Scum & Villainy Xeno chargen question

Scum & Villainy Xeno chargen question

Scum & Villainy Xeno chargen question

Let’s say I’m creating a Chewbacca-esque character. I pick Mechanic as playbook. Rather than two Mechanic Abilities, I start play with one Mechanic Ability and the Xeno Ability. We collectively agree that abilities the “walking carpet” Xeno ability gives my character.

* Does the Xeno move replace the standard Tinker Starting Ability? Or can I take Xeno instead of the Special Ability chosen at chargen (such as Construct Speaker)?

* If Xeno replaces the Tinker Starting Ability, can I buy Tinker later with XP and advances?

* As Xeno replaces an Ability, are all the standard Mechanic Abilities still available to my character? For instance, do I still have three Veteran ability slots available?

7 thoughts on “Scum & Villainy Xeno chargen question”

  1. * The Xeno ability replaces the starting ability, not a special ability (pg. 58).

    * By the rules, starting abilities cannot be taken with advances. I would personally make an exception in this case, however…

    * There’s nothing saying that they would not be (except for the starting ability, cf point 2).

  2. What Jakob Oesinghaus has said here is correct. I would be cautious about allowing for a starting ability to be taken with advances, but almost anything is possible via long-term projects.

  3. John LeBoeuf-Little Thanks. I’m curious about the thinking behind that choice: it seems that the Starting Ability is a core part of the Playbook.

  4. Neil Smith It comes down to your role on the ‘show’. Are you the unusual alien that has abilities others don’t? Or are you the iconic mechanic?

    In Star Wars, Chewie is firmly in the ‘alien for effect’ camp. When we see Chewie be his most iconic, he’s showcasing alien traits. For example, he screams so loud at a mail service robot that it runs away. On the other hand, R2D2 (clearly an urbot in our universe) would fall more firmly as a droid with the Mechanic starting ability – almost everything we see it do is hacking or rigging, and the fact that the character is a droid is more trapping than anything else.

    Does that make sense?

  5. John LeBoeuf-Little Yes, that does, thanks. So if I create a non-human character who doesn’t have any particular super-human abilities, the non-human-ness is colour, without any mechanical implications.

  7. Neil Smith Late to this party, but you also asked if you can still take 3 veteran advances. The answer is no – you can take as many as you want, as can anyone else. Three just looks neater on the character sheet. 😛

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