Drifter: a game of low cunning on the high seas (fantasy Traveller)

[apeloverage]

Hi,

I was idly working on a fantasy conversion of Traveller, but I've recently been told that a group here is working on one as well.

I'm not sure how close to completion 'your' version is. But I'm going to post what I've done here, rather than duplicate effort.

 

[apeloverage]

character creation.

There are seven attributes. The first six are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Social Class. Each of these are generated by rolling 2 dice (all dice used are d6s). The seventh attribute is Power. This measures a character's magical ability. This attribute isn't generated at the start of the game - instead, the character should note it as 'unknown'. This is because magical ability can only be revealed by those already learned in magic. The procedure for doing this will be noted later.

Titles

A characters' origin is defined by their Social Class, as follows:

2-5 Barbarian
6-8 Peasant
9 or 10 Townsfolk
11 or 12 Noble.

Thus characters with a Social Class of 11 or higher will have a title, as follows:

11 Sir or Dame
12 Baron or Baroness
13 Marquis, or Marquesa or Marchioness
14 Count or Countess
15 Duke or Duchess

Scholarly Titles

Characters with a Wisdom of 11 or higher, and a Social Class of 9 or higher, will likewise have a title, as follows (based on their Wisdom):

11 Scholar
12 Scribe
13 Scrivener
14 Doctor
15 Magister

A character then chooses one of six classes, and attempts to join.

The player rolls two dice, and adds any bonuses listed for the class.

If the total is equal to or higher than the classes' Apprentice Number, then they've successfully joined that class.

If not, they should roll 1 dice, and join the class with the relevant number. It's possible that a character will get the class they tried to join and failed.


The six classes, with their relevant statistics, are

1 Sailor

Apprentice number 8
Bonus of 1 if Intelligence of at least 8.
Bonus of 2 if Townsfolk or Noble.

2 Pirate

Apprentice number 9
Bonus of 1 if Intelligence of at least 8.
Bonus of 2 if Strength of at least 8.

3 Warrior

Apprentice number 5
Bonus of 1 if Intelligence of Dexterity of at least 6.
Bonus of Constitution of at least 5.

4 Explorer

Apprentice number 7
Bonus of 1 if Intelligence of at least 6.
Bonus of 2 if Strength of at least 8.

5 Merchant

Apprentice number 7
Bonus of 1 if Strength of at least 7.
Bonus of 2 if Intelligence of at least 6.

6 Traveller

Apprentice number 3.
No bonuses.

Age and Skills

The player then rolls 1 dice and adds 1 (giving a result of 2 to 7). This is the character's starting Experience.

Experience multiplied by 4, plus 14, gives the character's age (giving a starting age of 22,26,30,34,38 or 42).

Experience is used to decide what skills, resources, and injuries the character has picked up during their career, as well as the effect of aging on their attributes (if any).

Injuries

Again, the player should roll two dice once for each point of Experience the character has.

Each career has its own 'Survival Number'. If the character's roll is less than the Survival Number for their career, they've gained one injury.

Each career also has an attribute which, if it's at a certain level, allows the character to add two to each survival roll.

Sailor:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Pirate:
Survival Number 6
add 2 to roll if Constitution of at least 8.

Warrior:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Wisdom of at least 6.

Explorer:
Survival Number 7
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Merchant:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Traveller:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 9.


For each injury, roll 2 dice for its effects:

If a result is marked with an asterisk, this means that characters can only get that result once. If they get it twice, they should ignore the result and roll again.

2-4 scarred or disfigured: -2 on any roll involving an attempt to be likeable, charming etc.

5 * deafened in one ear. -4 to attempts to hear noise, -1 to attempts to move silently, and the character is easier to ambush (as described in 'combat').

6-7 serious illness: -3 to Constitution. If this would take Constitution below 2, -3 to Strength instead.

8-9 head injury: -2 Intelligence, to a minimum of 2, and gain 1 less skill than the result indicated in 5b.

10-11 * crushed or severed arm: the character loses the use of their arm - they're entitled to assume it's their 'off' arm (their left, for right-handers). They can't use a 2-handed weapon, or a weapon and a shield at the same time, and they get -3 on activities which require the use of 2 hands. Note that this includes keeping balance.

12 * missing eye. The character has -1 on any attempt to be likeable, charming etc, and -2 on any roll involving a task that requires depth perception. This includes ranged combat, but not hand-to-hand combat.

Skills

Each character has two levels in the skill which covers the customs and culture of their particular background. Thus a Barbarian automatically starts with two levels of 'Culture (Barbarian)'.

Each background gives one extra skill, as follows:

Barbarian
roll 1 dice:
1 Intimidate
2-3 A randomly determined weapon (roll again: 1-3 hand-to-hand weapon 4-6 ranged weapon)
3-4 Wilderness Lore
5-6 Riding

Peasant
roll 1 dice:
1-2 Haggle
3-4 Wilderness Lore
5-6 Gather Information

Townsfolk
If the character has a scholarly title, they gain the skill Literacy. Otherwise roll 1 dice:
1-2 Craft (of the players' choice)
3-4 Gather Information
5-6 Roll once on the table for Travellers, but re-roll any result of 'Wilderness Lore'

Noble
roll 1 dice:
1-2 Literacy
3-4 Riding
5-6 A randomly determined hand-to-hand weapon

Each career gives one automatic level in one skill, as follows:

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1-3 Helsman/woman
4-6 Navigator

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1-3 Helsman/woman
4-6 Navigator

Warrior:
A randomly determined weapon.

Explorer:
Wilderness Lore.

Merchant:
Haggle.

Traveller:
Roll one more time than usual for extra skills.

Finally, the character rolls on the table related to their profession. They roll a number of times equal to their Experience.

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 Helsman/woman
3 Navigator
4 Culture (Barbarian)
5 Brawling
6 roll again: 1-3 no skill, but +1 Wisdom 4-6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 Helsman/woman
3 Navigator
4 Roll again: 1-3 A randomly determined hand-to-hand weapon 4-6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.
5 Brawling
6 Intimidate

Warrior:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 A randomly determined weapon. Roll again: 1-3 hand-to-hand 4-6 ranged.
3 Intimidate
4 Culture (Barbarian)
5 Brawling
6 Haggle

Explorer:
roll 1 dice:
1 Wilderness Lore
2 Culture (Barbarian)
3 * Marooned! Refer to the 'Marooned Table' below
4 no skill, but +1 Constitution
5 no skill, but +1 Wisdom
6 roll again: 1-3 Helsman/woman, 4-6 Navigator

Merchant:
1 Wilderness Lore
2 Culture (Barbarian)
3 Culture (Peasant)
4 Culture (Noble)
5 Culture (Townsfolk)
6 Haggle

Traveller:
1 One of the Culture skills - roll again (1-2 Peasant 3-4 Townsfolk, 5 Barbarian, 6 Noble)
2 roll again: 1-3 A randomly determined weapon (roll again, 1-3 hand-to-hand, 4-6 ranged) 4-6 Intimidate
3 roll again: 1-3 Gather Information 4-6 Pick Locks
4 roll again: 1-3 Helsman/woman, 4-6 Navigator
5 no skill, but +1 Wisdom, -1 Constitution (ignore and re-roll if this would take Constitution under 2).
6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.

Marooned Table.

Roll 1 dice:

1 * Go a little mad: -2 on any roll involving an attempt to be likeable, charming etc.
2 * Injured: an extra roll on the injury table.
3 Wilderness Lore.
4 no skill, but +1 Wisdom.
5 no skill, but +1 Constitution.
6 no skill, but +1 Strength.

Then roll to see if you're rescued: on a 1-3 you are, on a 4-6 you aren't, and the next roll is made on the Marooned Table rather than on the table for your profession.

If you're still marooned after making all your experience rolls, you can assume that the character was finally rescued.

Results that start with an asterisk are 'free rolls' - they don't count towards the total number of rolls the character should make. The roll to see if a marooned character is rescued is also 'free'.

Characters might seem to get marooned unrealistically often. However this covers possibilities other than shipwreck. For example small islands can be used as jails, with the criminal being left and then picked up years later. On the other hand a criminal might hide out to escape a death sentence. An explorer might deliberately live on a small island in order to study it. The losers of a feud on board ship might be deliberately left, and so on.

 

[apeloverage]

character creation, continued.

Resources

Characters will end their careers with some resources, for example money. They should roll on the table for their career - again, they should roll as many times as they have Experience.

If a character gets the result 'extra roll on the money table' more than twice, they should ignore any such result past the second, and re-roll them.

Membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts can only be gained once. Any subsequent results should be ignored and re-rolled. The same is true for a ship.

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1 Low Passage
2 High Passage
3 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
5 +1 Wisdom
6 ship

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1 Low Passage
2 High Passage
3 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
5 ship
6 extra roll on the money table

Warrior:
roll 1 dice:
1 extra level in a randomly determined weapon (1-3 hand-to-hand, 4-6 ranged)
2 extra level of Culture (Barbarian)
3 no skill, but +1 Social Class. If the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
4 +1 Wisdom - this result can only be gained once. After this, re-roll.
5 extra roll on the money table
6 extra roll on the money table

Explorer:
roll 1 dice:
1 +1 Wisdom
2 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
3 High Passage
4 Low Passage
5 extra level of Culture (Barbarian)
6 extra roll on the money table

Merchant:
1 High Passage
2 Low Passage
3 membership of the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 extra roll on the money table, and +1 Social Class. If the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
5 extra roll on the money table
6 extra roll on the money table

Traveller:
1 low passage.
2 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts.
3 extra level in a randomly determined weapon (1-3 hand-to-hand, 4-6 ranged)
4 roll again : 1-3 +1 Social Class. 4-6 -1 Social Class (if the character's Social Class is already 4 or less, ignore and roll again).
In both cases, if the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
In the case of losing a Social Class, if the character doesn't end up with a new level of a Culture skill because of this roll, they gain an extra roll on this table.
5 extra roll on the money table, but also an extra injury.
6 extra roll on the money table.

Money Table

Characters should roll on this table at least once. They may get up to 2 extra rolls when rolling their resources above.

In addition, a character gets an extra roll if they end up with a Social Class of at least 11.

However if a character has 4 rolls, they should roll that many times but only take the best 3 results to determine their starting money.

The most common unit of exchange is the cowrie shell, usually just called 'shells'. Ten wooden pieces are equal to one shell, and ten shells are equal to one amber piece. All costs in the game are given in shells unless noted otherwise.

Roll 1 dice. Add 1 to the roll if the character has any levels of Gambling (extra levels don't grant extra bonuses)

Sailor:
1 10
2 50
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 500
7 500

Pirate:
1 20
2 50
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 300
7 400

Warrior:
1 20
2 50
3 100
4 100
5 100
6 200
7 300

Explorer:
1 10
2 20
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 300
7 500

Merchant:
1 10
2 50
3 100
4 200
5 200
6 400
7 400

Traveller:
1 10
2 50
3 100
4 100
5 100
6 500
7 1000

Effects of Aging

If the character starts with Experience of 2 or 3 (an age of 26 or less), then the player can skip this section.

Otherwise the player should roll 2 dice for each of Strength, Dexterity and Constitution.

Strength and Constitution are reduced by 1 if the result is 8 or more.
Dexterity is reduced by 1 if the result is 7 or more.

 

[apeloverage]

hand-to-hand weapons

Each hand-to-hand weapon can be used at below average, average, or above average skill (explained further in 'combat'). This is based on the Strength of the character using it.

For example, a character with 9 Strength would use a cudgel at 'above average' level. A character with a Strength of 6 would use a broadsword at 'below average' level.

The only exceptions are the rapier and tigers' claws, which use Dexterity instead of Strength.

Knife

• below average (2-3)
• average (4-6)
• above average (8-12)
• damage 2

Tiger's Claws

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 2

Rapier

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 1

Shortsword

• below average (2-5)
• average (6-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 2

Cutlass

• below average (2-7)
• average (8-10)
• above average (11-12)
• damage 3

Greatsword (must be used with 2 hands)

• below average (2-7)
• average (8-11)
• above average (12)
• damage 4

Machete

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 3

Spear (can be used with 1 hand or 2)

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 2 if used with 1 hand, 3 if used with 2 hands.

Longsword (can be used with 2 hands by anyone, or with 1 by anyone with Strength of at least 6)

• below average if used with 2 hands. Can't be used with 1 hand (2-5)
• average if used with 2 hands. Below average with 1 hand (6-9)
• above average if used with 2 hands. Average if used with 1 hand (10-12)
• damage 3

Broadsword

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 3

Cudgel

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-7)
• above average (8-12)
• damage 2

If a character is told to generate a level in a randomly-chosen hand-to-hand weapon, they should roll a dice:

1 - cudgel

2 - roll again: 1-3 machete 4-6 shortsword

3 - roll again. 1-3 knife 4-6 tigers' claws

4 - roll again. 1-3 cutlass 4-6 greatsword

5 - roll again. 1-3 spear 4-6 longsword

6 - roll again. 1-3 broadsword 4-6 rapier


Prices for hand-to-hand weapons:

Tigers' Claws - 1 shell
Knife - 5
Rapier - 10
Shortsword - 7 shells and 5 wooden pieces.
Cutlass - 10
Greatsword - 30
Machete - 1
Spear - 1
Longsword - 15
Broadsword - 10
Cudgel - 1

 

[apeloverage]

ranged weapons

As with hand-to-hand weapons, ranged weapons can be used at below average, average, or above average skill (explained further in 'combat'). However with ranged weapons this is based on the Dexterity of the character using it, not Strength.

The exceptions are the greatbow and longbow, which also use Strength, as noted below.

Spears:
Note that spears appear in the hand-to-hand weapon list, not the ranged weapon list. This isn't a mistake - these spears are only designed to be used hand-to-hand. Spears that are designed to be thrown are listed here, with the name 'javelin'.


These weapons are used with 1 hand:

Assassin's Throwing Knife

• below average (1)
• average (2-11)
• above average (12)
• damage 2

Note: the great advantage of the Assassin's Throwing Knife is that it's been blessed by a priestess of Hecate, such that it will thwart magical attempts to discover it hidden on someone's person.

Sling

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 3

Javelin

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 3

These weapons need 2 hands:

Shortbow

• below average (2-4)
• average (7-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 3

Flatbow (medium bow)

• below average (2-5)
• average (6-7)
• above average (8-12)
• damage 3

Longbow

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 3

Note that a character with Strength of 6 or less, and a Dexterity of 10 or more, will only use a longbow with average skill.

Greatbow (Yumi)

• below average (2-3)
• average (7-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 4

Note that a character using a greatbow uses the lower of their Strength and Dexterity to determine their skill.

Light Crossbow

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 3

Medium Crossbow

• below average (2-5)
• average (6-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 4

Heavy Crossbow

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-10)
• above average (11-12)
• damage 5

If a character is told to generate a level in a randomly-chosen ranged weapon, they should roll a dice:

1 - throwing knife

2 - javelin

3 - roll again: 1-3 chakram 4-6 shortbow

4 - roll again: 1-3 flatbow 4-6 longbow

5 - roll again: 1-3 greatbow 4-6 light crossbow

6 - roll again: 1-3 medium crossbow 4-6 heavy crossbow


Prices for ranged weapons:

Assassin's Throwing Knife - 5

Sling - 20
Sling stones - 1 shell for 15 stones

Javelin - 1 shell and 5 wooden pieces.

Shortbow - 20
Flatbow (medium bow) - 20
Longbow - 100
Greatbow (Yumi) - 15
Arrows - 1 wooden piece each (ie 10 arrows for 1 shell).


Light Crossbow - 50
Light Bolts - 1 shell for 15 bolts.

Medium Crossbow - 350
Medium Bolts - 2 shells for 5 bolts (ie 4 wooden pieces each)

Heavy Crossbow - 500
Heavy Bolts - 3 shells for 10 shots (ie 3 wooden pieces each)

Medium crossbows come with 50 crossbow bolts, heavy crossbows come with 100.

Every kind of bow uses the same arrows. However the different kinds of crossbow use different lengths of 'bolt'.

Light Crossbows and Longbows have a much higher rate of fire than other bows and crossbows, as explained in 'combat'.

In addition, the character can choose to have any bow or crossbow blessed by a priestess of Athena, goddess of the hunt. The effects of this are noted in 'combat' below.

A donation of 20 shells will earn a blessing from a minor priestess, and a donation of 200 shells will earn a blessing from a senior priestess.

 

[apeloverage]

armour

There are three types of armour that characters may buy:

Shields cost 50 shells.

Helmets cost 100 shells.

A pair of greaves (armour which protects the lower leg) costs 100 shells.

A character's Armour Class is a number from 0 to 3, and represents the number of items of armour they're wearing (greaves count as 1, not 2).

Note that if a character is attacked from behind, neither a shield nor greaves will be of any use.

There's also provision in the rules for 'military armour'. This consists of a much higher-quality version of the shields, helmets and greaves available to player characters, as well as a breastplate. Players aren't able to buy military armour before play. If they do manage to find anyone selling it (almost always illegally), it should cost at least 2,000 shells. Wearing this armour will have a severe effect on the reception a character gets in more settled places - much like a person carrying a rocket launcher through a suburban shopping centre.