Classic Traveller: Making a Character

 

I thought I would take some time with Book 1 of Classic Traveller and roll up a character.

Here are the basic stats I rolled for this character:

Name: Amery Hayden

UPP: B94898
Strength 11

Dexterity 9

Endurance 4

Intelligence 8

Education 9

Social Standing 8

Based on these stats, I think this character could make it into the Marines, with a +3 die modification (DM in Traveller—something that’ll take awhile to remember). I need to roll 9 or higher for the Marines, but with the DM I can roll as low as a 6 and still be successful.

And I rolled an 8! With the +3 we have a new Marine. Now for the survival throw with no DM because this fellow’s Endurance is atrocious (I imagine an individual who is very strong, but perhaps a bit heavier set and having more difficulty with long term aerobic exertion)…

Whew! I rolled an 8. This Marine survived their first term. Now let’s see if he can earn a commission. We get a +1 DM for his education score.

And I roll another 8 and with that +1 we have a success! Rank 1 for Marines is Lieutenant. Let’s see if he can get promoted as well during the first term of service. We get a +1 DM because we don’t have terrible Social Standing…No promotion with a roll of 7. 

Now for the reenlistment throw. No DMs allowed…and we roll a 5 and need to muster out. So we are a 22 year-old lieutenant, with eligibility for 3 skills based on our first term or service and our commission, so let’s roll for those. I’ll choose the Service Skills table first and see what Lt Hayden learned…blade combat. Since we receive Cutlass-1 automatically from being a Marine, and we have requisite Strength score to get bonuses for using it, we’ll take this skill and increase to Cutlass-2. Next we’ll try the Advanced Education Table because we might as well leverage our above average education, right? The Leader skill. Appropriate for an officer. I think we’ll use the last roll on the restricted Advanced Education Table too…Medical. Interesting. We also get Revolver-1 for being a Marine Lieutenant. 

We get 2 rolls on the mustering out benefits table. On the Benefits table I roll a +1 Education, so Lt Hayden is quite studious. I personally prefer skills over the severance pay—you can always make more money, but it’s hard to learn things. Hayden seems to value education too. And I roll +2 Intelligence.

So our character now looks like:

Name: Amery Hayden

Ex-Marine Lieutenant 

UPP: B94AA8
Strength 11

Dexterity 9

Endurance 4

Intelligence 10

Education 10

Social Standing 8

Skills: Cutlass-2, Revolver-1, Leader-1, Medical-1, Vacc-0, Rifle-0

After completing school with above average grades and participating in powerlifting as a hobby, Amery Hayden enlisted in the Marines, recieving basic weapons training. While he had difficulties on long marches and extended trainings he was very strong when needed and impressed his superiors sufficiently to be selected for commission. The newly minted Lt Hayden led his troops in a few engagements, bolstering his skill with a Cutlass learned in basic training, and improving his confidence in his own leadership. While he gained combat experience, Hayden was never put in too dangerous a position and survived his first term of service. He also took a basic course in first aid that improved his medical knowledge. The force however was experiencing a drawdown and although Hayden had demonstrated outstanding intellectual aptitude, he was mustered out from the force due to lower than average fitness scores for endurance. In the separation program Hayden studied hard, improving his education and broadening his intellectual horizons. However, Hayden now finds himself a young penniless veteran on a far flung outpost looking for any work he can find that will help him cover expenses, travel again, and perhaps give him new opportunities to learn.

That was a lot of fun, and not too complicated. I find it an interesting assumption that NPCs are constructed exactly like Player Characters and thus a Referee needs to generate a number of unique NPCs using this same method. It seems quite work intensive for the Referee to build up a library of NPCs. I think it would go faster with all of the tables laid out in front of you, rather than me flipping back and forth in the PDF. It’s also been rather disappointing that every time I try this process the character gets mustered out fairly early, so I haven’t seen one get some of the cooler mustering out benefits.