Today I'm going to generate a Classic Traveller (CT) character from Book 1 Characters and Combat. My plan is to create one of each service profession in Book 1: Navy, Marines, Army, Scouts, Merchants, and Other, plus other Army, Marine, Navy, and Scout characters using the more detailed process (ie, more skills!) in Books 4 (Mercenary for Army and Marines), 5 (High Guard for Navy), and 6 (Scouts).
The Traveller Character Generation system really lends itself to crafting the character backstory going through the process. Each roll provides information which can easily be fleshed out. I will do that as I go through the process.
So first up in Book 1 is Navy. CT is all D6, with most rolls 2D6.
Step 1 is 2D6 in order for Characteristics, and what I rolled:
Dexterity - 12
Endurance - 9
Intelligence - 9
Education - 9
Social Standing - 7
Great rolls to start off with! The Dex 12 is great for firearms use, where a high Dex gives an advantageous DM to the To Hit roll. With a 12 I'll be +1 or +2 for every firearm. Nice.
For Social Standing, Noble Titles start at 11, so this character is well out of that club.
For narrative purposes I'm going to go ahead and name my character. I'm going with Clinok Bartholomew, call him Nok.
The next step is usually to attempt to enlist in the service of choice, with some modifiers except for an Other career which is only 3+ to enlist. If you don't make the enlistment roll, you get drafted and roll a D6 to see which service you end up in. So you could actually get drafted into the service you failed to enlist in! I love those kind of quirks for character background, to set up animosity toward a service in general.
For the Character Creation Challenge, I'm not rolling for enlistment since I want to make a character of each service. I think we did this back in the teenage years of playing, since we wanted to create a certain character.
So Nok is in the Navy now! Enlistment would have been to roll an 8+, with DMs of +1 for Intel 8+ and +2 for Educ 9+, so really a roll of 5+ to enlist. He would probably not have had a problem enlisting at all.
The next fun thing in Classic Traveller Character Generation is the SURVIVAL roll. Yes, your character has a chance to die during each 4 year term of enlistment in any service! Character Generation is actually the game within the game of Traveller, with even death on the line.
There is an Optional Rule, if agreed upon before character generation starts, that a failure of the survival roll can be converted to injury. The character is not dead, but injured, and leaves the service (after ercovery) having served only two years of the four year term. The rules do not state any other impacts of this 2 year term, but that implies no commission, promotion, or skill rolls are made for that 2 year term. Nothing is stated in the Mustering Out rules, so we took it to still qualify as a term for one mustering out benefit roll.
I like to take the magnitude of miss on a survival roll as fodder for the injury received. And conversely the magnitude of the success an indicator of the ease of the orders that term.
So, at age 18, Nok has enlisted in the Navy for a 4 year term. His intelligence (+2 survival DM) allows him to easily navigate boot camp and his first term with no injuries (rolled 7, so 9 vs the target 5).
Although his Social Standing provided no assistance of privilege to getting commissioned, he takes a shot and submits a package. The officer board unanimously approves his package (rolled a nat 12 vs the target 10), and Nok is promoted to Ensign (Rank 1)! He's up for promotion at the end of this first term, but does not get promoted.
For this first term of service, Nok gets 3 skill rolls: 2 for the first term of service and 1 for his commission.
There are three skill tables for every character to roll on for skills. One is the Personal Development Table, which provides plusses to Characteristic scores and maybe a skill like Gambling, Bribery, Gun Combat, or Blade Combat. Another is the Service Skills tables, which offers the core service skills, for Navy such things as Vacc Suit, Gunnery, or Gun Combat. The Advanced Education Table provides more technical service skills, such as Mechanical, Electronic, or Engineering. Finally, there is another Advanced Education Table (yes, same name) available only to characters with an Education score of 8+). For the Navy, this table provides skills such as Medical, Computer, and the coveted Pilot.
Nok dedicated time to the gym this first term, as the roll on the Personal Development Table resulted in a +1 Strength. Very helpful for his lowest characteristic score, plus on one of three characteristics that make up 'hit points', the others being Dexterity and Endurance.
He also took a basic defense course in Blade Combat (a roll on the Service Skills Table). When receiving either Blade Combat or Gun Combat skills, a character must immediately select the specific weapon. Nok selects Dagger, as he will get a positive modifier based on his strength when using a dagger.
Due to his strong academic background, Nok's first assignment as an Ensign was as an Engineering Officer on a destroyer, so he gained a skill in Engineering (a roll on the elite Advanced Education Table).
Being an Officer in the Navy is more than he expected when he enlisted, and he likes his chances to make something of this career, so he re-ups for another term and is accepted, of course (9 vs 6 target).
Nok easily survives his next 4 year term, but barely makes promotion to Lieutenant (Rank 2), thanks to his prior education. He's learning his commission is not something to be taken for granted.
For this term, while still in the Engineering Department, he expands his shipboard knowledge and earns a skill in Electronics (a roll on the Advanced Education Table). Despite his success in Engineering on the Destroyer, he always dreamed of piloting these impressive ships, and so takes a shot and puts in a package for Pilot training. He is accepted (a roll on the elite Advanced Education Table results in Pilot)!
Having invested so much in training this fine young officer, the Navy readily grants him an enlistment in another 4 year term of service.
26 year old Nok spends this term in combat in the Jewell subsector, and barely survives many close calls thanks to quick thinking while under fire, including abandoning ship (for Survival, I rolled a 3, which with the +2 DM for Intel 7+ just got to the target of 5). Nok receives a Purple Heart and a Commendation, but is passed over for promotion when his packaged was delayed getting to the board due to the abandon ship incident. During this challenging term of service, at times Nok was literally required to man the guns, and earned a skill level in Gunnery (Service Skills table). While proud of his service in trying times during this term, Nok is starting to sour on the Navy because of being passed over for promotion.
But he reenlists and is accepted for a fourth term of service.
This term is almost as harrowing as the last one, again being wounded and barely surviving (roll of 4 vs target of 5, only saved by +2 Intel DM again). His promotion package sails through, earning a promotion to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR, Rank 3). That takes some of the sting out of the previous 4 years, plus lots of pilot time, earning him a Pilot - 2 rating, plus Ship's Boat (small ship pilot).
While the great pilot experiences of this tour, plus the promotion, make staying in the Navy very enticing, Nok sees only two possibilities in his future. Either he is promoted and takes on command, which is good but means giving up the pilot seat, which he has really come to love. And/or he will be sent back into combat, and probably won't make it out this time. But on the other hand a 5th term would give him a small pension....
Hearing tales of great jobs being a pilot 'on the outside', Nok decides to not reenlist for another term. The Navy is sad to see him go, but there are hundreds of guys and gals lined up to take his place.
For his 4 terms or service, the now 34 year old Nok Bartholomew receives 6 Mustering Out benefits. Only 3 of these can be in cash, which is what he opts for. These three rolls result in 26,000 credits in his bank account. The Navy again has slighted him once again, as he sees it, despite his service (45,000 credits being the average benefit). His three rolls on the Benefits Table results in +1 Intelligence, a High Passage (a 10,000cr First Class ticket on a starship flight between two worlds, worth 9000 credits if sold back), and a +2 to his education (he earned his MS in Engineering Electronics through hard work in off hours over the course of his career).
His 16 years in Navy took it toll on his already average Strength. Despite his initial efforts to buff up to a 8, by the time he mustered out he was back down to a 7 (Age Effects begin at age 34, with a saving throw to avoid the effects. Nok did not make it on Strength, but did on Dexterity and Endurance, so no deductions there).
Dexterity - 12
Endurance - 9
Intelligence - 10
Education - 11
Social Standing - 7
#CharacterCreationChallenge
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