For some reason, I find myself back in 1998 and reading the Alternity Player’s Guide. I’ve decided to create a character and familiarise myself with the game for the first time in about 20 years. We played the crap out of this system between 1998 and the mid-Noughties but I am rusty on the reasons why. Let’s find out.

1: Develop a Hero Concept

I’m imagining a tough no-nonsense cop on a near-future space station or colony. He’s a detective and his job is to track down perps, bringing them to justice. He’s a cross between Alex Cross and Jack Reacher – I really seem to like the physical types.

He lost his wife to a seemingly random shooting back on Earth some year or two back and shipped out to serve somewhere else. He’s a bit of a loner at the beginning, shying away from making connections. That said, he’s educated and has a specialism in criminal psychology.

Yeah, what the heck – let’s call him Jack Cross.

2: Choose a Species

Keep this simple: Cross is a Human. This will give him 5 more Skill Points than non-humans and he’s allowed to begin with one more Broad Skill too.

3: Choose a Career

Peeking ahead to Chapter 6 and the suggested Careers in the book, I think it’s simplest to grab the Law Enforcer career and see how that shapes out.

4: Pick a Profession

Being a Law Enforcer suggests that he’s going to be a Combat Spec for profession. That suits the concept well-enough for me, given that Combat Specialists are the “warriors of tomorrow” but that Alternity is flexible enough to give me options around that theme. This is one of the things I remember enjoying about the game.

As a Combat Spec, I must have a STR of 11 and a CON of 9. In return, I get a bunch of special benefits: +3 to my Action Check score and an improved base situation die for one specialty skill. Inspired by Reacher, I think I will choose the Unarmed Attack specialty for that bonus.

5: Assign Ability Scores

We have six abilities and 60 points to divide among them. That gives an average score of 10 in each. One of the things I really enjoy about this game is the fact that each of those six abilities impacts your effectiveness in play in obvious and subtle ways. These choices matter and PER(sonality) is no “dump stat”. Humans are allowed scores between 4 and 14 in each, so we have choices here. As a Combat Spec, I must have a STR of 11 and a CON of 9.

STR 11 because he needs this to be a Combat Spec
DEX 11 because I want him to be sharp moving and fairly quick to react
CON 10 because that’s a good average and beats the minimum of 9 for a Combat Spec
INT 12 because I want him to be smart and educated
WIL 8 because he is not as mentally tough as he should be after his losses
PER 8 because he is a bit of a loner and psychologically withdrawn at the start of play

6: Purchase Skills

Here goes with the most time-consuming process but probably the most important one.
All heroes get six Broad Skills for free which for Humans are: Athletics; Vehicle Op; Stamina; Knowledge; Awareness; Interaction. Looking up Cross’ INT score, we can see that he gets 55 Skill Points and is allowed to buy 6 Broad Skills max. Of course, as a Human that becomes 60 Skill Points and 7 Broad Skills.

The basic rule is that you have to buy the Broad Skill before you can buy the Specialty Skills associated with that area of expertise.

• Let’s begin with Unarmed Attack and the Brawl specialty to fit the concept: 5 + 2 = 7.
• Melee Weapons and Bludgeon are advised by the Law Enforcer career, so we’ll grab those too: 5 + 2 = 7.
• He also needs Modern Ranged Weapons and the Pistol specialty because he’s a cop. You’re allowed a max of three ranks in a specialty to begin, so let’s pump the Pistol skill: 5 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 17
• I want the Stealth, Law, Investigate, and Medical Science Broad Skills so let’s buy them: 7 + 5 + 7 + 7 = 26.
• That only leaves 3 Skill Points for specialties and I want Psychology for my concept, so let’s buy that = 3.

Not as deeply trained as I would like but a good start. I fill out all the half and quarter values for those skills on the sheet. Done.

7: Select Perks and Flaws

To be honest, I am going to skip these as they don’t really appeal right now and I’d need to reconsider Skill Point spends too. Let’s leave them for later in the learning process.

8: Choose Attributes

These are roleplaying attributes: Motivation; Moral Attitude; Character Traits.

• For Motivation, I select Find The Truth.
• Moral Attitude is Gallant – the strong must protect the weak.
• For Character Traits, of which you can have up to two, I pick Courageous and Compassionate.

I like the fact that the Character Traits, if roleplayed, lead to bonus achievement points at the end of some adventures.

9: Complete the Hero Sheet

We need to note his Last Resort Points, which are defined by PER which is 8 = 1 Max at a cost of 3. He gets the Max to begin free of charge (phew!).

As for the setting, not knowing what else to suggest I write down “2154” and decide this game will be in the same world as the “Cypher Gate 2154” game I’m running but Jack Cross will know nothing about the Gates.

• Action Check score is DEX + INT divided by 2 = 11, plus the 3 for being a Combat Spec = 14.
• Actions Per Round is based on CON + WIL = 18, and looking on the table nets 2.
• Combat Movement Rates are based on STR + DEX = 22. Looking on the table, I note down the seven scores.
• Durability is as follows, all based on CON: Stun 10, Wound 10, Mortal 5, Fatigue 5.
• I fill out the Attack Forms, Armor, and Equipment – the latter comes from my career.
• We roll for some Money on Hand which, for a Combat Spec, is 5d6x10 = $130

Nice.