From: [r--dd--n] at [ttidca.TTI.COM] (John Redden) Subject: Other Suns # 4 ------------------ OS.4 ---------------------------------------- This is being posted to the net by myself for Niall Shapero. Others Suns is copyright by Niall Shapero. This gaming material is distributed on a shareware basis. If you do not use the material you owe the author nothing. If you do use it please pay him what you think it is worth at a fair price becasue it took a damn lot of work to develop and playtest. The USmail address is: Niall Shapero 2536 Short Ave Los Angeles CA 90066 USA Those of you with modems can dial into his BBS using this phone number: (213)822-6729 Please email any comments to my electronic mailing address and I will pass them on to Niall. ---------------- end of preamble ------------------------------------------- PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES The physical characteristics for a new character have been rolled, and all computed characteristics and bonuses have been determined. But the player doesn't yet have a "real" character; until he knows something of how that character would think and act, the character created remains a (4) Forgiving <-> Vengeful (5) Generous <-> Miserly (6) Hedonistic <-> Stoic (7) Honorable <-> Treacherous (8) Humble <-> Proud (Arrogant) (9) Merciful <-> Cruel (10) Optimistic <-> Pessimistic (11) Passive <-> Active (12) Peaceable <-> Combative (13) Trusting <-> Suspicious (14) Xenophilic <-> Xenophobic For each of these scales, percentage probabilities are assigned to each extreme response and to a "neutral" response. A typical human from Novaya Amerika, for example, would have the following psychological profile: Brave Neutral Cowardly 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Cautious Neutral Reckless 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Energetic Neutral Lazy 01-30 (30%) 31-80 (50%) 81-100 (20%) Forgiving Neutral Vengeful 01-10 (10%) 11-90 (80%) 91-100 (10%) Generous Neutral Miserly 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Hedonistic Neutral Stoic 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Honorable Neutral Treacherous 01-10 (10%) 11-90 (80%) 91-100 (10%) Humble Neutral Arrogant 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Merciful Neutral Cruel 01-10 (10%) 11-90 (80%) 91-100 (10%) Optimistic Neutral Pessimistic 01-40 (40%) 41-80 (40%) 81-100 (20%) Passive Neutral Active 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Peacable Neutral Combative 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Trusting Neutral Suspicious 01-30 (30%) 31-70 (40%) 71-100 (30%) Xenophilic Neutral Xenophobic 01-15 (15%) 16-85 (70%) 86-100 (15%) PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES IN OTHER SUNS (continued) The character's base line values are determined by species cul- tural characteristics. Humans and Auuri, unlike most of the other Hegemonic races, are not particularly homogeneous. The two races are split into many different cultural groups. The baseline values provided in the previous posting were only for Humans from Novaya Amerika. Given the base line values, the player may adjust the probability ranges of each response either up or down by up to half it's original value. For example, the initial Brave/Neutral/Cowardly scale read 30/40/30. Then the player may change Brave or Coward- ly down to as low as 15 or as high as 45. The total of all the percentages must add up to 100, however, and no response can be decreased by more than half, so the degree of variability is limited. The player could not, for example, increase both Brave and Cowardly from 30 to 45, as this would require Neutral to be reduced from 40 to 10 (the sum of all probabilities add up to 100). Let us say that our player wishes to run a character that is quite brave. The "Brave" response can be increased up to 45 (30 + 1/2 x 30). The maximum decrease allowed of the "Cowardly" response is 15, to 15. Then this particular psychological scale for the character would be as follows: Brave Neutral Cowardly 01-45 (45%) 46-85 (40%) 86-100% But what does all this mean? Does it mean that a character's actions must always be decided by a 1D100 roll? No. The scale is given as an indicator of the character's initial disposition. If the player, at a later date, decides that the character is going to do something considered cowardly by the referee, the action will be carried out; the psychological profile may well change as a result, but that is another matter. What the profile provides is a deterministic "rule of thumb" for role playing non-player characters of different species, and role playing player characters where the player "doesn't know what his character would do in the current situation". Only where a particular range of behavior has through experience or psycholog- ical conditioning been reduced to zero will a particular action be barred. By the standards of Hegemonic mental hygiene, when a character has reached this point he is insane by definition, and is a fit candidate for psychological treatment. Standard non-player characters (the equivalent of T.C. Mits) will behave as per the dictates of the psychological profiles for their species. Important non-player characters may be "modified" just like player characters, and should have their psychological profiles tracked just like player characters; they can change their minds just like player characters.