The next section starts off with a note that generated characters “will continue to live and adventure until killed in action, or too old to keep up.” Then it starts us off with an untrained, unskilled, fresh-out-of-high-school 18-year-old blank slate.
Six characteristics, which seems to be a standard for a lot of early RPGs. Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing. I like that Intelligence and Education are considered separate; I know from first-hand experience that one doesn’t need to be educated to be intelligent, and vice versa. Social Standing suggests that the game involves a social stratification, but it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘kings and nobles’ lording it over the peasantry. The United States has social stratification without an explicit nobility, so this can go in a lot of different directions.
Characteristics are rolled on a straight 2D (I’m going to have to get used to not including the 6), so 2-12, averaging 7; but they can be modified to get between 1 and 15; 15 is the human (or at least PC) maximum for any stat, while anything below 1 puts you either in the nursing home or local VA hospital.
Rolling a straight 2D means some characters will have low stats, but these can still be playable, assuming the character can stay in a service long enough to gain skills (and modify some of those low stats). Then we’re told that if a character really sucks, put them in the Scout service, where they might…die. Yes, the first mention of the lethality of Traveller character generation, and apparently the Scout Corps is accident-prone, and deadlier than being in the military. So the Scouts are the adrenaline-junkies and extreme-sports enthusiasts, risking their lives to do their scouting.
Great…now I am picturing Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze hanging ten as they fly straight at a new planet, daring each other to pull the ship’s chute.
Anyway, let’s start creating a character, because don’t we all do that at this point? That’s not a rhetorical question; I’ve never been to this point before with this game.
So, here’s what we have, rolled on 2D 6 times: 5, 9, 10, 7, 6, 9. What do we know about this person so far? Below-average strength, but otherwise in really good shape, with high Dexterity and top-notch Endurance. Intelligence is average, education is just below average (a high-school dropout?), and he’s from a well-respected, if not noble, family. Without knowing anything else at this point, I would venture to say that this guy would probably make a decent soldier, with his strength being the only limiting factor. Maybe a naval career, but nothing too intellectual. We’ll see what we get next.
Next up, naming your character. A few suggestions are given, such as just naming the character after the player. This makes some sense in a futuristic, sci-fi setting; after all, people have had similar names for centuries, so there’s no reason why someone 500 years from now wouldn’t have the same name as someone today. So, in that spirit, I’m going to name this character Jamie Rollinson, just ‘cause.
Titles are mentioned as well, being hereditary for families with high Social Standing scores. ‘Sir’ and ‘Baron’ (or von) are both specifically mentioned, so now there’s some sort of explicit nobility in place. More details come later, but it looks like we’re going to see the return of feudalistic nobility in the future. And here I was hoping for social progress…
Ranks are also mentioned, in a military context (commissions and promotions), so we can look forward to a lot of military stuff in character creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment