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Post by raikenclw on Jun 20, 2017 23:15:13 GMT -5
Summer seems to have set in and things have gotten very quiet around here. Do you run any other games besides Traveller? Yep. Things are quiet. I've been clicking through that Classic Traveller Character Generator to which the OP provided a link for the past half-hour. It seems to have a definite preference for Army and Marine PCs. Merchants show up relatively seldom, Scouts are rare, Navy is very rare and Other showed up precisely one (1) time. I'm thinking the "Which Enlistment To Initially Seek" routine is a bit skewed. Also, I never saw Admin skill even once, a goodly percentage of the results receive ZERO skills and there are more than a few misspellings. Anyway . . . I've narrowed the possibilities down to four (4). Option One is a noble, while Options Two through Four received ships as mustering out benefits (the only random characters to garner such a boon). I also kept that solitary Other which got generated, not as a possible PC but (hopefully) as an NPC companion. I'm hoping the luck which was involved in that character making it through such a biased automatic generator will rub off.  NOTE: All four PC options originally had female names/gender but as a player (as opposed to GM) I prefer to play male PCs. ****************** OPTION ONE ***************************************** Merchant 1st Officer Sir Kyle Tamm A95B8B Age 46 7 terms Cr130,000 Skills: Auto Rifle-2, Bayonet-1, Bribery-1, Electronics-1, Jack-o-T-2, Pilot-1, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Low Passage, Low Passage, Low Passage, Low Passage Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Promoted to 2nd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Mandatory reenlistment for sixth term. Promoted to 1st Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. ******************* OPTION TWO ************************************* Scout Marvin Wen A77753 Age 46 7 terms Cr170,000 Skills: Air/Raft-1, Blade-1, Body Pistol-1, Electronics-1, Jack-o-T-1, Mechanical-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Scout Ship Service History: Attempted to enlist in Scouts. Enlistment accepted. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. ******************* OPTION THREE *********************************** Merchant Captain Cheng Colombo 983777 Age 46 7 terms Cr60,000 Skills: Blade-1, Electronics-2, Gunnery-1, Jack-o-T-3, Medical-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Rifle-1, Steward-2, Streetwise-1, Vacc Suit-3 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Free Trader, Free Trader, Free Trader Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Promoted to 2nd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Promoted to 1st Officer. Manditory reenlistment for seventh term. Promoted to Captain. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. ******************* OPTION FOUR *********************************** Scout Victor Jensen B88776 Age 46 7 terms Cr110,000 Skills: Electronics-1, Jack-o-T-1, Laser Carbine-3, Mechanical-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-2, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Low Passage, Scout Ship Service History: Attempted to enlist in Scouts. Enlistment accepted. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. ************* POSSIBLE NPC COMPANION ******************************** Freya Shin 978964 Age 34 4 terms Cr66,000 Skills: Auto Rifle-1, Electronics-1, Forgery-1, Mechanical-1, Streetwise-1 Benefits: Low Passage Service History: Attempted to enlist in Navy. Enlistment denied. Drafted into Other. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Denied reenlistment after fourth term. |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 21, 2017 0:08:20 GMT -5
Ok, so far that would be two players, if we can get one more interested in Traveller, I could start something up. Either a Free Trader or a Scout would be fine PC ships.
Those PCs you rolled all tend to higher number of terms, was that just you picking out high term PCs? Of course you need at LEAST 4 terms to get a Free Trader...
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 21, 2017 18:50:17 GMT -5
Ok, so far that would be two players, if we can get one more interested in Traveller, I could start something up. Either a Free Trader or a Scout would be fine PC ships. Those PCs you rolled all tend to higher number of terms, was that just you picking out high term PCs? Of course you need at LEAST 4 terms to get a Free Trader... Actually, the three I noted as PC Options are all 46 years old, each was in their service for seven terms and all were forced out by mandatory retirement. I started out by keeping my eye on just the service ID, looking for anything OTHER THAN Army or Marines. Whenever such a result came up - which wasn't often - I then actually looked at the remaining entries. Option One came up after about ten minutes of clicking and since s/he was a noble I decided s/he was a keeper. But after copying and pasting that one, I started keeping my eye on not just the service but whether or not the result had a "Benefits" line. If a given result had that line, I then stopped clicking long enough to see if one of the Benefits was a ship. That process gave me Options Two through Four. Freya Shin (NPC Other Companion) caught my eye because she was the only result which did NOT have a service ID. I only discovered that she was ex-Other by reading her Service History. The original text didn't even capitalize that Other notation. BTW, I find it interesting that the generator presents you with each result . . . even those which die during generation. |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 22, 2017 11:20:11 GMT -5
If you have the rules, I highly recommend rolling characters by hand. One thing is that by getting to choose the skill table to roll on, if you are close to Education 8+ or you are just one or two off getting a bonus to Survival, Commission, or Promotion, you can roll on the Personal Development table early, hoping to get the right characteristic boost. On mustering out of the Scouts or Merchant (assuming you made Captain) you can roll on the Material Benefits table until you get that ship, and then if you have any rolls left over, shoot for some cash.
But it's also worth noting the game is totally playable without the PCs having a ship...
One of the things that makes me interested in the old school games is rolling up characters, and playing what you got, rather than trying to create the character you want...
I do encourage folks to roll up a few characters and pick the one they like best.
But that's me, a player who has something more specific they want can still work out.
The generator spits out the characters who died in service because Traveller tradition was you handed those to the GM to use as NPCs.
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Post by ffilz on Jun 22, 2017 12:48:11 GMT -5
Incidentally, I've updated my web page with some more Classic Traveller blog links, and a "must read" list of several of Christopher Kubasik's posts that I think will help players understand where I'm coming from.
I just want people to understand my gaming style a bit before they jump in and we have crossed assumptions.
Frank
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Post by Admin Pete on Jun 22, 2017 13:25:28 GMT -5
Incidentally, I've updated my web page with some more Classic Traveller blog links, and a "must read" list of several of Christopher Kubasik's posts that I think will help players understand where I'm coming from. I just want people to understand my gaming style a bit before they jump in and we have crossed assumptions. Frank Wow, that is a shipload of information! |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 17:27:37 GMT -5
Incidentally, I've updated my web page with some more Classic Traveller blog links, and a "must read" list of several of Christopher Kubasik's posts that I think will help players understand where I'm coming from. I just want people to understand my gaming style a bit before they jump in and we have crossed assumptions. Frank Wow, that is a shipload of information! Amen! |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 22, 2017 17:39:31 GMT -5
Wow, that is a shipload of information! Amen! It's a bit easier to take in when you've been reading it all along... Which is why I tried to call out a few posts for players to read, but if you are interested in old school play (Christopher is also doing LotFP), there's a lot of good analysis in his blog. And he regularly calls out others who have been looking at the old school games. Frank |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 19:25:02 GMT -5
. . . you can roll on the Personal Development table early, hoping to get the right characteristic boost . . . I think this is what the generator is attempting to simulate, with results that don't have any skills. On mustering out of the Scouts or Merchant (assuming you made Captain) you can roll on the Material Benefits table until you get that ship, and then if you have any rolls left over, shoot for some cash. That's a ~17% chance on each Benefit table roll, undoubtedly why the generator only gave me three results which got a ship. It does mean that Captain Colombo is a VERY lucky man, since he got this result three (3) times (leaving him only 10 20 years of payments to go before full ownership). Handrolling enough characters to get that result (when you allow that this happens at the end of the creation process and that I'm not doing it as part of a group of players around a real table) strikes me as deadly boring. But it's also worth noting the game is totally playable without the PCs having a ship... <raises eyebrow sharply> We are going to explore two subsectors without a ship of our own? The only way I can see that working is if we're travelling on a ship belonging to somebody else. I don't know about others, but I much prefer travelling on a ship under the PCs' sole control. One of the things that makes me interested in the old school games is rolling up characters, and playing what you got, rather than trying to create the character you want... In my experience, not being able to "create the character you want" leads to little if any investment in the game. "Your" character is disposable, so why should you care about the game? While this is tolerable around a table (with all the other ways such social interaction can support good play), in a PbP game players NEED to really like their own characters, if the game is to survive the initial scene. I do encourage folks to roll up a few characters and pick the one they like best. But that's me, a player who has something more specific they want can still work out. I parse the above to mean that a player who doesn't like what the dice give him/her can appeal to the GM for adjustments. The generator spits out the characters who died in service because Traveller tradition was you handed those to the GM to use as NPCs. True. I just found it odd that the generator noted them as having died (failed the survival roll) rather than involuntarily mustering out. That is, it is strictly reporting what the [virtual] dice rolls gave. As such, it's no different from physically rolling them, just a lot quicker. |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 19:32:01 GMT -5
NOTE: My very first experience of PbP play was by taking over an NPC which the existing PC group had just captured. But I was given free rein by the game's GM to come up with all the details about the character myself. It was only his [unfortunate] beginning situation that was forced upon me.
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 20:37:11 GMT -5
I've been thinking about which of the above PC Options to take.
If it's going to be a small central cast - my PC plus one or two others - I'll likely take Scout Victor Jensen (Option Four). A Scout ship can be run with a very small crew, plus Jensen is a bit better fit for the Pilot/Navigator slot than Scout Marvin Wen (Option Two). Although I'll probably miss that extra Cr60,000 which Wen has to spend.
If it's going to be a larger cast - perhaps filled out using NPCs - then I'll go with Captain Cheng Columbo. His Free Trader has enough room that we could have a Firefly-like cast; e.g. enough characters that we can have internal party drama, as portrayed in that universe.
In either case - but particularly if I'm playing Columbo - I would really like to have Freya Shin in the party. Given his 3 Endurance, Columbo seriously needs backup in dangerous face-to-face situations.
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 20:53:11 GMT -5
I've been reading your linked documents.
If Other gets doubled skill rolls per term like Scouts, can I give Freya four (4) more skills? Since I want to use her sorta as a bodyguard, can these be personal combat skills?
On the Other hand, since the Rogue career in T4 (the only rules set I have ready to hand) has a "Spacecraft" entry, can one of Freya's new skills be Engineer? That lets her be a really useful companion for any of my PCs Options.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 22, 2017 21:29:15 GMT -5
raikenclw , I like "M erchant Captain Cheng Colombo" Merchant Captain Raquel Quinn 977985 Age 467 terms Cr100,000 Skills: Sword-2, Streetwise-2, Pilot-5, Laser Rifle-2, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Free Trader, Free Trader, Low Passage, Low Passage, Low Passage, Sword, Laser Rifle Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Promoted to 2nd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Promoted to 1st Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Promoted to Captain. Manditory reenlistment for fifth term. Promoted to Captain. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. NPC Number 1Navy Lt Cmdr Elena Rizzo 2779A8 Age 42 6 terms Cr60,000 Skills: Body Pistol-1, Electronics-1, Engineering-3, Foil-3, Mechanical-1, Ship's Boat-1, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 6,000/yr Retirement Pay, Low Passage, Low Passage Service History: Attempted to enlist in Navy. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Promoted to Lieutenant. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Promoted to Lt Cmdr. Retired after sixth term. NPC Number 2Hugo Yang 674D24 Age 46 7 terms Cr75,000 Skills: Brawling-2, Bribery-1, Foil-2, Gambling-1, SMG-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, High Passage Service History: Attempted to enlist in Scouts. Enlistment denied. Drafted into other. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Manditory reenlistment for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Mandatory retirement after seventh term. NPC Number 3Merchant 1st Officer Ali Esposito 6126CA Age 34 4 terms Cr60,000 Skills: Electronics-1, Gunnery-3, Mechanical-1, Medical-1, Pilot-1, Shotgun-1, Admin 2, Streetwise-1, Sword-2 Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Promoted to 2nd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Promoted to 1st Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Denied reenlistment after fourth term. NPC Number 4Merchant 3rd Officer Jacob Moreau 5459A5 Age 42 6 terms Cr75,000 Skills: Broadsword-2, Gunnery-4, Pilot-1, Streetwise-3, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 6,000/yr Retirement Pay, Low Passage, Low Passage, Broadsword Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Promoted to 3rd Officer. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Denied reenlistment after sixth term. NPC Number 5Navy Lt Cmdr Dame Yan Hoffmann 552BDB Age 46 7 terms Cr90,000 Skills: Auto Pistol-1, Dagger-1, Electronics-2, Engineering-3, Gunnery-2, Jack-o-T-1, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, High Passage, High Passage, High Passage, Low Passage, Travellers' Aid Society Service History: Attempted to enlist in Navy. Enlistment accepted. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Commissioned during third term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term. Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term. Promoted to Lieutenant. Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term. Promoted to Lt Cmdr. Mandatory retirement after seventh term.
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 21:47:40 GMT -5
raikenclw , I like " Merchant Captain Cheng Colombo" I'm warming to him as well. That 3 Endurance could be interesting to play. Perhaps he was - until recently - a fairly vigorous man, but was forced to retire after recovering (sorta) from a serious illness, one which essentially destroyed his health. Now he's facing a very long climb back to full health (e.g. three months before he can make his first roll to increase Endurance by a point, then assuming he makes it four months before he can roll again, then five months, etc). Merchant Captain Raquel Quinn 977985 Age 467 terms Cr100,000 Skills: Sword-2, Streetwise-2, Pilot-5, Laser Rifle-2, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Free Trader, Free Trader, Low Passage, Low Passage, Low Passage, Sword, Laser Rifle Hey! Maybe the Free Trader can be the same ship, with Colombo and Quinn jointly owning it, free of debt. |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 22, 2017 22:06:28 GMT -5
raikenclw , I like " Merchant Captain Cheng Colombo" I'm warming to him as well. That 3 Endurance could be interesting to play. Perhaps he was - until recently - a fairly vigorous man, but was forced to retire after recovering (sorta) from a serious illness, one which essentially destroyed his health. Now he's facing a very long climb back to full health (e.g. three months before he can make his first roll to increase Endurance by a point, then assuming he makes it four months before he can roll again, then five months, etc). Merchant Captain Raquel Quinn 977985 Age 467 terms Cr100,000 Skills: Sword-2, Streetwise-2, Pilot-5, Laser Rifle-2, Vacc Suit-1 Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Free Trader, Free Trader, Low Passage, Low Passage, Low Passage, Sword, Laser Rifle Hey! Maybe the Free Trader can be the same ship, with Colombo and Quinn jointly owning it, free of debt. Sounds good to me if ffilz is cool with it and between our two posts above ffilz could pick a pretty good crew with the bases covered. |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 22:14:14 GMT -5
Sounds good to me if ffilz is cool with it and between our two posts above ffilz could pick a pretty good crew with the bases covered. Possible Ship Name (inspired by the booth I usually sit in at the local Long John Silvers . . .): The One That Got Away |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 22, 2017 22:52:22 GMT -5
Everyone [except NPC #3] gets a pension, so we should at least be able to keep ourselves supplied with beans and bacon. |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 5:38:21 GMT -5
Hey ffilz, could you run it with just the two of us and maybe someone else will join in later? |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 23, 2017 13:47:51 GMT -5
Hmm, so this is going off in a direction I didn't expect... I appreciate the enthusiasm, but one problem is that you charged off generating characters before we had a discussion about hopes and expectations... So some responses to the above flurry... It's just implementing 1977 rules. I think that it implements 2 skills per term for Scouts, but may give Scouts 3 skills on the first term (I looked at several automated chargen and can't keep straight which had which changes from the pure 1977 rules - 2 skills per term for Scouts was added in the 1981 edition). In 1977 there wasn't even an optional rule for failed survival roll forcing mustering out (that first appeared in Book 4 - Mercenary). Well one way to handle that is to seek to acquire a ship as soon as possible. It's also possible to have a patron who provides a ship under conditions which make it effectively under PC control. But I feel like there's also an interesting game from bumming rides, but I get that may not be of interest to all players. Sure, you need to be interested and invested in the character. But note that we're playing a dangerous game. Death and utter failure are very real possibilities in Classic Traveller. I believe (actually know) it's possible to find a character interesting that has just a few terms under their belt. In @eris's games I'm running a 2 term Navy character and a 4 term iplomat (the diplomat only has 3 skills because I kept rolling on the personal development table hoping to get some needed stat increases). In makofan 's game I ran a 4 term Noble. I don't have a problem with rolling up a few PCs and picking the one that seems the most interesting, but parking on an automated chargen and hitting "generate" until one pops up that you like seems to blow away the game, and in fact, you aren't even playing the character generation mini-game because you aren't sitting there with a really nice set of stats and hoping you can get survive just one more term to get that skill you really want. Trust me, it's a fun mini-game if actually played. I offer the online generator for those players who don't have the rules at hand, but the hope is still that you generate a few surviving characters and pick one of them. What is really necessary for a successful Play by Post campaign is to have players who are committed to playing the game at hand. So this defeats one of the things that makes a Free Trader campaign interesting. Not having to worry about how to make those loan payments really changes the character of the game. Sure, it's possible to roll a character than gets a Free Trader free and clear, but that takes rolling 5 sixes out of probably at most 10 mustering out rolls (in 1981, a Captain gets 3 bonus mustering out rolls - you could get more than 10 mustering out rolls if you rolled boxcars for re-enlistment after term-7). Now I'd be happy to kick off with two players, I know the two of you are willing to be very active from your play in @eris's game. With two players, the best bet would actually be to shoot for a Scout ship. Ideally I'd like you to try rolling up PCs by hand, but if that doesn't work, what I'd suggest is you each use the generator and roll until you hit a Scout with a ship. THEN roll up to 4 characters that survive after that, whatever they are. Post all of those characters, and decide which Scout you will use. Then the other picks their favorite character (possibly from both players sets) and then each pick an "alternate" who will be nominally an NPC. That would give you a nice Scout crew and since a Scout ship has 4 staterooms, you technically could expand up to 8 characters, or hold a stateroom or two for passengers. Now if you REALLY want to play a just barely surviving Free Trader game, you could do the same scheme but look for a character with a Free Trader first. Frank |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 14:18:05 GMT -5
I will roll them up this evening and will post them this evening.  Happy to do it anyway that you want!  |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 23, 2017 15:16:49 GMT -5
I will roll them up this evening and will post them this evening. Happy to do it anyway that you want! Cool, and I hope I'm not coming across as a curmudgeon... I know there's a lot of material on my website, and I need to re-organize stuff, but I really do encourage reading at least one of Christopher Kubasik's blog posts. I wish I could point to a single one that captures what players need the most. Beyond that my House Rules are good reading. The map at the top of the page has plenty to give an idea of the starting area of play. Once we have characters I will indicate a starting world and provide some rumors/adventure hooks. One advantage if you are able to roll characters by hand is that you can incorporate the actual rolls into writing a character background (why did he just barely make the survival roll?). There is the downloadable Java one that does let you walk through chargen and get all that detail if you don't have the books. Frank |
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Post by ffilz on Jun 23, 2017 16:33:02 GMT -5
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 18:29:51 GMT -5
I will roll them up this evening and will post them this evening. Happy to do it anyway that you want! Cool, and I hope I'm not coming across as a curmudgeon... Not at all, you are the one running the game. I am fine with it. |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 18:37:01 GMT -5
Now I'd be happy to kick off with two players, I know the two of you are willing to be very active from your play in @eris's game. With two players, the best bet would actually be to shoot for a Scout ship. Ideally I'd like you to try rolling up PCs by hand, but if that doesn't work, what I'd suggest is you each use the generator and roll until you hit a Scout with a ship. THEN roll up to 4 characters that survive after that, whatever they are. Post all of those characters, and decide which Scout you will use. Then the other picks their favorite character (possibly from both players sets) and then each pick an "alternate" who will be nominally an NPC. That would give you a nice Scout crew and since a Scout ship has 4 staterooms, you technically could expand up to 8 characters, or hold a stateroom or two for passengers. OK I hand rolled until I got a Scout with a ship. (I tried the downloadable Java, but after 25 dead at 1st enlistment in a row for scouts I gave it up) Scout Rockie Kana 778882 Age 46Skills: Pilot-3, Gunnery-2, Jack-o-T-2, Vacc Suit-1, Navigation-2, Mechanical-1, Carbine-1, Computer-2, Shotgun-1 Benefits: CR8000/YR Retirement Pay, Carbine, Shotgun, Scout Ship, Low Psg, Low Psg Cash: CR100,000 Service History: Enlisted in Scouts Survived reenlisted for second term reenlisted for third term reenlisted for fourth term reenlisted for fifth term reenlisted for sixth term reenlisted for seventh term Mandatory retirement after seventh term I wish that the scouts gave you the option of a blade, but it doesn't. Now I roll up the first four that survive next with the generator.
NPC'sMarine Lieutenant Judas Wagner 8A8A83 Age 22
1 term Cr20,000 Skills: Cutlass-1, Brawling-2, Revolver-1, Gambling-1 Service History: Attempted to enlist in Marines. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Denied reenlistment after first term. Merchant 4th Officer Ananya Yamazaki 656777 Age 26
2 terms Cr30,000 Skills: Vacc Suit-1, Blade-1, Pilot-1, Bribery-1 Service History: Attempted to enlist in Merchants. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Chose not to reenlist after second term. Army Captain Jack Fontana A79756 Age 30
3 terms Skills: Brawling-2, Fwd Obsvr-1, Gambling-1, Rifle-1, SMG-1, Broadsword-1, Admin-2 Benefits: High Passage, High Passage, High Passage, SMG Service History: Attempted to enlist in Army. Enlistment accepted. Commissioned during first term of service. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Promoted to Captain. Denied reenlistment after third term. Petra Ota 67A9B5 Age 30
3 terms Cr150,000 Skills: Brawling-1, Bribery-1, Forgery-1, Gambling-1 Benefits: High Passage Service History: Attempted to enlist in Navy. Enlistment denied. Drafted into other. Voluntarily reenlisted for second term. Voluntarily reenlisted for third term. Denied reenlistment after third term. |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 23, 2017 20:17:17 GMT -5
Hmm, so this is going off in a direction I didn't expect... That is a fair description of almost every game I ever ran.  Sure, you need to be interested and invested in the character. But note that we're playing a dangerous game. Death and utter failure are very real possibilities in Classic Traveller. It sounds like you follow the school of allowing the points from the first wound received in a fight to roll over to other stats until all points have been applied - the First Blood rule - rather than the normal method of applying each die of damage applies against a single stat, with any excess points wasted. The above is what I did in the CT games I ran and I found it relatively rare for characters to die. Of course, unlike D&D players, Traveller players tend to do sensible things like take cover and fire blindly around corners on full auto to properly discourage the Opposition. Now, if you use the First Blood rule for every hit . . . then, yeah, mortality rates are going to soar. I don't have a problem with rolling up a few PCs and picking the one that seems the most interesting, but parking on an automated chargen and hitting "generate" until one pops up that you like seems to blow away the game, Since the generator appears faithful to the rules - except possibly for a bias toward Army and Marines, as I noted - using it for half an hour is no different from playing the mini-game manually for a day. It's just not boring. What makes that mini-game NOT boring - at least for me - is doing it in company with other players. I've actually used the events that happen as ways to connect with other PCs. But doing it manually alone (which I've done many times as GM) is - as I said - bloody boring. [Conversely, for me designing ships alone is always interesting.] So this defeats one of the things that makes a Free Trader campaign interesting. Not having to worry about how to make those loan payments really changes the character of the game. Not really. The ship owners still have to worry about food, fuel, landing/docking fees, bribes, salaries for NPC crew, routine maintenance, NON-routine maintenance, annual maintenance, replacing expended sand canisters and missiles, etc, etc, etc. And if the ship owners are not safely engaging in routine commerce (because they DON'T have to pay that big mortgage), then they leave themselves vulnerable to all that such adventurism implies. For example, a Patron might charter the ship to take him to East Bum F**k, then skip out on paying the owners what they're owed. Now, they don't have enough cash to fill the jump tanks and must take on whatever local work presents itself . . . And actually - thinking about it further - having their Free Trader finally paid off would be excellent motivation for co-Captains Columbo and Quinn to risk adventuring out into the unknown deeps of two unexplored subsectors. Sure, it's possible to roll a character than gets a Free Trader free and clear, but that takes rolling 5 sixes out of . . . Which happened, only with two different Merchant Captain PCs. Mighty Darci and I proposed that we be allowed to combine these roll results, making our PCs co-captains of the same ship. There is nothing in the rules which explicitly states that a Referee can't do this. use the generator and roll until you hit a Scout with a ship. THEN roll up to 4 characters that survive after that, whatever they are. Post all of those characters, and decide which Scout you will use. Then the other picks their favorite character (possibly from both players sets) and then each pick an "alternate" who will be nominally an NPC. I'm having difficulty parsing the above. It seems possible that we could both pick the same result, maybe even twice. Would that make us twins (or quadruplets)? |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 21:31:13 GMT -5
Hey ffilz , I am on board with raikenclw 's proposal with the free trader if you allow or if not then I am all in with the scout ship. Either way I am ready to have some more fun. I do agree with the rolling up characters being more fun in the same room than by yourself. Just for the record, if you just assign a character for me to play that is also fine. I just want to play and I can play anything. |
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 23, 2017 22:30:14 GMT -5
************* PC **************************************
Scout Sir Adam Suzuki 94778B Age 46
7 terms Cr100,000
Skills: Air/Raft-2, Bayonet-1, Electronics-1, Gunnery-1, Jack-o-T-4, Mechanical-1, Navigation-3, Pilot-1, SMG-2, Vacc Suit-1, Wheeled Vehicle-2
Benefits: 8,000/yr Retirement Pay, Scout Ship
Service History:
Attempted to enlist in Scouts.
Enlistment accepted.
Voluntarily reenlisted for second term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for third term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for sixth term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for seventh term.
Mandatory retirement after seventh term.
NOTE: I would really like to flip Suzuki's Dexterity and Endurance stats, because I was already imagining dealing with a low Endurance with Captain Columbo.
************************ NPC ONE *****************************
Navy Starman Finn Lee 5A4B36 Age 26
2 terms Cr35,000
Skills: Sword-1, Vacc Suit-1
Service History:
Attempted to enlist in Merchants.
Enlistment denied.
Drafted into navy.
Voluntarily reenlisted for second term.
Denied reenlistment after second term.
**************** NPC TWO ************************
Navy Starman Alice Robinson 6A3995 Age 30
3 terms Cr130,000
Skills: Electronics-2, Jack-o-T-1, Vacc Suit-1
Service History:
Attempted to enlist in Navy.
Enlistment accepted.
Voluntarily reenlisted for second term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for third term.
Denied reenlistment after third term.
***************** NPC THREE *************************
Navy Lt Cmdr Daniel Evans 399AD8 Age 38
5 terms Cr32,000
Skills: Electronics-1, Engineering-2, Foil-1, Gunnery-2, Mechanical-1, Vacc Suit-2
Benefits: 4,000/yr Retirement Pay
Service History:
Attempted to enlist in Navy.
Enlistment accepted.
Voluntarily reenlisted for second term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for third term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for fourth term.
Commissioned during fourth term of service.
Promoted to Lieutenant.
Voluntarily reenlisted for fifth term.
Promoted to Lt Cmdr.
Retired after fifth term.
**************** NPC FOUR *********************
Merchant 3rd Officer Chloe Rodríguez 84B979 Age 30
3 terms Cr70,000
Skills: Electronics-1, Pike-1, Pilot-1, Rifle-1
Service History:
Attempted to enlist in Merchants.
Enlistment accepted.
Commissioned during first term of service.
Voluntarily reenlisted for second term.
Voluntarily reenlisted for third term.
Promoted to 3rd Officer.
Denied reenlistment after third term.
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Post by raikenclw on Jun 23, 2017 22:50:18 GMT -5
So . . . .
I make our Scout/Courier crew out to be Scout Rockie Kana (Mighty Darci's PC) as Pilot, Navy Lt Cmdr Daniel Evans (my NPC 3) as Engineer, Scout Sir Adam Suzuki (my PC) as Gunner/Driver and . . .
I'm frankly not sure who should be our fourth crewman.
[We only get four to start with, right?]
Other Petra Ota has Bribery and Captain Jack Fontana has Admin (and that name! so many possible "Captain Jack" jokes!), making either a good Face character.
Meanwhile, Merchant 3rd Officer Chloe Rodriguez would give us a third person capable of Piloting the ship.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 23, 2017 23:29:01 GMT -5
That would give you a nice Scout crew and since a Scout ship has 4 staterooms, you technically could expand up to 8 characters, or hold a stateroom or two for passengers. I propose that we go with six characters and hold one stateroom open. So . . . . I make our Scout/Courier crew out to be Scout Rockie Kana (Mighty Darci's PC) as Pilot, Navy Lt Cmdr Daniel Evans (my NPC 3) as Engineer, Scout Sir Adam Suzuki (my PC) as Gunner/Driver and . . . I'm frankly not sure who should be our fourth crewman. [We only get four to start with, right?] Other P etra Ota has Bribery and Captain Jack Fontana has Admin (and that name! so many possible "Captain Jack" jokes!), making either a good Face character. Meanwhile, Merchant 3rd Officer Chloe Rodriguez would give us a third person capable of Piloting the ship. So if we can have six then the six in bold is what I propose. If we can only have four then I would pick Captain Jack as the fourth. |
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Post by Jame Rowe on Jun 25, 2017 18:22:24 GMT -5
Hey, I love Traveller! I even met Marc Miller!
I would like more info so I can decide.
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Happy to do it anyway that you want! 
