Cortex Battlestar Galactica Stats--Pegasus edition!

Here I am, 5 months and change into parenthood and it certainly is exhausting. My blogging has certainly taken a hit, though I'm going to try to keep a full convention season dance card this year. I'm also attempting to keep up with my tabletop RPGs as a way to hold onto my sanity.

In our BSG RPG, we're playing in an alternate universe take on the events in the series. We've got a PC ship commander and CAG unique to the game, along with some PC pilots, marines, police, and politicians. We're towards the end of season one in the show and have just been found by Pegasus. To facilitate things, I whipped up stats for the Pegasus command crew. I figured that, if anyone else out there is running a BSG campaign, they might find the work useful as well. I'm also sharing our GM's stats for the ship itself.

---

Admiral Helena Cain, Pegasus CO
Concept: tough-as-nails Admiral forced by circumstances to make incredibly hard choices. 

Attributes:

Agility: d6                 Strength: d6              Vitality: d8

Alertness: d12          Intelligence: d10     Willpower: d12

Life Points: 20      Initiative: d12+d6          Endurance: d8+d12          Resistance: 2d8

Height: 5'9            Weight: 142 lbs          Hair: Black          Eyes: Brown          Age: 46 

Assets:

Cool Under Fire: d6

Formidable Presence: d4

So Say We All: d6

Political Pull: d6

Talented (Tactics, Bureaucracy): d4

Complications:

Toes the Line: d4

Sadistic: d4

Out for Blood: d4

Duty (Military Oath): d10

Skills:

Athletics: d6

Covert: d4

Discipline: d6

    Leadership: d10

    Intimidation: d8

Guns: d4

Influence: d6

    Administration: d8

    Bureaucracy: d10

    Politics: d8

Knowledge: d6

    Culture: d8

Perception: d6

    Tactics: d10

Pilot: d6

     Viper: d8

Survival: d4

Unarmed Combat: d4

---

Colonel Jack Fisk, Pegasus XO
Concept: an officer in an untenable position, trying to find the strength to carry on.

Attributes:

Agility: d6               Strength: d8                Vitality: d10

Alertness: d8          Intelligence: d8          Willpower: d8

Life Points: 18          Initiative: d6+d8          Endurance: d8+d10          Resistance: 2d10

Height: 6'1            Weight: 210          Hair: Blonde          Eyes: Blue          Age: 49 

Assets:

Good Natured: d4

Pack Rat: d4

Complications:

Lustful: d4

Skills:

Athletics: d4

Covert: d4

Discipline: d6

    Morale: d8

    Intimidation: d8

Guns: d4

Influence: d6

    Leadership: d8

    Administration: d8

Knowledge: d6

Mechanical Engineering: d2

Perception: d6

Pilot: d6

Planetary Vehicles: d2

Survival: d2

Technical Engineering: d4

Unarmed Combat: d2

---

Major Barry Garner, Pegasus Chief Engineer
Concept: a man more comfortable with machines than with people.

Attributes:

Agility: d6               Strength: d8                  Vitality: d8

Alertness: d8          Intelligence: d10          Willpower: d8

Life Points: 16          Initiative: d6+d8          Endurance: 2d8          Resistance: 2d8

Height: 5'9            Weight: 180          Hair: Sandy            Eyes: Brown          Age: 56 

  

Assets:

Mechanically Inclined: d10

Complications:

People are Complicated!: d4

Slow Mover: d2

               

Skills:

Artistry: d4

Athletics: d2

Craft: d4

Discipline: d6

    Leadership: d8

Guns: d2

Influence:  d4

Knowledge: d6

Mechanical Engineering: d6

    mechanical repairs: d10

    plumbing: d8 

Perception: d4

Planetary Vehicles: d4

Scientific Expertise: d4

Technical Engineering: d6

    Electronics: d8

    Repair Electrical: d10

Unarmed Combat: d2

---

Captain Cole "Stinger" Taylor, Pegasus CAG
Concept: a newly promoted CAG from the ranks of the survivors of the attack on the relay station, more brains than brawn, overcompensating for being a little out of his depth.

Attributes:

Agility: d8               Strength: d6                    Vitality: d6

Alertness: d10          Intelligence: d10          Willpower: d8

Life Points: 14          Initiative: d10+d8          Endurance: d8 + d6          Resistance: 2d6

Height: 5'11          Weight: 175          Hair: Brown           Eyes: Brown          Age: 31 

  

Assets:

Talented ECO: d4

Photographic Memory: d2

Complications:

Humorless: d2

  

Skills:

Athletics: d4

Discipline: d6

    Leadership: d8

Guns: d4

Influence: d4

Knowledge: d6

Mechanical Engineering: d4

Perception: d6

Pilot: d6

    Raptors: d8

Survival: d4

Technical Engineering: d6

    DRADIS: d10

    Astrogation: d8

    ECM: d10

Unarmed Combat: d4

---

Captain Kendra Shaw, Pegasus Tactical Officer and Cain's Strong Right Arm
Concept: well connected young officer who rises to the occasion to become a Razor.

Attributes:

Agility: d6               Strength: d6               Vitality: d6

Alertness: d8          Intelligence: d8          Willpower: d8

Life Points: 14          Initiative: d6+d8          Endurance: d6+d8          Resistance: 2d8

Height: 5'5            Weight: 128          Hair: Black             Eyes: Black          Age: 26

Assets:

Political Pull: d6

Cool Under Fire: d4

Complications:

Addiction (stims): d4

Duty (Colonial Fleet): d6

Skills:

Athletics : d4

Covert: d4

Discipline: d6

Guns: d4

Influence: d6

Knowledge: d6

    Classics: d8

Mechanical Engineering: d4

Perception: d6

Scientific Expertise: d4

Survival: d4

Technical Engineering: d6

    Computer Programming: d8

    Communications: d8

Unarmed Combat: d2

---

Lieutenant Alistair Thorne, Commander of Pegasus Marines
Concept: enlistedman turned officer, tough as nails and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his crewmates safe.

Attributes:

Agility: d6                   Strength: d8                Vitality: d8

Alertness: d10          Intelligence: d8          Willpower: d8

Life Points: 16          Initiative: d6+d10          Endurance: 2d8          Resistance: 2d8

Height: 5'9            Weight: 195          Hair: balding         Eyes: Blue          Age: 41

Assets:

Brawler: d4  

Cool Under Fire: d6

Renowned (Pegasus Crew): d2

Complications:

Toes the Line: d4

Sadist: d4

Skills:

Athletics: d6

Covert: d4

Discipline: d6

    Interrogation: d10

    Intimidation: d8

    Leadership: d8

Guns: d6

    Rifles: d8

Heavy Weapons: d4

Influence: d4

Knowledge: d4

Melee Weapons: d4

Perception: d6

Planetary Vehicles: d4

Survival: d4

Unarmed Combat: d6

---

Lieutenant Noel "Narcho" Allison, Pegasus Top Gun
Concept: talented and good natured glory hound.

Attributes:

Agility     d10             Strength     d6               Vitality     d6

Alertness     d8          Intelligence     d6          Willpower     d6

Life Points: 12          Initiative: d10+d8          Endurance: 2d6          Resistance: 2d6

Height: 5'10          Weight: 167          Hair: Brown           Eyes: Blue          Age: 26

  

Assets:

Sixth Sense: d6

Dogfighter: d4

Complications:

Glory Hound: d4

Phobia (spiders): d4

Anger Issues: d2          

  

Skills:

Athletics: d4

Discipline: d4

Guns: d4

Influence: d6

    Leadership: d8

    Seduction: d8

Knowledge: d4

Mechanical Engineering: d2

Perception: d6

Pilot: d6

    Viper: d10

    Raptor: d8

Planetary Vehicles: d2

Survival: d2

Technical Engineering: d6

    DRADIS: d8

Unarmed Combat: d4

---

Lieutenant Louis Hoshi, Pegasus Communications Officer
Concept: idealistic young officer doing his best under tough circumstances

Attributes:

Agility: d6               Strength: d6                  Vitality: d6

Alertness: d8          Intelligence: d10          Willpower: d6

Life Points: 12          Initiative: d6+d8          Endurance: 2d6          Resistance: 2d6

Height: 5'10          Weight: 155          Hair: Brown           Eyes: Brown          Age: 26

Assets:

Sharp Senses (Hearing): d2

Advanced Education: d2

Complications:

Idealist: d2

Trusting: d2

               

Skills:

Athletics: d4

Discipline: d6

Guns: d4

Influence: d4

Knowledge: d6

    Sports: d8

Mechanical Engineering: d2

Medical Expertise: d4

Perception: d6

    Gambling: d8

    Tactics: d8

Planetary Vehicles: d2

Scientific Expertise: d4

Survival: d2

Technical Engineering: d6

      Communications: d10

Unarmed Combat: d2

---

Chief Petty Officer Peter Laird, Pegasus Deck Chief
Concept: civilian aeronautical engineer impressed into military service

Attributes:

Agility: d8               Strength: d6                  Vitality: d6

Alertness: d8          Intelligence: d10          Willpower: d10

Life Points: 16          Initiative: 2d8          Endurance: d10+d6          Resistance: 2d6

Height: 5'8            Weight: 145          Hair: Blonde          Eyes: Blue          Age: 48

Assets:

Mathematician: d4

Advanced Education: d4

Mechanically Inclined:  d4

Complications:

Out of Luck: d4

Fish out of Water: d2

Contrarian: : d2

   

Skills:

Artistry: d6

     Drafting: d8

Craft: d6

Discipline: d2

Influence: d6

     Leadership: d8

Knowledge: d6

Mechanical Engineering: d6

     Ship Design: d12

     Mechanical Repairs: d8 

Perception: d4

Planetary Vehicles: d4

Scientific Expertise: d6

Technical Engineering: d6

      Create Devices: d8
      Repair Electrical: d8

---

      

BSG-62 Pegasus
Concept: top-of-the-line Mercury-class Battlestar

HULL DATA: 

Ship Type: Battlestar Scale: Spacecraft 

Length: 5872’ Beam: 2187’ Draught: 1131’ Decks: 35 

Crew: 2500 Passengers: 10,000 max 

ATTRIBUTES: 

Agility: d4 Strength: d12+d4 Vitality: d8 

Alertness: d10 Intelligence: d10 Willpower: d10 

Initiative: d4+d10 Speed: 0 [SL] 

Life Points: 28 Armor: 6W, 4S !

TRAITS: 

Construction Facilities d4, Formidable Presence d6, Tough d4 

SKILLS: 

Heavy Weapons d6, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d6, Pilot d6 

ARMAMENT: 

Heavy Point Defense System [d12W, Planetary-scale, skirmish-range] 

34 Heavy Railgun Batteries [d12+d2W, Spacecraft-scale, capital range] 

24 Heavy Missile Launchers  [d12+d4W, Spacecraft-Scale, short DRADIS range] 

12 Nuclear Missiles  [d12+d8W Spacecraft-scale, short DRADIS range] !

AUXILIARY VEHICLES: 

124 Mk VII Vipers, 26 Raptors, 12 Marine Landing Shuttles, 6 standard shuttles, assorted work vehicles 

Transformers Legacy up for pre-order and The Art of Prime on sale now!

Hey, y'all! I know, I know, it's been far too long since I've blogged at you. With the birth of my son, James Magnus Sorenson, I've been incredibly busy playing superdad. Still, there's no shortage of Transformers related happenings in my life, so I figured I'd hop on here and whip out the old plug-o-matic.

First up, The Art of Prime is on sale now. This is a 208 page hardcover that explores the designs and design process of Prime. It's the emphasis on process that really helps the book stand out. Not only is the book incredibly pretty, thanks to the surfeit of stunning material that was created in the production of the show, but it's informative. In the character portion of the book, well over half of the volume, virtually every character has the thoughts of the designer. They walk through their thought process, what they were going for, what their influences were, what their challenges were.

The volume is also punctuated with extensive interviews with each of the art department heads. I had a blast talking to them and I think you'll find reading about how a CG cartoon is put together both interesting and informative.

You can find a nice review of the book on tformers.com,and an interview with me about the book over on seibertron.com.

Next up is a project that I'm particularly passionate about, Legacy: A Celebration of Transformers Package Art. Though Bill Forster and I announced it over a year ago, at BotCon 2012, we finally have a release target: spring of 2014. Amazon is taking pre-orders, and I'd jump on that bandwagon now. This is a 300 page oversized hardcover that will look amazing on anyone's coffee table.

The scope of the book is G1 and G2, US and Japan. Within those constraints, we've managed to track down originals or first generation photo-negatives of about 95% of the artwork. If that sounds impressive, it's because it is. Hasbro and Takara (via Part One) opened their archives, but even that only got us to about the 60% mark. Thanks to the generosity of fans, we've managed to gather up nearly everything. There are a few gaps here and there, but overall it's a staggering amount of artwork.

But that's not all! We realize that this artwork is already available online, albeit at a lower level of quality, and wanted to pack the book with extras. We managed to speak to a good eight of the original artists and get their insight into what it was like to make these pieces. We found quite a bit of unreleased artwork, art for toys that never came out. We found a bit of art in the same style used for other purposes, like catalogs and puzzles, and feature that as well. Finally, we include some art in the same style that was used for pre-Transformers toys (Microman, Diaclone and more) and some of the modern art in the same style as used by Fun Publications and eHobby.

Many fans have been eager to help make this project a success. While the end is in sight, Bill and I have a few more weeks to finalize things. Here's a list of everything we're missing. If you have the original art for this, or a transparency or first generation photo negative, drop us a line:

US G1:

US Astrotrain (Train Mode)
US Trypticon
US Piranacon

Action Masters:
    Bumblebee, Jackpot, Skyfall, Sprocket (bot), Prowl (both)
    Banzai-Tron, Starscream (both), Axer (Bike only)

US G2:
Autobot Cyber Jets,  Auto-Roller Roadblock, Gobots (2nd wave). I'd also like the watch artwork.  Unused G2 artwork from the tail-end of the line would also be very cool. (Greasepit, Laser Soundwave and Jazz, unused Go-Bots)
 
Japanese G1:
Dino cassettes: Graphy, Noise, Dial, Saur
Road King (*Can use a box scan of this, just need his chest)

Rocket Base

Europe:
Virtually all, but especially at least one of the battle murals from the back.  Pyro and Clench are personal favorites. I find the Rescue Force and the new Scrapper art pretty cool too.

Catalog and Puzzle:
There was a bit of catalog and puzzle artwork created in the same style around this time frame, I'd like to feature some in the book.

Diaclone / Microman:
Diaclone and Microman artwork is also of interest.  Omnibots, Bumper (that is to say, MC-04 Mini CAR Robo 02 Familia 1500XG), Kronoformers, Powerdashers would be high on the list of priorities. I'm also partial to Powered Convoy, and the blue Blaster Microman artwork. 

Other:
I'd like to get my hands on the micromaster combiner back-of-the-box artwork that's in a kind of cartoony style, especially from the Combiner boxes.  Oddities, like the Tyco sets, are also of interest.  Any unused package art, guys that never actually came out or alternate variants for guys who did, are of keen interst.

Upgrades:
There are also some that I have decent quality pics of but I'd like to upgrade, mostly from 87:

Galvatron
Throttlebots except Searchlight
Terrorcons except for Hun-Grrrr and Cutthroat
Strafe, Lightspeed, Afterburner, Japanese Computron,
Quickmix
AM Rollout, Krok, Treadshot, Optimus Prime (robot mode)
 
Laser Optimus Prime
G2 Sideswipe 
G2 Gobots (wave 1)
Windrazor

Hardspark, Hotspark, Wildspark, Six-Knight
Battle Patrol (Micromasters), Super Car Patrol (Micromasters)



If you have any of this material and want to help, please drop me a line.

---

12/20 UPDATE: 

The level of enthusiasm has been fantastic. I've had a number of people come forward with offers to help, including a friend who has some (sadly low resolution) Action Master transparencies and a fan who has pledged some UK G2 material that will be very cool. Keep it coming and spread the word. If you have a good lead on anyone with originals or transparencies, let me know. Ebay sellers you've dealt with, local comic shops or galleries, whatever. This is the time to make it happen.

Pathfinder Card Game

Dungeons and Dragons has always been a staple of the nerd community.  Card games have also followed suit as a mainstay.  The mad scientist geniuses at Paizo have brought the two together in their new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

If you haven't played it, i highly recommend you check it out at some point.  This game is pretty simple.  Each player has a player deck.  The players work together as a team to overcome a scenario.  The scenarios are provided and the players must explore locations during each scenario to find the villain and defeat him, thus winning the scenario.  This sounds simple, but the act of the game is what makes it engaging.  Interestingly, it is playable both by one's self or in a group of up to 6 people.  But what nerd only plays a game without some tinkering of their own?

The idea struck me as I was driving home listening to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack.  Oogie Boogie would make a great villain to fight in Pathfinder ACG.  The idea grew from there.  Using images I found on the internet as well as GIMP, I was able to fix my own cards that will be used for my own Nightmare Before Christmas themed Pathfinder ACG Adventure!

Below are just a few of the card's I've created thus far.  The rest will be added next Thursday (Nov. 14th) after the game as well as an adventure summary.  Enjoy!

G.I. Joe Field Manual Addendum - Cobra's Creatures

Howdy, y'all! I know it's been way too long since I've been back here. I've got a new son on the way--any day now!--and that's been taking up much of my time. Throw in a trip to the United Kingdom to visit my sister and participate in the incomparable Auto Assembly convention (wacky photos of which are up on Facebook, and if you're not my Facebook friend, what's holding you back?), and a dash of the three Transformers books that I've been working on and that adds up to a tremendously busy schedule.

(For the record, and it's shameless plug time, those books are:
   The Transformers 30th Anniversary Collection, out now, collecting representative stories from across the years and publishers and supplementing them with extra artwork and interviews.
   The Art of Prime, a gorgeous art book featuring the production artwork of Transformers Prime, without contest the best looking Transformers series ever, on sale in November.
   Legacy: The Box Art of The Transformers, due out in spring of 2014 after some delays to make sure we could get the format perfect.)

So, that's what I've been up to. I figured it's way past time for some more Joe models, so why not start with episode production number 600-01. Now, this isn't the first episode, even discounting the mini-series, but it seemed a decent place to start. Cobra's Creatures was a fun sci-fi romp that featured some cool animal models, pictured above.

Joe fans, please do let me know if you have requests. I've got so many incidentals, that if you've got a favorite episode, there's a good chance I'll have some cool material from it. Let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to make you happy.

G. I. Joe Field Manual Addendum - Lasers in the Night

By request, the next G.I. Joe Field Manual addendum features the incidental models I have for Lasers in the Night. Specifically, the poster was interested in Alice, a mechanic who appears briefly working on some Sky Strikers. Sadly, the model sheet sheds little light on the character. She isn't even labeled by name, merely dubbed 'female mechanic.' Still, I hope you enjoy another G.I. Joe greenshirt.

Of course, Amber is the true guest star of Lasers in the Night, and she gets a whole page to herself in the first G.I. Joe Field Manual. There was no shortage of models for her, including her in her standard outfit, her in a catsuit, her in a dress, her in a bathing suit, and her dressed for S.C.U.B.A. That last model featured her front AND her rather shapely rear.

(I'm not just being a pervert, I'm going somewhere with this.)

Amber's wetsuit model would pop up again later in the season. In Memories of Mara, Lady Jaye would show up wearing the exact same wetsuit. As in, the artist erased Amber's head and drew in Lady Jaye's. I remembered looking at it and saying to myself, "hey, that's not Lady Jaye's ass!" Since I already had three pages of Lady Jaye models in the first book (and two more in the second book), including one with her in a brand new wetsuit, I left it out. I didn't think it was necessary to have the same model in the book twice, just with two different heads. Not when there was a surfeit of Lady Jaye material. Still, in the interest of completionism, I present all four wetsuit models for Amber and Lady Jaye, side-by-side for ease of comparison.