X-Files level characters

[Kesendeja]

I was wanting to start an X-Files game, though I will get a little more obvious about the supernatural conspiracy later, and need help working out what level of characters to make.

What number of points would you give out, to capture the feel. I'm wanting them to be a task force designed to investigate, and later deal with threats. I'm reading up on Delta Green adventures for this as well.

[Phantasm]

Mulder and Scully were FBI agents, who I would peg at roughly 150 to 250 points. I really don't know how well-trained they were in combat situations; Mulder seems to have had a desk job for most of his recent career, while Scully would have been in the field more recently before being assigned to babysit Mulder.

That said, I'd probably look at the Action! line rather than Monster Hunters for such a game, handing out XP at a fast enough rate to get them to Monster Hunters levels by the time you get a bit more overt with the supernatural.

[AlexanderHowl]

Mulder and Scully were highly competent people who grew slowly, so I would reflect that it the sessions. I would start them with 250 points, with Legal Enforcement Powers and Duty balancing them out. I would ban cinematic advantages and any blatantly supernatural advantages (borderline stuff like Danger Sense and Empathy are quite acceptable).

I would imagine that each session would be the equivalent of one episode, so I would give the characters one character point plus one character point for normal skill progression and one character point for social advantage development (Allies, Contacts, Patrons, etc). I would also give them one character point per session for cinematic rules such as changing a traumatic injury to a flesh wound and one character point per session for plot manipulation such as shifting dice results. That way, you preserve the slow development of the show without punishing your players.

[Phantasm]

I'm not so sure one session should equal one episode, but I'm used to 4-hour sessions where we can go off on half hour conversation tangents at the drop of a hat at least twice per session (also, IRC is sometimes slower than tabletop, though not as slow as message board RP can be). Maybe each session arc (3-4 sessions) equaling an episode?

[Kesendeja]

I've set the attribute limit to 14 and skills are limited to 16.

I'm thinking of giving out 200 pts for the characters before the academy and then give them a 30 pt FBI agent template and 20pts for personal growth.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kesendeja

I'm thinking of giving out 200 pts for the characters before the academy and then give them a 30 pt FBI agent template and 20pts for personal growth.

That seems backwards. Most of your points should be in professional templates, and background skills are usually a small percentage of that. 30 points in attributes, the modern pistol style, legal enforcement powers, and police skills and 200 points in Sports (Football) or Hobby (Video Games) doesn't make much sense.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I'm not so sure one session should equal one episode, but I'm used to 4-hour sessions where we can go off on half hour conversation tangents at the drop of a hat at least twice per session (also, IRC is sometimes slower than tabletop, though not as slow as message board RP can be). Maybe each session arc (3-4 sessions) equaling an episode?

I haven't run a campaign in that genre, but I've run a fair number of supers campaigns, which sometimes fall into the same pattern plotwise. A common structure was two sessions: One for exposition and complications, and one for climax and denouement—or in game terms, presenting the situation, planting the hook, and investigation, followed by the big fight or other conflict. It's ideal if you can set up the cliffhanger right at the end of the first session. That's for face to face, though.

[Kesendeja]

My group tends to get together for long sessions, 6 to 8 hours is common.

[JoelSammallahti]

I'd go considerably lower on the budget. Mulder and Scully don't strike me as action heroes on par with John McClane or Snake Plisskin: they're just competent people. I'd make regular FBI special agents on 75 points or so, and 150 should be plenty for X-Files heroes. They get outmaneuvered, tricked, and beaten up, after all, and don't manage to catch their guy (or monster) every time.

Remember that skill 12 is a typical professional, and 14 is really quite impressive, so that's the range in which the PCs' main skills should predominantly be found. For example, if a PC modeled on Scully has IQ 12 [40], Diagnosis 14 [12], and ~10 points in other medical skills, that's perfectly sufficient for handling all the medical clue-hunting business. And if she gets into a shootout, DX 11 [20] and Guns (Pistol) 13 [4] gives her a huge advantage against some random street thugs with DX 10 and 1 point at best in Guns (Pistol) - most realistic criminals blast away at a DX-4 default.

Don't go overboard with the opposition or the penalties, and the PCs won't need to be Batman to overcome them. (Monster Hunters is kind of a bad reference point here: it suffers from a case of enemy inflation in order to challenge the larger-than-life heroes, so even ordinary human bad guys are pretty terrifying. Monster Hunters PCs are supposed to regularly mow down critters that X-Files would treat as practically unbeatable horrors.)

[Maz]

Noone going to stat them up? Start of series, end of series perhaps? I would if I felt like I knew the characters well enough, but I haven't watched an episode this millennium. And I never saw the entire series. Mostly the first couple of seasons.