View attachment 33250
The system will use these things to generate a small biography for you to read and can be read in the F1 menu. It can also generate datapad entries to suit the background you've selected here.
I like this, I have a few suggestions that could be interesting.
For the biography, we could have it formatted like a datafile, written from the perspective of Dispatch. This way the biography can be displayed on the datafile for other players to read, and having the biography written perspective of dispatch allows players to fill in the blanks of the story, the Combine doesn't know everything about the player's background, only the important details.
We shouldn't write players' backgrounds for them, just give them a starting point so they can fill in the blanks later on. We should only be writing the parts the combine know about them.
Background ideas:
Background name: Citizen
Description: A default background, pretty much just the same as the relocated citizen background, good for starting out, but it doesn't have anything special about it.
Positives: None
Negatives: None
Datafile additions: None
Background name: Loyalist
Description: You have been careful to not do anything that could break any of the rules set out by the Combine, the reasons you do this are your own. Your adherence to the Combine's laws has increased your social credit score, but because you haven't taken any risks, you haven't learned anything new, and you do not start with any skill points.
Positives: Bonus 10 starting SC
Negatives: You do not start with any skill points during character creation
Datafile additions: None
Background name: Echelon Graduate
Description: You were born just a few years before the Combine activated the suppression field in 2006, you never experienced the old world. You were taken from your parents and were raised in the ECHELON program, a schooling system put in place by the combine to educate the last generation of humanity. Your Combine education has increased your social credit by a decent amount and a note has been added to your datafile about your past in the Echelon program, this note may help you in the future. Due to your sheltered upbringing and lack of experience in the real world, you start with one less stat point and no starting skills.
Positives: 20 bonus starting SC, a note on your datafile indicating you were part of the Echelon program.
Negatives: You start with one less stat point and no starting skill points during character creation.
Datafile additions: "Individual has been processed through the ECHELON program and has been integrated into the civic population on (date of character creation)"
Background name: Military Veteran
Description: You were once part of your country's military, however, your advanced age forced you into retirement before the resonance cascade occurred. When the Combine invaded you saw as your country's military forces slowly begin to slowly disappear, you are one of the few remaining members of your country's military. You experienced a lot during your military career, giving you more skill points to start with, but your body isn't as good as it used to be due to your advanced age, reducing your starting stat points by 2.
Positives: You start with 30 bonus skill points to allocate during character creation.
Negatives: You start with 2 less stat points to allocate during character creation, you also have a note on your datafile indicating your history with the old-world military.
Datafile additions: "Individual was once a member of now decommissioned human miltary forces. Individual was retired from military service before the liberation of Earth. Due to the subject's advanced age, they are not suited for transhumanization and have been integrated into the citizen population until the date they become incapable of performing civic duties. Note; Subject may still harbor loyalties to the old world, further investigation into the subject's loyalties may be required."
Background name: Outcast
Description: You have been cast out from civilized society for one reason or another. You have lived a rough life in the slums, eating whatever bits of food you can scavenge. Even though you are an outcast from Combine society, you may still be able to make up for your mistakes by somehow proving your loyalty to the Combine. You have been hardened by the struggles you faced living in the slums, increasing your starting stat points by one, but your bad history with the Combine has reduced your Social credit score by 10.
Positives: You start with one extra stat point to allocate during character creation.
Negatives: You start with 10 fewer Social Credits, and you also have a note on your datefile stating you have displayed anti-civil behavior.
Datafile additions: "Individual has displayed anti-civil tendencies, further display of such tendencies should be met with severe punishment."
Background name: Anti-citizen
Description: You were declared an anti-citizen by the Combine and fled to the hostile outlands. You managed to survive in the outlands where most normal people would have perished. The struggles you faced in the outlands have hardened you, increasing your starting stat points by five points! You have decided to return to the city for one reason or another, however, you must take care not to be discovered by the Combine, if you are found, you will be killed as a result of your anti-citizen status.
Positives: You start with five extra stat points to allocate during character creation.
Negatives: You are marked as an anti-citizen and you will be killed if you are found by the Combine.
Datafile additions: "Individual has been deemed a threat to socio-stability. If discovered, the subject is to be apprehended and processed appropriately."
Background name: Medical background
Description: You have some sort of history in the medical field, and your medical skills may prove useful in this chaotic new world. Because of your medical training, you start with 10 extra points in your medical skill and a note on your datafile indicating you have a medical background. Sadly, because you were primarily focused on your medical career, you have one less stat point to allocate during character creation.
Positives: You start with 10 extra stat points in the medical skill, you also have a note on your datafile indicating your medical background, this note could help you get certain jobs in the future.
Negatives: You start with one less stat point to allocate during character creation.
Datafile additions: "Individual is known to possess medical knowledge that could prove beneficial to medical unions, protection units are advised to monitor this individual to ensure this knowledge isn't used to assist any anti-civil groups."
Background name: Industrial worker
Description: You worked in a highly polluted industrial district within one of the many Combine cities. The years of hard labor have made you three points stronger and more 10 points more knowledgeable when it comes to crafting, but the pollution in the industrial district has damaged your lungs permanently, reducing your agility by one point and preventing you from leveling up your speed skill ever again.
Positives: You start with 3 bonus points in your strength stat, and 10 bonus points in your crafting skill.
Negatives: Your lungs are permanently damaged from industrial pollution, your agility is reduced by one, and you cannot level up your speed skill ever again.
Datafile additions: "Individual is suffering from an asthma-like condition caused by industrial pollution and may require continued medical treatments from the CMRU."
There are many more background concepts we can make, these are just examples. We should provide players with a pretty big number of backgrounds they can pick from. The backgrounds shouldn't just be stat changes, but the backgrounds should have other important effects that actually have an impact.
For example, a player that picks the medical background will have the datafile note that indicates they have medical experience, if other players read this note, it could help them get a job in the CMRU. Another example is the outcast background, players start with better stats, but the note on the datafile will make it more difficult to get jobs in the different Combine groups.
I'd like to know everyone thoughts on other things we could have the backgrounds effect asides from just the stats, skills, and datafiles. What background ideas do you have?
Age-specific backgrounds:
Depending on what age you make your character, different backgrounds will be available to you, making your character a young adult would allow you to pick the Echelon graduate background, while making your character an elder would allow you to pick a retired military veteran background.
