ESalter wrote:xunk16 wrote:CSI: Crime Scene Investigator
That's a good one, but I'd still stump for Ship Pilot: they both have three good skills, but I think Ship Pilot's are more conditional. A lot would depend on whether general science or spaceship operation is more useless. (Also, CSI is less silly, which may be a plus or a minus.)
glitterboy2098 wrote:comms specialist or information specialist would be the easiest to justify in a "why was this person given that training" mode.. it seems unlikely that a combat reporter or Civil Affairs officer would be trained to fly a starship, to be a detective, or a CSI. but comms training or information specialist training is the kind of thing that is adjacent to their main job as a reporter or civil affairs, making it reasonable they'd have either received official training in it, or picked it up along the way.
From my understanding, during the early ASC years and the final Malcontent years, there was still a flotilla of Zentraedi Derelict surrounding the earth.
Now most of these were recycled into the UEEF. But some might have been in a too hazardous orbit to do so. And while reconstruction was going on, there might have been a portion of the forces assigned to the job of either rising them, or crashing them safely.
This would have possibly included some clash with Zent survivors, possibly leading to arrest and the need for documentation.
Thus, it would have been reasonable for a GMP representative to be present with the scavenger teams. Possibly in charge of negotiating with the Zentreadi, and telling them about the fall of Khyron and other groups. (Civil Affairs) To save time and space aboard smaller ships, this officer might have also been trained into documentation of the arrests. (Combat Journalist) And since an accident can happen fairly often in this line of duty, either being by facing giant sized Zentreadi, or during some EVA; it wouldn't be as silly for the whole crew to learn a bit about piloting the ship.
Now that would make the character a bit older for the New Gen standard though.
As for the mix with Detective or CSI... I guessed it could have made sense since the GMP could be short on effective from one place to another and transfer their officers sometime without regards to their initial training, especially on the fringes not yet under direct ASC influence. Plus, the age of the character being unknown and the "Fast Learner trait" opens doors that could lead to interesting Bg.
True though, it might be rather less related.
ESalter wrote:xunk16 wrote:Fire and Rescue
You're kidding! Every skill there is useful in a post-invasion world.
Almost. While the skills are technically useful, the mindset itself is not necessarily in accordance with. Your Stereotypical Fireman might be someone who cares about others and have a great dedication to his community. Something that is awkward in a world where society has collapsed and anyone could sell you for a protoculture cell. I also meant it in the way that there is a lot of ruins that no longer need any fire departments. Somewhat a depressing reminder of failure for a fireman I would guess.
So it's not that much the skills as the mentality which would bring that character to a moment of "I'm not trained for this!".
Not trained for the betrayal, the uncaring attitude toward the slow destruction of past remains, not trained to fight "giant" alien mecha, but rather a much more natural enemy. I must admit it's a stretch though.
As for why the character would own these skill and be from the GMP, that's a harder question. Might be an old occupation (like a transfer from the C.D.U.), might be into a jurisdiction falling under GMP control while rationalizing the "neo-feudalism" of the ASC.
ESalter wrote:xunk16 wrote:Or... If your Gm let you have a second job / hobby and draw from the Civilian Occupations from the Macross Sourcebook....
Too easy; the Civilian class is almost defined by its uselessness.
That depends. Many civilian occupations can be very interesting to play, plus they let the character have somewhat of a background to build upon.
We're playing GCW era (circa 1998) and have both an Espionage Agent and a Mechanic (ex-military) to the table. Not only can they make themselves useful, but the Espionage Agent managed to be rich... Which was still important in that era. Might be a question of opinion, but I always thought the goal of RPG was to let us build interesting characters rather than powerful ones.
And technically, the Master Era also had some form of economy boom for a while. With shops re-opening and some such.
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:And looking through the lists I now know how I should of built my last RT character instead of mod'ing the civilian detective route.
(Tirolian trained to infiltrate the humans...but the brainwashing never took. And at the first opportunity got lost. then a long story between then and the 1st session of a 3rd gen game.)
Now that's an interesting concept. ^^