TNE character generation
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- #5084 Re: TNE character generation by Pauli
Here be a draft copy of the Traveller: The New Era character generation rules. If you prefer to comment privately, send them to GDW.SUPPORT (on GEnie), [email removed], or Dave Nilsen C/O GDW [address removed] Part 1 of 4 (c) copyright 1992, Game Designers' Workshop This is draft material. Do not concern yourself with spelling errors or the like. Rather, we are interested in "big picture" comments. Are there careers that you want to see? Ones here that are too weak/too powerful? What do you think about the controlling attributes for the various skills (skills that appear in Dark Con and Twilight are, alas, not negotiable). CHARACTERS Characters are the focus of Traveller; they are the alter egos of the players, and all activity centers on them. Each character is a person within the game and has abilities and attributes which define his or her actions and reactions. The character is the fictional Traveller personality; the player is the real person engaged in playing the game. A player character (frequently abbreviated as PC) is a character manipulated by a player. A non-player character (NPC) is a character manipulated by the referee in order to allow interaction between the player characters and the universe. Once a player character is generated, he or she continues to live an exciting life of adventure in the Traveller universe. This life ends only with death or disability. Nonplayer characters appear and disappear as the referee needs them. All characters begin the game the same way: untrained, inexperienced, and about 18 years of age. Each character is generated with a series of die rolls. He or she then embarks on an abstract career in order to gain skills and experience. Ultimately, the character retires or leaves that career, receives mustering out benefits, and is ready to begin adventuring. A Note on Gender and Race: Nowhere in these rules is there a specific requirement established that a human character (player or non-player) be of a specific gender or race. While Traveller does include alien races, which are detailed separately, any human character is potentially of any race and of either sex. Traveller characters are described in terms of innate attributes, skills, and a number of other characteristics. During character creation, the initial values for all of these are derived by a combination of die rolls and player choices. Over the course of a series of adventures, many of these will increase to reflect skill improvement, advancing age, and the like. The rules in this chapter explain the process of character generation. In order to make the long process of character generation easier, a character generation worksheet is included with this game. The worksheet is largely self-explanatory, but occasional reference to the rules is necessary, at least for your first few characters. Players should read the rules as they generate their characters, filling in the appropriate blanks of a worksheet as they go. Once a character is completely generated, the information from the unshaded portions of the worksheet should be transferred to a character record sheet. After that, the worksheet may be discarded, if you wish. Only the character record sheet is necessary for play. (Note: Always remember to save at least one blank copy of each sheet to photocopy for future characters.) CHARACTER GENERATION OVERVIEW The abilities and limitations of a character are determined by three general areas of information: background, attributes, and experience. Therefore the character generation procedure follows these three general steps. Background: Players determine their homeworlds, as these have a strong effect on later steps of character generation. They also decide on other background information, such as social level, name, and sex for their characters. Attributes: Players determine the six basic attributes of their characters, either by rolling dice or by using a point-based system described later. These six basic attributes are Strength, Constitution, Agility, Intelligence, Education, and Charisma. Experience: Characters begin to accumulate experience at the age of 17. At that time, players start making career choices for their characters. Each career choice represents four years of training and/or experience (four years being an arbitrary number that helps regulate character generation.) Each time a player makes a four-year career choice, a hobby may also be selected for the character. Careers and hobbies provide the character with all-important skills. Each career period (henceforth called a term) ages the character by four years. At the end of each term, a roll is made to see if character generation ends. if so, the character's pre-game experience is complete. (In other words, the character is this old when the adventure campaign begins.) If not, the player makes another three-year career choice. In this way, some characters will begin the game relatively young and unskilled, but with attributes undiminished by age, while others will be older and more experienced, but possibly less resilient than their younger counterparts. If the referee allows, players who prefer to choose an age for their characters (i. e. a number of terms) may do so, rather than rely upon random die rolls. At the end of each term, then, such players simply decide whether or not their characters will pursue another term. Derived Values: Now that all changes to skills and attributes are completed, certain values are calculated that are based on them. These are things like accuracy with different weapons at various ranges, damage done by bare-handed attacks, and so forth. Possessions: Finally, players determine what possessions their characters have accumulated during their careers. CHARACTER BACKGROUND When I was a child, Grandfather told us stories at night, stories of dukes and admirals, of galaxy-spanning empires, of star fleets locked in titanic battles. And he showed us the shiny radiation scars he had earned in those battles, scars which were red and ugly and came flickeringly to life in the dancing firelight. None of the others believed the stories. Some said they must have happened generations earlier than Grandfather's time @@others said they could never have happened. But I believed. And late at night I Iooked up and dreamt of the stars, and of others like myself on the cold worlds circling them who must also look up and dream. And I knew that one day, somehow, I would walk among them. Before generating the specific physical and mental attributes which define a character, it is necessary to determine the character's background, as this has a strong effect on the rest of the character generation process. The first and most important step in building the character's background is to determine homeworld Homeworld: A homeworld is the world on which a character was raised and probably born. It represents the environment which most directly shaped the early (pre-adventuring) development of the character. Homeworld determination must be a mutual process involving both players and the referee, as the sort of campaign the referee will run will strongly determine the sorts of homeworlds available. If, for example, the referee wished to begin the campaign on a pre-stellar technology world poised on the brink of achieving interstellar space travel, then all of the initial characters should probably come from that same homeworld. If, on the other hand, the campaign is set in a region of space where interstellar travel is commonplace, characters from a wide variety of worlds are possible. A character can specify homeworld in several different ways: a speci@c homeworld can be assigned by the referee; a homeworld can be chosen by the player (subject to referee approval); a homeworld can be generated randomly using the tables provided. If a homeworld is deliberately created, by either the referee or the player, it must contain at least as much descriptive information as is provided by the homeworld random generation tables. Random Generation: Homeworlds can be created using the Homeworld Random Generation table. Codes are brief statements that describe conditions on the world; they provide less detail than the referee-created world characteristics, but they are easy to use and remember. Using the Homeworld Random Generation table, throw 2D for each of the codes: starport, size, atmosphere, hydrographics (an asteroid has no hydrographics), population, government level, law level, and tech level. Die [email removed] are called for when generating certain codes. Referee Generation: Homeworlds can be created using the referee's world generation system (in the Referee's Section). The referee's system generates world characteristics: precise numbers which [email removed] de@ne and differentiate the conditions on a world. For example, two worlds may both be coded as Wet Worlds (with oceans on 24 to 94 percent of the world): one might have a world hydrographic characteristic of 3 (and have oceans over 30 percent of its surface), while the other might have a hydrographic characteristic of 8 (and oceans covering 80 per-cent of its surface). The World Pro@le Code Equivalents table shows the code equivalents for translating the worlds generated under the referee's system into world codes. The best way to create a homeworld is to select an established world and use its description. The character is provided with a background for a world which has a relationship with the history of the universe. There is the possibility of acquaintances on the world, as well as potential for adventures within the established society of the already-created universe. [Homeworld generation material is not included with this draft; you old hands will know how to fake it.] SOME TYPICAL HOMEWORLDS Regina (Spinward Marches): A strategic world on the frontier of the Imperium. Starport A, Medium Size, Dense Atmosphere, Wet World, Moderate Pop, Hi Law, Average Stellar Glisten (Spinward Marches): An industrial asteroid belt. Starport A, Asteroid, Vacuum World, Hi Pop, Mod Law, Hi Stellar Capital (Core): The capital of the Imperium, home of the Emperor, and center of all Imperial government. Starport A, Medium Size, Dense Atmosphere, Wet World, Hi Pop, Hi Law, Hi Stellar Terra (Solomani Rim): The original human homeworld, ruled by a succession of governments over the past 4000 years. Starport A, Large Size, Standard Atmosphere, Wet World, Hi Pop, Hi Law, Hi Stellar Deneb (Deneb Sector): An important industrial world. Starport B, Medium Size, Dense Atmosphere, Wet World, Hi Pop, Mod Law, Avg Stellar Nasemin (Spinward Marches): A backwater world in the border of the Imperium. Starport B, Large Size, Dense Atmosphere, Water World, Mod Pop, Low Law, Avg Stellar Vland (Vland Sector): The ancient capital of the First Imperium, a predecessor to the current Imperium. Starport A, Medium Size, Dense Atmosphere, Wet World, Hi Pop, Hi Law, Hi Stellar ************ Language: The language spoken throughout the worlds to which humaniti has spread is Anglic (sometimes called Galanglic), a language evolved from ancient Terran English. All human characters will speak Anglic or a local dialect of it. Characters from homeworlds which have been isolated from the rest of human culture for a generation or more will speak Galanglic with a noticeable accent and with a number of local words added to the vocabulary, terms which others might find confusing. Other Alien races have their own native languages, but if they live on a human-settled world will probably speak at least some Anglic as well. Social Standing: Roll 2D6 and subtract 1 to determine initial social standing (abbreviated SOC) on the character's homeworld. This is a measure of the accomplishments and power of the character's parents or guardians (if raised by other than his or her natural parents). This is not an innate attribute, and unlike attributes it may change dramatically during character generation, based on the career choices made. However, a character's SOC may never be reduced below 1 nor raised above F. Titles: Social Standing for each character shows the relative position within society for an individual. Those with Social Standing B+ (11 or greater) from a High Government world are considered to be noble, and may assume their family's hereditary title. Noble titles are commonly used, even if the individual is not engaged in local government. At the discretion of the referee, the noble may have some ancestral lands or @efs on his or her homeworld. Knights: A knight (Social Standing B) is entitled to the use of Sir (or Dame) before his (or her) name. Characters whose initial SOC is B, and whose SOC does not increase during character generation, are the sons and daughters of knights. However, this title is not hereditary and so those characters are not entitled themselves. Characters who have an initial SOC of less than B and whose SOC increases to B, and characters whose SOC is initially B, then is lowered, and then increases to B, have themselves been knighted and can use the knightly titles of Sir or Dame. Baron: Social Standing C entitles the individual to the title Baron (or Baroness). Or the individual may use the pre@x von, haut, or hault with his or her name to denote baronial nobility. Marquis: Social standing D indicates a marquis (or marchioness). Count: Social standing E indicates a count (or countess). Duke: Social standing F indicates a duke (or duchess). Although player characters cannot advance beyond Duke, noble ranks include Archduke (16 or G) and Monarch (King or Emperor) (17 or H). The Noble Ranks table shows the range of noble titles and their corresponding social levels. Naming: One additional aspect of background is naming. There are several schools of thought on the nature of names. One school holds that the character should carry the name of the player; the referee can then refer to John or Marsha and everyone knows exactly who's who. This usage is convenient but tends to lose much of the @avor of the campaign. Another school of thought calls for the use of pseudonyms or fanciful names (for example: James Doraan Anderson, or Timothy Fairweather; more extremely, Seeker or Starkiller). As with everything involved in Traveller, the actual choice depends only on the players and on their imaginations. ATTRIBUTES Characters are essentially described by six attributes describing the physical and mental defining characteristics of the individual. These attributes are generated through a series of die rolls. Roll two six-sided dice and subtract one from the result a total of six times. Each separate roll is then assigned, in whatever order the player desires, to one of the following six attributes: Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Agility (AGL), Intelligence (INT), Education (EDU), and Charisma (CHR). Record the results on paper. Personal attributes are [email removed] as follows: Strength: The numerical [email removed] of a character's muscular power. Constitution: Health, and physical stamina. This determines the character's resistance to disease and ability to continue to work over time. Agility: A measure of a character's coordination and nimbleness. Intelligence: The ability of a character to perform abstract reasoning. Intelligence primarily affects the ability of the character to learn; it is not the same thing as common sense. (How much common sense characters have is determined by the actions of the players themselves.) Education: The ability of a character to gain knowledge and experience from a formal academic setting. This attribute determines how far a character is likely to advance at a university and serves as a prerequisite for certain forms of higher education. Charisma: A [email removed] of personality and personability. Charisma [email removed] skills that affect how NPCs react to a character. It is not so much a measure of physical appearance as of natural charm. Values for the six generated attributes may range initially from 1 to 11 (with 6 the average value). As a result of various [email removed] for homeworld status or self-improvement, characteristic values may ultimately range from 1 to 13. For player characters the values of attributes may not exceed 13; values do not go below 1 except for the results of calamitous injury or aging. Homeworld Effects On Attributes: Characters' homeworlds affect their attributes in a variety of ways. Add or subtract the following values from the rolled attributes of the character, but subtractions may never reduce an attribute to zero. Size: If from an asteroid, subtract 1 from strength. If from a large world, add 1 to the strength attribute and subtract 1 from agility. Atmosphere: If from a vacuum world, add 1 to agility. Population: If from a low population world, subtract 1 from charisma. If from a high population world add 1 to charisma. Technology: If from a pre-industrial world subtract 2 from education and add 1 to constitution. [Homeworld generation is not included in this draft; you old hands will know how to fake it.] The Universal Personality Pro@le (UPP): Characters in Traveller are [email removed] using the Universal Personality Pro@le (the UPP), which expresses attributes in a speci@c sequence using hexadecimal (base-16) numbers. In hexadecimal notation, 0 through 9 are represented by the common Arabic numerals; 10 through 15 are represented by the letters A through F. The highest single-digit number is 15 (F). Attributes are in the following order: Strength, Constitution, Agility, Intelligence, Education, and Charisma. For example, a character who is average in all respects would have a UPP of 666666. If he were highly intelligent, his UPP would be 666B66 (the B indicates an intelligence of 11). The UPP allows the referee (and players) to tell the attributes of persons they encounter. Because the notation uses single digits or letters for each characteristic, numbers that are normally two digits cannot lead to confusion. Other Characteristics: In the course of character generation the character will acquire age (in years and in four- year terms), rank, money, skills, and possessions. Nonhuman Attributes: The six personal attributes assume a human character. Intelligent nonhuman races may have different attributes in place of (or in addition to) these human attributes. Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use the character as it is created. The career and experience procedures offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player truly consider the character so poor as to be beyond help, various options in the character improvement chapter of this guide are available to the player to improve attributes. If this still proves to be unsatisfactory, the referee may allow the player to roll a new character. After all, the purpose of the game is to provide players with interesting gaming experiences, not penalize them for a few poor die rolls at the very beginning. - -- Edjs _ ------ _ // CI$ : 76427,662 [email removed] \X/ GEnie: [email removed]