One of my longest and best campaigns, at least by my own criteria, was a game of modified classic Traveller called Operation: PALADIN. The campaign began with a large group but not long after the first story arc a few of the players had to drop out for varying reasons. Luckily, a few new players joined including Hans, Dave, and Andy.
Andy's character was...
Character: Ivan Petrovo
AKA:
Player: Andrew Frank Rodriguez
System: Traveller - Classic version w/ modification from MegaTraveller and houserules.
Nature: Long Campaign: Operation: PALADIN
Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein
Circa: 2013-2015
Origins: Like most classic Traveller Player Characters, Ivan was very much a product of random rolls as much as he was any sort of plan by the player. Andy certainly chose which score went to which Attribute (a houserule - no one has to roll in order) and picked which Career to try for (though he still had to roll to Enlist, Survive, Reenlist, etc.). However he and Ivan both benefited from random generation.
One of my houserules - which I've discussed before - is that if you fail to Survive a Tour of Duty you can decide to embrace the 'Death by Character Creation' that Traveller is famous for or you can say, "Well, he/she/they didn't REALLY die". If that's the case you stop where you are and only get half the skills/bonuses/whathaveyou of the final Tour. You then roll on some custom 'Alternatives to Death' charts that I made (largely based on Central Casting: Heroes of Tomorrow by the late, great Jennell Jaquays).
Here we learn that Petrovo crash landed on an uncharted planet and was presumed dead. In actuality...
Backstory: ...Ivan survived, gravely injured but luckily found by the world's indigenous sentient species. After a month of healing and recuperation, largely thanks to a native plant with anagathic-like properties, Petrovo attempted to contact the Imperial but could not. His ship was destroyed, its equipment completely totaled. He was marooned on this planet where he remained for next three years. He learned to live off the world's resources, became close to the planet's people and learned their customs, and honed additional hunting and fighting skills against the local fauna.
Three of the planet's years later, an Imperial Interstellar Scout Service vessel landed after detecting the wreckage of Ivan's ship while doing a general Type 1 Survey. Telling his indigenous friends to hide, Petrovo makes contact with the Scout Ship's crew. They offer to rescue him and he decides to take them up on it, partially to prevent the Scouts from learning about and disturbing the native culture.
Dropped off at Bussard Reach, the orbital highport at Leighton IV in the Leighton System (1023 Flux Subsector, Spica Sector), Petrovo searches the public Library Data Systen and discovers he has officially been listed as deceased. In addition, he learns his personal Safari Ship has been berthed at his last assigned base and remains there largely due to Imperial bureaucracy losing the impound order.
Bussard Reach Highport
While on the station trying to decide what to do next, Ivan is approached by a fellow who needs help on the surface of Leighton IV. The guy and his team are zoologists trying to capture an Amanook, a native creature resembling a polar bear crossed with a wolf. There are concerns about the mining operation on Leighton IV effecting the animal's habitat and they need to catch one to aid in the study. Something about Ivan's garb (a mix of standard clothing and accessories from his time on the low Tech Level planet) gave the potential patron the idea that Ivan might be a Scout or Hunter. With nothing else to do and having had a lot of experience with large fauna, Ivan joins the expedition.
Amanook, Adlult Female
Solitary Arctic Carnivore/Hunter - Leighton IV
After successfully capturing one of the creatures, Petrovo returns to the station and ends up meeting the other PCs. He first encounters the late Dave Cotton's character, who is a Solomani Military Officer investigating some recent goings on in a nearby system (the initial adventure arc). He befriends Petrovo and promises to help him retrieve his ship. He does do this but 'borrows' the ship first to complete a side mission. Eventually the craft is moored at Bussard Reach but Petrovo isn't there at the time, having already left with the other PCs to investigate part of the larger plot.
Overview: I loved Ivan Petrovo. Seriously, what a great character. In a game largely focused on Corporate Espionage and Political Intrigue, Petrovo brought in a much needed dose of action. Ivan wasn't alone in this but he was the most straightforward about it. Ivan was just, ya'know, Ivan. He was a good guy who could fight and would if he felt it was for a good reason. Petrovo wasn't motivated by money, politics, and had no personal agenda beyond 'doing the right thing'.
What no one realized, including Ivan himself, was that his time on that low tech planet where the ship he was on crashed had changed him. He died during Character Creation, remember? Well it turns out that the native medicinal herbs he was given to save his life contained a unique mix of chemicals and microscopic parasites. The result was an incredible healing factor; a nearly superhuman ability to regenerate. Evidence of the ability revealed itself a few times in the early adventures but it was chalked up to lucky rolls and narrative time passing. It wasn't until a fight with an Aslan Assassin (See Highlights) where he realized, "Oh my gosh! I heal @^#&ing FAST!"
The Highlights:
As other members of the team engaged an Aslan Assassin in hand-to-hand combat, Ivan was setting up on a roof above in hopes of taking the adversary out with a sniper shot from his souped up hunting rifle. The Aslan spotted him somehow and fired a laser weapon that sheered off a few of the fingers on Ivan's right hands and severely burned him. With only his ring finger, thumb, and in serious pain, Petrovo managed to fire off a shot that took the Assassin out completely. Rushed to a medical facility, the entire team, the doctors, and Ivan were stunned when within a day his hand had totally healed, regrown digits and all. It was then that the previous clues to his healing factors fell into place.
In Andy's own words (slightly paraphrased for context: "The second [big] moment [I recall] was when they (the enemy) unleashed a dang horror out of that satellite vault. A Mech basically. I (Ivan) had to distract it was Hans' character could take out the legs with that massive firearm she'd invented.
The third was when all heck broke lose in the sewer system [of Amaro Highport at Aequine II]. I believe the female Alsan diplomat, Han's character, Marcus' character, his [NPC] sister, and Ivan were literally fighting for our lives as we were being chased by some crazed battle dressed Marines. I sniped 'Master Chief' with what that gun Han's character gave me. Han's kept creating these 'Frankenstein' rail gun rifles and when he finalized the design he was give me the prototype. He was like, 'that one was the experimental version, it's yours now.' lol
When Rex Kinkaid (Marcus' character) went rogue and then seemingly turned traitor, it was Ivan who tried to once last time to talk to him about it. Ivan had become close with Rex's sister Nova and the two had a bond (moreso than anyone else on the team did with Rex the loner). Rex refused to return to the rest of the gang with Ivan but with a nod approved of Ivan and Nova teaming up and maybe more. Rex said, "Take care of her and she'll take care of you." With that, we never saw Rex again.
Game Info:
Not Available Right Now - Will Update Soon.
Notes:
Ivan was great. His simple, straightforward manner and willingness to take action was a wonderful counterbalance to often overly cautious nature of some of his other team members. He could always be counted on to do...not the wisest thing per se...but definitely the 'right' thing.
In the epilogue of the campaign, Ivan returns to the low tech world where he'd been stranded 7 or 8 years earlier, this time with Nova Kinkaid and a female Aslan warrior who he'd become good friends with in the final 6+ months of the game. They are last seen walking into the dense underbrush, with members of the native species celebrating seeing their old friend once more.
Legacy: I had originally planned a direct sequel to Operation: PALADIN but that project fell apart unfortunately. Given the way Ivan's story 'ends', he certainly could return but I kind of like not knowing exactly what happened next.
AD
Barking Alien
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