RE: [DL] Alternate methods of character generation?

["Matthew M. DeForrest" <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

Chris,

What I have done is deal each player two "hands" and let them choose one.
The approach has seemed to work fairly well for my posse, although there
have been no deaths so far (resulting in only 10 draws -- 11 if you count
the "NPC" Critter Companion I worked up.)  There are still a couple of
"dueces" in the player characters stats, but they are well balanced by
higher draws in others.

I also drew up a list of "background skills" that were appropriate to each
PC -- Combat/Meatball Medicine for the Doctor, German for the Mad Scientist,
etc. -- that the players could buy at half price throughout the campaign to
fill out their backgrounds.  This ends up giving the characters greater
depth in skills without really unbalancing the game (I was careful in the
skill choices involved).  It also makes a difference that there are now only
four players in the game and it takes all they have to survive many of the
encounters.

Hope this helps.

Matt