Back to some Traveller dice rolling! 88656B. Human, female. And a knight to start with. Not too bright. There are a number of "noble careers" available to Traveller, from the Classic Noble, Mongoose's careers, and Cepheus Elite. Having not gone through that particular path, let's see how we fair when "you were a member of the upper crust of society, a diplomat or a junior executive". Note that the careers are a LOT more player-driven than random, so we should be able to get someone without a tragic backstory.
And the tragic backstory: a trope in RPGs that persists. My Sunday group the players all had parents that were killed or lost. My Monday group is not as bad, though there is a player that always comes from a tragic and abused background it seems (though come to think of it, his Apex character did not. So perhaps not always!) Why I want to play characters that had a happy childhood and background. I'm just obstinate that way, going against the flow sometimes. When it really does not matter.
Back to our elite character. She comes from an inhospitable outpost, picking up Repair-1 (you get to pick one of the 3 home world skills). And with her 5 intelligence she has a -1 on all intelligence rolls. Which hopefully we may be able to boost that. And she has a max number of skill points of 11.
Term 1
Basic training, so to speak. We start at rank 0, Analyst. Get one of the skills at 1, the others at 0. Grav-1, Admin-0, Liason-0, Carousing-0, Computer-0, Decption-0. I also get to pick 2 skills. I can also boost 1 stat. Choosing to boost intelligence and pick up Melee Combat-1. My UWP is now 88666B.
Event: Conspiracy. I can go along with the conspiracy but if I get caught, a prison term. If I refuse, I gain an enemy. I'll let the dice decide: even I go along, odd I refuse. 4, even, so let's see if I can roll 8+ to join the conspiracy and not get caught! A 9, so I also gain Deception-1. Apparently, I am sneaky now.
I also can pick up a trait. At this point, going with the conspiracy event and her deception skill, our elite is also a thief: specialized in stealing goods & selling them on the black market, she throws with advantage.
Term 2
Automatically rank 1 now, a supervisor. This is more corporate elite than social elite. I can pick 2 skills. Think I'll boost Melee Combat-2 and Grav Vehicle-2. A fighter and driver.
Event: I receive an inheritance from a rich relative, so will gain an extra benefit roll. And note that I can also increase rank as part of the benefits, so that is something to remember.
Term 3
Still well under my skill limit, but I'm going to boost my endurance as that factors into hit points in the Cepheus engine. UWP 88766B. And we'll bump Computer-1. No rank increase this term.
Event: Cybered! Cr10,000 worth of implants. Some of the implants are rather curious. While the idea of a prehensile tail is cool, everything you wear would have to be customized. And good luck finding a vacc suit! Having grown up on an inhospitable world, she'll take the internal oxygen supply (3 hours of oxygen) for Cr4000. And in going with her melee skill, the internal blades (2 retractable blades, so now she is X-23) for Cr5000. With the remaining credits, we'll add the internal omnicomm and the internal omnicomp. Throw in some cyberpunk glow tattoos and she has turned out a lot different than the noble I started with.
Term 4
Going to go with term 4 and try the aging challenge. I do want to rank up a bit more. Fortunately, aging is not as harsh as Classic Traveller. Rolling 11 - 4 for the 4 terms, we will be aging gracefully (and yes, I should do this at the end of the term).
Getting to rank 2. she is now a manager. She can pick 1 single skill, and in going with the thief trait, will get Liaison-1. We can also pick up another trait, which is also why I chose liaison: Proper Etiquette She knows the intricacies and rules of formal settings. Gains advantage for these high-powered social meetings.
Event: She makes an alliance and can have a contact or leadership. The contact stuff makes sense in a game: it gives the referee a way to help the characters by knowing a powerful NPC. We'll stash this contact so she can be used to perhaps help out somehow. I am hoping that I can start a new Traveller game, and we could make this high port their home base. We'll see.
At age 34, the question is: do we risk aging? We'd get an additional benefits roll, and if we're lucky, a good event. Think we'll go once more
Term 5
She picks up another skill, and I'll take Leadership-1.
Event: Life event - she spent a lot of time travelling. Carousing-1 as she travels in a lot of social circles.
She also picks up blind fighting as a trait: she can fight in the dark. No negative DM for dim lighting and only -1 for totally in the dark. Yes, she has changed a great deal from my initial concept, but I really like this.
Aging: rolled a 5, so 5-5 = 0. But it was close - time to leave the service and start adventuring before he bones become too brittle!
Mustering Out
She gets 7 rolls - 6 for the terms served, plus the inheritance. We'll take 2 of those to bump up her rank to a managing director, which also gives her Admin-1.
- 2 cash rolls: Cr50K + Cr20K = Cr70,000. Enough to live on for a while
- benefits: Explorer's Society (aka TAS/Traveller's Aid Society) and 2x the yacht
Interestingly, rolling twice for the yacht there are a few things to think about. She obviously does not get 2 yachts. Traditionally, rolling a duplicate benefit is a lost benefit for some things, but if this were a gun, she'd pick up the weapon on the 1st roll, then she could choose a skill. As pilot is a skill on the advanced education table (which she could not roll on), I'll do the referee thing and allow her the Pilot-1 skill so she can at least pilot the type Y yacht.
Now to work through the various pieces and put together a character sheet for Managing Director Rowen Snow, retired. Also boosting her yacht to this
one from Yet Another Traveller Blog (an excellent resource, though he has not posted in a while). Her contact boosted her yacht up a bit, so the favor may be called in at some point.
With her cyber tattoos on, Rowen can be an imposing figure
And realized I forgot her yacht. Which is docked next to Lady Aidy's yacht.
After 20 years in the cut-throat world of corporate politics, Rowen figures she has enough to go her own way. Her years of high corporate offices and in the back streets gave her a more cutting edge than many of her co-workers realized. In fact, she carries two ceramic knives built into her forearms, and has picked up the unique fighting style of
Grit'ma. Having made some credits on the side via some conspiracies as well as her great-great Aunt Petunia Rose leaving her some credits, she is not too concerned with her lifestyle. She actually stays on her ship. the
Lady Rebellion, though she often has haute cuisine delivered. She is thinking about the things to do and spends a fair amount time at the Purple Fountain. She has inquired about the owner of the yacht next to hers, the
Lady Prosperity, but has yet to follow up with a visit to the Documat.
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