Function of character templates beyond character creation.

[nuclearwookiee]

So I picked up my d6 books for the first time in years this last fall. So far I've been amazed at how many things my group of friends and I had wrong way back in high school. I recently started thinking about the usefulness (or uselessness) of character templates. All I can come up with is it gives the GM a chance to control the possible distribution of beginning skill dice. Is this it or am I missing something? Do any of you hold characters to the template skills beyond character creation?

[KageRyu]

I believe templates are useful as a GM tool on many levels, and are about more than just a way to control Starting dice allocations. It is rare I will not allow customization of a template, or have run into a Star Wars D6 GM who wouldn't allow it. The templates, I feel, serve as more of a way to help create a balanced character and allow players and Game Masters alike to jump right into the game, and have a working Character in minutes, something that might otherwise take hours with a complete do-it-yourself scratchbuilt once you work out background and fine details. The first edition books said as much, and I feel said it best, that with templates one need not even be real familiar with the Star Wars setting, you just need to boil down the idea of "I want to be a Pilot...I want to be a Jedi...I want to be the rogue captain...". Most of the templates list skills that are appropriate to that occupation or lifestyle, but the D6 system encourages using and learning new skills beyond those you start with - and I have never used a template as a hammer to prevent acquisition of skills (even the Force Using Ex-Stormtrooper came to pass). Additionally Star Wars templates had an invisible layer of perks and flaws built into many of them (the smuggler has a ship but is in debt or has a bounty, etc...), and although there was information on creating custom templates and characters, none of this was ever really presented or touched on in any formula.

I have also found templates very handy for quick NPC stats for a given occupation or field - as most of the work is already done, just divy up some skill dice. As far as how it affects the player character once play starts, it's really just a reminder of how the player started his adventuring career.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[Grimace]

Yeah, templates basically offer a snapshot of the setting you're in. If you're playing a game and you see templates of a starfighter pilot, a smuggler, a bounty hunter, a pirate, a force student, and a wookiee first mate, it really helps conjure up an image of what the game is going to be like. You can imagine flying around space, getting into space battles and land battles, with an occasional bout into the mystical realm of the Force.

That works whichever setting you make for D6. If you make a pulp 1930s game and have templates of: dashing archeologist, fortune hunter, inquisitive reporter, daring race car driver, ambitious movie director .... all of those are going to help both the players and GM get an idea of what the setting is going to be about.

The templates do help keep the players limited to the much more useful and semi-iconic skills for that particular characters, during character creation. That helps for people that don't really know the setting or system very well. As mentioned, it also helps the GM quickly fashion some easy NPCs to use.

So I think there are a couple of uses for templates in a game.

[garhkal]

[Whill]

No, I have never used a rule that limits players to only being able to allocate starting skill dice to the skills listed on the templates. In my game, those listed skills are just suggestions.

In my current revision of the game, all the templates start with the same skills listed, all the most common skills for Star Wars PCs in general to have. All the skills not listed on the templates are known as "uncommon skills". Those may still have skill dice allocated to them, but the number of uncommon skills that may have dice allocated to them for each attribute is limited to the number in front of D of each attribute value. So in practice there are really no limitations that impede the realization of a player's character concept and the rule is almost arbitrary, really there just to differentiate between the common (listed) skills and uncommon (unlisted) in a very low-impact way. If a player wants to make a PC that starts out with several uncommon skills for one attribute, then they will typically have a high die value in that attribute.

The real way that I "limit" skill allocation choices is that every PC's background has to justify the training and/or experience that explains having the skill and at it's starting level. If I don't feel the player justifies it, then they either tweak their character's background to suit or they reallocate their skill dice accordingly.

Every PC must be approved by me from top to bottom: species, character type, background, personality, appearance, equipment, stats, the works. It may sound draconian on paper, but in practice I am a very collaborating GM and do everything I can to work with the player to achieve their character concept and make it work for my game.

If a player just want to plug-in and go, templates are great for quick character creation. But PC templates are optional and my players are free to take a blank character sheet and build the character from scratch if they wish. Players may also choose a template and make changes to attributes, background, etc. The main value of templates is the inspiration they can provide for a player's character.

I love PC templates!
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[vanir]

I'm with whill on the guiding value and also love the templates.
Generally speaking the whole idea is that dice rolls through gameplay will reflect the character and foundations of that particular character, so that how you roleplay and what works for you with the dice tend to at least try to agree with each other.

eg. you can roleplay a scoundrel with 4d Dex and 4d Str if you want, putting your starting skill dice in the higher attributes to get the most CP value later the Player can as they usually do, but what you wind up with is someone who though he might try to roleplay being a scoundrel and con artist, he fails every roll in practise for all but the simplest tasks and excels in straight blow for blow combat, in practise he winds up being the strong silent type whilst actually rolling dice to do anything interactive with the gaming environment.

So that's the tremendous value of the templates, bringing the roleplay and typical averages on dice rolls roughly together for the character, so you still have the same personality between dialogue and action. The scoundrel is still cracking jokes in combat because he can take a low powered hit but gets floored by serious weaponry, during extraneous action he is accomplishing non-combat skill use with good averages, so can crack jokes about that too just because he can.

[garhkal]

[Zarm R'keeg]

Inspired by this conversation, I decided to apply it to my new PC/NPC joining my group (a sort of 'guest star' avatar that can be used by a intermittently-free former player when he decides to join, and an NPC the rest of the time- a Thakwaash with multiple 'minds' allowing for differing personalities) who was supposed to be an Engineer (a skill the group is largely lacking). The previous 'Engineer' (the intermittently available player, whose character departed last month) maybe fixed things ONCE, and was primarily a brawler and commando, with all of his skills in Strength and Dexterity.

So for this new Engineer, I put his money where his mouth was and gave him all manner of Technical and Knowledge skills appropriate to his profession. Despite a naturally high strength, he has fairly low combat skills (3D Dext, 4D+1 Blaster and Dodge) compared to the group, and may not last long in combat... but I honestly feel that he is a much more 'honest' engineer than the last one. I'm starting to realize that- with my scout that never scouted, my gambler that seldom gambles, and my engineer that never fixed things... if you don't enforce the templates to some small degree, you just end up with a bunch of commando/mercs whose 'classes'/careers are in name only, and the supposed profession that they've had for years is something that, due to insufficient dice investment, they're completely unsuited to actually do.

So, yeah- templates should never be a straightjacket, just a starting point- but I'm beginning to realize their importance as, at the very least, 'guides' to where a character with a supposed certain skillset or profession ought to be, dice-distribution-wise.
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Star Wars: Marvels, the audio drama: www.nolinecinemas.com

Hard core OT, all the way!

[cheshire]

I'm a believer in customization. I've never even used templates before a year ago, and at that point I LOVED having my Heroes and Rogues book. (I picked it up because I found it on the cheap and they had a few neat ideas in there.) We had a gaming session that was pretty much ready to go, and then one player had his car break down and he couldn't make it. His character was central to the story at this juncture, and we couldn't proceed without him.

So, everyone played a few rounds of We Did Not Playtest This Game At All, while I photocopied some templates, filled in skills, handed them out, and I ran Pirates of Praxiar that night. Instant gaming night with less than 1/2 hour of work.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Whill]

[vanir]

[cheshire]

Yeah, a tech with 4D in anything combat-oriented really has to help me believe WHY he's got the skills. Was he on a smugger ship? Fine. That backstory can and will be used against you in the story. Was he an engineer in the military and picked up his skills in basic training. Fine, I can work with that. But for these sort of things there's going to be a give and take. True, I don't want him getting fried in the first mission, but the engineer shouldn't be the group brawler.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Leon The Lion]

[Zarm R'keeg]

[cheshire]