Building Better Benefits

Completing character generation in both Cepheus Engine (CE) and the Original Science Fiction Roleplaying Game (OSFRPG) offers the Player the opportunity to throw on the Mustering Out benefits tables. The tables are adequate for giving the hero starting material and cash benefits, but the tables are too much the same; each table offers the same material benefits and a fixed amount of cash. The only variance seems to be which slots each item occupies. Plus, the tables offer the same items to characters of different careers. While it’s within the Referee’s power to make substitutions or rewrite the tables altogether, another method might suit the campaign better: build the benefit tables as character generation progresses. This method takes the PC’s background into account and produces a customized table unique to that individual. Building Better Benefits is a short supplement for CE and the OSFRPG, although it’s usable with other systems with a little work. It offers a variant method for granting mustering out benefits to characters completing their terms of prior service. Using a step-by-step, worked example, the Referee is shown how to customize the character’s career benefits while spending no extra time on the process. Building Better Benefits. The bennies don’t have to be brevities.