• Education - Formal education. University training, literacy, familiarity in libraries, etc.
• Experience - Training by hard knocks. Life on the streets, three years in the trenches, intuition, etc.
• Awareness - Your perception of the world around you and how you fit into it. Situational awareness, personal presence, etc.
• Athleticism - Your physical fitness, strength, reaction time, and stamina.
• Social - Your ability to interact with and influence others.

Skills range from -2 to +3. -1 is considered average, 0 is average for a relevant professional, and +3 is bordering on legendary.

Starting, players assign +2, +1, 0, 0, -1 to the skills of their choice

Your character is, first and foremost, is defined by their concept.

3 entries for your concept. I recommend a minimum of 6 words for each and using adjectives to get the most out of them

1. Your Role - Defines how most people see you, your primary skillsets, occupation, etc.
2. Your Background - Defines who you were and what “else” you bring to the table
3. Your Goal - Gives you a direction.

Example:

1. Darin Rancer is the “daring, freelancer captain of the space freighter, Lancelot” is a “former Martian patriot and court-martialed marine” and “seeks to redefine himself on the frontier of space”.

From this description, we know that Darin has trouble with alcohol, wants to forget his past, is motivated by money and escaping his past, knows how to use a rifle, and likely is honest but often overly critical of institutions. Etc.

Your concept provides

• a quick reference to aid in roleplaying,
• an easy description when explaining your character to others,
• your character's ``class'' as used in other games (e.g. D&D), and
• the type of items/weapons/knowledge/contacts/resources/skills that your character likely has access to

This last point is, mechanically speaking, the most important. When deciding if your character has an item/weapon/knowledge/contact/resource/skill or can perform a particular action, always first look at your Concept first. Using Darin as an example, he likely has a least one gun within reach at all times, is trained to operate and captain a starship, is comfortable interacting with military personnel, knows how to handle himself in a brawl, is reasonably fit, likely doesn't have a college education, is probably owed a few favors by retired marines, and isn't well suited to dealing with bureaucrats.

Three cases when deciding if your character has an item/weapon/knowledge/contact/resource/skill

1. It makes a reasonable amount of sense, you have it.
2. If is a stretch. Either you don't have it or it comes with some cost. E.g. -1 to your roll, it's not quite what you need, strings attached, etc.
3. It is counter to your concept. You don't have it and are therefore limited in your actions.

Examples

• A generic space marine likely doesn't know how to fly a shuttle or perform surgery. However, they can probably perform basic first aid and can operate a communications system. And they can definitely pick out a sniper on a far ridge and repair powered armor.

As players advance, they gain an equal number of strengths and weaknesses. When a player chooses a new strength, the player must choose (or is assigned) a weakness roughly on the same “magnitude” of the strength. The weakness and strength tend to be related, but this is not required. Strengths and weaknesses behave roughly the same way as the concept.

Starting, players have 1 strength and 1 weakness

Examples:

• First name basis with the President of the united states / you have a hit out on you
• Hot-shot pilot / You tend to piss people off
• Always prepared / You tend to take things that don't belong to you
• Physically attractive / You struggle with multitasking

For all actions, make sure it makes sense for your character, narrate what you are doing, determine what Skill is relevant, ask if there are any costs/penalties/bonuses, and roll 2d6 + relevant skill + bonuses/penalties

• 6- Fail. Contributes a failure token.
• 7-9. Partial success or succeed at cost. Typically both a success token and a failure token.
• 10+. Succeed. Contributes a success token.

Basic - generic catch alls. (TODO need PC vs PC rules and PC vs NPC rules)

• Build up
• Tear down

Special

• Narrate - provide details to a character/scene/setting. As long as they are reasonable, they become reality. No roll required.
• Reveal (i.e. make up) - You provide details to a character/scene/setting that strongly benefit you. This requires a roll.
• Dig deep - At significant cost, you may shift a Failure up to a Partial success
• Assist/hinder - Some actions help or interfere with a future action or concurrent action by another. Roll and if successful, provide a bonus/penalty (to be used immediately or in the future).
• Escalate - You choose to renew a fight by escalating.
• Win a fight - you tell your enemies what happens
• Lose a fight - your enemies tell you what happens

Costs are intentionally left vague. They are typically made clear before an action is attempted (but not always) as a consequence for failure. For example, the security alarm will go off if the guard sees you, your allies will abandon you if you embarrass them, you will not get paid for your mission if you don't arrive on time, etc.

There are two types of tokens: Success/failure tokens are managed by the GM. Bonus/penalties are managed by each player.

Some actions are performed by a group or require multiple rolls. The GM first decides, based on the number of players, the number of successes required and makes this known. The players work out a strategy, and the GM lets them know the consequences of failure. The players all roll and combine their success and failure tokens. If the number of token matches or exceeds the requirement, the players win. If below, the players lose. Regardless of the outcome, failure tokens are given the GM. Excess success tokens cancel out Failure tokens.

The GM collects failure tokens and uses them to provide disadvantages to the players. This includes introducing a security camera to a back alley, blocking off the easy escape route, raising the cost of a particular action,

Players start each game with 2 bonus and 2 penalty tokens

Bonus tokens are used by a player and

• provide +1 on any roll if added after the roll, and
• a +2 if added before a roll.

Only 1 penalty token per roll, and tokens can be given from one player to another with a narratively appropriate explanation. Spending a bonus generates a penalty token.

Penalty tokens can be a player or by the GM against a player.

• Provides a -2 on any roll if added before the roll, and
• and -1 if added after a roll.

Only 1 penalty token per roll, and penalty tokens may be exchanged between players with a narratively appropriate explanation. Spending a failure generates a bonus token (the exception being if a player takes a -1 and it doesn't change an outcome).

When filling a

bridge

• command - captain, first officer, second officer
• operations - sensors, communications, tactics
• flight - helm, weapons, navigation

below decks

• medical - doctors, med-techs, psychologists
• engineering - repair, maintanence, technology, tech specialists
• security - guards, away mission combat, soldiers/marines
• logistics - cargo, supplies, resource management
• mission specialists - scientists, diplomats