4C Space Origins
Origins in 4C tell you how the character became someone
extraordinary. It is a combination of their background and how they became a
hero. The Origin also gives you, as the player, some hooks into how to play the
character. These Origins have come from science fiction comics, novels and
movies. Each character has one Origin, which can be determined randomly or,
depending on the style of the campaign being played, picked for a character.
This post isn’t intended to be comprehensive, just to give you the ideas with
which to start your own 4C Space
games. And if you haven't checked them out yet, be sure to check out the 4C System rules page.
If you’ve never played in a game inspired by comic book
super-heroes, one thing that is important is to not get too attached to the
backstory of your character. Everything, even history, is mutable in a
super-hero universe and there are powers out there that can change things
quickly. The best approach for characters in a super-hero game is to use the “emerging
character,” where you start with a set of rough details and let the history of
your character unravel as you use them, coming up with elements of the past to
suit what is happening now in the campaign. This style of play isn’t for
everyone, but in years of playing and running super-hero games, it is an
approach that works well and does a good job of emulating the source material
of the comics.
For those who've played the game that the 4C System is based upon, or used the 4C toolkit, you'll notice that this approach to Origins is slightly different. That is intentional.
Spacer: The
character is an experienced and grizzled space traveler, having been bitten by
the space bug while on an exploratory or military ship. At some point they
managed to get their own ship and continue their journeys. A spacer tries to
remain neutral in intergalactic politics, but sometimes the only way to do that
is to go outside of the law. Human spacers are rare, and their background may
have some explaining . It isn’t unusual for the past of the spacer to bite them
on the ass in the present.
- +10 to Awareness and Willpower
- 2 extra contacts
- +1 starting Skill
Soldier: War is
common out in the expanses of space as it is planetside. War can change a
person, and war is space is even more likely to do that. In space a soldier is
likely to see worlds explode and cultures destroyed. That weighs upon a person.
It takes a tough, and lucky, individual to survive war in space. Soldiers do
not often change and become farmers (even when they want to), there are always
new wars and the battles often come to the soldiers. Those who do not want to
leave the life often become mercenaries.
- +10 to Melee and Coordination, +20 to Brawn
- +5 to Fortune
- +2 starting Skills
Weapon of the Gods:
There are many cosmic powers throughout the universe, from the great space
cultures to the Anthropomorphism of eternal principals to ancient gods walking
the spaceways. All of these powers want tools, weapons, instruments of their
great plans. This often means taking some insignificant person (to the cosmic
powers) and turning them into something that can make their plans come into
fruition. Of course, too often these weapons rebel and turn against the great
powers to find their own destiny among the stars. Sometimes, though, escape
from fate is not as easy as they would think. Once human, these weapons are now
very powerful on their own, often able to battle with space fleets or the
gathered defense forces of entire planets. Independent or working for their
creators, the appearance of beings as powerful as these weapons rarely means
that good things are going to happen, as they are drawn to important
happenings.
- +10 to Fortitude and Melee, +20 to Awareness
- Character receives 2 extra powers
- Character can fly, unprotected, through space and navigate by ways of natural wormholes and space/time manifestations.
Law-Enforcement:
There are as many law-enforcement organizations in space as there are cultures,
maybe more. The organizations often jockey for jurisdiction and enforcement
powers (some even charge for their services), and on rare occasions there will
be conflict between rival organizations. Regardless, the character is a
representative of the law out there in space. While other characters look for
adventure, money or excitement; the law-enforcer is out there fulfilling a
duty. A lot of responsibility can come with with being the law, and often
because of that the character may not fit in with every group.
- +10 to Fortitude and Willpower
- Character has power to arrest and keep prisoners within their jurisdiction
Innocent Abroad:
The, often human, hapless outsider who is brought into space (perhaps by
accident), who has to learn fast about life in space. The character has never
been on a space craft, does not know about the existence of the space cultures
and does not speak any of the space languages. They are dependent on the other
characters, or technology, to survive while in space. Learning fast is important.
- +10 to Intellect
- +10 to Fortune
- Whatever process brought them to space gave them an extra power (the process likely triggered their becoming super-human)
Scientist: The
character took to space in the cause of science, to learn and experience
everything that they possibly could about the universe…and maybe experiment on
it as well. The character is well versed in their native sciences and uses this
as a springboard for learning about the sciences of the great space cultures.
Science is the most important goal of the character.
- +20 to Intellect
- +10 to Fortune
- +3 starting Skills
The Sidekick:
Much like the Innocent Abroad, sometimes people are pulled into space purely by
accident, but they don’t all become the heroes of the story. Sometimes people
are pulled along and have to survive by pluck, luck and skill. Some get to be
heroic without getting great power in the mix.
- +10 to Coordination and Fortitude
- +10 to Fortune
- Character has no powers but 1 extra Skill