Wherein, in honor of the currently still free (through December 31st) classic Traveller Starter Edition, your humble scribe presents a group of characters for (classic) Traveller. All of these were rolled up by-the-book using said Starter Edition.
Working their way through the Claybourne Subsector, the crew of the Free Trader Nobuharu – brainiacs all – have found themselves a bit short on this month’s payment. Not wanting to lose possession of the one thing that sets them apart from the rest of the rabble, these streetwise geniuses have stumbled upon the Governor of Posada’s need to have a trio of “embarrassing” individuals escorted “elsewhere” in the subsector. The ladies in question don’t seem particularly difficult to deal with, and their high passages – as well as a generous “discretion bonus” – have been paid for in cash. What could possibly go wrong?
Wes Galinol
A67C78 Age 34 4 Terms (Service: Merchants, Final Rank: Captain)
Jack of All Trades-2, Streetwise-3, Steward-1, Pilot-2
Free Trader
Cr25,000
Vicki Bergeron
548A79 Age 38 5 Terms (Service: Merchants, Final Rank: 1st Officer)
Streetwise-2, Navigation-3, Steward-1, Jack of All Trades-1, Electronic-1, Pilot-1, Gunnery-2
Low Psg
Cr50,000
Ulysses Kielty
685B98 Age 22 1 Terms (Service: Navy, Final Rank: Lieutenant)
Medical-1, Navigation-1, Engineering-1, Computer-1
Cr20,000
Octavio Basilio
C73BB6 Age 38 5 Term (Service: Marines, Final Rank: Force Commander)
Cutlass-1, Leader-4, Admin-1, Tactics-3, Revolver-1
Cutlass, TAS
Cr30,000
Heh-heh. What sort of “embarassment” were these ladies involved in? And why do I think the answer is rated NC-17 (at the least)?
Traveller adventures are the very definition of ‘picaresque.’
BTW, did you see that S & S version of Traveller someone’s supposed to be working on? I saw a ‘mock’ picture of the rule books on some blog page.
My longtime group (good lord, some of us have been playing together for 20 years now) tends to shy away from the explicit sex and utterly wanton violence in our RPG, with one notable exception: Traveller. Maybe it has something to do with starting in playing Traveller about the same time we all saw Heavy Metal and were in the full throes of puberty? In any case, yes, “picaresque” is the kind word for it 🙂
That said, I didn’t actually have any particular embarrassment in mind when I put this post together. I mean, it certainly could be the prim and proper Governor is trying to shoo off his licentious Aunts, lest they bring doubt upon his good name. Then again, it’s probably a bit more bawdy than that…
I think I did hear something about someone working on a fantasy version of Traveller, but I can’t recall any details on the project or where I heard about it. It’s always made sense to me, though. I think when I was a kid and saw the Barbarian career in Supplement 4 I began to formulate my own “Hey! You could do that for real!” thoughts. And then when I got the Thieves’ World boxed set and saw all of the Sanctuary characters done up Traveller style, I was convinced it was a completely viable possibility. I always meant to write up my own “D&D Class as Traveller Career” stuff, but I never did. Here’s to hoping that the someone else out there who’s doing something similar sees it through!
I think a S&S Traveller could work. The chargen would be a highlight, maybe a solitaire game in its own right.
Though, come to think of it, 2d6 fantasy kind of reminds me of BOL . . .
Oh, I’m confident it would work. And yes, like all Traveller iterations, the chargen would be a marvelous little solitaire experience.
Hmm, there *is* a certain similarity there, isn’t there? Or are you just subtly hinting that I should get back to work on Tlactoztlan and such? 🙂
No, oh Venomous One, your muse must wander where she sees fit. And if that’s to be the vastness of space, then so be it.
(Apologize for the bombast. I’ve been drinking Bock all afternoon).
Thank you, Drinky G, for your forbearance 🙂
The real question, though, is “What kind of Bock?”
Sammy A’s ‘Chocolate Bock.’ Scored it in some Winter Holiday Pack at CostCo. Not the manliest brew, I suppose, but it does go down smooth!
Not one I’ve had before, but I imagine it’s tasty. I’ll have to give it a try if I can find it.
Okay, this blog has several Traveller/Fantasy hacks:
http://www.rpgblog2.com/2009/04/using-classic-traveller-for-fantasy.html
Excellent find. Doc Mystery’s stuff, in particular, jibes with the overall approach I had in mind way back when. Except I think I was actually considering each spell as a “skill” so that the Wizard’s prior service table would have an entry like this:
1. Fireball
2. Invisibility
3. Teleport
4. Illusion
5. Stoneskin
6. Sleep
Or something similar. It might also work to have spell skills broken down into categories rather than specific spells, so that a Mage’s skill list might look like this:
Grenaria 587BA4
Attack Spell-1, Defense Spell-3, Transmutation Spell-2, Travel Spell-2
So you’d use Attack Spell to fuel any sort of offensive spell (fireball, magic missile, etc.) Defense Spell to drive things like stoneskin and mirror image, and so on. It would wind up being a bit free form that way, but that might do the trick.
Also, I believe this is the mockup of the books you saw. Man, I so want to go to the store and buy that right effing now.
That looks awesome, V.P. I tend to prefer the free-form myself (played too much GURPS when I was younger; the most mechanistic/dullsville approach to magic I’ve ever seen). Wonder how the survivability of an M-U type would stack up against other careers during the chargen stage.
And Hellz to the Yeah, I’d buy that mock version in a second. Maybe you could generate cities the same way you generate systems/planets in classic Traveller. So, sit down with a hex map, roll dice, and boom, you’ve got a campaign.
Oh well. At least we get some stats for Brak Man Morn.
Personally, there’s a limit to how freeform I like my magic, and BoL just squeezes in under that acceptable line for me. Still, you’re dead right about the GURPS approach lacking, well, “magic.”
As far as wizards and Survival rolls, I think I’d be inclined to make them pretty hard as a way of making sure that there weren’t just scads of powerful spellcasters running around.
Oh yes, I would love love love to see a city/campaign map generator like the old Traveller subsector/system generator. Talk about a solitaire game built into the main RPG!
A fresh thought, G-Man… Looking over the old Thieves’ World boxed set at the Traveller stats, they were using just “Magic” as a skill, intending it as a relative measure of power. I think that works nicely and could be used in conjunction with the BoL Magic System to handle spells. One could also include an Alchemy skill as well and open up the BoL Alchemy rules for use in this frankenstein fantasy Traveller thing. Of course, then it reaches a point where you have to wonder why you’re bothering and not just playing BoL… 🙂
Yeah. BOL does more with less. Still, I think the Traveller idea has merit because of 1) Old School Nostalgia Factor, 2) Aforementioned Solitaire Chargen, and 3) Aforementioned Cities/Territories Generation . The system would really lend itself to sandbox type play.
If I was going to port a magic system over into the hack, I’d probably use something along the lines of CoC. Dark and dangerous. Feels more S & S to me.
There’s no doubt a properly developed set of charts for chargen and setting would rock!
I see where you’re coming from on wanting the magic system to be darker. Something where there’s a cost beyond just using up mana that ultimately regenerates.