On the other side of the coin from Last Unicorn's Star Trek Roleplaying Game is Red Dwarf: the Roleplaying Game by Deep7. I have to admit that this game is poorly written, and the mechanics are probably not too well thought through, but it is based on one of the best sci-fi sitcoms ever made, so that gives it a few points. I don't have any real experience with this game, so I'll just walk through character creation step by step.
First, I need to pick a Character Type. This is the character's race, and the options are Human, Hologram, Cat (an evolved, humanoid house pet), Dog, Rabbit, Rat/Mouse, Iguana, 4000 Series Mechanoid, Hudzen 10 Series Mechanoid, Kinitawowi (a genetically engineered barbarian race), Pleasure GELF (a shapeshifting blob that looks like anyone's perfect mate), Wax Droid (designed to emulate an historical or fictional character), or Simulant (a psychotic robot killing machine). To make things simple, I'll go with a bog standard human. This gives me 1 point each in the Resist and Cool skills, and I can have a maximum of 6 in each stat.
First, I'm going to need at least some small bit of character concept. I like the idea of a fairly normal guy who was actually competent at his job getting caught up in the wackiness that would be a typical Red Dwarf game.
I get 20 points to put into the six stats, and they are rated on a scale of 1 to 6. Agility is "general physical prowess and gross motor function," while Dexterity is "fine motor skill and hand-eye coordination." The rest of the stats are pretty clear: Strength, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower. Being a fairly normal guy, I'll just walk down the middle, with 4 points each in Intelligence and Willpower and 3 points each in the rest.
There are three additional stats derived from the main six. Initiative is the sum of Perception and Agility, so I've got 6. Save is Strength + Willpower, or 7 for this character. Shrug is the average of Strength and Willpower (round up), or 4.
Next up is skills, and I get 30 points for this step. I want to be a competent crewman, a security technician, and a 4 in a skill is listed as "professional." I'll put a 4 in Repair, Security, and Awareness. I'll put 3 points in Cool (for a total of 4), Computer Ops, Firearms, Self-Defense, and Athletics. Finally, I'll put 1 point each in Stealth, History, and Astronavigation.
Now I get to fill out my character's personality with Assets, Liabilities, and Behavior Tags. This is your basic advantage/disadvantage system, with Behavior Tags being little personality quirks to smooth things out. I'll start with Liabilities and Behavior Tags to give me a few points to play with, but I don't want this character to be too messed up. He hates formulaic sports movies (Intolerance, worth +2 points), doesn't drink (Moral Restriction, +1), and is a bit on the skinny side (Skinny, +1). Having been stranded three million years in deep space has made him a little cynical (Cynicism), and it really annoys him when some Pollyanna tells him to look on the bright side (Pet Peeve against Chirpy Optimism).
Those traits leave me with 6 points to spend. I'll put 1 into Dumb Luck and 2 into Tinker. The other three will go back into skills, raising Stealth by 1, buying Gunnery at 1, and buying one level of Language: Esperanto.
That just about wraps this character up. I need a name (of course). I think Richard Beakman sounds like a good working-class bloke to me.
Richard Beakman
AGL 3
Athletics 3
Gunnery 1
Self-Defense 3
Stealth 2
DEX 3
Firearms 3
Repair 4
STR 3
INT 4
Astronavigation 1
Computer Ops 3
History 1
Language: Esperanto 1
Security 4
PER 3
Awareness 4
WIL 4
Cool 4
Resist 1
INIT 6
SAVE 6
SHRUG 4
Personality: Cynicism, Dumb Luck (once per session), Intolerance (formulaic sports movies), Moral Restriction (doesn't drink), Pet Peeve (Chirpy Optimism), Skinny, Tinker
