Check out www.seventhsantcum.com as they tend to have all sorts of generators you can use.

What if your Origin choices were as simple as 5-6 species and 6 Talents: Backer, Combatant, Solver Specialist, Talker, Wildcard?

For my home game, I basically did something similar to this. All the PCs are starting out being from the same village, grew up together, and there are only so many Specialties they could be trained in so the list is truncated along with the Class list. It is very much like the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring with them going off on their first adventure together and I've informed them they can start multiclassing at 2rd level once they arrive at the closest major town to their village.

Just one question Blankbeard:

If the player built their character, why is it the GM's responsibility to remind them what their character can do?

If my players build their characters, in my experience, the onus has always been on them to remember what they built and are capable of accomplishing.

I can see your point about option paralysis, but I disagree entirely about dealing with it by simply punishing them with lack of choice. I think people are far more likely to remember their options if they've had a hand in shaping them -- I believe the expression is "skin in the game".

As the person running the game, I do think it is partly down to you to keep track your group's PCs -- specifically, any scene-relevant abilities such as those that boost results in dramatic scenes, or affect critical transit times, or give an edge during tense social confrontations. Not just because you should logically be aware of what they're going to do to your plans, but because a good GM should be thinking ahead of time how to present opportunities for the differrent characters to shine in their element.

+1, very well said Mr A

Probably old, but I haven't seen it before:

Star Trek Blooper Reel

I quite like the Irish Vulcan

I've seen it before and some of those are actually really hysterical

Forgetting you possess a mechanical quality isn't the fault of the origin, it's the fault of the player (and potentially, the GM).

However, I agree that Specialty choice is the harder choice of the two as a direct result of the importance of the feat it grants. That could be alleviated somewhat by going through them and deciding if any absolutely need that specific feat or if they can work by simply offering access to a feat category instead.

+1.
Category, yeah.
We approve.

+1, nuff said

[Burn Notice's Upcoming 7th Season will be its Last]

Burn Notice's Upcoming 7th Season will be its Last

I'm not surprised but am also sad to know this. It is a great show and without it the TV world will be just a little bit darker.

Very cool!

We have to get the next generation started somehow!

[not]

First, essential supplements are in fact a goal. They have to be - otherwise there's little reason to put them out, let alone support any game beyond its core release. Overwhelming feedback indicates that ongoing support is something most folks want, so we either conceive games as lines of essential products or quit making games. Given that we like making games, we choose the former.

Second, core books are not the place to exhaustively explore topics. In fact, that's one of the fastest ways to a) kill your ability to give customers what they want (i.e. ongoing support - see above), and b) make your game so dense and unapproachable that no one gives it a fair shake. I can attest to this - I've made that game, and exhaustive exploration of gear (and other things) is frequently cited as one of the primary faults of the core book.

Finally, I can assure you that Gear & Gadgets will NOT be a "Day 0 product." We're not even considering it. Not only would it be counter-productive, it would be unrealistic, and we all know what happens when we venture down that road.

+1

I have every faith in you guys to make this work. The Spycraft 2.0 gear chapter stands as an eternal monument to crunch, but I am quite satisfied to see Spycraft the Third refocussed on espionage instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

+1 to Gatac's post above

I'm a big fan of the 2 Origins myself and actually stress during Character Creation that people think concept first and then pick their Origins accordingly before anything else.

Talent = Nature = Born With = Adjective
Specialty = Nurture = Trained to Do = Noun
Class = How You Choose to use your Training

Very Simple...

Wow ... RIP Ray Harryhausen... 

Damn ... 

In 2 weeks is both Star Trek Into Darkness and Fast & Furious 6. From the rumblings I've heard, I'll catch the latter in the theatre first and wait for the jury on the former.

Bruce is like 60 yrs old now, right? It would undoubtedly be the last one at that point.

Starting to wonder if Morgan Freeman is having money trouble given the shear amount of movies he's been in recently.

A year or two ago, he was in a car crash in Missouri with a female "friend" so at the time movies were actually made, he may have been dealing the fallout from the car crash and his newly spawned divorce from his wife who was dismayed to know he had a female "friend". I'm thinking settlements were made of some kind and he needed the money to rebuild his nest egg. Plus, the Morgan Freeman loves sailing because he can just getaway whenever he wants and be unconnected from the civilization. So maybe he wants a better boat or it got damaged or maybe his wife took it in the divorce.

Freeman is getting into the producing side of filmmaking, so that requires a bit of capital.

That would certainly be another good reason too.