Topic: The Spinward Marches

[Haseri]

The Spinward Marches lie many months from the Emperor's protection. It is a borderland, squeezed in from all sides by the Third Empire of Man's opponents. Coreward lies the Vargr Extents, where the descendants of the displaced and ascended Terran canines rule. The Zhodani Consulate inhabits coreward-spinward - a large state ruled by psionic nobles, where unhappiness is a disease stamped out by the thought police. Then there are the smaller polities, independent from the Empire, but they very little threat, at least in the eyes of the bureaucrats of Capital. Not so much to the people that live there. And then there is the Great Rift, a more or less empty expanse, devoid of stars. The only thing connecting the Marches to the main bulk of the Empire is the Corridor, a (relatively) thin passage of stars.

You have heard about this place all your life. It is a bulwark against the Empire’s enemies, but also a place an individual can make a fortune.

But before that, we need to find out who you are. We know you are a member of Humaniti, the result of generations of interbreeding between the two great human races – the Vilani of Vland and the Solomani of Terra. You were born on one of the many thousands of worlds in the main bulk of the Empire. But that is more or less it.

What is your name and gender?

What kind of world were you born on? Choose from any the attributes below, but I may drop some if they are incompatible. It will give you some background skills for the next step.
Agricultural: A world dedicated to farming and food production.
Asteroid: A colony in an asteroid belt.
Desert: A barely habitable rock.
Fluid Oceans: A world where the seas aren’t water.
Garden: A pleasant, Earth-like world.
High Population: A world home to billions.
High Technology: One of the more technologically advanced worlds in the Imperium.
Ice Capped: A tiny ball of ice and rock.
Industrial: A world dedicated to manufacturing.
Low Technology: A pre-industrial world that nevertheless had contact with the Empire.
Poor: A world that lacks resources.
Rich: A world abundant in resources.
Vacuum: A world with no atmosphere.
Water World: A world covered in water.

There are more attributes that define a world, but they won’t give you skills.

Next we roll your attributes. You have six.

Strength (Str): Your physical strength, fitness and forcefulness.
Dexterity (Dex): Your physical co-ordination, agility and reflexes. This affects your accuracy and reaction speed.
Endurance (End): You ability to sustain damage, stamina and determination. Your resilience is based on End, so a character with low End will be very vulnerable in a firefight.
Intelligence (Int): Your intellect and quickness of mind. This is used in many skill checks.
Education (Edu): You learning and experience. This is also used in many skill checks.
Social Standing (Soc): Your place in society. Characters with high scores will find life much easier.

Allocate the scores based on these numbers. Higher scores give higher Dice Modifiers to skill and attribute checks:
Score   Dice Modifier
0          -3
1-2       -2
3-5       -1
6-8       0
9-11     +1
12-14   +2
15        +3

Once the scores are allocated, we’ll look into background skills and choose your first career.

Note: I’m using Mongoose Traveller for these rules. Feel free to ask questions about the setting or the rules.

Updates will be posted after there have been three replies, or 12 or so hours, whichever comes first.

[Detoxicated]

We are Rudolpho Bakunini, a male from an industrial planet.

Strength (Str): 7
Dexterity (Dex): 7
Endurance (End): 8
Intelligence (Int): 10
Education (Edu): 8 (your parents recognized your intelligence and sent you off to good schools)
Social Standing (Soc): 6 (while being educated you remain as a worker, yet)

You are a worker, but also you are educated in ancient philosophy and political systems. You're common goal is to create an utopian society with no hierachies and no private possessions. Seeing the abuse of the common men and women, you grew tired of the oppression of the upper-classes. You demand to dimantle authority and you are fond of using weapons and cunning to bring forward your cause.

[Haseri]

Rudolpho Bakunini’s stats at 18:
Strength (Str): 7 (0)
Dexterity (Dex): 7 (0)
Endurance (End): 8 (0)
Intelligence (Int): 10 (+1)
Education (Edu): 8 (0)
Social Standing (Soc): 6 (0)

Your homeworld’s Universal World Profile (UWP): C2009D9-B Scout Hi In Na Va.
This means your home planet has a Routine Starport, is roughly the size of the Moon, it has no atmosphere or hydrosphere, its population numbers in the billions, it is a Religious Dictatorship, and it has a very restrictive legal system. Its theocrats get to enjoy Late-Early Stellar technology (though it is still below the Imperial average), but most people only ever come into contact with technology comparable to the Terran late 19th century.
The planet boasts an impressive Imperial Interstellar Scout Service (IISS) base, mostly on the subsector’s duke’s insistence.
As well as being an Industrial planet, the planet also has the High Population, Non-Agricultural and the Vacuum attributes.

(I should have used Invisible castle, but I forgot and did it by hand - its not really important anyway.)

With that done, we can now look at you background skills. From the list below, choose 4 (3+Edu Dice Modifier) skills. These are things you knew at 18, either because they are nearly necessary to survival on your planet or because you learnt them:

Streetwise 0 (Understanding the urban environment and power structures in society)
Trade 0 (The general grasp of working for a living but little experience beyond a menial job)
Vacc Suit 0 (How to operate a vacuum suit)

Admin 0 (Navigating bureaucracy and administration)
Advocate 0 (Knowledge of common legal codes and practices, as well as practice in oratory, debate and public speaking)
Art 0 (Trained in creative art)
Carouse 0 (The art of socialising and having fun, as wells as social awareness and subterfuge)
Comms 0 (Covers the use of modern telecommunications)
Computer 0 (Using and controlling computer systems)
Drive 0 (Controlling ground vehicles)
Engineer 0 (Operate and maintain spacecraft and advanced vehicles)
Language 0 (A smattering of simple phrases in other languages)
Medic 0 (Emergency first aid, battlefield triage, diagnosis, treatment and surgery)
Physical Science 0 (Physics, Chemistry, Electronics)
Life Science 0 (Biology, Cybernetics, Genetics, Psionicology)
Social Science 0 (Archaeology, Economics, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sophontology)
Space Science 0 (Planetology, Robotics, Xenology)

The number after the skill name is your level in that skill. It is added to the 2d6 roll whenever a skill check is needed, as well as the appropriate attribute modifier and any situational modifiers. A successful roll is if the total is over 8. Having no level in a skill gives a –3 to a skill roll. Having a level 0 negates that penalty, but does not give any bonus, representing a basic understanding of the subject. Some skills will have specialities that one chooses at level 1. The character will have level 0 in other specialities under that skill, except for Trade, and advance specialities independently.

[Detoxicated]

Advocate +1 (due to his will to change things)
Social Sciences +1 (due to his education)
Vacc Suit +1 ( he has to get to places)
Streetwise +1 (hes a worker)

[Haseri]

Rudolpho Bakunini’s stats at 18:
Strength (Str): 7 (0)
Dexterity (Dex): 7 (0)
Endurance (End): 8 (0)
Intelligence (Int): 10 (+1)
Education (Edu): 8 (0)
Social Standing (Soc): 6 (0)

Advocate 0
Social Sciences 0
Vacc Suit 0
Streetwise 0

I won’t post all of the possible careers, as there are far too many. So I’ll just go for Worker, a blue-collar citizen on an industrial world. The qualification roll Edu 5+ (we have to get more than 5 in a 2d6+Edu DM roll). We get 6, a close success.

As this is your first four-year term, you get the following skills as part of your basic training:

Drive 0
Mechanic 0 (Maintenance and repair of simple equipment)
Trade 0
Engineer 0

To survive a term as a Worker, one must roll End 4+. You roll 6.
Then one rolls 2d6 for an Event for this term. 4 – You spend time maintaining and using heavy vehicles. Gain Mechanic 1, Drive 1 (Choose a speciality: Mole (Drills and earth-moving technology), Tracked (Vehicles that move on tracks), or Wheeled (Vehicles with wheels)), Flyer 0 (Piloting an aerial vehicle) or Engineer 1 (Choose a speciality: Manoeuvre-Drive, Jump-Drive, Electronics, Life Support or Power)
Then we roll for Advancement, at Edu 8+. We get 10, so we go up one rank, to Rank 1.

You now get two Skill Table rolls (one for going up a rank and another automatically). These are Personal Development, Service Skills and Worker Skills.
On the Personal Development table, you could get:
1. +1 Edu
2. +1 Int
3. +1 Carouse
4. +1 Gambling (Familiarity in gambling games)
5. +1 Drive (any)
6. +1 Jack Of All Trades (Negates the –3 DM for an unskilled skill check)
On the Service Skills table, you could get:
1. +1 Drive (any)
2. +1 Flyer (any)
3. +1 Streetwise
4. +1 Melee (any) (Attacking in close-quarters combat)
5. +1 Steward (Serving and caring for passengers)
6. +1 Trade (any)
On the Worker Skills table, you could get:
1. +1 Drive (any)
2. +1 Mechanic
3. +1 Trade (any)
4. +1 Engineer (any)
5. +1 Trade (any)
6. +1 Science (any)

So, the things you have to decide this term is: Which skill (and speciality) do you advance in due to your Event bonus, and which two skill tables do you roll on (you can roll on the same table twice).

[Flamester_]

Ill say Engineer Electronics, and Service and worker tables.

[Detoxicated]

Engineer electronics is fine, but id prefer streetwise over steward

[Haseri]

Service Skills Result: 2 - +1 Flyer
Worker Skills Result: 5 - +1 Trade (Choose a speciality, more or less anything goes)

Rudolpho Bakunini’s stats at 22:
Strength (Str): 7 (0)
Dexterity (Dex): 7 (0)
Endurance (End): 8 (0)
Intelligence (Int): 10 (+1)
Education (Edu): 8 (0)
Social Standing (Soc): 6 (0)

Advocate 0
Drive 0
Engineer 1 (Electronics)
Flyer 0
Mechanic 0
Social Sciences 0
Streetwise 0
Trade 1 (Speciality needed)
Vacc Suit 0

Your second term’s survival roll (End 4+): 7. You survive.
Event Roll: 7. Life Event! Rolling on the Life Event Table (2d6): 12. Something Weird. Roll an additional 1d6: 4. Amnesia. Something happened to you, but you don’t know what it was.
Advancement Roll: 10. You go up yet another rank, to rank 2. You are now known as a Technician.

Things to decide this time: Your Trade Speciality, and once again two Skill rolls.
Also, you can leave your career for another one or start adventuring at any time.