RollPlay Swan Song - Week 1, Part 1

JP: Hello, and welcome to the premiere
of Rollplay: Swan Song.

The latest show in the Rollplay franchise
I guess you could say.

I'm JP McDaniel, one of
the cast members here.

You're gonna recognize pretty much
everyone on the show,

except for the guy right down
in the center, under the logo.

That is, of course, Adam Koebel, you've
probably seen him around,

at least these parts,
for Dungeon World,

he's done a couple of things
with Misscliks, as well.

Adam, why don't you start off
tell us a little bit about who you are,

what you do, and
why you're here.

Adam: Alrighty, I am Adam Koebel, I am
the co-creator of Dungeon World,

today I am the Space Master of space.
Wheat: Yesss...

Adam: What I do- I master space
right now, for the next few hours.

That's all I'm about right now.

JP: What about not right now,
what else do you do, aside from that?

How many other campaigns
do you DM actively?

Adam: This is campaign #3, I've got two
live campaigns that I'm running right now.

Playing a game of Burning Wheel,
that just got started,

and I'm playing a game called
"Night Witches", which is about Soviet...

JP: I heard a lot about that.
Adam: Soviet bomber pilots in WW2,

which is also pretty cool.

JP: And that's like a
tabletop RPG, as well?

Adam: Yeah, it's pretty badass.

Geoff: Do you guys get into the accent?
Adam: I do, for sure, accents are key.

For everybody else it varies.
Steven: Damn straight.

Geoff: If you're doing a Soviet D&D thing,
you gotta be into it.

Everyone's gotta be like, "Comrade!"
Wheat: "Listen to me. Let's go bowling."

JP: That's all Wheat knows. That's his
entire repertoire of Russian.

Geoff: "Bowling's for nazis."
(Laughter)

Oh shit, is everyone
wearing glasses but me?

JP: Yeah.
Steven: Get with it, Geoff.

JP: Also, Wheat shaved his beard,

we were gonna have a fully bearded
cast, but Wheat fucked it up...

Steven: Wheat...
JP: What are you looking at...?

Steven: He's got the soul patch.
JP: I see this [motions to face]

but then I look at Adam, and I'm
like, "Well shit, Wheat, you're..."

Wheat: I had to reset.
JP: You had to reset, yeah.

Let's intro everyone else on the show.
You probably recognize them from before,

as they are all already on other
Rollplay shows,

Wheat, why don't we
start with you...

Who are you,
and what do you do?

Wheat: Yo, I'm djWheat. You might
have seen me in other Rollplay shows,

such as R&D, and Crossed: The Good Life.
And other things...

And I'm excited for
this one, here, let's do it.

I stream and do some shows with JP.
I do some shows with Geoff.

I want to go on the record: I'm glad
you let me go first,

I'm excited, obviously, we have Adam
as our Space Master, but,

I am fucking thrilled that I get to play
with the one and only Steven Lumpkin.

BOOYAH, let's do it.
JP: We'll use that as a segue.

Steven, it's your first Rollplay show
as a player character.

Steven: It's true.
JP: No longer are you pulling the strings.

Well, maybe you are...
Steven: That's what you all think.

Geoff: You're gonna have
your hands full, Adam.

This guy...
'I' DM'ed this sonofabitch.

Adam: I'm not scared of Steven,
I'm not afraid.

Geoff: I believe he was
rolling around in poop,

I think he tried to set Neal on fire
and kill him...

Adam: I distinctly remember you guys
butchering my game, that was great.

Thank you for that.
(Laughter)

Steven: I had a lot of fun rolling around
in poop in Dungeon World.

JP: Nice, for those just joining from
the front page, Steven's the weird one.

He's the odd guy, just go with it.
Steven: Hi guys.

I run some other roleplaying shows
on Rollplay, including R&D,

and maybe there's another one?
I don't know. And...

I work in the video games industry,
I'm currently working on a game

called "Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade",
it's gonna be awesome.

I think that's about it,
for what I do, online.

JP: Wheat, I'm just gonna give
you the platform,

people want a close-up of the shirt.
I saw you going like this,

trying to get it in there.
Is that a "One Piece" shirt?

Wheat: It is, it is... And who's
the best "One Piece" character, JP?

JP: I don't watch the anime, so...
Wheat: Correct answer is Nico Robin.

JP: There you go, Nico Robin...
Wheat: Just so you know...

JP: Oh that's right, you've lectured
me before about Nico Robin.

Well, not lectured, but.
Wheat: She's the best...

JP: It's a female character that- I forget.
Wheat, just tell us...

Wheat: She grows hands out of her body.
Adam: I do that too, look.

Wheat: No, like multiple,
she's the best...

Geoff: Do they stay on her,
after she grows them?

Wheat: If you want them
to stay on her, they can.

But they're not permanent.
Geoff: Oh my god, Wheat...

(Laughter)

Wheat: Look at chat! They're agreeing.
JP: Chat's loving it.

Geoff: Yeah, that's good, right?
Chat agreeing with you?

Wheat: Yeah, actually, it is.
It's pretty good.

JP: Once in a lifetime, when
the stars align,

chat agrees with someone
on stream. It's what happens.

Geoff, what's going on with you?

Who are you and what do you do
on the Internets, or in life.

Geoff: What's up, everybody?
In case you just now are joining us,

I'm a former full-time professional
Starcraft 2 player for "Evil Geniuses",

now I'm more like a commentator/
host/personality kind of thing.

Still playing, still competing, Red Bull
Atlanta Battle Grounds this coming weekend

where Wheat will be joining us,
I believe, right Wheat?

Wheat: ...Negative.

Geoff: God damn it...
I just assumed. I apologize.

Wheat: Hey, you know, I'm bummed,
I was supposed to be there,

I think I've actually said it
already but, yeah...

I wish I was going, dude.
Geoff: He sometimes shows up there.

I've been doing shows with JP,

which is actually kind
of weird to think about, for...

JP: Two and a half years now?

Geoff: Only two and a half?
JP: No, "State of the game" was...

Maybe three years.
Geoff: Three or four now, I think.

Getting old, is what we're doing.
JP: We're getting pretty old. Four years older.

Geoff: Been with the McDaniels
for a while now, doing shows.

We've been doing some
Rollplay, I'm on Solum,

before that it was just called
"Rollplay", I guess, the original one.

JP: It was the flagship show, still is.

Wheat: You sound salty
about that, Geoff.

Geoff: Not salty at all, man, it's all
good times. You fucking kidding me?

Wheat: Asshole...

Geoff: Check out those VODs,
they're on JP's thing, his youtube.

And then for me,
I'm also a Warhammer fanatic.

Steven and I have bonded over that,
he's creating a Warhammer computer game.

I play the vanilla,
the original Warhammer 40K,

Tyranids for life,
the great devourer.

Other than that, you can just
find me on the internets,

we'll see a lot of each other if you
check out the show.

JP: I think Geoff is probably a part of-
I think we're in the 400s now,

400 hours or so of content,
Rollplay-related,

I think you're in 200 of it.
You're in a good portion of it.

Geoff: Been around for a while.

JP: Alright, cool, that does
the intros and everything.

Adam, this is your turn to take it away,
typically the DM will, from here on out,

tell us what the fuck this game is.

I guess you can tell us why this
show is called "Swan Song".

I think a lot of people are wondering.

Adam: The game we're gonna be playing
is called "Stars Without Number" (SWN).

It's a sci-fi roleplaying game,
based primarily on basic D&D,

real old-school, real lethal,
very simple mechanically.

It's got a skill set that comes to us
from a game called "Traveller"

which, if you're an old nerd,
you've heard of,

if you're not, Traveller is to sci-fi RPGs
what D&D is to fantasy.

It came out in the 70s, SWN got a
skill set sort of based on that.

"Stars" is what we call a sand-box game.
Steven: Yesss..

Adam: Rather than me leading the players
from plot-point to plot-point,

I'm just going to say,
"Here's the universe, go be in it."

Geoff: Go forth.

The show is called "Swan Song"
because that's the name of the ship,

that the characters
are responsible for,

it's technically property of the
Sunbeam Multistellar corporation,

you guys owe an
ass-ton of money on it,

and the game is gonna be about paying
that money down, getting your ship.

You might just bail out part-way through,
and then it'll be about evading people

trying to collect money for the ship.

JP: I hope actually, that within
the first ten minutes we lose the ship,

and then it's called "Swan Song"
for no fucking reasons.

Steven: "Part-way through", Adam?

[UI] up debt is one of
our primary responsibilities.

Adam: Well, the great thing about the show
being called "Swan Song",

"swan song" also means the last glorious
thing you do before you die horribly.

So, you know...
Multi-purpose title, there.

JP: There you go.

Adam: For today it's the name of the ship.
JP: We can name each season,

I can fit 8 characters in there,
we'll be good.

We can change the title
anytime we lose the ship.

Let's get through a couple of
episodes, because it's not cheap.

Adam: So the setting is inspired
primarily by classic era 70s/80s sci-fi.

Syd Mead concept art, Blade Runner,
the novel "Dune",

I'm particularly inspired by
Iain Banks' "Culture" novels.

If you want any extra
media to absorb

while you're desperately waiting for
the next episode, go and do that.

Things that exist in SWN:
faster than light travel (FTL),

ships have what are
called "spike drives",

that allow them to drill down into
sub-space, and travel at faster speeds.

Psychic powers are really
important to the setting,

primarily because the sector the
characters are in, called Asgard Sigma,

it's very far away from Earth, so far
that no one who lives in that sector

knows where Earth is anymore.

The people of this setting have been
separated from Earth

for a very long time, by an event
called "the Scream",

which was a horrible psychic backlash
that killed most of the powerful psychics,

and now you're stuck out in
the wilderness, trying to get by.

There are aliens, we may or may not
see them. Cybernetics are a thing.

Standard sci-fi stuff, energy weapons,
repulsors, space ships, cool motorcycles.

One thing you don't have
is FTL communication.

In a lot of ways, the setting feels
like a high seas thing,

where you have to take communication
on-board your ship.

There are mail ships traveling from
sector to sector, delivering news.

What might happen in one sector
might not reach the far reaches

of the sector for a while.
That's something to keep in mind.

The characters are all members of the crew
of the Swan Song, filling various roles.

The Swan Song is a small
free merchant ship,

built on a freighter hull, it's got
a simple spike-drive,

100 or 1000 tonnes of cargo space,
it's on the sheet if you haven't...

Hopefully you'll be using that cargo
space to move expensive stuff around.

What we're gonna do for character
creation, we'll jump right into it.

We need attributes for the characters.

As I mentioned, the game uses
the oldest of old-school,

3d6 rolled in order
and assigned to

strength (str), intelligence (int),
wisdom (wis), dexterity (dex),

constitution (con)
and charisma (cha).

Let's get to doing that.

JP: Who wants to go first?
Geoff: I suggest Wheat.

Wheat: What? NO, I'm not
going first! Fuck you!

Steven has been GM'ing
for years, he's going first.

Steven: Alright, I'll go first.
Wheat: And fuck you, Geoff.

(Laughter)

Adam: We'll do each step...
Steven: What's the order of the abilities?

Adam: We'll do them all together,
Steven, roll your 3d6 six times,

and then we'll move on, we'll get
everybody attributes before we move on.

JP: I want to state that,
in other Rollplays,

typically where we do the 3d6 or 4d6,
I guess mostly Solum and D&D,

it was always 4d6, remove the lowest one.

So this is even a little bit more
hardcore than that,

but you can- what's the ruling, Adam?
You can change it from an 8 to a 14?

Adam: There are two ways that you
can move your scores around,

you can reduce scores that are above 13,
you can basically "mediocratize" yourself,

if you've got a 16, you can bring it
down to a 13, to bring your 4 to an 8.

There's a middle band.
JP: 4 to a 7?

Adam: Yeah, you can move them up,
but you can't bring a low score above 8,

or lower a high score below 13.

And when you choose your class,
you'll be given an opportunity

to bump one of your prime requisites
up to 14 if it's not already.

The thing about this is that it's based
on that old version of D&D,

the attributes really aren't
that huge a deal,

your skills are way more important,
the way you get shit done in-character,

is gonna be way more
effective than being like,

"I've got a +17000 on my strength,
I'm gonna punch everything to death."

Geoff: Which is still cool, Adam.

Adam: Yes, it is cool, but do it
without the numbers, man.

JP: Also, do we go in order,
the first roll is strength?

Adam: Yeah, the first roll is strength,
intelligence, wisdom...

Geoff: Let Steven go first.
Adam: It's harrowing.

Steven, what's your strength?

Geoff: Should we introduce our
characters after the attributes?

Adam: Yeah, we'll do
character introductions

because we'll do attributes, classes,
backgrounds and training,

and then we can talk about what
your character's are about.

Steven: Is it strength, dex, con,
intelligence, wisdom, charisma?

Adam: It is whatever order it is
on the character sheet.

Steven: I'm going strength, dex,
con, int, wis, cha.

Here we go!
[rolled 15]

JP: Oh my god!
Adam: Boom!

JP: 15!

Steven: Alright, let's see what
the next one is...

Oh my god, why doesn't
it let me go up?

Steven: 9 dex.

Geoff: JP, can you skype me
that warrior one?

JP: Oh, you mean the PDF?
Geoff: Yeah.

Steven: 9 con.
JP: 9 is pretty good.

Adam: You peaked early, Steven.
Steven: 15, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9...

Oh no!
[rolled 7]

Geoff: You're not very smart.

C'mon, Baby Daddy needs
a new pair of shoes!

Oh god!
[rolled 8]

Geoff: Damn...
Steven: Oh no, this is gonna be the worst.

Geoff: It's not all about
the numbers, remember that.

Steven: Ah, so nice.
[rolled 14]

Geoff: You're a strong, idiotic, charismatic guy.

JP: So it goes strength, dex, con,
int, wis, charisma.

Adam: Yeah, so Steven, while we move
on to the next person,

you can keep that 15 and 14
if you want to,

or you can bring them both as far down
as 13, to bring up the other scores.

But the only thing you can bring up would
be int by 1 point, so don't worry about it.

JP: I'm going last!
Wheat: I'll go. I'll go now.

Alright, so...
Adam: Strength, go.

Wheat: Strength... 11.
And then...

JP: Dex.
Wheat: 10.

JP: Con.

Wheat: 12.
JP: Not bad.

Steven: Hax!
Adam: Slightly-above-average guy.

Wheat: 12, and...

Bring it home!
JP: Intelligence, 13.

Wheat: 13- No! Adobe,
why'd you do that?

My character sheet crashed.
But that's OK...

JP: Don't worry, I'm recording all-
Well, you're gonna be adjusting it,

so you will have to tell me
what the final ones are.

Wheat: OK. I'll redo it again.
What was my int, 13?

And then... 12!
Holy shit...

JP: Damn, king of mediocrity over here!
Geoff: Well-rounded.

Wheat: And charisma... [rolled 13]
JP: Damn! Good fucking rolls from Wheat.

JP: Geoff, one of us is gonna suck.
Geoff: I know, I know.

JP: One of us gonna suck so bad,
and I'm so nervous.

Geoff: I'll just have Wheat roll for me.
JP: God, I'm so nervous about it.

Geoff, you're up next.
Geoff: Alright...

JP: Strength...
Geoff: Roll 3d6...

JP: 10.
Geoff: That's about what I was imagining.

JP: Dex... 10.

Con... 9.
(Laughter)

Int... 9.

Wis...
Geoff: Is it one more?

JP: There's two more- 10!

Last one, Geoff,
last one, charisma.

Geoff: It's gonna be a 9!

[rolls 8]
(Laughter)

JP: These are the worst rolls.
Goddamnit.

Geoff: You guys are lucky I'm
really good at imagination shit.

These numbers ain't doing it for me.

Adam: Try to imagine yourself
having better stats, maybe?

Wheat: Adam, we have two columns
in the stats...

Adam: Yeah, so the left
column...

I don't have the character
sheets in front of me.

One of the columns is
for the number,

there's a modifier that'll be what
you roll, what you add to rolls.

You can see it, if you have the PDF, on
page 10, we'll get to that in a second.

Be consistent, fill out the leftmost with
the numbers you've already got.

Wheat: Oh, the leftmost... OK.

JP: OK, here we go.

Strength... 13. Not bad.

Dex... fuck, 7.

Con is next, right?
Adam: Yeah.

Fuck me...
[rolled 8]

Int... 11.

This is not good.
Steven: Wisdom.

JP: Wisdom... [rolled 7]
Motherf-

Steven: Yeah, boy!
JP: Last one is what?

Adam & Steven: Charisma.
JP: I need this one.

FUCK!
[rolled 6]

(Laughter)

God damnit!
I only have two double-digits.

That's so bad.

Adam: You can move points
between your scores,

lowering abilities above 13,
and raising below 8 to even out.

No such modifications can lower a score
below 13, or raise a low one above 8.

JP: So I'm fucked!

Adam: Now everybody needs
to choose a class.

There's only three in the game:

Warriors are survivors proficient
in fighting and combat.

Psychics are gifted with
unique mental powers.

Experts are everybody else,

experts have expertise in
a wide variety of useful skills.

Pick one of those three things,

and then we can talk about
your prime requisites.

Wheat: Does anyone else have this
issue with the character sheet?

When I change my dex,
the con changes as well.

Adam: The fields might
have the same name.

Geoff: How do you save this,
now that I look at it?

JP: What do you mean?
You just go File->Save As..

Steven: Did you download it?
Geoff: Right-click and "save as", I guess?

JP: Yeah, you gotta download it.
Geoff: I did download it.

Adam: If dex and con are linked, then I
have to pop Acrobat open and fix it.

I'll make a note somewhere.

Steven: Can we talk about
character concepts, for a second?

Adam: Yeah, sure.

Steven: Wheat, what's the idea
behind your character?

Wheat: What do you mean?

Steven: Well, you know, we need
someone to drive the ship.

We need someone to...
Wheat: Oh...

Steven: We need navigations, computers
and vehicle/flight.

Adam: Navigations will allow you to chart
your trip from one place to another,

so you don't end up in the middle of a
star, or empty space with no fuel.

Computers is for managing all the stuff
that happens in a system.

Communications in the ship, jamming and
detection of scanners, that kind of stuff.

Spock ship...
And then...

Vehicle/space is the actual
piloting of the ship.

And it would probably be helpful
if someone had business,

so you can haggle when you take jobs,
but it's not necessary.

JP: Wheat, what were you gonna go with?

Wheat: My character is going to have
the computer skill.

Geoff: I'll take business, too,
if we need that.

Can a warrior take business, or do you
have to be an expert to take business?

Adam: What'll happen is that,
after you pick your class,

the class just modifies your stats
and gives you a special ability.

Your background package, which is your
character's early training and origins,

like where you came from, you can pick
up business from that, if you want to.

And then your training package is what
kind of warrior you are.

So like, space marine or
primitive dirt worlder, or whatever.

If you want a skill that's outside of what
you'd expect in your normal skill package,

usually the background package covers it.

JP: I assume everyone's picked a class.
Steven, what class are you going with?

Steven: I was thinking I was
going to be an expert.

JP: OK, Wheat, you're going psychic?
Still true?

Wheat: I'm going psychic, yes.
JP: Geoff, are you still going warrior?

Geoff: Yep.
JP: OK, I'm going expert, as well.

So Steven... I'm marking all of this
down to put it on the sheet.

Warrior... Wheat... psychic.
JP... expert...

And then real quick:
What are the stat modifiers?

If they're higher than a 14 we can take
it down?

Adam: If it's higher than a 13 you can
reduce it down to 13.

If it's lower than 8 you can
bring it up to 8.

Geoff: What do you do if all your
numbers are 10, 9 and 8?

Adam: You live with them.
JP: I can't modify at all, either.

Adam: Here's the thing,
once you pick your class,

you can replace any one of
your two prime requisites,

so if you're an expert, and you don't
like your intelligence or charisma.

Get rid of that stat and make it a 14.
Pick one or the other.

JP: OK, perfect.

Adam: If you're a psychic, you can turn
either your wisdom or constitution to a 14,

for a warrior you pick strength or dex,
if it's lower than 14 you can bump it up.

Geoff: I just get to do that?

As a warrior I pick my dex,
so it's a 14 now.

Steven: What's that you say,

my lowest score becomes
equal to my highest? Huh.

Oh wait, I have a 15.

Now I've suddenly become like
the best character in this group,

because I have a
15, 14, 14, 9, 9, 8.

JP: Is that the only stat modifiers we
are going to get at all, Adam?

Adam: That's it, you're done.
JP: Steven, can you read me your stats?

What's your strength?
Steven: 15.

JP: What's your dex?
Steven: 9.

JP: What's your con?
Steven: 9!

JP: What's your int?
Steven: 14.

JP: What's your wisdom?
Steven: 8.

Geoff: Everytime I change my dex to 14,
it changes my con...

Adam: Yeah, that's a bug in the sheet,
I'll fix that for next session.

JP: What was it [charisma], Steven, 14?
Steven: 14, fourtizzle.

JP: Wheat, do you have yours?

Wheat: Yeah: strength, 11.

And I can only raise a stat
that's my prime to 14, correct?

Adam: Yeah, you can take either wisdom
or charisma, no, constitution.

Wheat: Strength 11, dex 10, con 12,
int 13, wisdom 14, charisma 13.

JP: Fuck you... Geoff, you know what
your stats are?

Geoff: Yeah, 10 strength, 14 dex, 9 con,
9 int, 10 wisdom, 8 charisma.

JP: Mine are... god damnit.

Mine are 13, 7, 8, 11, 7, 14.
(Laughter)

Steven: That's pretty wild.
JP: They're the fucking worst.

Adam: You're all over the place.
Not a balanced individual.

Now that you've got your classes and
your stats are all ironed out,

if you have a stat that is from 4 to 7,
put a -1 next to it.

This is the modifier, if you do anything
with this stat, it'll be that number.

4 to 7 is -1. 8 to 13 is no modifier.
Geoff: Excellent.

Adam: And 14 to 17 is +1.
And nobody has a 3 or an 18.

JP: OK, perfect, me and Geoff just have
no modifiers at all, ever.

Geoff: The +1 thing does it for con, so...
JP: Oh, wait, 14 to 17 is +1?

Adam: Yeah, 14 to 17.
JP: Oh my god, I have one modifier.

Geoff: Same here.
JP: Geoff, high-five, buddy.

Wheat: I have one, as well.

JP: HP, do we roll a d6,
or do we start with 6?

Adam: Just start with the maximum
amount of HP for your class.

Steven: You're starting us with max?

Adam: If I didn't, then Wheat
would have 1 hit point.

Wheat: Thank you! Can I just,
for the audience, roll.

I can put 16, but let me roll
for the audience.

Geoff: Is 16 the max?
Wheat: For me.

Adam: No, hit points is a d4
plus your modifier for con.

Yours is gonna be, what's your
constitution modifier?

Wheat: Oh, my constitution modifier is 0.
Adam: You have 4 hit points, buddy.

Wheat: 4 hit points? It's not... oh my god.
I was thinking 4d4.

Adam: You can survive a single, average
shot from a pistol.

Way to go. Don't get shot.
Steven: Don't get shot.

Geoff: Also, that's a
good rule for life, guys.

JP: Mine is 6. Geoff, is yours 10,
as a warrior, or 8?

Geoff: Where does it say that?
Steven: It's gotta be 8.

It's in the upper right of your sheet.
JP: Yeah, where it says H...

Adam: It's 8.
JP: HD, so it's "hit dice".

You have 8, and Steven has 6.
OK, cool, what do we do now?

Steven: JP, do you have a -1 in your con?

JP: I'm 8, so no.
I have 13... oh wait, my dex is 7.

Whoops, I entered that wrong.
Oh, it's because the con changes.

Steven: Because chat is saying
you have 7 hit points, not 8.

Or 5, not 6, I guess.
JP: No no, I have 8 con, 7 dex.

Adam: You're fine.
JP: Chat, that's a bug.

Adam: It's your dex that's -1.

OK, so. If it wasn't already
on the character sheet,

note down your class' special ability,
but for the audience I'll read them out.

Experts have a knack for success, and can
reroll a failed skill-check once per hour.

That's hour of real-time, like gameplay,
so if we play for three hours,

experts, you can reroll
one failed skill check per hour.

Warriors have "uncanny luck
on the battlefield",

once per fight they can automatically
evade an attack that otherwise would hit,

and you can wait until I do damage
on this, if you want.

I can be like, "You take 47 damage",
and you can be like, "Nope. No thank you."

Psychics, your special ability is
"psychic powers"...

Wheat: That's just... OK, great.

Adam: It's so hard. Life is hard.
You can move things with your mind.

JP: That's what he can do?
Wheat: I can, but...

Adam: It depends on what powers you pick.

The next thing everyone needs to do
is select your background package.

This is an option to reflect your
character's early training and origins.

And you record the skills the package
grants on your character sheet.

Backgrounds can be found on page 13.

They represent things that
your character did

before you got roped into
this crew of misfits.

You might have been a bandit,
or a hermit, or a noble,

or you might have been
a con-artist, or a priest.

Each one will give you a set
of skills that you'll gain.

If you don't like any of them that
are already here,

the adventurer one allows you to take
culture/specific world, or culture/spacer,

and then any two skills you'd like.

You get less skills overall,
but you can make up your own.

JP: I have a question...

Since we have to have either navigation,
flight/space and computers.

Can we just get that or does have to be
part of your background packages?

Adam: It'll either be part of your
background package,

or your training,
which is the next step.

If you don't take it now,
you'll have to pick one later.

Steven: Oh, you get training too, cool.

Adam: We'll do this again,
but they're gonna be class specific.

JP: Adam, do you also have the link
handy for that free PDF?

I think Geoff needs it.
Adam: I do, I'll give you the drop-box.

Wheat: So, when I was reading through
it seemed like we could bargain with you

in terms of these background and
training packages, right?

Adam: Maybe, what are you looking
to bargain about?

Wheat: I would really like to either...

Rogue psychic and criminal mind are both
ones I like, and they're somewhat similar.

But basically, I want to
give up culture/criminal,

because I already get a culture
from my class,

and take combat/any in its spot.
I feel like criminal mind, that's..

Adam: Yeah, that's fine, I'm not gonna
stick you on that stuff.

Wheat: Excellent.
Adam: But you're jumping ahead,

criminal mind and combat psychic,
those are for later,

we're looking at background right now.

Wheat: Oh, background. God damnit.
Steven: God, Wheat!

Adam: Advanced SWN...

Just to give you guys an idea, most of
the skills are pretty straight-forward.

If you have combat/primitive weapon
you can use a bow and arrow.

If you have history you know things
about galactic history.

Culture is a little bit different,

culture allows you not only to learn
things about specific stuff.

If I'm like, "You crash-land on planet X."
And you're like, "I got culture/space."

"I wanna learn some stuff about
the customs of planet X."

you can roll to know that.
But it's also a way to generate NPCs.

I you show up on a world, and you're like,

"I know a guy here, I have culture/traveler,
so I know lots of different space travelers."

We can roll and introduce that character,

It's kind of like how when Han Solo
is on the run from the Empire.

He's like, "Oh hey. Bespin.
Lando lives there, he's my buddy."

And then his player flubs the roll,
so it's a trap, but he doesn't know that.

That's how it works in this game.

Culture skills are useful both
as knowledge skills,

and then also for having your character
tied to the various cultures of the sector.

Wheat: And these are separate from
the class background packages?

Adam: Yes.
Wheat: Oh, so that's where I fucked up.

Adam: You get two, you get
background first, and then training.

Wheat: So...
JP: Go ahead, Wheat.

Wheat: If I was going to choose computer,
like comm crew would be...

Adam: Yeah, that'd be the way to get it.
Wheat: OK.

Adam: For the skills that you take,
just put a 0, skills start at 0.

The way this game works, if you try to
do something you don't have the skill for,

you take a -1. If you have the skill,
you don't add anything.

And then they range between 0 and 5.

JP: For the skill combat/gunnery,
is that only on ships?

Adam: Yeah, that's ship lasers,
sand-throwers, and missiles and stuff.

Steven: We've got lasers
and sand-throwers, JP.

JP: I was gonna go navigation,
but I wanna take con-artist.

But that doesn't give us
anything that we need.

Steven: But you get the option to get
something we need

with your expert training
package as well, right?

JP: What page is that on, Adam? I feel like
we should look at them at the same time.

Steven: Page 18 and 19.

Adam: Yeah, background packages
are 13 and 14.

JP: Nice, perfect. I've got navigation, guys,
I've got that under lock.

I'm gonna take con-artist.
Background. con-artist...

Geoff: I take soldier, I guess.
JP: OK.

Steven: Geoff, are you looking to take...

What is it, comms, navigation and computer?
Wheat: I took comm crew.

Steven: You took computer, navigations and
what's the other one? I can't remember.

Wheat: Business?
Adam: Computers, navigation, vehicle/space.

Steven: Yeah, vehicle/space.
Are you planning on being a pilot, Geoff?

Geoff: No, but if we need to
I guess I could do that.

Steven: I can be a pilot.
Wheat: Yes!

Geoff: We need business, I guess?
But I can do that with the other one?

Which one has business?

Adam: If you are a warrior, let's see
any of these have business...

I imagine there's like a
private military one.

Mercenary, yeah.
If you do soldier/mercenary,

you get business from mercenary.

When you're picking your training
package, if you get a repeat,

you have a skill you've already got,
I think it just gives you a bonus +1.

Wheat: Oh, OK. Really?

Adam: If you double up you get extra.
Geoff: And where's the training one?

Adam: "If a skill appears in both your
background package and training,"

"take it at level 1 instead of 0."

Those come immediately
after each class description.

Pages 19, 21, and 23.
JP: Oh shit, I'm excited, guys.

Wheat: I'm excited, too.

JP: This is working out.

I'll just have to edit that in.
The sheet has "culture/",

but it's not editable for
those three things.

I'll have to edit that in.
Adam: Yeah, just make a note.

JP: Steven, did you already
choose your background?

Steven: Still looking through
it all, let's see here,

I wanna see what kind of expert
training packages I could get.

Oh geez. Well, I could become a pilot.

That could be a training package
that I take for expert.

So, yeah... I think I'm gonna be a
biotech crew,

which gives me culture/spacer, science,
tech/astronautic and tech/medical.

JP: Interesting.

Adam: Get some Lazarus patches,

make sure no one else dies,
especially Wheat.

Wheat: Yes.
Adam: His 4 hit points...

JP: Who hasn't...
Wheat, did you choose?

Wheat: Yeah, I'm choosing comm crew.
JP: Comm crew, OK.

Geoff, what about you?

Geoff: Mercenary.
JP: OK, and I'm taking con-artist.

Geoff: How do we know what this gives us?

Is it on the sheet, we highlight
that somewhere?

JP: It's in the PDF that you just got,
go to page 13.

Geoff: Yeah, I got that, but are we
supposed to remember these things.

Wheat: You take that, where it
says "skills", underneath,

and you just put a 0 next that skill
on the character sheet.

Adam: You've got combat/projectile,
combat/unarmed,

culture, you pick a specific
world, and tactics, all at 0.

Geoff: But for the ones you have redundant
between background and training you do +1?

Adam: Yeah, if you have it on both,
if you have soldier,

and then mercenary also gives
combat/projectile, you add another 1.

So it goes from 0 to 1.
JP: OK.

How do we get skills, do we get skills
when we level up?

Adam: Yeah, you'll get skills points
that you can spend when you level up.

Experts get them a lot faster than
everybody else.

JP: Damn right they do.
Geoff: "Damn right!"

JP: What package are you
gonna take, Lumpkin?

I don't know why I'm calling you
by your last name.

Let's just go with it.
Geoff: It is what it is, you know?

JP: Come on, Lumpkin.

Steven: There's so many.
JP: I'm taking bounty hunter.

Steven: I was not looking at
bounty hunters, so you're golden.

Adam: Your background is con-artist,
and your training is bounty hunter?

JP: Yep.
Adam: OK, cool.

Geoff: Culture/world isn't here...
There's a culture one and just...

Adam: I think JP mentioned that you can't
edit that, so I'll fix that.

Just think about that.
It'll be a specific world,

it might be your homeworld,
it might be another world.

Steven: Vehicle/any means I choose one?
Adam: You pick one, yeah.

Steven: I'm gonna be a xenoarchaeologist.
Wheat: Oh, nice.

Steven: Which gives me another combat,
another culture, history, language,

perception, science,
tech/any, and vechicle/any.

Wheat: You're gonna be a pilot too, right?

Steven: Yeah, vehicle/any
is gonna be vehicle/space.

Adam: What background did you take?
Steven: Biotech background.

Adam: So biotech crew and then...
Steven: Biotech and Xenoarchaeologist.

Adam: Your character is such a nerd...

Steven: Yup.
Adam: Ship's nerd.

Geoff: If it says combat/any,
do you 0 in all the combats?

Adam: You pick one.
JP: You choose one.

Geoff: Oh, OK. But it gives me
combat/projectile,

so potentially I could just go
double up on that one, right?

Adam: Not if it's in the same...

if it gives you combat/projectile
and combat/any, you can't.

But if you have /projectile in one
and /any in the other,

yeah, you can just add projectile again.

Geoff: Would knives be unarmed?
Adam: Knives is primitive.

And as a bonus you get spears.
And other sharp objects.

JP: Steven, are you flying?
Steven: Yeah, I'm flying.

JP: You want me to fly and you not fly?
Steven: Hell no, sucka.

Ship's my baby.

JP: Do we have any other vehicles on
the ship, Mr. DM?

Adam: Not presently, no.

You have the cargo space to fit
vehicles, if you want to,

but, yeah, you have no money.
If you steal one, though...

JP: What would be considered
a vehicle/grav?

Would that be something that is floating?
Adam: Yeah, hover-cars, hover-tanks.

JP: What is more common in this world?
Adam: Depends on what planet you're on.

Tech level 3 (TL3) planets
don't have grav technology.

TL4 and above will.

JP: Let's see what planet
I chose earlier.

Oh shit, I gotta open up that thing
that you sent me.

Wheat: I'm gonna choose criminal mind,
by the way, for my training.

But as I mentioned, I wanna give up
culture/criminal for projectile weapons.

You're cool with that?
Adam: Yeah, that's fine.

Wheat: OK, great.
Geoff: Are we starting at level 1?

Adam & JP: Yeah.
Geoff: Cool.

Adam: JP, just for reference, more than-

I would say two thirds of the worlds
in this sector are TL4 and above.

JP: So they would have grav?
Adam: Yeah, grav stuff is pretty common.

JP: I'm kind of jumping ahead, but I don't
have it easily accessible and I think you do,

can you tell me what
type of planet Asa is?

Adam: Yeah. Let me pull up the...

JP: Because whatever that is,
I'll choose my vehicle from that.

And yes, I did choose the planet
named after the porn star.

That's how it was chosen.

Adam: Planet Asa is a...

Tech level 4 planet.

JP: Cool, so they would have grav.

Adam: Yup.
Wheat: I have one other question,

Inbetween all the background packages,
and then the individual classes,

there are also the character skills...

Adam: The class skills, those just
modify the cost of raising them later.

Where it says expert class skills:

"All except combat skills, tactics
and tech/psitech."

For psychics there's a list:
Combat/psitech, culture/any...

Those are your class skills, they're
gonna be cheaper later on.

But they don't really
matter right now.

Wheat: So you don't actually select one,
it's just an explanation of them, right?

Geoff: Adam, give me a world that would
be a city, high-tech and crime...

Adam: The highest TL world is...
Onintza.

It is a... abandoned colony.
Geoff: How do you spell that?

Adam: O-N-I-N-T-Z-A.

Geoff: Oh, my god, you just said "Zed".
Are you german?

Adam: No.
Steven: He's canadian!

Geoff: We don't hang with germans here!
(Laughter)

Happy Canada day a week ago, though.

Adam: Sprechen sie Space?

Wheat: Since we're talking about,
are you selecting homeworlds?

Adam: Onintza, just to make sure it sounds
like a place you'd like to be from.

Onintza was a colony world that was
abandoned due to a religious war.

There's a religious war over the planet
that caused massive damage,

and most people left.

There's still some embittered hold-outs
that still live there, fighting the war.

Geoff: But it's the highest tech planet?

Adam: Yes, it has pre-tech and
pre-scream technology,

which is probably why people
are fighting over it.

Geoff: If you think a criminal kind of
suave dude would come from there...

JP: Of course, you're gonna be the one
trying to steal the ship.

Geoff: OK. I like germans, chat, don't
freak out. I'm half-german, myself.

JP: We're very sarcastic on the show.
Don't take anything we say seriously.

Wheat: Adam, can you tell me what the
most wealthy homeworld would be?

Adam: So the homeworld
that's the most prosperous?

Wheat: Yes.
Adam: Uhm...

JP: Guys, I just went by the name,
I didn't go by the stats of the world.

I saw "Asa" and I'm like, "I'm in!"
Geoff: You've done goofed.

JP: I know, I'm worried now.
Wheat: JP, don't worry about it,

because my character is poor as fuck
in the wealthiest place in the universe.

Adam: There's a planet called "Majid".
It's currently undergoing a gold rush.

That's probably a good bet.
Wheat: M-A-J-I-D?

Adam: M-A-J-I-D, yep.
Wheat: Wow, I got that.

Everyone: "Majid".

Adam: Planet 5 in the Vafa'i system.

JP: I do have question for you.
Adam: Yes.

JP: In terms of combat, what
would be an energy pistol?

And would I have access to something
like that at level one?

Adam: At character creation you're allowed
to purchase TL4 and lower equipment.

The lowest TL energy weapon
is a laser pistol,

it's TL4, so you could buy it.
JP: Perfect.

Adam: It's 200 credits, though, so you
might not be able to afford it.

You'll start with...
JP: What if I..

Can I somehow con someone out of it?

Adam: You can do that at the
beginning of the game.

Or you could convince your friends
to lend you some money.

JP: I could.
Geoff: How much money do we start with?

Adam: I'm looking for that right now.
But it's not a ton.

JP: You said that was an energy weapon?
Adam: Yep.

You start with 400 credits
plus 1d6 times 100,

so you might have 1000
credits to start with.

JP: Can we all roll for our
credits right now?

Adam: Has everyone picked their
background package and training package?

Geoff: Yes, I believe so.

Adam: I just gotta make sure
I have it in my notes,

Wheat, you're comms crew/criminal mind?
Wheat: Yes.

Adam: I think that was
the only one that I had.

These are ways of thinking how you
want to play your character,

the first thing is what you were before,
and the other one is what you are now.

Wheat used to be comms crew on a ship,
but now you're a criminal psychic.

Think about what moved you from one
to the other, what happened to your ship.

Where's the rest of your crew, what made
you go from comms crew to criminal mind?

Some of them are easier to figure out,
like soldier to mercenary;

maybe you were part of the army,
now you're part of your own army.

Steven: Biotech crew to xenoarchaeologist.
A natural transition, if ever I heard one.

JP: You're just a fucking life-long nerd.

Adam: I'm pretty sure Steven
is playing Zoidberg.

Geoff: Except he's more charismatic, strong,
dexterous and powerful than the rest of us.

Adam: Super nerd.

Everybody has that stuff, you've all
marked your skills down,

does everybody have a homeworld?
Steven: No.

Can you link us to the drop-box with
the system in it?

Adam: The thing? Yeah.
JP: While you're doing that,

if I wanted to dual wield pistols,
would that give me any benefit?

Amd is there a skill
relationship to that, or no?

Adam: No, the skill is just...
In combat it's real simple.

You get a move and an action,
the benefit of having two pistols is that

if one runs out of ammo,
you have the other one.

JP: I couldn't use two pistols at once?
Adam: No, not initially,

because you only have one shot,
time for one shot, basically.

Adam: If anybody in the chat
wants to follow along,

and look at the Asgard
Sigma Encyclopedia,

it's on JP's reddit.
Steven: Aw yes.

Adam: All the maps n' stuff.
I'll post this...

Cool. So there's Asgard Sigma...

While Steven is deciding
where he's from

if you haven't already,
note your hit points.

Just take the max for the die,

the two experts will have 6 plus
your constitution modifier.

Geoff, you'll have 8 plus your
constitution modifier.

Steven: Did you say, Adam,
that we're starting in Gunnhild?

Adam: Yes, I'm gonna start you off there.
Steven: I will be from Andoni.

Geoff: "Andoneh"
Adam: OK, cool.

Adam: Wheat, where are you from, again?

Wheat: Majid.

Adam: Geoff? What planet
did we say you're from?

Geoff: That awesome one we
just described... Onintza.

Adam: Cool.

OK, choose your language.
Your character speaks English.

You speak your worlds native tongue,
if that's different.

You can decide that yourself,
I don't really care.

It'll just matter if you go there.

And then you can add one more language
per point of intelligence modifier bonus.

Geoff: Excellent.
JP: Geoff, next, let's go!

Adam: The game is set in the year 3200,

so you're pretty distance from
normal Earth cultures.

But people have managed to hang on to
their languages pretty solidly,

so if you wanna speak Korean,
that's a valid choice.

Geoff: I don't see this on the...
JP: Where's this on the character sheet?

Adam: I'm not sure, make a note
somewhere, maybe in the "notes" section.

Geoff: English, but it's based on Earthly-
Adam: Based on actual languages, yeah.

Unless for some reason your...

Like if you're a mercenary, you can have
a special mercenary hand-sign.

You can make up languages if you want to.

But they tend to be pragmatic,
rather than cultural.

Because you haven't had time to
build a whole cultural language.

Steven: Surely I could speak some
ancient alien tongue.

Adam: Sure, yeah. The alien races
you may have encountered...

You can see them if you have
the Galactic Encyclopedia open.

See "Alien Races".
Steven: I do.

Adam: You can pick one of those.
You can speak their native tongue.

Steven: Hmm...

I like Shindel, because they're
"hybrid: avian and exotic".

Scales instead of feathers, and
chainsaw-like mouth parts or claws.

Adam: I would love to hear you try
and use your human mouth

to make a "chainsaw-like mouth" sound.

Steven: I probably need to use my hands.
Adam: Probably, yeah.

You have to chew a rock
while you're speaking.

Steven: Alright, I speak English
and Shindelian.

Adam: Shindel, OK...
Steven: Ancient Shindelian.

I have no use for
modern Shindelian.

Geoff: You said that without modifiers
we just get to pick one other?

Adam: You get English and your world's
native tongue if it's different.

Geoff: Onitziwa people are Japanese,
it sounds kind of Japanese. Right?

Adam: Onintza, yeah, yeah.

Geoff: Oh, I did say "Onitziwa",
which is not what it is.

It's "Onintza", but it still
sounds kind of Japanese.

Adam: Onintza...

Yeah, you can say "Onintza"
in Japanese, there you go.

Geoff: I'll steal all the anime fanboys

that djWheat otherwise would've
garnished for himself.

Wheat: Then I take all the Firefly fanboys
and choose Chinese, so fuck off.

Adam: Does that mean, Wheat, that
Majid speaks Chinese primarily,

and if so,
Mandarin or Cantonese?

Wheat: Mandarin.

Adam: It sounds to me like it wasn't
named by Mandarin speakers.

So if it like a different ruling group
that originally named the planet, or?

How did that happen, because it
sounds kind of like Arabic.

Wheat: I feel like the people... the people
that are governing the planet,

basically bought their way in there.

They had enough money to call it whatever
they want, and do whatever they want.

Hence the mining of all the gold.
The rich get richer.

That's kind of awesome, it's kind of like
a gold rush world, led by a Mandarinate.

Wheat: Yes. Yes.
Adam: OK, cool.

Geoff: "Werrcome"...

Adam: Watch that.

You start with 400 credits,
plus 1d6 times 100 credits.

You can buy any equipment
of TL4 or lower.

And you can find all of that fun stuff,

all of your gear porn on page...
starting on 33.

Geoff: Did you say 1d6*100?
Adam: Yeah, roll 1d6 multiply it by 100.

Geoff: I got 5. So I'm at 900 credits,
is what you said?

Adam: 900 credits, yeah.

Geoff: We buy our weapons, we don't
start off with anything?

Adam: No you don't start with anything,
you have clothes and a space ship.

JP: Start off with Wheat. Oh, 1000!
Adam: Rich psychic.

JP: You're a rich poor person, Wheat.
Good job.

Can't wait to roll this 1...
[rolls 1] Motherfucker!

Geoff: Did you actually..?
Oh my god.

Adam: Your last con didn't work
out so good for you.

JP: No man, not at all.
God damnit.

Adam: Draining some old
lady's bank account.

Geoff: How do you change your name?

Where it says "as Geoff R",
how do you change that?

JP: Click the cogwheel
in the top right...

Geoff: Cool.

Steven: Cogwheel, top right.

JP: What's next?
Adam: Buying stuff, buying equipment.

You can find all your equipment
starting on page 33.

I would suggest purchasing...
Look at regular equipment first.

Wheat: Adam, did you want me to tell
you my psychic powers, by the way?

Adam: No, we'll do that next.
That's the last thing.

Look at exploration gear on pg. 41 first.

Things like communication equipment,

that sort of thing, you want the
space equivalent of a cell phone.

Steven, I would suggest spending a few
credits on Lazarus patches and a med-kit.

A Lazarus patch allows you to bring
someone back from 0 hp, if they're dead.

You get one shot at it.
So if you wanna be the...

Steven: Difficulty 6, that's not too bad.
Difficulty 6 is not so bad.

Wheat: A comm server, you were saying?

Adam: A compad, or data slab,
both of those are useful,

think of them as a phone or an ipad.
Geoff: Adam, what's a mono-blade?

Adam: A mono-blade is a knife with an edge
that's a sharp as a single-

Geoff: Stop! I'll take it.

Steven: Adam, can I get a motorcycle
if I'm in debt by an extra 200 credits?

Adam: No, borrow it from the rich
warrior, or the psychic.

Geoff: Whoa, hey! Ease up, there.
Wheat: So a compad is good to have?

Adam: Yeah, if you want to be able to
communicate with each other,

or make phone calls...

Geoff: Oh my god, sub-machine guns...

Wheat: It can reach other compads within
1km? Is our ship equipped with something?

Adam: Yeah, the ship has built-in
short-range communication.

You can always call the ship,
and the ship can call you.

JP: How much is a compad?
I only see comm server.

Wheat: Compad's down.
Adam: Yeah, keep going, compads are...

Geoff: Adam, can I ask you a question?
Adam: They're a 100 credits.

Geoff: When we get into the show,
how soon can kill someone

with a really good weapon?
Adam: Almost immediately.

Wheat: Shut up, let me ask
the real questions.

Can you explain armor before I spend
any money on this other shit?

Geoff: More is good!

Adam: Combat in SWN: the attack roll that
anyone will be making, you or other NPCs,

you take a d20, you roll, add your bonus,
and add your opponent's armor,

The lower your armor, the better that
armor is. That's what you're adding.

If you have no armor, anyone attacking
you gets to add 9 to their d20.

Geoff: There's a fucking musket
that you could have.

I god damn dare someone to take a musket.

Adam: If you want armor that's
reasonably protective,

look for something with low armor,

The idea is that you roll d20,
add your target's armor class,

add your combat skill, your attribute
modifier and your attack bonus.

If you get 20 or better, it hits.

It's a little weird if you're used to D&D,
but basically it just builds up.

Wheat: As a psychic, is there any
limitation to what I can...?

Adam: No, you can wear
whatever you can afford.

Keep an eye out that power armor,
which I doubt you can afford,

requires specific training to use it,

plus it needs batteries,
keep that in mind.

Wheat: OK. Gotcha.
Geoff: Sigh...

Adam: JP, if you're gonna buy
that laser pistol,

make a note; all energy weapons
get a +1 to hit, no matter what.

JP: Yeah, I'm in.

Wheat: How does ammo work for
the laser pistol vs something else?

Versus, like, projectile?

Adam: You buy it more or
less the same way.

It'll say "magazine" and have an
amount of shots available.

And then there should be
a section for purchasing.

Don't worry about rations
and stuff, your ship can...

It has enough food for... I put it
on the ship sheet,

you can survive in the ship, you can
live out of your car, if you need to.

JP: What does AB mean in the
weapons thing?

Adam: Attack bonus.
JP: So I get a +1 there?

Adam: Yeah, because
with a laser pistol,

you point it, and pull the trigger, and
it goes exactly where you're pointing,

because it travels at the speed of light.

JP: Are you giving us full ammo
on the purchase,

or are you gonna be a dick and say
we're missing some rounds?

Adam: No.
Geoff: Good answer.

Adam: The gun comes with 10 shots.
JP: Beautiful. OK.

If you guys wanna move on, because
we're coming up near the break,

we can move on to the psychic
stuff for Wheat,

and then you can choose your
equipment during the break.

Does that work for everyone?
Geoff: Sure.

JP: Wheat, what are you gonna choose?

Adam: You get a primary discipline
at level one,

one more point to spend on a secondary
discipline. What are your disciplines?

Wheat: My primary discipline is
going to be a pre-cog.

Which means I get "Omen",
and it's pretty cool,

basically the pre-cog will receive a
distinct sense of whether following

that course of action will
result in physical injury

or mental distress within
the next ten minutes,

according to the GM's best
judgement of likely outcomes.

This power can be used
only once per hour.

And my second one will be biopsionics,
and it will be biostatis.

Which is somewhat ironic considering
that I'm probably the most likely to die,

but it lets me bring
someone back to life.

Adam: It's essentially a
psychic Lazarus patch.

JP: I know you already explained this,
but is armor class higher or lower better?

Adam: Lower is better, you start with
AC 9 if you're not wearing anything,

and it goes down the more
armor you put on.

JP: What is encumbrance
based off of? Strength?

Adam: Yeah, it's like a
number of slots, I think,

each item takes up a certain
amount of encumbrance.

I find encumbrance generally
pretty boring and stupid,

but it's there so you can't be like,
"I'm carrying 47 assault rifles." So...

Try and keep track of it, and if I think
you're being abusive I'll be like,

"What's your encumbrance?", and then you
gotta justify it, but otherwise I won't.

Wheat: Where does it show
your encumbrance?

Adam: I don't know,
because I don't care.

JP: It only has an inventory, I don't
think it keeps track of it, though.

Steven: I have a combat shotgun.

Adam: Here you go...

You can carry a ready number of items,

equal to half your strength
score, rounded down.

Ready items include those things you're
wearing, ready at all times,

like in holsters and belt pouches.

you can draw or produce a readied
item as part of any other action.

You can have stowed items
equal to your full strength.

That's like crap in a bag
or like a deep pocket.

If you have a gun in a holster

it's readied, so you
don't have to be like,

"I'm taking an action to take it out,
now I take an action to shoot you."

You just go, out, boom.

Geoff: Why is armored undersuit expensive?

Adam: Because it's armor that
you can wear under other armor?

You can hide it, it's like a
bodysuit of nano-weave.

Geoff: But how does it stack then?
Let's say you have woven body armor for 5,

then you have armored undersuit that's 7,
what do you do to make your AC lower?

Adam: I think you divide the lower one.
I'll check for you on the break.

Geoff: But then why would
you have the other one?

Adam: You add them together,

I think if you have 7 and 5, you add 3,
or whatever, you reduce it.

I'll check it for you, though.

Geoff: What do we start at, these are
subtracting from what you start at, right?

Adam: Yeah, that's right.

If you have no armor at all,
you're wearing... your AC is 9.

JP: Is there anything else we need to do?
We'll do some character stuff afterwards.

Adam: When we come back everyone
can introduce their characters,

we'll get names and descriptions
so we can jump into the action.

JP: Perfect, sounds good.
We'll take our first break.

We're going for three more
hours today, so stick around.

Take a quick three minute break, when we
come back we'll actually play the game.

It's pretty typical for the first hour of
the premiere of shows,

we do character creation.

People wanna create a character,

perhaps do a game of their own,
then they can follow along.

We'll be back in three minutes.

Thanks for watching,
we'll see you soon.