Character Creation

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Dec 20, 2022 1:16 pm
RogertheShrubber says:
@Esidrix I just realized I might have messed something up in character creation. I got a +1 INT on two skill rolls. I assumed this means I added +1 to INT for each skill roll but now I think it should mean that my INT should top out at +1 total and those were basically wasted rolls.
@RogertheShrubber - Walking through it, the things I saw were that failing University/Military academy doesn't force the Draft. You should have just rolled for your career of choice and then Draft if you didn't get in. INT+1 does mean that your INT characteristic does go up. The cap is 15, for Humans. For the Survival/Event roll. I'd just Roll for the event and then replace the result with whichever event comes up.

Also, Did you muster out of Scouts because you were ready for a change? And are you going to continue into a different career?
Dec 20, 2022 5:14 pm
Abraham 'Avi' Vila, 295896, Merchant Marine 4th Officer, Age 30
Homeworld: Keramewa E8AA878-C Fl Ht
Background skills: Science 0, Electronics 0, Streetwise 0
Education skills: Engineering 0, Science(Chemistry) 1
Career skills: Drive 0, Vacc Suit 0, Broker 0, Steward 0, Persuade 0, Mechanic 1, Athletics(Dex) 1, Astrogator 2
Term 1: University student; homeworld; got a hobby; failed to graduate.
Term 2: Merchant Marine crew; ship and starports; gained a contact; promoted.
Term 3: Merchant Marine crew; ship and starports; made a good deal; promoted.
To-be-resolved: 1 new contact; DM+1 to one benefit roll
Most of Avi's life is spent in space now: in jump, on orbit, or travelling between the two. He works some shifts on the astrogation team, checking and re-checking the work done by the more experienced crew, looking for small improvements that will save a bit of fuel or increase the already generous margin of safety.

The ships he serves on are big, calling only at major starports or at those that lie on the shortest route between them. But in some of those ports he meets crew from smaller merchant ships serving places off the main routes, from free traders that travel further out still, and the stories they tell are of quite a different life.

Avi signs on for another term:
OOC:
Edit: Added the following to update for rolls
During the term Avi undertakes advanced training in astrogation and is promoted to 4th Officer. The promotion relieves him of some maintenence duties that would normally consume much of his time during jump, time he now devotes to some of the more atheletic shipboard recreations to keep his fitness up.
OOC:
Astrogation 2 from the first roll, Athletics(Dex) 1 from the extra roll due to advancement.
The ship has had an exceptionally good run recently, the crew are expecting a bonus.
OOC:
Event: A good deal ensures you are living the high life for a few years. Gain DM+1 to any one Benefit roll
Last edited December 20, 2022 7:02 pm

Rolls

Term 3, Merchant skill, advanced education table - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Term 3, Merchant Marine survival (EDU 5+) - (2d6+1)

(25) + 1 = 8

Term 3, Merchant event - (2d6)

(64) = 10

Term 3, Merchant Marine advancement (INT 7+) - (2d6)

(52) = 7

Merchant skill, Merchane Marine table - (1d6)

(3) = 3

Dec 20, 2022 7:52 pm
Cassia ‘Cas’ Green - age 30
Home world:Verdant ####: B9685612 AG WA
Physical Characteristics:
(STR: 6) 0
(DEX: 8) 0
(END: 9 10) +1
Mental Characteristics:
(INT: 9 11) +1
(EDU: 3 4) -1
(SOC: 5 4) -1

Skills: Astrogation: 0, Drive: 0, Electronics (sensors): +1, Gun Combat: 0, Jack-of-all-Trades: 0, Mechanic: +1, Pilot (space craft): 0, Survival 0, Vacc Suit: +1

Connections:
Gained Enemy Term 1, Gained Imperium Ally Term 2
[ +- ] Term Breakdown
[ +- ] Life path

OOC:
Okay, I added the missing Term 2 career event which changed things slightly - basically Cas gains an Ally from the Imperium instead of an Alien.

I wonder if Cas and Avi, could have crossed paths in one of the spaceports? Maybe, they just started a conversation in a bar for spacers, swapping stories of things they’ve seen in the black. These are the two characters from water worlds so that could be a way to start a conversation.

@Jomsviking Sycorax is a badass.

I’d like Cas to be pretty young when she joins up with this crew. It might be a nice contrast between her and some of the older more seasoned characters. That being said, I do want her to be a useful character so maybe she should go for a Third Term to improve some more skills. I haven’t decided.
Decided to go for a third term - didn't go well.
Last edited December 21, 2022 4:22 am

Rolls

Term 2 -career event (retcon) - (2d6)

(53) = 8

Scout - Term 3 skill (personal) - (d6)

(3) = 3

Scout -Term 3 survival (INT 8+) - (2d8+1)

(21) + 1 = 4

Scout - Term 3 mishap - (d6)

(2) = 2

3rd (final) mustering out benefit - (D6)

(6) = 6

Dec 21, 2022 9:27 am
@rogertheshrubber

It's my first ever traveller game. Continuing a long trend of beginners luck that started way back in 7th grade for my first ad&d game I just got really lucky.

Bet he dies the first combat we get in.
Dec 21, 2022 11:07 am
Is it going to be a problem if Avi ends up with no combat skills at all? I have an idea for ending his career that might get him some, but the odds of it working out the way I hope are not very high.
RogertheShrubber says:
I wonder if Cas and Avi, could have crossed paths in one of the spaceports? Maybe, they just started a conversation in a bar for spacers, swapping stories of things they’ve seen in the black. These are the two characters from water worlds so that could be a way to start a conversation.
@RogertheShrubber That could have happened. Another possibility might be to try to link Cas's departure from her homeworld with Avi's "good deal" event, to take advantage of the connections rule. Perhaps the good deal was on a cargo from Verdant, and so the Captian of Avi's ship was in a better than usual mood when Cas showed up at the starport, and she was able to talk her way into a working passage to her destination. Avi could have been involved in brokering the deal somehow and improves his broker skill, Cas might have picked up a skill from her time on the ship or from her attempts to talk her way on to the ship.
Last edited December 21, 2022 11:13 am
Dec 21, 2022 11:39 am
Most of the crew of Serenity had no combat skills. Only Zoe, Mal, Jayne, and Book had any training. Wash wasn't a combat pilot. Kaylee faints at the sight of blood. Simon has that hippocratic oath so far up his ass it's a miracle he can walk straight. Inara had lots of things that made her deadly, fighting wasn't in companion training. And all of River's abilities are plot devices. We don't have to be a perfect representation of the crew obviously.

Jobs that get us shot at are the type we should avoid unless we really need the money.
Dec 21, 2022 12:29 pm
Jomsviking is correct, there is always an opportunity for violence. But the amount of it and how you handled it are up to you guys. :) I always try and make sure there are several ways past an obstacle.

Also, at the end of the creation process is the 'Skill Packages', gives you a chance to pick up skills you might have missed.
Dec 21, 2022 1:00 pm
Okay then, I won't worry about combat skills, but aim for a slightly gentler ending to his career instead.
Dec 21, 2022 1:21 pm
We will all chip in on it. But the Traveller skill package will give you Gun Combat and Gunner at 1 if that's what the group decides to take. Heck we could decide to be a Mercenary outfit and cover all of that. Looks like a lot of circumstances arise that can kill/maim/break us that have nothing to do with Combat though. Good to have a well rounded group.

From what I'm reading the skill package we choose influences our world state quite a bit, as the book tells us that Esidrix will be using that as the plot for our adventures in space. Combat skills are flashy and cool, but so is being able to control the area of operation. Flipping a table for cover or activating a fire suppression system may be far more valuable and have further reaching impact in our story.
Last edited December 21, 2022 1:24 pm
Dec 21, 2022 3:11 pm
Abraham 'Avi' Vila, 395896, Merchant Marine 3rd Officer, Age 34
Homeworld: Keramewa E8AA878-C Fl Ht
Skills: Electronics 0, Streetwise 0, Engineering 0, Drive 0, Broker 0, Steward 0, Persuade 0, Science(Chemistry) 1, Mechanic 1, Athletics(Dex) 1, Vacc Suit 1, Admin 1, Astrogator 2
[ +- ] Timeline

Avi's employer also owns a number of smaller ships working subsidised routes serving more remote worlds. Less comfortable shipboard and starport conditions are compensated for by increased port freedoms that would give time to see more of the world beyond the starport.

Avi begins the new term as astrogator aboard one of these ships.

He explores as much as he can of each world on the subsidised route whenever he has port leave. Some of the worlds are airless, some have a higher surface gravity than he us used to, he gets plenty of experience using his vacc suit and his strength increases with the unacustomed exertion.
OOC:
Gained Vacc Suit 1, STR+1
During one stopover he is arrested for overstaying and spends all of his shore leave in gaol, eventually working his way through the bureaucractic process needed to establish that the record of his last departure had been misfiled, that he really had departed with the ship on its previous visit.

Avi becomes aware that the captain is involved in some shady dealings. He naively goes along with it, but when the ship comes under suspicion by starport authorities he finds himself the target of their investigations. He manages to escape charges by arguing a bureaucratic technicality, but the reports of the incident that reach the company officers don't read well for Avi and he is not invited to renew his contract at the end of the term.
OOC:
Event 8: You are embroiled in legal trouble. Gain one of Advocate 1, Admin 1, Diplomat 1 or Investigate 1, then roll 2D. If you roll 2, you must take the Prisoner career in your next term.

Gained Admin-1. Avi might have got into other legal trouble too, in case anyone wants to connect with this event in some way.

(I mistyped the dice for the event consequences roll, so added a new roll to correct it)
In time Avi comes to experience each exit from jump as returning to a familiar place, and for one special world on the route, almost like returning home.
Last edited December 27, 2022 12:25 am

Rolls

Term 4, Merchant skill, Merchant Marine table - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Term 4, Merchant Marine survival (EDU 5+) - (2d6+1)

(63) + 1 = 10

Merchant event - (2d6)

(44) = 8

Event consequences: avoid prison (3+) - (2d)

() + 2 = 2

Event consequences: avoid prison (3+) - (2d6)

(33) = 6

Term 4, Merchant Marine advancement (INT 7+) - (2d6)

(45) = 9

Term 4, advancement skill, Personal Development table - (1d6)

(1) = 1

Term 4, aging effect - (2d6-4)

(14) - 4 = 1

Dec 21, 2022 8:03 pm
@geoffenzed I really like the idea of that life event linking our two characters. Meshing the timelines might be tough. It happened during Avi’s third term and Cas’s first. She did two additional terms (mustered out term three) so I think Avi would need to do five total terms? I think you’re on term four so maybe that’s okay?

I think Sycorax has the shooting covered. Hopefully he’ll kill anything before it gets to us.

I think we definitely need a pilot. Technically Cassia should’ve had this covered but I sort of nerfed her during character creation because I only rolled on the personal development table because I didn’t know what I was doing and apparently I’m bad at this.

Also, everyone has negative SOC which might be a problem if we want to talk ourselves out of a fight.
Dec 21, 2022 8:36 pm
@RogertheShrubber If the timeline doesn't work (and if the GM doesn't allow us to fudge it a bit) then it could still have been Avi's ship that Cas travelled on, a good way for them to have met even if it doesn't count as a connection.
Dec 21, 2022 8:59 pm
Would posit that a our pilot might be an NPC
Dec 21, 2022 9:01 pm
Abraham 'Avi' Vila, 295996, ex-Merchant Marine 3rd Officer, Age 38
Homeworld: Keramewa E8AA878-C Fl Ht
Skills: Electronics 0, Streetwise 0, Engineering 0, Drive 0, Broker 0, Steward 0, Persuade 0, Gunner 0, Science(Chemistry) 1, Mechanic 1, Athletics(Dex) 1, Vacc Suit 1, Admin 1, Flyer(Grav) 1, Astrogator 2
Posessions: Cr7000, Gun, 3 ship shares
[ +- ] Timeline

As his term ends and Avi ponders life outside the Merchant Marines, he gets news that Aga Lua, the world he has come to see as a second home over the last four years, has been red-zoned. There is conflict in the system, too dangerous for commercial trade, his ship will not be calling there this run.

The ship jumps; by the time it returns to n-space Avi has decided to volunteer for the Aga Luan Navy.
OOC:
Navy qualification has DM-2 for age 34 and DM-1 for second career.
Summary or Avi's short Navy career:

Enlisted in Aga Lua Foreign Legion and completed Navy basic training on a friendly world outside red zone. [Gained Gunner 0 skill]

Shipped out to Aga Lua system aboard a converted merchant ship. Somehow foiled an attempt to sabotage the jump. Made an enemy (the saboteur) who was released after the war.
OOC:
Event 9: You foil an attempted crime on board, such as mutiny, sabotage, smuggling or conspiracy. Gain an Enemy but also gain DM+2 to your next advancement roll in the Navy.
Placed in frozen watch for first mission aboard an in-system defence boat, by the time he was revived the conflict was over. A hard revival due to damaged cold storage casket resulted in muscle wastage. [STR-1]
(In the future Avi will sometimes use this event to explain his low strength, not mentioning that it was already very low before the accident.)

Promoted and served the remainder of the term operating a grav lifter as part of the rebuilding effort. [Gained Flyer(Grav) 1 skill]

Aga Lua orbits one star in a binary system. The conflict was with a world orbitng the far companion star. He still doesn't really understand the reason for the war, and while Aga Lua prevailed, the community and the places Avi knew best are gone.

He musters out and leaves Aga Lua to seek a new life as a Traveller.
Last edited December 27, 2022 12:27 am

Rolls

Term 5, Navy qualification (INT 6+) - (2d6-3)

(56) - 3 = 8

Term 5, Navy Engineer/Gunner survival (INT 6+) - (2d6)

(12) = 3

Term 5, Navy mishap - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Term 5, Navy event - (2d6)

(63) = 9

Term 5, Navy Engineer/Gunner advancement (EDU 6+), DM+2 from event - (2d6+3)

(46) + 3 = 13

Term 5, Navy advancement skill, Engineer/Gunner table - (1d6)

(6) = 6

Term 5, aging effect - (2d6-5)

(56) - 5 = 6

Mustering out, Merchant cash table x3 - (1d6, 1d6, 1d6)

1d6 : (2) = 2

1d6 : (1) = 1

1d6 : (1) = 1

Mustering out, Merchant benefits table x2, one DM+1 from term 3 event - (1d6+1, 1d6)

1d6+1 : (3) + 1 = 4

1d6 : (2) = 2

Mustering out, Navy benefits table x2 - (1d6, 1d6)

1d6 : (1) = 1

1d6 : (6) = 6

Dec 21, 2022 11:14 pm
As far as the timeline goes, you don't all have to be the same age. :)
Dec 22, 2022 12:18 am
I think the timelines mesh now. 18year old Cassia meets 30year old Avi during their first and third terms. About a decade later (a few years more for Cass a few less for Avi) they reunite after completing their third and fifth terms.

Now how do we meet this dangerous agent guru guy? Cassia suffered psychological trauma in deep space and Sycorax saw something weird out their so maybe she’d sought him out?
Dec 22, 2022 12:28 am
Sy is a budding self help guru. After leaving his clandestine field I envision him joining a monastery he may have been giving counsel on the side as a sort of self help guru. His nature as an agent in the intelligence community is likely, secret, but during that time he loved as an ascetic and probably had lots of clients calling in for guided meditation or an attentive ear.

Take your pick. Sy would attempt to help as he was able.
Dec 22, 2022 5:12 am
Attribute. DM
STR: 5. -1
DEX: 8
END: 7
INT: 8
EDU: 7
SOC: 5. -1

Background Skills: Electronics 0, Mechanics 0, Seafarer 0

Pre-Career: School of Hard Knocks (Traveller 2E Companion, pg 32)
Entry - Automatic (due to SOC 6-)

Skills: Streetwise 1, Melee 0, Athletics 0
Pre-Career Event: Major Partying - Carouse 1
Graduation (INT 7+)? No.
Last edited December 22, 2022 11:46 pm

Rolls

Attributes - (2d6)

(35) = 8

Attributes - (2d6)

(32) = 5

Attributes - (2d6)

(16) = 7

Attributes - (2d6)

(43) = 7

Attributes - (2d6)

(14) = 5

Attributes - (2d6)

(35) = 8

Secret Roll - (2d6)

(32) = 5

Previous was Event, this is graduation - (2d6)

(33) = 6

Dec 22, 2022 11:22 am
@rogertheshrubber

It occurs to me that having gone through medical school and studying advocacy Sy could have been the Therapist she was issued to help her with her feelings of isolation.

An attentive ear and someone who can guide through meditation can do wonders for a person with PTSD. Sy is an incredibly patient individual.
Dec 22, 2022 2:59 pm
Knighthawke's Homeworld

Because it might be important at some point, I'm generating my character's homeworld.

Name: Devros
Size: 5 (bit bigger than Mars with a Low Gravity (.45))
Atmosphere: 5 (thin)
Hydrographics: A (Waterworld)
World Temp.: 5 (Temperate)
Population: 2 (Hundreds )
Government: 3 (Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy)
* Rivals, Factions, Connections, Colonies: Notable Participating Democratic
Cultural Differences: 13 (Artistic – art and culture are highly prized. Aesthetic design is important in all artefacts produced on world.)
Law Level: 0 (No restrictions)
Starport: 4 (Class E - Frontier)
Tech Level: 9

Profile: Devros XXXX E55A230-9
Last edited December 22, 2022 10:01 pm

Rolls

Size - (2d6-2)

(25) - 2 = 5

Atmosphere ((2d6-7) + 5) - (2d6-2)

(43) - 2 = 5

Hydro (2d6-7)+5 - (2d6-2)

(66) - 2 = 10

Temp (2d6 -1 (atmos 5) - (2d6-1)

(15) - 1 = 5

Population - (2d6-2)

(31) - 2 = 2

Gov - (2d6-5)

(35) - 5 = 3

Rivals, Factions, etc... - (1d3)

(1) = 1

Faction Gov. - (2d6-5)

(34) - 5 = 2

Faction Strength - (2d6)

(35) = 8

Cultural (d66) - (1d6)

(1) = 1

Cultural - (1d6)

(3) = 3

Law Level - (2D-4)

() - 2 = -2

Starport (2d6 -2) - (2d6-2)

(33) - 2 = 4

Corsair Base 10+ - (2d6)

(16) = 7

Tech Level (1d +2 +1) - (1d6+3)

(6) + 3 = 9

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