Pedrop Character Creation

Ouch... :( Ok, rolling for MISHAP.

Lol... could be much worse... "You have no idea what happened to you – they found your ship drifting on the fringes of friendly space." Hmm... thats interesting... Could it be something connected with his bounding(almost spiritual) to his mech? Or he has gone to the places he shouldn't have... But why didn't they just killed him and instead erased his memory of this? Or something else. But as "You have no idea what happened to you" - that would me that either I or Rafael don't know what really has happened... yes GM? And you have some ideas for that?

Ok... I think it all means that Raf's career at scouts ended quite rapidly, I think it was last year, but still no advancement roll:(
And that would be mustering out? So... from the rulebook:
"Benefits are gained when a Traveller leaves a career. A Traveller gets one Benefit roll for every full term served in that career. "
But was it a "full term" or was it not - because of the mishap? In case it was, I will roll for one benefit and it will be the cash for all the effort and to have a good start as traveller - but then will wait for the answer.

Cr30000 - nice:) Noting on the sheet. Now roll for dreadful aging...

Uff... good. I was afraid for a moment. But it looks that those border words were good for his health:)

Ok, waiting for the answers and I think we can finalize this character from mechanics point of view. Should I buy equipment now? Or we will do it after taking a skill package? I don't think Raf has any pension(in the time perspective he probably should have stayed for the 5th term in the Merchant Marine career... :) ) and medical debt to pay? Would that be all for the numbers/mechanic and I can get back to answering your questions about his backstory and end his character creation for now?

Rolling for Spacecraft Quirks - first how many of them?

Oh... is it even fly capable ? :D There are 3 tables for this. And I think it would be most interesting to roll on all three? As it is somehow trade ship, but also a military one (from my main career) and others. What you think? My suggestion is to do 5 rolls: Trader, Military, Other, Trader, Military.

Take a look at the rules for low gravity and DEX (and Athletics), that might also be a reason out there?
Seems like a pattern forming. I have heard rumours of the Scouts doing things like this in the past as well, if only you could remember why you even joined them when your plans were to become a merchant... something is hinky.
It means your character does not know, but also that we --the players-- don't have to know yet. We can play to find out. It seems in keeping with your character... but does your character even remember that there is other stuff that is being erased? Will your Rival need to remind you? Will you believe her? (Not questions we need to answer, just ones that could be interesting to think about).
It was not.
I treat rules that say you have to 'spend x before starting' a bit loosely. We don't yet know where we will be playing or what sort of gear you would want to have, so I allow players to get a bit of a feel for the world and then let them claim to have bought the sorts of things that are useful, sometimes there is a roll to see about the improbably lucky items (like a flashback mechanic).

If the players do spend money on specific types of gear that will suggest the types of situations they want to find their characters in. So if there is anything you think you want, go ahead.

Any money you don't spend now you keep and can spend in play. Prices in play will depend on where you buy them, so you may have to pay more than the list price, but you could also arrange things that you pay a lot less.
Nope.
I don't think so. Did you ever get hurt?
Is that your last Term?

Ship
It can be made flyable, else it takes away your reward. Some of the Quirks are even good things.

It might need work, and that could be our first adventure? Getting to the ship and then getting it up and running. (I admit I misread that as being item 5 on the table and some ideas sprang to mind about the recovery job details.:)

It is possible we only learn about the Quirks as we play? When something goes wrong and it seems interesting we add another till we have all 5?
I am not sure about it being a Military ship, it is a Trader, and you were a Merchant (not actually military), but maybe we roll the number and then look at all the options and pick the one that seems the most interesting (if it fits)? Or maybe we roll and don't know exactly which of the three options it is till it manifests clearly? This is more flavour than mechanics, they add fun and should not have too large an impact.

Yes, I think there were some words with low gravity. And probably he was learning to use weapons with Zero-gravity too. You never know where you will have to defend yourself. But it was not enough training to get Athletics - Dexterity, but he developed his DEX by it.
I think the main reason was for him to finally break free from those official structures. That didn't bring him the good enough answers. And he joined Scout services in order to find new "markets" for his future activity as a Traveller that want to amass power and influence outside of government/public structures himself.

So you think it could be actually a Scouts Services themselves that erased Raf's memory? (so you were hiding your tine foil hat all this time? ;P )
I think the last thing he remembers was that he was sent on some regular mission not too close to his home planet, but in that direction. All the records at the ship's database claims that he just have done some ordinary resource delivery mission to some relatively new colony. And that's all. After that strange event and leaving scout career he started to do some basic businesses. But later, he was still curious, and he finally went on this particular new colony to see it on his own eyes and do some little investigation - as he did not remember even being there. But soon after landing there it turns out he was accused of some criminal activities apparently done there by him or someone very similar. The funny thing is that he don't know if he really have done anything bad there or someone frames him for a crime. He don't think so, but in the same time he don't remember anything from that time. But by this event... he was - someone could say - forced on the wrong side of the line( of law). Becoming "a criminal" even against his initial will and started to be treated by others like that. At the beginning at that planet/system only(?) . Could it be that the thing he is accused for was significant enough that he started to arouse respect in other small criminals which also think he have done this? What it could be?

Could it be a place where he meet the rest of the team? At that colony? And they were also accused for something that they didn't do? It could mean that officials at that particular new colony had some reasons to frame each of them? And those reasons could be different for each of us? But the common treat have made us allies? Wheter we wanted that or not. Depending which of us has known who before coming to this colony?
Ok:( Extracting this beautiful 30 grands... from Raf's account;( But now he is even more motivated to make some more of those...
You mean like in the Blades in the Dark?
Having his ship, Raf only need a few more things, nothing spacial. More specifically a gun and good vest - as any self respecting merchant...:) The rest will have to be based on his brain... and some luck/divine protection will not hurt...:) So I think I will but this for him. The rest - as you suggest - would be the best to buy later. Or you ok with that?
Not that I have any knowledge about:) He is considerate guy. (Have a whole planet to safe and girl to win back... maybe... ;)
Yes it is. False(hopefully) accusations and erasing of a memory can really change man approach to life... you know? :)

True. I'm hoping for them:)
If you and others will like my ideas about false accusations and new colony I think we could combine them with this. Could it be that the ship was confiscated when they arrested Raf upon his arrival? And some of the quirks are caused because of situation?
I love this idea! But considering above I think the best way to do it would be to roll 2 quirks "now" - PC know them and have to do something bout them, before escaping the colony with suspicious officials? And rest 3 of them will come out during the play. What you think?
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I like this. Let's use it as inspiration, but fit it to the story:)

Scout Services? The people responsible for finding and mapping where planets are? Do I think they might have been involved in erasing a planet from the registry? Seems now that they would have to be, right?

What is 'memory' if not just a big map? (It is probably more than that, which is why they mess up when fiddling with memory.)
Just 'criminal' in general, or are there specific accusations of crimes? It is fine if we don't know yet what they are, but surely the locals or the local law would know the accusation? If not, then there is more going on, of course.

But remember, you don't know what happened. So maybe we should honour that and not have you start in a situation where you are learning what happened?
You are free to claim such things, but they are not backed up by any mechanics since there are no Contacts or anything happening here. When you interact with these criminals --or anyone else-- you could always say they might have a past with you and roll to see how they feel.
That requires us to all align our Connections with that one point right at the end. If it turns out that we do that anyway, then fine, but let's not push it.

For instance: There is an inflection point in Term 2 where almost everyone was a Merchant at the same time (and one med-student).

Traveller assumes you are not a new crew, that many of your have known each other for years and worked together before. If we want to be strangers until recently, we can do that, there is no strong mechanical reason to force you all to be old acquaintances, though it does smooth over some starting struggles. But those 'struggles' can also be fun to play out.
That's why I used the term Flashback, yes. But Blades merely mechanised a thing that many of us were doing already and that I do in most games. Blades tying it to their Stress mechanic means players can not just claim "we had prepared for this exact situation" every time something goes wrong, but I have seldom had that be a problem if players work within the fiction.
Cool, you need help with speccing out any of those? I assume it is an Energy or Slug Gun --and not Archaic?

Whatever you buy, you can start practicing with it --though maybe not on the ship!-- and work towards Specialising in that type. Currently you are equally good at all types of Guns (so you might want to shop around and play out finding what sort you like?). Energy weapons are probably better in those zero-G environments you were practicing in?
"Er... no. Who are you?" :)

Ship
While I am hoping for the more interesting ones. I much favour flavour over simple number adjustments. But it is your ship (partially).
Technically you don't have the ship yet. You are using Scout Services' ships till after you finish with Character Creation. None of the rewards exist till we start playing, which also means none of them can be damaged or lost during Character Creation. If you really insist on flying your own ship as a Scout then we can try work with that, but remember that these are Quirks, not 'damage', they are the little things that have happened over a long life --something with 5 Quirks would be nearly 100 years old by the chart on page 188-- and are things that can not be repaired --short of replacing the Quirky part.

Quirks ordinarily represent things that happened to the ship before you got it.

Let's remember your tendency to be too focused on one thing and making everything connect to that one thing. Such a rigid framework tends to break when the pressures of the game push on it. The ship is important to the whole group --central to Traveller-- and this is just part of the way you got it (and you only got a 25% share), so maybe we don't link it too closely to one player's story?
Could do. We can roll as many as we need, when we need.

Now... when you put it that way... someone from them had to be involved in erasing Raf's planet... for sure! But personally I don't think the most of the organization is so corrupted... as if that was the case, then no one would relay on their maps and services. I would prefer them being in the most part this idealistic organization of brave pioneers, silent keeper of the known for humans universe. But that doesn't mean every single one of them is like that of course. And of course there is a possibility that someone was forced to do that by some secret services blackmail....

To state it clear: I was thinking about this event, that Raf's memory was erased "only" for the period of this particular mission. Not before it and not after. And he is wanted only this system/planet. I think it would be not fun to be afraid of some arrest in the whole universe, at the beginning of the game. So at least for first few months it should be restricted to this system.
I think that, how specific this crime is depends on that if Raf will go for this "new colony planet" before we start the game or after(eventually at the beginning). We can get to know what are the accusations together during the play.

But as I don't see (so far) much interest in this storyline from other players and (probably) you - it looks that we should establish it as event that happened before the point in time of our game beginning. What do you think about that? Do you consider to start our game with this?
Ok, you are right probably thats too much for now. We can go back to it, when we will know what was the crime. And other criminals reaction will be "natural" depending of who they are and what the crime was. Not need to say to much:)
I agree again - no need to push it, especially on other players. I have put out the idea - maybe it will be useful, maybe not. But for my character story - if we want to go by what dice have told us and I think we do - this event(fals accusation) probably should happened at the end of his 5th term, as it was an effect of mishap - a reason he had to leave the career. So not long before the beginning of our game, or at it very moment. Yes?
I limited myself to TL 9. I would like to take:
Flak Jacket Cr300 - Now that he may have some law officers on his back, Raf has to protect himself. Probably hidden under other ordinary clothes.
Magnetic Grapples Cr100 - Fancy, military-like looking boots with... hidden little surprise for his enemies, when he turns off the gravity on the ship with a hidden buttons, cleverly placed around the ship.
Laser Pistol Cr2000 - what is the point of playing sci-fi system without laser weapon ? ;)
Additional power pack Cr1000 left in ship to charge.
Dagger Cr10 - hidden in right boot of his, more like knife, just in case... now as he is treated as criminal by some.

All good?

He would also like to have:
Autorifle - for some added firepower on planet surfaces,
Antique Rifle - for some style(hanged in the ship, but fully functioning) and nostalgia of his home planet, as such weapons were kept in his family home as decorations and traditional items

But I presume there is limit for initial equipment?


And what about the Vacc Suits - do we get them with a ship, or have to buy them? The same question about some kind of comms?
"It's a me! Rafio! Don't you remember that you promised me your sister for my wife?" ;)

Yes "interesting" is also good for me:) Let's allow dice decide:)
I think there is/may be a few(1-3) months period when Raf was using his "own" ship - between the mishap, leaving the career and nominal end of his 5th term(beginning of the game). And that probably was the period during which he visited this new colony planet, where he was accused. Could be just at the beginning of the game, or little earlier. So after leaving scout career he picked up "his" ship and had some time to fly with it. Not necessary alone, hopefully with other players. But from where is the ship and what quirks it have - probably we should brainstorm with other players?

And for ship's age. As 5 is between 4 and 6 in the table(I checked it too, earlier:) ) for me it is more like 50 year. Not "new" certainly, but not awfully old:)
I agree. I did't think about linking it too much to my story. But was thinking of having it for just a few months before we all meet in one place. As mentioned above. Would that be ok?
Ok, to end this aspekt: I'm rolling one quirk - for my 25% of the ship :) And let's leave the rest for the whole team. Ok? It leaves 1 for each player including you! :) If you agree with above it would mean that Raf was indeed flying the ship for little time before the beginning of our game and that was the time when he discovered it. Ok, let's see what it is. I'm curious.

Lol... :):) "Double maintenance costs." It is indeed old... Maybe it is good that I will no more roll for it... But as this is PbP, maybe I have gone to much ahead of myself and I shouldn't be rolling this quirk? And do we interpret it literally?

Of course not, but there is currently no way for your character to know how far the corruption goes, or who from there they can trust.
That is assuming that is their main income source, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. :)
That is what the recruitment posters say.
If that is what you want, we can do that.

I was merely offering a way to remove the need to explain away your lack of focus on your missing homeworld at the start of the campaign. It has been 20 years since you left, it could be another 20 before you resolve this.
There was nothing in the Event about criminality or being wanted, so you are adding that on your own. You are always welcome to say, whenever we land somewhere, that you might have local wanted status and we can act accordingly.
I am loath to foist this on the other players. We don't want one player's backstory to dominate the landscape too much.
With the faulty memory and all, maybe we leave this undefined. Maybe you do not even know that you are wanted there and might learn it if we ever go there. We can sort it out when it comes up, remind us when we get there. The type of world, and what is going on at the time may influence these decisions.
But the dice did not say anything about a false accusation, did they?
Presumably the Event lead to your leaving, so it was around the end of that Career. If there was a gap between your leaving the Scouts and us starting, all we know --by the mechanics-- is that you did not do anything significant in that time.
Probably. I have not looked closely at the items.

The only thing that worries me is your assumption of 'hidden'. A Flack Jacket for instance weighs 6Kg and is described as "bulky flak jacket is an unmistakably military", so probably not hidden? Maybe you were thinking about a Jack? Magnetic Grapples are metal plates in the armour boots, so they are probably not too discreet either, probably a bit clunky for normal walking, and probably look like big chunky boots, but that could just be a 'fashion choice'.
If is it functional it will cost you --though not much-- but if it is decorative it might be free. If it has artistic value it may cost more or be sellable later.
CR10000 can be spent before we start adventuring (page46).
That depends on how we get the ship. If getting it is the first mission then we will need to work out gear for that mission at the start of the mission, they may be provided --depending on how a 'get ship' mission is picked up-- or they may be part of the ship.

Ships are expected to be kitted with Vacc Suites at each airlock, but we will need to work out those details.
You guys will need to sort yourselves out. 'Cell Phones' are only CR50 so it should not be a big deal.

If, for some reason, you don't have comms at any point, that could lead to some interesting play (but I have struggled with modern players who forget that constant connectivity should not be assumed:).

Ship
This ship is technically from your reward, so if you insist on already having it and it being in working condition at the start of the game then we can go with that.

We may need to roll most of those Quirks, though, to see what you can and can't do with it. We don't want to have you say you have spent last few months ferrying cattle around and then find that you hold was contaminated and they all died, that is bad for the cows. Rolling the Quirks into the story later was sort of predicated on our learning the ship as we play. I can come up with other ways to do something like this if we have to.
Sure.
Don't worry about me in this regard.
Indeed. We would need to add such things, they would come with the ship, but might have their own Quirks.
You can put all manner of things in your cargo bay. But we can make a place.
That is what I was thinking: Maybe Cat's 'money' finances the mission to get the ship, and the others' expertise are needed? But if you already have the ship then they just reduce the amount owed.
Cool. We can work out those dynamics with the others, maybe in play.
Fair enough. In other words you definitely did. Noted.
Mechanically that is what it does. But the fiction says you are more heavily invested than the others.
Its a ship, you can do all sorts of things with it. It was not a military ship, so its history should mostly reflect that. If the Military option on the Quirk is the most interesting we can go with it.

If you guys want to kit it out with guns, you are welcome to, and it might even start that way. Do note that the more obviously threatening it looks the more suspicion you will receive. You will reap the whirlwind you sow.
No, that is why you continue to work to better it or replace it. If all you cared about was the money I am pretty sure a
savvy character like yourself could make millions just trading.
Pretty much. I am not sure how else to do it. Double costs means double costs. Remember this is just for the Maintenance portion.

So the ads can lie? ;)
Yes, I think this is what I want.

Yes it has been 20 years of trying... Without much success so far. So now Raf is trying a different approach: making the most money and power he can - to be "strong" enough to get his answers himself... maybe even by some kind of "force". I think this will provide interesting narrative opportunities... as it is a very thin line between getting money and power for the "good cause" and... starting to get it for the sake of itself. I see some moral dilemmas here:) So mainly he is now focused on being straight "powerful Traveller". And I feel that this explains your (right) concerns. And having this memory erasure only made him more persistent and focused.
Ok.
Ok. Let's leave it for now - what was the crime. But I feel that false accusations for Raf has happened. This will help put him on the line between being lawful and lawless. And I want him to be there:)
No, of course they did not. But that was my interpretation of this event. Did we change it for something else? Do you have better ideas for it?
Yes, but I don't think Raf was sitting and doing nothing for the few months. Do you? I don't understand this remark. I just proposed some story for Raf for that period. What was your purpose of it?
Yes, you are right - "hidden" wasn't a good world. What I was thinking that it is not immediately visible from some distance. So is covered with some other cloths, but when someone is close and will take a closer look, there will be no problem for him to notice that there is something as thick/sturdy as Flak Jacket.

Yes again, as for the first look the boots look like military boots - it is a 'fashion choice'. Raf's - even though wasn't in "real" military service - likes to dress in "military style" fashion, but the more elegant version of this style, but still:)
Yes. Raf's is not particularly an "art guy" - he much more prefers functional items. So it is functional. But will probably be used only in dire situations by him. He likes old weapons.
So it will be:
Flak Jacket Cr300 -
Magnetic Grapples Cr100 -
Laser Pistol Cr2000 -
Additional power pack Cr1000 left in ship to charge.
Dagger Cr10 - hidden in right boot of his, more like knife, just in case... now as he is treated as criminal by some.
Autorifle Cr750 - for some added firepower on planet surfaces,
+ 30 magazinse = 300
Antique Rifle Cr150 - for some style(hanged in the ship, but fully functioning) and nostalgia of his home planet, as such weapons were kept in his family home as decorations and traditional items
+ 10 magiaznes = 100 Cr
SUM: 4710 Cr - is it all ok, now? Notting on my sheet.

Ship
I feel that Raf should come to the adventure "with a ship". You know this antique rifle has to have some place to hang... ;) Maybe he just got it "yesterday" or something like that and still don't know what are the quirks - as I like the idea of finding them during play a lot. Of course that doesn't mean he is "with a ship" alone. Hopefully other PCs have picked up the ship with him at the same time and they started to fly together? And about it's condition: maybe they have picked it up "yesterday", landed somewhere and it didn't took off again - something has broken on it? If you need that for our first adventure? And we have to fix the issue.
So we agree about ships needed modifications:)
Ok, it can also be that our first mission is to go and pick up our ship if you already have good ideas for that. Raf can get false accusation without his own ship too... but it would make much harder for him to get off the suspicious planet/colony.
Yes, of course. Let's see what other PC's motivations are. But I think Raf's hunger for power(maybe justified maybe... not always) and his balancing between this and staying with his "noble intentions" can make him an interesting captain.
"I don't remember a single instance of that... As you know I have a deep respect for the official structures and rules. They are always very hopeful to have...."
Understood. So let's see if we have it already. For how long and so on. If it will not come with a guns, Raf will try convince everyone to get some. Preferably not so visible. Speaking of this... aren't turrets in this system retractable ? So you can't be sure witout any good scanners if the weapons are really there? And Far Trader has some turrets hardpoints?
Yes... I think Raf... will need much, much bigger ship for his plans.

"Yes... I need a lot of money... but it is not for me. It's for [i]my people[i/] on my home planet, you know?"

...

"No! Let's take those Beam Laser... I know that specifications are the same... but the look much more dangerous!"
Ok.

Nope. All ads are completely truthful. Just like in the real world. :|
Cool. These may be hooks for your Rival to get involved, we shall see how it plays out. I will take my lead from you.
Only this one? What about all the other memory erasures you have had? Oh, you don't know about them... nevermind, ignore that remark. I was only joking... :)
Cool. Was it only in this one place --which will mean you went back there on your own if the others don't want to start there-- or also elsewhere, and for reasons you can not explain? We can turn this into a recurring event and mystery if you are interested in something like that?
No, your interpretation is fine. I was just observing that that was not 'what the dice have told us', in case you were feeling forced into it.
I was saying that, if it did not 'happen at the end of his 5th term', you could have had as much time as you want to have passed between then and now, that time just had no mechanical effect (since it was already part of that last Term). You don't have to have gone straight from that Career into the current events. But it is up to you.
Cool. There may be places where that is common and places where that is frowned upon, or even illegal. Some people may judge you for your fashion choices.

Armour is often illegal, but that is part of the fun.
Looks good, I will trust your numbers. Cr10K is quite a lot of money, it seems. I don't think it is meant to be a significant limitation, just like the limit on number of Skills is unlikely to come up very often.