1st level, a place to start or just backstory for 6th level characters?
That is, assuming I understand your question correctly.
But in Modern it is a pain to take stuff you wont use because you want to take some AdC that requires it... or CC for stuff to do right now, but will take levels in later (like the TreatInjury/Tough chat we just had).
If building a Tough healer for 6th-8th level start, one just says he took 4 or 5 levels of Tough, then a Dedicated or 2 for a whole bunch of TreatInjury ranks. That is fine to make a Healing Tough char concept at 6th level. But that concept doesnt wash when played up ... you dont want to wait 4 levels to start doing the concept of the char so you take CC skills so you can have the char fit the concept.
Same goes with simply saying Mongo didnt wear any armor for levels 1-7 but now is in HeavyArmor. It is easy to have plenty of Wealth at 8th when you dont buy any of the noob toys (buying& selling-3 light & medium before buying heavy) and just start with the good stuff. It would be like saying the first car you will own willbe when you are 32 and it will be a lexus.... what the heck were you driving from 18-32? Oh, you had plenty of money in the bank for a $1200 car, but you chose to take the bus everywhere(no PDC?) so you could get a lexus ten years from then.
1st level isnt a punishment, at least it shouldnt be.
If you fail every roll you try, that is bad GM'ing. However, you souldnt exepct a 1st guy to be picking the doorlocks at the BBG warehouse... but you could try picking the $3 padlock on that crate or shimming a window. GM should set DCs in the zone the chars can make, or present other options with lower DCs.
"I cant do anything"
No, you cant do anything expertly. You have some +4(+6-7?) skills, that is a big difference on DC18 rolls. 10th level guys know they can pick almost any lock, you figure you can try picking some locks that Mongo wants to smash. Wait till 10th level to try hacking the banks computer, but use your +4(6-7?) to hack the bank tellers home computer. While a 10th Strong has a swell KnowlegeTactics skill, you can still make all them kTac rolls with the few ranks you have ;)
I stand by a line I made last year:
As GM, have the players make up some 6th level guys, keeping track of what they took when... and on game night let them know you will be playing them at 2nd level. Watch the horror in their eyes as the figure out they made bad 2nd level choices that happen to work out great if we just time warp past playing the bad chars.
I am speaking more from d&d experience than modern though.
Lets hear from some of the New Blood in the Modern forum
since we last had this thread on page1.
Hey new guys, whats your opinion on starting level?
Lets hear from some of the New Blood in the Modern forum
since we last had this thread on page1.Hey new guys, whats your opinion on starting level?
Not so new but never answered... I usually have a discussion with players first. Get a feel of what they want to do. Modern is different of D&D because of how basic roles build up into advanced classes. If players don't want to do the first 4 or 5 levels I consider these levels to part of training before they actualy start their career and/or life as adventurers.
I tend to fast track players through the first four or five levels, depending on the game system (and assuming I'm GM). The first few levels are beneficial to let most players start to figure out their builds, get a sense for the classes/occupations/dynamics et al.
Assuming I'm running a system my players know really well, I tend to just do a really grandiose first session and throw them up to 5th level, just so they can see whats new with my concept but rarely do I start them at a higher level.
Hey new guys, whats your opinion on starting level?
Well, I guess I am still new... so here goes.
I'm a little hypocritical. looking back, low levels are always my favourite, especially in D&D. I've always preferred it when it's me and my cheap/trusty (you can't spell trusty without rusty) shortsword and the spellslinger's two magic missiles/day against the red-eyed goblins. DM's try hard, but it always seems like it's a bit of a stretch that the evil overlord always starts out with his weakest mooks and you fight the Dragon at the end, instead of killing you with the dragon off the bat.
As for modern, it seems like the game was designed completely around level 1-3. at that point, a 2d6 9mm will probably kill you, the 2d8 will definately kill you, the 2d10 is overkill and the 2d12 will kill your ancesters.
Guns aside, the skill DCs make more sense at those levels, too. Stuff that in real life is impossible for anyone is impossible at those levels, as opposed to at level 7 when you can hack TD and wire their money into your wallet in a round or two.
Despite that, I always can't wait until I'm a big powerful wizard and can make all the people's fall down, just like Black Mage.
Okay, well here it goes. I am new to posting on the forum, but started playing RPG's since just prior to the release of the 2nd Ed. AD&D. I played and DM'ed thru the 2nd Ed. and amassed numerous volumes, until version 3 came out. I caved in and bought the 3rd Ed. and have continued to DM 3rd edition. I have chosen not to buy beyond 3rd edition, but became hooked on D20 Modern. I have just recently added the Apocalypse book to my collection and look forward playing and GM'ing it.
1st level or 6th Level: First off, it is my opinion that starting from 1st level allows the player to build the personality of the character. By 6th level, the characters personality should be well developed, along with their capabilities. By starting a character at 6th level, they have been robbed of the time to create the character. In the last 20+ yrs of playing &/or DM(GM)ing I have only allowed players to start above 1st level a handful of times, and only for a specific reason. (ie. a player joining a group already in campaign, etc)
My opinion, in any campaign that I DM/GM the players will continue to begin play at 1st level. To do otherwise is robbing them of the experience of play, which is why they keep coming over for game. There you have my two cents.
We started at level 1. I feel it is especially good to start there if you're playing for the first time as it means you get the basics. The group is still taking a long time to do level progression but they're getting a bit better at everything. While they haven't done any reading for the game (frustrates me to no end), they're picking everything up slow but sure... Starting at first level's the way to go in my book.
Like Atanakar, not new, just didn't answer.
Playing up from 1st is always an interesting experience, especially when you have newbies (like, never played a pen and paper RPG before newbies) who need to get down the mechancs of the game first before they worry about their abilities. In short, I guess for my group it makes for a great tutorial.
The experienced folks in my gaming group back home (I really miss those guys. Stupid college. 
) like 3rd-4th level as the start-off point. It gives your character some shape to begin with so you can get your concept going, but at the same time you've got enough breathing room to develop with the campaign. I'm particularly fond of this starting point.
I'm not a huge fan of starting off at 6th level. I dunno what it is - maybe it's because I feel like I'm missing out on the first quarter of my character and then some. It can work for "you're already a team" games, but otherwise I end up with a lot of really rounded characters who can't work together to save their lives. Alone, they're okay. Together they're... well... okay.
I tend to prefer starting at level 1, and going from there. I hardly ever get to do that, since my friends all hate "having to pretend to be dumb" when they play 1st level.
I think all charecters should start at 1st level, and you go from there. If you make it to Epic, awesome. If you don't, it's ok too. My friends allcomplain that we play until we hit like 10 level or so, and then the game dies and we have to start back over. The thing that these guys never understand is that it gets pretty difficult to DM when the PC's are all BA. Only 2 of us ever DM, and we run into problems once the others have had a few levels to munchkin out their characters.