05-07-2021, 10:00 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Voyagers!
For fun, I wrote up Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones from Voyagers! Here they are. Formatted by GCA.
I'm not entirely happy with Jeffrey's character. I feel like I'm missing something, but I can't quite think of what it is. Let me know if you can come up with something. In making these characters, I'm not giving them traits that they exhibited just once in passing. There has to be evidence that they're actually trained in skills, etc. Status is ignored, as they have none in the places they go, and languages are ignored because the show does so. Phineas Bogg (112 points) ST 12 [20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12 [20]. Damage 1d-1/1d+2; BL 29 lb; HP 12 [0]; Will 12 [10]; Per 10 [0]; FP 12 [0]. Basic Speed 6.00 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Dodge 9. 6', 165 lbs. Social Background TL: 7 [0]. CF: Western (Native) [0]. Languages: English (Native) [0]. Advantages Appearance (Very Handsome) [16]; Luck [15]; Voice [10]. Disadvantages Duty (Voyagers; 15 or less (almost always)) [-15]; Lecherousness (12 or less) [-15]; Phobia (Cynophobia: Dogs; 12 or less) [-5]; Sense of Duty (Anyone in need; Small Group) [-5]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]. Quirks: Doesn't drink alcohol; Expression (Bats breath); Expression (Smart kids give me a pain). [-3] Skills Boxing Sport (A) DX [2]-12; Brawling (E) DX+2 [4]-14; Dancing (A) DX-1 [1]-11; Diplomacy (H) IQ+2 [4]-12*; Fast-Talk (A) IQ+2 [2]-12*; Games (Shnibbits) (E) IQ+2 [4]-12; Judo (H) DX+1 [8]-13; Rapier (A) DX+2 [8]-14; Riding (Equines) (A) DX [2]-12; Seamanship/TL4 (E) IQ+2 [4]-12; Sex Appeal (A) HT+7 [1]-19†; Shield (Shield) (E) DX [1]-12; Shortsword (A) DX+1 [4]-13; Sleight of Hand (H) DX-2 [1]-10; Teamster (Equines) (A) IQ [1]-10; Throwing (A) DX [2]-12. **Includes +2 from 'Voice'. †*Includes +6 from 'Appearance', +2 from 'Voice'. Equipment 1× Omni ($0; 1*lb); 1× Ordinary Clothes (Status -2; $0). Notes: This represents Bogg by the end of the show. I set Bogg's TL as 7 because that's as high as his Omni can go. Though his native TL is 4, his training familiarized him with TL7. The Voyagers themselves may be greater than TL7, but they don't teach field workers anything about times beyond however far their Omnis can take them. (We know this from Isaac Wolfstein, whose Omni only went up to 1925, and who didn't know anything the stock market crash of 1929.) I didn't include Bogg's lucky coin because he apparently never got it back. When Wolfstein asks if he's got a coin to do the coin trick with, Bogg doesn't and has to lend him the Omni. Jeffrey Jones (-39 points) ST 8 [-20]; DX 9 [-20]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 10 [0]. Damage 1d-3/1d-2; BL 13 lb; HP 8 [0]; Will 11 [0]; Per 11 [0]; FP 10 [0]. Basic Speed 4.75 [0]; Basic Move 4 [0]; Dodge 7. 4'8"; 90 lbs (SM -1). Social Background TL: 7 [0]. CF: Western (Native) [0]. Languages: English (Native) [0]. Advantages Charisma 2 [10]. Disadvantages Duty (Voyagers; 15 or less (almost always)) [-15]; Social Stigma (Minor) [-5]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]. Quirks: Sense of duty to see history on the right track; Still mourns for his parents; Tries to talk and act like an adult. [-3] Skills Area Knowledge (New York City, 1982) (E) IQ [1]-11; Expert Skill (Overview of History) (H) IQ+2 [12]-13; First Aid/TL7 (Human) (E) IQ [1]-11; Literature (H) IQ-2 [1]-9; Sports (Baseball) (A) DX+1 [4]-10. Equipment 1× Ordinary Clothes (Status +0; $0). Notes: This is also at the end of the show, after Jeffrey has been officially accepted as a Voyager. I decided that Expert Skill was the best way to represent his general knowledge of history that doesn't go into great detail. |
05-07-2021, 12:28 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: Voyagers!
I remember that show! Was pretty fond of it while it was on.
It's been a while, though, so I'm blanking on the game 'Shnibbits.' Google gives very little on it, and Bing not much more.
__________________
Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
05-07-2021, 12:35 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Voyagers!
"Shnibbits! Played that game in Hungary; learned it from the Gypsies!"
The name is a joke in the show. The game that Bogg learned as shnibbits is really poker. Bogg tries to play cards with a slaveowner to win the freedom of Harriet Tubman. At first he thinks he's playing bridge, and calls out, "Two no trump." Then Jeffrey tells him he's supposed to be playing poker. Bogg doesn't know what poker is until Jeffrey describes it for him, then he realizes it's the game he learned as shnibbits. "Last time I played shnibbits I won twelve goats." He plays shnibbits/poker again in another episode during the American Revolutionary War, where he cleans out a whole house full of redcoats. |
05-07-2021, 12:49 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Voyagers!
I liked the show, but I really don't recall it that well... That being said, this sounds pretty good.
I'd drop Duty and Dead Broke, though. Duty because nothing seemed "enforced" and if anything they were more at risk of losing the omni and becoming stuck there. I'd drop Dead Broke or at least convert it to Struggling since nothing is stopping Boggs from getting a job (and IIRC, he did from time to time) and from Jefferies (again, similar reasoning if he wasn't additionally a minor). Both are features of the setting like the omni that they could just give up if they decided not to be Voyagers. |
05-07-2021, 01:05 PM | #5 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Voyagers!
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There was the episode where he's apparently hired by a coach of the Red Sox, but that's because Jeffrey teaches him to throw pitches no one's ever seen before, and he doesn't stay past one day. On the other hand, perpetually not having any money is occasionally a plot point. They have no credit, no cash, and no assets. Maybe they should be Zeroed... Quote:
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05-07-2021, 01:35 PM | #6 | ||||
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Voyagers!
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05-07-2021, 02:03 PM | #7 | ||||||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Voyagers!
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Possession of the Omni is just a benefit of having that Duty. It's a piece of equipment, nothing more. It's an essential piece of equipment, but still just equipment given to them by their employer. Quote:
He might be hireable, but that can be left down to a simple reaction roll. "You want to help dig this ditch? You look strong. Take this shovel." But he could never land a job that actually requires the connections implied by any level of Wealth above Dead Broke. Quote:
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Bogg did lose his Guidebook in 1982 and couldn't go back for it, but it turned out that Jeffrey was better than a Guidebook anyway. Quote:
Last edited by Stormcrow; 05-07-2021 at 02:06 PM. |
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05-07-2021, 02:28 PM | #8 | |||
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Voyagers!
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I'd also venture to say that the rush to wrap things up had more to do with this being a TV show. If I were to run it as a game, I'd allow the flexibility to have them stay in one place longer than a day or two. Quote:
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05-07-2021, 03:00 PM | #9 | ||||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Voyagers!
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05-08-2021, 06:24 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Sep 2020
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Re: Voyagers!
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As in, you'll have to give the PC a chance to get it back, since otherwise the time travel campaign is over and the PC needs to get a job to survive. Basically, the Omni IS "Voyagers". Last edited by James P; 05-08-2021 at 06:27 AM. |
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