This document details house rules (changes, substitutions, and
clarifications) for the Universe
campaign Wars and Rumors of Wars
(abbreviated WAROW
). It is not meant to apply to any
other situations.
The WAROW campaign uses the Universe 2nd Edition rules, unless otherwise noted below. All numeric references are to the relevant sections of the Universe rules unless otherwise noted.
In the rules as written, the character's four potential multipliers (physique, coordination, intellect, and social background) are assigned randomly. This can be frustrating for players: a player might wish their character to be a scientist or other intellect-driven profession, and be stuck with an intellect potential of 12. In this campaign, the player will roll up four potentials as in 5.1, but allow the player to reassign them at will. For example:
Allow the player to add or subtract 1 to the first or second
die (or both), allowing them to select an adjacent environ
result. For example, a player rolls a 4 and a 7, and has a
physique of 1 and a coordination of 2. On the Habitat Table, he
looks in column 4 and row 5 (7 + 0 - 2) and finds the
result 5:FL-IC/HY-NL
. If he wishes, he may instead take any
of the adjacent results. He takes the one from column 4, row 6
(4:IN/LT-NL/1).
The prodigy rule. A character may allocate 2
Initial Skill Points to one and only one skill. (See
also the campaign
rule under 7.6, The Specialist Rule
.)
Family runs planetary corp.or higher on the Social Standing table (5.7), and has a starting wealth of 20 Trans or more, his character may choose any profession except space pirate, spy, or thinker (unless they otherwise qualify for one of these). If the character does not meet the prerequisites for the profession, the character must reduce their starting wealth by 20 Trans, and must subtract 3 from their roll on the Employment Table (7.8).
Normally the age of a character and how many years they spent in a profession will always equal 20 + 4N (24, 28, 32, 36, or 40). This makes sense for those in military professions, as they will have just finished a 4-year tour of duty. For characters in a civilian profession (i.e., not military), including colonist and thinker, the following table shows the amount to add to or subtract from the character's years of employment and age:
| Skill point die roll | Years |
|---|---|
| 1 | -2 |
| 2 | -2 |
| 3 | -1 |
| 4 | -1 |
| 5 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 |
| 7 | +1 |
| 8 | +1 |
| 9 | +2 |
| 10 | +2 |
The die roll in question is that taken to determine the number
of skill points gained per 7.5. The number in the Years
column is added to the years in profession or the age, as
appropriate. These should both be done after the player has rolled
for his character's age effects (7.4) and skill points (7.5).
Example: A player has chosen for his character (IN 8) to be a doctor for 16 years. He rolled one die and got a 3, so (per the Employment Table) he is only active in his profession 12 years, and is age 36 (20 + 16, per 7.3). He rolls a 9 on the Skill Point Table to determine how many Skill Points he gets. Per the table above, 9 corresponds to a differential of +2, so he is active in his profession 14 years, and his actual age is 38.
The limit on how many skill points a player can assign to a single skill (7.6) can be frustrating, both for players who want their starting character to he something they excel at, and for GMs who may need one of the characters to be proficient at a particular skill. Thus:
The specialist rule. A character may exceed the employment-length-based skill level limits imposed in 7.6 for one and only one skill. Limitation: Does not apply to environmental skills (environ, gravity, or urban).
When modifying vehicle skills in this fashion, ignore 11.1. The character gains a number of sub-skill points according to the following table:
| Skill Level | Sub-skill points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 19 |
| 7 | 22 |
| 8 | 24 |
| 9 | 25 |
The resulting sub-skill points must be applied to a minimum of sub-skills. The player allocates up to 9 points to one sub-skill, then up to 9 to another, and so on, until there are no more sub-skill points left to allocate. Example: A character uses this rule to gain a skill level of 6 in marine vehicles, giving him 19 sub-skill points. He decides to allocate some to motorboat; he must allocate 9 points to that sub-skill before he can allocate another 9 to another sub-skill and the remaining 1 point to a third sub-skill.