Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Character 26 of 31: Traveller Navy

Sir Lase Willy

89646B Petty Officer 3rd Class, MCUF, MCG, Imperial Navy, Engineering, inactive, age 27

Engineering-3, Vacc Suit-1, Ship's Boat-1, Mechanical-1, Electronics-1, Forward Observer-1
Cr50,000, High Passage

His father the Imperial Knight of Munoch, Lase did not want to stay on what he considered the backend of nowhere. On his 18th birthday he applied to the Imperial Navy, and getting in, was shipped to Lebensraum to start his Naval career. Not wanting to trade on the family name, Sir Willy entered the Engineering branch as a a Spacehand Recruit. Over the next few years, he was in the heat of battle, spending 3 years in various strike offenses as far as the Carrillian Assembly. He earning a MCG when the ship he was on took a direct hit, and he saved the section chief and crew mates. He learned to pilot the shuttles, and earned a MCUF when successfully piloting through the battlefield with a transfer crew. Continuing in the Navy, Sir Willy was sent to Engineering School as well as additional training, making him an expert Engineer. Sadly, he was grievously wounded during a siege operation, and after medical rehab, decided the Navy life was no longer what he wanted. Given his mustering pay and a high passage ticket, Sir Lase Willy is ready for the next phase of his life.

A tall, dark haired man, Sir Lase speaks with an upper class accent, is easily distracted and enjoys watching holo-sports. Though technically a knight via his father, he rarely uses his title, preferring to "get by on my own word and deeds" as he likes to say. However, he can be seen as overbearing at times, expecting things to be done in a certain way. This comes from his family as well as Imperial Navy training. Stubborn, once he takes a stance, it is near impossible to change his mind.

How you may meet Sir Lase Willy

He would make an excellent engineer for any ship. He could be a passenger going somewhere, and fully expecting high passage to mean high passage. He may still have contacts at the Navy, and some Imperial Nobility. He could be the victim of a scam to help relieve him of his Cr50,000.



  • Strength: 7
  • Dexterity: 9
  • Endurance: 6
  • Intelligence: 4
  • Education: 6
  • Social: 11
  • gender: 5, male
Decided to try for another Navy character. Not having a good intelligence or education, I figured he'd go straight into the Navy. He applied for the Imperial Navy and succeeded, rolling the 9 minimum. Rolling on the branch, I rolled a 5, then -2 for the Imperial Navy and he is in the Engineering branch.

Term 1: Training, Strike! (18-22)

Year 1: Basic and Advanced Training
  • Branch: 3->5 - Vacc Suit-1
  • Branch: 5->7 - Engineering-1
Year 2: Strike!
He survives with a roll of 10, and gets decorated with another roll of 10. He passed muster to get promoted from E1 Spacehand Recruit to E2 Spacehand Apprentice. Succeeding with an 11 for skills:
  • Navy Life: 2 = +1 strength UPP 89646B
  • MCG (Medal for Conspicuous Gallantry)
  • Promoted to E2 Spacehand Apprentice
Year 3: Strike!
Rolling 1d6 for a 4, I re-roll for the assignment and a 5 gives me another year of strike. Survive with a 10, but there were no decorations with a 3, and passed over for advancement with a 5. And no new skills were learned with a 4. For a Naval Engineer in a strike rotation, he must have had a quiet posting!

Year 4: Strike!
The 1d6 gave me a 6, so he is again in the middle of a strike assignment. Compared to my last Naval character, this guy has already seen more action than she did in multiple terms. He survives with a 7, a 7 gives him a MCUF decoration, an 8 promotes him to E3 Able Spacehand, and a 9 for skills was succesful.
  • Shipboard Life: 5 = Ship's Boat-1
  • MCUF (Meritorious Conduct Under Fire)
  • Promoted to E3 Able Spacehand
He makes his re-enlistment roll with an 8.

Term 2 (22-26)

Year 1: Siege
Deciding to be a bit daring, I'll take a -2 on my survival roll. Rolling an 11 -2 so I survive and get to add 2 to my decoration roll. However, a 3 +2 for a 5 means no decoration. I miss my promotion roll with a 6, and no skills were learned with a 6 as well. Must have been way at the back of the siege.
Year 2: Patrol
As this is an even easier survival roll, I opt for a -3: 8 -3 = 5 and I barely survive. A 5 + 3 for an 8 still misses the decoration roll, I flub the promotion with a 7, and a 12 grants me a skill roll.
  • Engineering Branch: 5 +2 = Engineering-2
Year 3 - Special Duty: Engineering School
Rolling a 5, 6, 1, 6 I gain:
  • Mechanical-1
  • Electronics-1
  • Engineering-3
Year 4: Training
No survival or decoration roll, and a 10 for promotion gets me to E4, Petty Officer 3rd Class. A successful skill roll of 9.
  • Shore Duty: 3 = Forward Observer-1
  • Promotion: E4 Petty Office 3rd Class

Term 3 (26-30) Still in the Navy and probably for life

Year 1: Patrol
Taking a -3 for my survival, 7-3 = 4, and needing a 4, I live! Decoration roll 3+3 = 6, no decoration. A 5 yields no new skills.
Year 2: Siege
The 1d6 pf 4 means I roll again, and a 4 gives me another siege tour of duty. I'll take a -2 for survival, and then I failed: 5-2 = 3 and I needed a 4. So injured or dead, and I'll go with injured and muster him out.

Mustering Out

  • Cash: 5 = Cr50,000
  • Benefit: 5 = High Passage


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Monday, January 25, 2021

Character 25 of 31: Cepheus Bounty Hunter, Vagabond

Arlon Thelly

585689    1 term Bounty Hunter, 2 terms vagabond    age 30
Streetwise-2, Deception (Pickpocket-1), Vacc Suit-1, Melee (Unarmed Combat-1), JoT-1, Investigate-0, Gun Combat (Slug-0)
Cr500, backpack, auto-pistol
Enemy: Tal Vaxter, transient

A scarred and wispy looking young man who looks older than he is, Arlon has fallen upon hard times. While wanting a career in bounty hunting, he barely survived after getting sliced by Donnia Burtson, wanted for spousal abuse. The next few years he wandered about various systems, barely eeking out his own survival. Learning to pickpocket was his primary means of survival. Getting laid low by the Perruque Plague, he is currently bald and still has remnants of fungal spores on his head. He is combative and able to handle his own in a fight. He knows his way around most Imperial worlds, at least as far as the seedy side of things. And despite appearances, he speaks clearly and shows a decent education when pressed.

How you encounter Arlon

He could be begging at the port, a destitute man in worn out clothing, a small hat at his feet with a couple of credits in it. He could also be a a pickpocket encounter. If you have a doctor in your group, they may notice the fungal spores and may want to help out the poor guy.
Before the Plague
Pretty much average initial rolls, so nothing exciting called out to me as a career choice.

  • Strength: 7
  • Dexterity: 6
  • Endurance: 7
  • Intelligence: 6
  • Education: 8
  • Social: 9
  • gender: 5 = male
Using the Diverse Roles book for a career as a bounty hunter. I'll forego the childhood process as I sort of did some things out of order, not sure where I was going with this character. Though oddly his social was the highest stat it never really came up. Guess his background was the upper side of middle class.

Term 1: Basic / Advanced Education (18-22)

Survive: 12
Advance: 3
Skills:
  • Investigate-0
  • Gun Combat (Slug-0)
  • Deception-0
  • Streetwise-0
  • Melee (Unarmed Combat-0)
  • Service Skill roll: 5 = Streetwise-1
Event 5,6 - there is no telling what I may have to do, gain JoT-1. 
Re-enlistment roll of 8, so good to go another round.

Term 2: Scarred ex-Bounty Hunter (22)

Survive: 5! Mishap roll of 7 indicates I am injured on the job and roll on the injury table a 4, so I am scarred and reduce 1 physical stat by 2. I'll reduce strength giving me an UPP 567689. Now this means I am out of this career, and have to enter a new one. I do get 1 benefit roll and choose a material benefit. 4 = weapon, so I'll leave with my custom auto-pistol. I also don't age this term so apparently it happened early on. 

There are 18 careers, so not having an 18 sided die I'll just search for random number generator, of which there are plenty out there. Oddly the next career (with a -2 to get into) is instructor: not sure what I can instruct but hey. And I miss the roll. Another random number gives me 11 for investigator. Very similar in some ways to a bounty hunter. And technically I should use the draft or go into the Vagabond career but I'd like to at least try for another career. And a 5 means no, so off to the Vagabond career it is.

There are 2 career paths: destitute and transient. Transient is the more traditional Other I think, so we'll go with that.

Term 2: Vagabond term 1 - the transient life for me! (22-26)

Survive: 8 is a success. 
Advance: 10 is also a success, so 2 skill rolls:
  • Service Life: 4 = Streetwise-2
  • Personal Development: 2 = +1 dexterity UPP 577689
  • Rank skill - Vacc Suit-1. Hey, I read the instruction books when sneaking aboard.
  • Rank skill: stash, basically I now have a small pack to store what few things I have
Event roll of 5,4: life is tough, and the environment is a harsh but good teacher.
  • Survival-1
  • Melee (Unarmed-1)
No real re-enlistment roll for the transient...

Term 3: Meeting new friends (26-30)

Survive with an 8 again. And I advance with an 8 as well, so 2 skills to pick up. There are only the 3 tables so that's what we'll keep using.
  • Transient: 2 = Deception (Pickpocket-1)
  • Personal Development: 2 = +1 dexterity (for pickpocketing!) UPP 587689
Event 2,4: an argument with another transient, one Tal Vaxter. Using Unarmed-1 I roll a 10, so I beat the crap out of him and he does not steal my stash (and my gun!). Gain an enemy. 

We'll go 1 more term to avoid the age rolls.

Term 4: Getting too sick to roam

Survive: 6 = another mishap! Rolling a 4, I have suffered a horrible disease and lose 2 endurance. UPP 585689. 

Mustering out

There is not much for the vagabond career. Rolling a 5 on the cash table he does score Cr500, but a 2 on the other benefits yields nothing.


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Sunday, January 24, 2021

Character 24 of 31: Mongoose 2e Vargr Corsair

Sergeant Afazkivouz "Riko" Rikouzke

999B89    Corsair 2 terms, Democracy of Greats Army 1 term, age 30
Melee (Natural-1, Unarmed-1), Recon-1, Comms-1, Gun Combat (Slug-1), Drive (Wheeled-1), Medic-1
Cr5,000, Ship Share
Growing up on the high-tech world of Gzaeogvaksksueks, Riko watched all the great Corsair shows on the holo: Captain Ruff Versus the Imps, Commander Keen Takes It All, and other shows. Wanting to be a Corsair as well, he hopped aboard the Corsair ship Daztakhs, known as the Wrath in Anglic for 8 years, adventuring in the Vargr extents, spending time in the underbelly of Vargr society and leading in a Corsair fight that left him wanting something even more. Joining the Great Army, he was rapidly promoted, learning to fight with his natural claws as well as driving all over the bases in the hopped up jeep he and his buddies made. Getting tired of the Army life, and wanting to lead his own pack, Riko has left to seek out his fortunes in the stars.
Security cam footage from Riko's Corsair days
  • Strength: 9
  • Dexterity: 8
  • Endurance: 10
  • Intelligence: 11
  • Education: 8
  • Social: 7
  • gender: 1, male
Now that was a good set of rolls! Average only in social and above average in everything else! Going to find a world first, and see if that sparks any ideas for what sort of career this guy may want in on. Hmm, Gzaeogvaksksueks which is in the middle of the Vargr Extents. So Vargr it is. 

The system UWP is A52489A-6, an excellent port with a very thin, tainted atmosphere and hundreds of millions of people. Very strict law level but only TL-6, entering the nuclear age. Part of the Democracy of Greats in the Vargr Extents, where:
Piracy and privateer activity are mainstay staples of the Democracy of Greats, both inside and outside its borders.

Vargr Corsair it will be! Especially as rolling an 8 to get in meets the 7+ requirement. We can go as a raider, pilot or reaver, and so using a d3 roll of 1 for a 1, raider it is. Mongoose also introduced several subspecies of Vargr, and rolling a 3,2 on the d66 table, this is a regular Vargr. This adjusts the stats with +1 dexterity, and -1 to strength & endurance, giving us the UPP 899B87

Term 1 - Into the Underworld of Bad Doggies (18-22)

The 2e book did not mention basic/advanced training, so we'll just go with the jump into it with all four paws. Needing a a 7+ to survive, I roll a 9 so we live to tell another tail, err, tale. We do not advance in our Corsair Reaver career, but being a Raider gives an automatic skill, and I'll cycle through the tables.
  • Raider skill: Melee (Unarmed Combat-1)
  • Service Skill: 4 = Recon-1
An event of 8 means that our time in the underworld gives us a skill, and I'll choose Gun Combat (Slug-1). A 7 indicates we can continue our corsair career,

Term 2 - Territorial War (22-26)

An 8 means no mishaps, and a 5 is yet another failure to get promoted. We'll use the specialist table:
  • Specialist (Raider): 1 = Stealth-1
And a 9 on the event table lands us in the middle of a territorial war with another Corsair band. Needing an 8+ but having Gun Combat gives me that +1, I roll a 9 so success in beating them back! Gain +1 charisma, giving my UPP 899B88. A note on the Vargr character generation indicates the we should change careers when our charisma gets bumped as we want to lead the ack, and not stay in the current one. So we'll do that but use the draft table to see where we go: 3 = Army. So off to the Vargr Army of the Democracy of Greats. Rolling a d3 for which branch, rolling a 6 for a 3 means we're in support. Not too exciting but more likely to not get hurt,

Term 3 - We're in the Army now! (26-30)

Barely making my survival roll (the Army is tougher than it looks), I also barely make my rank roll, so now I am a Sergeant. And I get 2 skill rolls plus 2 skills for ranks:
  • Private rank skill Melee (Unarmed-1, Natural-1)
  • Service skill: Drive (Wheeled-1)
  • Advanced Education: 1 Comms-1
  • Specialist: Medic-1
A 5 on the event table  allows me to either take a +1 on a benefit roll or +1 charisma. Even for benefit, odd charisma: 3, so taking the charisma for a UPP of 899B89. Getting to be a leader of the pack! But it also means we may want to switch careers, or just leave now and go out & visit the world. So, unless I roll a 12 we'll muster out: 8, so let's get out before something bad happens!

Mustering Out

We have 2 rolls for the Corsairs, so 1 each for cash & benefit, and looking over the Army benefits, we'll see if we can get lucky there.
  • Corsair cash: 2 = Cr5,000
  • Corsair other: 1 = Ship Share
  • Army other: 1 = +1 Strength (not the armor I was looking for)

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Saturday, January 23, 2021

Character 23 of 31: Space Craft Classification Society

Aisha Foxwell

788996    Leader Starship Classification Society, 4 Terms age 34

Vacc Suit-1, Sensors-1, Leader-1, Remote Operations-1, Zero G-1, Sensors-1, Engineering (Life Support-0, Man Drive-0), Mechanic-0, Pilot (Ships Boat-0), Physics (Physics-0)
Cr26,000, air/raft
Contact: Alem Nova, Merchant Captain

Growing up on the high-tech world of Bakog, Aisha was surrounded by technology and, living near the starport, watched ships come and go on the trade routes. Getting a job at the port, she joined the Imperial Starship Classification Society. This allowed her access to all sorts of ships as she learned the ins and outs of checking certifications and various ship components. Early on while inspecting a tramp freighter, she met Alem, and over a few years they became good friends. One of the ships she inspected and failed a critical component actually went to court; her investigation proved that the secondary part was faulty and had false documentation associated with it. She impressed her managers, though the term she spent on Pamiimkhi she became addicted to zero-g games and her bosses were not pleased with her performance. Learning a lesson, she pushed herself harder and moved up the ranks to being a team leader. Getting a second hand air/raft, she learned to fly that, and use drones for remote scanning of some of the larger freighters that only went to the high port.

How you may meet Aisha

If she is still working for the Society, your ship may not meet all the rules and regulations and she is the contact person. She knows her way around the service areas on a multitude of ships as well as various star ports. Qualified across a range of equipment, though not expert on any of them, she would make a decent technician or sensor tech. She also has her own air/raft.
With her remote operations goggles, Aisha can inspect areas that are hazardous or impossible to otherwise get access to.

I don't have this in print, but the Freelance Traveller for Nov/Dec 2020has an interesting article for the starship classification society: those who inspect the starships. 
A space craft classification society would have two sets of responsibilities. Firstly to establish and maintain the technical standards for the construction and operation of spacecraft and possibly permanent orbital space stations and star port high ports. Secondly by regular inspection of spacecraft to ensure they meet the necessary construction and operation standards agreed for that type of spacecraft.
Anyway, along with the Starport Authority, these are the people who make sure your ship is space-worthy. Of course, this would apply only in Imperial space, but I could also see this being a way to keep travellers in a system: you need this one piece to get certified for launch. Sort of like one of the older Traveller adventures where you were trying to off Arden I think, but had to go through bureaucracy. Regardless, I can see some interaction with the ship's master or purser (or steward if they do the purser duties) with the inspectors. And it is an off-beat career. And I like to think about the little daily things that get glossed over in games, such as learning about pratique from another blog: possibly why a ship medic is required. Probably not great for a player character, though there are some good skills one can pick up.

Initial rolls:
  • Strength: 7
  • Dexterity: 7
  • Endurance: 8
  • Intelligence: 8
  • Education: 8
  • Social: 6
  • gender, 6, female. In looking back, I think I am balancing out genders in the long run.
My first random page look in the Traveller Wiki gave me Bakog, an interesting system in the Vland sector. A8D9351-F. Type A port, tech level 15, but only thousands of people. There is a Scout base there, and being on the XBoat route may get a lot of traffic. The port population does not count against the population, and as per another character, I'm going with the Classification Society spend a term on possibly a different planet or system each time. So they, along with the Starport Authority, may be a large transient population.


Term 1, Basic and Advanced Training (18-22)

Coming from a small family, Aisha lived up on the peaks of Girath, above the dense and poisonous atmosphere that covered most of the planet. Living in domes, she finally settled on the Classification Society for a job. Her first term she went through basic and advanced training, and impressed her leader enough to get moved from Trainee to Senior Trainee.
Survived with a roll of 5, and got promoted with a roll of 9. 
  • Engineer (Life Support-0, Man Drive-0)
  • Mechanic-0
  • Pilot (Ship's Boat-0)
  • Physical Science (Physics-0)
  • Sensors-0
  • Vacc Suit-1
Event: 4 - a dispute over an inspected ship gave her Investigate-1.  Re-enlistment of 8.

Term 2 (22-26)

Barely surviving with a roll of 5, she missed her advancement roll. She had advanced training but must have slept through the classes as nothing took (event roll 8). 
  • Service skill Zero G-1

Term 3 (26-30)

Re-enlist with a 9, survive with a 6, and advanced on an 11 to an unnamed rank 3. 
  • Personal Development 1: +1 dexterity UPP 788886
  • Surveyor: 5 = Sensors-1
Event roll of 10, and Aisha was noticed and gains a +1 on a benefits roll. 

Term (30-34)

Re-enlisted with a 9, barely survived on a 5, and advanced to Team Leader with an 8, rank 4. 
  • Leadership-1 (rank)
  • Personal development: 5: Drive (grav-1)
  • Service Skills: 6, Remote Operations-1
An event roll of 6 and she gains a contact.

Mustering out

4 rolls plus 2 from her rank. I also get to add one to a benefit roll. And we'll make that a choice so we can have a bit of control over those benefits.
  • Cash: 2 Cr5,000
  • Cash: 5 Cr 20,000 (Cr25,000)
  • Cash: 1 Cr1,000 (Cr26,000)
  • Benefit: 2 +1 Int UPP 788986
  • Benefit: 3 (+1) air/raft. Yes, she has her own air/raft
  • Benefit: 1 +1 Edu UPP 788996


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Friday, January 22, 2021

Character 22 of 31: Belter

Kin Uulamduu

884A48    Belter 6 terms, age 38

Vacc-Suit-3, Ship's Boat-2, Prospecting-2, Electronics-1, Brawling-1, Electronics-1, Instruction-1
Cr10,000, High Passage

Growing up in a belter community in the Uris Belt in the Kagamira subsector of Vland, Kin grew up in the old Vilani ways, but only has a smattering of Vilani, mostly blessings for food as ingrained into her from her family. Growing up onboard various mining ships from the small Seekers to larger stations, she early on learned to check, re-check and then triple check everything. She was in and out of vacc-suits before she could walk. On entering any new ship she makes a quick tour of the emergency lockers, and when possible, checks the permits and certifications for the ship systems. She has come to blows before in her demands to review the certifications as she can be quite vehement about it! A tall red head with some interesting digital tattoos, she speaks with an odd accent that, unless you are from the Uris Belt or have been there, you won't be able to place. She also really likes ship rations and heavily processed and prepared foods. This is a combination of her grandparents' distrust of more natural foods as well as what is readily available aboard most mining craft.  Spending almost a quarter century working the belt, she is an able ships boat pilot and fully certified for instruction for vacc-suit, basic prospecting and ships boat piloting. 

How you may meet Kin

As an instructor, she could be hired to teach basic vacc-suit safety or ships boat piloting. She can be used as a guide for mining or prospecting. She could also be a shuttle pilot, working odd jobs about the place. Her basic electronics skill could be useful for minor repair work or analysis. She could be sipping vilnaf in a local bar, getting talkative about a strike she may have found. Or hunting for someone to partner for her next big strike - a patron encounter for a share of the strike.
Wearing her vacc suit and carrying an ore analyzer

Deciding on another Traveller character (as that was the original genesis of this blog from a long time ago!), using my random tables I got major race, humaniti, Imperial, old Vilani stock. So will have to come up with a good Vilani name. And somewhere I read that they live longer, so perhaps we can avoid doing the age checks. Then I have to decide what I want to be, but usually I roll up the stats and that can help me figure out a few options.

  • Strength: 8
  • Dexterity: 6
  • Endurance: 5
  • Intelligence: 8
  • Education: 4
  • Social: 8
  • gender: 4 - female
Alright, average strength and dexterity, bit below average endurance, average intelligence, low education and middling social. And not having used Citizens a whole lot, and I don't think ever having rolled up a belter, I think I'll try that. Though that has a very high lethality rate. I do have a couple of other supplements that do the advanced character generation process (the Mongoose 1e Belter book and I am pretty certain I also have the Classic Belter module, or else I saw it in one of the journals [Journal 3 has a process for asteroid mining and I think what I was thinking of]). Also, Belters, like Barbarians, start at 14. Success on getting in with an 8! 

And I just noticed per a conversation over on COTI that she also has an automatic Vacc Suit-1 by virtue of being a Belter. Okay, "just noticed" does not make any sense as I prepared this one ahead of time, and you are not reading this in real time. I am going for the conversational approach :) 

Term 1 (14-18)

Survive (barely!) with an 8 but the +1 per term (which is a unique mechanic as it gets easier to survive per term). Seeing as we get 2 skills as there is no ranking, I'll just rotate through the available tables.
  • Personal Development: 2, +1 dexterity UPP: 875848
  • Service Skills: 1, Vacc-Suit-2
An 11 means I can continue to mine those asteroids!

Term 2 (18-22)

Survive again just barely with a 7...why do I always have these barely-surviving characters? But at least it actually gets easier each term. Again, 2 skills (and without an 8+ education, can't roll on the advanced education table):
  • Education Table: 5, Prospecting-1
  • Personal Development: 5, Brawling-1
Another 11 on re-enlistment. I do seem to get repetitive rolls.

Term 3 (22-26)

Another 7 to survive, which, thanks to being in the 3rd term, is +3 so all of a single point of survival. She has been living in the margins and in some rough conditions. 
  • Service Skills: 3, Prospecting-2. Getting good at finding those valuable deposits!
  • Education: 1, Ship's Boat-1
Now, in her mid-20s and younger than most of my characters, but she has just barely survived these 3 terms. We'll go for even to do another term, odd to leave: 4, so she will stay in another term. 

Term 4 (26-30)

Rolling an 8 +4, she has 6 whole points past the minimum survival! She is getting better!
  • Personal Development: 6, Vacc-Suit-3
  • Service Skills: 2, well, this would be another Vacc-Suit; instead I'll cheat & use the education table instead and let her have Electronics-1.
Same roll to continue or leave, and a 2 says yet another term. And let us hope she survives, though a +4 is all she needs to survive so the odds are in her favor.

Term 5 (30-34)

Okay, rolling a 4. She again barely survives. This will be the last term - she will start aging next term, so may as well get out before her body betrays her. We'll re-do the service skills then personal development tables this time.
  • Service Skills: 6, Ship's Boat-2
  • Personal Development: 2, +1 dexterity again; UPP 885848
And making sure she does not roll a 12 to be forced another term, I actually rolled a 12. These dice hate me.

Term 6 (34-38)

And rolling a 3, I again only survive as I get the +6 for the 6 terms I've been plying the belt. The dice - they hate me. 
  • Education: 6, Instruction-1 
  • Personal Development: 1, +1 strength; UPP 985848
A 4 and I do not have to do another term! But I have to roll against the aging:
  • Strength: 3, -1 strength UPP 885848
  • Dexterity: 11, no change
  • Endurance: 5, -1 endurance UPP 884848

Mustering out

With 6 rolls, we'll do 3 cash and 3 benefits.
  • Cash: 1, nothing!
  • Cash: 2, nothing!
  • Cash: 4, Cr10,000
  • Benefits: 4, High Passage
  • Benefits: 2, +1 intelligence UPP 884948
  • Benefits: 2, +1 intelligence UPP 884A48
Now interestingly the instruction skill allows her to teach others up to vacc-suit-0, prospecting-0 and ship's boat-0. She won't confer any real expertise, but hopefully enough to not get killed. And she sucked on the cash rolls, and I was hoping for a Seeker, but alas, it was not to be.

And the prospecting skill: The individual is experience in searching out mineral deposits on world surfaces and in deep space. Basically, it gives a greater possibility of discovering what is there. I would imagine it would be a combination of many things, between reading mineral maps and spectrographs, possibly other electronic or even old analog maps based on geological formations.

And in re-reading the rules after a conversation over on COTI, I missed that there were automatic skills for various careers. She gets Vacc-Suit-1, so we'll just bump her to Vacc-3 so she really knows how to handle herself in a vacc suit (and per the original rules, each level gives a +4 to avoid a problem when doing something risky; with a 10+ for success, then a +12 from her skill level, Kin can do anything in a vacc suit apparently. Additionally it confers battledress, and helping those in distress needs a 7+ to help with a +2 per level, so she can also where armored battledress and rescue idiots who get lost in space. Yeah, early Traveller had no consistent task system. Part of the joy and the pain.)

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Thursday, January 21, 2021

Character 21 of 31: Solomani Security Agent

Lt. Colonel Marlijn Bronsvoort

5ABE62 Solomani Security, 4 terms age 35

Electronics-1, Forgery-1, Vacc-Suit-1, Leader-1
Cr50,000, Voucher, Body Pistol

Marlijn grew up on Laputa, an important high-population garden world in the Kukulkan sector of the Solomani Rim. Her family was not a very important cog in the Solomani Party. She was no monitor, but sent to enforce the Party line via monitoring and active infiltration. Using her amazing intelligence and near eidetic memory, she could keep track of multiple identities and plots simultaneously. While she successfully managed electronic bugging, and using forged credentials to get her bugs in place. Many times she barely managed to escape, her life in the balance more than once. Taking charge of her group, she successfully dismantled a pro-Imperial fringe group on Ochre, at the edge of the Solomani Sphere. However, in her last term she was caught in the cross-fire in a firefight, getting wounded enough to leave the service just prior to her retirement. 

A stern woman who is ramrod straight even when resting, she moves with a poise that is distinctive and noticeable when she wants to be noticed. And when she does not want to be noticed, Malijn's posture, gate and mannerisms change enough to make it hard to see the soldier that she is. An excellent tactician and researcher, she takes pride in her genius level intellect. She loves puzzles and has done extensive research into the various creation myths, from the Solomani Hypothesis to the Church of the Chosen Ones. She is a firm believer in the superiority of Solomani to general humaniti from the Imperium.


Initial rolls:
  • Strength: 5
  • Dexterity: 8
  • Endurance: 11
  • Intelligence: 12
  • Education: 6
  • Party Standing: 2
  • gender: 4 - female! 
Rolling on my random tables, I get a major race, Humaniti, and Solomani. I have Alien Module 6: Solomani on the classic CD, so we'll see what we can do there. Now, I could roll on the draft, but looking over the careers, SolSec (Solomani Security) is distinctively Solomani, and I actually had some SolSec agents in my Big Wreck adventure. And intelligence is the bonus for survival, so we'll go with SolSec. I also used the basic character generation before reading more of the book on CD and finding the "advanced" rules further in. But that's okay - I'll try & remember that next time (and one of the reasons I really prefer real books over PDF/electronic: I can browse a lot easier!)

Term 1 (18-22)

Surviving with an 8, she also gets commissioned with a roll of 6 +1 for her intelligence. She also gets promoted, so goes from Lieutenant to Captain (02) in her first term of service. Along the way, she picks up 2 skills, one for the term & another for the promotion:
  • Service Skills: 4, Electronics-1
  • Education Skills: 2, Forgery-1
Somehow she rolls a 3 for re-enlistment, but that is actually the minimum she needs, so off to a 2nd term!

Term 2 (22-26)

Rolling a 5, +2 for her intelligence, there was apparently a close call this term! And she barely made promotion, rolling a 6 but +1 for her intelligence, for rank 03, Major. 2 skills:
  • Personal development: 2 = +1 dexterity (UPP 59BC62)
  • Service skills: 2: Vacc-Suit-1
With a 7, we can continue to another term.

Term 3 (26-32)

Rolling another 5, with our +2, we again barely survive. A 12 ensures we get promoted to 04, Lt. Colonel. There is a note that rank 4+ cannot be promoted until the 3rd term; however, you can only get the rank 04 by the 3rd term like Marlinj did by getting rank & a promotion in the 1st term. So I think I am missing something there. Regardless, I'll stick with her getting this high rank. Getting 2 skill rolls, we'll continue our rotation through the available tables:
  • Education: 6: Leader-1
  • Service Skills: 2 = +1 dexterity again. UPP 5ABC62
Rolling a 9, we can continue on.

Term 4 Injury forces exit of the service (32-35)

Survival roll with a 2! So I can either die, or optionally, exit this term, gaining no skills but able to get the benefit roll. I'll go with the injury forcing out Lt Colonel Bronsvoort. I'll also roll a 1d4 for how many years she was in for this term: 3 years. Which also means we don't have to roll for aging!

Mustering Out

I get 4 rolls for the service, and 2 for the ranking. So we'll do 3 of each.
  • Cash: 2 = Cr20,000
  • Cash: 1 = Cr10,000 (Cr30,000)
  • Cash: 2 = Cr20,000 (Cr50,000)
  • Material: 2 = +2 Intelligence; UPP 5ABE62. Okay, she is approaching genius level intelligence!
  • Material: 4 = Gun; choose body pistol (yes, I usually choose that)
  • Material: 6 = Voucher
A voucher is used as a middle passage from and to any point within the sector.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Character 20 of 31: The Fantasy Trip Dwarf Scholar

Kragmulik Cragcloak

Kragmulik was born in the foothills of the Terror Lands, the clan's mine holdings dug deep into the Wizard's Mount. While his extended family were either miners or fighters, Kragmulik choose a different path: learning to read at a young age, and upon finding a compendium of the world's races, he quickly grew enamored not of gold for riches, but of knowledge. Learning the scrying spell, he would spy into the mage libraries, and when he could, would sneak into them to learn more. His mother, not wanting him to be undefended, created his cloth armor and spiked shield, giving him the basic lessons he needed. Though with his fumbling, she also impressed upon him that perhaps fighting was not his strong suit. He quickly learned how to be stealthy when sneaking into the libraries  as wizards are prone to keeping a watchful eye or zombie over their books of lore and knowledge. When not in a library, he would loudly pronounce the value of knowledge over gold, and as a result, has left the warrens and mines and seeks adventure out in the world. A bit brash, and loudly declaring that knowledge is power even to an Orc, and willing to stand by his companions, Kragmulik wanders Cidri in search of knowledge and adventure. He would make an excellent companion for those delves where information may be the key to success.

Out of town this week, though I brought my work computer and am sort of checking in with work. Not exactly a vacation, but family stuff. Family is always important. But I also brought along TFT book and dice as we can't just sit around & stare at everyone all the time :) And my Traveller stuff (heck, most of my gaming stuff) is also available on-line. I just prefer to have the books with me. And TFT is a single book and easy to pack, so it came along. Who knows - perhaps I can get my siblings to play (and nope, just not happening as I am the only gamer in the family! Even my chosen family, my wife & man-child [hey, he is 20!] won't play).

Back to the quick-start generation, rolling a 4 I have a fighter. Rolling 3d6 for 13, I have a scholar. So he (yes, a 3 = yet another male! Maybe I need to switch to odd for female. Then I'll roll even. But I digress...) will be smart and probably not combat-worthy. But potentially a valuable NPC. And depending on how he comes out, I may be adding him to Windmere and further populate that trading post.

Rolling on unusual features, 3d6 he will know at least one non-combat spell. That does fit with the scholar image. For race, we get 9 for a Dwarf, whose main motivation is a desire for adventure with a 10 (I seem to get that a lot) and a secondary motivation of a desire for wealth with a roll of 14. This could be interpreted as a wealth of knowledge as well: wealth comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Going with the personality rolls of 2d6 where 12 is great and 2 is horrible:

  • Appearance: 6, your average looking scholarly Dwarf, though he will never win a beauty contest
  • Bravery: 10, a stalwart companion for facing the unknown!
  • Friendliness: 4, your typical taciturn Dwarf who takes a while to get to know you.
  • Honesty: 8, about average for his honesty, he may fib a bit to get that volume of arcane knowledge
  • Mood: 10, loud and a bit aggressive, he knows what he wants is and not shy about it
Dwarves start with ST 10, DX 6, IQ 8 with the 8 points to spread around. Seeing as he is going to be a scholarly Dwarf, we'll add most of the points to his IQ and a bit to DX so he has at least a chance of hitting something! And per p77, Dwarves can carry twice the load as a human of equal strength. And most Dwarves love their drink almost as much as they love their gold, and for our Dwarf, knowledge is the true wealth. And they hate Orcs, and are not too fond of Elves and Goblins.
  • ST 11
  • DX 8
  • IQ 13
He has to have at least 1 non-combat spell, I'll choose the Scrying spell: he may want to look into the library for guards before attempting to get to a book. That will cost 3 of the 13 points he has. Looking through the talents:
  • Scholar (3) to recognize any language on 3d vs IQ
  • Stealth (2) as I am really leaning on the more sneaky aspect of gaining knowledge
  • Writing (1) so he can have good notes
  • Literacy (1)
  • Ax/Mace (2)
  • Shield (1)
Gave his the standard Dwarven ax/mace so he can wield a hammer. With his low DX, we're going to want to minimize the armor but a shield will help him if he does get into combat. He'd prefer not to in general.


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