Oct. 26th, 2010

subplotkudzu: The words Subplot Kudzu Games, in green with kudzu vines growing on it (Default)
I got the strange mid worm of trying to map the Reign "One Roll Character Generator" onto the classic Traveller lifepath system. I'm not sure why, other than a vague idea of pitching a free trader game next time 'round, but nonetheless it's there and must be dealt with. 

For those not familiar with the One Role Character Generator, you roll 11d10 and, as with all One Roll Engine stuff, look for matches. Each number has a general feel to it (in Reign 1s indicate skills as a beggar, 2s are thieving, 3 is performing, 4 is merchant, 5 is sailor, 6 is soldier and so on) and 'wider' matches (three ones, or 1x3, is wider than two ones, or 1x2) indicating higher levels of ability in the area. Any unmatched dice are compared to a set of 'waste die' tables that give one off life events (such as a sudden windfall, being robbed, being the center of a mix up identity 'prince and the pauper' event ans so on). Once you know the outcome of all the dice you lay the events out in the order you like ( (so 2x4, 4x5, 2x6, the Robbed! and Unexpected Windfall events might be "I spent several years as a struggling merchant, but when I was robbed blind I was forced to become a marine in the merchant service. Much to my surprise I was picked out by the captain to inherit his ship and have forged a successful career as a ship's captain" OR "when the astrologer told the captain of the HMS Matilda to give his ship to the first person to cross the threshold I was suddenly elevated to command of a warship. Much good it did me as I was roundly mocked by my crew and forced to turn into a sword-wielding pirate just to impress them, but impress them I did...until the day when the mutinied and left me for dead. Still, I was able to escape back to port, where I was able to get a job as a petty merchant, waiting for my opportunity for vengeance." etc.) 

In any event, I'm looking for advice from Classic Traveller players. My read of the classic lifepath is that it determined Longevity in the Service, Commissions and Promotions in the Service, Survival of Fatal Events and Mustering Out benefits. The Psionics rules were, either by accident or design, a mechanism to balance out PCs who had rolled poorly and mustered out too early (the cost of getting tested for Psionic strength is within reach of most characters even after a 4 year term, must be done after mustering out and diminishes with age) and so to my eye should be included. The Services are Navy, Marine, Army, Scout, Merchant and Other (which is described as a sort of general neer do well profession). 

Now, my first instinct was to let the player pick any one set and apply that to Longevity in the Service, selecting the service table of their choice (not doing so would mean being in the Other category). Other sets would determine
Survival (the wider the set the more combat/life or death experiences you've seen, increasing you coolness under fire, leadership skills and intimidation, with a 1x5 meaning you 'died on the table' but were revived by advanced medicine),
Promotions (decoupling this from actual experience means you can get Mal Reynolds style sergeants who are insanely skilled with no width in commissions vs. minor gentry who purchased their Captaincy with a 2x5 roll),
Mustering Out (with 3x4 or 3x5 meaning the Traveller holy grail of your own ship or major status bonuses) 
Psionics (with a selection of options based on width, with teleportation limited to a 4x5 roll)
and the remaining 6 numbers for things like Extra Combat Training, Extra Technical Skill, Extra Social Skills, and so on.
This would keep the Classic Traveller design of the character being in just a single service, and therefore feels more "Traveller"-y to me. It does, however, mean that you can't mix and match your lifepath order, since everything is occurring during your Longevity in the Service or shortly thereafter. 

The other option is to have each service merit its own number? There's room for the 5 classic services (maybe removing Marines, making them people with both Navy and Army training?) plus Survival, Promotion, Mustering out, Psionics and one or two other areas (Science, which is something sorely lacking in the original rules). This does mean the possibility of someone rolling sets in Promotion and Mustering out without having any time in a Service (though waste dice options could account for that somewhat), but it also means that the character can get a more varied lifepath - several years in the Navy, followed by a short tour in the scout service, with a near death experience, etc.

Bear in mind that I'd be building the tables from scratch, and the odds that I'd actually run this in ORE are pretty slim. 

Alas, I never played Traveller, so I'm curious about other people's thoughts on this. 


 

Profile

subplotkudzu: The words Subplot Kudzu Games, in green with kudzu vines growing on it (Default)
Brian Rogers

March 2025

S M T W T F S
      1
234 5678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Aug. 21st, 2025 06:05 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios