You will note that the character creation rules are very generic,but you can take example on TUGS:Babel for more complete rules.Remember TUGS is only a frame for designing your own rules.
1.1 Primary Attributes
Attributes are the character most basic abilities.They are represented
by numbers, ant these numbers are used constantly during a game.
They are used to see how rapidly your skills increase or how you succeed in the most basic actions.
The number of attributes is up to the GM. For example Babel uses 14 attributes: Strength,Dexterity,Stamina,Intelligence, Stability, Will, Charisma, Education, Technology, Spot, Listen, Smell, Quickness and Social Status.
1.2 Secondary attributes
Secondary attributes are characteristics based upon an attribute
or are attributes not used to test if you succeed in a basic action.
Like primary attributes, their number is up to the GM. A few Babel
There are two important secondary attributes who should exist whatever the primary attributes choosen by the GM:Hit Points (basically represents the health of the character) and Focus ( the number of skills character can increase during an adventure).
Skills are all the things your character can do.Examples of Babel
skills: Mathematics, Physics, Swim, Laser weapons, Law...
A skill is related to an attribute called related attribute (in Babel, Intelligence is the related attribute of Physics). The rate at wich your skill improves depends upon the related attribute and the skill difficulty. There are four level of skills difficulty : (E)asy, (M)oderate, (H)ard and (V)ery Hard.
Sometimes a skill has a pre-requisit skill. For example in Babel, Biology is a pre-requisit for Botany. So you must have Biology at a same or better level than Botany.
Some skills are listed as Cascade.If you acquired one of the skill in the list ,the cost of all the other skills in the list are reduced.
1.4 Allocation points
Character creation in TUGS assumes the players will design their characters, rather than leaving attributes to chance.
1.4.1 Primary Attributes
The GM should fix the average level for each attribute (generally an
attribute range is between 5 and 15). Then the player will have the
choice to customize his attributes. He could raise an attribute by one
by lower an another by one.The maximum increase or decrease for an
attribute is +3/-3. No attribute can be at zero or less!
This system could appear a little restrictive but it allows a more balanced game between PCs and is still flexible for having the type of character you want.
The average level for an attribute could vary according to the character's race.
1.4.2 Secondary Attributes
Secondary attributes are never customized by players, they are fixed
by the GM or are related to a Primary Attribute. The formulas are up to
Here are some hints about how to calculate Hit Points and Focus:
It's the more difficult step. The GM should divide the skills between
two categories: Common and Occupation skills.
Common skills represent everyday things that your character knows (like Swimming or First Aid). Occupation skills represent skills that are specific to an occupation or skills not used everyday (it 's not all the people who knows space engineering).
When making skills list, the GM should take care about the universe, Driving a car is a common skill for someone of the 1980's but not for someone of the 1900's.But in general, common skills are the same for the majority of the universes.
The GM should allow skills points for each category.I recommend two
types of skill points.One only for the common skills, and the other
for any skills (free points).The number of points is up to the GM,
it could be fixed,or related to the age,intelligence or any other
attribute.The more specific the skills, the higher the number of skill
Here are suggested total skill points number:
I recommand that 70 % of these skill points should be free points.
Skills have a default value varying with the Related Attribute (or RelA) and its difficulty:
|Easy||RelA/2-1 (round up, minimum=0, maximum=10)|
|Moderate||RelA/2-2 (round up, minimum=0, maximum=5)|
Buying a skill cost 2 points (now you are 'Familiar' with it) and your starting level is based on your Related Attribute (or RelA) and the skill Difficulty:
|Easy||RelA/2+1 (round up, minimum=2)|
|Moderate||RelA/2 (round up, minimum=1)|
|Hard||RelA/2-1 (round up, minimum=1)|
|Very Hard||RelA/2-2 (round up, minimum=0)|
After buying a skill you can increase it by one by spending a skill point.There's a limit for each skill:
|E & M||RelA + 5|
|H & V||RelA + 3|
After reaching the limit, increasing this skill will cost 2 points. You can't spend no more than 25 % of your free points on a single skill.
Cascade skills : when you buy one skill in the cascade list the cost of buying any other skill in this list is reduced ( they cost only 1 point each).
1.4.4 Character class or not
Some GMs like the class notion (this can prevent the ultimate wizard-
fighter-thief kind of character called 'Gros-Bill' in France). You
can simulate this by creating Archetypes (wizard , trooper, scientist,
spy ...). For each archetype there will be a basic skill points
spending (suggested 40 % of the free points).The player should choose
one of these archetypes for creating his character.
For example a knight should spend a minimum of 10 points in Ride, 10 points in Edge weapons, 4 in Hast weapons and 4 in Etiquette.
You should only use Hobbies if you use specific skills (ie a huge list
of skills). Hobbies are trivial knowledges that aren't covered by any
skills (something like wargaming, insect collecting, punk rock history,
shooting monsters in Doom II ...).They are Easy skills, the GMs should
decide of the appropriate Related Attribute. Like ohter skills they
cost 2 points for buying and 1 point for increasing of one level.
The GM should distribute between 20 to 35 Hobbies points. Whith these Hobby points they could increase common skills ( 4 points to increase by one) and occupation skills ( 5 points to increase by one).
With Hobbies points you can't increased a common or occupation skill to more of 15.
The GMs could use a Gifts/Drawbacks system.
Gifts are special characteristics that aren't reflected by Attributes or Skills, they are inherent in the character.They could be physical (ambidextry, resistance to disease...) or mental (photographic memory, speedreading...).A gift can never be learned.
The cost of a gift should be between 1 to 5 skill points.The uncommon the gift, the higher the cost will be.
Drawbacks are characteristics which makes life difficult for a character.
Drawbacks allow to earn between 1 to 3 skill points.For a question of playability, a character should never have too much drawbacks. Some races have automatic gifts or drawbacks at start, these gifts or drawbacks never cost/earn skill points they are assigned at start for free.