Last post I mentioned getting geared up for a possible sci-fi solo campaign, specifically 5150: New Beginnings, which was at the time I was writing the article part of a Kickstarter I had completely missed. But a quick email to Ed the THW Guy and I got on the late pledge bandwagon with a pdf copy already sent to me and a print one on the way.

A while back when I had first been kicking this around I spotted at a local gaming store’s loose miniatures rack a bunch of Zombicide: Invader promo miniatures and scooped them up. In 5150: New Beginnings (and most Two Hour Wargames products) the main figure in the player’s lineup is called a “Star,” and has a host of specific abilities that give them just a little more durability than everyone else. When I was doing All Things Zombie over at the Hard Boiled Zombies I discovered that starting your Star at REP 4 (Reputation being the central trait of all THW characters) rather than REP 5 made for a rough first few gaming sessions, so I think I will spare myself the heartache and start this hero at REP 5. That’ll mean he is an experienced troublemaker and leader, with a good head on his shoulders and a good chance to recruit new teammates (called Band Members in 5150:NB).

The miniature is “Gavin,” again from one of the promo minis for Zombicide’s sci-fi iteration, and after some quick Googling found out that he is supposed to be a homage to fantasy artist Paul Bonner. I kept the gray hair of the company’s paint scheme (mostly to reflect my own gray hair) but decided to give him an Akira-style red jacket, and some brightly colored blue socks to complete the look. He’s armed with a knife and a large revolver. Rather than call him “Gavin,” I’m going to call him “Lane” after an old sci-fi RPG character I really loved.

Lane, as I mentioned before, starts off as a REP 5 Star. His race is Basic (normal human) and his profession is “Transporter,” one of the Exotic options, but also allowing him a little flexibility in regards to what kind of jobs he takes on. Most THW characters have two skills, People (reflecting interpersonal skills) and Savvy (reflecting technical or non-interpersonal skills). Lane is more of people person, so I’ll set him up with PEO 5 and SAV 4.

For Atrributes, a Star who is Basic will get two, one rolled randomly and one chosen by the player. I lucked up big time by rolling a 6, then another 6, giving me “Resilient,” which allows me to count the first Out of Fight result (a damage result in combat) as Carry On instead. Very helpful! I’m going to pick “Smooth” as my second Attribute, to give Lane a bit more of an edge when it comes to talking to people. For gear, he has the aforementioned pistol (B-2, to reflect its size) and a knife (Melee).

Now I will just need to find Lane a ship, and a crew to go with it. Stay tuned, and comments are welcome!