20 Jan 2013

Fun with Traveller - The Aslan Veteran Warrior


I may have mentioned Traveller a few times in the past.  One of the fun aspects of the game is the character creation.  It can be interesting to see what sort of character results from the process.

This time around, I went with the Aslan character creation.  In the Third Imperium setting, the Aslan are a leonline species in the same galactic arm as Terra (our homeworld).  The Aslan have a gender distribution of three women for every men.  As a result, the men do the fighting, with the goal of gaining territory.  The women manage the territory, turning the land into something productive.  As the Aslan improved their technology, the men learned how to use new weapons and vehicles.  The women designed the tech.  The power in an Aslan family is held by the women, really.  The menfolk are raised to only fight and leave the hard stuff like fixing things and mathing the jump coordinates of planets to the women.

This brings us to the character.  The second son, he starts out with a name and the need to get his own territory.  He's not inheriting anything, only the first son gets the father's land.

Name: Hfyustiykoarl
Age: Second Son
Species: Aslan
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Ralaiw/Hkea'as (B4205M4-D Ni Po De Ht)
Rank: Veteran Warrior (4)

His name's a mouthful.  I've referred to him as Dumbass, as his stat block coming up will show quite well.  His world of birth is smaller than Earth, barely has an atmosphere, has no freestanding water at all, has a light population (~100 000, the size of a small city or a large town), and is a high tech world.  His final rank after serving as a Warrior (see below) is "Veteran Warrior", meaning he survived many battles.  The (4) is the rank number, used as a game mechanic.

Clan: Major Clan
 Ancestral Deeds: Glory days long gone
 Grandfather's Deeds: Barely manged to hold on to landhold
 Father's Deeds: Barely manged to hold on to landhold
Rite of Passage: +2
Territory: 0
Hfyustiykoarl comes from a major clan whose fortunes have long faded.  His grandfather and father were barely able to keep what the clan owns.  This is perfect for Dumbass; he can go out and create his own family and glory without having to deal with the family.

Characteristics
  Str E/+2
  Dex 5/-1
  End C/+2
  Int 2/-2
  Edu 2/-2
  Soc 2/-2
Traveller uses a hexidecimal system for stats.  Human average is seven across the board.  Above twelve (C) is rare.  Aslan get a bonus to Strength and Endurance and a penalty to Dexterity.  However, Dumbass is strong, even for an Aslan.  He is also the least educated with the mental processing power that makes a VIC-20 look good.  He's also considered by other Aslan to be utter scum - he's landless; what woman would have him?

Skills
 Animals 0
 Athletics 0
  Running 1
 Battle Dress 2
 Drive 0
 Gun Combat 0
 Heavy Weapons 0
  Launchers 1
 Independence 3
 Melee 0
  Claw 2
 Recon 0
 Stealth 2
 Survival 0
 Tactics 0
  Military 1
Dumbass's skills.  Almost everything he knows relates to fighting.  The exception is Independence, the ability to figure out how the world works.  Independence is a skill found only in male Aslan; the women don't need it.  Somehow, Dumbass has figured out the connection between land and money.  Another odd result is that Hfyustiykoarl knows how to use powered armour, but his best trained weapon is his own claws.  He knows the basics of shooting small arms, he can fire rockets, but he's best at sneaking behind enemy lines (yes, in powered armour), and slicing sentries to death with his claws.  Hfyustiykoarl is a hands-on type of guy.

Career - Military/Warrior
Term 1: (7,7) Life Event: New contact; promoted w/mandatory re-enlistment
And his career.  Hfyustiykoarl joined his clan's military as a Warrior, which they figured he'd either be useful in a fight or be cannon fodder.  In his first four-year term, he met someone (I have to determine who, but possibly another PC).  He also served extremely well and received a promotion and was required to stay in the military.  That pleased Hfyustiykoarl.  He's good at fighting.

Term 2: (3) Unit is sent into the maw of hell, severely injured; promoted
In his second term, his unit got sent into a meat grinder.  Looks like the military saw him as cannon fodder.  Hfyustiykoarl received an injury which needed Cr7000 to recover from.  But, his officers liked what they saw of him in battle and promoted him again.

Term 3: (5) Involved in border skirmish; promoted
More fighting, but not as intense as before.  His superiors are seeing the benefits of having the big dumb guy in powered armour.  Again, Dumbass exceeds expectations and gets promoted.  Let's face it, though.  With his Intelligence and Education, most people would have low expectations of him to start with.

Term 4: (6) Given advanced training; promoted
Someone higher up realized that maybe, just maybe, Hfyustiykoarl could be a better warrior with some training.  What they didn't expect was that he'd fail to learn anything during the training.  Thick as a superdense plasticrete brick.  (No, really, it was an Education roll to pick up skills.  He learned none of them.)

Term 5: (3) Unit is sent into the maw of hell; unable to continue service
Back into the grinder.  At this point, the Veteran Warrior has proven that he's a fighter, not a thinker.  Best place for him is on the front lines.  He didn't get injured this time, but the officers saw something that he didn't like and recommended that Dumbass be removed from service.  Hfyustiykoarl now goes into his new career of Traveller.

Cr 3250
Medical Expenses: Cr3750 still owed
Clan Shares: 2
Contacts: 1
Allies:
Enemies:
Rivals:
Secret School: Melee (claw)
Secret School: Heavy Weapons (launchers)
Secret School: Gun Combat (rifles)
The mustering out benefits.  Although there are two tables (monetary and non-monetary) Aslan men are restricted from making rolls for money unless they have the Independence skill.  That just happens to be Hfyustiykoarl's best skill.  Unfortunately, the dice hated him and didn't give him much in terms of cash, and part of it had to pay off medical expenses.  He did pick up a couple of clan shares to be used in clan endeavors, such as getting a one-Aslan scout vessel to find new territory.  Dumbass also got involved in some secret schools.  Apparently, the people in charge of recruiting for the schools saw what he was capable of and gave him extra combat training.  He gets benefits in certain situations when using his own claws, using a rocket launcher, or using a slug rifle of any sort.  What Dumbass doesn't have and can't really afford are weapons and armour.  But, with the right crew of compatriots, they can handle getting him something to use and Dumbass can go ahead and be the dumb muscle every adventuring group needs.

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