My previously owned boxed set of CYB✪RG C✪MMAND✪™ contains a dozen or so copies of the character record sheet – waiting for an adventure that will never be. Let us make use of one of these records in generating a character.
Step 1 is appropriately named “Start.” This step is about describing “your character – the human, that is, not the combined human-machine (cyborg) he or she will become.” We are informed that “the most important aspects of a character” are “Stats” and “Skills.” However, Stats and Skills are not described until later steps.
Other details will be left to your choice. These include your character's physical appearance (height, weight, etc.), historical background (home, education, etc.), and basic psychological traits (outlook on life, likes & dislikes, and so forth).In recording such “other details,” the character record directs us to “use other side.”
Step 2 is “Select Stats,” but a better description would be “Assign Stat Scores.” There are three Stats: Mental, Neural, and Physical.
Mental regards “intelligence in the abstract, and the amount of information that can be retained,” as well as “the speed at which information can be acquired (learned) and used (recalled), and the accuracy of such information . . . willpower . . . general mental stability, and the speed at which the mind can recover from psychological damage.”
Neural is defined as “physical agility and speed of action . . . accuracy in attacking . . . stamina (endurance), the ability to maintain control over one's body, and the speed at which physical control can be recovered after it is lost (when the character has been stunned, knocked out, or drugged).”
Physical means “brute strength . . . the amount of physical damage the body can withstand before becoming useless or destroyed, and the speed at which physical damage will heal itself or respond to medical treatment.”
A player allocates “Points” among Stats and Skills. Said points are abbreviated as “SP” (“the S stands for both Stats and Skills”). Each character has 60 SP; at least 20, but no more than 50, must be allocated to Stats. An average adult has a value of 10 in each Stat, except men have a Physical Stat of 15 and women have a Neural Stat of 15. Let's just allocate fifteen points to each Stat.
Step 3 is “Psychogenics,” the science of “the phenomena currently called ESP.” The psychogenic score of a character is “measured in Psychons of power” and “is equal to the Neural Stat score.”
Step 4 is “Calculations,” and deals with some of the Stat-Based Data to be recorded on the character record sheet. “Skills” refers to the “maximum number of Fields of skill” a character may have; it is equal to one-third of the Mental Stat. “Train” refers to the number of “hours needed for education in any skill” per point; it is equal to “100 minus Mental score.” Actions, Speed, and Rest each equal 1 for characters with a Neural score of less than twenty. “Actions” has to do with combat activity. “Speed” is the “maximum distance the character can move, measured in map hexes per time unit.” What is the length of a hex or time unit? The rules relate, “Don't worry about it now . . .” “Rest” is the “number of days the character can function before sleep is absolutely required.”
Step 5 is “Select Skills.” There are two Divisions of Skills: Dynamic (which includes the categories of “Movement” and “Combat”) and Static (which includes the categories of “Arts & Language,” “Sciences,” and “Law”). Among the five Categories there are twenty Fields. A Skill's score is measured as Skill Rating (SR). “Thanks to the intensive training before entering the CYBORG COMMANDO Force,” the rules state, a character “has a starting SR of 1 in every Field of knowledge, indicating a level of skill just above total ignorance.” SP not spent on Stats are allocated among Skill Fields; each SR costs 1 SP. Our character has 15 SP left and a maximum of five Fields, so we can assign 3 SP to each of five Fields: Computer sciences, Personal arts, Personal movement, Personal weapons, and Psychogenics.
Step 6 involves “Other Details,” the nature of which were summarized in Step 1. If “Other Details” are decided in Step 6, there's really no reason to have the Step 1 that is described. Step 4 includes the statement, “Skills are determined in Step 4.” It would seem that, at one point, Step 1 was “Select Stats,” therefore “Select Skills” would have been Step 4. The “Start” Step 1 was probably added as an afterthought.
Step 7 is “The CC Body,” in which Physical Stat-Based Data is figured. “The Physical Stat of the CC body equals [the character's] natural Physical score plus 100.” “Integrity Points” (IP) are effectively hit points; a character has a number of IP equal to twice the Physical Stat score. “Damage” is the amount of damage the character can inflict without weapons; it equals Physical / 10. “Heal” also equals Physical / 10; it represents the amount of damage a character can recover daily without medical aid. However, “this applies to organic parts only . . . The CC body does not repair damage unaided.” (I don't know why this data should be calculated from the CC Physical value.) “Heft” is the “amount of weight . . . that your character can Throw, Carry, or Lift.” If the Metric system is employed, weight is represented in kilograms. “Throw” equals the Physical Stat score, “Carry” is 10 × Physical, and “Lift” is 20 × Physical.
Step 8, the last step, is named “Meet MadMac.” MadMac is an acronym for “Miniaturized Analog / Digital Macro-Algorithmic Computer.” It is “a revolutionary type of computer that works with the organic brain, assisting it with the task of running the CC body.” For purposes of character generation, the MadMac provides a SR of 10 to five Skill Fields: “Strategy & Tactics,” “Unarmed Combat,” “Communications,” “Energy Sciences,” and “Law Enforcement.”
That's it for basic character creation; next time we'll tackle advanced character creation.
Both the Campaign Book and CCF Manual have the following statement on their respective title pages: “Special Thanks to Jennings Cappellan of the Rare Earth Information Center.” Jennings Cappellan is such an awesome name, I've decided to use a variation of it for the character.
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