Dug into my pile and decided to see how the Paranoia Press Merchants and Merchandise Merchant character would get generated. Spoiler: he died during character generation!
Classic Traveller did not deal with background skills nor planet of origin except as chrome the players would come up with. So I've no idea where this poor unnamed character came from - as he died in character generation there is no real need.
Ruce Groberts
< 2 Terms, Able Bodied Spacehand Merchants, age at death 25
I used my official T5 dice for this character, though I should haver dug my old classic Traveller dice out. But they are buried a bit so hard to get to, whereas these dice were handy. And still Traveller.
Initial stats, other than a really crappy endurance, were great: UPP BB2A79, so that we have:
- Strength 11
- Dexterity 11
- Endurance 2
- Intelligence 10
- Education 7
- Social 9
So a bit of a brute yet intelligent, but no endurance. In a fight he would last t2o rounds before taking a negative DM on his punches. And as endurance is the 1st stat to get used in combat, he has a glass jaw as well as it would take almost nothing to knock the poor man out! I also rolled a 5 for gender, so male he is.
Year 1 - Training and History
Gaining entry into the Merchants requires a 7+, but he gets a +2 DM for his intelligence, and a +1 for his strength. Rolling on the division table, I rolled a 2 on a single die, but the DMs let me get into the engineering division. The first year is a training cruise, covering the traditions and history of the merchant service. He gains no skills, but does get bumped automatically to E2, an Ordinary Spacehand. Rolling on the Engineering Division skill table, I roll a 2, giving him Mechanical-1.
Year 2, 3 - Trade Expansion
Rolling on the assignment table, our doomed merchant has a two year stint in Trade Expansion. Perhaps aboard the Leviathan! Survival is a 4+, and rolling 11 I survived quite readily. Checking for a bonus, I manage Cr250 for each year, netting me Cr500. I barely make the promotion roll to an E3, Able-Bodied Spacehand. I missed the skill roll by rolling a 4, so no skills were gained these two years.
Year 4 - Shore Duty
The final year of my 1st term I survive with a roll of 9. Shore duty has no bonus nor promotion opportunities, so no rolls there. Needing an 8+ to gain any skills, I roll a 6, so somehow we are learning nothing other than the Mechanical skill in 4 years of being with the Merchants!
I roll to see if I get to stay in the Merchants (and in Classic Traveller you were allowed only 1 career path, though that may have just been the way we interpreted the rules). I roll a 12: there is no choice but to stay in!
Year 5, 6 - Trade Expansion
I must have been doing something right - got pulled back in for another 2 years of trade expansion. Rolling an 8, I survive. My decoration roll of 10 nets me Cr500 per year, or a total of Cr1000, giving my a purse of Cr1500 so far. While I may be lacking in skills, I do have some credits at least! My roll of 2 for a promotion means I really must have been goofing off, though I did succeed with a roll of 5 for skills. Rolling on the shipboard life table wit ha 2, I get a +1 DX. If I ever get gambling, I am pretty sure he could be a card shark!
Year 7 - Military Convoy
This is where I failed my survival roll: I rolled a 4. Had I rolled a 6, I would have been wounded, but a 4 is death. The joy of Classic Traveller character creation: you die before you even get to play!
Now if this were at the table, I do have stamps for this sort of thing!
2 comments:
That's nicely done. For my CT character, I used the optional rule from the Traveller Book on page 18, just because I'm not much in favor of going through paperwork to have a failure before play.
Traveller character generation is a game in of itself, a push your luck when using the original rules. I liked it then, and like it now. Though I've gaming friends who hate the whole random generation process. I have allowed them to roll then pick the table for skills so there is a bit more user agency. But I've always found it gets me out of my rut for characters as you have little control over what happens.
And apparently military convoys are a lot more dangerous!
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