RPG-style pilot generation for Hornet Leader

Method #1 – Skill Progression

Newbie Default Stats

Cool SA Speed Air-to-Air Air-to-Ground Stress

0 0 Slow -3 -3 0-2/3-4

A newbie gets 3 skill points to distribute as you want.

• To raise Cool by 1 point you must spend 2 skill points.

• To raise SA by 1 point you must spend 2 skill points.

• To go from slow/slow to fast/slow you must spend 3 points.

• To increase Air-to-Air by 1 point you must spend 1 point.

• To increase Air-to-Ground by 1 point you must spend 1 point.

• To increase your stress rating by one level on the Stress table you must spend 1 point.

Stress Table
Ok Shaken
0-2 3-4
0-3 4-5
0-4 5-7
0-5 6-9
0-6 7-11
0-7 8-14

Experience Points for Promotion / Skill Points Gained on Promotion

Level Points for Promotion Skill Points Gained
Newbie 3 3
Green 5 3
Average 6 3
Skilled 7 3
Veteran 8 3

So to get promoted from Green to Average a pilot must accumulate 6 new XP. They will then have 3
skill points to spend as you wish. Points do not have to be spent immediately; they can be held in
reserve to use later.
 RPG-style pilot generation for Hornet Leader
Method #2 - Pilot Skill Rolls for Pilot Generation

For this system just roll and use the table to determine the scores for a pilot in each category.

Air-to-Air

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
-3 -2 -2 -1 -1 0 0 0 +1 +2 +2 +3

Air-to-Ground
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
-3 -2 -2 -1 -1 0 0 0 +1 +2 +2 +3

Cool
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3

SA
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3

Speed
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
Slow Slow Slow Slow Slow Slow Slow Slow F/S F/S F/S Fast/Fast

Stress
0 1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10 11+
Ok 0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7 0-8
Shaken 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-7 6-9 7-11 8-14 9-15

Promotion Options
1) No Promotions but up to3 skills may be purchased with XP
2) A single promotion may be purchased at the cost of 5 XP allowing 2 skills to advance by 1 level
3) Multiple promotions may be purchased throughout a campaign at a cost in XP equal to the
desired dice roll.
1. For example, advancing to F/S would cost 8 XP while advancing your stress range to 0-7/8-
14 would cost 10 XP.

It's really random, so things can go really well or really poorly in theory. However, the law of averages
usually wins out.

Different aircraft add different modifiers to the rolls. Consult the table on the next page.
 Aircraft AtA AtG Cool SA Speed Stress
F/A-18C - - - - - -
AV-8B - - - - - -
F-14 2 -2 2 2 - -
A-6 X 2 2 -2 -2 -
EA-6B X - 2 -2 -2 -
A-7E -2 - - -2 -1 -
F/A-18E 2 2 - 3 1 -
F/A-18F 2 3 2 3 1 -
EA-18G -1 1 2 3 1 -

AtA and AtG are based on the aircraft's specialization and crew training.
Cool is based on the number of crew in the aircraft.
SA is based on sensor quality
Speed is based on aircraft performance and sensor/information integration.
Stress is unmodified.

E-2's were just too different to fit in; I just put all of their stats onto a single over-sized card to use.

All of this should be taken with a grain of salt; I created this table for my own use and it contains my
own biases. Initially this all began because my eldest son and I began wanting to integrate every
aircraft we could find into the game but did NOT want to make cards with 6 different skill levels for
each pilot and then a variety of different pilots for each aircraft. It also keeps the footprint of the game
down for travel. My current version takes up one pocket folder (one side for reference sheets, one side
for the laminated playing board).