Urchins?

[Dakchronos]

What would happen to Urchins after they grow up? Would they retain what they have learned? Under the assumption that they would seek the REF for a career.

[glitterboy2098]

i'd treat it like the city rats OCC changing rules detailed in the rifts bionics sourcebook. they'd transition to a different OCC, retaining some of the skills.

[Chris0013]

Have been thinking an interesting concept would be to take an urchin from the Invid Invasion in 2031 to the Battle of Reflex Point in 2042.

[Kargan3033]

Have been thinking an interesting concept would be to take an urchin from the Invid Invasion in 2031 to the Battle of Reflex Point in 2042.

Through the natural passing of time or through a time skip?

[taalismn]

Have been thinking an interesting concept would be to take an urchin from the Invid Invasion in 2031 to the Battle of Reflex Point in 2042.

Through the natural passing of time or through a time skip?

Passage of time and natural aging, I imagine. A timeskip would leave the kid still an Urchin...unless you're talking real-time gaming("Okay, Mary, you've reached level 12 as an urchin, and you're about 14 years old...let's start talking about you losing that baby seal cuteness before you get to level 13.." as opposed to "Okay folks, it's five years later; I'm assuming, Mary, you chose an OCC, and let's discuss what skills you kept working at that you picked up while you were young, and I'll make a judgement call if you get any bonuses for being a childhood prodigy at picking locks and cutting cards.").

[Kargan3033]

Have been thinking an interesting concept would be to take an urchin from the Invid Invasion in 2031 to the Battle of Reflex Point in 2042.

Through the natural passing of time or through a time skip?

Passage of time and natural aging, I imagine. A timeskip would leave the kid still an Urchin...unless you're talking real-time gaming("Okay, Mary, you've reached level 12 as an urchin, and you're about 14 years old...let's start talking about you losing that baby seal cuteness before you get to level 13.." as opposed to "Okay folks, it's five years later; I'm assuming, Mary, you chose an OCC, and let's discuss what skills you kept working at that you picked up while you were young, and I'll make a judgement call if you get any bonuses for being a childhood prodigy at picking locks and cutting cards.").

Good point, if it was a time skip that brought the ankle bitters to the battle of reflex point I could just see an army of tikes in the molud of annie(guys and gals) tearing ass all over the battlefield.

And so the final battle between humans and invid on earth was called off on acount of overwhelming cuteness and bowel wrenching terror.

[glitterboy2098]

actually, i could see a timeskip being used to justify the switch to a new OCC...
instead of a slow play through of the time spent learning all the new skills and such (which could well take years IRL), the GM just declares "ok, we're going to jump forward 3 years when we meet next session. please give me a overview of what you'd like your character to have been doing during that time."

i've actually been in a robotech game where the GM used that very approach.. our resistance band ended up joining a larger resistance organization/base, and the GM decided to do a time skip to 6 months later, after said group had provided some extra training and finally cleared our chars for operations.

[Kargan3033]

actually, i could see a timeskip being used to justify the switch to a new OCC...
instead of a slow play through of the time spent learning all the new skills and such (which could well take years IRL), the GM just declares "ok, we're going to jump forward 3 years when we meet next session. please give me a overview of what you'd like your character to have been doing during that time."

i've actually been in a robotech game where the GM used that very approach.. our resistance band ended up joining a larger resistance organization/base, and the GM decided to do a time skip to 6 months later, after said group had provided some extra training and finally cleared our chars for operations.

You make a good point but on the other hand playing out those years in real life could be a fun way to pass time while giving the players a better idea of what kind of new OCCs they want when it comes time to change their OCCs

[jedi078]

What would happen to Urchins after they grow up? Would they retain what they have learned? Under the assumption that they would seek the REF for a career.

This is why I tell my player to not ask to play an urchin. They are better off running a child who became a soldier (either by choice or forced) because realistically that is what's REALLY going to happen. Look at modern day Africa, and the Middle East because that's what happens to children caught up in a war/conflict.

[Chris0013]

Have been thinking an interesting concept would be to take an urchin from the Invid Invasion in 2031 to the Battle of Reflex Point in 2042.

Through the natural passing of time or through a time skip?

Sorry..was away for a while...natural passing of time...see the kid grow up and the older players grow as well.

What skills does the kid learn from the people around him...hitting the teenage years and giving driving lessons, teaching to shoot, etc...

[Chris0013]

actually, i could see a timeskip being used to justify the switch to a new OCC...
instead of a slow play through of the time spent learning all the new skills and such (which could well take years IRL), the GM just declares "ok, we're going to jump forward 3 years when we meet next session. please give me a overview of what you'd like your character to have been doing during that time."

i've actually been in a robotech game where the GM used that very approach.. our resistance band ended up joining a larger resistance organization/base, and the GM decided to do a time skip to 6 months later, after said group had provided some extra training and finally cleared our chars for operations.

You make a good point but on the other hand playing out those years in real life could be a fun way to pass time while giving the players a better idea of what kind of new OCCs they want when it comes time to change their OCCs

And the real time skip could be a couple weeks to a month between sessions....maybe work with the GM to add in some stuff that may have been found in the mean time with random salvage tables.

[Kagashi]

Never liked OCCs based off of age. Creates a few problems for me. Is every child in the Robotech universe an Urchin, then becomes some other OCC later? If so, why do standard OCCs start at level one and only have PE+1D6 for starting HPs. Shouldnt the character have a few Urchin levels under his/her belt before swapping to a Battloid Ace? Should standard OCCs really start out with, say, PE+4D6 HP? What happened to the Urchin skills once the character multi-classed?

If not, what determines how somebody becomes an Urchin, and who is a standard unskilled teenager who never levels up till basic training? Once an Urchin, should they be dedicated to that lifestyle for life? (example: "That dude is never going to grow up, cant teach an old dog new tricks." Like Alex from Clockwork Orange, or Darrel Dixon from TWD.)

Anyway, Urchins are freaking annoying. Robotech is obviously a military campaign type game. Player characters shouldnt even consider playing children. Annie was an anomaly. I would have left her behind at some point, if only for survivability of the rest of the group. She was always the one needing saving. If she were not there, you could focus on getting to Reflex Point sooner.

I do not allow Urchins in my games. If I were to use a civilian, I would rather use somebody like the Ordinary People OCC from Dead Reign or BtS, at least for a Macross or Masters environment (adjusting to Robotech skill selections). They are more realistic and playable than an Urchin anyway. In New Gen, a Rifts Vagabond might be more appropriate since almost everybody in that world has to have some kind of survivability skills by that point, and a standard journalist might not make it 30 days without knowing how to build a fire.

[glitterboy2098]

except there is nothing saying an urchin has to be a kid. while annie was one, the urchin OCC can be applied to adults just as easily.

honestly it really should have been listed as "grifter" or "bum" or "homeless" or "confidence man" or the like instead of urchin.

the term 'urchin' brings up connonations of childhood.. but technically the term stems from street urchin", an old term for orphans, homeless, and the like. it was usually used for younger individuals, but that could be toddlers up to young adults in age. and once they became 'adults' they tended to get labelled as other homeless related terms. the skillset of the adults is pretty much the same as the kids.

ultimately the urchin OCC is not meant to apply to all kids, but rather ot those who grew up on the less privileged side of society.. especially those who grey up after the collapse of society the invid invasion caused.

[eliakon]

except there is nothing saying an urchin has to be a kid. while annie was one, the urchin OCC can be applied to adults just as easily.

honestly it really should have been listed as "grifter" or "bum" or "homeless" or "confidence man" or the like instead of urchin.

the term 'urchin' brings up connonations of childhood.. but technically the term stems from street urchin", an old term for orphans, homeless, and the like. it was usually used for younger individuals, but that could be toddlers up to young adults in age. and once they became 'adults' they tended to get labelled as other homeless related terms. the skillset of the adults is pretty much the same as the kids.

ultimately the urchin OCC is not meant to apply to all kids, but rather ot those who grew up on the less privileged side of society.. especially those who grey up after the collapse of society the invid invasion caused.

So basically its the Robotech version of the Street Rat or Vagabond.......

[Tor]

Cept with way cool abilities. One of the variants is almost as slippery an anti-grappler as someone with 'Sliding' in Powers Unlimited.