Character 11 of 31: Fantasy Trip - Elf Thief

Taking a quick break back into The Fantasy Trip and its quick character process.

Airdan grew up in the Yuroka Wild, the jungles north of the Kalor Desert and far south of Edge City. Jungle Elves are constantly alert to the changes in the jungle, and often have jungle animal companions. Airdan early on showed a knack for throwing the traditional sha-kens very quickly and accurately. Just when he turned 20, a slaving party came through and managed to capture his sister. Tracking the slavers, he finally caught up with them in Windmere, and managed her escape while also taking from Burgher Thyme Hunt, a slaver. Airdan took a dagger strike across the face, but also managed to abscond with a sack of gold. Sending his sister home, he decided then and there that people should not take advantage of others. He has made friends with Rennor and hangs out with her on occasion as no one saw his face under the scarf he wore that night. 

Hero or wizard? 1d6: 3 = hero. 

General hero type? 3d6: 8 = Thief

Unusual fighter feature? 3d6: 14 = has at least 2 levels of unarmed combat

Race? 3d6: 4 = Elf (and rolling a 5, a male Elf)

Main motivation? 3d6: 8: Desire to right wrongs (so an honorable thief)

Minor motivation? 3d6: Desire for adventure!

Personality on a 2-12 scale, 2 = low, 12 = high

• Appearance: 4. Ugly which is a bad thing for the traditional elf! Going with scarred. 
• Bravery: 8. Middling brave.
• Honesty: 9. More honest than most people.
• Mood: 4. A quiet lad who keeps to himself.

Elves start with ST 6, DX 10, IQ 8 with 8 points. To pick up the unarmed combat 2 means I need an IQ minimum of 11. And going with some of the suggestions, he'll pick up the Lock/knock spell for 3 IQ, and the 2 for the unarmed leaves us with a few points for the sneaky stuff. having 5 more points to spread, we'll bump up the ST to 7 and the DX to 14. He'll usually get to attack first and hit a lot more often. Having 6 more points to spend on skills, I'll go with thrown weapons  for 2 and sha-kens for 1, alertness (2), and climbing. He is a cat burglar thief!

The thrown weapons gives him a +2 to hit things when throwing, so taking into account his cloth armor, he still only needs a 15 or less to hit anything. While not doing a lot of damage (1d-2) he will consistently hit. Additionally he can throw several at the same time with a DM to hit for each. So there is potential for some serious damage. That thrown skill is a bit expensive, as is the lock/knock for him. But he is much more a sneak thief than any sort of physical assault thief. Plus, he only robs from the rich who have gotten their gains by hurting others. And unarmed combat II means he is very effective in hand to hand combat: punches do +2 damage, kicks when hit do a +3 damage, and it is +1 to hit him from the front as he can evade hand weapon attacks. And he can only be wearing cloth armor...so readjusting that as well.

And I do need to spend a LOT of time with Campaign Cartographer tutorials!

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces

Day 8 - Cepheus Monk

Day 9 - Mercenary Commando

Day 10 - Cepheus Scout / Drifter

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Character 10 of 31: Cepheus SRD Scout and Drifter

Kara Sonez     983967  Age 40

Scout (2 1/2 terms)  Drifter (3 terms)    Cr45,000

Bribery-2, Gambling-1, Pilot-1, Comms-1, Streetwise-1, Gunnery-0, Electronics-0, Recon-0

Pistol, Low Passage

Born on Aberlocht as a station baby, Kara grew up on station, learning the basic safety protocols and how to access the system for her education. At 18, not knowing what to do, she entered into the Imperial Scout Service, wanting to see more than just the station walls for the rest of her life. Travelling via a tramp freighter to Kaurga, she was accepted into the Scouts. Her first term she plied the nearby by stars in the ISS Close Encounter  in training and courier duty, picking up a variety of basic Scouting skills along the way. She reads a great deal in her down time, honing her intelligence on those long jumps. Her next term, planetside she picks up some basic fighting skills - bar fights and Scouts go hand in hand. She starts to specialize in communications. Her third term, while she was honorably discharged, she had to fight for that with a lengthy legal process. The next several years she drifted about, learning to grease palms and getting stronger living out on the edges of civilization. The first few years were a fight for survival at times, but eventually she learned the ins and outs. She drifted to the Spinward Marches, looking for a more open place. Now, left with Cr45K, a low passage to nowhere and her trusty body pistol, she is ready to start looking to settle down perhaps.

Decided to try the "raw" Cepheus SRD rules for character generation. And I finally rolled an even number, so we have a woman this time around. I also think I may generate a species chart so it is not always human as well. Though it will tilt heavily to human, no reason not to have an Aslan, Bwap or Vargr for a Traveller character. May even allow for minor races: I think I once rolled up an Ael Yael character.

1. Characteristics
1. Stats:
1. Strength: 7 (0)
2. Dexterity: 8 (0)
3. Endurance: 3 (-1)
4. Intelligence: 7 (0)
5. Education: 6 (0)
6. Social: 7 (0)
2. Homeworld
1. Determine home world. With a near infinite number, I did an entirely random thing: hit up the Traveller Wiki & hit random page until a world came up: Aberlocht. A TL-C world in the Ushra subsector in the Domain of Vland. From the heart of the Imperium.
2. Background skills. Having no EDU modifier, she can have 3. Aberlocht is a low pop world with a medium law level and a decent TL, so I chose Gun Combat (Slug), Computer-0 and throw in Vacc-0 since according to the Wiki, people are not generally allowed on the planet and all is handled via the orbital starport.
2. Choose a career. I let fate decide and roll on the draft table. A 5 gives me a Scout. I've always been partial to playing Scout characters.
1. Scouts career
1. Term 1 (18-22)
1. Basic Training: the first term I pick up all the service skills at 0, giving me Comms, Electronics, Gun Combat, Gunnery, Recon and Pilot. I'm going to interpret my Rank 0 as giving me Pilot-1.
2. Survival. This is where my -1 DM for endurance will suck: I need to roll 8+ to not suffer an injury! And I manage exactly an 8, so survive unscathed from basic training! There are no ranks in the Scouts (harking back to Classic before Book 6 came out), so no rolls for advancements. However, because of that I get a 2nd skill roll, and choosing personal in the hope I can get my endurance up, I roll a 4, boosting my INT. UPP: 783867.
2. Term 2 (22-26)
1. Survival: 9, so I did not go down with the Scout ship!
2. Skills. Roll again on the personal and I roll a 6, Melee Combat. Roll on the service skills for a, Comms-1.
3. Term 3 (26-3028)
1. Survival: 4! I can choose to die, or roll on the mishap table. I'm getting soft in my old age, so we'll check the mishap table. Fortunately a 3 says I am honorably discharged after a lengthy legal battle, and I now have a Cr10,000 legal debt. I age 2 years and receive no benefit roll for this term.
4. Benefits. Having two rolls I'll roll once on each:
1. cash: 6 - Cr50,000! Paying off my debt leaves me Cr40,000. A lucky roll!
2. benefits: 2 - +1 Int. My final UPP 783967. That gives my Int rolls a +1 DM.
3. Another career? Choosing to go ahead, I see that the Agent career relies on Int for survival, and as per a conversation over on COTI on ex-Scouts being excellent intelligent agents, this scratches that itch for me. Even with my social, I do not make the roll as there is a -2 DM as this is my second career. Rolling a 5 +1 -2 says a 4, and I am not accepted into spy school. I can either go the draft or drifter, and think I'll choose drifter. Sadly my low endurance will affect my chance of survival!
1. Drifter career
1. Term 1 (28-32)
1. Survive: needing a 5+, I roll a 6, -1 for the DM for a 5. It was an exciting 1st four years apparently.
2. Skills: having no ranks as per Scouts, I have two rolls. Rolling on the personal, I get a 5, Bribery-1. Seeing as that was a skill, I'll roll again on the personal: 1, +1 Strength. UPP: 883967. 
3. re-enlist with a 8. Exactly how does one re-enlist in the drifter career?
2. Term 2 (32-36)
1. Survive: 11! It was a lot easier this term apparently. Must have been an easier world to get around on.
2. Skills. Going with personal, a 1 again for +1 Strength: UPP 983967. She is getting buffed up! Rolling on the service skills, 1 gives me Streetwise-1.
3. re-enlist. A roll of 8 says I can re-enlist, but next term I'll have to make an aging roll. Think I'll risk a 3rd term.
3. Term 3 (36-40)
1. Survival roll: 7, so I live to see another term.
2. Skills: a 5 on the personal gives me Bribery-2. I know how to grease palms apparently. A second roll on the personal gives me Gambling-1. This character ended up being a lot sneakier than I started out with.
3. Aging. With a roll of 12, then subtract the 6 terms for a 6, I am aging gracefully and there are no effects. However, I feel I am ready to get this character on the road.
4. Benefits. Three rolls, and a +1 on the cash table.
1. Cash: 4 + 1 = 5, Cr5,000 (total: Cr45,000)
2. Benefit: weapon. I choose a hand gun as she has that skill. The body pistol is always good as you can sometimes manage to sneak this plastic and resin based weapon past security.
3. Benefit: low passage. Maybe she can gamble on the Low Berth Lottery. 
4. Final character
1. 2 1/2 terms Scout, 3 terms a drifter, UPP 983967

1. 

   
   
   
   

   Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

   Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

   Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

   Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard
   Day 5 - FATE Vigilante
   Day 6 - Mongoose Noble
   Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces
   Day 8 - Cepheus Monk
   Day 9 - Mercenary Commando

   Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

   (let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

   TravellerSandbox

   Alesmiter

   TardisCaptain

   GreenSage

   The Other Side
   Barking Alien

Character Challenge 9 of 31:Mercenary Commando

Gunnery Sergeant Groldy "Aches" Akez

849987 Marine Commando, 3 terms, 30 years old

Enlisted in the marines, transferred to Commandos in 2nd term.  Final rank, Gunnery Sergeant. 

Special Assignments: Commando School, Protected Forces School, Admin School

Equipment Qualified On: Vacc Suit, Demolitions, TL 12 Type A Gun, Zero-G Weapons

Skills Combat Rifleman-2, Demolitions-2, Brawling-2, Survival-2, Cutlass-1, Admin-1, TL 12 Type A High Energy Plasm Guns-1

Growing up on Jewel, young Groldy played army with his friends. Being on the clumsy side, he was always complaining about his falls and the nickname of Aches stuck with him for the rest of his life.While he really wanted to join the Navy, having seen the men and women in their smart uniforms, he know with hi background that was not likely to happen. So he turned to the Marines on his 18th birthday: the Imperial Marines keeps a large base on Jewel, ready for assaults from their near Zhodani neighbors. Unfortunately he did muster out before the 5th Frontier War so managed to miss out on any action. His first term was a lot of training and circling the base on security patrols. His year spent in commando school lead him to think he would be going on exciting adventures, sneaking into military bases and the like. Nope: a different set of fences for the first year, then he learns to be an administrative assistant. Getting called on to attend protected forces school, he spends a year in the Navy yards, learning to fight in a vacc suit and in zero-g conditions. Then back to even more training! Deciding the next term will be his last unless something exciting happens, he takes a refresher course in Commando school, learning to brawl even better. Finally - action: Police Action! Traveling to Esalin he gets to play guard at an outpost. Little action and the fence looks the same, and he returns home to Jewel and does more training in his last year, and decides he has been trained enough, so musters out as a Gunnery Sergeant.

When Book 4 Mercenary came out, we suddenly had uber-characters and a much more detailed character generation. While the simplicity of the basic character generation was a lot of the joy of creating characters, this much-more in-depth approach had its own appeal as well. Plus - you got a character with a lot more skills! Of course, most of those were very specific and may not have a lot of role play value per se. Unless you kept rolling gun combat skill to the point you would never miss. 

Anyway, it has been years since I generated a character with High Guard, Mercenary, Scouts or Merchants so I thought I'd try that. BTW, Merchants and Merchandise I think came out after book 4 or 5 but before Merchants, and was the "advanced" character generation I used for merchants or a long while (and let me develop my Antares Shipbuilders merchant group!)

Initial rolls were:

• Strength 8
• Dexterity 4
• Endurance 9
• Intelligence 9
• Education 7
• Social 7

With that education and social, Navy did not look too hopeful. So looking at the Marines and them wanting a few good men, I chose that. I got in with a roll of 8 to join the military. And yes, another 5 for gender so male he is!

Term 1 (18-22) Marines

Year 1: Basic and Advanced Training no survival rolls. I get Gun Combat - Combat Rifleman as a skill. Rolling on the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) able for advanced training I roll a 3, heavy weapons. Looking at the heavy weapons, I decide for the A Gun, a high Energy Plasma gun as it fits within the tech level I am in the Marines for.

Year 2: Staff position, internal security I rolled a 4 for staff, then a 5 for internal security. A 5 means I barely survived, rolling a 7 I did not get decorated, and with a roll of 2 definitely no promotion! There are no skills available for internal security, so no skill roll.

Year 3: Commando School I rolled a 6, giving me a special roll. A 3 lands me in commando school where I could learn up to 8 (!) skills. I only picked up Brawling-1, Demolitions-1 and Cutlass-1 (cutlasses are the default blade for historical reasons). But this means that next term I can go in as a Commando!

Year 4: Staff, internal security Somehow I get the identical rolls for the general and unit assignments. Ie easily survive with a roll of 10 for survival, no decoration with a roll of 5, but a roll of 10 promotes me to a Lance Corporal. I did not gain any skills in this assignment.

Rolling a 7, I can re-enlist but this time, thanks to Commando School, as a Commando! Perhaps life will be more exciting!

Term 2 (23-26) Commandos

Year 1: Command Position, Internal Security Somehow I must be really good at internal security! Rolling a 5 I survive, there is no chance of a decoration, a 6 barely gets me a promotion to E-3 as a Corporal, and a 6 means I can gain a skill. I choose the MOS table, and the world is TL13, so I can add one to my roll of 5, giving me Survival-1.

Year 2: Specialist School Rolling a 6 for my general assignment, I roll a 6 for specialist school. A one gives me Admin-1. Guess I went to secretary school!

Year 3: Protected Forces Trained in the use of Vacc suites and zero G I pick up Vacc-1 and Zero G Combat-1 with a roll of 3 and 4.

Year 4: Command position, training I survive with a roll of 9, no chance of decoration, barely get a promotion to E4 - Lance Sergeant. A roll of 3 means no skills gained this last year. 

Failed the reenlistment roll with a 4, but NCOs get a +2, meaning I just make the minimum of 6+ to go another term! So far this has not been an exciting career as I've seen no combat in 8 years and went to secretary school and played guard at various installations. 

Year 3 (27-30) Commandos

Year 1: Commando School apparently they thought my training was getting rusty so I returned to Commando school with a roll of 6 on the general assignment and a 2 (+1 for my education bonus) to get back into commando school. Rolling a 6, 5, 4, 5, 3, 1, 1, 4  gives me Brawling-2, Gun Combat (Zero-G Weapons), Survival-2 (you need a 5+ on 1d6 to gain up to 8 skills). So no survival, decoration or promotion. 

Year 2: Police Action A 7 means I survive, a 6 yields no decorations, a 9 promotes me to E-5 Sergeant and a 9 means I can get a skill. As survival is a +1 for any MOS skill 2+, I'd like to make it more likely I won't die in my so far milquetoast career. 1 gives me gun combat so I'll pick combat rifleman giving me combat rifleman-2. 

Year 3: Command, Internal Security Okay, this is really getting tiresome. I think we'll leave unless year 4 gives us some real action! Survive quire readily with a 11, no decoration possible, a roll of 4 is no promotion either, and no chance of skills as I walk the perimeter. Again.

Year 4:Command, Training Okay, so in 12 years only once in actual combat! Survival with my +1 is automatic, no decoration, I do get promoted to E-6 Gunnery Sergeant, and a 7 allows me to roll on a table. Choosing Commando MOS I pick up Demolitions-2. 

Mustering out

Not rolling a 12 for re-enlistment, I leave the not exciting military career I had, where I spent a lot of time in training and walking perimeter fences. Using Book 1 Marines:

• cash 3: Cr5000
• benefit 4: blade. I get the "official Imperial Marine Cutlass"
• cash: 4: Cr10,000
• benefit 3: +1 EDU well, he did go through a lot of schooling!

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces

Day 8 - Cepheus Monk

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Character Challenge 8 of 31: Cepheus Clergy: Monk

Mase Cooking

339981 Cleric 1 term, age 22 

Cr10,000

Language-1 (Sagamaal), Admin-0, Persuade-0, Advocate (Oratory-0), Streetwise-0, Diplomate-0

How you may meet Brother Mase

Now an itinerant street preacher, Brother Mase is often at street corners, an alms bucket at his feet, calling out verses in Old Sagaamal. Wearing the robes for Asatrul, he can cite, verse for verse, the two Eddas. While a weak looking man hunched over, his sonorous voice can fill the street for hours. He speaks Galanglic as well. He is a monk of the Forn Sidr, or the Old Way, a splinter group of the original Sword Worlders. 

Initial rolls:

• Strength = 3
• Dexterity = 5
• Endurance = 10
• Intelligence =  9
• Education = 9
• Social = 6

My odd/even rolled a 1 for yet another male. One would think that 8 odd rolls in a row is not too likely, but as each roll is independent of previous rolls, it is just as likely (and my stats class was 35+ years ago so we'll just leave that roll alone).

Traveller does not have any real defined religions. While the Vargr have a few pseudo-religions I think, it is mostly just left to the group. Which I think is a good choice as the subject could get confrontational even though we're playing a game. Why, I remember in my Philosophy of Religions class people thought it was a religious class and had a hard time abstracting out personal beliefs. But I digress...Back to Traveller. The Diverse Roles from Gypsy Knights Games (which is now Independence Games) has several unique career paths. Playing a paladin in my current game I thought we'd try a clergy member in the far future! And seeing how close Joketre is to the Sworld Worlds, I decided to go with a Norse religion, so a little bit of research (very little!) got me the link above. I may try & expand it out as it applies to the far future in a future post if anyone would be interested.  

Minor note: for a lot of my characters when I play them, I try to get a bit of information for the era it takes place in, if this is historical. I like having some background that exists in the assumed setting fit in. This is why Sir Zay has a family history from a few parts of the World of Greyhawk: I needed some nobility and found a map and picked a few domains. My Cthulu character was a suffragist, and I did a bit of reading into that; Anna the Gray Cat let me do a bit of history spelunking for the 1932 Olympics and 1930's slang. However, I've not read any of the Sword Worlder stuff - need to one of these days! So RPGs can be good learning tools as well.

I need an 8+ to get in, and with an INT of 9 I do not get a bonus. Going to fudge the roll as the 1st one I rolled a 4, and for some reason I have my heart set on a cleric of some sort. So giving me one more time, I roll exactly an 8. Would I allow this for a player when starting a game? Maybe - or perhaps let the player roll a new set of stats and try again with a new character. It would depend on how we both wanted to game. 

Using these rules, I can again go through my childhood. I'll actually pick a planet from the Spinward Marches, one with a religious dictatorship. The TravellerMap has a search API and I found the ONLY religious dictatorship in the Spinward Marches: Joketre. I really like the TravellerMap! For background skills on a TL-7 planet with a thin atmosphere and 40% water covering, going to go with Drive-0 for those gas-guzzling cars and Admin-0, having to read real books.

Next I need to choose which sort of clergy I want to be: an evangelist, a minister or a monk. A monk of some interesting order would be fun! Plus I could use one of the other Kickstarter supplements to devise some sort of a religion perhaps.

For the ages of 4-8, I again seem to have a crappy childhood, rolling a 1,2 gives me a childhood disease robs me of 1d3 from one of my stats, and they are not great to begin with. Explains why I may look to a higher power for answers. Rolling a 1 means it is only 1 point, so as I have plenty of endurance, it gets moved to 9 (UPP: 359996). For the 2nd youth roll for 18-12 I get 5,5, getting into youth sports, I gain Athletic-0. 

Hitting my teen years, 12-14 I roll 5,6 and I take up a part time job. I can gain another skill and choose Electronics-0. For 14-16, I roll crappy: 1,1. My parents are killed in an accident, and I lose 1d6 from social and 1d3 from education! Social hit: 5, Education hit: 4 or 2. UPP: 359971. A social pariah now. The monastery could well be the only place that takes me in!

Going back to my original idea, we now have multiple reasons for Mase Cooking to join a religious order as he really has no place to go, became a ward of the religious state. 

Term 1 - Basic Monk Training

Survives on a roll of 9 (apparently monks can lead a dangerous life: there is a good chance of injury, needing an 8+ to survive unscathed!). First term he picks up the service skills so: 

Admin-0, Language (Sagamaal-0), Persuade-0, Advocate (Oratory-0), Streetwise-0, Diplomat-0

Rolling a 10, Brother Mase moves to rank 2, picking up a language 1, giving him Sagamaal-1. I chose a Sword World language as they are the nearest non-Imperial political group. Their religion may well be a Norse-driven type of religion, a splinter group of the Sword Worlds perhaps. And it looks like beyond basic training, I still get to roll on a skills table. Sticking w/service skills to see if I can bump up any of my sad stats. Rolling a 5 gives me a +1 Education, so gaining back a bit of the lost. UPP: 359981. Looks like there is no re-enlistment roll, but rolling an 8 should allow me to stay regardless. Mase is now 22, and will take another term in the church.

Term 2 - Injury and leaving the monestary

Rolling a 5 for survival, a mishap occurs! Rolling a 9, the ship I am in crashes, and I have to roll twice on the injury table as well as being ousted from the clergy. Unless stated this does not add to his age. Rolling a 3 I lose 2 from either strength or dexterity. I choose dexterity which gives me a 3 dexterity. The 6 is a light injury, so no permanent damage. 

Mustering out

Getting all of 1 roll on the mustering out table, the benefits do not offer any physical stat updates, so we'll leave him with a bit of credit: 6 gives him Cr10,000. Enough for a while, or if he is off-world, a ticket home.

My characters so far

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Chimerical Realm

Character Challenge 7 of 31: Cepheus Ground Forces

Captain Stine Gyrante

C9CBB9 age 32, 2 years of college, Ground Forces 3 terms

Cr13,000

Leadership-1, Gun Combat (Slug Rifle 1, Slug Pistol-0), Military Tactics-1, Electronics (Computer 1), Language (English 1, Hindi 1), Streetwise-0

The Clement Sector books are based on the Cepheus system, which is based on the Mongoose Open Game License (I think, the open source version of Mongoose 1st edition). The rules are similar to Mongoose, but more specific to their universe. It also includes uplifted animals (as did T20, the d20 version of Traveller, and I think GURPS may have had uplifts). They also adjust the aging a great deal and a few other tweaks. One of the major tweaks is in rolling the stats, you roll 3d6 and take the 2 highest. It leads to some high stats, and I may forgo that in future Cephius / Independence character generation:

• Strength [6,6,1] = 12
• Dexterity [5,4,1] = 9
• Endurance [6,5,4] = 11
• Intelligence [6,5,4] = 11
• Education [6,5,3] = 11
• Social [5,4,1] = 9

I rolled on the sector table for which sector our Stine hails from, and with a 1 it was Earth Sector, and then a d100 roll of 19, Stine is from Earth itself. Never played in Sol Sector :)  Background skills for Earth are Language-0 and Computers-0.

They also have some optional sections if you want to roll up their childhood. There are two rolls on a d66 table for childhood events: somewhere between 4-8 Stine was abused and beaten by someone in his extended family. That took a dark turn...I play games to get away from ugly things. However, it could be a pivotal characteristic later: either he is really cowardly around some people, he stands up for the little guy more, or adopts a lot of kids. Could be a number of reactions to that. Between 9 and 12 he got lost on a trip. There were 3 options, and rolling a d3 for 4 (aka 3) I picked up Streetwise-0, finding my way home in the mean streets. For a life event, I was injured. Linking this back to the beating I took earlier, I also lost 2 to my strength (12 -> 10). I do hope there was justice in the end.

Moving on to the teen years, rolling a 2,2 my family really wants strong young people. I can choose Athletics-0 or pick up a stat. I chose to +1 in strength, getting me almost back where I was (10 -> 11). And apparently my parents, finding out about the earlier beating, thought I should learn to defend myself, so pick up Gun (slug) as a 0 level skill: I know which way to point the thing. And as with most teenagers, a relationship ended badly on that roll, losing a contact or ally. 

Deciding college is the thing for me (though he already has a high education, college, if you succeed, gives you a level 2 skill for your major and a level 1 for your minor, so is a pretty good deal for skills). I also gave it a 50/50 chance, even odd, and rolling a 2 off to college goes our Mr. Stine. His entry roll of 6 did not meet the requirements but he got a DM based on his EDU modifier and squeaked in. Rolling an 8 for success, he would pass all 4 year. With a 6 for honors, though, he did not earn honors. While normally he would get a bump in his education and the 2 aforementioned skills, rolling a 1,4 on the events table and a war has broken out. Stine gets drafted, to hopefully finish his college career later. He is forced to enter the Ground Forces for d3 terms, (rolling a 4, so 2 terms. Apparently a long war). 

Term 1

In term 1, being a recruit, he automatically picks up Gun Combat 1. Of the 3 careers in Ground Forces, I rolled a 5 so off to Heavy Weapons to learn how to fire the big guns. I barely survive the survival roll with a 6. I fail my commission roll with a 4, but do succeed on the advancement roll with a 10, making me Corporal Gyrante. Choosing the Heavy Weapons specialist table, I roll a 1 for Military Tactics. Rolling a 6,6 on the events table, Stile was very heroic and gains his commission. Lieutenant Gyrante at your service now! He also picks up Leadership-1 from his promotion. He lead the troops to a victorious defeat of the enemy in the Battle of Harcheese.

Term 2

Term 2 I rolled a 6, so there are no injuries this term. Rolling a 9, he is promoted to Captain. Choosing the service skills table, a 3 gives him Electronics, and I choose to set his computer skill up a bit. Finally, the event roll of 3,2 gets me to roll on the Life Events table, and a roll of 12 there lets me know that something wonderful has happened, giving me a +2 on a single benefit roll when mustering out. Now to decide to continue on or not as he has served his draft terms. Seeing as he is an officer, and rewarded for being brave, we'll go at least one more term

Term 3

Rolling a 9, he easily survives. A roll of 6 means he missed his promotion, even with the intelligence DM. Choosing service skills and rolling a 2, Stine picks up Melee combat. Rolling a 5,2 on the d66 table Stine took the time to learn a 2nd language. Since I never picked out the 1st language, I'll roll twice to get my primary language and 2ary language. And...it is not really a table that rolls easily. So I'll just pick English and Hindi. And not getting a promotion bummed out the captain, so he is mustering out to see the rest of the galaxy.

Mustering Out

Having served 3 terms we get 3 rolls on the mustering out table. 

Cash roll 1: 3 for Cr 8,000

Benefits roll 1: 2 (but adding 1) gives me a 4 for +1 endurance (11 -> 12). Sometimes you have to push those heavy weapons around!

Cash roll 2: : 2 for Cr5,000

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Character Challege 6 of 31: Mongoose Traveller Noble

Baron Euglan Barner

85367C Noble 4 terms, age 34    

Cr299,250, Handcomp

Gambler-1, Streetwise-1, Carousing-1, Gun Combat (Slug 1), Language (Vilani 0), Art (Performer 0), Mechanic-0, Admin-0, Advocate-0, Electronics (Computer 0), Diplomat-0, Investigate-0, Persuade-0

2 allies 

actually a cover for Well Worlds so probably Nathan Brazil, but hey, close to what I had in mind!

The 3rd son of the Imperial Knight on a backwater world, Euglan grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and a bad attitude. His father considers him a wastrel son and of no account, and Euglan has been tossed out of the family estate and the party circuit. He dresses quite extravagantly (some would say foppish, but they are mere peasants and do not understand the exactitudes of proper attire). Despite this exterior, is is basically a competent human being who knows how to get about in the mean streets as well as the upper levels of society. A close look may reveal that his left eye is artificial, and is in fact not only a replacement for an eye lost in a brawl when he was 28 but a camera as well. Fortunately he was on a high-tech world at that time, and managed to get it replaced. The camera functions can be accessed by his iHandcomp.

How you may meet Baron Barner

A frequent visitor to gambling dens both legal and not so legal, the Baron in all his foppish glory may be in the process of getting tossed out, or surrounded by sycophants hoping to get in on a little of his luck and winnings. He also leaves behind a trail of jilted lovers and some may want some sort of petty revenge against "his Lordship". He could also serve as the "face" for an interesting quest. And often the losers against him want to get their credit back, so there could be cries from an alley in passing. And as I've not assigned allies, a PC could be an ally and pulled into some scheme.

Sometimes you just roll the dice and see what happens. My initial rolls for this character were:

• Strength 8
• Dexterity 5
• Endurance 3
• Intelligence 6
• Education 7
• Social 10

So while I was going to see about a spy (and that will come along I am sure), thought I'd try the Mongoose 2e Noble career. Mongoose is similar in feel to Classic, though more with the 1st edition than the 2nd. The skill levels are comparable and there is a single set of rolls per term. You have 3 choices of a specialization within those careers; for Noble you may pick Diplomat, Administrative or Dilettante. With is Intelligence and Education, I went for Dilettante.

I also rolled a 5 for gender, male.

Mongoose also gives you background skills based on your education. Having an average education of 7 means he gets three, and I chose Language, Art and Mechanic, all at level 0. 

Term 1, Wastral

1st term you get all the service skills at level 0, giving our dilettante Admin, Advocate, Electronics, Diplomat, Investigate and Persuade. Survival only needs a 3 or higher, and 7 is well clear of that. Promotions (apparently even dilettantes have ranks! I rolled a 6, leaving me a wastrel for my first 4 years. For the event, I rolled a 7, which says to roll on the life events table. Rolling a 5, I get an improved relationship, gaining an ally. 

Term 2

Choosing to roll on the Personal Development table, I roll a 4, giving me Gambler-1. Now this will be very handy when mustering out - that gives me a +1 on the cash table! I make the survival roll with a 6, and rolling an 11 for the promotion roll means I am no longer a wastrel! There is no definition for rank 2 in this field. Rolling on the events table, I get a 9, saying that my reign was good, or, in the case of the dilettantes, I am still sponging off the family wealth and name. It does give me a +2 on my next promotion roll though.

Term 3, Ingrate

Deciding to try the Dilettante skills table, I roll a 4, giving me Streetwise-1. This kid hangs out in the bad parts of town apparently. Probably honing his gambling skills in some back alley. Rolling a 7 for survival, we apparently do not get killed. An 8, +2 from our last event, means we get promoted to ingrate! Father would be proud. This also gives me Carouse-1 as a skill. However, I roll snake eyes on the event table, indicating I need to roll on the mishap table. Rolling yet another 1, I am severely injured: apparently things are not so safe in those alleys! Rolling a 3, I lose an eye and my strength goes down by 2, to 6. I have to roll twice, and the 2nd roll is a 5, reducing strength once more to 5. Never fear, though: there are medical costs to cure us later. 

Term 4

Deciding to roll on the service skills table in the hope of restoring some of my lost strength, I roll a 5 and pick up gun combat. Choosing slug weapons (they are easier to maintain), I must have started packing heat to protect myself. Rolling a 5 for survival, I survive this term without a scratch. I succeed the advancement roll with a 12, but this rank has no description either. The events roll is a 7, for life events, and somehow I roll another 5 so gain another ally. Here's hoping it is a doctor!

Mustering out

As I do with these characters, I alternate cash and benefits. One thing for Euglan - that gambling skill adds one to the cash rolls. Rolling I get a 6 which bumps to 7 for Cr200,000. A rich man! The benefits roll I roll a 4 for SOC +1, giving me a knighthood. The next cash roll was 5, bumped to 6, for Cr100,000. And I duplicated the 4 for another bump in social, making me a Baron. Euglan made friends in high places during his 20 years of playing the field, and has moved up accordingly.

Medical costs are Cr5000 per point, so I can afford to get all those damages repaired. There is a table that indicates how much the service you are in will pay. I roll an 8, and adding in my rank 3 is 11, or 75%. So I am out all of Cr750 but have all my strength back. 

My characters so far

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE: Anna Lincoln, ak the Gray Cat

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Character Challenge 5 of 31: FATE - Anna Lincoln, the Grey Cat

 I'll be playing in a Fate Vigilante game that takes place in 1935 New York City. Never played Fate so this will be a bit of a challenge as the rules and game play is a bit different than what I am used to.  In keeping with the pulp vigilante theme, I poked around my Lego characters and this one seemed to work for me:

This is actually Huntress (with Space Cat back there in the background) but, as I don't have any pulp era type of regular minis, and have an excessive number of Lego Minis, this is what I have. Of course, we're not at a table so I don't need a mini. I just like having one to help me focus when playing. And I like Lego :)

Note: I've made some updates to yesterday's character: I made a mistake in how many spells Groink could have! Links at the bottom of this post, or just scroll back in time.

So I needed a background, and this is what I've come up with:

Full name: Anna Lincoln
Age: 21
Strengths: amazing dexterity, money for the gadgets, socialite
Weaknesses: dubious sense of morality,
Story of your adolescence: grew up in a pampered home and was training to the 1932 Olympics in Berlin when her parents were taken hostage in a reverse kidnapping. She was forced out of the Olympics to save their lives but they were killed anyway. She took vengeance into her own hands with her custom cross bow and has not looked back since.
Where from? Upstate New York
From when? Born 1914 in New York
What was your start? After killing those who killed her parents and almost getting killed in the process she started fighting other criminals, gymnastic, martial arts and other training at her mansion via a variety of instructors.
Story of your adulthood: few have seen the extensive gymnasium added to the rear of the mansion she lives in, but Anna hosts lavish parties, living off her extensive inheritance. She also has a keen business sense and invests in a variety of companies. There is a pattern to her investments as she has ties to several dubious companies now.
Knowledge that was picked up? She has background information on several crime families as they pertain to some of her business holdings.
Skills learned? Skilled with the crossbow, she has also honed her fighting and gymnastics enough to take on someone twice her size.
Abilities acquired? Expert with the bow, amazingly dexterous and fights like a banshee out of hell.
Story of one of your first heroic ventures (before meeting the others):After her almost disastrous first act, she planned a bit better and cornered a rum runner who had killed a child who got in his way. She left him dead and the evidence on his body.
Where it took place? An alley behind a speakeasy in Manhattan.
When it took place? Early January, 1933
Evil Plot that was thwarted? None yet, but she has been building up a case through various companies against something big.
Villain that was bested? The crime-boss Migual Vincent. She managed to essentially take out most of his liquor suppliers as they became too scared to do much in NYC. And while Prohibition ended in 1933, the Mob and its various businesses became her next target.

Working in the Skill Ladder with the DM, and so far we have:

And cool - I can copy/paste a table from Publisher.  Leaving a couple blank to get more feedback from the GM or fill in as necessary during game play.

And one of the location posters and PDFs will work for her mansion. These are from 0-Hr and is one of my auto-back Kickstarters. And finally get to use one of the maps, though as we're not at a table, the posters stay rolled up :(

Not entirely sure we'll be able to actually use this, I've thrown it out there for the GM. While I am hoping as it is a nice mansion complete with a dojo for her to practice her fighting and a lair (though not as high-tech as the poster and PDF, but we can swap out the computers for typewriters). In the end, it is his call as to whether we can use these for her home in NYC.

 As this is a character I will be playing shortly, I did create a PDF to print out. I like to have paper in front of me when I play. And dice. 

My characters so far

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

Character Challenge 4 of 31: The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Having been sick over the weekend (yay new year! even got a Covid test since the fever and chills was most unpleasant. It was negative so thinking just some 24 hour thing) I did not go to the gym this morning as I usually before work. But I did manage character!

Switching gears to the Fantasy Trip. There is a section in the rule book for quick character generation I've never used, and thought it may be a good time to try that.

Here are the rolls: we first roll 1d6 to determine if we're going to have a wizard or a hero. I roll a 1, so wizard it is. Then rolling a 2 I have a martial wizard, and that means I need to have my IQ > 11.  Then rolling on the optional unusual wizard feature, I roll 4 on 2d6 for a country wizard, and picking from the 4 skills I choose animal handling (which is 2 IQ points, and for a wizard, 4!) and driver (taking another 2 IQ points).

So we have a martial wizard with a country background. Rolling 3d6 I roll a six, giving me a goblin wizard. Oddly in the 2 games I've run there is always someone picking a goblin wizard. I am not sure why....

Our country Goblin wizard rolls on the motivation table using 3d6. Getting a 13, his primary goal is a desire for wealth. Rolling again for a 2ary motivation, a 12 gives is a desire for adventure. Looting labyrinths is one way of getting both wealth and adventure, so this is a perfect combination.

There are more optional rolls on 2d6, where 12 is really good and 2 is really bad. This Goblin comes out with:

• 11 for appearance. A very good looking Goblin!
• 8 for bravery. Around average, not too brave but not a coward either.
• 5 for honesty. In TFT Goblins are scrupulously honest but to the letter, not the spirit. So our wizard will be very careful with his wording.
• 6 for his mood, so a bit grumpy at times. 

Now we need to determine his stats. Goblins start with ST 6, DX 8 and IQ 10. We have 8 additional points to spread around, and need to keep in mind he is supposed to be a martial wizard. I'll bump his ST to 8, DX to 12 and IQ to 12. This gives him at least a 50/50 chance of being able to cast a spell and meets the IQ requirement for the martial wizard. 

This only gives him 2 points left for his initial spells. I give him staff (every wizard should have the staff spell - later on it becomes a potent weapon, and with mana, a good battery for spell casting) and summon wolf. The wolf can do the attacking, though he won't be able to maintain that spell too long until he picks up more ST or a power stone.

Edit: must have been too early: he has 6 points for spells. I'll see about a correction later today!

Edit 2, later that day: having 6 points to spend on spells we pick up Staff II / manastaff, meaning that Droink can now charge up his staff with up to his IQ using experience points. Of course, it takes 200XP for just 1 point of mana, but after that initial charge it becomes a bit faster (and I missed this rule when playing the game earlier!) See page 148 in the rules for that. He also took a 3 hex fire spell, illusion and staff to snake. So now our Goblin mage is a bit more fearsome! Note that short term he gets more bang by increasing his ST with the 1st 50XP, but eventually he should start putting some of that XP to his staff.

An advantage of The Fantasy Trip is that character generation is really fast. Particularly useful as beginning characters are also easy to kill. 

I also realized while Droink has some characteristics, I've not done so for previous character generations. I'll see if I can add some additional attitudes and whatnot to make the character stand out more. 

But for Droink, we have a good looking (for a Goblin) wizard who prizes both money and adventure. Though a bit dour, and perhaps a bit lacking in scruples, he seems to both enjoy being with animals and knows how to drive carts and ride large (3 hex or larger) animals. As Goblins seem to enjoy riding wolves, he has the summon wolf spell but more for attacking than for riding, at least early on.

And in looking at Alesplitter's blog, he added a link to previous entries (and did a Gamma World character - would love to play Gamma World sometime!)

And other blogs as well (copy paste from another blog so may not be up to date). Green Sage is doing Mongoose Traveller looks like, so I may have to snag some of those for NPCs :) 

Alesmiter today and yesterday
TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding yesterday
Green Sage Library today and yesterday

And the one that started this for me is Traveller Adventures and is doing a much better job of tracking who is doing what.

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Character Challenge 3 of 31: Citizens of the Imperium - Bureaucrat

 While I was planning on getting a character in to SORAG (Zhodani secret intelligence) that did not work out. Neither did the assassin from Scouts and Assassins (both from Paranoia Press, and I have those books from the 80s as well as on CD. Classic indeed!)

One note on the Classic Traveller generation: normally there is a significant -5 DM for unskilled use, and so for an 8+ this means you just cannot do a lot of the specific things, specifically weapons. However, classic characters have a weapons skill of 0 (originally 1/2) so that they don't get that negative DM, giving them a distinct advantage in generalized combat. Not entirely sure if that applies to Citizens, but as the character generation is the same, I am going with Johnio can handle any weapon without the negative DM. So classic characters are a bit more powerful than the raw skills may show.  That and Traveller combat tends to the deadly, so usually you try to think your way around obstacles. 

Looking at Michael Thompson's classic character generation, think I'll do a similar format, though I'll break out the die rolls in each term. I may change my mind later.

Johnio Smason

College, Bureaucrat 5 terms (52 years old), Manager UPP: 393999

Carousing-2, Admin-1, Blade-1, Grav-1

Cr10,000 High Passage, Mid Passage, Cr4,000 yearly retirement

Quick bio: A spindly child, Johnio attended college, and worked on his business degree. He succeeded, and quickly found a job in the local government. He did an adequate job, but it took over 8 years for his first promotion. He was no wallflower and attended company parties, becoming quite the schmoozer. At one of these he finally met the right people and got a position and promotion in short order. Another 8 years with a single promotion and an aging body, Johnio took an early retirement to see the universe.

Anyway, my initial rolls for the character were: UPP 494969, and a 5 so another male. Seeing as college & NOTC helped with getting into SORAG, I used the Book 5 High Guard and managed to get him through college:

Term 1 - College

Application I rolled a 12, so obviously well-placed even without that INT DM! Rolling a 7 + 2DM from INT I succeeded in my 4 year college plan. However, rolling a 3 for NOTC means I did not get into that, nor did I achieve honors with a roll of 5. However, rolling a 4 on 1 die, minus 2 plus the +1DM for my INT I boost my EDU by three. So now I am a well educated if weak young man of 22 with a UPP of 494999. 

I failed the SORAG roll (needed a 10+, rolled a 6, so even with the +2 for my INT and a +1 for college, I did not get in. Found my Scouts & Assassins book, thought I'd give that a try. With an 11+ to get in, it was a long shot. That I failed at a roll of 5. While not counting these as a year off, it was sad but expected. Digging through the pile of books, I decided I had not used Citizens of the Imperium much, even though it did introduce the bow combat rules. Looking over the careers, for some reason the bureaucrat career seemed as though it may be a good fit. Rolling a 9 to enlist, I get in even without the DMs for my intelligence and  weak strength DM. Yes, this career you get a bonus if you have a STR <  8! Guess there are no burly bureaucrats in the Imperium!

Term 1 

Survive I rolled a 7, well above the 4 -2 or 2 I need. In fact, this character cannot die as I just have to roll a 2+ on 2d6. I still made all the survival rolls though. Rolling a 2 for position means I do not have a chance to get promoted, so I am stuck as a clerk for these 4 years. I rolled a 7 so I did gain skills. Using the Advanced skill table, rolled a 1 for Admin-1. Rolling a 6, I can re-enlist.

Term 2

Survival is automatic, but I rolled a 5 anyway. Hoping to get low rolls out of the way!. Rolling a 4 I still have no position and remain a clerk. I roll an 8 for skills, so rolling a 5 on the personal development table I gain Carousing-1. Our bureaucrat is a fairly social person - with a social class of 9 he is not quite into the noble range but high middle class. The re-enlistment roll of 10 means I can get in another round.

Term 3 - starting to age

As this is technically the 4th term, I roll against the aging table. Rolling a 6, 8 and 9, I get a Strength hit, giving me a UPP of 394999. Never strong to begin with, this does not bode well. I make a 6 on my entirely unnecessary survival roll, and finally get a position with a roll of 7. I also make my promotion roll with a 10, so I've moved up to E2, Supervisor. It only took 12 years...Rolling a 3 on the Service Skills table I gain blade weapon skill. Looking over the blade chart, I'll stick with Blade-1 so I get a +1 DM thanks to my dexterity for hitting. I handily make the re-enlistment roll with a roll of 9.

Term 4 - aging gracefully

Rolling 8, 10 and 9 I do not take any aging hits this term. I cannot afford any! Making the superfluous survival roll of 6, I move on with an 8 for my promotion, moving me to E3, Assistant Manager. Rolling on the Service Skills table hoping for a physical boost, I roll a 5, vehicle skill. I choose Grav Vehicle-1 which oddly covers TL 6 to 15. As the tech level charts show grav vehicles starting at TL 8 (and later versions I think bump that to 9) we have some early grav vehicles. Rolling a 8 I easily re-enlist. 

Term 5 - aging takes a toll

Rolling a 8, 10 and 4, my endurance drops by 1. Good thing I am planning in retiring - 5 terms is the earliest you can retire, I survive with an 8, and do move up to a Manager position, E4, with a roll of 8 for the promotion. Again hoping to gain a physical skill, I roll a 5 on the personal development table, giving me Carousing-2. A real party animal I am! I do NOT roll a 12, so I am able to retire at the age of 52.

Mustering out

Bureaucrats have an interesting range of benefits and cash. I just alternated between the tables. On the cash table I get a +1 as I am retired; there are no DMs on the benefit table as I did not get to E5 or E6 rank.

Benefit I rolled a 3, which netted me - nothing! Wow, 20 years and not even a watch (which is actually one of the benefits)

Cash I rolled a 2, +1 giving me a 3 for Cr10,000

Benefit rolled a 6, giving me a High Passage.

Cash rolled a 1 +1 giving me a 2 for again, nothing.

Final benefit roll a rolled a 2 for a Mid Passage.

There is a note that I do get retirement pay based on the terms of service and rank, but that information did not appear in the Citizens book. It is in Book 1, and with 5 terms I get a Cr4,000 yearly stipend I can pick up at any class A or B port. 

Character Challenge 2 of 31: Merchants and Merchandise Merchant

 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

BC2A79

Mechanical-1,  +1 Dexterity

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!

Character Challenge 1 of 31: T5 Spacer

 Finally opened up book 1 of the Traveller 5.10 3 volume set - there is a lot in there! I need to take some time to actually try & read more of that, as there are a lot of things that could apply to any Traveller game. Regardless, I went through character generation and went the the Navy as it more closely approached the example in the book. And while the example helped, there were aspects of that walk-through that did not match the rules as written. This has been a common complaint of the whole T5 process: I don't think they hired an outside editor as the BBB (Big Black Book) is full of issues, and the T5.1 3 volume set was supposed to correct a lot of them. While it did, there are still a lot of examples and walk-throughs that just don't match the rest of the text. And it is...complicated. I am not convinced I did it all correctly as some rolls are roll under, some are roll above. Or at least that is how I interpreted things.

So, let us present Billy Tharray, born in 1081 on Hefry, C200423–7 in the Spinward Marches. Using the d66 table of home worlds I rolled a 2 2 giving us Hefry. And rolling for gender (even female, odd male) I roll a 1, so a male. Growing up on a non-industrial vacuum world, young Billy picks up Vacc-1 and Driver-1. He knows how to drive those ATVs across the very small world he grew up on. He also wanted to get away - having a TL 7 on a vacuum world means bulky space suits and straining equipment. He is also small, as his initial UPP is:

UPP: 485577

Genetic: 1522

In T5, the physical stats have a genetic component, the 1st die roll of the 2. It is really used in case you want to clone yourself later; however, I doubt Billy will have the resources to do so. While not too bright, Billy decides that the Imperial University on Hefry, which is mostly distance learning via computers but still a registered Imperial University, is the place for him. Hey, we have an entire generation right now doing distance learning. I fear for our future!

Entrance roll for university: 2d6 < EDU required. I roll a 7, so Billy just barely gets into the University! Go Heffers! 

Year 1: Roll 2d6 < EDU to pass. I rolled an 8, which means I did not pass this semester. However, I attempt the waiver, which is 2d6 < SOC and roll a 3, so while Billy passed his first year, learned nothing. Apparently begging at the admissions office helps. 

Year 2: Roll 2d6 < EDU to pass. Rolled a 7, he passes, and learns something! I pick Automotive-1 as his major - he has been working on those ATVs! (Now I need to see what the automotive skill actually is for)

Year 3: Roll 2d6 < EDU to pass. I rolled a 2 (I have some bad dice rolls for this character if I was aiming for high rolls!) This gives me another skill level in my major and I pick a minor, giving me Automotive-2, Astrogation-1. For every pass, you can add to your major; for every 2 passes you can add to your minor. I do like that mechanic.

Year 4: Roll 2d6 < EDU to pass. I roll an 11, failure! I attempt the waiver, and roll a 6, so I graduate from the Imperial University of Hefry, gaining a BA, and setting my EDU to 9. So Billy squeaks by and actually graduates!

Flight School (year 5)

Looking at the rules, I notice that I can apply to NOTC, and if I have honors, I can get into flight school. A way off this rock! I roll a 6 for attempting to get honors, and I succeed, so a BA with Honors, which will allow me to apply to flight school. Just being in NOTC, and making a success roll of 5 gives me Pilot-1. Getting into Flight school with a roll of 6 and only needing an 8 or less, I succeed. This gives me Pilot-4 and a spacer rank of 01. This is also my 1st year after college: I am automatically in the Navy, in the Flight branch. I have 3 more years. And getting rank 01 also gives me another level of astrogation, Astrogation-2.

Navy Years 6, 7, 8. Rolling on the table I spent the next year in ANM school, then a year in a siege, then my 4th year as a Naval ensign back at ANM school (rolled a single die, no EDU DM, and had a 6, 3, 6 on the Naval Operations table). T5 has the risk / reward rolls which still confuse me. You have to roll below the stat you choose for both risk and reward, and you can optionally have some modifiers that can effect both. I chose the roll against DEX (8) this first term as that is the highest stat that I could. For the risk roll, I rolled 4, meaning no injury, and I get an XS (Exemplary Service) badge. On the reward roll, I rolled a 5, also well below the8, giving me an XS medal to go with my badge. Checking for a promotion, I have a low social ranking (7), and the Navy apparently promotes based on social skills. Having the medal gives me a +1 so I just have to roll under an 8 for a promotion. I roll low again, rolling a 4, so I am now a sublieutenant. I have 3 skill rolls I can use, and while I can't find what the ANM school does, I went with the technical skill table for those rolls. First roll for siege I rolled a 1, giving me Computer-1. Choosing the personal skill table and hoping for better stats, I roll a 6 to get a +1 social: I must be moving up in the world! Rolling on the technical skill table, a 2 yields a science, and I choose Robotics-1. 

The final roll, to see if I can stay in the Navy, I am not sure I got correct: looks like I needed a 4 or less to stay in based on the C1 / STR stat. Here is where the book example did not match the rules. Regardless, I rolled a 6 so going with 1 term in the Navy was all Billy managed. Rolling on the benefits table, I roll a 3 but get to add my officer rank, giving me a 5, and END + 1, for a final UPP of 486588. 

Billy Tharray

UPP: 486589 Navy Sublieutenant (02) age 26, University, 1 term Navy

Pilot-4, Astrogation-2, Driver-1, Automotive-1, Computer-1, Robotics-1.