Droyne racial characteristics

[stofsk]

I was looking at GtD sourcebook and reading up on the Droyne. In the first section it says their characteristics are determined with a 1D8+5 roll. Yet when you look at the game rule information it's actually a 2D8 roll for every stat except EDU and SOC which are determined normally.

So which is it? And if it's the 2D8 roll, I take it both dice are counted and no "Lowest die gets discarded" rule exists?

Since the stats are modified for castes anyway, and Sports are the only viable player-character caste, I also look at their racial characteristics. +1d4 to STR, INT, EDU, and SOC.

So you could roll really well and get 20 in an ability.

 

[stofsk]

Oh, also what role-playing advice would you have to playing a Droyne? I mean, the GtD practically says "They're complex and alien, so we don't recommend you play them." WTF?

 

[mike wightman]

As you say, only the sport caste is really suitable for a PC.
I'd pick a couple of motivations based on service to his clan-family-planet-greater Droyne empire, and play these at every opportunity.
I'd also have him as enthusiastic to discover new experiences.

 

[veltyen]

It depends on how alien you want your aliens.

Droyne are very alien. As much so as say hivers, which I would also not recommend as PC's. Not physical form, that part doesn't matter, its the social and psychological aspects that do.

A Droyne "human understander" type role might be doable. That would be a droyne attempting to act as human as possible in an attempt to understand human based cultures.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

That would be the Sport caste Droyne. They're the explorer, emissary and agent caste and can go for significant periods of time away from their oytrip.

Still, droyne are not suited to the 'human in a fuzzy suit' style of play. Droyne do their own thing for their own reasons and are often at odds with the human form of logic.

 

[stofsk]

Eh, it'd be a nice change of pace from the hundredth iteration of "I'm Rambo with GAUSS RIFLES."

But no-one has answered my question on the game rules... I just want to know which way to roll abilities? 1D8+5 doesn't make much sense, so I'm tempted to just go with my gut and say 2D8 is where the honey's at.

 

[mike wightman]

It could be 2d8, drop the lowest die, and add 5 for a PC.
For an NPC 1d8+5 would be almost the same as the average roll of 2d8 anyway. The 2d8 roll does make a 16 stat achievable, which seems a bit high for a Droyne to me.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

I'd do something like 1d10+3. That'd give you a range of 4-14, which is pretty good for a 4 ft. tall pseudo-lizard.

Besides, simpler is better almost every time.

Insofar as the 'Rambo with Gauss Rifles' hassle goes, why are you letting PC's have Gauss rifles? <chuckle>

Moreso than fantasy games, sci-fi games (and especially Traveller) require the use of contacts, informants, and connections. In Cyberpunk terms, a fixer. And it can be hard for a referee to make the players understand that getting in good with a noble or noteable crime figure is just as 'cool' as a +5 Holy Avenger. There are more rewards in Traveller than a ship, money or guns. For THAT matter, a good story arc reward is to have a patron make one ship payment for the crew. In this, I admit that I'm lucky to be in a good Sci-Fi group.

 

[Hyphen]

Originally posted by veltyen:
It depends on how alien you want your aliens.

Droyne are very alien. As much so as say hivers, which I would also not recommend as PC's.

Ach, yer no fun.

There's a couple of Droyne kicking around in my game who are great fun to watch. If the player is good at role-playing, it can be a real hoot to have an unpredicatable alien in the group.

My only worry is trying to come up with inventive ways of countering their Teleport ability (since I use TNE psionics, their Telepathic ability drops a couple of levels of effectiveness against any non-Droyne! ).

A kewl thing to do is to have them "cast the coyns" before every major adventure - it's surprising what sort of side adventures you can throw in based on that random draw!! (It provides inspiration, if nothing else...)

And I value them for the Little Things they throw in from time to time, such as Ervmisbe's Removable Flashing Blue Light[TM] on the party's G-Carrier; go to:

Go to
Beowulf Down
==> Tavonni Specialities
==> trendi
==> Vehicles
==> The trendi Unresolved

(Ervmisbe is a joint owner of AdifuxInc LIC Pty Ltd, go to:
==> Tavonni Specialities
==> Adifux Inc LIC Pty Ltd)

 

[stofsk]

What the hell are 'coyns' anyway? Alien tarot?

 

[mike wightman]

Sort of

Coyns
The most common of artifacts recovered from Ancient sites, coyns are small disks of metal engraved with various symbols. Their specific purpose is unknown. It may be that the objects served as money, jewelry, psionic focuses, or for some other unknown purpose.

Original coyns have been found in various precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, iridium, and even uranium. Sets range in size from 6 to 38 pieces, and are considered desirable to museums throughout the Imperium. Each coyn has a scrap metal value of Cr400 (if gold); to a museum, the value is closer to Cr4000.

Copies of sets of coyns are made of aluminium, lead, or zinc. These are far more frequently encountered, generally from unscrupulous merchants or traders. Such fake coyns have a value of about Cr20 each.

The word coyn was derived from the Droyne word koynis (plural koynisin).

You can get an idea of what they look like from here:
http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=SJG6618
where this is said about them:

Coyns are tokens used in the Droyne casting ceremony, and are also used as an augury for important life decisions. Coyns are cast before each important event in Droyne society to help divine the correct course of action.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
You can get an idea of what [coyns] look like from here:
http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=SJG6618

Actually, those coyns do not look like the authentic coyns described in various early CT material (the pictures on the real ones are naturalistic enough to let you recognize a human as a human rather than just a stick figure, etc.). Possibly the stick-figure coyns are 'modern' ones used by modern Droyne (i.e. just a few thousand years old .


Hans

 

[Liam Devlin]

The coyns Stofsk , used in the casting ritual designate what caste a chirper-soon-to-be-Droyne will fulfill in its oytrip.

Everyone else above are of course correct, the best suited player character type caste of the Droyne is the Sport caste.

alien RP-ing opportunities abound with Droyne, simply from thir viewpoint, not just physiologically.

Droyne pratice a form of euthanasia, for example. When your time comes as a Droyne, you are expected to undertake ritual suicide--your purpose and worth to the oytrip is fulfilled, you have been replaced and Krinaytsyu (ritual death) is undertaken.

Droyne who seek to avoid this fate, and run are pursued into far exile with the title of Krinaytsyoyni, the 'deathless ones', who deny the ritual.

Other alien RP oddities & opportunities:

Droyne are divided into six castes, and while not like the K'kree who do things by the herd, normally do things done at the dreskay (Family unit of 5-6 individuals). a "collection of these" make up an Oytrip, according to Traveller's Alien Module: Droyne..

The other small group, is also measured in the same numbers, the Kroyloss or "fraternity"

Droyne handbuild their starships (those that have starflight), so while there are similiar inside features, each one exterior wise will differ as well. Those who move off and explore, or conduct trade form Iyuksimin (or 'tendrils', literally) from their parent group.

The Droyne casting ritual is a Psionic one, led by the Aykrusk The leader (Psionic Priest) caste. Droyne psionics are different from human known ones. The Droyne leadership caste in large communities (Oytrips again) have thier own Psionic council, and choose among their number their leader of leaders, or Aykrusk’unkrus.

I admit there isn't a plethora of data in what we do have from various flavors of Traveller Stofsk, but from the basics above, and some of what I have shared one could:

a) Have Sport caste who is looking for a deathless one, who has hidden among humans and must bring him/her/it back to face the death ritual, or carry out the sentence.

b) Have a sport sent to find out the fate of a missing 'tendril's' ship and its crew which is overdue.

c) Have Sport act as an emissary for a powerful Oytrip on a world seeking trade, economic parity, or diplomatic relations with a Psion led human or other world. On a flip side, this emissary/ courier could also be delivering word of Oytritsyu'a, the total war between communities.

d) Act as a Spy on human worlds nearby for the Oytrip for the purposes of choosing with whom to trade, not trade, etc with..

and so on. Hope this helps stofsk.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

Cheers Liam! Excellant discussion.

Stofsk, here are more resources for ya:

*LBB Adventure 3: Twilight's Peak (to my knowlege, this is the first full-fleged article on the droyne)
*Alien Module 5: Droyne (now in reprint from FFE)
*G:T Alien Races 3: Droyne and Hivers
*Traveller Chronicle Issue 6: This presents a post-Rebellion polity named the Gralyn Union in the Reaver's Deep sector. A human /Droyne /Aslan state, the GU is a pretty interesting take on what a multi-species polity might look like. Interesting take in a very interesting sector.

Here are some links from ask.com (searchword 'Droyne'):

http://home.earthlink.net/~ngc5139/IISS/droynia.html

http://www.foreven.com/libdat/libdat/d/Droyne.htm

http://members.cox.net/imperiallibrary/d/droyne.html

Again, hope that helps. Enjoy!

 

[Liam Devlin]

Why thank ye, CPT O'Flynn

 

[Flynn]

Hey, Stofsk,

You might want to read through this thread, starting with the first post:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=48;t=000003

Hoping It Helps,
Flynn

 

[mike wightman]

You may find this of use from BeRKA'a excellent site:

http://zho.berka.com/goodies/coyncasting/

 

[stofsk]

ALTERNATE DROYNE RACIAL TRAITS
Optimised for Sport caste.
</font>

• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution: Droyne are nimble and inquisitive, but aren't a particularly robust species. (Abilities are rolled the conventional way, 4d6 discard lowest die)</font>
• Small: As Small creatures, Droyne gain a +1 size bonus to their Armour Class, a +1 size bonus to attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than Humans use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium-size characters.
  
  If Droyne are Str 14 and Con 14 they are considered Medium-sized. Few Droyne are this large however, typically only Warriors have scores that high.</font>
• Droyne base speed is 8 metres.</font>
• Droyne fragility: Droyne are more susceptible to damage than other races. They suffer double damage when in melee against an opponent of medium-size or better, after armour has been taken into account.</font>
• Droyne flight: If a Droyne has a Strength of 8 he can use his wings for flight. Whilst flying, a Droyne can attack using bony spurs on their hind limbs. This is treated as a Brawling attack and inflicts 1d6 damage.</font>
• Use Alien Device is always a Class skill, no matter what class the Droyne actually is.</font>
• Automatic Languages: Oynprith.</font>

Notes: The ability modifiers were chosen to be more in line with the D20 system. A penalty to Strength and Constitution seems to be in line with the fluff I've read of Droyne, who are small and fragile creatures compared to humanoid species. The bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence offsets the penalties in my opinion, and are also in line with the picture I have of Droyne (these guys used to be the Ancients, they should be bright

).

Instead of the racial feat "Operate Device" I've made Use Alien Device a racial class skill.

The automatic languages only grant Oynprith to Droyne vocabulary. This is to reflect their tendency to stay isolated. Sports are meant to be ambassadors and travellers, so they could get a bonus language (Galanglic), or the Int modifier can grant a bonus language.

Does anyone know what ages there are for Droyne? When are they considered young adults, adults, middle aged, old and venerable? How many terms can they do in Prior History?

EDIT: Those big eyes of the Droyne look special. Would granting them Low Light vision be out of order?

 

[stofsk]

Aw... no-one likes my alterations?

 

[mike wightman]

Actually, yes

It makes more sense to modify the characteristic roll as you've suggested - halflings don't use different dice for character generation in D&D do they?