character creation

ex-scout Eshtam Dreejeh
Human female, Age 34, 4 terms, Cr1250
Str 6 (+0) Dex 11 (+1) End 10 (+1)
Int 12 (+2) Edu 9 (+1) Soc 4 (-1)
Skills: Astrogation 0, Comms 1, Computers 0, Deception 1,
Gun Combat (Slug Pistol) 1, Gun Combat (Slug Rifle) 2,
Gunnery (Turrets) 2, Investigate 0, Language (Gvegh) 0,
Navigation 0, Pilot 1, Recon 2, Sensors 3, Space Science 0,
Stealth 1, Streetwise 2, Vacc Suit 1, Zero-G 1
Equipment: Rifle, TL8 Cloth Armour, TL9 Optical scope,
3 spare rifle magazines, TL8 Breather mask, TL10 comm



I've probably saved the character generation scratch paper for every Traveller PC I've ever rolled up, so I can go back and look at their history. I don't usually come up with this many notes about them, but it's far from the only time I've ever done it, either.

My usual method for rolling up a human Traveller PC is to throw 12d6 and re-roll any die that comes up a 1. Any dice that come up a 1 on the reroll stay that way. The dice are then arranged in pairs ad libitum and each pair allocated to an attribute.

Using this method, my new character has a starting UPP of 6AAC94. She's pretty physically fit (high dex & end), though has a below average strength, which seems to indicate that she's lithe and rather short. She's smart (Int 12) and has a superior education (9), which she probably had to work hard to get, since she grew up a in an impoverished working class home (soc 4). She dreams of some day joining the Scouts, leading a life of adventure exploring alien worlds and the depths of space.

Her homeworld is Izbelia (B-774989-B Hi In), an industrial world within the Imperial border. I chose randomly from amongst the planets with scout bases on the theory that she couldn't travel offworld to apply; if she had failed her enlistment roll, I would have kept the character as a potential second PC or NPC.

Her education of 9 entitles her to 4 background skills. In school she studies Computers 0, Language (Gvegh) 0, and Space Science 0. She picks up Streetwise 0 by growing up in a rough neighbourhood.

She turns 18 on 151-1072, anxiously awaiting news of the application she submitted earlier in the year. She has, in fact, successfully enlisted in the scouts as a communications specialist in the Courier branch, and on 175-1072 reports for basic training. She would have liked to go directly into the Exploration branch, but a poor kid from a high population world probably doesn't get their first choice.



Term 1 Scout - Courier/Communications

Her basic training provides the following skills: Pilot 0, Comms 0, Astrogation 0, Sensors 0, Navigation 0.

For term skills, she gets Streetwise (increasing her skill to 1), as her missions require her to deliver communiqués to scout agents in some of the seamier parts of the planets she visits.

Event: during a mission to Fpozz, the type-S scout ship she is on is ambushed whilst skimming fuel from a gas giant. She uses her (admittedly minimal) pilot skills to escape the ambush (she rolls a successful pilot check). She also learns a bit more about the ship's instruments during the experience (Sensors increases to 1).

For her meritorious service this term, she is promoted to rank 1, Messenger Second Class. Her time spent aboard starships has seen her learn a good deal about their workings (bonus skill for advancement is Gunnery 1, and for attaining rank 1 her Comms increases to 1).



Term 2 Scout - Courier/Communications

After a successful first term, she continues service in the Communications branch. She spends a lot of time serving as a gunner on missions beyond Imperial space. (rolling Gunnery for her term skill, increasing it to 2).

Event: given extra combat training. She spends a bit of time in the scout base at Antesh, where she is taught marksmanship and how to move in Zero Gravity (the actual bonus skill for the rolled Event is Zero-G 1, but her 2nd term mustering out benefit ties in well with her training, being one level each of gun combat and Vacc Suit).

Her service record continues to be noticed by her superiors, resulting in promotion to rank 2, Messenger First Class. She has become quite proficient reading shipboard instruments this term (Sensors increases to 2) and her Zero-G training has improved her physical fitness (+1 dex).



Term 3 Scout - Spec.Ops/Covert surveillance

At the close of her second term, flushed with success and a record full of commendations, she submits a request for transfer to the Exploration branch. She is instead approached by some shadowy individuals, who convince her that her services are most needed in Special Operations.

She is given a basic training course in spycraft (gaining Investigate 0) and sent out into the field on assignment (picking up Deception 1 as a term skill).

Event: Disaster! (roll on the mishap table but not ejected from this career) She learns just how dangerous Spec Ops can be. Her cover is blown on a mission to Ikaktu, whether through her own carelessness or betrayal, she never learns. The party under investigation offers her a deal, but she refuses. She is attacked by assassins, and left for dead. She awakens weeks later in a hospital halfway across the planet. Her fellow scouts managed to smuggle her out to a neutral nation (Ikaktu is a balkanised world) when the mission went bust. She eventually recovers from her injuries (missing eye, -2 DEX from the injury table) and has a cybernetic eye fitted. Her medical care ends up costing Cr10000 (to be deducted from mustering out benefits).

She eventually finds her way back to Imperial space, and is given other assignments which result in valuable intelligence for the Imperium. She is promoted to rank 1, Special Operative. Her missions this term result in improved physical fitness (+1 dex), an understanding of reconnaissance techniques (Recon 1) and training in ECM/ECCM and electronic warfare (Sensors increases to 3; this actually came from the Event/Mishap).



Term 4 Scout - Spec. Ops. /Covert surveillance

She continues to serve in the Spec Ops branch for her 4th term. Ever since the disaster on Ikaktu, she has made a point of noticing everything in her surroundings (rolls Recon for her term skill, increasing it to 2). She has proved herself admirably, and she is given ever more classified assignments.

But this term sees a Mishap befall her (involved in black project which must be buried, +1 benefit roll but forced to leave service). T'nan is a red zone world. It is outside the Imperial border, but interdicted by the Imperial navy. The official story is that there was an outbreak of plague and the world must be quarantined, but there are persistent rumours of an Imperial Research Base on T'nan where experiments of a dubious nature are being carried out -- experiments which are illegal within the confines of the Imperium. In early 1106 she is sent to T'nan on a top secret mission. She carries out her instructions to the letter, but backlash against the project from the highest echelons of the IISS intelligence community results in the project needing to be completely buried: wiped from the official record and forgotten. She spends the last two standard months of her career stuck in the scout HQ at Veegint, before she is unceremoniously discharged from the service.


Mustering out rolls:

Courier:
term 1. weapon&armour (Rifle & Cloth armour)
term 2. weapon&armour (translates into skills: Slug Rifle 1 & Vacc suit 1)
rank 2. cr15000 (-10000 for later medical debt)

SpecOps
term 1. gun combat (Slug Pistol 1)
rank 1. +1dex
+1 benefit. gun combat (Rifle increases to 2)


Connections:

Since there are no other characters with whom to form connections, and since the idea of just selecting connections with an organisation seems a bit blah, I decided to take two skills now (Stealth 1, increase Streetwise to 2) and let the connections come out during play. For each important NPC (or new PC) that gets introduced (and is likely to stick around), I will roll to see if there is a connection, and if so, which term it took place in. I'll compare the Events in each of their history that term, and flesh out the connection from there.

The Event/Mishap roll from term 3 also resulted in her gaining an Enemy: an intelligence agency from Ikaktu.


Solo Generation: Instead of choices from a skill package, solo characters get to choose a single level one skill. I'm going for Pilot 1; call me old fashioned, but making a Scout with Field experience who lacks real pilot skill is unconscionable.


Aging roll: results in -1 DEX, which has been more than offset by dex increases rolled earlier.


Equipment: She is allowed to keep her rifle and TL8 cloth armour the IISS issued her. She doesn't wear full armour everywhere she goes, but feels comfortable in the jacket, having spent many nights in the field using it as a blanket (I figure this is good for half the armour value, rounded down). New characters can spend up to Cr2000 on equipment. For Cr705 she gets a TL9 Optical scope for her rifle, 3 spare rifle magazines, a TL8 Breather mask, and a TL10 comm. I want her starting circumstances to be a little less than comfortable, so I am arbitrarily going to decide her prosthetic eye cost Cr3000 extra, so she'll start play with Cr1295 remaining.


Name: I put some phonemes together and played around with various letters to arrive at Eshtam. Sometimes I google things like this to make sure I'm not accidentally naming my character 'idiot' in Creole or something (I'm space commander Makro Dovèr, at your service!). 'Ishtam' is a Telugu word derived from Sanskrit, meaning longing or desire. So it seems my character is descended from ethnic Solomani, who were probably part of the original settlers on Izbelia who arrived on a generation ship during the Long Night.




Onwards to adventure!