CT Only: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

[Black Vulmea]

On a lark, I decided to roll up a Traveller character.

I had a vague idea for a solo trader campaign, inspired by "Speculation Without a Starship" from JTAS 5, something to pass an idle hour. I rolled up the character: 876C88, a good foundation. Rather than my usual scruffy Book 1 free trader, I wanted this guy to come from Book 7 for a change of pace.

At the start, things went swimmingly: hired on by a megacorp line - Tukera, I decided - and successful at the academy, Venn Argrink graduated with honors before beginning his actual service at age 22. As an academy honor graduate, he was free to choose his billet, and what I shoulda done here was choose Sales as his department right out of the gate, but instead I decided to see if he could transfer his way in, first spending time in space; if Venn made rank O4, he would have a good chance of earning Special Duty and attending Business School in a megacorp line, so that seemed like an interesting path to pursue.

So Venn joined the Purser Department instead. First year-long assignment went great: speculative trading, earned a 15K Cr bonus, picked up a skill - a promising start. Second assignment was a route gig; passed his department test and received a promotion, but didn't pick up a skill - a little frustrating, as he needed Liaison to get promoted again, but still two more years in this term. Third year, more speculative trading, another 10K Cr bonus, but once again no skill.

Fourth year, it falls apart: transfer down - kicked out of Tukera to a sector-wide line, Sworat; apparently this shook him up, as he finally earned that Liaison skill in a route assignment, but I guess it was too little, too late: he failed re-enlistment - rolled bloody snake-eyes! - and was booted by Sworat as well.

From academy honor graduate to unemployed at 26. Oh, random lifepath, you fickle mistress.

Now I know there's a great story in here somewhere, but it felt very much like only the first chapter; sure, I could set this character adventuring, looking for a billet as steward on a free trader or subbie, but it just seemed like he wasn't quite ready to go that route yet.

So I flipped open Dragon 55, thumbed to the article "Filling In Skill."

The article offers an experience system for Traveller - feh - and rules for switching careers. Most non-military careers can be entered from other careers by these rules, based on previous service and age. As a 26 year-old ex-Merchant, two second-career possibilities stood out: Pirate and Rogue. Pirate was enormously tempting, especially given Venn's Gunnery skill and the chip he must bear on his shoulder, but it seems a little too gritty, too hands-dirty, for our former Tukera assistant purser. Rogue, on the other hand . . . skills like Forgery, Bribery, and a shot at a Travellers Aide Society membership on mustering out - that seems right in Venn's wheelhouse.

So he becomes a Rogue, picks up Streetwise, Body Pistol . . . and three levels in Carousing. Now I know Venn's story: he's a party animal, which is why he wasn't picking up skills when he should've. With a background in hospitality from his time in the merchants, he spends the next twelve years of his life running nightclubs, hosting parties, mastering the ability of making people feel special, cultivating a reputation as The Guy who Brings People Together - For a Price. He makes a comfortable living - earns that Travellers membership from one satisfied customer - right up to the point where he fails to re-enlist at 38, as a deal goes sideways and he needs to get off planet.

Now Venn'll call on those levels in Steward to get a job on a small trader, get back into space again, and put some parsecs between him and his past.

That means I need more crew members, and a ship . . . more on that later . . .

Crossposted at RPG Pub

 

[kilemall]

The Gentleman Trader campaign is I think a greatly underutilized one, and can involve quite a bit of 'living by one's wits and contacts' sort of play.


Not having a ship lifts a great burden on one's cash flow.


On the other hand, getting a ship to go somewhere 'in time' especially off trade routes or mains could be a miniquest itself.

 

[Black Vulmea]

Okay, so I have a steward in need of a ship. Now it's time to go at this from the other direction.

Looking at who feeds into a second career as a Merchant in "Filling in Skills," military, Bureaucrat, Rogue and Pirate characters who serve no more than one turn are eligible, but all suffer penalties to the enlistment roll. There's one more option, and it's a personal favorite: Belter. A Belter can serve up to three terms before joining the Merchants at age 26 - remember, Belters start at 14 years old, not 18 - and with no penalty to the enlistment roll. Belter is also one of those careers which chews up new characters and spits them out - it takes three tries to get a character through a single term, so at 18, Harger Harglum - 797A87 - decides it's time for a change, and with a couple of levels of Vacc Suit and one of Prospecting already in his service jacket, he joins the crew of a free trader.

In the Traveller campaigns I run, free traders are generated using Book 1 - on a max promotion or re-enlistment roll, they can move up to a Book 7 fledgling line - so out comes The Traveller Book. In his first term, he cruises, earning a commission and a promotion plus four skills. I decide to take all four rolls on the same table, so I grab a handful of dice and throw 'em, earning three levels of Admin (!) and one of Pilot. I think of Starman Jones and Sargasso of Space, and picture a free trader captain who insists Harger pound the books first if he's 'ever to be a merchanter worth a credit.'

Harger cruises through his second and third terms as well, rising to 1st Officer, enhancing his bridge skills, getting ahead of aging, and adding a level of Bribery, which is awesome. His fourth term takes a turn - he hits his Survival roll exactly, suggesting danger, and misses a promotion, but easily re-enlists, so whatever happened, it appears Harglum weathered the storm.

Harger makes Captain in his fifth term, focuses on fighting off the effects of time on his body, and retires. He gets a ten year-old free trader as a benefit, and now I've got my pilot and a ship for what's turning into a fairly traditional trading crew. Now I need an engineer, and a medic.

For the next crew member, I decide to go to the one character in original Traveller who's permitted, and perhaps expected, to change careers: a Vargr. And if I'm gonna run a Vargr, of course I'm going Corsair first. My first try dies in the third term, but my second makes it through. Khogzoug - 6A9A92 - joins the Space branch of the Corsairs, picks up a couple of decorations, learns a variety of skills - Gunnery, Electronics, Infighting - then gets to Specialist School where she picks up Medical. Early in her second term, her career suffers a setback, and she loses Charisma and gets transferred out of the Space branch into the Troops, where she picks up some skill in Wheeled Vehicles - sounds like she's putting her medic skills to work on an ambulance. At the end of her term, however, she leaves the Corsairs and joins the Merchants, wanting to get back into space.

Aboard a Vargr merchant, she adds a level to her Medical skill but also picks up levels in Engineering, Mechanical, and Electronics. After three largely uneventful terms, she rises to 2nd Officer before she fails re-enlistment. With two levels each in Engineering and Medical, Khogzoug makes an unconventional crewman, one who can fill both the Engineer and Medic spots, which makes her perfect for our unconventional crew.

There's a little more fleshing out to do - more later . . .

 

[BRJN]

Bayani Masipag* would like to make your acquaintance, as a Contact. He is a Master Broker and may help you find really good deals on speculative merchandise.

* See my thread of the same title, in this forum

 

[Fovean]

Oh man, you are off to a great start. Please keep on!

I’m guessing you’re using some OTU area for this campaign but if not, once you’re done with discovering your crew, you might consider developing your own campaign area based on the character generation you’ve been doing.

For instance, we know there’s the following:

Merchant Academy
Tukera (megacorp)
Sworat (sector line)
Revelry district (could be a highport, could be a pleasure planet, etc)
Dangerous Asteroid Belt (or Trojan colony or what have you)
Free Trader culture
Vargr/Human border region
Corsair culture

All of these things can be placed on a map, further fleshed out as needed and are the places the crew knows intimately. Anything else on the map can be placed deliberately or rolled up randomly or both.

To me this sounds like a really cool frontier/border region where Vargr corsairs are scrapping with Human Free Traders while the Imperium is essentially a ghost of glories past. Tukera is the real law around here, and her Nobles, while Sworat is making a play for some action into neighboring Vargr space.

Sorry, hope you don’t mind my brainstorming. Your reports are quite inspiring!

 

[Black Vulmea]

The last couple of steps in rounding out my characters is to check on ancestry and toss in a few zero-level skills, to represent basic competencies and affinities, and identify language skills.

Ancestry comes from Vilani & Vargr, one of very few MT materials I reference in my expansive but overwhelmingly CT campaign. Imperial characters may have Vilani ancestry - a lot, a little, or (often) none at all - which can affect aging rolls; bonuses come from living in the former Ziru Sirka, proximity to Vland, homeworld government type, &c. Venn rolls low - no Vilani skulking around the Argrink woodshed, apparently - while Harger rolls moderately high - Vilani forebears in the Harglum family earn the merchant captain a +2 on his aging rolls.

Zero-level skills IMTU are basic competencies not otherwise reflected in your character's skill set. They are ad hoc, based on career - careers, in this case - homeworld, or whatever seems appropriate. Venn Argrink comes from a fairly low-tech agricultural world in Fornast, so he gets Equestrian-0 from that experience as well as ATV-0, from running the family tractor and harvester. Venn also gets one other interesting benefit, from Merchants & Merchandise, which I adopted as a house rule: anyone who graduates from a merchant academy gets an Imperial Navy Reserve commission.

I used the Belter career rules in Beltstrike for Harger Harglum's first term; the rules state that Belters have an affinity for zero-G and laser weapons, so rather than the basic weapons knowledge Book 1 and most Supplement 4 characters possess, Harger gets Zero-G Weapons-0 and Laser Weapons-0, but does not share the affinity for all Book 1 weapons most Travellers have. Any Book 1 Merchant character also gets a choice of Steward-0 or Cargo Handling-0 - from Merchants & Merchandise - in my campaigns; Harger takes the latter. I'm also going to give him Air/Raft-0, from the Belter mining buggy.

Khogzoug gets Combat Rifleman-0, from her transfer to the Troops, which fits with two levels of Auto Rifle she picked up along the way; based on her skills in Engineering, Electronics, and Mechanical, I'm also going to give her Computer-0 - this is a gaping hole in their collective skill sets, btw - and Gravitics-0, 'cause she's a wicked smaaht wrench.

Last, for languages I dip into another old standby, "Does Anyone Here Speak Aslan?" from Dragon 91. Each character can attempt to learn two languages, based on their careers, beside their native tongue. Venn turns out to be equally proficient in his native Galanglic and Sylean, but can't master even the rudiments of High Vilani. Harger has a basic grasp of High Vilani and some Vuakedh Vargr, enough to make himself understood about two-thirds of the time. Khogzoug's Galanglic is a little better than Harger's Vuakedh, fortunately, and she speaks another Vargr dialect, Suedzuk, as well.

So here's my crew . . .

Harger Harglum, Pilot and Owner Aboard, IMS Booster Gold
799A87 Retired Merchant Captain (ex-Belter) age 38 5(1) terms
Admin-3, Pilot-3, Vacc Suit-2, Bribery-2, Prospecting-1, Navigation-1, Air/Raft-0, Zero-G Weapons-0, Laser Weapons-0, Cargo Handling-0
Galanglic-5, High Vilani-3, Vuakedh-2

Khogzoug, Engineer and Medic
7A9C95 ex-Merchant 2nd Officer (ex-Corsair Senior Hand) age 38 3(2) terms
Engineering-2, Medical-2, Electronics-2, Wheeled Vehicles-2, Ship's Missiles-1, Infighting-1, Mechanical-1, Auto-Rifle-2, Combat Rifleman-0, Computer-0, Gravitics-0
Vuakedh-5, Suedzuk-5, Galanglic-3
MCUF, PH, CSR

Venn Argrink, TAS, Sublieutenant, IN(Res), Steward
776CA8 ex-'Club Promoter' (ex-Merchant Assistant Purser) age 38 3(2) terms
Carousing-3, Steward-2, Gunnery-1, Admin-1, Liaison-1, Streetwise-1, Body Pistol-1, Equestrian-0, ATV-0, Basic Weapons-0
Galanglic-5, Sylean-5, High Vilani-0

I originally set out to run a little solo trading with a single character and no ship; this increases the complexity quite a bit, but they're a damn fine looking crew, so maybe I'll have to put them through their paces when I get some free time to myself. It's a fun little thought experiment, in any case.

Oh man, you are off to a great start. Please keep on!

Thank you.

I’m guessing you’re using some OTU area for this campaign . . .

Judges Guild's Ley Sector, with a big helping of the Phoenix Games' Spacefarers guides.

Your reports are quite inspiring!

Thank you again.

 

[Black Vulmea]

Late Thanksgiving night, the Cabin Kids in bed, the First Mate and the Ship's Dog asleep on the couch, I booted up the notebook and dug out some dice to take another stab at a character. My goal was a naval officer, so of course the dice gave me about as un-Navy-like a character as one could imagine: 864995. Int and Edu are decent enough but that Soc is likely to be a handicap for a fleet career.

Now for what I have in mind, I need an officer, so that means this character's gonna go to school first. Chances of entering the academy are damn poor without Soc 10+, and there's an Edu bonus to be had for college admission, so it's off to uni. I roll the exact number for admission, then cruise through success, Now it's time to roll for NOTC and an officer's commission . . . and nothing doing without a bonus for Soc. The good news is (1) the character gets a BIG boost to Edu, pushing it to E (14), and (2) the character graduates with honors.

So, without NOTC, normally a college graduate can enlist and try to make it to OCS as special duty, but an honors graduate has another option: medical school. This works well with what I have in mind, and the big bump to Edu gets enough of a bonus that the character just makes it in and scrapes by to earn his degree. (What do you call the guy who graduated last in medical school? Doctor.) No honors this time, as I roll snake eyes, but he picks up another bump to Edu plus Medical-3 and Admin-1 and is automatically eligible for a lieutenant's commission in the Medical Branch of the Imperial Navy.

The character begins with basic and advanced training, picks up Electronics-1 and Computer-1 - interesting for a doctor. A patrol assignment consumes the first year, bringing with it a promotion and Handgun skill. Second year is patrol again, only this time the doctor gets a command! Unfortunately command on a patrol is a wish-sandwich, with nothing on the line. Last assignment in the first term is a strike mission, and the doc earns an MCUF to go with the combat service ribbon, but no additional skills. Cruising through re-enlistment, the doctor heads for a second term.

And now I get to try The Thing.

JTAS 22 includes an article describing the Imperial Academy of Science and Medicine, an alternate career for scientist characters, something the game sorely needed as an alternative to the less-than-inspiring S4 effort. The academy is flavorful, there's an Imperial Science Union which is kinda cool, but best of all, military and merchant characters may transfer to the academy for a term! Moreover, Imperial Navy characters get a bonus to attend, and Medical skill is also a bonus, so our good doctor spends the next four years as a scientist on loan to the academy.

As cool as the academy concept is - allowing military officers to serve as scientists calls out the great explorations of 19th century Terra and spurs all kinda ideas for patrons and adventures - the actual rules for resolving a character's term(s) are terrible, so I ignore them: Academy members proceed using the alternative Scientist career from Challenge 29. The doc spends most of the next four years in the lab, including a stint at an Imperial Research Station. Skills in the Challenge 29 article are earned based around what your character already knows; frex, Medical skill is on the Life Sciences table, so the doctor is of course eligible to roll for additional skills earned there, but Computer skill allows the doc to roll on Applied Sciences, and from pursuing the latter the character comes away with two levels of Robotics before successfully re-enlisting in the Navy for another term.

The scientist-physician's next term is rather dull; one more strike assignment and another CSR, but mostly training, and repeatedly passed over for command, the doc, now 38, decides to move on . . . and per Dragon 55's "Filling In Skills," successfully begins a private practice as a Doctor. Three more terms adds to the character's Medical and Computer skill but with no Vilani ancestry and low physical attribute scores, the effects of aging hammer the good doctor, and at age 50, it's time to see more of the universe while still able.

Between a posting to a Research Station, a bump in a term, and mustering out benefits - which rewards the character membership in both the ISU and TAS - the doctor gains +4 Soc, which was, I expect, one of the character's motivations for joining the Navy in the first place; reasonably smart but of low station and few prospects, the doc saw the Navy as a chance to advance her station. Without the natural gifts to be a surgeon, but inquisitive and technology-minded, I see the good doctor as filling assignments such as overseeing the cold watch on assault ships before running an autodoc clinic in private practice.

Dr Maria Kovacic, ISU, TAS, Capt, IN (ret)
543AF9 age 50 'ex-'Doctor (ex-Imperial Navy Captain) 3(3) terms 130K ImpCr
Medical-4, Computer-3, Robotics-2, Administration-1, Electronics-1, Handgun-1

 

[Hyphen]

JTAS 22 includes an article describing the Imperial Academy of Science and Medicine...

As cool as the academy concept is […] the actual rules for resolving a character's term(s) are terrible, so I ignore them: Academy members proceed using the alternative Scientist career from Challenge 29.

Great idea! (My copy of the IASM has pencil scribble all over it in an attempt to improve it. Not sure I succeeded.)

I *did* create a character who's an expert in macro-engineering, and who designed Beowulf Down Starport. ;-)

 

[Black Vulmea]

(My copy of the IASM has pencil scribble all over it in an attempt to improve it. Not sure I succeeded.)

The Scientist career in Challenge 29 is my favorite advanced chargen in Traveller.

 

[Black Vulmea]

Ooops, I did it again.

Grabbed the dice, no particular expectations this time, just seeing what gift the Gawds of Fate would bestow: C7A786.

Well, that just screams military, don' it? And as luck would have it, I haven't cracked open Mercenary in quite a while.

But first, we're gonna need JTAS 10, which introduced military academies for soldiers and marines. Marines attend the same academy as naval characters, and can even qualify for flight school - very much derived from our contemporary USMC - and while those numbers above will eventually make a kick-ass warrior, they're not likely to get him into or through the Naval Academy.

So, Army it is. The character's Str gets him a bonus for admission and he's got just enough Edu for a bonus on success, but lacks the Int to make honors; he comes away with +1 Edu, Combat Rifleman, Heavy Weapons - takes as M(ultiple) R(ocket) L(aunchers) - and Computer skills, plus a commission as a 2nd Lt in the Imperial Army.

Beginning his first term at age 22, the fresh-minted second-looey opts for the Cavalry branch; basic and advanced training get him additional levels in Cbt Rifle and Hvy Wpns. His gets combat command on his first assignment, a police action, where he distinguishes himself be earning the MCG and a promotion - but no skills. His last two years are spent with commands in internal security and a garrison posting.

In his second term, he's sent to command college for a year, earning Recon skill, then immediately earns his second combat command, nets another MCG (!) and promotion to captain, plus Tactics skill. His next year is spent on staff in a non-combat assignment, followed by his second stint at command college in the same term.

The following terms are much the same: three more combat commands, four more combat service ribbons, a trio of MCUFs, a stint as an instructor at command college, and finally assignment as a military attaché which bumps him up to bird-(or whatever they use in the Imperial Army, some kinda sunburst, I guess)-colonel. The colonel misses his roll for re-enlistment, however, and he's retired after twenty years and musters out at which point his resume looks like this:

C8A7DB age 42 Retired Imperial Army Colonel
Special Assignments: Command College, Instructor at Command College, Military Attaché
Awards and Decorations: Six combat service ribbons, five combat commands, Purple Heart, three MCUFs, two MCGs
Equipment Qualified On: Gauss Rifle, TL C MRL, Computer
Skills: Combat Rifleman-2, MRL-2, Recon-2, Instruction-2, Computer-1, Tactics-1

First, note the Edu and Soc attributes; while the colonel didn't pick up much in the way of skills (just eight skill levels over five terms of service - advanced chargen can be fickle this way), he got a serious education and was knighted for his service. These last two, along with his last assignment as a military attaché, cry out for a second career, and I happen to have the perfect one waiting for him in Dragon 32: the Traveller politician!

Published at the end of 1979, "The Traveller Politician: Diplomacy and Intrigue in the Traveller Universe" is a fascinating article. Think for a moment where the game was in 1979: Book 1-4, Supplement 1-4, Adventure 1 (!), and JTAS 1-2. This is still the very early days of Traveller, not quite 'proto-Traveller,' but at a time when so much of the classic Third Imperium was yet to come.

In that light, "TP" is a prescient article, because the career the article outlines isn't a crying baby-kissing, ballot box-stuffing, smoky backroom-dealing politico at all. Rather, what "TP" describes is political appointees in the nascent Imperial bureaucracy. These aren't career shlubs pushing paper in some backwater ministry office - those are the guys from S4; they're directors and administrators and associate deputy ministers filling patronage positions appointed by the nobility.

And as written, "TP" specifically presents a second career - after serving a minimum of three terms - for military characters, to take advantage of their Int-Edu-Soc scores.

The Politician career is divided into five branches: Administrative Politics, Judiciary, Security Mandate, Diplomatic Corps and the Secretariat. To translate these into the classic Third Imperium bureaucracy which would follow, the Secretariat is the Ministry of State focused on internal affairs, the Diplomatic Corps is State's foreign relations function, the Security Mandate is the Imperial High Command, Admiralty, &c, the Judiciary is the Ministry of Justice, and Administrative Politics is literally everything else. Administrative Politics is the easiest to enter, offers the least political opposition - more on that in a moment - and the most rapid advancement but the lightest rewards; the Secretariat is the mirror image.

Rather than the saving throw versus death in other careers, Politician characters face political opposition: fail an opposition throw, and your character can find opportunities to advance more challenging or stopped altogether, be forced to make an expensive payoff, or even face an assassination attempt!

Each two-year term - just think if it as two assignments in a four year term - a character may choose to either expand his power base or seek elevation to a high rank, overcoming political opposition to do so. Your power base consists of cash payments, kickbacks (!), skills like Forgery and Bribery, increases to Int-Edu-Soc, a new 'skill' called Court Influence, a personal bodyguard, an estate, immunity from arms restrictions, free passage aboard starships, and titles and fiefs.

The actual rules are a little clunky in places, but as a concept it's original and flavorful.

So, our academy graduate knighted retired full colonel seeks a position in the Security Mandate - a pretty obvious choice - for which he gets bonuses to the roll from Soc 10+ and five or more terms served. Ensconced in something like the Imperial Military Resources Board, he begins accepting kickbacks worth 6K ImpCr a year and then manages a promotion to 'Chief' - the titles, unfortunately, need work - while avoiding opposition in his two two-year assignments.

Returning again after four years, he begins receiving cash payouts and achieves another promotion, again while avoiding opposition. In his third full term, however, he must pay a 20K ImpCr payoff to keep his position after rising to rank 4 as political opponents take his measure. Realizing the best benefits are obtained through the Secretariat and having reached rank 4, which permits him to transfer to another branch, the colonel succeeds in entering the highest ranks open to the Politician character. Rather than pursuing promotion, for his next two terms the colonel focuses on cashing in from his position: kickbacks, a permanent escort of six bodyguards, and an estate valued at 120K ImpCr! Having served five more terms in the political realm, he decides it's time to move on before political opponents make another move against him. There is no mustering out of the Politician career - you earn your benefits as you serve, and our colonel, an almost full-blooded Vilani, is fit and ready after more than forty years in Imperial service to start the next phase of his life.

Colonel Sir Ganimakkur 'Rip' Shurippur, KAS, IA (Ret), MCG with cluster
C797EB age 62 ex-'Envoy' (retired Army Colonel) 5(5) terms
Combat Rifleman-2, Multiple Rocket Launcher-2, Recon-2, Instruction-2, Computer-1, Tactics-1
Estate, escort, carbine, 214K ImpCr (!)

 

[Black Vulmea]

Two more: a failed soldier and a marine academy graduate.

One of the best things about the "Filling In Skills" article in Dragon 55 is that characters who find themselves knocked out of a career after just a term or two due to a failed re-enlistment throw - or as a consequence-other-than-death-for-missing-survival, if that's the way you roll - still have an opportunity to keep developing before starting their lives as travellers. I've played the one-term wonder, and while they are viable characters, Traveller's lifepath system is Just. So. Damn. Much. Fun, it seems a shame to not play out at least a few terms.

I tend to choose careers in a fairly obvious way: if the dice favor the physical attributes, I go military, if they favor intellect and education, I go science and mercantile, and if they favor social standing, I go naval. My next surviving character - I usually lose from one to three to failed survival rolls for each 'completed' character - began with these stats: A8A876. Good Str and End immediately suggest Army, so first I try for the academy again . . . and tank the admission roll. The character joins as a buck private instead, but still poised for success. I default, as I usually do, to the cavalry branch and she gains Combat Rifleman and Grav Vehicle during basic. She draws a combat assignment her second year, specialist school her third, and garrison duty the fourth, finishing the term a corporal. Despite a bonus as an NCO, however, she misses her re-enlistment roll and finds herself mustering out at 22 years old.

"Filling In Skills" presents all kinds of opportunities for characters to enter new careers after only a single term, but I opt for one that's not on the list, substituting it for bureaucrat: police officer.

I use the police career presented in Dragon 113; it's my favorite non-GDW career published for Traveller, well-thought through and modeled closely on the 'official' careers. For a one-term soldier, a career in law enforcement seems like a very natural second-choice, as it often is in our own world, so she applies to the police academy, coasts through admission and success and is placed in the patrol division as a rookie patrol officer after she graduates. The next few years she patrols her beat, earning . . . nothing: no promotions, no skills. Hrrrm.

Her second term she remains in the patrol division for the first two years, finally picking up an additional skill level in Grav Vehicle during a training assignment. At the end of the second year, she's permitted to transfer to the constabulary, the rural police forces of a world, and at last her life gets interesting, with a rescue assignment in which she earns a medal for gallantry and a promotion to corporal, and continues improving her grav craft operator skill.

She re-enlists in the constabulary, and is deployed on two more rescues in the next term, earning merit citations and a promotion to sergeant. In her fourth term, it appears she was moved to another location, as there are no more rescue assignments. She is promoted to lieutenant and is forced to roll to avoid transfer from the constabulary to the administration division. She also runs into a problem: she hits her Int + Edu skill/skill levels cap. I turn to a house rule I've used for years: if a charqacter has no more room for skills, and cannot improve either Int or Edu through the career '______ life' tables, the character may instead roll on the mustering out table, to try to get a bump to Int or Edu - any other roll is ignored and no skill is earned.

In her fifth and final term, she completes her final rescue and is promoted to captain, whereupon she is forced to transfer to admin at last for her final two years, and is posted to her only special assignment, legal training. After twenty years with a badge, she decides to retire, while she still has her health.

Kim 'Goldie' Meguiar
978AD7 age 42 Retired Constabulary Captain (ex-Army Corporal) 5(1) terms
Grav Vehicle-4, Legal-2, Survival-2, Combat Rifleman-1, Communications-1, Police Handgun-1, Cudgel-1, Brawling-1

As a post-police career, I can totally see Goldie as a driver/bodyguard, deftly conning a glistening speeder past towering arcologies for a wealthy businessman, or perhaps flying a battered G-Carrier filled with scientists across the wilds of a remote world. She's pretty awesome.

Next up, we have a high social standing character: 5A789A. Again, I see a high Soc, I think navy, and Soc A is pretty much automatic for naval academy enlistment for me. The high Dex also suggests flight school.

JTAS 10 says that marines attend the naval academy, rather than their own academy, and are eligible for flight school, assigned to 'Marine Flight Wings' which specialize in ground support. The article also says marine pilots can transfer into the marine infantry later in their careers. A lifepath which includes both High Guard and Mercenary? It's on!

Soc A makes naval academy entry not exactly trivial, but certainly probable, and our would-be marine pilot is accepted easily. With just enough horsepower between the ears to get a bonus, she successfully completes the academy and is commissioned an Imperial Marine 2nd Lieutenant. With honors, she can go straight to flight school, but she's got to make the roll with no bonuses; to my surprise, she does, saving her an extra admission roll. Flight school success isn't difficult, but she just makes it by the skin of her teeth nonetheless, thanks to an Int bonus.

Flight school takes up the first year of her second term; after graduating flight, she is sent to MOTS to learn how to be a marine officer. In contrast to skills like Navigation, Pilot, and Ship's Boat from flight school, at MOTS she trains as a rifleman and to wear battle dress. Now she returns to the navy and goes through basic and advanced Flight branch training (!) before finally, after seven years, ending up as flight crew in action. She manages a promotion to 1st lieutenant, picks up another level in Ship's Boat and successfully re-enlists.

Over the next eight years, she sees ample action, is promoted regularly and gains additional skills; from her increasing levels in Ship's Boat, and after earning a Purple Heart, I picture her flying not fighters but assault craft. However, after spending her entire without third term without a command and never drawing special duty, she decides - convinced that Marines are given short-shrift by Navy pilots - to transfer to the marine infantry. Time to open up Mercenary.

This is one of those moments when the dice tell the perfect story. What would you do with a pilot suddenly put in command of foot-sloggers? Her first year she's put in command of ship's troops, to get her feet wet, then serves on staff during a combat assignment to season her. After a slight detour as a military attache, she is sent to command college to round out her term.

In her fifth term, she comes into her own with back-to-back combat commands of a marine regiment, another stint as a military attache, and finally with a training assignment after which point she retires. Mustering out bumps her Int, Edu and especially her Soc, which, with the two attache assignments, pushes her all the way to Soc E.

Major General Lady Fulgarda Ha, Marquise of Swar, IM, KSA, SEH, TAS
5A7AEE age 42 Retired Imperial Marine Major General 5 terms
Special Assignments: Military Attache, Command College
Awards and Decorations: Seven combat service ribbons. Three combat commands. Two Purple Hearts, six MCUFs, MCG, SEH.
Equipment Qualified On: Gauss rifle, battledress, computer, spacecraft, starship
Ship's Boat-4, Pilot-2, Navigation-2, Combat Rifleman-2, Battle Dress-1, Computer-1, Ship's Tactics-1, Tactics-1

General Ha - Lady Fulgarda - is, perhaps even moreso than Col. Shurippur above, a prime candidate for a further career as a Traveller politician; on the other hand, she makes a fascinating mercenary leader as well, perhaps with her own ship, like the Tethys, or squadron of merc cruisers. I think I'll stick a pin in her for now.

 

[Black Vulmea]

I'm going to finish this post-thread with three more characters.

The dice give me a fun result: 789876. I have an idea for a military character who transfers into a different field, and I want to do something different from the usual trooper/marine/spacehand, so he attempts to enlist in the Flyers service, CT's COACC. Successfully enlisting, he survives his first term, gaining both a commission and a promotion to flight leader in the process. Flyers receive Aircraft-1 as an automatic skill on enlistment; the obvious choice is Grav Vehicle-1, but I think it might be more fun if he comes from a lower-tech planet, one still flying more conventional aircraft, so I decide he's a fighter pilot, taking Jet Powered Fixed Wing Aircraft-1 instead. In his first term he picks up four more skills, including another level of JPFWA, Survival-1, Electronic-1, and Pistol-1 - clearly he's prepared for ditching in hostile country!

Successfully re-enlisting for a second term, our Flyer barely makes his survival roll - combat situation? accident? - and is promoted to Squadron Leader, picking up another level each in JPFWA and Electronics. Despite a promising career, our Flyer is denied re-enlistment after just two terms - why becomes an interesting question.

Flipping to "Filling In Skills" in Dragon 55 once more, I look for second careers for a military character at age 26; Hunter and Rogue are possibilities, as is Diplomat, by virtue of Flyers being an educated service - one which offers a bonus to Education as a skill or mustering out benefit. There's also what appears to be a misprint in the table: there are no ages listed for Bureaucrat. This can be interpreted as missing data or as no restriction' I treat it as missing data and substitute the same limitations as the Diplomat career. This means our now ex-Flyer is eligible to become a Bureaucrat as well.

Rather than join the Supplement 4 Bureaucracy, which kinda sucks, I go to the second most-detailed bureaucratic service - after the IISS - in CT: the Starport Authority, as presented in JTAS 19 & 21. Our ex-Flyer successfully enlists in the SPA, at a class C starport - I decide it's Rhazes/Ikhnaton in Ley Sector, since it's TL 7 and a good candidate for a conventional COACC - where he's assigned to the Ship Servicing department. His initial training nets him Engineering-1 and Mechanical-1, which dovetails nicely with his Electronics-2. He's posted to the port's ground element, then works customs and security.

Over the next four terms, the ex-Flyer-turned-'portduster' often works customs and security assignments, due to the frequency of retention in assignment provided by the career rules; he expands on his Electronics and Mechanical skills, which I interpret as being the guy who conducts inspections for contraband. Hitting his Int + Edu cap in his third term, I allow him to 'atrophy' his JPFWA levels to make room for additional technical skill levels. In his fourth term he finally earns a 'commission,' elevated as a Crew Chief then promoted to Shift Supervisor; in his fifth and final term in the SPA, before retiring, he's promoted once more, to Supervisor, and bumped up to a class B starport, Sindibad/Ikhnaton, J-2 from his homeworld on Rhazes. In mustering out he receives a gun as a benefit; I decided it's engraved to commemorate his security service on behalf of the SPA.

After a career spent watching starships come and go, he decides to seek his own billet as a drive hand . . .

Marius Shurdaankhan
88B8A6 age 46 Retired SPA Supervisor (ex-Flyer Squadron Leader) 5(2) terms
Electronics-4, Mechanical-3, Engineering-1, Jet Powered Fixed Wing Aircraft-1, Survival-1, Pistol-1
autopistol, 37K ImpCr


The next set of rolls include a high Soc, which suggests a Navy to me, but her rolls are otherwise unimpressive: 7B8879. That Int and Edu are not going to make it easy to enter or succeed at either college or the academy, so she opts to enlist instead in her planetary navy, which is part of the colonial (subsector) fleet; I pick Dragonmist/Ikhnaton as her homeworld. Assigned to the Gunnery branch, she picks up two levels in Gunnery as basic and advanced training, which using High Guard means specializing; she opts for Screens-2. Over the remainder of her first term, she adds another level of Screens and attends specialist school, which nets her Navigation-1.

Immediately on beginning her second term, she's cross-trained in the Flight branch, picking up another level of Navigation and the chance to transfer to that branch next term. She's assigned to a siege for two years, and finishes her term with a shore duty assignment. At this point she's survived by the skin of her teeth - her survival rolls have been right on the money four times, and over-by-one two times! - and earned a pair of MCUFs; she decides maybe something different is in order. A petty officer first class - E6 - she opts out of re-enlistment to pursue a career in the Scouts instead.

Per "Filling in Skills," Navy characters are welcome in the Scouts, gaining a +1 bonus to the enlistment roll, and at 26 years old she's assigned to the IISS Exploration office, where she's trained, like every other Field scout, as a pilot. She immediately draws a pair of special missions, which give her bonus skill rolls; in addition to her office skills, another level of Pilot and one of Gun Combat, she gets a pair of Special Mission skills, Hunting-1 and Equestrian-1. For the last year of her term, she's sent to Contact School, picking up another level of Rifle and one of Survival.

Re-enlisting for a second term, her assignments are mostly routine, but she does pick up one more special mission, adding another level to Hunting. Preparing to enter a third term, she runs into a problem: only needing to throw a 3+, the dice come up snake-eyes - she's denied re-enlistment. I interpret this as the tough ex-petty officer rubbing against an unpleasant Scout bureaucrat, some college-educated punk who doesn't know that life's like in the REAL galaxy, and setting him straight, to her own detriment, and that of the IISS. Somebody somewhere takes pity on her, and recognizes her value, and she gets a detached duty ship as a mustering out benefit

With her array of primitive skills, she's might make a living as a hunting guide, but a type S isn't quite as luxurious as a Leaping Snowcat; perhaps she's catering to the lower end of the tourism spectrum, or maybe she's getting by as a poacher instead . . .

Jasminder Nilsson TAS
7B8AA9 age 34 ex-Scout (ex-Dragonmist Navy Petty Officer 1st Class) 2(2) terms
Rifle-3, Navigation-2, Pilot-2, Hunting-2, Screens-1, Leader-1, Equestrian-1, Survival-1
type S scout ship, 50K Imp Cr


Finally, there's one more multiple-career path published by GDW itself, in Alien Module 6: Solomani. Solomani characters may join SolSec and be assigned to 'cover' careers; they also have the option of pursuing a parallel career in the Home Guard. The dice give me A96A63 - remember, for Solomani characters, the last number is generated as 1-6 and represents standing in the Solomani Party - and he enlists in SolSec automatically; a roll for assignment makes him a monitor, like a commissar, which he decides to keep covert. His cover career is Merchant and he joins the Navy Home Guard as well. In his first term, he picks up Engineering - an automatic skill for Solomani merchants - and a commission as a 4th officer; earning three skills, he confines his rolls to the Education table - his low Edu blocks him from using the advanced table - and he picks up Mechanical and Electronic as well. His Home Guard training gets him a commission as a reserve ensign and Gunnery-1, and he avoids blowing his SolSec cover.

I won't belabor this one; he serves five terms and looks like this after retiring from both the Merchants and the Home Guard.

Craig O'Leary
A95B83 age 38 Retired Merchant 3rd Officer/Retired Navy Home Guard Reserve Lieutenant (SolSec Major) 5/5(5) terms
Mechanical-2, Electronics-2, Gunnery-2, Sensor Ops-2, Engineering-1, Streetwise-1
laser rifle, 40K credits


I hope this thread inspires you to expand your starting characters' horizons.