WhtKnt Character Creation

Read through the Traveller Creation chapter starting on Page 8, take a look at any Careers that you think might be interesting to you, but there is plenty of time to look up and ask questions about specific Careers as they come up.

If anything does not make sense, ask as many questions as you need.

By coincidence all the excising players ended up with characters who had done exactly 5 Terms. None of us thought it fun to limit the number of Terms --preferring to push it as far as we felt safe to-- so don't feel any pressure to follow that pattern. However, if you do decide upfront that you want to also do exactly 5 Terms it is possible to look at Connections between the characters at each Career/Life Event step, but that can slow things down in PbP and it is simple enough to go back at the end and see who else was involved based on what they were doing at that time.

We can forget about and redefine the existing Connections that the existing players might have based on the new crew, we can start afresh.

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While it might feel a little funny to us to give a name as the first thing --as the rules demand-- it does make some sense.

'First' is a strong word, though, and I would recommend doing the whole first part as a unit. So: Name; Background Skills; Where you Came From (working with the background skill choices), and where you hope to end up. The name might be tied to the place you come from, your culture, or what your pre-adventuring background was.

The above part is the bit where you have control, and can make choices, this defines who you were before you went out into the world.

I won't enforce 'name first' thought, if you want to save it for the end as is often more common these days.

You also don't need to ever use your given name... (except with your parents?)

We can also shift the Background Skills around during the first Term if we find we messed up the choices and such (but this should be based on the choices not the dice, of course:), so don't stress about getting things exactly right the first time.

There is no problem taking the same or similar Careers as others may already have, and it can make for interesting connections and shared in-game goals.

I know you are an old hand at Traveller, but you are still welcome to make a test character --to try our the system-- if you want.
Be warned, though, characters can be sticky and hard to get rid of once you start making them. :)

Catherine "Cat" Asumoto was born to prominent parents. Her mother is a doctor in the Navy and her father is a well-known scientific researcher. It would seem that she was destined for greatness, as even her brother and sister are well-off and working in prestigious jobs. As a child, she was encouraged to explore whatever fields she desired and tried her hand at a variety of things, eventually settling on engineering as her chosen career focus. Of course, fate is a fickle mistress and no one can know what the future holds, but she will go bravely into her journey.

Generating initial stats:

So, that's:

STR 6
DEX 9
END 9
INT 7
EDU 3
SOC 12

I'm seeing that Cat lived a life of privilege, but neglected her studies significantly, failing to live up to her potential. She is certainly the black sheep of her overachieving family.

If we do get to make one stat a 14, I'm going to use it on EDU, but if we don't that's fine too.

Why would we do that? Is that a holdover from a previous version, or a house-rule?

No the Characteristics stand as the dice said, but you can assign them in any order you want, you don't have to use the order in which you rolled them... unless you want to.

No, I think that I will let them stand as they are. It will make for an interesting character. It may change my thoughts on career path a bit, though. I thought I saw Pedrop say something about a 14 for one stat. No worries.

EDITED: Corrected Pedrop's name.

Sorry I mixed that 14 from Stars Without Number probably. That in the end you can make one stat 14.
But... Traveller have something like that too - in the Companion suplement. You can roll two times with a boon(3d6 - taking only 2 highest) and use that for stat. But it is not core book so I suppose we can't use that.

Okay, Cat starts with two skills. One will be Mechanic, which is her central skill focus. The other will be Carouse, as dictated by her Social Standing. She grew up in the lap of luxury. She isn't a noble so much as her family is well-off and very highly considered. She is a black sheep because she neglected her potential and preferred a life of leisure to hard work. Her homeworld is Daedelus V, known locally as Icarus, a mudball of a planet, the high point of which is its export of certain minerals.

She was expected by her parents to go to university, but she had other plans and jumped planet on the first ship that came her way. She signed on with the free trader Ms. Adventure and left home at the age of 18.

Carouse 0
Mechanic 0

BASIC TRAINING
Broker 0
Drive 0
Electronics 0
Persuade 0
Steward 0
Vacc Suit 0

AGE: 22

SKILLS:
Broker 0
Carouse 0
Drive 0
Electronics 0
Mechanic 1
Persuade 0
Steward 0
Vacc Suit 0

Cat performs well and even advances in rank (Rank 1), gaining Persuade 1 as she does. During her time in service, she increases her proficiency with a vacc suit and becomes embroiled in some legal trouble. She serves as her own legal counsel, doing some extra work to learn the ins and outs of the legal system.

SKILLS
Advocate 1
Broker 0
Carouse 0
Drive 0
Electronics 0
Mechanic 1
Persuade 1
Steward 0
Vacc Suit 1

For her second term, Cat stays with the crew of the Ms. Adventure, becoming even more proficient with a vacc suit. She also makes a connection outside of her normal channels, gaining a Contact. It is after this term that Cat gets bored with the merchant life and decides to seek herself elsewhere (a roll of 2 on advancement forces her out).

AGE: 26

SKILLS
Advocate 1
Broker 0
Carouse 0
Drive 0
Electronics 0
Mechanic 1
Persuade 1
Steward 0
Vacc Suit 2

Remember, Don't Edit. Just add the new stuff as a new post, that way we can know about the change and keep track.

Well done avoiding Prison.

Cat emerges from the Merchants service with a shiny new blade, 10,000 credits, and a deeper understanding of things (INT +1).Her attributes at this time are:

AGE: 26

STR 6, DEX 9, END 9, INT 8, EDU 3, SOC 12

SKILLS
Advocate 1, Broker 0, Carouse 0, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Mechanic 1, Persuade 1, Steward 0, Vacc Suit 2

At this point in time, she decides to spend a few years kicking about the galaxy (automatically qualifies for the Noble career). She takes Admin 0 as her basic training skill and rolls on the Noble skill table.

Cat finds the indulgent lifestyle to her liking, taking to it like a duck to water. She learns a little about Deception, but doesn't really make an impact.

During this term, she finds that a former friend betrayed her (turning her Contact into an Enemy), but she doesn't let that deter her.

AGE: 32

STR 6, DEX 9, END 9, INT 8, EDU 3, SOC 12

SKILLS
Advocate 1, Broker 0, Carouse 0, Deception 1, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Mechanic 1, Persuade 1, Steward 0, Vacc Suit 2

No worries.
I assume this was a Dilettante table roll?
Bummer.
If it does not specify, I assume you get to decide if they become a Rival or a full on Enemy.

Yes, it was a Dilettante roll, sorry. Yes, I could choose, so I chose to have an Enemy.