Character:Sjt. Geoffrey White

Serjeant Geoffrey White, a character for GDW's Space: 1889. Created by g026r.

The inspiration for this character was to create someone located on Mars who could be of use in more than one type of campaign. The end result was a career British soldier who, in his mid-30s, has already hit the limits of his career (as limited by his low charisma). Attributes were assigned using the distribution method -- assigning a number from 1 to 6 to each stat, ensuring that no number occurs twice -- as defined in the core rulebook.

Campaign

In a military campaign, Sjt. White's status as an NCO would make him best suited for leadership of a small cavalry troop. His skill in Wilderness Travel: Mapping also makes him suited for an exploration-themed campaign, where he could possibly exist as part of a government survey team, or as protection assigned by Her Majesty's Government to an officially sanctioned civilian expedition.

Character Stats

Sjt. Geoffrey White
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 160lb
Income: N/A (Characters in the military are considered to have no income, salary being consumed by recurring bills for equipment, lodging, food, &c.)
Nationality: British
1st Career: Noncommissioned Officer (Infantry)
2nd Career: Noncommissioned Officer (Cavalry)
Unconsciousness: 6
Potential Wounds: 9
Wealth: £100

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Attributes and Skills:

(Due to the number of skills, only primary attribute skills, cascade skills with at least one point in one of the sub-skills, and skills with points distributed to them are shown.)

• Strength: 3
  • Fisticuffs: 2
  • Throwing: 1
  • Close Combat: 1, primary skill Edged Weapon
    • Edged Weapon: 1
    • Pole Arm: 1
    • Bashing Weapon: 0

• Agility: 5
  • Stealth: 4
  • Marksmanship: 3, primary skill Rifle
    • Pistol: 1
    • Rifle: 3
    • Bow: 1

• Endurance: 6
  • Wilderness Travel: 5, primary skill Mapping
    • Mountaineering: 2
    • Foraging: 4
    • Mapping: 5

• Intellect: 4
  • Observation: 4

• Charisma: 1
  • Eloquence: 0
  • Linguistics: 1

• Social Level: 2
  • Riding: 3, primary skill Gashant
    • Horse: 1
    • Camel: 1
    • Elephant: 1
    • Gashant: 3
    • Ruumet Breehr: 1
    • Flying Skrill: 1
    • Pacyosaurus: 1

Languages:
Native: English
Other: Koline, skill level 1

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Gear:

Field glasses, rope, hatchet, two-man tent, carbide lantern & two tins of carbide, pocket watch, 30 days worth of canned food, gashant and tack, uniform, foul weather gear, survey instruments, Lee Metford bolt-action carbine & supply of cartridges, and a cavalry sabre.

Cash available following equipment purchase, based on a starting wealth of £100, amounts to £66 8/8.

Character Description

"You won't get much respect around here, boy. Look at me; I've been here over a decade, and I still get none.

"I came up here with the foot soldiers back in '78, as part of our war against the Gorovaangians. Served my time with the Queen's Martian Rifles — yeah, the Parhoons. My company took part in the capture of Gorovaan itself. But it doesn't matter whether it's the plain brown dust of Africa or the strange red dust of Mars, eventually you get sick of marching through it and there's only two ways out: give up the service, or transfer to another branch.

"Not that I had much choice. It was getting pretty clear that I wasn't going to advance past Corporal in the infantry. The CO, bugger that he was, didn't take a shine to me. Now the Navy was definitely out; I wasn't willing to start over at the bottom of the heap and besides, heights have always made my head spin. So I greased a few palms, called in a few favours, and got myself transfered over to the cavalry. A gashant's no horse, I'll tell you that, but they ride easy enough once you get the hang of it.

"I've made Serjeant since then and have been doing fairly well, if I may say so myself. But now the orders have come down to accompany this bleedin' Earther and his friends on some sort of archaeological expedition. They're headin' up into unmapped mountain territory and, since the damned High Martians have been taking captives again, the Captain has ordered protection. Says he figures they may as well send me; I can speak a bit of the language — or at least one of them — if need be, and if nothing else I can at least make some maps for the bastards back at HQ to file away and forget about.

"So welcome to Mars, boy. The womean are ugly and the climate is terrible, so you better drink up; it's likely to be a long stay."

Commentary

I went into this wanting to create a soldier who quite clearly wasn't going anywhere. Overall, I think I've managed that and am quite pleased with the final character result. However, the rules for character creation in Space: 1889 are a tad on the fiddly side. Supposedly the actual game system is as well, but I've never had the chance to play it. The setting, however, is wonderful.