Military SF Character Stereotypes ?

[clsage]

I'm looking at creating a squad level group for a one shot
semi-hard SF military adventure and I'd like to play to
various 'cliches'. I have already thought of:

The Earthy, Good Old Boy Medic

The Smart Aleck Heavy Weapons Guy

The Newly Comissioned Lieutenant

And when I get home from work I'll take a gander thru Alien
Wars, Dark Champions and Terran Empire for more ideas but
I'd love to get the opinions of the assembled Hero-philes:
What others are there ? The squad would be (optimally) a
group of four but it would be great to have a larger 'stable'
of types to pull from....

Thanks.

-Carl-

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

Can't forget the Stone Cold Killer.

[Bismark]

The grizzled veteran NCO (the one the Newly-commissioned Lieutenant would be well advised to listen to if he wants to survive his first mission) [an archetype first encountered by me in Starship Troopers - the book :thumbup:, that is, not the film :ugly:]

[ghost-angel]

The tough as nails woman.

the experienced no-nonsense veteran.

[tkdguy]

The crusty admiral

[ghost-angel]

The loud cowboy gunner.

[clsage]

The crusty admiral

Ahhhh....Funnily enough, he's a fairly important NPC as the
adventure is currently structured. :sneaky:

But don't tell the players !!!:D

-Carl-

[Spence]

[an archetype first encountered by me in Starship Troopers - the book :thumbup:, that is, not the film :ugly:]

Movie? There was a movie? Where? When






:sneaky:

[shadowcat1313]

the crooked supply sgt who can find most anything, for the right price or tradegoods

the down on his luck commander shuffled to a nowhere assignment, due to a previous failure, addiction, poor connections

the commander who bought his command or was given it due to connections that is next to useless in combat

[Spence]

The haunted Hero that blames himself for an old disaster that wasn't his fault.

[AmadanNaBriona]

The Trooper On the Edge, who's about one really good shock away from deserting, turning coats, popping two in the Lt's head or otherwise generally tossing the UMJ out the window.
Maybe he's a thousand yard stare headcase whose seen WAY to much time at the front, or maybe he's just having serious second thoughts about his carrier choices, and has psyched himself up.

Fun in a "Hot Potato" kinda way...

[shadowcat1313]

the mustang officer or warrant officer who got stuck with a commission they didnt want

the XO etc whos stuck in a deadend command because the captain is firmly entrenched there, and the XO wants out

[Spence]

Politician looking for personal glory on someone else's back.

[tkdguy]

The hotshot pilot. How can we forget that one?

[Spence]

The hotshot pilot. How can we forget that one?

Easily ;)

[LordGhee]

The SHORT TIMER. . .

man i was going home this isn't fair

The tech gut who can fix anything

Hollywood - the pretty one who always on the make.

The showboat


of course thease fit any war grene just pick a movie

Lord Ghee

[Nolgroth]

The hyper competent and cynical special forces op who's so deep in the black ops market that he can get away with anything.

[Narratio]

Don't forget the combat scout from another culture with his sense of 'zen combat honor'. (Arnies 'Predator' has a decent example).

Lord Ghee's Short timer has an associated 'excitable boy' variant. (The movie 'Aliens' and Bill's "Game over man!" for example)

Remember that even the Archetypes have tagalong sidekicks. Like the mechanic who can fix anything, usually has an inept junior in whom he sees potential.

[tkdguy]

The beautiful young yeoman (yeowoman?) in love with the captain, although he's already "married" to his ship.

[Tom Carman]

Movie? There was a movie? Where? When

:sneaky:

"Starship Troopers - The Movie (based on the back cover ad blurb of a novel by Robert Heinlein)"

[Manic Typist]

The quiet sniper.

The talking tech/radioman.

[Captain Obvious]

The smug sharpshooter. "Yeah, I can hit that." *spits and takes aim*

The streetwise new recruit, trying to make a better life, and yet not quite willing to buckle completely down to authority.

[Manic Typist]

The lucky guy. Completely out of his league, in over his head... yet somehow he survives, and even protects others around him. He's considered a lucky rabbit's foot

[tkdguy]

The war hero who has seen so much death and destruction, he can't quite come to terms with living during peacetime.

[egaroadkill]

The incompetent butter bar fresh out of the academy that carries himself like a power drunk, busy work micromanager who locks up in indecision during combat forcing the NCO to take command.
“Repeat, all AFF incinerators”?

[Clonus]

The chaplain inspired by Father Mulcahey.

[tkdguy]

The chaplain inspired by Father Mulcahey.
In that case, we need to include Radar.

[mikesama]

The fresh out of basic private, eager, and so not ready for the realities of war.

[Mantis]

The wiseass punk who only joined up because he was given a choice between jail and the military, but at the climactic moment turns out to have a heart of gold under his hard-bitten devil-may-care badass exterior.

[CorPse]

The Hot-headed psycho...

[tkdguy]

Guys who hadn't considered enlisting until their girlfriends did, or aliens killed their parents.

[CorPse]

How 'bout the "Only Good Alien Is A Dead Alien" guy...

[clsage]

How 'bout the "Only Good Alien Is A Dead Alien" guy...

An interesting one...considering that the one shot
adventure I'm gathering these for (those planning on attending
Winter War next February in Champaign should look away....):

The convention adventure in question involves the chars
slipping into a 'rebel held planet' to recover an item...The reason
that the rebels have broken away from mainstream humanity is that
the human race has begun negotiating with the newly discovered
alien races that seem to be popping up as humanity expands into
the galaxy...So where would this characters' loyalties end up ?

[CorPse]

An interesting one...considering that the one shot
adventure I'm gathering these for (those planning on attending
Winter War next February in Champaign should look away....):


Seems like you've got to include him for higher dramatic tension! :sneaky:

[Spence]

An interesting one...considering that the one shot
adventure I'm gathering these for (those planning on attending
Winter War next February in Champaign should look away....):

..So where would this characters' loyalties end up ?


That would depend on how previous contacts went. A benign "let just all be friends" type contact would mean only loony paranoids would be against aliens. But if initial contact had a body count or even a war, then mistrust would loom large.

[CorPse]

I don't know, Spence, I think you're putting too much stock in human decency!

Our world, in spite of what logic tells us, is full of racism, sexism, etc., and we've had generations to figure it out. In my experience many people are disturbed by anything profoundly new.

[Spence]

I don't know, Spence, I think you're putting too much stock in human decency!

Our world, in spite of what logic tells us, is full of racism, sexism, etc., and we've had generations to figure it out. In my experience many people are disturbed by anything profoundly new.

what was I thinking :D

[clsage]

Our world, in spite of what logic tells us, is full of racism, sexism, etc., and we've had generations to figure it out. In my experience many people are disturbed by anything profoundly new.

Yeah.....

The basic plot is that there have been both bad and good
first contacts....But a fair percentage of at least one group of
human colony worlds really don't like 'new things' (including aliens).
Which is part of why they went off and founded the colonies to
begin with...But the current human interstellar government is at least
a bit more open to things unkown. So a schism results....In my
projected timeline, this is prior to the 'First Interstellar War' in which
multiple species fight with each other after ships go missing and
colonies are destroyed. Everyone blames their favorite 'other species'.
Eventually the truth comes out and that starts the 'Second
Interstellar War'.....But that is another set of stories and a campaign
(unrun) I've been fiddling with for many, many years now.

-Carl-

[Spence]

Yeah.....

The basic plot is that there have been both bad and good
first contacts....But a fair percentage of at least one group of
human colony worlds really don't like 'new things' (including aliens).
Which is part of why they went off and founded the colonies to
begin with...But the current human interstellar government is at least
a bit more open to things unkown. So a schism results....In my
projected timeline, this is prior to the 'First Interstellar War' in which
multiple species fight with each other after ships go missing and
colonies are destroyed. Everyone blames their favorite 'other species'.
Eventually the truth comes out and that starts the 'Second
Interstellar War'.....But that is another set of stories and a campaign
(unrun) I've been fiddling with for many, many years now.

-Carl-

Sounds like fun :D

[clsage]

Sounds like fun :D

Thanks.....
And it all started (at least in part) because I had the
image of a squad in light/medium power armor (the SNAKE armor
from the old GI Joe animated/toy series) fighting a group of
Twillicks (sp?) (The Bib Fortuna character species from Return Of
The Jedi....the one with the tentacle on their heads) as an idea
for a miniatures scenario....Of course, that image would be from
the 'Second Interstellar War'...... :D

-Carl-

[tkdguy]

Random thought: If two or more people have the same role, give them clashing personalities. I wonder how Bones McCoy and Hawkeye Pierce would get along.

[clsage]

Random thought: If two or more people have the same role, give them clashing personalities. I wonder how Bones McCoy and Hawkeye Pierce would get along.

Interesting idea...Tho' for this one shot I'm looking to have a squad
size of maybe 4-6 total. So I'll probably end up merging some of the
suggestions/stereotypes mentioned into blended characters. So
the 'smug sniper' and the 'guy who's only in the service to stay out of
jail' would become 'the smug guy who can shoot really well and is
only there to stay out of jail'. Stuff like that.

But I do like the clashing personalities concept. I'll definately have to
give it a try sometime.

-Carl-

[Zeropoint]

The angst-ridden young mecha pilot.

[Spence]

The angst-ridden young mecha pilot.

Non-angst-ridden young mecha pilot.


:D

[Sweeper]

The fresh out of basic private, eager, and so not ready for the realities of war.

Also known as The Red Shirt or FNG. ;)

[Cancer]

The academic technowizard who (1) lacks up-front combat training (but manages, somehow, to carry who own weight anyway) and (2) is the "payload" for a special-ops insert & destroy-the-McGuffin mission.