Classic Traveller - More Character Creation

Today, I went ahaed and tried my hand at the character generation mini-game that is the Classic Traveller character generation rules. Inspired by some of the other bloggers that are doing the same, and also providing comments on my last post, I decided that I would also try my hand at making a bit of a backstory as well.

The character started off pretty decently. His name is Andrew Ward. I got the following stats in my initial rolls:



Strength 10
Dexterity 6
Endurance 6
Intelligence 8
Education 9
Social Standing 4





So, just from starting out, Andrew seems kind of like the Intelligent, Well Educated Jock. Maybe he was a decently skilled quarterback during his early days, before traveling beginning his travels around the universe and joining...

The Army!


My enlistment attempt succeeded and I was able to not only survive my first assignment, but was also commissioned and promoted. Andrew's early career looked pretty good. He initially picked up the following in his first skill acquisition, which added to Rifle 1 and SMG 1 that he gained from his rank.
+1 Education
1 Forward Observer
1 Vehicle (Wheeled Vehicle)
1 Leader

I imagine that he began his army career with a bang, getting promoted and leading a small squad of recon soldiers out of the back of a jeep. His education would be a vast help in dealing with command and his leadership skills made him a great group leader.



Andrew decided that the Army life was perfect for him, so he attempted reenlistment and was met with open arms. However, during his second term of service, he did not get a promotion. Ironically the reason for his lack of promotion during term 2 could be explained by the fact that on his first skill acquisition roll, he picked up Brawling 1 - perhaps a scuffle with a superior kept him held back this round.



But, Andrew was not to be kept down. He reenlisted again, survived, and this time, his leadership skills were well recognized. He was promoted to Major and acquired:


+1 Education
Tactics 1



Andrew's career was beginning to look quite lustrious. He had done a lot in a very short amout of time. He continued this excellent track record into his 4th term of service, where he was again promoted to Lt. Colonel and picked up:


Tactics 1
Blade Combat (Sword) 1



Getting on in years, and studying ancient battle plans for days at a time, Andrew began to experiment with the ancient fighting styles of Sun Tsu, the ancient Chinese Battle Tactician, Andrew even went as far as to pick up a Chinese Sword on the Black Market and begin training in it personally.



However, in Andrew's final term of service, he missed his chance at a promotion, but improved his leadership skill by 1. His troops loved him. But, Andrew was getting on in years and his somewhat bizarre tactical, and leadership style, meant that the top brass wasn't interested in keeping him around. Andrew failed to get into a 6th term.

Mustering out, Andrew received quite the benefits package - included were:


25,000 Credits (3 rolls on the Money Chart)


+1 Intel
Mid Psg
Gun SMG 1
+2 Edu

In the end (or, I guess, the beginning) Andrew finished his service at the still young age of 38 (or 42, I am not quite sure how to read the chart). He aged farely well as well, only losing 1 point in each of his physical scores of all his service terms. His final character stats (before game starts) were


Final Stats
Skills


Strength 9
Dexterity 5
Endurance 9
Intelligence 9
Education 13 (D)
Social Standing 4

Rifle 1
SMG 2
Forward Observer 1
Wheeled Vehicle 1
Leader 2
Brawling 1
Blade Combat Sword 1
Tactics 2
Mid PSG



I am really happy with how Lt. Colonel Andrew Ward turned out. His skills and his career path seem like they would make a very interesting character all around. I look forward to actually getting a chance to play Traveler. If I ever do, Andrew will have to be one of the characters that I try out.

First Impressions - Classic Traveller

As I mentioned yesterday, I have decided to expand the content on this website, so, I have been looking at systems other than D&D 4e to give them a try. I downloaded the free version of the Classic Traveller rules and decided to give their described method of character generation a try.

First of all, I have to say that I really like the look of the book. It does have a very classic feel (which makes sense since this is a classic game). I was also thrilled to find out that they actually have a set of solitaire rules inside the book (though I haven't found them yet). I had heard about the character generation process before trying it out, and that it can actually cause character death during the character generation process.

Well, they were right.

To put it quite simply, I made 2 characters following the rules to the letter, but foregoing the option that failing a survival check results in just a grave injury and taking the DEATH! result as a very serious one.

2 of my Marines died during character generation. It isn't a good time to be a marine apparently.

The third time around, I got some OK stats. After rolling, I picked up a decent Intelligence Score, but everything else was pretty average. So, I decided to see if I could become a Merchant. I was successful. I guess the best thing about this class is that both reenlistment and survival are both pretty easy checks to pass. I did pass them. Many, Many times. I made it to my 7th term of service actually (meaning that my character is now over the age of 45...), but the effects of aging were not kind to me, no, they were not kind at all.

I lost 5 Strength, 3 Dex, and 3 Endurance from aging. This was not pleasant. The skills I picked up thankfully helped to offset this a bit. I rolled primarily on the first chart, picking up some Strength, Dex, Endurance, and I also picked up the Skills: Steward, Vacc Suit, Streetwise, and Gunnery. I like the fact that I picked up Vacc Suit - That Combat Armor is looking quite nice right now... Unfortunately, the mustering out process was not very kind to me. I did get to roll 8 times (choosing to take 3 rolls on the cash, and 5 rolls on the benefits). I picked up only 26 K in Cr, and ended up with Low PsG twice, Blades Skills (with Broadswords) and an increase to education.

At this point, I am honestly not sure what half of this means, but I am pretty sure that I just generated a middle aged RPG Nerd who spent his life in space doing space walks and apparently not learning any relevant skills in the process. I think I will call him Ralph.

At least Ralph will be getting a nice bit of Retirement Pay.

I'll post up another character later when I get a chance to go through the whole process again. I find this terribly amusing since it is basically the total opposite of character creation in 4e. I will most likely try to get into the Marines again and die several times doing so.