Monday, January 11, 2016

That's One Hell Of A Pilot

OK, I know I said I wanted to move away from Careers to talking about other subjects, but this...this weird feeling came over me. While in the midst of finishing up at least half a dozen post drafts, I felt the desire...no...the NEED...to make up a Star Wars Traveller character.

Yep, you read that right, and you read it right here. I, Adam 'I don't like to play as a player' Dickstein, the consummate Gamemaster, can't help but look at the Character Generation system for this project, and want to make up a PC.

It's a good excuse to test the system, and maybe give people some idea of what you can do with it.

Normally I would default to playing an alien; in almost every game where being an alien is an option, that's usually what I'm going to go for. Here however, I don't have the alien species rules up yet (they're in the works) so I am going to generate a...gah...Human.

Aside from aliens, and droids, my favorite element of Star Wars is the Starfighters. I want a Poe Dameron, Wedge Antilles-type character. At the same time, my favorite character in The Force Awakens is really Finn. So...

Oh yeah! I got this.


***

First I roll up my stats. My Universal Personality Profile in Traveller. The ability scores are Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social. To determine the rating of each, one rolls 2D6, and adds the results together. My character's UPP is:

Str: 7     Dex: A (10)     End: 7     Int: 8     Edu: A (10)     Soc: 7     -     UPP: 7A78A7

Nice.

For my starting Career, I go to the core Careers in the MegaTraveller Player's Handbook, and choose Navy. A Navy Officer/Pilot in the First Order. Since there is no Enlistment roll, I get in.

The very next thing is to see if I survive my first 4 year term as a member of the First Order Navy. Remember though, it's not a Survival roll anymore, but an Event roll. I make it, so my Career continues.

Unfortunately, I don't receive a Commission (failed the roll), but I do get a Promotion, and a Special Duty Assignment. I'm on the fast track baby! I decide to Re-Enlist. Wait! No. I switch to what I really want this guy to be - a Star Pilot!

So after one term as a Navy Officer, I switch to Star Pilot, get in, and get to fly one of the new TIE Fighters I guess. Let's see how that goes...OK, no Event so I get to keep going. I've decided to roll Commission /Promotion instead of Contact/Knowledge. It fits this guy better. I don't get the Commission (Again! Drat.), but I am Promoted. No Special Assignment this time.

Do I Re-enlist? Heck yeah. 5. Made it, but not by much.

No Event. Commission? Yes! Promotion? No? Wow. No Promotion. Special Assignment? Yes. Interesting.






I've now gone one term in the Navy, and two as a Star Pilot. My character is now 30 years old. I think Dalon is going to Muster Out here.

My total number of Navy Skills after one term (2  Skills for the initial term), with one Promotion (1 according to the MegaTraveller Player's Manual), and one Special Assignment ( 1 according to the MegaTraveller Player's Manual) is 4.

Dalon has an Education of 'A', which is two over 8, and so he qualifies to roll on Table 4: Advanced Education. With only 4 Navy Skills though, I am going to stick with the first three tables. I will roll on Table 1 twice. My rolls are +1 Endurance, Mental (a Cascade Skill - I choose a +1 to my Intelligence), Space Combat (Cascade - I choose Gunnery), and lastly Space Combat again (Cascade - I choose Ship Tactics this time).

My total number of Star Pilot Skills after two terms (2 for the initial term, 1 for the second term), with one Commission (1 according to the MegaTraveller Player's Manual), one Promotion (1 according to the MegaTraveller Player's Manual), and one Special Assignment (normally 2 for a Star Pilot unless you decide to forfeit Contact/Knowledge for Commission/Promotion as I did. In that case you only receive 1 Skill) is 6. In addition a Star Pilot gets the free Default Skill of Pilot-1.

Dalon has an Education of 'A', which is two over 8, and so he qualifies to roll on Table 4: Advanced Education. I have 6 skills, huh? OK. I'll roll on the first three tables first, and see what I get before deciding where to go next. My rolls are Navigation, Zero-G Environment, and Space Combat (Cascade - I go for Sensor Ops). OK, I'm going to roll on Tables 1, and 2 again, and then 4 to mix things up a bit. I get, whoa, Gun Combat (Cascade - I choose Handgun - which in Star Wars Traveller becomes Blaster), Space (Cascade - I pick Pilot), and Inborn (Cascade - Hmmm, Aha! Leader). Excellent!

On to Mustering Out Benefits...

EDIT: I initially made an error when calculating Dalon's Mustering Out Benefits for Star Pilot - the issue has been corrected. - AD

As a Navy Officer with a single term as noted above, I get 3 rolls.

My first gets me *EEP!* High Passage?!? I didn't get the chance to explain what I've done to replace the Low, Middle, and High Passage results yet. Kenobi's Beard! OK, stay calm, focus...I'm listed at the bottom, but I'll have to get back to it following a post on the matter.

My next rolls is a +2 Education. Great Greedo on a Gundark! Dalon Norbro has an Edu of 'C' (12).

Lastly I go with Credits. 10,000. Not bad.

Now I'll determine my Star Pilot Benefits. I went with Commission/Promotion, so I have to use the information in the MegaTraveller Player's Manual. I get another 5 (2 per term of Service, 1 for my single Promotion). Note that I still roll what the Benefits, and Credits are for Mustering Out a Star Pilot on the Star Pilot Mustering Out tables I created.

Let's see...damn that's cool. Alright, I rolled a 1, a 3, and a 5 on the Benefits Table. That would give me Reputation, and 2x Starfighter. In our house rules, and the officially unofficial rules of Star Wars Traveller, you receive a better class of whatever you rolled doubles on. I'm thinking instead of a standard First Order TIE Fighter, he piloted a Special Forces Tie Fighter like the one (SPOILERS!) Finn, and Poe steal to escape.

I make my last two roles on the Credits Table, and end up with an additional 11,000 credits.

Wow. What a cool character. OK, here is the finished product:

Dalon Norbro
Human, Flight Leader
1 Term Navy, 2 Terms Star Pilot

Str: 7     Dex: A (10)     End: 8     Int: 9     Edu: C (12)     Soc: 7     -     UPP: 7A89C7

Skills: Blaster-1, Gunnery-1, Leader-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-2, Sensor Ops-1, Ship Tactics-1, Zero-G Environment-1

Mustering Out Benefits: Reputation, First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter (TIE/sf), 21,000 Credits.

Here's his story...

Unlike the Stormtroopers of the First Order, TIE Fighter Pilots are not all raised from infants to do their job. Some are, but some are Navy Officers who've shown exceptional piloting skill. These gifted Star Pilots are usually assigned as Squadron Leaders, or Special Forces personnel.

Dalon Norbro was one such pilot. Hailing from a planet that had benefitted greatly from it's service to the Galactic Empire, the world and it's people were happy to except a similar position when the Empire fell, and the First Order took its place.

After numerous promotions, and a few special duty assignments, Norbro became disillusioned with the First Order's brutal tactics, and message of order through tyranny. When passed over for another promotion, Norbro became paranoid that his superiors were on to him. After being assigned to a special mission in which his squadron was considerably outnumbered, and outgunned, Dalon was sure that someone was trying to make him disappear.

He did them the favor, and took the first, best opportunity to defect to The Resistance. As a dig against the First Order, he still wears his TIE Fighter Pilot helmet, and gear, repainted of course, over his Resistance flight suit. In addition, instead of switching to a Resistance X-Wing, he flies a similarly repainted Special Force TIE Fighter, which he took when he made his escape from the First Order.





Dalon Norbro
 
First Order Tie Fighter Pilot
Original Illustration by Kevin Graham
 
Modified, Colored, and Background Added
By Me.
 

Well, that's it. I like this guy. I mean I REALLY like him. If anyone wants to run a session of Star Wars Traveller, I've already got my character.

AD
Barking Alien





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