Star Trek Adventures uses a Life Path system to create characters. There's an option to use rolls to determine various aspects of your character or you can just choose. I've decided to go the random route because it can be fun, weird, and interesting.
I'm setting this in the setting I know best, the Next Generation era.
Species
With that in mind, the first step is to determine your species. I roll a 7 and come up with a Denobulan. I am not familiar with this species at all, but it is right there in the core book. They must have featured in something, but I don't remember them.
I went over to the Memory Alpha wikia and discovered that they featured in a few episodes in the Enterprise series. I've never seen the Enterprise series so that would explain why I'm ignorant. Going by the entry in the core book they are a very sociable and inquisitive group.They get a +1 to Fitness, Insight, and Reason. All Attributes start at 7 and go up through the character creation process. Twelve is humanoid max.
They get to choose from two Talents plus all of the other talents that show up later in the book. I've noted down Cultural Flexibility for now. It gives a better chance of working with new cultures or learning about them. I'm all about that.
Environment
The second step is determing the Environment they grew up in. It's a 1d6 roll and I got Another Species' World. This is another roll on the first table to determine species. I roll a 6 on the d20 and it looks like my Denobulan grew up among Betazoids. Not a bad group to grow up around for a sociable type. I get to choose a +1 from one of their three Attribute bonuses. I choose a +1 to Insight. His time on Betazed made him more introspective.
His environment allows him to increase 1 Discipline by +1. I choose Science because it seems natural considering his species and his environment.
Finally, environment provides our first value. I set it at Honesty in All Things. I believe he picked up his honest streak from Betazed culture. If I was to play it might change between Session 0 and Session 1, but that's where I'm at right now.
Upbringing
Upbringing represents the character's family and way they grew up. There are 6 options and I got number 2, Business or Trade. My immediate thought is that he would rebel against the idea of spending his life selling/trading goods. Not in a raucous way, but a polite, "I must find my own way. There's far too many other things to see." Since his upbringing was so odd, traders on another world, I can see Mettux being able to handle a life not surrounded by his people.
That's right, his name is Mettux. It came to me in the middle of this step. You take what you can get when you get it.
Anyways, being a rebel gives him a +1 to Reason and +2 to Insight. The non-rebel gives +1 to Daring and +2 to Presence. I'd like some Presence but it's not meant to be yet. Hopefully some comes later.
I get to add 1 to Command, Engineering, or Science. Mettux is inquisitive so I put it in Command.
Finally, I need to choose a focus. I'm going with Negotiation on this. He gains another Talent, but I'm putting that off to the end. I don't want to flip around the book too much.
Starfleet Academy
Mettux is off to Starfleet Academy. He's looking to meet new, interesting cultures. Learn about the universe in the best way possible. He's kissed the family good-bye. If this was an actual game his family would have to show up at some point. They'd push him into returning to help the family and to rejoin their little collective on Betazed.
It's a d6 roll to determine the track Mettux will be on, and it's a 6. He's moving into the Sciences Track.It fits with an inquisitive nature, but Command could have worked too. I don't know how well Denobulans could handle commanding a starship.
As an up-and-coming science officer, Mettux gets a value, +3 to distribute between 2 or 3 attributes, an increase to three disciplines, three focuses, and another talent.
Mettux's value is Precise to a Fault. It's an example value on the same page as the Science Track and I think it fits well with Honesty in All Things. Mettux is a very direct, intentional person.
I place a +1 in Reason and a +2 in Presence. Starfleet courses help Mettux with his overall knowledge but he really gains a lot of confidence at the academy. All that time with his parents wheeling and dealing along with the positive Starfleet Academy atmosphere gives him some more presence.
On his disciplines, I raise his Science to 4. His minors are in Medicine and Engineering. He's found his love for problems both social and technical.
He picked up three focuses. Anthropology and Linguistics are good choices for him. Warp Field Dynamics come out of left field. Why? I'm tired and being able to do some random technobabble at some point appeals to me.
The talent comes later, but I've noted it on my character sheet.
Career and Career Events
The fifth step is the beginning of Mettux's career. This step is short. You decide between starting as a Young, Experienced, or Veteran Officer. I'm going with Experienced. There's some appeal to a Young Officer, but I think the future meeting with his parents would be best served by not seeing them for several years.
This step gives a value and a talent. His new value will be Social Animal. He's not a reserved Science officer. The talent comes later.
The sixth step is coming up with two career events by random roll or choice. I'll go random. Each event features some questions to answer, gives a bonus to an attribute, a discipline, and a focus.
The first roll is a 5, Required to Take Command. Somethign went wrong on a mission and the mission leader was unable to lead. What was the mission? What went wrong? Was the mission successful despite the loss of the leader? This event increases his Daring by 1 and his Command discipline by 1. He gains the Lead by Example focus.
The second roll came up a 9, Mentored. Mettux spent some time as the pilot and aide to a senior officer. Who was the officer? Does the officer remain a contact or even friend to the character? I feel Mettux would grow attached to anyone that provided mentorship to him. He likely sees the Commander as a father figure away from home more than a friend though. I increase his Control by 1 and his Conn goes up by 1 because of his time as a pilot. He gains the Composure focus.
Finishing Touches
Mettux gains another value, Starfleet is My Family. Through the mentorship and experience of taking command he has gained an appreciation for not just the mission of Starfleet but the people as well. There's no going home for him at this point. Or is there?
He gets to add 1 to two Attributes since he has nothing at or above 12. I make his Insight a 12 and his Reason an 11. The one in Reason could go into Presence because of the command experience.
He gains +1 in two Disciplines. I will put this in Command and Science.
We do a final check on numbers, 56 points in Attributes, 16 in Disciplines, 6 Focues, 4 Values, and 4 Talents (still to be chosen).
His stress is a 9 because his Fitness is an 8 and Security is a 1. He gets a bonus of 1 to his damage. I already have a name though I check it against the listed ones for Denobulans anyways. It appears to be in sync with what they usually have. He's in the Science Department. He will be the Science Officer in the crew and have the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He receives a Science Officer's uniform, tricorder, communicator, and a type-1 phaser.
I note all this on the character sheet and now I get to choose some talents.
I've already taken Cultural Flexibility from his Denobulan species. I think it still fits.
His Command is a 4 and I think Defuse the Tension fits him perfectly. Any time he attempts to persuade someone against violence he adds a bonus d20.
I pick up In the Nick of Time and Intense Scrutiny from the Science Talents list to finish out the talent section.
Final Thoughts
I enjoy life path systems and I like Star Trek. I like them both together. One problem using just the core book is that there don't feel like enough Talents. I don't really feel like the ones I chose from Science are great fits, but it's what's available. I would definitely play Mettux and I would love to try Star Trek Adventures as a player or GM.
Below is the final character sheet.
Tomorrow Mothership!
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