Character Creation Challenge 2026

Note: This was a hard character to make. It's been decades since I've made a Space Opera character and there's a reason for that. As much fun as I had in my Space Opera playing days, the bizarre inconsistencies and complexities of Space Opera, combined with some of the worst rules formatting and organization I've seen in playable (barely) games, I really don't want to inflict this on myself with any regularity. I guess what I'm saying is that this game needs a second edition that uses a coherent core system and has some ruthless editing done on it.

Alrah comes from a desert world with low air pressure, both things which change her looks. The low air pressure causes her form to be wide with a cavernous chest, adapting to the necessary huge lungs. The eternal hot sun in the daytime has her skin coloured a strong copper-red colour with coal-black hair. Her eyes are white: the sclera and iris both slightly different shades of white. The second nictating membrane under her eyelids gives her face a mildly bug-eyed look.

Culturally, her planet is a late addition to the Terran Federation and she is not yet well-adapted to the Terran way of doing things. It is for this reason that she languishes forever at Ensign rank in Starforce. Indeed the only reason she's kept on at all is because despite her disciplinary problems, she is an exceptional starfighter and orbital small craft pilot, one of the best in Starforce. She has as many commendations on her record for bravery, meritorious conduct under fire, etc. as she has reprimands for failure to follow procedure, insubordination, and unruly behaviour.

After 24 years of service, at the age of 42, she has finally mustered out, albeit kept in the active reserve, and has been unleashed into the universe to find her own way through what's left of her life.

Character Class: Astronaut

Sex: Female

Height: 164cm

Weight: 53kg

Characteristic	Score
Physique	9
Strength	10
Constitution	11
Agility	16
Dexterity	15
Empathy	13
Intelligence	12
Psionics	9
Intuition	11
Bravery	13
Leadership	13
GTA	15
MechA	15
ElecA	10

*Note: Characteristic modifications by planet of birth, etc. have been put into the characteristics.

Planetary Gravity Field: Standard, Mass increased by 7%.

Planetary Atmosphere: Low Pressure

Planetary Climate: Planetary Type I: Terran Desert Planet

Character Race: Humanoid (copper-red skin, nictating membrane)

Carrying Capacity: 26.5kg

Lift Capacity: 53kg

Damage Factors: 21

Shock Resistance CR: 11

Stamina Factor: 58

Intelligence CR: 12

Intuition CR: 8

Surprise CR: 16

Balance CR: 16

CAREER EXPERIENCE

6 tours (12 years) initial service as a StarForce Astronaut, followed by six further tours (12 years) for a total of 24 years of service. Retained in the active reserve. Only reached rank of Ensign (5), commanding a Starfighter.

Final salary was 1150CR per month.

BENEFITS

Severance Pay: 15,180CR

Savings: 36,432CR

Annual Pension: 6072CR

Equipment: Personal medkit; shelter tent; wristwatch; backpack; sleeping bag; one complete uniform for summer, winter, and combat; communicator; side arm; vibroblade; minicomp unit; vacuum suit; astrogation manuals; middle passage warrant to home system (142 LY, 8580CR cash value)

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Shipboard Procedure & Operation/2
• Starship Battle/10
• Spacecraft Armaments/10
• Orbital Pilot/10
• Combat Orbital Pilot/10
• Computer Programming (Civilian)/5
• Computer Programming (Military)/5
• MiniComputers/5
• Computer Mk. I-II/5
• Computer Mk. III-IV/5
• Computer Mk. V-VI/5
• Computer Mk. VII-VIII/5
• Computer Mk. IX-X/5
• Extra-Vehicular Activity/5
• Advanced EVA/1
• Advanced Math/1
• General Physics/5
• Astronomy/1
• Electrical Systems Tech/5
• Communication Systems Tech/5
• Vehicular Systems Tech/5
• Detection Systems Tech/5
• Electronic Counter-Measures Tech/5
• Sublight Communication Systems Tech/5
• Needle Guns/5
• Blaster Weapons/5
• Stunners/5
• Streetfighting & Brawling/5

Name: Anne Huggins

Description: A former Badge, now private detective, working for pennies on the dollar while trying to clear her name. Tall, built like a brick wall, scarred across her face with a badly-healed gash, has the charm and sex appeal of a buffalo. Outwardly placid, inwardly a tower of courage, blunt to a fault, honourable to even more of a fault.

Notes: Anne was a constable in the ranks of the Badges, doing her best to dispense a little law and order, protecting the weak, and all that jazz. Then The Event happened. What was the event? She clams up if asked about it, and the Badges call it classified information. Accounts vary as to whether she was dishonourably discharged or if she quit.

Since then she's worked as a private investigator, using her ties to her former partner and other former colleagues to assist, ekeing out a living because she has no business sense and can't turn down a sob story, even if it means working for fractions on the credit.

Moxie: 3

Cred: 2

Grit: 4

TRADEMARKS

Bold: Awareness, Brave, Inspiring, Tenacious, Command, Quick Thinking, Fast Reflexes

Perceptive: Awareness, Keen Eyes, Human Lie Detector, Eye for Detail, Investigate, Search, Asks all the Right Questions

Gumshoe: Investigate, Notice, Interrogate, Law, Follow Leads, Human Lie Detector, Brawl, Shoot

ADVANTAGES

Steely (Bold), Simple Deduction (Perceptive), Tarnished Badge (Gumshoe)

FLAWS

A Little Too Blunt (Perceptive), Personal Code (Gumshoe)

DRIVE

Find out who ruined my career in the Badges and get my name cleared.

TIES

• I don't trust Dan Murphy; I think he's in bed with whoever ruined me.
• I used to be partners with Constable Josh McTier; we keep in touch.

GEAR

• rugged jacket
• satchel
• magnifying glass
• notebook
• pen
• trench coat
• private investigator's license

Name: Patrick Fitzpatrick

Alias: Paddy Wagon

Organization: Townsville City Police

Rank: Rookie

Experience Points: 0

Ability	Value
1. Intelligence	5
2. Dexterity	11
3. Strength	12
4. Personality	16
5. Loyalty	14
6. Agility	10
7. Luck	4

Skills:

1. Driving: 1
2. Marksman: Hand Gun
3. Melee: White Belt
4. Stick Work: 1

Paddy was never the smartest hammer in the sack, to mix metaphors freely. He was slow. He didn't understand things well. He didn't get past elementary school. But he was steadfastly loyal and very likeable. Fortunately his loyalty was captured by the local beat cop who drove off a gang of teens, when he was young, who'd set out to beat him for some slight, real or imagined, before he got too badly hurt. Thus it was that Paddy became a cop, barely qualifying, and that only because of the favourable testimony of other cops.

Slow, he may have been, but he took training well and became fairly proficient in hand to hand, billy clubbing, and even, in those rare cases when he had to, shooting. He also had a proven knack as a driver (hence his full nickname). He'll never really go up in rank except, possibly (but likely not) to Sergeant, but this didn't matter to him. As the rookie partner to the local beat cop who inspired him to become a cop himself, Paddy was perfectly happy, and as the friendly, helpful, always smiling talker, he charmed the people of the neighbourhood. Even the ones who don't trust cops.

2026-01-03 Vikings & Valkyries (Legendary Games Studio)

Player's Name: 张殿李

Maze Master: TBD

Character's Name: Sigrún

Class: Valkyrie

Level: 1

Age: 20

Money: 140sp

Personal Background: It's the old story. Island of the Valkyrior. The queendom did its annual raid, captured men from far-flung territories, used them to father children, then were enslaved, killed, or set to fighting in the ring for the entertainment of the Valkyrior. Sigrun was one of the children stemming from this annual tradition.

Her training was swift and brutal. While she was always a little physically weak, her speed, her brains, and her iron will more than made up for this. She was quickly made one of the prestigious Valkyries; the shieldmaidens of the Valkyrior: ruthless, deadly, backbone of the raiding ships, scourge of the weakling men they raided.

Then the cursed day she and her sisters raided a lonely keep on the coast. The keep was not a warlord's holding. It was instead a coven of priests and priestesses of Hel. The shield wall that was the hallmark of the Valkyries, paired with the ruthless efficiency of their coordinated attacks made short work of the keep and its paltry defenders. But just as Sigrun's spear stabbed toward the throat of the high priestess, that one loosed a curse upon her: she would be fated to kill all those who trusted her for the rest of her life.

Not wanting to be the deaths of her sisters in arms, Sigrun put herself into exile. She would no longer serve the Valkyrior Queen. She would no longer fight alongside her sisters in arms. She would strike out into the world of men, seeking a way to remove this curse upon her soul, because far better that her curse strike down weakling men than strike down the strong of her kind.

Score	Attribute	Adjustment
10	Might	0
17	Skill	+3
13	Wits	+1
13	Luck	+1
15	Will	+2
13	Grace	+1

Saving Roll	Value
Athletic Prowess	+4
Danger Evasion	+4
Mystic Fortitude	+4
Physical Vigor	+3
Personal Charisma	+4

Combat Modifier	Value	Defense Class	Value
Melee	+4	Basic	13
Missile	+5	+ Shield	+2
Initiative	14	+ Helmet	+2
Hits Total	12	+ Breastplate	+2
Recovery		+ Special	+3

Special combat moves:

• defensive fighting (+3 to EDC with spear and shield)
• martial discipline (+2 initiative with spear)
• weapon of choice: spear

Player's Name: 张殿李

Maze Master: TBD

Character's Name: Θαλία (Thalia)

Class: Priestess of Hestia

Level: 1

Age: 26

Money: 80sp

Personal Background: Thalia is the youngest daughter of a noble house in Argos. As a child of 12 she was selected for service to Hestia and served well, becoming, by 20, one of the prestigious tenders of the city hearth flame. For six years she participated in, then led the ceremonies of the hearth, not once letting the flame lapse regardless of peace, disaster, or war.

Then a troubling dream seeming to come directly from Hestia Herself insinuated itself into the sleep of all the priestesses in the temple: a lost city's hearth flame must needs be reignited lest the haunted spirits of the city's long-dead come to life to spread fear and chaos among the living.

Thalia volunteered to leave the temple to seek out this city, carrying with her a special brazier containing the ember of Argos' hearth flame, a brazier she must carry with her and attend to ensure it never goes out, while she seeks out this lost city to ignite its hearth flame and prevent disaster for Mythika.

Of course if she happens to find other places along the way—towns, caves, ruins, etc.—in need of a hearth flame to purge spirits, well, that's just part of her calling.

Score	Attribute	Adjustment
9	Might	0
11	Skill	0
12	Wits	0
16	Luck	+2
16	Will	+2
13	Grace	+1

Saving Roll	Value
Athletic Prowess	+2
Danger Evasion	+4
Mystic Fortitude	+5
Physical Vigor	+4
Personal Charisma	+5

Combat Modifier	Value	Defense Class	Value
Melee	+2	Basic	14
Missile	+2	+ Shield
Initiative	0	+ Helmet
Hits Total	8	+ Breastplate
Recovery		+ Special

Magical Talent (Spiritual Aura): +4

Mystic Strength: 16

Power Total: 6

Power Recovery: 1 per hour of ceremony

Magical Powers (Divine Prodigies):

1. Divine Blessing (+2 Danger Evasion, Mystic Fortitude, or Physical Vigor for 4 hours)
2. Divine Vision
3. Divine Vitality (restore 1d6+4 hits of damage)
4. Divine Gift (Endurance: automatically succeed Physical Vigor rolls, restore 2 hits at the end of each battle round for four battle rounds)
5. Divine Wrath (1d6+4 damage to single target within 30')
6. Divine Intervention (2% chance of Hestia's intervention)

Possessions:

• staff of office
• dagger
• ceremonial robes
• regular clothing

Notes: While her portable hearth flame is ignited and in her possession, Thalia gets a +1 bonus to Mystic Fortitude. Should she lose her brazier, or should the flame be doused, she will suffer a -2 penalty across the board until she finds a holy site with a holy flame (like another temple hearth flame) to reignite it. (The divine intervention of Hestia, too, can serve at need.)

2026-01-01 Wild West (Fantasy Games Unlimited)

Player: 张殿李

Date: 2026-01-01

GameMaster: TBD

Character Name: Jed Cunningham

Age: 31

Veteran: CSA

Military Rank: Enlisted

Civilian Background: Ranch hand

Cash on Hand: $160

Cash in Bank:

Lift: 225lbs

Carry: 94lbs

Primary Characteristics	Value
A. Physique: 12	12
B. Constitution: 13	13
C. Agility: 17	17
D. Accuracy: 5	5
E. Intelligence: 8	8
F. Common Sense: 7	7
G. Perception: 13	13
H. Charisma: 13	13
I. Luck: 11	11

Skill	CV	Experience Points
Whip	16	100
Brawling	16	20
Drover	10	40
Knife Fighter	16	60
Riding	15	60
Roping	11	80
Blacksmith	11	30
Trapper	13	10
Horse Trader	10	50
Scout	13	40

Secondary Characteristics	Value
J. Height	68” (5'8”)
K. Weight	160lbs
L. Ratio	2.4
M. Strength	15
N. Wind	1042
O. Damage Factor	185
P. Leadership	11
Q. Handedness	Ambidextrous

Jed is a simple man, largely affable, quick as a whip, and thick as a stump. What he gains in his almost stunning bodily control is made up for by his lack of intellectual prowess and even worse common sense. He's the kind of person whose agility could let him ride a cow, standing, mid-stampede ... and whose intellect would tell him this is a good plan.

Jed worked as a drover most his life, with a stint in the War as a scout. He's good at riding, roping, and wicked with his whip. He can do a bit of horse trading on the side (product of a failed business venture) but tends to rely more on affability than the ability to work out a bad deal.

In his spare time Jed likes to drink, and when he's had drink inside of him, absolutely loves to brawl. He's spent more than a few days in local jails to “cool his heels”.