 Incredible. Because the character is a mutant we raise this by one rank to 46 Amazing.

Reason roll of 93 for a score of 36 Incredible

Intuition roll of 68 for a score of 26 Remarkable

Psyche roll of 12 for a score of 5 Typical

Next step is to generate secondary abilities. To get our Health we total the rank numbers of the first four abilities and to get Karma we total the rank numbers of the final three abilities. 

Health 89

Karma 67

Initial Resources are set at Typical and then adjusted by a roll on the Ability Modification Table, I rolled 72 for an increase by two ranks to Excellent. That is reduced by one rank to Good because we are creating a mutant. You can further reduce Resources to gain extra Powers, Talents, or Contacts but I'm going to forgo that for this character. 

Resources 8 Good

The last step is to generate the character's Popularity. Normally this starts at 10 and can be modified by whether the character's identity is public or secret, if a non mutant is known to hang out with mutants or if they are deemed unpopular for some reason. Since we are creating a mutant ours automatically starts at 0. This is also the point to decide if the character has a secret identity because if they do they will have two Popularity scores, one for the hero and one for their secret identity. I am going roll a d10 to give us a 50/50 chance of a secret identity or a public one, I rolled a 7 so it will be public.

Popularity 0

The next step is to generate special abilities. We roll once on each of the following tables: Powers, Talents and Contacts. 

For Powers I rolled 53 which gives 3 out of a possible 4 powers and because we are a mutant we get one additional power, up to the maximum, so we will start with 4 powers.

For Talents I rolled a 50 for 2 out of 5 possible talents.

For Contacts I rolled a 81 for 2 out of 4 possible contacts. 

Let's generate those Powers!

The first roll is 81, Body Alterations/Offensive, we roll another d10, 8, and find we have Claws. I roll 99 to get a rank of 63 Monstrous. I'll post slightly edited versions of the power descriptions after each.

Claws are... well, claws. Sharp pointy items that inflict damage on the Edged Attack column of the battle effects table. As with most sharp things, they inflict the listed amount and effect, and cannot be reduced in damage or effect. The Power rank lists both the damage inflicted by the claws and the material strength.

The second roll is 05, Resistances, we roll another d10 for 8 which is Resistance to Mental Attacks. I roll 45 for a rank of 16 Excellent. 

Any mental attacks that affect the Psyche from psionic (but not magical) sources.

The third roll is 91 for Body Alternations/Defensive. The d10 is 4, Water Breathing. 

This is a wimp Power. Face it. When the great hero parties take place, and Ulterior-Motive Man asks you what you do, if you say, "I breathe water" you end up wearing a full fishbowl. This Power allows you to breathe water (fresh or salt) as if air. No Power rank is needed for this Power. In addition, this Power allows the hero to see underwater as if on land (vision is reduced in the underwater realm), and survive at great depths. The hero's next Power may be either Swimming or Animal Communication and Control (Sea life). The hero may choose both, but then only breathes water, and will "drown" on dry land (reverse of characters drowning in water).

I copied the quoted text above in full for your enjoyment. Because I have the option I'm going to go ahead and take Swimming as the final power, I roll 23 for 5 Typical rank but that is raised to 63 Monstrous due to the text below.

All heroes are assumed to be capable of swimming (or at least remaining afloat and treading water) if free of impediments (inability to swim would be a minor limitation in the Talents section). The Swimming Power shows that the hero can move through the water at high speeds, as in the Lightning Speed Power applied to water.  (Lightning Speed lets the character move as a vehicle with a speed equal to the power rank. The power will always be at Endurance +1 column shift, raise it to this if you roll lower)

Next we'll generate our Talents. Two rolls on the table, 62 and 29, for Professional Skills and Fighting Skills. The professional skill is Pilot and the fighting skill is Acrobatics. 

Pilot: The character with this Talent has a working knowledge of most aircraft, and receives a + 1CS for all FEAT rolls involving an aircraft that character is controlling (including Control FEATs, Agility FEATs, and Reason FEATs involving aircraft handling and design). A character with a background that would permit it (a hero who is an alien) may extend this Talent to spacecraft as well.

Acrobatics: The hero with this Talent is very limber and as such gains advantages when under attack. The hero has a + 1CS when dodging, evading, and escaping.

Because I'm taking an Atlantean Contact in the next step I'm hoping the Judge will allow my Piloting Talent to apply to Atlantean Aerial-Submarines and other flying machines as well as human ones.  

Lastly we would generate two Contacts, I'm going to pick a Hero Group (the X-Men) and a Other National contact, someone from Atlantis, probably a member of the royal family, that the character has helped and knows.   

The last thing we need to do is fill in the blanks. The book provides the following checklist to help, we'll launch right into the narrative write up of the character to answer them:

• What is the character's fighting name?

• What is the character's alter ego, if any?

• Is the character male, female, or what?

• How tall is the character?

• What does the character look like? Is the hero physically good-looking or strange-looking (note Popularity shift in the latter case)?

• Where does the character operate? Where does the hero live?

• Does the hero have any Contacts other than the ones provided by the generation system?

• Check the hero's Resources. Where is this guy getting money like that?

• Does the hero wear a costume? What does it look like?

• Last, and optionally, what is the hero's specific origin? If you, the player, make up an origin, it saves the Judge the trouble of creating one for you. Judges by and large create very nasty backgrounds for heroes without stated origins, so when super-powered organizations come hunting for you, at least you know who they are.

Sven Sorenson was born in the harsh environment of Norway in a fishing village. When he reached puberty his mutant powers manifested themselves while he was on his father's fishing boat and it was attacked by pirates. No one was more surprised than Sven that he didn't drown when a pirate threw him off the side! His reappearance on the boat and sharp claws sent the pirates packing but not before they dealt his older brother a mortal wound. Soon afterwards the X-Men arrived looking for the new mutant. He trained with the X-Men but didn't join them as he wanted to combat crime on the seas. 

Sven picked the name The Silver Seal but his identity is public. A tall, handsome man with shoulder length blond hair he makes an impressive appearance. His costume looks like a silver wetsuit with a seal on the chest although thanks to his friends the X-Men it is more durable than a regular wetsuit. He doesn't live in one place but moves around from fishing village to fishing village helping where he can. Between money he earns and the gratitude of those he has helped he lives a spartan but decent lifestyle, after all he doesn't need much. He has dual citizenship in Norway and the United States of America (his mother was American) but he doesn't identify strongly with either.  

The last thing I want to do is show how the character would be expressed mechanically in a module. 

The Silver Seal

Sven Sorenson, Aquatic Mutant

F  Ex (16)
A  Rm (26)
S  Fb (1)
E  Am (46)
R  In (36)
I  Rm (26)
P  Ty (5)

Health: 89

Karma: 67

Resources:  Gd (8)

Popularity: 0

Known Powers: Claws (Mn), Resistance to Mental Attacks (Ex), Swimming (Mn), Water Breathing 

Talents: Acrobatics, Pilot

Contacts: X-Men, Atlantean member of the royal family 

Background: Sven Sorenson grew up in in a fishing village in Norway. After his mutant powers manifested themselves he trained with the X-Men before setting off on his own. He mostly sticks to the ocean and the coasts and keeps a friendly relationship with both the Atlanteans and many coastal fishing villages. His passion is fighting piracy and other crimes on the water.

That is all for this week, see you midweek for the Ultimate Powers Book and next Sunday, 23 August, when I create a character for Cyberpunk 2020!

#RPG-a-Day2026 Week 2 AD&D 1E

For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. this week I will create one for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition. 

I didn't say it last week but I am rolling real dice for all these articles, my dice of choice these days are the Official Runehammer Dice Set found here: https://www.runehammer.online/online-store/Official-Runehammer-Dice-Set-p564679890 of course for D10s I prefer proper 20 sided dice marked 0-9 twice over the non-platonic abominations that are ten sided dice, Wondertrail and I believe Koplow make them and you can find them on Amazon or various other vendors online. I like to buy sets of black and white dice and always designate the black as the tens die when rolling percentile dice. They do come in other colors though. 

We will be bouncing back and forth between the Player's Handbook (PHB) and the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), I will not be using The Book That Shall Not Be Named (Unearthed Arcana if you must know). In OSR circles there is often much fuss made about rolling a character's attributes "3d6 down the line" and accepting what you get. Interestingly enough Gary Gygax doesn't recommend that in AD&D, instead he writes:

As AD&D is an ongoing game of fantasy adventuring, it is important to allow participants to generate a viable character of the race and profession which he or she desires. While it is possible to generate some fairly playable characters by rolling 3d6, there is often an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one due to quirks of the dice. Furthermore, these rather marginal characters tend to have short life expectancy — which tends to discourage new players, as does having to make do with some character of a race and/or class which he or she really can’t or won’t identify with. Character generation, then, is a serious matter, and it is recommended that the following systems be used. Four alternatives are offered for player characters:

Method I:

All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled, and the lowest die (or one of the lower) is discarded. 

Method II:

All scores are recorded and arranged as in Method I. 3d6 are rolled 12 times and the highest 6 scores are retained. 

Method III:

Scores rolled are according to each ability category, in order, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, DEXTERITY, CONSTITUTION, CHARISMA. 3d6 are rolled 6 times for each ability, and the highest score in each category is retained for that category. 

Method IV:

3d6 are rolled sufficient times to generate the 6 ability scores, in order, for 12 characters. The player then selects the single set of scores which he or she finds most desirable and these scores are noted on the character record sheet.

In another place Gary says that he considers a viable character to be one with at least two attributes of 15 or higher. I normally use Method I as it is fast, easy, and fairly non controversial. This time I will do Method III instead, just to see what we get! 

Strength 8, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9 for a Strength of 9. 

There are no bonuses (or penalties) related to this score. It provides a 1-2 chance out of 6 of opening stuck or heavy doors and a whopping 1% chance of bending bars or lifting gates such as a portcullis. 

Intelligence 13, 11, 8, 14, 12, 10 for an Intelligence of 14. 

This is the minimum score to cast 7th level magic user spells, they go up to 9th level, and it provides the character four possible additional languages. If the character goes on to be a magic user they will only have a 55% chance to being able to learn a specific spell, they would be able to learn at least six spells per spell level (spell levels are separate from character levels in this game) but are limited to knowing no more than nine spells per level.  

Wisdom 11, 12, 12, 9, 18, 8 for a Wisdom of 18! 

This is the minimum score to use 7th level cleric spells, the highest level, and the character has a +4 bonus against mental attack forms involving will force, i.e. beguiling, charming, fear, hypnosis, illusion, magic jarring, mass charming, phantasmal forces, possession, rulership, suggestion, telepathic attack, etc. In addition if they become a cleric they will have no chance of spell failure and will gain the following bonus spells every day once they are high enough level to cast such spells: two 1st level spells, two 2nd level spells, one third level spell, and one 4th level spell. 

Dexterity 12, 15, 9, 14, 7, 15 for a Dexterity of 15. 

This score provides a -1 adjustment to the character's Armor Class (AC), lower is better in this edition.

Constitution 6, 12, 8, 10, 11, 11 for a Constitution of 12. 

This score give the character a System Shock Survival chance of 80% and a Resurrection Survival chance of 85%.

Charisma 14, 14, 8, 7, 9, 12 for a Charisma of 14. 

This score allows the character to have a maximum of six henchmen at any one time, a 5% bonus to base loyalty of hirelings, and a 10% positive reaction bonus when meeting and dealing with people or creatures encountered. 

As you can see even using this method I barely got the two attributes of 15 or over that Gary recommends! That probably says more about my luck with dice, see Major Jazon Smasher from last week, than the die rolling method...

According to the PHB the next step is to pick our character's race (more accurately their species) and there are a number of options. In the base game you can play dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, half-orcs and humans. This list will be expanded on in later books but we are sticking with the core books today. Before we pick we should think about what class we want to be as not all species qualify for all classes, something else that would change in future books and editions.

Considering the attributes rolled the character qualifies for the following classes: cleric (principle attribute Wisdom), fighter (principle attribute Strength), magic user (principle attribute Intelligence), and thief (principle attribute Dexterity). The scores rolled are not good enough to be a druid, paladin, ranger, illusionist, assassin or monk. Cleric makes the most sense with a Wisdom of 18 as even the next highest score of 15 in Dexterity does not give an substantial bonuses to be being a thief. 

Looking back at the options we see that only half-elves, half-orcs and humans can be clerics and the former two are limited to advancing to 5th and 4th level respectively. Now both half-elves and half-orcs can Multi-Class, meaning they can be two or three classes at once which has the advantage of making them more versatile at the expense of much slower level advancement. That could be attractive but I think the level limits for the cleric class are too low to make it an attractive option. This will be a human.

Humans are not allowed to Multi-Class in this edition but they can be a "character with two classes." Basically that means they will advance in one class for a time and then switch to a second class and advance in it. They can't go back to the first after the switch or go on to a third but it does allow class combinations that even Multi-Classing does not. The requirements are a 15 in the principle attribute for the first class and an 18 in the principle attribute for the second class. That means if I go this route the character would start as a thief and later on switch to being a cleric. Realistically they would probably need to get to 6th or 7th level to really benefit from the thief abilities and then they would have to get past that level before gaining hit points as a cleric and being able to use abilities from both classes. You see once you switch to the second class you cannot use any abilities from your first class until you pass that level in your new class. In a solo game that might be interesting and worthwhile but I am not going to go that route today.

So we have a human. The next step is to pick a class and that will be cleric, a holy priest of some sort that is a decent fighter, can cast spells, and has power over some of the fiercest foes you will face in this game, the undead. Clerics use a d8 for their hit dice, can use any type of armor or shield, they are limited to blunt weapons (club, flail, hammer, mace, and staff in the core books), they are allowed to use oil (flaming) but will never use poison unless of an evil alignment and the referee allows it. Their primary attribute is Wisdom and because our character has a score over 15 they get to add a 10% bonus to any Experience Points they earn. 

Let's switch to the DMG to determine some other character details. First will be their secondary skill, this a skill they learned growing up prior to becoming a cleric. A roll of 46 gives us Navigator (fresh or salt). So possibly they grew up on the coast or on a river or large lake. Very possibly that also means they will follow a sea god of some sort.

Next we will determine starting age, height and weight. A human cleric's starting age is 18+1d4, I rolled a 3 for 21 years old. That makes them Mature and now we will do some attribute adjustments. The age categories are Young Adult, Mature, Middle Aged, Old, and Venerable. There are modifies for each and you apply them progressively with the following caveat:

adjustments cannot exceed racial maximums nor can they be used if they cause abilities to exceed stated maximums. Likewise, any adjustments cannot lower any ability below racial or class minimums. 

At Young Adult we subtract a point of Wisdom and add a point of Constitution. That adjusts them to 17 and 13 respectively. Fear not because the Mature category than adds a point of Strength and Wisdom bringing the Strength up to 10 and the Wisdom back up to 18. We are now done as they won't reach Middle Aged until they are 40 years old.

These adjustments result in increasing our bend bars/lift gates chance from 1% to 2%, the System Shock Survival roll from 80% to 85% and the Resurrection Survival roll from 85% to 90%. 

For height and weight we will use the NPC Height and Weight Tables. Let's give a 50/50 chance of male or female. I rolled a 2 on a d6 so they are male. Next for height I rolled a 86 which is taller than average, followed by a 9, on a d12, for a height of 81" or 6' 9" he is a tall one! Next for weight I rolled a 04 for below average weight followed by 22 (on 3d12) for weight of 153 pounds, Ichabod Crane is that you?

The next step is to pick an Alignment. AD&D uses a nine point alignment system as shown below:

I am going to make our cleric Lawful Good. The PHB tells us:

Lawful Good: While as strict in their prosecution of law and order, characters of lawful good alignment follow these precepts to improve the common weal. Certain freedoms must, of course, be sacrificed in order to bring order; but truth is of highest value, and life and beauty of great importance. The benefits of this society are to be brought to all.

and the DMG expands on that with:

LAWFUL GOOD: Creatures of lawful good alignment view the cosmos with varying degrees of lawfulness or desire for good. They are convinced that order and law are absolutely necessary to assure good, and that good is best defined as whatever brings the most benefit to the greater number of decent, thinking creatures and the least woe to the rest.

Seems like a good stance for a priest and using a little inside knowledge it also will be beneficial as we go through modules and meet various non-player characters (NPCs) and find magic items as they are weighed more toward this Alignment. At this point it would be appropriate to pick the character's religion and deity (or deities) but let's hold off for now. 

No need to pick spells at this point, a cleric is able to cast any spells of a level they have access to, they just pray to their deity each day for the number they are allowed to memorize. For our first level cleric that would be three 1st level spells, not too shabby. 

We can also turn the undead, basically that means they will run away from the cleric. The chart in the DMG tells us that on a d20 the 1st level cleric can turn a skeleton on a roll of 10 or higher, a zombie on 13 or higher, a ghoul on 16 or higher, a shadow on 19 or higher, and that they need a 20 to turn a wight. These numbers will improve dramatically as they increase in level.  

After picking an Alignment we roll for our Hit Points. WOW!! I rolled an 8, lucky day!  

At this point the PHB tells us:

ESTABLISHING THE CHARACTER

By determining abilities, race, class, alignment, and hit points you have created your character. Next you must name him or her, and possibly give some family background (and name a next of kin as heir to the possessions of the character if he or she should meet an untimely death) to personify the character. Having done all that, your Dungeon Master will introduce your character to the campaign setting. In all likelihood, whether the locale is a village, town, or city, your character will have to acquaint himself or herself with the territory. 

The first step will often be getting into the place, i.e. a gate guard demanding to know what business you have in the town or city. Thereafter it will be necessary to locate a safe and reasonably priced place in which to lodge — typically an inn of some sort, but perhaps a rented cot, a loft or even chambers at a hostel. Since the location selected will have to serve as base and depot, it must be relatively safe from intrusion or burglary. Once a headquarters has been found, your character can set about learning the lay of the land, and attempt to find the trade establishments needed to supply the desired equipment for adventuring. Perhaps it will also be necessary to locate where other player characters reside in order to engage in joint expeditions. 

In any event, your character created, personified, and established will be ready to adventure once equipment is purchased and relations with other player characters are settled. If player characters are not immediately available, or if they are not co-operative, it is advisable that men-at-arms be hired. Hirelings of this sort, as well as henchmen (q.v.), are detailed in the sections entitled HIRELINGS and HENCHMEN. 

But we aren't actually done! We have to determine languages, starting money and buy equipment. 

They start knowing Common and their Alignment Langauge of Lawful Good. The books strongly suggest they learn the other possible languages as the game progresses but since there is a table to generate languages for NPCs we'll just roll on that four times.  35, 53, 30, 22. That gives us Storm Giant, Kobold, Frost Giant, and Elvish. Interesting mix, I'd say that indicates our character is from the north and maybe was fostered by giants (or at least friendly with them) due to his height. 

For starting money we roll 3d6 x 10 for the amount of gold pieces he starts with. 6 for 60 g.p., unfortunate as that will limit the armor choices, probably to Ring Mail.  I'm not going to buy equipment but they will definitely need to be frugal until they earn, or find, some gold. 

There are random tables to determine NPC personae and although the DMG recommends against using them for player characters lets do it anyway to see what we get. The first table is Alignment and I rolled a 10 which is neutral, since neutral clerics have to be druids and he doesn't qualify it is just as good that we aren't using this. Next is Possessions (or wealth), I rolled a 4 which is average. That tracks.

Now we have two tables for Appearance, I rolled 10 and 2 meaning they appear ancient but clean. Maybe they have an early receding hairline and unnatural wrinkles? Sanity is next, 7 tells us he is neurotic which may explain the older than natural appearance!  

For General Tendencies we roll a d12 and a d6, 14 tells us he is perceptive. For Personality we roll two d8s, 5, 4 which is extroverted and blustering. His Disposition is 8, hot tempered. For Nature we get 6, vengeful! I rolled a 5 for Honesty which is average and for Energy I rolled a 3 for normal. Next we have Morals, 5 is lusty! A 4 tells us his Intellect is active. For Materialism I roll a 2 for intellectualist. Bravery is 8, craven (oh no!), Thrift is 5, average and lastly his Piety is 3, pious. 

Last we roll for Interests, 6 is husbandry. 

You can see why they don't recommend those tables for player characters, it went off the rails pretty quickly as we ended up with a cleric of average wealth who appears ancient but clean. He is neurotic, perceptive, extroverted and blustering with a hot tempered disposition. He has a vengeful nature, is of average honesty but is pious. An intellectualist he is also lusty and craven! He has a normal amount of energy and thriftiness as well as an active intellect. Finally he has an interest in husbandry. That would be quite the handful to role play!

So skipping that last section as Gary wisely tells us to let me put everything together in a more narrative fashion. I suppose we should name him as well. Considering what we have revealed I'll give him a Nordic name, Magni the Keen-eyed.

Magni was born in the far north to a trader who travelled the seas. Magni quickly shot up to an unnatural height and was shunned by others in the village. His father had made friends with storm giants that he traded with and Magni was able to spend his adolescent years with them studying the lore of their gods. Upon coming of age he was sent back to the world of men with the hope of improving relations between men and giants, or at least convincing men to stay out of the giant's affairs. 

Mechanically he looks like this:

Magni the Keen -eyed, Lawful Good Human Cleric, 1st level, 0 XP (10% XP bonus)

Str 10 Int 14 Wis 18 Dex 15 Con 13 Cha 14

Hit Points 8 AC 5 (assuming Ring Mail, a shield and his Dex bonus)

Spells 3 1st level. 

That is all for this week, see you next Sunday, 16 August, when I create a character for Marvel Super Heroes!

#RPG-a-Day2026 Week 1 Traveller 1977

For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. I'll start this week with 1977 Traveller. While I am using the 1977 edition you can get the rules I am using, with some minor changes and errata, for free off DrivethruRPG. I don't have an affiliate link or anything so I'm just posting this link for ease of access. It is not an endorsement of the site. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/355200/classic-traveller-facsimile-edition

Let's start at the beginning:

INITIAL CHARACTER GENERATION

Characters are generated initially through a series of six double dice rolls, which determine the basic characteristics affecting abilities and reactions. Each player should roll two dice for each of the six characteristics: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing. Record the results.

Strength is both a general evaluation of the character's physical ability, and a specific measure of force which may be applied in combat situations.

Dexterity measures physical coordination.

Endurance measures physical stamina and determination.

Intelligence corresponds to IQ.

Education indicates the highest level of schooling attained.

Social Standing notes the social class and level of society from which the character (and his family) come.

Values for characteristics may range initially from 2 to 12 (7 is considered average). As a result of various modifications, characteristic values may ultimately range from 1 to 15. Characteristics (for player-characters) may never exceed 15, and do not go below 1 except for calamitous injury or aging.

Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use his character as generated. The experience procedures and acquired skills table offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player consider his character to be so poor as to be beyond help, he should consider joining the accident prone Scout Corps, with a subconscious view to suicide.

Wow, that took a dark turn at the end didn't it! Traveller just uses standard six sided dice. 

Strength 5 

Dexterity 8

Endurance 8

Intelligence 5

Education 9

Social Standing 5

Well considering that the book says 7 is average this is a decidedly below average character! Maybe I should follow their advice and attempt to join the Scout Service! 

Now it is time to name our character, I'm going to quote the book here to show how our concept of naming characters has changed since 1977, or has it?

Once generated, a character should be named. Several schools of thought exist as to the nature of names. 

One school holds that the character should carry the name of his player; the referee can then refer to Frank or John and everyone present knows exactly who's who. This usage, while convenient, tends to lose some of the flavor of the campaign. 

The other school calls for the use of pseudonyms, or fanciful names (for example, Jamison, or Fairweather; more extremely, Seeker, or Starkiller). As with everything in the game, the actual choice depends only on imagination. 

Titles: A character with a Social Standing of 11 or greater may assume his family’s hereditary title. The full range of titles is given in Book 3. For initial naming, a Social Standing of 11 allows the use of Sir, denoting hereditary knighthood; a Social Standing of 12 allows use of Baron, or prefixing von to the character’s surname. 

Rank: Characters receiving commissions and promotions (explained below) may use their rank as part of their names, even after leaving the service, or retiring.

So I could just stick with Jason or do something fancy like Planet Smasher. Best ask my GM so for now we'll thread the middle with a slight twist of both, Jazon Smasher. No worries about having a title with a Social Standing of 5! 

At this point Jazon is 18 years old and ready to start his adult life. In original Traveller you gain experience by joining one of six services. Your options are Navy, Marines, Army, Scouts, Merchants, or Other. These options would be quickly expanded on in later books. While I won't post the tables here, remember you can get a free PDF at the link above, each service has a target number to enlist, to survive a term (4 years), to be commissioned as an officer, to get promoted, and to reenlist. Some of these rolls are modified depending on your characteristics. Once you are in the service you will have a chance to learn skills each term. If you fail the reenlistment roll you are mustered out and ready to start adventuring. If you don't try to enlist at all, or are rejected, you will be drafted in one of the services so you will have a chance to get some skills whether your dice like you or not.

Let's take Jazon through the process. What service should he attempt to enlist in? Looking at the modifiers the Army gives a bonus to some rolls for Dext, Endur, and Educ which are Jazon's three above average characteristics. The negative to the Army is that the reenlistment roll is the highest of all the services. What the heck, let's give it a go.

To enlist in the Army I need to roll a 5+ on two dice. I get to add +1 if Jazon's Dext is 6 or greater and +2 if his Endur is 5 or greater, since Jazon has both I add +3 to my roll. I rolled a 6 (modified to a 9) so the recruiter happily takes him in.

Now for the controversial Survival check, if I fail this Jazon dies in the line of duty. Later editions softened this. The roll is 5+ and I get to add +2 if his Educ is 6 or greater which it is. with a roll of 6 (modifed to 8) Jazon survives his first term. 

Since he survived let's see if he manages to get a Commission. He needs a 5+ and gets to add +1 if his Endur is 8 or higher which it is. I rolled a 9 (modified to 10) so Jazon is commissioned as a Lieutenant! 

Now we see if he receives a Promotion during this term, yes I know it seem like double dipping to get commissioned and promoted in the same term but the rules specifically allow it. To receive a promotion I need to roll 6+ and I get a +1 if Jazon's Educ is 7 or higher, see why I picked the Army? I roll a 9 (modified to 10) and Jazon is promoted to Captain. Not bad for a 22 year old which is the age he'll be at the end of this term.

The next step is to see what skills Jazon learns during the term. He automatically gets Rifle-1 for joining the Army and SMG-1 for getting commissioned to Lieutenant. The rest of a character's skills come from random rolls on tables. The you do get to pick the tables you roll on though. The options are Personal Development, Service Skills, Advanced Education, and a second Advanced Education that requires a 8 or greater Education characteristic to roll on, luckily Jazon meets that requirement. During a character's first term they get two skill rolls. Getting commissioned also grants a roll as does being promoted so Jazon will get four rolls and can pick any of the tables. I'm actually going to roll once on each table. That gives Jazon the following skills: +1 Dext, Air/Raft-1, Gun Combat-1, Medical-1. For Gun Combat I need to pick a specific weapon type, let's go with Automatic Pistol-1. 

Now we need to see if Jazon is allowed to reenlist. I need to roll 7+ and there are no modifiers. 8! Jazon just made it. Time for term two.

The modifiers are the same so let's start with the Survival roll, 7 all good there. Next we see if Jazon is promoted, another 7 so he is now a Major. After the first term you get one skill roll a term but he gets a second roll due to the promotion. Let's roll on the two Advanced Education tables. We get Electronic-1 and Administration-1. Last we roll to see if Jazon can reenlist. I roll a 4 and he is not able to reenlist and at 26 is ready to start his adventuring career.

Let's muster him out, there are two tables you can roll on, the first give you stuff and possibly characteristic increases and the second is for credits. You roll once for each term of service and can be awarded extra rolls depending on what rank you achieved. Major Jazon Smasher gets four total rolls, two for time in service and two for mustering out as a Major. I am going to make all the rolls on the first table as being short of cash is always a good way to start an adventuring career. 

I roll 2,5,1,1. That works out to +1 Intelligence, one ticket for a High Passage, and two for Low Passages. High Passage is basically first class travel and Low Passage is being cryogenically frozen during transport with a chance of not surviving the defrosting process. Jazon will sell the two Low Passages for 900 credits each (90% of the ticket cost) which will give him 1,800 credits, one High Passage ticket, and the clothes on his back at the beginning of the campaign. 

Let's put this all together in narrative form.

Young Jazon Smasher loved to read and learn. His family was poor but luckily he rarely got sick and had good hand eye coordination, helpful for video games, but he struggled at school. He also detested physical labor. When he came of age he did quite a bit of research into the various services and decided the Army had the most benefits for the least amount of risk. It also appeared he could probably skate by if he played his cards right. Off to the recruiter he went.

He was able to ace the test and was accepted into the Army. Although he was trained as a rifleman, as all soldiers are, Jazon decided to volunteer for a medical program and managed to not only get a commission to Lieutenant but a promotion to Captain during his first term. Medics typically carry pistols so he was trained in the use of the standard issue automatic as well as piloting air rafts to evacuate patients. Officers get to carry submachine guns instead of rifles so he was trained in their use as well. He managed to avoid being deployed in any combat areas and had no problem reenlisting.

On his second term he was promoted to Major and became better versed in administration and bureaucracy. Stationed at a remote outpost he picked up the hobby of repairing electronics. Sadly the Army was going through a draw down when he came up to reenlist and his lack of combat experience kept him from being retained, he was mustered out at 26 years old and now has to find a way to support himself. 

One of the cool things about this game is the Universal Personality Profile, a shorthand to see a character's mechanical build. Here is what the book says about it:

Characters may be precisely defined using the Universal Personality Profile (the UPP), which expresses the basic characteristics in a specific sequence, using hexadecimal (base 16) notation. In hexadecimal notation, the digits 0 through 9 are represented by common arabic numbers; the digits 10 through 15 are represented by the letters A through F. The highest single digit in base 16 notation is 15. Characteristics are listed as a string of 6 digits, in the order originally rolled: strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, education and social standing.

For example, a character who is totally average in all respects would have a UPP of 777777. If, however, he were highly intelligent, his UPP would be 777B77 (the B in the 4th position indicating an intelligence of 11). 

While the use of the UPP is voluntary, it is made available to allow the referee

and other characters to see at a glance the characteristics of persons they encounter

and deal with.

The UPP for Major Jazon Smasher is 598695. So here is how you would write him up in a module:

Major Jazon Smasher 598695 Admin-1, Air/Raft-1, Auto Pistol-1, Elect-1, Medical-1, Rifle-1, SMG-1

That is all for this week, see you next Sunday, 9 August, when I create a character for AD&D 1E!

 

RPG-a-DAY 2026, The Plan

 For RPG-a-Day 2026 I am republishing Mirk the Meek's collaborative episodes on different genres. You can read all about that here: https://podbypost.com/nerds/rpg-a-day-2026

But for the blog I will be somewhat following Anthony's lead (read his post here: https://castingshadowsblog.com/2026/07/31/rpgaday2026-starts-tomorrow-my-plan/ )

Basically that means I will post a character on each Sunday of August. I'll start tomorrow with 1977 Traveller.