This is a quick intro to some of the terms in N.E.W.
This is a short introduction to some of the terms you'll encounter throughout this book. These elements are building blocks for a character - some are bigger, and some are smaller, but when put together they create an overall picture.
Species: your character is one of a number of available alien species (including human). He might be a fierce Spartan, a diminutive Borian, or a serene Venetian.
Attributes: attributes represent a range of core measurable facets of your character in numerical form. These attributes are Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Willpower, Charisma, and Reputation, plus a couple of optional attributes which depend on the campaign model. The higher an attribute, the more your character exemplifies that attribute.
Career: a career is a temporary building block which helps form your character's development. Characters take careers for periods of time during character generation as the process works it's way through his life. Each career affects his attributes and skills. For example, a few years spent working as a bartender on a galactic liner might enhance a character's social skills. At any given time, a character will have a current career.
Skills: skills are smaller, concentrated packets of interest, expertise, or training. They include things like cooking, marksmanship, unarmed combat, poetry, piloting, engineering, and more. Your character will pick up new skills throughout his career. The skill list is open-ended and unlimited; a skill kicks in (often in the form of a bonus die) at any time your character performs an activity related to it.
Traits: your character will likely exhibit one primary trait. This trait is a dominant personality characteristic - examples include charming, alcoholic, sly, or disciplined.
Abilities: your character's species or careers may grant you discrete abilities such as the assassin's death blow, or an Ogron's thick damage-soaking hide. These abilities are recorded separately and may be used to achieve effects that other characters will not be able to emulate.
There are other component parts to a character, including contacts, equipment, psionics, and more. As you can see, N.E.W. is a fairly rules "crunchy" and very extendable game.
At the top of the character sheet you will see an area known as the "descriptor". The descriptor presents a number of fundamental things about your character in the form of a single summarising sentence. It takes the following form:
[NAME] is a [TRAIT] [AGE] year-old [RACE] [CAREER] who [INTEREST].
For example:
Burdock is an alcoholic 45-year old Borian space-jockey who loves gambling.
Sandria is a cheerful 26-year old Human counselor who practices origami.
Jean is a disciplined 55-year old Human starship captain who reads Shakespeare.
William is a charming 35-year old Human first officer who plays the saxophone.
A medieval fantasy version from N.E.W.'s companion roleplaying game, O.L.D., might read:
Gimnor is a shy 36-year old Dwarf assassin who loves animals.
The observant reader will quickly note that a character's age is prominent. This is because age is an important facet of a character in N.E.W. and is tracked through character generation and career length. If your character spent 8 years in the slammer, that will be reflected not only in his attributes and skills, but also in his age.
This is a short introduction to some of the terms you'll encounter throughout this book. These elements are building blocks for a character - some are bigger, and some are smaller, but when put together they create an overall picture.
Species: your character is one of a number of available alien species (including human). He might be a fierce Spartan, a diminutive Borian, or a serene Venetian.
Attributes: attributes represent a range of core measurable facets of your character in numerical form. These attributes are Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intellect, Willpower, Charisma, and Reputation, plus a couple of optional attributes which depend on the campaign model. The higher an attribute, the more your character exemplifies that attribute.
Career: a career is a temporary building block which helps form your character's development. Characters take careers for periods of time during character generation as the process works it's way through his life. Each career affects his attributes and skills. For example, a few years spent working as a bartender on a galactic liner might enhance a character's social skills. At any given time, a character will have a current career.
Skills: skills are smaller, concentrated packets of interest, expertise, or training. They include things like cooking, marksmanship, unarmed combat, poetry, piloting, engineering, and more. Your character will pick up new skills throughout his career. The skill list is open-ended and unlimited; a skill kicks in (often in the form of a bonus die) at any time your character performs an activity related to it.
Traits: your character will likely exhibit one primary trait. This trait is a dominant personality characteristic - examples include charming, alcoholic, sly, or disciplined.
Abilities: your character's species or careers may grant you discrete abilities such as the assassin's death blow, or an Ogron's thick damage-soaking hide. These abilities are recorded separately and may be used to achieve effects that other characters will not be able to emulate.
There are other component parts to a character, including contacts, equipment, psionics, and more. As you can see, N.E.W. is a fairly rules "crunchy" and very extendable game.
At the top of the character sheet you will see an area known as the "descriptor". The descriptor presents a number of fundamental things about your character in the form of a single summarising sentence. It takes the following form:
[NAME] is a [TRAIT] [AGE] year-old [RACE] [CAREER] who [INTEREST].
For example:
Burdock is an alcoholic 45-year old Borian space-jockey who loves gambling.
Sandria is a cheerful 26-year old Human counselor who practices origami.
Jean is a disciplined 55-year old Human starship captain who reads Shakespeare.
William is a charming 35-year old Human first officer who plays the saxophone.
A medieval fantasy version from N.E.W.'s companion roleplaying game, O.L.D., might read:
Gimnor is a shy 36-year old Dwarf assassin who loves animals.
The observant reader will quickly note that a character's age is prominent. This is because age is an important facet of a character in N.E.W. and is tracked through character generation and career length. If your character spent 8 years in the slammer, that will be reflected not only in his attributes and skills, but also in his age.
or from my experience playing Traveller...
