PC info

This information is for all players and text that is in a box is common knowledge, the GM however should not reveal the entire contents of this document and present it to the players as the occasion arises.

Galactic State of Address: Star date: 2109.2

It is a hundreds of years after the alien wars and known space has shrunk considerably. Where once the empire spanned several thousand sectors, it now consists of a few hundred major colonies and a scattering of minor ones and is called; The Galactic Community "GalCom" or (GC) for short. A very few of these worlds are not aligned with GalCom and are at varying degrees of war with them. These rebel worlds are not of any serious concern to GalCom as they are low on resources, population, or have difficult terrain. Though if any of these worlds are found to be the center of the resistance, GalCom would take the planet immediately, as it is they have changed to covert ops in order to find the bases and then bombard from space.
As GalCom is an oppressive dictatorship the rebellion grows daily, but rebel numbers are too few to mount anything but sabotage and raids on outposts. A fairly large number of pirates and marauders are considered as rebels, but are not, just opportunists. Commercial transports usually have a military escort now, partially to protect them, but also to prevent defection. All star-bases and star-ports have a military contingency, as do most cities. The majority of the citizens are too afraid of the security force to speak openly about rebellion and will not help the characters, because of fear of reprisal.
The Tech level of GalCom has been dropping over the last few years, dramatically at first, though it has slowed to about quarter of a percent a year now. Currently at TL-8.09 (adjust skills and weapons accordingly), qualified engineers are becoming scarcer and the only university teaching star-ship mechanics is on Gal-Prime. Because of this, most engineers are true GalCom patriots, or are just stationary engineers and not skilled engineers at all. Security is at full tech 9, though the people that understand it are few and far between. As the security force is the highest paying job and recruiting is done with in the strongest supporters of Gal-Prime the majority of officers are patriots.
Most of the personnel that the characters will encounter are recruited from the prime worlds that contain the larger populations, that are fairly close to Gal-Prime, within two or three days. The more distant worlds are either serfdoms, where the planet resources are stripped, penal colonies, or of limited populations, which are kept in archaic tech to prevent a revolution. When the characters decide to rebel, they are severely limited to supply depots and are unlikely to find friends quickly.

Campaign:

The campaign is called "Galactic Rebellion" because by the end of the first session the characters will want to rebel in order to save their own lives. To win the campaign though, the characters must incite a rebellion on all of the worlds in GC space. To successfully win, all these worlds must be aligned to the rebel faction the characters belong to, how well you do is based primarily on this factor. The characters will not be directly responsible for causing the entire rebellion, as they will have to recruit NPC's and can let them handled the paperwork and tedious aspects. Your characters will be the "heroes" of the rebellion. They will get the ball rolling and go on missions to solve the biggest problems, it will also be their responsibility to ensure "nothing goes wrong". And if it does, they can pretty much guess that it will be their fault...

Characters:

As traveling between colonies is a privilege granted only to the very wealthy, the characters will begin the game during their last tour of duty. You will all have received orders to transfer to the "Lyris", a deep space research vessel, the mission is estimated to take a year, but the specifics are not given. When you arrive at the starbase orbiting Varran you are restricted from site seeing and realize that there is an air of secrecy that is worse than normal. No one is talking and the presence of Security Force personnel, rather than space marines starts you worrying. The Security Force is the GC space police, known for their secrecy and brutality, getting information out of them is not an option and you don't even try.
Once you report to the starship, things don't get much better either, the Security Force boards also and is apparently along for the mission. Your past run in's with these guys has always gone bad, but not as bad as for some, rumors of them killing people at the slightest provocation and shipping whole families off to penal colonies because of a mere insult, are numerous. In your estimation this is going to be a very long voyage and you doubt whether you will be able to stay out of their way. The thought of jumping ship crosses your mind, but you have your family to worry about also, these guys would probably harass them, just for something to do.

Character types and skills:

Character types are the same, only there are no private enterprises, all spacefares are apart of GC branches of service and subject to military authority. Command positions are restricted to the elite class, of which none of the characters are members of. Knowledge is also a privilege and the characters skills are limited to level eight at the highest, gained by experience, as above fifth level training classes are not offered. There are a lot of gaps in your knowledge also, there are no public schools on the character's home worlds and your schooling started when you joined the starforce and classes were limited to your field of profession. The thing you know the most, is how little you know, as you were given enough training to carry out your duties, but very little else.
You know that this is because of the high level of paranoia and the oppressive nature of the government, by keeping a heavy hand, the chance of rebellion is slight. So even before the starship leaves orbit you are just waiting for a chance to start, or join a rebellion. The problem is that after checking the crew manifest you realize you are alone, none of the names look familiar. Bringing up the subject on your own will be dangerous, a reward of a months wages is the standard rate for reporting someone to the Security Force, a year's wages if it is good enough. So you start mingling with the rest of the crew and start to carefully gage the loyalty of your mates.

All of these things attribute to your low moral and loyalty, but thoughts of rebelling have always been tempered by rumors of the attempts

Heroes of the Rebellion:

The players will not just be playing characters, but "Heroes of epic proportions", to this end the characters will be forced into playing the rolls of the hero types listed below; 

The Captain

Of the Xenophone, this character will find themselves at odds with the moral conflicts of the AI computer of the stealth cruiser. Many times they will need to "baby sit" either the ship, or the android, with the same name and at the most inopportune times be faced with a need for a philosophical discussion, say in the middle of a firefight. This character's favorite expression will be, "Later Mr. X." and the GM should present the PC with both silly observations and deep philosophical queries. The PC's response will go towards the development of the AI's social skills and after a while it will attempt to interpret the PC's needs and act accordingly. At times this may get the PC's into trouble, like having the android say, "Is this where low life scum live, that you were talking about earlier?", when the PC's are sitting at the bar in a particularly seedy tavern.
It is important that the GM play upon the bantering of the players, use their words against them, even if they say they are just talking to themselves and not as PC's, these kind of discussions will take place by the PC's and even though they are joking around the android will not have learned the concept. Both the ship and the android will desire to carry out the PC's wishes and an innocuous remark like, "I'd go back and change it if I could...", may have the engineer running to tell the PC's that the Temporal Drive has engaged on it's own! This is especially true with the Captain, more than the other characters and while the GM can let the others banter freely, the Captain should become afraid of opening their mouth.
The AI has advanced tactical routines that where appropriate, the ship will advise the PC of a special maneuver that will leave the enemy in shock, or with their mouth's on the floor. This does not mean that the AI will fight their battles for them, but that it will suggest and execute offensive and defensive tactical moves that will place the PC's in the best possible position to take it from there. This includes; evading capture by engaging the FTL drive for just a moment, to carry the PC's away, but not jump all the way to FTL and damage the drives. Using the dimensional drive to put the PC's behind the opponent's ship, instead of in front of it. Projecting a fleet of holographic fighters as targets, while the real, stealth ship destroys an entire enemy fleet. Having the android disappear when the PC's get pinned down by a superior force, to come back in a few minutes having laid waste to an entire army. The GM should use every opportunity to "make" the Captain look like a brilliant tactician, which is how the GC will begin to view them.
The Captain will gain a notoriety in space like the Gunslinger (discussed below) will gain on the ground, this PC will be the first and only PC who will be wanted by the GC, dead, or alive. The other PC's will be inconsequential as far as the GC is concerned and if they can capture the Captain, the others will be over looked and allowed to go their own way. In the End Game, the GC will hunt the captain's ship down, pulling vital fleets from strategic positions, on just the rumor that the PC is somewhere else. The GC will figure that killing the Captain will also kill the rebellion and the PC should continually be reminded of the life long torture that awaits if they are caught.
This will not be a rumor either, if the chance presents itself, to have fun the GM can kill off the entire party and they will revive in the sickbay, being attended by the android (who always survives), though the Captain is always missing. The rest of the party will have to rescue the Captain, which will not be hard as once the captain has been captured all security precautions will lax. They will find the captain being tortured each time by General Ty'poff, who will not be present when the PC's rescue the Captain. This is to ensure that the General becomes the arch villain and even if things are going well for the PC's, the GM should stack the odds, so that where an outpost was reconned and only a handful of guards were seen, when they attack it will be to find an army has sprung up, surrounding them. If the PC's engage in a firefight, kill them all off, the android will bring them back. If they don't then the armsmen who are guarding the rest of the PC's will be celebrating the capture so enthusiastically that the PC's will be given ample opportunity to escape.
This should not effect the campaign as a whole, as if the PC's really mess up, they should lose the rebellion. This is to add the element of hero verses villain to the campaign and does not have any bearing upon the outcome of the game. This scenario will only take place when the Captain is away from the ship and out of their element, so to speak. The one's who capture the Captain will not let it be known that even the attempt was made, because in turn, he will escape. The first time the GM pulls this on the players they will show emotions of epic proportions (pun intended), but it is important that the PC's be revived and not cloned, as when they are cloned they lose a random attribute point. The idea is that the players, like teenagers believe in their own immortality and the author guarantees that by doing so this game will be remembered long after it is over, win or lose. <grin>
The campaign is lost when the stealth ship, or starbase is destroyed, not when the PC's "bite the dust", so the GM is advised to not pull punches. After the players taste their own morality a few times, they will learn the concept of surrender, which does not appear in any roll playing game. If the players are really thick headed, letting them get cloned once and losing a vital attribute point will make them think twice the next time they are outnumbered a thousand-to-one and want to fight their way out. The author has used this scenario with fantastic results, though none of the players knew what was happening (and hopefully they don't read this...), but it added an element to games that made it the topic of conversation for decades in real life. Keep in mind that the GC is only after the Captain and when this PC goes down, the opponents will provide cover fire, while a team sneaks in to carry off the Captain. Once this happens the rest of the force will retreat, leaving the PC's to tend to their wounded.
The opposite is possible too, if the Captain goes down, the android may rush over, pick up the Captain and rush out of the battle, leaving behind the rest of the party, to either surrender, or be over run. Then it will be the captain's turn to rescue the party, though security will not be as lax and the enemy forces will be expecting visitors. In this event, the GM is allowed to reveal some really outlandish methods of using the Xenophone's technology, or the android's super-abilities. This in turn will cause the GC forces to flee from a confrontation with the Captain, (in space) if it is known that the Captain is obviously headed that way, whole fleets will make themselves scarce. This also allows the Captain to demand an unconditional surrender of GC fleets, which they will not hesitate to agree too. The GM should in no way even hint that this is possible as the PC's will just move to the End Games and a lot of quality playing time will be lost. The only time this will occur is when battle lines are drawn and before the initial battle takes place, where ever the PC's are the front will continually be pushed forward and enemy commanders will realize they are up against a better tactician. The GC forces will communicate with the rebels and tell them to surrender, if the Captain PC is present and makes them self known, roll against their Bravery, success indicates that the enemy commander will surrender.
The tactical capabilities of the Xenophone will be superior to that of the GC so that even if they upgrade their technology the Captain still retains a (+1) modifier to fleet combat rolls. In battles where the Captain is opposing the enemy directly, even if they do not outright surrender, their morale will be such that at the end of the turn, a morale roll is made for the enemy fleet, so that even if they seemingly win the round, they may opt to retreat. This is all covered in Part Two - Fleet Combat of the campaign. It is important to note that in the end while the Merchant PC (see below) will steal the Captain's reputation, during the Campaign the GC will only consider the Captain a threat.

Merchant PC

There are numerous opportunities for a PC with the Merchant skill, on the starbase, to gain power and influence that will actually supercede that of the rebellion.

The GM may hint at this to any PC with Merchant Skill, but it will be up to them to convince the others and get the operation going. If they do decide to do this, the PC's will quickly be able to freely travel the space lanes and can move about the GC with far more ease than in their cloaked ship. The ideal plot would be to start factories on each of the prime worlds, each manufacturing a different item. Within a couple of years the PC's would be able to start their own merchant line and gain enough power to influence the GC at the highest levels. While this scenario doesn't seem very exciting, the PC's could still work in the background stirring up the rebellion, they would just have more power and wealth when it was over. The could also let the merchant line grow big enough to invoke a general strike at the most opportune moment and take over the GC without the mess of an all out war.
There are a lot of products on the starbase that can be marketed in this manner and the GC could literally be transformed within the allotted 20 years to become dependant on the PC's industries. There are however a number of things that can go wrong with this scenario;

  1. If the PC's do not start their marketing in the regions around Gal-Prime, their product ideas will be stolen by the major merchant guilds and the PC's will be wanted for patent infringement.
  2. If the PC's start their marketing within the Gal-Prime region, they will step on too many toes, to soon and the merchant guilds will sic the security force on them.
  3. The PC's will need to pay out 100% of their profits on the books, for the first 5 years, for bribes to the merchant guild, to keep from being investigated by them, they will not worry if someone is showing no, or little profit and they in turn are making a killing.
  4. The first product types they should offer is non-essentials, that are not already available in some form, to prevent the merchants from taking affront and trying to have them assassinated.
  5. Allow the merchant guilds to resell their wares between regions, at first, otherwise they will start a trade war that could become messier than a military one.
  6. Avoid selling items that obviously require high tech to produce, or the GC will investigate...
  7. Build a power base within the Alpha Quadrant and dump all available monies into a politicians campaign. Putting someone else in power is the easiest way to gain power, once a PC alpha governor is in office the rebels can extend their influence through out GC space without fear of reprisal.
  8. Begin obtaining industries in hostile takeover moves and then restructure the industry to produce PC wares. This will have a dual effect, there power base will solidify faster and upgrading a factory will raise less suspicion than building a new one.
  9. Most importantly, have hackers remove the "Most Wanted" flags from all starbase computers, less they forget who they are an visit one and find themselves on the "Top-Ten Most Wanted" list and get all their assets seized.

The PC's will still need to play the End-Games, of Part Three, but they can also play the scenarios of part one and two, just for fun, though they won't need to. Here are some additional scenarios that feature the Merchant PC as the instigator;

At a later point in the campaign when the rebels are gun running, the lead smuggler (Gordo) will confront the PC's, extremely angry. He thought that he was transporting a load of weapons, but when they were delivered and the containers were opened, it was to find toys. A storm-trooper figure, with a bobbing head, that bears an uncanny resemblance to the merchant PC... Gordo will be hopping mad and it will take a while to calm him down, this gives the merchant PC time to go and direct the cargo to be moved and the PC's will begin stumbling over boxes of toys stuck in storage compartments meant for far more necessary items than what they find. In another instance, a load of weapons is delivered and found to be defective, so they are sent back, a lead tech will confront the PC's and aim and fire one of these weapons at the PC's. Their reaction will be to duck and pull their own weapons, but the rifle just makes weird noises and has flashing lights when the trigger is pulled. If the PC's are high-strung they may even kill or injure the tech. The merchant PC will need to keep out of the other PC's way for a while...
There are a lot of ways the GM can have fun with this, like having the PC's find toys in the most unlikely places. Like the head of the GC security force having a collection of starship models, the Tyrant wearing a flashing bracelet, etc... Providing the PC's explore one of these shops, by the end of the campaign this PC will have a large bank account. At some point when they need a lot of credits, an accountant will suggest they use the profits from the sale of the Trading Cards, which have pictures of the heroes and villains of the rebellion, which have a flattering picture of the merchant PC, but caricatures of the other PC's. For each idea this PC can come up with (within reason) they can make 1,000,000 credits per year. There may also be a situation when some vital resource is needed, that has been diverted to make toys. So with each item they do come up with the merchant PC gains a modifier of (+1%, accumulative), that when they arrive at the starbase each time, they are in trouble for some reason, or another. This PC will also become the most talked about hero and the other PC's will be considered sidekicks, when they are older and on their deathbeds, a TV program will come on and depict the merchant PC as being the strong intelligent hero and the rest of the PC's bumbling idiots. A save verses shock will determine if this is what eventually kills them...
While the Merchant PC will seem to steal the whole show, in actuality they are just an opportunist, taken to the extreme. One such scenario is if the PC forces are engaged in a drawn out battle against enemy forces and the weather is particularly cold, or hot, when the PC forces finally over run the enemy headquarters, they will find little cups with the Merchant PC's logo on them. They will realize that during the lulls in battle this character sneaked across enemy lines to sell hot, or cold drinks. During the game, the GM can pass the player information like enemy positions, the name of the enemy commander, where they are going to attack, etc...

Gunslinger

A PC who researches the materials found in the starbase security office will gain an edge in combat, so that even if the rest of the PC's are surprised, this PC will not be. They will also gain abilities like always getting off the first shot and having that one shot always hit it's target. They will also learn to "call" a shot so that if they desire to shoot a weapon out of an opponent's hands they can, or things like being able to fire a near miss with a blaster, that stuns the opponent rather than killing them. Only one PC can gain these abilities and it should be awarded to the PC who shows the most interest in exploring these areas. Other armsmen PC's will admire this PC's abilities, but think that such training methods are wasteful and that becoming a "gunslinger" is not worth the effort. This PC must come up with a trade mark saying, like, "Go ahead, make my day...", which will have the ability to force a single opponent to surrender, upon a successful roll against Bravery. Using similar techniques to bluff a group of opponents, on a successful roll against the PC's Bravery and having surprise, the PC can "rout" a superior force, by yelling and rushing them. How far they run is dependant upon continued rolls against the PC's Bravery.
Probably the most impressive skill the PC will develop, is the ability to determine which opponent will fire first in a battle, or who will be shooting at them specifically. As this ability grows, each year the PC gains the ability to "take out" one additional opponent, by selective fire and avoiding the same number of opponents line of fire. So that for example, after five years, if the PC is up against five opponents, they will be able to "sidestep and fire", "sidestep and fire"... so that at the end of five rounds the PC will have hit all five opponents and not get a scratch themselves. It will not matter if the opponent rolls a successful hit, the PC will not be where they were aiming. There will be instances in a serious firefight where the rest of the PC's get wounded and at the end of the combat they look at the "gunslinger" PC to find them paring their fingernails, without a scratch on them. The PC will also be standing in the middle, out in the open, while the other PC's have all taken cover.
This ability can only be used if the PC has room to move and a favorite saying of theirs might be, "Give me some room." If the PC's are bunched up, or this PC is in the back of the group, this ability is nullified, the PC has to be in front where they can see and be far enough ahead to be able to side step. The downside of this is if an area weapon, such as a grenade is used, this PC will usually take the brunt of the attack, though they do have the option to catch and throw it back, or shoot that specific opponent making them drop the grenade amongst his own troops. This PC may not learn any new skills, other than small arms and hand held sword type weapons, but especially no non-weapon skills, with the exception of gambling. Otherwise they will lose their "edge" and be frozen at the ability level they currently hold, returning to this ability later will not increase it either.
This PC will be the only one to retain their reputation, from the machinations of the Merchant PC, but as a result, they will begin to be "called out" after obtaining the fifth "level". The PC's notoriety will proceed them and at some point after the fifth year, they will have armsmen wanting to "test" themselves and force the PC to have public gun battles. This will not present a problem unless the PC loses their "edge", then after so many years, an armsmen will show up that has the ability to kill the PC, without the need to roll dice. After ten years, this PC will hone this ability to where their first shot is a fatal one and no longer need to roll the dice to kill their opponents and have the ability to walk through a crossfire, unscathed, to deliver a close-in-shot to the leader of the opponents. After the tenth year, this PC will have developed a measure of fame, in that without rolling against their bravery, an opponent will recognize them and surrender, or run, (one per level after 9th), even if they get surprise.
The GM can play on this, so that after the fifth year, a punk armsmen, that has been spreading rumors about this PC "calls him out" in a duel. After it is over the PC will find a short novel beside the body, that exaggerates the PC's abilities. Underneath the title "Fast Draw" and the author's name, is the logo "Merchant PC Publications", but it will be too late for them to do anything, a million copies have already been distributed. In the novel the rebels have pseudo names, but they can tell who is who, the Merchant PC will be depicted as a powerful leader in the rebellion, the armsmen as the hero, and the rest of the PC's getting in trouble to where the "gunslinger" has to bail them out each time. The merchant will have delivered copies to a number of starbases, where they sell the best and while the PC's may be worried that the rebels will become known, no one of importance will believe the stories and dismiss them as pure fiction.
To really cause trouble, during some mission where the PC's are disguised and trying to move about secretively, the Gunslinger PC will be "called out" at the worst possible moment. The opponent will be waving the latest copy, (even though the Merchant PC was told not to publish anymore) and yelling, "It's them!, It's them!" and grabbing for his weapon. The rest of the group will not draw their weapons until the duel is over and if the PC's are smart, they will use the opportunity to, "get the drop", on the crowd. This will allow them to run for it, but they will soon be followed. The Merchant PC should take several cuffing blows to the head as they are running, just to add a little more humor.

Croaker

The doctor PC will pick up a nickname, "Croaker", which is a result of them calling out "Medic!", when ever someone gets shot, even if it is an opponent. This PC develops after reading and researching the ancients medical knowledge contained in the ER, on the starbase. The doctor PC will find numerous resources here that will further their skills in medicine, both human and xeno, the doctor PC will not be able to resist researching this facility, once they enter and if they do not, it will be brought to them and left in their apartment. The ancients were very advanced in medicine in comparison to what the GC teaches and the PC will begin to think that normal doctors are barbaric in comparison. The problem though, is that after researching the material the doctor will learn of the "Hippocratic Oath" and be altered by it's philosophy;
The PC will gain the skill to prevent death of anyone in their presence, even if they are without any medical equipment, or medicines. The doctor will also be able to successfully perform radical surgeries that other physicians would not even think to attempt and within five years they will gain a level of fame that will cause them to be known even in the GC medical circles. Characters who are treated by "Croaker" will heal faster (X .3) and in the event of them being present during a military maneuver, the army may suffer (d100%) less casualties, instead, they will be wounded, but not die. This ability is gained as being able to treat 1000 patients per level, or year, by supervising medical personnel. After the tenth year medical procedures will begin to bear their name and they will hear rumors of GC doctors using "Croaker" techniques and wanting to consult with this famous person.
After researching this material and learning of the "oath", of the heroics of paramedics, and battlefield medics, this PC will begin getting themselves, (and the PC's into trouble). While the GM should not reveal this information, the PC's will be able to figure it out after a while... After one year passes, while the PC is doing research, a battle will occur where the PC is forced, (by the Oath) to render aid, to an opponent. They will find themselves crawling across the battlefield to treat the wounded and even though the PC's are yelling for "Croaker" to get back, they will not heed them and continue to move from patient to patient. Croaker, from this time on, will never become the target of enemy fire and can move about in a hail of blaster fire without getting a scratch on them. This PC has no choice in this and no matter the situation, will "find" themselves rendering aid.
This does have the disadvantage that when the PC's retreat, they will later find out that the doctor is not with them. This will cause Croaker to become a hostage during every mission that it is possible, the next mission will be the PC's rescuing "the doc", time and time again. Croaker will always be treated with respect and even if the rest of the PC's are killed, captured, or tortured, Croaker will always survive and often have free access to wander around. This PC however will not be able to harm anyone, cause injury of any sort, and will strenuously object to anything that will violate the "Geneva Conventions", whatever that is... The fame of this PC will grow so much that after the tenth year, officials and wealthy individuals of the GC will begin to try and kidnap Croaker, so that they may become a personal physician. At least once a year this will be attempted and Croaker must roll verses surprise, or be carried off, right under the PC's noses, when ever they visit a public place (GC). Many such powerful individuals will go to great lengths to be treated by Croaker and in some cases, (roll against leadership) Croaker will be given transport and a large sum of credits and be taken back to where they were snatched from.
This character will create untold problems for the PC's, as if an attempt fails (after rolling surprise), another attempt will be made as soon as the opportunity presents itself. In each case though the kidnappers will be secretive and manage to get away without anyone knowing. The GM can have fun with this by having Croaker be abducted and delivered to a commander, or wealthy individual, to treat a social disorder, crippling injury, or a sick relative that causes the kidnapper to owe the doctor a favor. They may be trying to infiltrate a military base and the doctor finds themselves in the commander's personal quarters to treat a venereal disease, to prevent embarrassment, the PC's complete the mission and find out there is no pursuit and Croaker is waiting for them to return to the ship.
To prevent the PC's from reacting to Croaker's disappearance right away, continue to play the game as if the character were there, until one of the PC's address the Croaker PC directly. The things that the doctor will have done were taken care of by another member of the party thinking that the doctor was busy with something else. Do not allow the PC's to circumnavigate this by checking on Croaker's whereabouts, if they attempt to, tell them that the character is there, even though he is not, then later inform them that they can't remember when he was not with them. As this PC will be the fourth most famous character, in the epic, the GM is advised to play it to the hilt and allow this PC to meet all of the villains and the most powerful NPC's. This will add flavor to the campaign and allow the doctor character play an important part, which will make up for their inability to draw a weapon.

The Commander

This character is the General of the rebel ground troops, who will gain the same distinctive abilities as the Captain, but based on their tactical skills in surface warfare. This PC will gain their prestige though mainly from the special forces team's actions. Rather than surrendering though, enemy general's will seek to pit their forces against the Commander on the field, to test themselves. Somewhat like a combination of the Captain and the Gunslinger, this PC will be "called out", but instead of notoriety, or attempts to capture and torture them, this PC will receive invitations to dine with the enemy. There is a code of honor amongst the army generals that is not shared by the fleet, that for one thing will not allow them to flee, but will allow them to surrender as soon as the battle turns in favor of the rebels. This is in order that the Commander treat the prisoners of war with dignity and the general with respect.
Instead of gaining abilities each year though, the Commander gains, or loses this ability with each success, or defeat. This ability will allow the PC to invite a captured general to dinner and learn of the strengths and weaknesses of the next opponent. To begin this, let the first general beg the PC to keep them with the PC's party, under arrest, so that they might talk... When the PC's decide to attack an outpost, the general will learn of this by his guards and ask to have dinner with the PC. The general will boast that the PC doesn't stand a chance and will actually give away military secrets, like troop strength, armament, location of the general, or crack troops, and the next opponent's strategic set of mind, whether they like to fight head on, out flank, or use reserves. (Strategy is covered in Part Two - Ground War). The PC can gain one piece of information from each general they capture, with each consecutive roll against their Leadership skill.
At tenth level, the enemy generals will actually advise the Commander on who should be the next target and which systems are of strategic importance, just to see the outcome. They will be enjoying themselves and will secretly be for the rebellion, but honor forbids them from saying so. The only way the PC can lose their respect is if the PC's bombard an outpost, or sneak attack it with fighters, or ships from orbit. At the twentieth level the generals will help the PC to force a surrender by an opponent, before troops are even deployed to the surface. Before this though the generals will award the Commander with their own medals and ribbons, saying, "You deserve this more than I..." and critiquing the Commander and his troops, in a helpful way.
Session 10-6 "Taking the Heat off", is when this all starts and it is imperative that the PC's capture the general during this scenario, whether they intend to, or not. During this scenario, the enemy will learn of the Commander's name ( * ) and through the spy network at first, the PC will learn that General so-and-so will want to meet them and grants them immunity if they will. They will be told during the meeting that the first General is a personal friend of the second and that the second general wants to wager a bet. The bet will of course be that if the PC loses a ground battle against them, then the first general is to be set free. If the PC agrees to this, then the general will guarantee that the PC's will be freed, upon his honor. The general will of course tell his buddies about the bet and when he loses, each general in turn will issue a challenge and sometimes a dinner invitation before the battle. To ensure that the "war" does not upset the balance of power in the region the general will select a remote system that he will transfer his troops to.
This type of scenario can be started by the Commander being called to the bridge to listen to a message on an open subspace channel. The general is naming themselves, giving the location of their planet, and calling the Commander out on to the battlefield. The Commander will be honor bound to accept and if they do not acknowledge the challenge the generals) will send them short cryptic messages like "coward!", etc... goading them into a confrontation. The ground war aspect of the game really has no bearing on the campaign as a whole, as the battle lines will be drawn in space. It will however affect the End Game and the player's score and with these scenario's it is not necessary to have a long drawn out battle, the PC's need only to capture the general and it will be over. They have to do this by breaking through the enemy lines and taking the general in the command center, the general will hand over his saber and say something like, "Commander (PC name), I presume!" and his officers will issue orders to cease fire, the PC is expected to do the same. So the game here is capture the flag, not "kill them all", being a game of honor, more than anything else.
At sometime in the future, when the PC's enter the command center, they will find the general standing over a board game where the pieces look like the rebels in red and the GC armies in blue (the color of their uniforms). The war game will bear the logo of "Merchant PC Toys" and the general will want to take the game with them, of course and at least once a month the Commander will be forced to play against the general's. A roll against Bravery will determine if they win, the wager will be military secrets, like where a planet is that manufactures supplies for the armies, or fleets, who is important in the GC chain of command, etc... The general's will only divulge secrets if the Commander agrees to play, even though the Commander will hate the game. Later on, when they capture a general, they will comment something like, "Say you do not look anything like your action figure.", or "Your game piece shows more ribbons.", etc...
Each time something like this happens, it should be a hint to the other PC's that the Merchant has been, "holding out on them" and has a bank roll stashed somewhere. So that while the PC's can't kill the Merchant, they can utilize the credits that are being hoarded. If the PC's do not demand royalties from sales, in the end this PC will be living it up like a king and the others will be begging for drinks at a bar, with no one remembering who they were...

The Android

The Android is an integral part of the campaign and should be played by the GM, but on a limited basis can be run by a player. In this case it's abilities are 17 across the board and it's skill level is 9 in everything, during these times the android will be trying to pass themselves off as human. When the GM is playing the android though it becomes super-human, which are times it will get in trouble, (see Appendix Three). The android has knowledge imparted to it from the ancients that is important to the campaign. The Lensmen who was the previous captain of the Xenophone built the android specifically for one event, the End Game where the PC's meet the Tyrant, other than this Mr. X was designed to survive and at times may bail on the PC's when the going gets tough. This will occur with some frequency, especially when the situation looks bad and the party will need the android the most.
This "self-preservation" mode is to ensure that the android is not captured or destroyed and will be given the chance to carry out it's primary mission of confronting the Tyrant. This will also prevent the android from saving the party all the time, by having him disappear when ever things get hairy, he can also come back and rescue the PC's, by walking through concrete walls to reach them, devastating entire companies to come to their rescue. In these instances the android has "wrestled" with his consciousness and realized it was the basic programming that made him flee, but his higher logic circuits will bring him back. In these cases the android will have bypassed it's self preservation logic (just for the mission) and be capable of mass destruction that the PC's themselves will envy (except one...).
Roll playing games do not account for the possibility of surrender, defeat, or (gasp) retreat, by the PC's, but are designed for head to head, "keep firing until their all dead" mentality, which is very unrealistic and actually limits the games to a serious degree. The GM is advised to discard this way of thinking and force the PC's to retreat, surrender, or die! Contrary to the player's outcries, it won't hurt them, it will add new dimensions to the game that they have never experienced before. The android's primary directive of self preservation was given to him to ensure the PC's, "live to fight another day" and should be used by the GM to it's full advantage. The PC's may have technologically advanced weapons but the GC does have superior numbers and a blaster is no child's toy.
By doing this the PC's will gain a level of fame held only by monster's of sequels, being "un-killable", which will alter the GC's morale towards them. Each time they "come back from the dead", or surrender to spare their troops, or retreat to "fight another day", they gain a (+1) modifier. This is an "Epic Roll" that if successful (d100) they will be hailed as heroes on a world that they are visiting. Enemy forces on the planet will not harass them and they will even be invited to dine with the governors and officials, who will claim to side with the rebels, but explain that the GC will bombard them if they do so openly, so that as soon as the PC's leave the planet they will be chased. The fleet commander tells them that he bets they will be headed to "???" and dispatch the fleet towards that jump point. The PC's ship will signal them that the fleet is moving and taking up a position right where the commander said. The general of the army will present the PC's with (2d10) prisoners to take with them, who are GC loyalist, (they will be doing the planet a favor as, if the prisoners are not taken, they will report the system's indiscretion).
The GM can hint to the PC's what is happening by having the governor comment, that he had heard they had all been killed and no longer wanted. The fleet commander will comment something to the effect that their strategic retreat sure caught captain (?) by surprise when they caught up with him again. The general will hint, that surrendering so they could capture general (?) with fewer losses was tactical brilliance. Another significant thing that will happen when the PC's are forced into a situation like this, is that their own forces will retreat to their bases, the region(s) will step down from alert status, and the GC's will gear down their hunt. This will give the PC's a month, or more to regroup and when they take to the field again they will have the initiative. The PC's will then need to actually win a battle, or mission there after, before the next occurrence gains them another "Epic point". Each time they experience this "heroes welcome" they will lose a point though, the Epic roll does not include starbases though, only primary worlds.

Tinker

Tinker is the Tech of the PC's party, specifically in Elec. Systems, Computers, Power, Starship Machinery, Weapons, and such. The Tinker does not play a command position and their roll in the Epic is not very glamorous either. The PC's will need him however, systems, repair equipment, to bypass security, and general speaking, get them into places they would otherwise have to take a round about path. The Tinker plays the part of a person who knows all the backdoors, access tunnels, but can also fix just about anything. This character is actually worth more to the party than the Chief Engineer (who is described next), because why an engineer knows why something works, the Tinker knows how it does and can make it work for them. The Tinker will be able to get the PC's out of trouble, as much as the others get them into it, combined. Using an NPC for this position though is not the same and if the players do not have a tech PC, this information is null and void.
The Tinker will make the game go a lot faster, as they can pick locks, bypass security, and find direct routes to places, which prevents the PC's from blundering their way through everything. With the Tinker in the party, it will give them a level of stealth and the ability to sneak into places, without them, explosives will become a large part of the PC's equipment. Another benefit to having this character along, is that they can disable cameras and will keep the PC's off the wanted list longer. The Tinker will come in very handy on the starbase, finding a way to transverse the entire starbase without using the turbo shafts & passageways, by accessing maintenance tunnels. The mutiny on the starship Lyris also will benefit from the character for the very same reason.
Without the Tinker, the PC's will be limited to level 5 transports on the Xenophone and will be unable to modify any of the procedures, or ships systems to do anything but what they are specifically designed to. The Tinker has the uncanny ability to take something apart once and then know how it operates from that time on. In the game, this gives the PC the ability to learn all of the tech skills at level one, without having to go through the initial training period. Gaining further skill levels require they follow the outlined training though. It is conceivable though that by the end of the campaign this PC will have at least a level one in all of the tech skills. The PC has an inordinate curiosity that they take things apart to see how they work, but can also put them back together... Having a level one in all of these skills will mean that, given time the Tech can modify, or repair anything. Another ability the PC has is to be able to repair something without having the necessary parts, by utilizing things lying around.
Probably the most impressive ability this PC has, is being able to make things from common items. With this PC around the party will always have explosives, a power source, or spare parts. If captured this PC will get the team out and if the party is on a starship, starbase, or in a building, this PC will be the only one that is not apprehended. This PC plays the part of the thief in the campaign, but is more like an escape artist, mechanic, chemist, and computer geek all rolled into one. This PC will gain the least amount of fame in the campaign and will be at odds with the Merchant PC, because they don't have an action figure, trading card, or roll in novels. As a result though, when the PC's are apprehended the Tinker will not even be harassed and thought of as one of the enemy. The only time this is not a consideration is when the PC's are outside of a structure, where the Tech would not be normally. The rest of the time the Tinker will be overlooked as the "hired help" and the weapon they were using a moment ago can be put behind the back and no one will even look at them, other than to comfort them and tell them to get back to work.
For these reasons the Tech is allowed an amount of freedom to come and go as they please, within any enemy installation. The Tinker can do the recon of buildings alone and get in and out without anyone the wiser. The only time their skill level really comes into play is when the PC is with the rest of the party, this is to prevent the PC from requiring a separate amount of game play. The GM is to allow this PC to be successful without needing skill rolls, for example; the party sends the Tinker to recon a military outpost and kill the detection grid, instead of playing a separate session, the GM says, "Tinker comes back in an hour and is wearing a mechanics greasy coveralls.", the party can then proceed together with a limited knowledge of the layout. Do not let the rest of the players get bored by playing these one-on-one scenarios with the Tinker, or any other character, most players will harbor thoughts of "accidentally" killing off the character who hogs the glory, or game time. The character who goes off in this manner does not gain any experience during the interim, only during the use of their skills within the presence of the others. This will go along ways to maintain the feel of the campaign and keep the player's interest in the game, allowing one-on-one game time while other players are present is the quickest way to alienate players from each other in this one's experience.
The GM can utilize this character to keep the game flowing at a fast pace, by giving the PC's a way to directly assault the scenarios head on and not wait around for extensive recon, time consuming repairs, or waiting around for opportune moments. In this sense the GM is to "give" the Tinker information that normally would take the PC's days, weeks, or even months to obtain otherwise. The GM is allowed a lot of latitude in this, to keep the game moving along, but not to the point that the PC's are never surprised. The Tinker's favorite expression is, "Opps, ...", "..., didn't see that.", "..., used a little to much explosives.", "..., missed that one." So that the PC's are not just bypassing obstacles and the Tinker gets them in trouble as much as getting them out. 

Chief

The Chief (Engineer) is not a famous member of the Epic, but is one of the most important ones to the PC's. The Chief's primary ability is knowledge of systems, unlike the Tinker, they do not fix things, but are able to utilize systems quickly and being able to modify the use of something on the fly. With out this PC, many of the systems of the Xenophone will not be able to be used by the PC's as NPC's will be afraid of them, the special drives for one thing, will never be understood by an NPC. The Chief will have the ability to act upon a moment's notice, where if the PC's ask an NPC to do something, they will have to look in a book first and if the procedure is not written down, they will be unable to do it. All of the things the PC's want to make possible, the Chief accomplishes by doing the impossible. The Chief can provide the ship with more speed, extend the shields, alter the cloaking device, etc... Without this PC, the Xenophone is little more than a passenger ship and many of the ships systems will never even be discovered, let alone utilized.
This PC's place is on the Xenophone, but for the sake of the PC's sticking together this PC should be allowed extra skills like piloting, weapons, psionics, etc... So that they can at least tag along, away from the ship though this PC is a third wheel, out of their element. It is unlikely the PC's will be visiting the power deck, or engine room on away missions, though the Chief will come in handy every once in a while, to cause a power plant overload, and in other cases where the PC's want to sabotage enemy systems. The Tinker can blow something up, or bypass it, but the Chief is an artist in these matters, being able to cause a chain reaction, or disable a system to make it look like a malfunction. The Chief will have subtlety, where the Tinker does not.
The Chief will be the only one to understand Quantum Mechanics, the skill that is required to utilize the special drives on the Xenophone. In the real world, this science is not even in it's infancy, and another few decades will be needed before conjectures become theorems, presently none of the "laws" of Quantum Mechanics have been put forth. The Laws of Quantum Mechanics though will eventually give an explanation to the to present inconsistencies between the Macrocosmic and Microcosmic Universes. Einstein's theories include Quantum Mechanics, but up till a few years ago, no one even knew what he had been talking about. Negative energies, quantum foam, wormholes, time travel, dimensional travel, and trans-warp are all sciences in the realm of Quantum Mechanics. The scale of difference between Quantum Physics and Q. Mechanics is like; if Britain was shrunk down to the size of an atom you have QP, QM is on a scale that is to-the-20th power smaller than that.

The Lensman

This PC should be separate from the others, but can also be any of the ones mentioned above in a combination. This PC is used by the GM to keep the player's on the course of the scenarios and following the main theme of the campaign. This is the character that should interact with Clara in session ten, be the one who spends all their time training and developing psionic skills and is the level headed one of the bunch. Many times this PC may seem to be along for the ride, but when the PC's are unsure of which course of action they should take, which direction to go, or what to do next, this PC's can provide an answer. With the GM's help this PC lets the players know if they are on the right track, or have gone off on a tangent that does not relate to the campaign.
The PC gets this information from their predecessor, the Lensman who provided the Xenophone and who left the Orb and pk crystals where the PC's would find them. If the characters are following the campaign as outlined, this PC will get a feeling of dejavu, when they are straying too far, the PC will get a sense of something is wrong. Places and people will seem familiar to the PC, even though it will be the first time they have seen it, them. This PC has less freewill than the others and in party decisions the player looks to the GM for direction. If the leader of the party is not the Captain, it will be this character and if necessary the two can be combined. This is the diplomat and sage of the party, the scientist if no one else plays one, but preferably an armsman.
This character's main purpose in the campaign is to ensure the android gets to come along when the party goes to confront the Tyrant. If the android is not with the party at any other time, the Lensmen will ensure that it is brought on this mission. If the players do not have a separate character for the Lensmen, this PC will not play as large of a roll and their should be no special consideration to this character with the exception of the android. If the Lensmen is a single Epic character though, they are permitted to study twice as much to develop their psionic powers, at the expense of learning other skills. This PC is no longer considered a crew member after session ten and will retire to their quarters and become a hermit except to accompany the PC's on away missions. The PC can train with the lightsword, but no other weapon and will possess one of these weapons before any of the other PC's know they exist.

Other Characters

The Epic does not account for any other main-characters, as they are left to be developed by the players. Some of the types of characters might be a leader for the NPC characters like the spy, Jedi, special forces, a secondary pilot, or driver, someone who can pilot the fighters, and someone who is good with starship combat/weapons, a scientist would be helpful too, as well as more armsmen. Secondary abilities that could be helpful might be, a politician, demolitions expert, weapon's tech, farmer, or someone that can utilize the starbase. The author has the players roll up two characters each, one being the main character, the second picking up some of the slack, this also allows the GM to "mess" with the characters with out the players being worried that they will be knocked out of the game, when their character dies, gets captured, or is needed elsewhere. A party of five is capable of sneaking around fairly easy, but more than twelve will always have someone tripping an alarm, being too bunched up to fire, etc...