Session 0 Character Creation Thread

As soon as we have some players, we'll begin with character creation.

The first thing you will need to do is to generate and assign your attributes. Every Traveller character has six attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing. These characteristics range from 2 to 12, generated by rolling 2 six-sided dice for each attribute and assigning them as desired. In general, a well-rounded character is desired in order to ensure the best chance of survival, training, and development. You can find a list of the careers here.

To clarify that that's not a typo:

"Roll 2 six-sided dice twice for each attribute and assigning them as desired." That means we're rolling twelve sets of 2d6 and taking whichever rolls we want?

Oops. No, you're right. That's what I get for typing in a hurry. It should be, "roll 2 six-sided dice for each attribute and assign them as desired." I have corrected it on the front page. Thank you for asking.

Thanks WhtKnt!

Assuming that we're to roll in this thread... here goes nothing...

Edit: Well. That's mediocre. And I apparently can't count.

Adding "Characteristic 3"

Edit:
My totals then are
8
6
6
6
4
2

Not horrible, but I think I will give everyone one reroll, but you must take the new roll. In your case, it can't do any worse.

Here's my rolls.

Of all six or just one?

Just one, sorry.

Thanks for clarifying.

GIMME A TWELVE!!!

Edit: Well, ten isn't bad.

Final scores:
10
8
6
6
6
4

Well then: Off we go roll

EDIT: Gonna re-roll the 4

Well nice enough rolls.
So that's:
9
7
7
7
6
5

A quick word about the mechanics of Traveller:

Couldn't be much simpler. You roll two dice and add or subtract any DMs (dice modifiers; such as your skill rating). If you roll the target number (usually 8) or higher, you succeed. When using a skill, you add your level in that skill to the roll. Thus, if Jackson has a rating of 2 in Pilot (Small Craft) and the Referee tells him that his target number is 10+, he needs to roll an 8 or higher (adding 2 to the final result for his skill) in order to succeed. If you lack a skill, you have a DM of -3. Note that it is possible to have a skill rating of 0, which simply means that you are proficient in the skill without having any particular ability for it. Your DM is 0. So you see that it can be useful to have "just a 0" in a skill.

Typical Dice Modifiers for skills are: Simple tasks have a difficulty DM of +6. Easy tasks have a DM of +4. Routine tasks have a difficulty DM of +2. Average tasks have a difficulty DM of +0. Difficult tasks have a difficulty DM of -2. Very difficult tasks have a DM of -4. Formidable tasks have a difficulty DM of -6.

The most coveted (and difficult to achieve) skill is Jack-of-All-Trades because this skill allows you to reduce by 1 the penalty for being unskilled by 1 for every level of the skill you possess. So, if you somehow got a Jack-of-All-Trades rating of 3 (not impossible), you would roll with a DM of 0 for untrained skills!

Sometimes, instead of a static Target Number, you will make an opposed check. In this case, both parties roll a check, and whoever has the highest roll wins.

Edit: Almost forgot! You get DMs for your attributes as well: 0 = -3, 1-2 = -2, 3-5 = -1, 6-8 = +0, 9-11 = +1, 12-14 = +2, 15 = +3. Attributes for humans do not exceed 15.

All numbers are in Hexidecimal. When you reach 10, it becomes A, 11 is B, and so on until 15, which is F.

So WhtKnt, if I may ask without spoilers, what kind of challenges and situations will the campaign be focused on? I think you mentioned that a lot of the economic/mercantile side of things will be handwaved or abstracted, so is it useless for any of us to take on the roll of a bargainer?

If that's asking to metagame too much, I understand.

No, not at all. There will be opportunities to make extra money. A broad mix of skills is suggested. While it is true that much of the mercantile side will be handwaved, it is mostly the task of making mail runs and cargo drops in order to keep up payments or keep your fuel in supply; stuff that gets tedious under the best of circumstances. These things will be reserved for plot devices as otherwise, the game becomes: find a cargo, find someone who needs it, deliver cargo, sell cargo, buy more cargo, find someone who needs it, deliver cargo, sell cargo...ad nauseum.

Hello, fellow Travellers!

As WhtKnt mentioned, our game will be focused on exploration. Having that in mind, does anyone have a career and/or role already in mind, such as pilot, grunt, doctor, engineer, face, explorer, etc.? I'm open to filling any role that the group needs, except for maybe a "companion" ala Firefly. :)

Okay, warming up the dice roller...

EDIT: Wow, that's pretty average. Let's reroll that 4. Fingers crossed

EDIT #2: That's better! So that's 787965. I'll arrange them once we figure out what careers we're all going after.

I'm thinking of being a rogue or a space pirate. Or a space marine. Anything to do with space.

Steve, it sounds like you've played before! I have not, so i only vaguely know what we'll need for roles. That said I'm pretty much down for anything. Pilot/Doctor/Engineer sound the most appealing to me though.

I think I'll try my luck at a military career, either Navy or Marine. Gonna try to enter military academy first