Curt5

I'll just say how I do it, using one of my own characters as the guide. Start with a basic, one sentence concept. "Snarky old dude with a serious criminal past." Good, good. Now, to create the backstory, just keep asking "why?" "Why's he so old?" A: 'cause he's like 50. "Why's he snarky?" A: 'cause he's really bitter about not being as able as he used to be, and he copes by making fun of other people. "Why's he got a criminal past?" A: 'cause he used to be a big, big criminal. Basically a retired antag. "Why retired?" A: 'cause the last job he pulled went really, really wrong. "Well why is he working on a big station, if he has a criminal past? Wouldn't he be in jail?" A: No, he hid from the SpaceCops instead of actually getting captured when the job went bad. "How'd he do that?" And so on and so on. You don't need to come to every eventuality while generating the character, but as you play the character's personality will come through in their actions. When you feel like it, make up some BS to explain why he acts the way he does, connecting it with whatever backstory you already had.

I, personally, don't think this thread has much of a point. Any idiot can think of something to do when there aren't any antags to track down. If they wanted to do something other than go SSD when no action is happening then they already would. But, I might be wrong, so here's some quick ideas. Actually walk around the station a bit. Talk with the people you're supposed to be protecting, get to know them, have them get to know you. Think of it as boosting Security's PR away from "coldblooded military security force" and more towards "the friendly neighborhood crimefighters." Have a training day. Have an open recruitment day, and think of fun/funny/abusive "training" for the new recruits to go through. Play laser tag. One team can be those dastardly nookops trying to GET THAT DISK generic item to capture which signifies winning, the other can be Sec. Take a break and hang out in the bar. Chat with your prisoners. There are dozens of other things they could be doing. It's not a lack of imagination that's stopping them from already doing them.