Game: Stargate SG-1 (Alderac Entertainment Group, 2003)
My Experience: I’ve previously written about one of the best convention GMing experiences I’ve had. Subsequent to that, I ran a home campaign for about a year, maybe a year and a half, with the PCs as the members of the exploration-focused SG-17. On the freelance side, I wasn’t involved in core book work (I think I was busy cranking out words for Spycraft products at the time), but I contributed content or rules editing support to all of the following sourcebooks in the line.
Staff Sergeant Jared Ingram, Interstellar Weatherman
Jared never saw himself making the military a career. When he walked into the recruiting office, it was with the full intent of signing up for the minimum necessary commitment, then getting out and squeezing every cent out of his G.I. Bill benefits for the college education he couldn’t otherwise afford. His first choice was the Air Force, figuring that of the armed services, it probably did the most with his intended career field of meteorology. Well… he was right about that, at least.
Until halfway through his enlistment, Jared had never even heard of the tiny, secretive community of special operations meteorology specialists that the Air Force maintained. It was the late ’90s and the service was starting to ramp up its long-neglected commitment to the function with the reactivation of the 10th Combat Weather Squadron. On a whim – really, on a bet which may have involved copious amounts of alcohol – Jared put in an application packet. He was more than a bit surprised when his orders came through to report to Hurlburt Field.
A couple of years later, Jared was even more surprised when he was pulled into the squadron commander’s office for a two-hour discussion of his reading preferences. Yes, when he was a kid, he’d torn through every science fiction novel the local library had to offer. Yes, he was running a weekly Dungeons & Dragons game at his off-base apartment. Yes, he was familiar with the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation. That’s when his squadron commander sighed, shook his head, and muttered, “I’m gonna hate to lose you, Ingram.”
72 hours later, Jared was in a briefing room at Cheyenne Mountain, fighting the mother of all headaches as he tried to process the reality of the new unit he’d just been read in on.
Traits
Class/Level: Scout 3
Specialty: U.S. Air Force Enlisted
Action Dice: 3d4
Vitality: 24 (d10 vitality die)
Wounds: 11
Base Attack Bonus: +2
Fortitude Save: +5
Reflex Save: +3
Will Save: +3
Defense Bonus: +3
Initiative Bonus: +3
Ability Scores
Strength 11 (+0)
Dexterity 11 (+0)
Constitution 14 (+2)
Intelligence 16 (+3)
Wisdom 15 (+2)
Charisma 10 (+0)
Skills
Balance (Dex) 2 ranks = +2
Climb (Str) 2 ranks = +2
Cultures (Wis) 2 ranks = +5
Drive (Dex) 2 ranks = +2
Electronics (Int) 3 ranks = +6
First Aid (Wis) 2 ranks = +5
Handle Animal (Cha) 0 ranks, +2 feat = +2 with a 19-20 threat range
Hide (Dex) 6 ranks = +6
Knowledge (Meteorology) (Int) 6 ranks = +9
Listen (Wis) 6 ranks = +8
Move Silently (Dex) 6 ranks = +6
Search (Int) 6 ranks = +9
Spot (Wis) 6 ranks = +8
Survival (Wis) 6 ranks, +2 feat = +10 with a 19-20 threat range
Swim (Str) 2 ranks = +2
Feats
Armor Group Proficiency (Light, Medium, Heavy)
Weapon Group Proficiency (Melee, Hurled, Handgun, Rifle)
Desert Training(*): +2 competence bonus with Survival and awareness checks made in desert/plains terrain, as well as Spot checks to notice things beyond 500′. When planning an ambush in desert/plains terrain, opponents have +2 difficulty detecting. Reduced movement penalties for desert terrain. 1 point of damage reduction against heat-based damage.
Forest Training (*): +2 competence bonus with Survival and awareness checks made in forest terrain, as well as Move Silently checks made on natural surfaces. When planning an ambush in forest terrain, opponents have +2 difficulty detecting. Reduced movement penalties for forest terrain.
Jungle Training (*): +2 competence bonus with Survival and awareness checks made in jungle terrain, as well as Hide checks made outdoors and skill checks made to set traps in the wild. When planning an ambush in jungle terrain, opponents have +2 difficulty detecting. Reduced movement penalties for jungle terrain.
Outdoorsman: +2 bonus and 19-20 threat range for Handle Animal and Survival.
Point Blank Shot: +1 to ranged attack and damage within the weapon’s first range increment.
Class Abilities
Trailblazer (core ability): As a free action, spend an action die to grant the benefits of any one terrain feat (*) you possess to your teammates for the rest of the current scene.
Stalker: +1 skill point per level which must be spent on Survival. Gain Outdoorsman feat.
Rough Living +2: Natural armor bonus to Defense. Competence bonus to saves made against environmental dangers.
Bushmaster: +1 basic combat or terrain feat.
Equipment
Gear Picks: 2
Resource Points: 2
Standard SG Team Bundle:
unmarked weatherproof sea bag
2 sets BDUs, terrain-appropriate w/ matching baseball cap and combat boots
load-bearing harness & tactical deployment vesty
magnetic compass
canteen
flashlight
GDO
MREs, 1 day
tactical deployment vest (Defense modifier +0; damage reduction 3; weak vs. chemical, explosive; max Dex bonus +3; armor check penalty -1)
tactical radio
FN P90 w/ sling & 60 rounds of ammo
1 Duty Bundle, selected based on anticipated terrain
1 Weapons Bundle, usually frontal assault bundle:
M16A3 assault rifle w/ laser sight, sling, & 240 rounds of ammo
Notes and Afterthoughts
Stargate is one of those intellectual properties that would lend itself fantastically well to an RPG… that wasn’t class/level. In that, this game is among the many victims of the d20/OGL bubble, a great setting bolted awkwardly to a mechanical framework that never aligned with the stories it wanted to tell. In terms of those rules, it was something of a Spycraft 1.1, incorporating the first pass at refinements that would appear in Spycraft 2.0 a few years later.
I’ve long entertained myself by using U.S. Air Force special operations personnel for character concepts. Partially, it’s a bit of catering to the underdogs – AFSOC just doesn’t get the popular culture exposure that SF, Rangers, SEALs, and so forth do. But I also like the incongruity of a character who comes from an elite career field within an arm of service that isn’t generally known for land warfare. Of the functions within AFSOC, the Special Operations Weather Technician field (recently shifted away from its meteorological focus and redesignated Special Reconnaissance) strikes the right balance of competence and wait, what? for a Stargate SG-1 PC.
The Scout class is Spycraft/Stargate SG-1‘s answer to D&D’s Ranger – and, in my mind, fills a lot of the Ranger’s power fantasy better than the Ranger actually does.