Character Lifepath

This lifepath, based on the one from Star Trek Adventures, is meant to help you create your history and think about influences on the character's personality. It's not required, but if you're stuck thinking about your character's backstory, it may provide some insight. In addition to fleshing out backstory, each step can help inform your character's skills and personality. These are not exhaustive lists of possibilities, just ideas to get you started. You can write a sentence or two for each section, or skip ones that you don't care about.

Step One: Position and Basic Concept

Before you go any further, make sure you have a position in mind and a general concept in mind. This will help you figure out what your character's career looks like..

Sample Concepts:

• The Newbie: A young officer on their first assignment, filled with equal parts idealism and naivety.
• Young Gun: You're rising fast in the fleet, with your high skills making up for relative inexperience. For better or worse, you've been granted a senior posting well ahead of most of your classmates.
• Average Joe: Your career has advanced precisely on schedule without anything too notable happening, good or bad.
• Old Hand: You've forgotten more than most ensigns have learned. You may be a former NCO granted an officer's commission, or Starfleet is your second career. Old age and wisdom can win out over youthful exuberance.
• Neer-do-well: There's a black mark on your record, but Starfleet has seen fit to give you a second chance, either because you're that useful or they have that many seats to fill.

Step Two: Species

Human is the most common choice, of course, but there are a wide variety of others to choose from. There are dozens of canon possibilities, ranging from the classic founding members of Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar, to fan favorites like the Trill, Orions, and Caitans.

The following species are not allowed: Borg, Shapeshifter, any Gamma or Delta Quadrant species, and anything vaguely godlike. Species that are not part of the Federation, such as Klingons, Romulans, and Ferengi, or non-cancon species will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We do allow species such as Betazoids who have telepathy, but for story purposes mind-reading will need to be difficult or come with some drawback such as being obvious or requiring touch.

Fleet rules also prohibit official characters and their relations. You must also obtain both CO and fleet permission for characters who are augments, androids, or otherwise more powerful than the main characters seen in Trek canon.

Step Two: Home Background

Where is your character from? There are several possibilities:

• Homeworld: You are from your species' homeworld. These cultural centers are rich both in history and resources, but some people consider them staid and crowded. Examples: Andoria, Vulcan.
• Major Colony: These large worlds, with tens or hundreds of millions of people, were often the earliest settled by the homeworlds and developed without constant contact with home. They've often had time to develop their own unique cultures. Examples: Mars, Deneb.
• Frontier World: Sparsely settled colonies on the edge of the Federation, these worlds often isolated and self-reliant. Many lack in luxuries but make up for it in opportunities.
• Another Species' World: You grew up as a minority on another Federation world, outnumbered even in the most cosmopolitan cities. You might have even been from outside the Federation and later immigrated.
• Space: You grew up on starships, space stations, and outposts. You feel more at home surrounded by metal and vacuum than the wide open spaces of a planet. Examples: Tramp freighter, starbase

Of course, there's plenty of planets that mix and match the above. You might also add in details about the particular region or city that your character is from.

Step Three: Upbringing

What sort of family life did you have? What was the social and educational environment? Were you:

• Raised by career Starfleet members, with a long family history of service?
• A trader or diplomat's child, constantly exposed to new places, cultures, and politics?
• From a rural or agricultural settlement, surrounded by nature?
• Surrounded by science and technology, or by the arts?
• Brought up around some sort of family business? What sort was it?

This can provide good fodder for background and relationship sections of the bio.

Step Four: Joining Starfleet

It's good to have at least one sentence about why your character joined Starfleet. You might also include a couple about their time at the Academy and what they studied, but if that period doesn't interest you don't worry too much about it.

Most Starfleet officers passed through Starfleet Academy, either at the prestigious San Francisco campus or through various satellite programs at other academic institutions around the Federation. This is typically a four-year course, including at least one summer term spent aboard a training ship or even a ship on active duty. Most graduates start as ensigns, although medical doctors typically begin at lieutenant (jg) to reflect extra time spent on medical training. At Starfleet Academy, cadets have both a traditional academic major and a field of focus that roughly lines up with the major branches of Starfleet. Promising cadets may be tapped for additional command training in their junior and senior years.

Branches: Administration, Flight, Security, Technology, Science, Medical

Don't feel that the Academy is the only option. A mustang who was originally enlisted would mainly need to catch up on the academic requirements. Similarly, someone joining Starfleet as a second career might already have a degree and only need Starfleet-specific training. Starfleet Officer Candidate School is designed to provide the necessary training in a short course, typically six months to a year long. These routes are less common, but Starfleet needs skilled personnel, and an outsider's viewpoint can help prevent groupthink among Academy graduates.

Step Five: Starfleet Career

Step Five: Career Events

Think of a few events in their career. This could be as simple as what postings they had. A department head will likely have some prior experience as a division officer on another ship, or as a department head on a much smaller one. It could also be a position on a starbase, shipyard, or other Starfleet unit like Starfleet Academy or an admiral's staff. Keep in mind that anyone in Starfleet during 2256 - 2257 will have experienced the Klingon War, if not necessarily on the front line, and civilians may have been impacted as well.

To spice up those descriptions, think up one or two things that might have stood out. It could be a routine assignment that went well or poorly, a special mission, or some kind of project or discovery. Need ideas? Here's some career event prompts drawn from STA. If you can't choose, roll two D20s and come up with a sentence or two for the results.

1. Ship Destroyed
2. Death of A Friend
3. Lauded by Another Culture
4. Negotiate A Treaty
5. Required to Take Command
6. Encounter with A Truly Alien Being
7. Serious Injury
8. Conflict with A Hostile Culture
9. Mentored
10. Transporter Accident
11. Dealing with A Plague
12. Betrayed Ideals for A Superior
13. Called Out a Superior
14. New Battle Strategy
15. Learns Unique Language
16. Discovers an Artefact
17. Special Commendation
18. Solved an Engineering or Scientific Crisis
19. Breakthrough or Invention
20. First Contact

A Starfleet career is not necessarily a straight line in a single department - it is common for officers to switch between fields as they advance, especially between related tracks such as flight and tactical, or engineering and operations. Many individuals also seek out command track training to qualify them to take command of a ship or starbase. Wearing a red or blue shirt doesn't mean you can't go for gold.

Step Six: Finishing Touches

By now the personal and career histories are done. Fill out your character's appearance and personality fields if you haven't already. You don't have to be exhaustive but it can be helpful for both you and other players when writing. Many people choose a particular actor as an avatar, or a drawing or other artwork.