Character generation is generally biased towards human and Colonial characters. While they are not given any advantages over aliens, it is assumed that most characters will be human and this section is written with that in mind. For more information on aliens, see the Alien section. It is generally assumed that the setting of the game will be in 7200, the time zone when the rest of the site is based. However, if you want to update the setting, then the notes here might be a good place to start.
Generating characters in GURPS Battlestar Galactica is handled normally, and they are usually built on 125 points.
The following checklist is used for character generation:
It should be noted that the Universe of Battlestar Galactica is a very human orientated one. Whilst aliens do exist and interact with the Colonies, this interaction is not as complete as with the various tribes of man. Very few aliens actually live on the Colony worlds themselves.
For more information about the Colonials as characters, see the Colonial section.
Designations are the Colonials term for careers. Each character must have a career, and the following pages list several for military and civilian careers. Only a sampling of designations are actually listed and players and gamesmasters should feel free to add to this list as they please, remembering that there is a whole civilisation to explore if you wish.
Each designation is listed like a template and they detail the following information:
Characteristics: These are the minimum statistics that the character must possess to be able to enter this designation.
Primary Skills: These are skills that the character must buy for the designation. All skills in the list must be bought to a minimum of Average level (12).
Secondary Skills: These are skills which are not actually needed and thus do not need to be bought, but are possibly very useful to have. If bought, there are no minimum levels of skill that the skill can be bought to.
Because of the nature of this template system, no actual costs can be given for them as they are totally dependant on the character being created. Other skills can be bought in addition, but the gamesmaster has the final say on whether the skills are appropriate or not for you character.
It is possible for a character to have multiple designations, but in this case, a character must fulfil all the criteria for all the designations and must buy as many skills from the second designation as possible (this assumes that all skills from the first designation have already been bought - if the character does not have enough points yet, then they may not change designations).
A lot of the other points like status, image and so on, will be determined by the race and type of character that is being developed, so it recommended that players consult the various sections needed for their characters.
The average starting wealth for a character though is 15,000 cubits.