WOIN New to the game - what's up with REP and ranks?

[Poppyseed45]

As said, new to the game but a long time gamer (30+ years). Just discovered OLD and NEW (ordered the books, which will arrive shortly, but reading the PDFs now).

On page 50 of NEW, I noticed they mention linking REP and rank - that's awesome! I love it! However...

From what I can tell, you can, if you push, start with 10 REP tops after character generation (assuming the usual 5-Grade character). If we compare that to the Navy table that's...barely a Lt.JG or Lt. Seems low for a 28 year old (who, in a modern NATO military would be at least an 03 (LT) edging toward 04 (Lt.Cmdr) at that point in their career.

Is there something I'm missing? From what I can see, it seems required that you do base Attributes (and assign 2 points to REP if Human), a character take Whatever Origin (say, Navy Brat, +1 REP), Academy (Basic Training, no REP), Navy Cadet Cruise (which nets no REP), then maybe two Navy Tours (netting us +2 REP for 2d6 years) and then Academy (Command, +3 REP). Total 10 REP and average age 27 at the rank of Lt, barely, by cheesing on attribute points by being human.

Am I missing something? I know, as GM, I can just add Grades to the characters, but without "spamming" the Academy (command) it's neigh impossible to start out with, say, a "Commander" Shepard style character (or, are we assuming Shep was, like, 36 by the end of Mass Effect? Does that mean 7 or 8 Grades?).

A little help folks...

Or better, if I want, say, PCs to start at least Lt.Cmdrs, how many Grades do they need to reach the appropriate amount of REP?

Folks?

 

[Morrus]

I wouldn't say Shepard was a starting character. You're basically starting like a level 1 D&D character -- at the bottom.

But those ranks are just for that sample organization. You can design your own organizations however you like.

 

[Poppyseed45]

I wouldn't say Shepard was a starting character. You're basically starting like a level 1 D&D character -- at the bottom.

But those ranks are just for that sample organization. You can design your own organizations however you like.

Well, yeah, I know. Sort of poking at the logic, to make sure I get it, before designing my own.

 

[Poppyseed45]

Interesting find! In reading the book, in the equipment section, I found the Salaries table, and the REP values there for different jobs and ranks seem more...logical? These I think I can follow. Just need to make a chart for it.

 

[MacD]

Hi there, welcome to WOIN ☺

You should check the NEW book "The spartan gambit" which offers an alternative character creation module to create an star fleet officer which suits to create military characters.
It includes additional ways to earn REP and a reqiusition system for equipment instead of simply buying it.
It needs some tweaks to fit modern military but nothing big.
Also it's a blast for every fan of star trek like roleplay campaigns.

 

[Poppyseed45]

Hi there, welcome to WOIN ☺

You should check the NEW book "The spartan gambit" which offers an alternative character creation module to create an star fleet officer which suits to create military characters.
It includes additional ways to earn REP and a reqiusition system for equipment instead of simply buying it.
It needs some tweaks to fit modern military but nothing big.
Also it's a blast for every fan of star trek like roleplay campaigns.

Will take a look. Trying to at least come up with a table I like and figuring out how to get REP (since the game seems to imply one can...).