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.

Say that in any other context and people will start worrying about you. :)

But, cool, we can work out the details as we need them, they are your Enemy, so you get a lot of say in who they are. The events surrounding the Events where you gained the contact, and then where they betrayed you will have some effect on who they are, what they stand for, and how we see them going forward, and what they do to interfere with your life.

Term 4: Cat enjoys kicking around the galaxy, so she continues in this lifestyle. She will roll on the Dilettante table for her skill.

During this term, she picks up a few notes about gambling, spending a lot of time in the casinos. Again, she doesn't really make any waves, but a conspiracy of nobles attempts to recruit her. She agrees. After Term 4, Cat looks like:

AGE: 36

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, Gambler 1, Mechanic 1, Persuade 1, Steward 0, Vacc Suit 2

The conspiracy of nobles recruits Cat and she gets to try out her Persuasion skills.

Cat isn't as Persuasive as she thought and the conspiracy collapses.

Cat is injured in the conspiratorial collapse. She also needs to check for aging effects this term.

Cat is severely injured in the fighting that follows the collapse of the conspiracy. She suffers a loss of physical dexterity.

Cat is currently:

AGE: 32

STR 6, DEX 5, 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

She decides to press her luck a little more and continue in this career field, this time checking on the Personal Development table.

Cat continues to expand upon her Gambling skills and even manages to get noticed (Rank 1). Unfortunately, there is an incident.

The government, further weakened by the conspiracy collapse, finally gives way and civil war breaks out in the system. Cat attempts to flee unnoticed.

She is caught in the aftermath and injured again.

She is nearly killed trying to escape and only narrowly survives, losing physical strength, dexterity, and endurance.

As of the end of Term 5, Cat looks like this:

AGE: 36

STR 2, DEX 3, END 7, INT 8, EDU 3, SOC 12

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

At this point, she decides to quit while she is still alive (barely). She does pick up one more skill from her advancement and decides to roll on the Personal Development table again.

Cat learns self-defense for her skill. She gets 5 benefit rolls for leaving and elects to go two cash (at +1 due to Gambler skill) and three benefits.

As she enters the campaign, Cat has:

AGE: 36

STR 2, DEX 3, END 8, INT 8, EDU 3, SOC 12

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

120,000 credits; blade, four ship shares, TAS Membership, and an Enemy. She receives a pension of 10,000 credits each year and a high passage every two months from the TAS.

I don't think that drifting about the galaxy on her own is worth any medical compensation, unless the GM decrees otherwise, but she will pay the 35,000 credits to have herself fixed back up to fighting condition. After several months in rehab and curative therapy, Cat is once again:

AGE: 38 (I corrected her aging, my count was off)

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, Gambler 2, Mechanic 1, Melee 1, Persuade 1, Steward 0, Vacc Suit 2

85,000 credits; a rapier, four ship shares, TAS Membership, and an Enemy. She receives a pension of 10,000 credits each year and a high passage every two months from the TAS.

Her Enemy is Michael Legatto, the captain of a Free Trader who turned her in to her family, alerting them to her whereabouts (for reward money). She has sworn to get even with him for this.

Makes complete sense while caught up in a war.
How so? Did you not only spend 3 Terms in Noble? You already rolled your Mustering out Benefits from Merchant [ref]
I don't know, this is a Noble thing. That compensation could easily come from your family --along with obligation-- or from the instigators of the war or injury who don't want to make enemies of your family or other Nobles you hang with. Till you brought it up I assumed you would be compensated. You can tell us how Nobles would respond or how being Noble would make others respond in this case.

You do --probably-- have the money to pay for it yourself, so you can turn this into a 'badge of honor' or obligation against 'them' if you want. That might be more useful later in the fiction, but I make no promises.

If you choose, you get to roll compensation twice, once for each injury since they are separate events, only the second (already rolled) one gets the +1 for Rank. If you roll, then they offered to pay whether you took it or not (nothing never happens, so don't toss around dice unless you are prepared to face the outcome:).
You only get a pension if you spend 5 Terms in a Career, you only spend 2 and 3 in your respective Careers.
Hmm... Technically that does make him your enemy, but in game-terms an Enemy is someone who 'wants you dead, imprisoned or otherwise doomed' (page 20).

What did you do to so piss off this captain? Since it was their betrayal, maybe this was something you did after they sold you out? Or maybe your prior actions justified their 'betrayal' (only a betrayal in your eyes?)? Not sure that fits with your earlier performance, but surely there is a reason... unless, so far as we can see, there isn't and they just turned on you?

Also, technically, this was a Contact 'outside your normal circles' so does the captain of your ship count? We seem to have skipped the step where we learn about your Contact. That should have been done before they turned into an Enemy --providing us with more to work with and making the betrayal hurt more-- but we can keep them if you want (they are outside your normal Noble circles).

Provide as much detail as you want, I will make it work from my end.

I think that I'll run with it having her pay her own way. It just makes sense for her backstory and personality that she would refuse to depend on anyone.
My bad! I overshot the mark on that one.
Well, I was thinking that it wasn't the captain of the Ms. Adventure, but rather another captain. He began as a Contact outside the crew. I'll have to work up more details. Give me a day or so.

Cool.
Yep, good stuff.
Did 'they' offer to pay and she refused? Is there any drama there or is it not interesting enough to explore further?
Oops. Captain of 'a' free trader, not 'the' free trader. I misread. :)
Maybe we can link it with the anything that comes out of the other characters threads or the Connections. But we can keep it simple, too.

Does that imply that you are finished with Character Creation after 5 Terms?

Just because the others stopped after 5 should not pressure you into doing the same. If you stopped there by coincidence then that is very interesting. :)

She's stopping there before pressing her luck any further. With two severe injuries, she couldn't survive much more.

Nice and neat. :)
You still have plenty of money. :)

With Melee 1 you must choose which type you are Specialised in.

Unarmed: Punching, kicking and wrestling; using improvised weapons in a bar brawl.
Blade: Attacking with swords, rapiers, blades and other edged weapons.
Bludgeon: Attacking with maces, clubs, staves and so on.

Given that you styled this as 'self defence' Unarmed might make sense, but your Noble upbringing might suggest Blade if you picked up and used a sword (and maybe you found your childhood fencing training helped?).

You get the other types at 0 as well, knowing some melee means you are not completely untrained in other forms.

She's going to go with blade to complement her rapier.

@WhtKnt, your character sheet is not visible to the other players.

Do you need anything from us?

Should be fixed.

Looks like it.