New characters must choose what type of ammunition their firearms shoot: 5.56mm, 7.62mm, or 10mm. This will be listed on the Item Tag for the firearm. There is no mechanical difference between calibers.

New characters may also choose from the list of Additional Equipment. New characters have 5 points to spend on this list.

During character creation, all Skills are 3 Build each, except Ability Points (END, FOC, and PRE). Players may choose a primary Ability. Primary Ability Points are 1 Build/2 Points. All other Ability Points are 1 Build/1 Point.

Building Your Character

In Colony Alpha, you choose the character that you play. Have you ever wanted to be a soldier? A doctor? Someone with pyrokinetic powers? Well in Colony Alpha, you can be any of those or something entirely different! You determine what your character will be like, what skills he or she will possess, likes and dislikes, attitudes and ambitions. A well-crafted character will grow and develop with experience as the game progresses. The more thought you put into your character, the more you will offer your fellow PCs and NPCs in terms of role-playing and creating new and better storylines. Choose a character concept that will give you the most enjoyment from the game and fits the environment.

Creating an effective character is a simple process, you just need some sort of concept of the skills you want and what your character’s general disposition will be. Ask yourself some of the following questions and try writing them out to begin fleshing out a backstory.

– What kind of lifestyle suits your character best? Does she fight with her fists? Is he a gunslinger? Is she super nimble or sneaky? Does he have the intelligence to hack through firewalls? Or is she a pariah?

– What is your character’s view on law and order? What is your character willing to do to survive?

– Do you have strong moral convictions?

– Do you like to go adventuring out into the new world or do you like to stick to the known lands and converse with your fellow LV-34 residents?

– Are you a loner or do you travel with a group?

– What is your family like? Do you have any siblings, spouse or children? Were you wealthy or poor?

– What town are you originally from? What was it like there? How did it affect your upbringing?

– How did you get your ticket to Colony Alpha?

– How old is your character?

– How did you come to know your starting skills?

– What are your character’s goals?

After you are able to answer these questions, we recommend writing a character history. This is a brief (1-3 page) biography of your character. The history can take the form of a story, journal or memories from your character. It should be long enough that the staff could potentially send out plot related to your backstory, but not long enough that your character has nothing else to strive for. The history should include information developed from the questions above, and any other information, stories or events from your character’s past that are pertinent to creating a realistic persona. Creating a history helps you to develop your character and gives you information to share, or not share, with your fellow PCs. Once written, your character history should be submitted to [email protected] for approval.

After all of this, take your 12 starting build and choose your skill set. Keep in mind any skills you might want to purchase in the future and build away. Remember, each character automatically starts with one melee weapon, one ranged weapon, and one full suit of scrap armor. These can be traded out for special items such as NETCATs or medkits. Starting gear can be upgraded as well, but will cost build. See the above listings for specifics!

Character Card

Once you have created a character you will be issued a character card. Your character card is a record of all of your character’s skills, body points, build points, ability points, ammunition, and stress level. At check-in each event, you will be given an updated card with any new skills you may have learned the previous event or between events. You must return your character card at the end of each event so it may be updated for the following one, regardless of whether you have learned anything. New skills learned and earned build will be updated between events.

You must have your character card on you at all times. It is the record that you are playing a valid character and are not cheating. If you fail to produce your character card when requested, you will instantly fall into the third stage of the Death Count. (See Life, Injury and Death for more information on the Death Count). It is recommended that you keep your card somewhere on your person in which it is both easily accessible and will not fall out during the heat of combat.

Phys-Reps, Weapon Cards, Armor Cards and Item Tags

A phys-rep is a physical representation and refers to any item that is used in place of or to represent some other item. Boffer weapons are phys-reps for real weapons. Some phys-reps used in the game require special cards or tags. Every weapon and piece of armor a character possesses requires a Weapon Card or Armor Card. These cards list the attributes of the weapon or armor such as what materials they are made out of, any special properties they have, which character owns them, and how many armor points they are worth.

Other special items may be represented either by a phys-rep or an item tag. An item tag is sometimes used to represent an item instead of or in addition to a phys-rep. Players must have phys-reps for any items larger than the palm of a hand that they carry on their person. Palm-sized or smaller items may be represented by an item tag. Larger items that a player does not have a phys-rep for must remain in a cabin or other appropriate location.

Character Rerolls

Players are gifted one “reroll” and only one on their second event playing a new character. This gives new players the opportunity to feel out certain skills and change their minds if they don’t like certain abilities they chose. They are able to keep the money and material possessions they’ve earned so far, or lost, from the previous event. Deaths carry over. Players can use all earned build to spend on the character.

If the player decides to change the character history they are treated as a new character. They may spend all earned build on the new character.

Character Progression

Characters will receive 3 Build per event for their first 7 events. After that, characters will received 2 Build per event for their next 7 events. After that, characters will receive 1 Build per event from then on.