Reading Your Homeworld

[Supplement Four]

Everything I'm about to say here is up to GM interpretation. If you don't agree...that's OK! I'm not writing Traveller LAW here.

I started a thread some time back that many of you enjoyed called "Reading a Subector". You can view that thread here:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=14705&highlight=Reading+a+Subsector

In that thread, the topic was the act of looking at available information about a subsector and then making some logical assumptions about that area of space to use in your game.

A GM can do a similar activity when setting up his game. Typically, what a GM does is allow players to pick from any of the careers listed in Traveller and then work them into the story. I know I've done that plenty of times, myself.

But, what I'm offering up for discussion here is the act of customizing chargen choices based on the character's homeworld. For example, the Barbarian career, from Supplement 4, really isn't suitable for all homeworlds. You wouldn't find a barbarian on a world with a hazardous environment, for example.

What I'm suggesting is to take a good, hard look at the homeworld and then alter chargen choices based on what you find.





Let's take three worlds from the Spinward Marches and show you what I'm talking about.



Vanejen C686854-5 Rich. Imperial Research Station.

Natoko B582211-8 Imperial Naval Base. Non-industrial. Low Pop. Gas Giant in system. Naasirka Stationl Tukera Station.

Patinir C000632-9 Asteroid Belt. Gas Giant in system. Imperiallines Station. Non-agricultural. Ancient Site.



Obviously, characters from these three distinct homeworlds will have different opportunites in life just as a person in a third world country has a different life experience than a person who grew up in the United States.

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[Supplement Four]

The Three Homeworlds

The first thing I do when "reading homeworlds" is to write up a short paragraph or three about the world--something to hand the players so that they can get a feel for where their character has spent the first several years of his life.

For the three homeworlds we're talking about in this thread, I've done these write-ups on the worlds for a game I had a couple of years ago.





HOMEWORLD VANEJEN

Vanejen, in spite of its dense standard atmosphere, is a pleasant world with the good fortune, in the distant past, to be lying on spinward main (the main jump route used during the exploration of the sector during the Second Imperium). Over the last five hundred years, though, the X-Boat routes and jump-mains have shifted, leaving Vanejen in a somewhat remote starcluster of the Rhylanor subsector.

The planet was settled by the Solomani during the Rule of Man, and today a Solomani ethnic majority remains on the world (although the planet does have a native, bronze-age, aborginal race referred to as Chirpers). The world is governed by a strict, traditional feudal system, ruled by a number of Solomani noble families (the most powerful of these being House Margrave), although the feudal system, over the last two decades, is thawing a bit in the wake of the planet's governors plans to improve Vanejen's technological sophistication (with the long-term aim of making Vanejen one of the foremost worlds in the subsector). For the last hundred years or so, these noble families have been officially recognized by the Emperor, the Imperium, and the Moot--all of the families being vassals and banner Houses to the Count of Rhylanor.

At this time, Vanejen does not support a space-faring navy nor inter-planetary army, although plans, that may take decades, have been made in that direction.

Vanejen's local gravity is near Terra-normal at 0.825G. It's twin suns promote near-earth-like weather with temperatures (degrees F) averaging 90 at the equator (Summer 126 - Winter 32), 57 at the tropics (Summer 118 - Winter -42), and -19 at the poles (Summer 43 - Winter -117).

An Imperial Research Station is also known to exist on the world, although the subject of its research has not been divulged.


VANEJEN

STARPORT: C
SIZE: Medium
ATMOSPHERE: Dense
HYDROSPHERE: Wet
POPULATION: Moderate
LAW LEVEL: Moderate
TECH LEVEL: Industrial





HOMEWORLD NATOKO

Natoko is a planet in the Aramis Trace that is wholly owned by Tukera. The only mark of civilization on the world is the Class B downport where Tukera has built to service its local fleet, although Tukera's main office in this region of space is located on Aramis.

Temperatures on Natoko are a bit hot, due to the systems twin suns, and average (degrees F) 118 at the equator (Summer 131 - Winter 95), 91 at the tropics (Summer 133 - Winter 19), and 28 at the poles (Summer 70 - Winter -44). Natoko is a dry world, with a hot, dense atmosphere and very little water (no large bodies of water) but sporting standard gravity of 1G. Environs outside the starport are strictly restricted to all except Tukera-approved personnel.

The total population of Natoko is measured in the thousands with all persons located at the starport. Not counted in this number is the Imperial Navy's Special Operations Base, a non-standard installation headquartering the Navy's intelligence and special ops forces for the region. Naasirka also maintains an installation on the planet, adjacent to the starport.

Characters from Natoko are children born from the workers, employees, and soldiers stationed on the planet.


NATOKO

STARPORT: B
SIZE: Medium
ATMOSPHERE: Dense
HYDROSPHERE: Dry
POPULATION: Low
LAW LEVEL: Low
TECH LEVEL: Pre-Stellar





HOMEWORLD PATINIR

Patinir is a thickly populated asteroid belt in the scatters of the Aramis subsector, home to numerous mining companies and independent belters, all governed by a loose collection of managers from various companies. There are three, very large, space stations located at Trojan Points within the system, but numerous, smaller installations and hollowed out asteroids exist at a multitude of points within the belt.

Patinir is a major source of lanthanum (metal needed for jump drives) for the Imperium, and, notably, the largest corporation located in the belt is the Imperiallines headquarters. Also of note is the find of an Ancient Site on one of the larger asteroids and the accompanying Imperial scientific outpost built there to study it (operated by the Imperial Scouts).

The Patinir "government", called the Managers, does maintain a small, local space-faring force of Guardsmen (Naval troopers) and Marshalls (Law Enforcers), but in spite of this, law enforcement is virtually non-existent in most areas of the belt. A space-faring criminal element of raiders, pirates, or corsairs is known to exist, and some shipping and belters have had trouble. Many of the independent companies of the Patinir belt maintain their own security forces.


PATINIR

STARPORT: C
SIZE: Asteroid
ATMOSPHERE: Vacuum
HYDROSPHERE: Desert
POPULATION: Moderate
LAW LEVEL: Low
TECH LEVEL: Early Stellar



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[Supplement Four]

Now, armed with a sense of each homeworld, some facts at hand about the paces, I take a hard look at each of the careers offered in the game (from Book 1 and Supplement 4) and consider if I should make any changes in the career choice.



Careers Available on VANEJEN

• Army - Feudal Family
• Bureaucrat - Feudal Family
• Diplomat - Feudal Family
• Diplomat - Imperial
• Doctor
• Flyer - Feudal Family
• Hunter
• Law Enforcer - Feudal Family
• Marine - Feudal Family
• Noble - Feudal Family
• Other
• Rogue
• Sailor
• Scientist - Imperial Research Station Gamma

All of the careers tagged with "Feudal Family" indicates that the career is linked to one of the feudal families on the planet (the society is similar to that which is seen in Dune, with strong nobles and strong noble families). Thus, a character who enter into the Army on Vanejen is considered to be in the army of one of the Noble Houses and limited by the world's TL. At TL 5, the GM must consider that the soldier will not be trained in higher tech weapons like ACRs and PGMPs.

Diplomats on Vanejen are natives working for various agencies and governments, including the Imperial government, as the nobles of Vanejen work to make their world a shining star among the Duke's vassals.

The careers without tags have no restrictions or notes placed upon them. Run them as you would a generic career. But, also note that not all careers are available. Scouts is missing, for example, because the career does not make sense as an option when reading this homeworld.

Just like in real life, the opportunities one has in life come largely from being at the right place at the right time, with emphasis on "place".





Careers Available on NATOKO

• Army
• Bureaucrat - Naasirka
• Bureaucrat - Tukera
• Doctor - Naasirka
• Doctor - Tukera
• Law Enforcer - Naasirka
• Law Enforcer - Tukera
• Marine
• Merchant - Naasirka
• Merchant - Tukera
• Navy
• Other
• Scout

On Natoko, with its low population, careers are a bit more limited. The "Naasirka" and "Tukera" tags indicate that career corresponds with employment with either of those two megacorporations. Note, however, that Scouts are possible on Natoko where as that was not an option for the characters from Vanejen.





Careers Available on PATINIR

• Belter
• Bureaucrat - Imperiallines
• Bureaucrat - Misc. Companies
• Bureaucrat - Patinir Government
• Bureaucrat - Sternmetal
• Diplomat - Imperial
• Doctor
• Law Enforcer - Imperillines
• Law Enforcer - Misc. Companies
• Law Enforcer - Patinir Marshalls
• Law Enforcer - Sternmetal
• Merchant - Imperillines
• Merchant - Free Trader
• Navy - Patinir Guardsmen
• Other
• Pirate
• Rogue
• Scientist - Ancient Site
• Scientist - Misc. Companies
• Scientist - Sternmetal

By now, you understand how to read the tags. Any character who joins the Navy from Patinir, for example, is not considered in the Imperial Navy but in the local naval service called the Patinir Guardsmen.

I should note, though, that I use these career choices as pretty strong guidelines, but they're not necessarily written in stone. A player that comes up with a pretty good idea and reason to have a certain type of character will probably convince me to allow it.



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[Supplement Four]

Lastly, the GM may want to take a look at the skills offered for the available careers. The generic career skill tables may work fine, but the GM may also want to make some adjustments based on his read of the homeworld.

For example, TL may effect the skill choices. As mentioned above, the soldier from Vanejen is skilled with TL 5 equipment. This Army trooper would not be trained in Battle Dress, and, thus, that skill should not be available to him during chargen.

GMs may also want to add to the available choices. For example, a character from a water world has a good chance of knowing how to swim. The GM can just give a character like this Swimming-0 (as is suggested in Book 1), or the GM may want to make the skill an alternative to what is already in the chargen tables. The GM can follow the example given in The Mountain Environment and allow Swimming as an alternative choice whenever a vehicle skill is thrown.

By replacing skills, limiting skills, and allowing alternative choices on the career skill tables, the GM can actually customize character generation to where it has an effect on the game universe.

For example, characters from high gravity worlds may get an extra option of getting STR +1 or END +1 when throwing a physical improvement result on the chargen tables (If DEX +1 is indicated, the player may choose to either stick with that result or pick a +1 to either END or STR because of his homeworld).

In doing this, characters from this homeworld will become known for their great STR and END.



Let me give you another example of what I'm talking about. Let's look at Patinir. There are lots of companies there. We know that from the write-up on the world. And, since the system is not tagged with a "non-industrial" tag, we know that there is some industry in the system.

The GM looks at this and decides that some company has come into the system at some point and set up a factory that makes snub pistols and accelerator rifles--weapons that are in high demand in the asteroid belt.

We'll call this company P-ARMS, and the GM will relate to the players that the company has become known as a "quality" manufacturer of arms. Anytime the players find a P-ARMS snub pistol or accelerator rifle in the game, the GM gives the weapon slightly different stats from that found in generic Traveller, improving the weapon slightly over other like weapons. The GM decides that P-ARMS weapons are stated at +1 better at Short Range than other snubs and accelerators.

Now, we've already established that the Patinir Marshalls (Law Enforcer from Supplement 4) are one of the career choices available in for characters where Patinir is their homeworld.

The GM decides that, long ago, P-ARMS founded a contract with the Marshalls to supply weapons to them. Part of this contract included intense training.

The GM looks at the Law Enforcer career and decides that, anytime a weapon skill is thrown, the Marshall can go as the throw indicates or choose Snub +1, Accelerator Rifle +1, or Zero G Combat +1.

Just as, in real life, the Gorkhas were known for their history of incredible courage and strength at martial arts in the British Army's Brigade of Gorkhas, the Patinir Marshalls are known locally (and probably a system or two away) as some of the best Zero G fighters known to exist.

Now, when a PC runs across a Patinir Marshall, that career choice has a rep of its own. If the PC was a Marshall in his past, then that reputation may precede him.





There are other ways to make chargen in Classic Traveller "sing". Let what I've said above spark your creativity. The details you generate while "reading your homeworld" adds to the game, makes it more real, suspends disbelief, and just flat out makes the game more enjoyable for all.

"Oh, you're from Patinir?"

"Yeah. I did a decade or so as a Marshall?"

"You're kiddin'. Really?"

"Yep."