NPC CC - Hacker

Notes and creation for the hacker NPC

Might be called Abby, might go by the handle BunBun [ref]

Rolling for Characteristics. Not beholden to them if they don't fit the character requirements. (INT and Computers)

Those are high and a bit boring...

Rolling again to see how it compares.

Entire baseline is higher, but at least roll 2 has some low stats.

I think I will mostly ignore these, but still go through some of the rest of the process, only using what I need.

We need University Education (possibly to the level of taking it no matter what the dice say?)

INT 11 +1
EDU 8 +0

(3 Background Skills to be decided as they come up)

University

Whoops missed a whole die from the above roll.

Still a miss.

That tells us something. :)

Given the lack of objections (WhtKnt can still weigh in if we missed them) we can work on fleshing out this hacker a bit.

Is this person also the one who stays with the ship and guards it? It does not seem like it. We can play that by ear at each place we land and leave the ship, you can always hire local guards if you don't trust the law, and --as you will soon discover-- it is hard to get into other peoples' ships.

To see if it provided value I started the normal Character Creation process for this NPC (the book does not provide much for making NPCs). I quickly ran into problems since the system is meant to be random, and is not meant for making specific characters. We need this character to fit our established requirements, so I decided to drop the dice after two attempts at two things...

Both sets of starting Characteristics are probably too 'impressive' for what we are wanting (I am not making a GMPC). I think it is enough to say she has high INT and moderate EDU, and high Computers to fit the bill.

The question is, how high? If we take that 11 INT and 8 EDU as starting values, and assume a focus on them and Computers (or the Crew's missing Electronics, like Sensors and Comms, too) we could assume, over three or four Terms, that she has upped that EDU to 9 for a +1, and upped that INT to 13 or 14 for a +2? Do we want to go the whole way and bump her up to 15 INT? I don't think so, but I don't mind. Likewise, her starting Computers could be 4, but 3 is also a good number, especially if she is also high in Sensors and Comms. She can get better at those as we play and she learns.

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I assumed she went to University. When the first Entry dice roll appeared to say she failed to get in, I, at first, thought to try again each next Term, but then thought it might be more interesting to have her not have official EDUcation, and to be 'self-taught'. After I noticed that I miss-rolled, I found myself hoping for the 2 on the second die to enforce that. :)

I decided not to risk rolling for her first Career, I don't see Drifter adding enough to this character to be a thing to consider, and the Draft could be interesting, but there is risk of Marines --or something-- that does not fit what we have/want. The random tables could also end up giving her Guns and Melee rather than Computers, which would mean we have to fire her and hire someone else.

My questions are:

• How old is she? How many Terms?

• Was she maybe drafted? In which case it would be Navy to get the right skill mix. I don't think so, but we can make that true if we all want.

• If not: Did she do University anyway? That will increase her EDU --which is used for some Computer stuff-- from +1 to +2. The dice said no, but we can change that.

• If not: What Career put her on the path we find her on?

• Did she become an Agent (Intelligence of Corporate could both be part of a hacktivist group if we don't want her to be government). This could be how she met Ronny?

• Was she a Citizen (Corporate or Worker both make sense and provide the skills)? Nothing overly interesting here, but it does lead to a wide-eyed naivety as she is seeing the real world for the first time.

• Was she an Entertainer (any of the Specialisations work as a 'streamer' ('games' for Artist, 'tech' for Journalist; Performer does not provide the Skills we need, but we can fudge that since she is 'performing with Computers')). This is a surprisingly good fit, and her being a 'celebrity' could add some fun complications later.

We can look at other Careers, and NPCs do not need to follow these rules closely. Scholar could provide the needed stats, but seems boring for this characters (a better fit for the introverted hacker). Noble could be interesting but does not add anything. Any other suggestions?

We can find out details later, even if they change these 'facts'.

We can find out more about her abilities as we need things.

I meant guard more in the sense of, letting us know if anything is going on. Not physically being a guard.

Perhaps scout-courier would be a good profession? To get message to and from spies or other operatives.

Other than that, I don't really have any suggestions. I didn't realize it had to be that detailed. ;)

* I'ld say younger than the rest of us. 3 terms max
* I like the idea of being self-taught. In my mind she is one of those 'kids with skills'. Hacking into government stuff for fun, not doing any real damage. But she got caught and instead of throwing her in jail, she got a job offer where she could improve her skills. this could have been navy. But i Guess the rulebook doesn't work that way :)

I noticed that ambiguity a while after I posted. I meant to follow, up explaining that what I meant was that Abby did not sound like the sort to 'defend' the ship, or 'fight off' enemies. Yes, she is sorta perfect to be there and watch for threats and let you know.
But, I assume, acting only in 'cyber', not being part of the Scout Services? She did not feel like an explorer.
OK. She was your girlfriend, so I wanted to give you the chance to weigh in on what she was like. But I can leave it ambiguous and we can find out as it comes up in play.
It does not, but I was looking for a way to work out stats for when they come up, and this was the only way to do it. I gave up on doing more than I have, so it only sets the baseline and we don't need to keep it.

I am bumping up against the heavier mechanics of this system. I am also having more trouble with the TLs. Her personal computer is only able to run one program at a time, it takes two TLs to get from 1 to two programs (or programs that take two bandwidth) and the tables of software seem to be a bit 'sucked from the thumb'. In the 70s and 80s when this game was made, computers could only do one thing at a time, and really special things were needed to multi-task (Novel Netware, anyone?). But we are many leagues above TL7, and those seem like they need to be updated. I can still make it work under the rules, with the assumptions that TL10 things are around the corner, even if they are not widely available to the public.

In a less mechanical system I would just handwave it, or not have NPCs roll at all. But Traveller intends rolling when NPCs act.

Cool. 30ish seems good.
It gives her flexibility in what she can do.
I don't think the rulebook need apply much to NPCs.
Maybe. We can find out as her story unravels.

Sounds good, Airshark :)
Hmm, you're right. I didn't think about that. Maybe not so much scout then.
Honestly, all your ideas seem good to me. I will adjust Ronny's background to fit it. He could be an avid stream watcher if need be ;)

@vagueGM; Does the NPC have to play by the same rules as the PCs? For example, we (or you) could just take 10 points and divide them among any skills we think Abby might have. Like start with a career base and then add 2 computers, 1 comms, 2 science, ...

And would we have to roll her skill checks or is that something you would do?

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I used this NPC generator to create one
This was the result (after a few tweaks). How about something like that?
My inputs were: first career = performer (journalist), age 30-33, desired skills: computer, comms and science (linguistics)

Ronny is the PC. I would rather adjust the NPC to fit. So I did try to pick things that I thought would fit what we had.
He does not actually need to have been a fan, or into that stuff, before or after. As a Spy, maybe he found her fame useful, maybe that changed later and became a real relationship, and maybe that relationship became a problem for his work? Maybe, after the breakup, you still watched "just to check she was alright"? If so: does she know that it started as a 'fake relationship'?

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Yes. I think some fame on her part is what I will go with for now. We can layer in some 'underground' elements as they come up.

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No. But the more we will see of them, the more they need to still be viable/valid. I was wanting to get an idea of what sort of numbers we might be looking at.

The CC process also does a lot to define the personality, but I think I have enough from what I did, and what I rejected (sometimes the choice we reject are more telling than the ones we agree with).
Yeah. That is what I will do. I am loath to have her have INT 15 and Computers 4 since that is the best numbers any of the PCs have, and most are lower, so I think I will step that down a rung or two. I might run a poll to get the exact number once we have met her and when we need to see her do her thing.
That could be useful for more throwaway NPCs. I will bookmark it for later evaluation.
If we have a situation where her Skills need to be rolled, we would decide in the moment. I have no problem with you guys rolling for her, especially if she is directly involved in what you are doing, but also might not want to wait for a player to get the message that a NPC roll is needed before they can proceed.

As in most games, I will probably try to reduce the total amount of rolls, and this will be even more apparent with NPCs. Why roll if all the potential outcomes are not going to make the story more interesting?

I like that idea of some fame :)
This not so much. How about my superior put us together for a job. Even if she wasn't an operative, I assume sometimes they bring in external aids. And this developed into a relationship.
Check!

Absolutely. We can leave it at "it started as work, then become something more".

Interesting direction.
I like this too!

And what about strange/inconvenient/exotic animal? Is it still on plate? :)

"Ronny what was the spices of your ex girlfriend's animal? I always... forget that name! But I will never forget your story... when it has..."

And: if the animal is still actual, she probably should have Animal handling skill too - you never know when it may be handy to have character with good hand for animals... :)
Edit: i.e. Having King Kong as our group's son in law... will not hurt;)