The science fiction RPG Universe was the fourth and last attempt by board-wargame mainstay SPI to crack the RPG market, after the modern-combat Commando, fantasy Dragonquest and ahead-of-its-time Dallas.* The game was pretty well-regarded in 1981, but to my hindsight-wizened eyes it looks more like an elaborate Traveller heartbreaker. In particular Universe features a more complex version of the lifepath character generation system pioneered by Traveller, and we’re going to travel that path in this post.
The first batch of steps is called Heritage, and here we determine the characters’ starting characteristics, home planet, early upbringing—everything they’ll carry with them into their post-elementary education and pre-adventuring working life.
We start by rolling to determine the character’s Potentials in four areas: physique, coordination, intellect, and social background. For each I roll a D10 and consult the Character Heritage table, which will give me a Multiplier for that characteristic:
Physique: roll 1, multiplier ½ (poor)
Coordination: roll 3, multiplier 1 (below average)
Intellect: roll 9, multiplier 3 (above average)
Social: roll 7, multiplier 3 (above average)
I add together these multipliers and consult the table again to determine the number of Study Points I’ll have to pursue various fields of improvement. These are in inverse proportion to the sum of multipliers, so my below-average 6.5 will give me an above-average 5 Study Points for use later in the process.
Next, I determine my native Habitat, or the prevailing conditions on the planet where I was born and/or raised. I’ll roll two D10 on the Habitat Table—one for the column, another for the particular entry in that column, but I’ll modify the second roll by adding my Physique multiplier and subtracting my Coordination multiplier, dropping fractions before calculation. So my first roll is 8, and my second is 10, adding 0 for physique and subtracting 1 for Coordination for a result of 9. This provides the cryptic result “4:MN-JU EX-NL/1” According to the legend at the bottom of the table, the 4 represents my base Environ Skill Level, MN is Contour (Mountains), JU is Feature (Jungle), so my home terrain is mountainous and characterized by rain forests. EX indicates extreme gravity (2-2.5G), and NL indicates a Normal temperature range of 25-100 F°. The 1 denotes my starting Urban Skill Level.
Now that I know where my environmental comfort zone is, I need to see how it transfers to other types of environment. There’s a chart that cross-references Contours and Features; I’ll put my base rating of 4 in the box where Mountains meets Jungle. From there, each square out (orthogonally) means a drop of 1 point in rating. In a separate box I enter my Urban Skill Level, and I put an X in the temperature range box corresponding to my native habitat. I also put a 1 in the box corresponding to my normal gravity level (Extreme) and subtract 2 for each level away from that. Now, I can raise that by lowering my environmental skill level (which seems like it might be a good idea, since I’ll be at -5 in near-weightless conditions and extreme gravity is probably fairly rare), but for simplicity’s sake I’m going to play this ball where it lies.
The following step determines my starting Social Standing. I roll a D10 and consult the table after adding my Urban Skill Level and twice my Social Background Multiplier, then (for reasons not revealed here) subtracting my initial Home Environ Skill Level. Roll 4, +1 for Urban, +6 for Multiplier, -4 for Home Environ equals 7, which according to the table puts me in the Lower Middle Class. This beginning confers no change in Skill Points, and a starting wealth multiplier of 100 Mils (which is about the price of a flashlight) times 1D10. I roll a 2 and will move into my student years with the equivalent of two flashlights in my bank account. My initial Skill Points will be an unmodified D10 result: 10, fortunately.
The second part of character generation is called Development, and this is where we spend Study Points and initial Skill Points, as well as determining Characteristics from potentials and the training undergone in this section.
We start by applying Study Points to determine the shape of our education. There are seven fields of study to choose from: theoretical science, applied science (or engineering), business, the humanities, the mind (aka psionics), the body (physical education, basically), and the military. It costs one point to enter, and two to receive a concentration in, any field except the mind, which costs double. There is also an eighth field for general skills; all characters receive free entry and cannot take a concentration. I have 5 Study Points to spend, as well as a poor aptitude for physical pursuits and a lower-middle class background, though my choice of fields may help overcome some of those limitations. I should probably take a look at career options before I commit to anything. Applied sciences feature in several of these (and sometimes a concentration is required), theoretical sciences are less common. Business shows up surprisingly often. Two doses of applied science and one each of business and theoretical science should keep a lot of doors open for me, and a course of body should bring my physical qualities up to the minimum for some of the more active careers.
Next, I can spend my ten Initial Skill Points to reach entry-level competence in skills that were part of my fields of study (including general), that is, I can buy ten skills off these lists at Level 1 each. I’ll take vehicle tech, suit tech and electro tech off the Applied Science list, EVA and gravity (extreme) off the Body list, programming off the Business list, biology, physics and chemistry off the Theoretical Sciences list, and streetwise off the General list.
To complete the Development section, we take our Potential multipliers, combine them with the results of our Fields of Study, and then roll a D100 on a chart to determine nine Characteristics: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, Intelligence, Mental Power, Leadership, Empathy, and Aggresion. For each you add the modifiers earned in your field of study (twice if you took a concentration), multiply by the appropriate multipliers, add the result of a D100 roll, and consult the chart to find the score corresponding to your total. Are you ready? Here we go.
For Strength I earn a modifier of 8 from my study of phys ed, plus 1 for the general field, multiplied by my factors for Physique (0.5) and Coordination (1). That’s a 4.5, drop the fraction for a 4, plus the die roll of 07 totals 11. That gives me a score of 3, which is near the bottom of the curve.
For Endurance I get a 4 from Body and a 1 from General, multiplied by ½ for Physique to get a rounded-down 2. The die roll is 93, however, and that total of 95 corresponds to a respectable score of 7.
Dexterity gets bonuses from General (+1), Body (+4) and Applied Science (also +4), and its multipliers are Coordination (1) and Intellect (3). That’s a very nice 27, which can still be brought way down by a poor die roll. But I roll a 59 for a total of 86 and a score of 7.
Agility is improved by General (+1) and Body (+4), but its multipliers are Physique (0.5) and Coordination (1), so I’m adding 2 to the die roll again. 34 + 2 = 36, for a score of 5, which is actually the minimum for starting characters, so I probably shouldn’t get too physical.
Intelligence gets a +8 boost from Theoretical Science and a +16 from the concentration in Applied Science, plus the ubiquitous +1 for General totals 25. Also, the multiplier is Intellect (3), which means I start with a 75 before I even touch the dice. The roll is 98 (!) for a grand total of 173, which breaks the curve and gives me a 12—the highest possible score.
Well, it’s all going to be downhill from there. My Mental Power bonuses come from Theoretical Science (+2) and General (+1), multiplied by Intellect (3) for a modifier of 9. The die roll is 75, for a total of 84, which corresponds to a 7, except Mental power ratings are divided by 2 so that becomes a 3.
Leadership is modified by Business (+2) and General (+1), with Intellect (3) and Social Background (3) as its multipliers. 3 x 9 = 27, plus 03 on the D100 comes to 30, and a score of 4.
Empathy gets a +4 from Business and the usual +1 from General, and it’s multiplied by Intellect (3). 5 x 3 = 15, plus 62 on the D100 for 77, corresponding to a score of 6.
Finally, Aggression is modified only by fields of study, so the multiplier is automatically 1. General experience doesn’t add anything, but study of the Body adds 15 (Humanities and the Mind have negative modifiers, but I didn’t study either of those). Add 15 to a die roll of 64, and that 79 corresponds to a score of 6.
The next segment of character generation involves experience in a Profession. First, we’ve got to see what our training and characteristics qualify us for. Anyone can be a planetary Colonist, but I’ve got enough training and ability to shoot for something that pays better. I can also be a Doctor, an Explorer, a Handyman, a Scientist, a Scout, or a Space Technician. Of those, the best balance of possible benefits seems to come from Scientist, which is kind of where I figured I was going anyhow.
So in order to determine what I get out of this career, I need to find out how long I spend doing it. Terms are four years long, and you can try to serve as many as five of them. However, it is possible to be downsized ahead of your intended schedule, and you will also be subject to negative effects of aging if you serve 8 years or more in your profession. (You are presumed to begin working at the age of 20.) I’m planning to spend 16 years in the field, ideally retiring at 36 without any significant loss of capability. I then roll on the Employment Table to determine how long I last before I’m let go; I’m guaranteed at least 12 years of service, but if I roll less than a 9 I’ll be let go after that and spend the last four years unemployed. I roll a 2 and will get 12 years of employment and another 4 on the dole, earning neither further benefits nor further skills.
Before I determine the benefits I get out of my 12 years in Big Science, I’ll see what the wear of sixteen years does to my abilities. I roll a D10, add my final Age of 36, and consult the Effects of Age table to see how many points I have to take off my physical characteristics. I roll a 7, which added to 36 makes 43, corresponding to 5 points lost. Lost points must be spread evenly as possible and removed in the order Endurance, Agility, Strength, Dexterity, which means 2 points off Endurance and 1 each off the rest. That’s gonna hurt: Endurance drops from 7 to 5, Agility from 5 to 4, Strength from 3 to 2, and Dexterity from 7 to 6.
Now that we’ve had the bad news, let’s see what I’ve gained for it. First, more Skill Points. Scientist has a skill point modifier of 9, added to my Intelligence of 12 makes 21, plus a d10 roll of 2 equals 23. Checking the Skill Point Table, that means I get 10 skill points to apply to skills listed for the profession or my Fields of Study. My 12 years of experience mean that no skill can be raised above Level 4. The cost is one-for-one, so at least that’s easy to calculate. I’ll spend one level each on Biology, Programming, and Robot Tech;two each on Physics and Planetology; and three on Chemistry to make it my primary field. Some of these I had already bought at entry level with my initial study points; I’ll provide the totals when I do the statblock.
Then I find out what material benefits my severance package includes. I roll 1D10 (6), add the number of years actually worked (12), and check that number on the Benefit Table. An 18 gets me to benefit level C, which comprises a cash payment of 500 Mils x my Intelligence rating (6000 Mils, or 6 Trans) and a chemical synthesizer machine of tech level 6 (which I could conceivably use to generate further income).
Now I’ll consider investing in further gear. Not knowing what sort of jobs I’ll be taking on, I’ll look for general-purpose personal equipment that doesn’t cost too much. Prices are supposed to be affected by local conditions, but for purposes of simplicity I’ll assume we’ll do our shopping somewhere that book prices apply. The first thing I realize is that six trans won’t get me very far at all; you can’t even buy a car with it. I’ll buy a basic repair kit for 1 Tran, a Headset Radio for 100 Mils, and save the rest until I find out what I need for my next freelance job.
And that gets us everything we need for a stat block except a name. I don’t have a clear visual for this character yet, and gender doesn’t matter for game purposes. In the SF tradition of mixing ethnic markers to imply a post-racial intergalactic society, I’ll call this spacer Haruko Kenyatta. So here’s the summing-up, including as many fields from the official character sheet as I can make myself type out. (I’m not sure why a lot of these things need to be recorded after character generation is complete, but there’s spaces for them.)
Name: Haruko Kenyatta
Age: 36
Gender: F
Potentials: Physique ½; Coordination 1; Intellect 3; Social 3
Study Points: 5
Social Standing: Lower Middle (7)
Initial Skill Points: 10
Fields of Study: Applied Science x2; Body 1; Business 1; Theoretical Science 1
Characteristics: Strength 2; Endurance 5; Dexterity 6; Agility 4; Intelligence 12; Mental Power 3; Leadership 4; Empathy 6; Aggression 6
Profession: Scientist (Chemist)
Skill Points: 10
Benefit Level: C
Money: 4 Tran 900 Mil
Possessions: Chemical Synthesizer (L6), Radio Headset, Basic Repair Kit
Trained Skills:
Scientific: Biology L2, Chemistry L4, Physics L3, Planetology L2, Programming L2
Technical: Compu/Robot Tech L1, Electro Tech L1, Suit Tech L1, Vehicle Tech L1
Interpersonal: Streetwise L1
Environmental: Gravity (extreme) L1, Urban L1
*The company went heavily into debt and was eaten by TSR in 1982.
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