IRIS-SORAG-SOLSEC --seasick yet?

[jchurchill]

Thanks to the recent FFE JTAS reprint I now have the original Challenge articles that created IRIS -- a controversial topic among the MT crowd.

Apparently one can join IRIS as a 20 year old and after 20 years of service one can leave as a commando with a medical degree and the ability to fly a starship and still be only 20 years old thanks to intensive anagathics. Oh yes and you might be psionically trained as well. hmmmm.

SORAG on the other hand does not shower one with as may gifts. But judging by the artwork and the practices of SORAG it is vitually a recreation of the KGB circa 1957. But much of what SORAG does or is conflicts somewhat from the CT Alien module which shows the Zhodani in a more honorable and somewhat positive light.

SOLSEC is a funny mixture of the KGB and the Gestapo but without either service's warm sense of humor.

Was the Scout Service's organization or intelligence capabilities ever expanded upon other than in Book 6 of CT?

 

[RandyT0001]

Why would SOLSEC need a sense of humor? If you don't believe in the manifest destiny that Terrans and their descendants are meant to rule charted space then you deserve death. All good SOLSEC operatives believe that the old KGB and Gestapo were a bunch of spineless wimps anyway.

I'm proud to be a member of the Party, I watch nothing but the Party channel on my televid all day.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by secretagent:
Apparently one can join IRIS as a 20 year old and after 20 years of service one can leave as a commando with a medical degree and the ability to fly a starship and still be only 20 years old thanks to intensive anagathics. Oh yes and you might be psionically trained as well. hmmmm.

Ah this explains much.

SORAG on the other hand does not shower one with as may gifts. But judging by the artwork and the practices of SORAG it is vitually a recreation of the KGB circa 1957.

Isn't SORAG from Paranoia Press? I have/had that somewhere...I'd go more for Alfred Bester* personally, as in author of The Demolished Man, though you could use some PsiCop stuff too. Can't remember what GT: AR1 sez as I don't ref in the Marches.

Was the Scout Service's organization or intelligence capabilities ever expanded upon other than in Book 6 of CT?

GT: First In. I'll have to check my copy to see just how much it covers but I know they're mentioned. Of course it's OOP.

Casey just looking for One Divine Hammer

* the PsiCop Alfred Bester was JMS giving a nod to the author

 

[kafka47]

Also, there was a small write up about the Scout Intelligence Branch in a couple of MegaTraveller Journals#2 & #3, if memory serves me right.

The most comprehensive treatment is to be found in First In, although, I believe they change the name to SSS.

As far as SORAG & SolSec, these are great agencies to play with in the current T20 Imperium. As these were before GT made these spy agencies into something silly. What I think we are really missing in Traveller and something I know Marc wants is something doing a James Bond in Space mode but updated for the 3I.

As for IRIS, I have always viewed them as the Star Chamber, not really spies, per se but spymasters who lurk behind the scenes like the Grey Faces mentioned in Far Trader or the Imperial Eye in the Fading Suns universe.

 

[jchurchill]

As far as SORAG & SolSec, these are great agencies to play with in the current T20 Imperium. As these were before GT made these spy agencies into something silly. What I think we are really missing in Traveller and something I know Marc wants is something doing a James Bond in Space mode but updated for the 3I.
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I noticed that in the JTAS reprint -- I think it was 4 --- MWM mentioned a "Cloak & Dagger" sourcebook. I have a lot of stuff developed for this that I should e-mail him.

 

[CarlP]

Originally posted by secretagent:
SOLSEC is a funny mixture of the KGB and the Gestapo but without either service's warm sense of humor.

Hahaha! That is an excellent characterization. Nicely done. Thanks for that.

 

[jchurchill]

Sample SOLSEC

Character Description

Name: _________________________ Solomani male
str dex end int edu par Home World: star port = B
4 13 8 6 14 11 size = medium
age: 24 atmosphere = standard
apparent age: 24 hydro = wet
population = moderate
law = moderate
government = balkanization
tech lvl = avg stellar
Career: SolSec open agent office
Rank: O2 Captain
Commendations:
Special Duty:
Skills:
Grav Vehicle - 0, Computer - 0, Energy Weap - 0, Hovercraft - 1,
Commo - 1, Handgun - 1, Streetwise - 1, Forgery - 1,
Electronics - 1,
Property: Credits: 0
==================================================

Character Description

Name: _________________________ Solomani male
str dex end int edu par Home World: star port = A
9 10 8 8 8 12 size = small
age: 32 atmosphere = standard
apparent age: 32 hydro = wet
population = high
law = moderate
government = civ. bureaucracy
tech lvl = avg stellar
Career: SolSec(diplomatic) monitor office
Rank: O4 Lt Colonel
Commendations:
Special Duty:
Skills:
Grav Vehicle - 1, Computer - 0, Handgun - 0, Hovercraft - 3,
Vacc Suit - 2, Commo - 3, Streetwise - 1, Leadership - 1,
Legal - 1, Pilot - 2, Jet Aircraft - 1, Forgery - 1,
Engineering - 1,
Property: Credits: 0
Weaponx3,

 

[jchurchill]

Sample IRIS characters
--------------------------------------------
Character Description

Name: _________________________ Imperial human male
str dex end int edu soc Home World: star port = A
9 9 10 12 10 8 size = medium
age: 27 atmosphere = standard
apparent age: 27 hydro = water
population = moderate
law = moderate
government = religious auto.
tech lvl = pre-stellar
Career: IRIS raid office
Rank: O8 Lt Commander
Commendations: minorx2,
Special Duty: Intelligence School,
Skills:
Wheeled Vehicle - 0, Handgun - 2, Battle Dress - 2, Cmbt Rifleman - 2,
Liaison - 1, SubMG - 1, Submarine - 1, Recon - 2,
Small Boat - 1, Leadership - 2, Demolitions - 1, Forward Obs - 1,

Property: Credits: 0
Travellers Aid Society,
=============================================
Name: _________________________ Imperial human male
str dex end int edu soc Home World: star port = B
10 10 10 15 12 8 size = medium
age: 38 atmosphere = standard
apparent age: 38 hydro = wet
population = moderate
law = moderate
government = feudal
tech lvl = high stellar
Career: IRIS infiltration office medic
Rank: O6 Major(Scouts Exploration E1 ret.) Pension: 6000
Commendations: minor,
Special Duty: Commando School, Intelligence Schoolx2, Medical School,
Naval Studies,
Skills:
Grav Vehicle - 0, Computer - 1, Handgun - 2, Vacc Suit - 1,
Pilot - 2, Grav Belt - 1, Battle Dress - 1, Cmbt Rifleman - 1,
Turret Weap - 1, Recon - 2, Demolitions - 2, Instruction - 1,
Intrusion - 1, Stealth - 1, Survival - 1, Interrogation - 3,
SubMG - 2, Commo - 1, Medical - 2, Admin - 1,
Zero-G - 1, Tactics - 1,
Property: Credits: 0
Weaponx2, Travellers Aid Society,

 

[jchurchill]

The IRIS characters certainly pick up skills fast and furiously. Almost too much to be taken seriously. The program I used does not have SORAG though so I can't post sample SORAG characters.

 

[BetterThanLife]

They pick up skills fast and furious, however they are very difficult to generate and survive. Your INT and EDU have to be A+ Your Strength, Dexterity and Endurance all have to be 7+ and your Soc has to be 5-A. Then you need to roll a 10 to enlist. (No modifiers.) Unless your Intelligence is C+ and/or your Dexterity is B+ Infiltration is likely to get you killed about half the time. (And occurs more than one chance in three.) Now if you are allowed to arrange your stats in any order you want you have to roll three of your numbers as 10, 11 and 12 to help you survive. (half your numbers in that range is a bit tough to legitimately roll. Follow that with a 10 to enlist...

If you manage that and manage to survive 20 years, where you still have a decent chance of getting killed, then you have a serious character. But that is alot of "IFs!"

And if you are that good with the dice (Or that lucky) then any character you create will be extremely dangerous, no matter the background.

Now in T20 that would be equivalnet to a EDU of 16+ a Dex of 17+ an Intel of 18+, a wisdom of 16+, Strength of 12, Con of 12 and Soc of 7-14, Charisma of whatever you want but you wouldn't want the extremes. (Too recognizable.)

Originally posted by secretagent:
The IRIS characters certainly pick up skills fast and furiously. Almost too much to be taken seriously. The program I used does not have SORAG though so I can't post sample SORAG characters.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Who says SolSec doesn't have a sense of humour?

 

[Ran Targas]

^ Gee, I thought it was going to morph into a set of cross hairs!

 

[Elliot]

It does - but only if you are Vilani

Triumph and acclaim to the Chairman +

 

[aramis]

Solsec has a wonderful sense of humor... Why else would they gather all the satirists in one place, if not to write the ultimate sattire?

And with those sample characters, the Solomani Col is OVER he Int+Edu limit by 1. The IRIS Major is also over by 1.

 

[jchurchill]

And with those sample characters, the Solomani Col is OVER he Int+Edu limit by 1. The IRIS Major is also over by 1.
=================================================
I know. I declined that part of the program but very very observant of you.

The group I played in toyed with an in house rule where if your intelligence was below 8 then you could not use the advance education + tables.
It seemed a bit goofy that a INT 4 and EDU 8 character could master a skill that a INT 10 and Edu 7 could not.

Of course those tables were also about access to that training.

 

[aramis]

I'd say it's not a common thing, but yeah, there are Int 4 PhD's out there... (I know one... Can't follow a logic trail, can't do analogies, can't even do complex math, can't work a computer; can, however, treat patients quite well as a counselor for depression and anxiety... lots of general trivia, but useless when his sink breaks, or his VCR is blinking.)

as for the Int+Edu limit: it is what keeps CT and MT characters from being able to improve forever... It culls a bit of the worst end. (I had a vilani character submitted for a MT game, 17 terms, lost 5 skill levels... with an xxxFFx upp... (He was soc 12 IIRC...) He had Engineering 8, tho... and Gunnery beams 3, and Broker and Trader 3. He used the lost levels to trim away some of the forcibly even skill levels he didn't want...

With IRIS and SORAG characters (or even advanced CG, aka Bk4-7), the limit usually keeps them from being too terribly munchkin.

 

[jchurchill]

I'd say it's not a common thing, but yeah, there are Int 4 PhD's out there.
================================================
In some fields it's probably much more common than you would think. {I'm not going to mention specific fields or the education majors might become agitated.]

 

[Maladominus]

Actually, in my Solomani Rim CT campaign, I added the skill "Stealth" to the SolSec career in their skills table.

How the heck could a "secret police" career not have Stealth included among their trained skills?

 

[alanb]

Originally posted by Bhoins:
They pick up skills fast and furious, however they are very difficult to generate and survive.
...
And if you are that good with the dice (Or that lucky) then any character you create will be extremely dangerous, no matter the background.

And if you are a munchkin, that's exactly the kind of character you will create.

I have a soft spot for SORAG, precisely because it was so overtly munchkin. I also have a certain fondness for the Assassin career in the Paranoia Press Scouts and Assassins book.

But IRIS is just wrong. SORAG was, when you get down to it, Proto-Traveller. IRIS had no such excuse.

 

[Maladominus]

The Paranoia Press Assassins is one of the most well-rounded character careers ever! It is fair, the skill sets are sound and relevant to the class. It's not a weakling class, but it's not an overpowered one either.

It was perfect. One of the best Classic Traveller supplements EVER.