My First Character (Homeworld)

[Frewfrux]

I finally managed to get past all the initial preamble and am now reading up on the character creation process. This is one of my favourite things about Traveller. I remember when I first introduced one of my friends to TNE and we went through the character creation process he was so excited about the next time everyone got together to play because he didn't just have a character and the character's history, but the process had actually shown him how a lot of the various rules wok. He actually said “These character creation rules are great because they show how to play the game through the process of simply creating your character.”

So, needless to say I was excited to get going. I decided that, seeing as people seem to be interested in what new T5 players think about the game, I would document the process so I could post about it. Having done that, here's my notes and my thoughts as I went along.

First things first, I read that there are a lot of errors in the text, so I made sure to have the forums and various parts of the rules on one monitor in tabs, and my notes as well as the errata on the other. As I was familiar with TNE (and CT from a loooooong time ago) I didn't think this would take too much time.

Next, look at the checklist (p.78). The first step there is creating the homeworld. Skipping to page 80 I see the first thing to do is to generate the star. It took me a minute or two to realize what the steps were to do this, but once I saw it the whole thing seemed pretty obvious. Here's what I generated:

Homestar: F2V
Worlds and Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone Orbit: What????

The table made no sense and it took me a sec before I remembered about the errata page lurking behind my text document where I was detailing out what I was doing. A quick glance over the errata and I see that there's an error with this table. The headers need to be shifted over one column. What the errata actually says is:

“The second column heading should be “> A3”, and all other headings moved over one column.”

So, that means that the second column is “greater than A3,” the third column's title becomes “A0-A8,” the fourth column becomes “A4-F1,” Huh? There's a lot of overlapping, and it doesn't even really make sense.

I fumbled around a bit with some possibilities and then decided to look up in the forum to see if someone else had encountered this. After searching there I see someone has and that they suggest that ONLY the bottom row of the header should be shifted to the right, not the entire headings. They also said “so that it matches the table on page 548.”

I quickly look up page 548 and see exactly what they mean. “Ah, this makes sense. Looks like the errata has some errata of its own.” I note down habitable zone is orbit 5 and move on.

The next step appears to be generating the “SAHPG.” What? No “L?” Maybe that comes at a later step. Some my homeworld stats become:

Star: F2 V
Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone: Orbit 5
SAHPG: 8B643

A quick scan of the rest of the page and the next page shows both that there is no place where we generate law level AND that it's required (for the trade classifications). Well, this isn't in the errata, but I know how to do this from previous versions of Traveller, so I guess I will just do it. Law level ends up being 5 (with a “*” beside it because I'm not sure if there's a reason I don't do it yet).

Natives. This is new, and very interesting. I like the added colour given to the homeworld. Native Status. Hmmmm.... Looks like the 'natives' are actually settlers....AND exotic, apparently. I now have the following stats:

Star: F2 V
Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone: 5
SAHPGL: 8B643(5*)
Sophont's Status: Settlers, Exotic

Wait....the Extinct/Vanished status requires that you know the TL....but again, I haven't been directed to generate it yet.

Grrrr. Well, as this isn't in the errata either (this document seems to be in need of an update) I will just break out my TNE rules and see how we do TL in there (it's been a little while since I've created any worlds). The table in TNE looks like it's the kind of table that might easily have changed from version to version, so I leave that and start looking into this in the rule book.

Eventaully I see, in the World Gen Basics section (p.433) , how to generate the TL. I also need the Starport so I mine as well get that (and any bases) from page 432 while I'm here. My homeworld info becomes:

Star: F2 V
Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone: Orbit 5
UWP: C8B6435-8 No Bases
Sophont's Status: Settlers, Exotic

Doing a quick scan through this section I happened to notice that the NIL table on page 436 has different requirements for the Sophont status of Exotic....population must also be 7+. Too bad. I was kinda exited about the possibility of creating a sophont who could naturally exist on this world.

Looking up in the errata I again can't find anything mentioning this error in the rules either for page 80 or page 436 (in case the 436 one was the mistake). I'm going to assume the mistake was on page 80 and take that status off my homeworld.

Now to add my trade classifications...

Star: F2 V
Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone: Orbit 5
UWP: C8B6435-8 No Bases
Sophont's Status: Settlers
Trade classification: Fl, Ni

Almost 2 hours later and I have the homeworld finally generated, but I'm not really satiated with it. I thought I read somewhere that players can just decide to try again, saying that they were born in one place but raised somewhere else. I double check that and it looks like I'm right, so I try again.

This time I think I should just start with the system generation rules as they seemed more complete.

HOLD THE PHONE. The “more complete” section about creating starsystems appears to be missing info on how to create the star itself. (I did eventually find it several pages AFTER the point at which it is required to know the information. The process of creating a starsystem requires you to know the star type and orbit zone on page 432 to help determine the climate, and on page 434 to help with the trade classifications. However, the table showing you how to create the star aren't provided until page 436.)

So, now I need THREE DIFFERENT SECTIONS to create the homeworld: Page 80-81, page 548, and pages 432-434. 15 minutes later I have my second homeworld generated:

Star: G5 V
Orbits: Planet, no variation on Hz
Habitable Zone: 3
SSAHPGL-T: DAB846A-5 Scout Base
Sophont's Status: Settlers
Trade classification: Fl, Ni

Argh. Not what I want either (but I'm determined to stick to 100% what the dice tell me – for now). Well, maybe the character will die before I finish. At least there's a scout base; they have access to higher TL.

 

[Supplement Four]

Well, maybe the character will die before I finish.

Suggestion: Create one homeworld from which all characters you attempt will come. It saves time.

Question: Does T5 allow character death during generation like CT?

 

[rancke]

Are the local populations always monolithic? Or is it possible to get multiple groups? E.g. indigenous non-humans, minor humans transplanted by the Ancients, First Imperium settlement, Second Imperium invaders, Pacification Campaign dumpees, couple of different Third Imperium colony ventures?


Hans

 

[Hemdian]

Suggestion: Leave system generation for later and just pick an existing world. For character generation the only thing you really need are the trade codes.

I tried to make a simple walkthrough video on YouTube that might help (but read two Craig A. Glesner comments for where I went wrong). One day I'll get around to redoing this video but for now it might help get you started.

 

[Frewfrux]

Suggestion: Create one homeworld from which all characters you attempt will come. It saves time.

That's a good idea ... but as a general rule, because pretty much all the worlds in the charted space are already provided for you (via the rules or sites like travellermap.com), I actually find homeworld generation to be somewhat pointless. It's better, if you want to follow cannon, anyway, to just pick your homeworld from the area your group will be adventuring in. Most GM's would allow this, especially if you add some descriptions and flavour to the world you are from and thus to the GM's setting.

Alternatively, you can generate a non-homeworld ...

Question: Does T5 allow character death during generation like CT?

I was just assuming so as I had read up on someone (in a thread in this forum) for whom it sounded like this had happened, however I have not yet come across anything that says this is the case.

 

[Frewfrux]

Are the local populations always monolithic? Or is it possible to get multiple groups? E.g. indigenous non-humans, minor humans transplanted by the Ancients, First Imperium settlement, Second Imperium invaders, Pacification Campaign dumpees, couple of different Third Imperium colony ventures?


Hans

Anything's possible, but a lot is up to the GM. For example, the character I created is on a TL-5 settler world with a scout base. This gives 2 groups of people by default...the settlers and the scouts.

As the "natives" are settlers, I would assume that there aren't actually any real native sophonts here. And because the population is low, I imagine that there wouldn't be more than just the two groups.

However, had my population been 7+ my "sophont status" would have been both settler AND exotic, as well as having a scout base.

Not sure yet about other possibilities, but these rolls are really only suggestions, not what you MUST do. A creative GM can use these to develop the worlds, and sectors, even further.

 

[Frewfrux]

Suggestion: Leave system generation for later and just pick an existing world. For character generation the only thing you really need are the trade codes.

Too late. Besides, what I'm doing here is NOT playing the game, but rather just trying to work through the rules via examples I create to get a feel for the various differences between CT/TNE/T5 (I have T4 but never really got into it).

I tried to make a simple walkthrough video on YouTube that might help (but read two Craig A. Glesner comments for where I went wrong). One day I'll get around to redoing this video but for now it might help get you started.

I might do that. I'm not sure how I feel, however, about an RPG that requires video tutorials. It both seems like a great idea and a warning sign all at once. That said, the more I think about it, the more I can see how a video tutorial would show potential players the full power of things like the character creation system.

 

[Supplement Four]

Anything's possible, but a lot is up to the GM. For example, the character I created is on a TL-5 settler world with a scout base. This gives 2 groups of people by default...the settlers and the scouts.

Another question: Does T5 address the Tech Level issue, where a character could be from a TL 5 world (what is that...1940's technology?) but uses TL-C or higher tech as crewers on a starship?

 

[Frewfrux]

Another question: Does T5 address the Tech Level issue, where a character could be from a TL 5 world (what is that...1940's technology?) but uses TL-C or higher tech as crewers on a starship?

Yes, it does, though not in the manner in which I'm used to. The rules state that skills "are relatively tech level independent." The term 'relatively' is not, however, defined in this context as far as I can see, so I would assume that when the difference between what a character is used to, TL-wise, become too great in the referee's mind that the referee can say "sorry, but you've only learned that at TL-4, and the TL-D version is too different from what you're used to to be able to use."

That said, the example they give is (paraphrased) as follows:

Someone with the skill Ground Vehicle-4 on a TL-6 world who is used to repairing TL-6 ground vehicles can figure out how to repair a TL-4 version or, with the manuals to guide, a TL-9 version. The skill is TL independent.

Now, that doesn't cover how someone on a TL-2 world would acquire the Ground-Vehicle skill in the first place .... ????

I think it all boils down to having a good GM who can be creative enough to explain your character's oddities without needing special rules for doing so.

 

[david.wendelken]

Now, that doesn't cover how someone on a TL-2 world would acquire the Ground-Vehicle skill in the first place .... ????

They get it the same way anyone else does. Someone on that world has ground vehicles and they hire locals to drive or repair them - after training, of course.

That's because most low tech worlds that travellers will encounter anywhere near one of the 6 major empires aren't pristine, just-discovered worlds that have never had off-world contact.

 

[Frewfrux]

They get it the same way anyone else does. Someone on that world has ground vehicles and they hire locals to drive or repair them - after training, of course.

That's because most low tech worlds that travellers will encounter anywhere near one of the 6 major empires aren't pristine, just-discovered worlds that have never had off-world contact.

That does explain a lot of it. The rest (like low level TL vacuum worlds) is easy enough to come up with a creative explanation for on an as-needed basis. Of course, what this means is that the rules do not cover situations where you *do* have pristine, just-discovered worlds that have had no off-world contact...but that's what a GM is for.

I think it's easy to think of TL-2 people as somehow different from TL-F people in their ability to understand concepts, but that's just not the case. Sure the education might be different, but not the ability to understand.