Quote from: Age of Fable;222093I was going to 'translate' psi into magic.

Which makes sense, to be honest for a sword and sorcery style game you don't actually need to make any changes, beyond renaming it.

Should this be moved to the 'Game Development' section?

Quote from: Casey777;222055The Mongoose Traveller SRD is out.

I think their copyright declaration in the OGL is incorrect.  From what I understand, "(C)" is not a legal replacement for "©" or the word "Copyright".  I'm also not sure why there are two Traveller copyright lines, both with the "(C)".

Yes, its exactly the sort of thing I want from that section.

RPGPundit

Character creation continued...

5) Age and Skills

The player then rolls 1 dice and adds 1 (giving a result of 2 to 7). This is the character's starting Experience.

Experience multiplied by 4, plus 14, gives the character's age (giving a starting age of 22,26,30,34,38 or 42).

Experience is used to decide what skills, resources, and injuries the character has picked up during their career, as well as the effect of aging on their attributes (if any).

5a) Injuries

Again, the player should roll two dice once for each point of Experience the character has.

Each career has its own 'Survival Number'. If the character's roll is less than the Survival Number for their career, they've gained one injury.

Each career also has an attribute which, if it's at a certain level, allows the character to add two to each survival roll.

Sailor:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Pirate:
Survival Number 6
add 2 to roll if Constitution of at least 8.

Warrior:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Wisdom of at least 6.

Explorer:
Survival Number 7
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Merchant:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 7.

Traveller:
Survival Number 5
add 2 to roll if Intelligence of at least 9.


For each injury, roll 2 dice for its effects:

2-4 scarred or disfigured: -2 on any roll involving an attempt to be likeable, charming etc.

5 * deafened in one ear. -4 to attempts to hear noise, -1 to attempts to move silently, and the character is easier to ambush (as described in 'combat').

6-7 serious illness: -3 to Constitution. If this would take Constitution below 2, -3 to Strength instead.

8-9 head injury: -2 Intelligence, to a minimum of 2, and gain 1 less skill than the result indicated in 6b.

10-11 * crushed or severed arm: the character loses the use of their arm - they're entitled to assume it's their 'off' arm (their left, for right-handers). They can't use a 2-handed weapon, or a weapon and a shield at the same time, and they get -3 on activities which require the use of 2 hands. Note that this includes keeping balance.

12 * missing eye. The character has -1 on any attempt to be likeable, charming etc, and -2 on any roll involving a task that requires depth perception. This includes ranged combat, but not hand-to-hand combat.

If a result is marked with an asterisk, this means that characters can only get that result once. If they get it twice, they should ignore the result and roll again.

5b) Skills

Each character has two levels in the skill which covers the customs and culture of their particular background. Thus a Barbarian automatically starts with two levels of 'Culture (Barbarian)'.

Each background gives one extra skill, as follows:

Barbarian
roll 1 dice:
1 Intimidate
2-3 A randomly determined weapon
3-4 Wilderness Lore
5-6 Riding

Peasant
roll 1 dice:
1-2 Haggle
3-4 Wilderness Lore
5-6 Gather Information

Townsfolk
If the character has a scholarly title, they gain the skill Literacy. Otherwise roll 1 dice:
1-2 Craft (of the players' choice)
3-4 Gather Information
5-6 Roll once on the table for Travellers, but re-roll any result of 'Wilderness Lore'

Noble
roll 1 dice:
1-2 Literacy
3-4 Riding
5-6 A randomly determined hand-to-hand weapon

Each career gives one automatic level in one skill, as follows:

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1-3 Helsman/woman
4-6 Navigator

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1-3 Helsman/woman
4-6 Navigator

Warrior:
A randomly determined weapon.

Explorer:
Wilderness Lore.

Merchant:
Haggle.

Traveller:
Roll one more time than usual for extra skills.

Finally, the character rolls on the table related to their profession. They roll a number of times equal to their Experience.

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 Helsman/woman
3 Navigator
4 Culture (Barbarian)
5 Brawling
6 roll again: 1-3 no skill, but +1 Wisdom 4-6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 Helsman/woman
3 Navigator
4 Roll again: 1-3 A randomly determined hand-to-hand weapon 4-6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.
5 Brawling
6 Intimidate

Warrior:
roll 1 dice:
1 Gambling
2 A randomly determined weapon. Roll again: 1-3 hand-to-hand 4-6 ranged.
3 Intimidate
4 Culture (Barbarian)
5 Brawling
6 Haggle

Explorer:
roll 1 dice:
1 Wilderness Lore
2 Culture (Barbarian)
3 * Marooned! Refer to the 'Marooned Table' below
4 no skill, but +1 Constitution
5 no skill, but +1 Wisdom
6 roll again: 1-3 Helsman/woman, 4-6 Navigator

Merchant:
1 Wilderness Lore
2 Culture (Barbarian)
3 Culture (Peasant)
4 Culture (Noble)
5 Culture (Townsfolk)
6 Haggle

Traveller:
1 One of the Culture skills - roll again (1-2 Peasant 3-4 Townsfolk, 5 Barbarian, 6 Noble)
2 roll again: 1-3 A randomly determined weapon (roll again, 1-3 hand-to-hand, 4-6 ranged) 4-6 Intimidate
3 roll again: 1-3 Gather Information 4-6 Pick Locks
4 roll again: 1-3 Helsman/woman, 4-6 Navigator
5 no skill, but +1 Wisdom, -1 Constitution (ignore and re-roll if this would take Constitution under 2).
6 * Marooned! Refer to the Marooned Table below.

Marooned Table.

Roll 1 dice:

1 * Go a little mad: -2 on any roll involving an attempt to be likeable, charming etc.
2 * Injured: an extra roll on the injury table.
3 Wilderness Lore.
4 no skill, but +1 Wisdom.
5 no skill, but +1 Constitution.
6 no skill, but +1 Strength.

Then roll to see if you're rescued: on a 1-3 you are, on a 4-6 you aren't, and the next roll is made on the Marooned Table rather than on the table for your profession.

If you're still marooned after making all your experience rolls, you can assume that the character was finally rescued.

Results that start with an asterisk are 'free rolls' - they don't count towards the total number of rolls the character should make. The roll to see if a marooned character is rescued is also 'free'.

Characters might seem to get marooned unrealistically often. However this covers possibilities other than shipwreck. For example small islands can be used as jails, with the criminal being left and then picked up years later. On the other hand a criminal might hide out to escape a death sentence. An explorer might deliberately live on a small island in order to study it. The losers of a feud on board ship might be deliberately left, and so on.


5c) Resources

Characters will end their careers with some resources, for example money. They should roll on the table for their career - again, they should roll as many times as they have Experience.

If a character gets the result 'extra roll on the money table' more than twice, they should ignore any such result past the second, and re-roll them.

Membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts can only be gained once. Any subsequent results should be ignored and re-rolled. The same is true for a ship.

Sailor:
roll 1 dice:
1 Low Passage
2 High Passage
3 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
5 +1 Wisdom
6 ship

Pirate:
roll 1 dice:
1 Low Passage
2 High Passage
3 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
5 ship
6 extra roll on the money table

Warrior:
roll 1 dice:
1 extra level in whatever weapon the character has the most skill in (randomise ties).
2 extra level of Culture (Barbarian)
3 no skill, but +1 Social Class. If the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
4 +1 Wisdom - this result can only be gained once. After this, re-roll.
5 extra roll on the money table
6 extra roll on the money table

Explorer:
roll 1 dice:
1 +1 Wisdom
2 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts
3 High Passage
4 Low Passage
5 extra level of Culture (Barbarian)
6 extra roll on the money table

Merchant:
1 High Passage
2 Low Passage
3 membership of the Brotherhood of the Coasts
4 extra roll on the money table, and +1 Social Class. If the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
5 extra roll on the money table
6 extra roll on the money table

Traveller:
1 low passage.
2 membership in the Brotherhood of the Coasts.
3 roll again: extra level in whatever weapon the character has the most skill in (randomise ties).
4 roll again : 1-3 +1 Social Class. 4-6 -1 Social Class (if the character's Social Class is already 4 or less, ignore and roll again).
In both cases, if the character's origin would be different had they started with their new Social Class, they also gain a level of the relevant Culture skill.
In the case of losing a Social Class, if the character doesn't end up with a new level of a Culture skill because of this roll, they gain an extra roll on this table.
5 extra roll on the money table, but also an extra injury.
6 extra roll on the money table.

Money Table:

Characters should roll on this table at least once. They may get up to 2 extra rolls when rolling their resources above.

In addition, a character gets an extra roll if they end up with a Social Class of at least 11.

However if a character has 4 rolls, they should roll that many times but only take the best 3 results to determine their starting money.

The most common unit of exchange is the cowrie shell, usually just called 'shells'. Ten wooden pieces are equal to one shell, and ten shells are equal to one amber piece. All costs in the game are given in shells unless noted otherwise.

Roll 1 dice. Add 1 to the roll if the character has any levels of Gambling (extra levels don't grant extra bonuses)

Sailor:
1 10
2 50
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 500
7 500

Pirate:
1 20
2 50
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 300
7 400

Warrior:
1 20
2 50
3 100
4 100
5 100
6 200
7 300

Explorer:
1 10
2 20
3 50
4 100
5 200
6 300
7 500

Merchant:
1 10
2 50
3 100
4 200
5 200
6 400
7 400

Outlaw:
1 10
2 50
3 100
4 100
5 100
6 500
7 1000

5d) Effects of Aging

If the character starts with Experience of 2 or 3 (an age of 26 or less), then the player can skip this section.

Otherwise the player should roll 2 dice for each of Strength, Dexterity and Constitution.

Strength and Constitution are reduced by 1 if the result is 8 or more.
Dexterity is reduced by 1 if the result is 7 or more.

I don't have much useful to comment, but I'm looking forward to an actually done and complete Wanderer! Good luck with that.

I still struggle with pirate as a career, a pirate is just a sailor who has turned to crime, it seems much narrower than the other careers.

This is excellent! I've been working on formatting the Traveller SRD over the last few days, and reading this actually fills in some of the blanks I had with the missing bits from the SRD.  

I'm not sure about the Pirate career either... I wonder if you could make the "Outlaw" careers an inversion of the more respectable ones:

Sailor > Pirate
Soldier (Warrior) > Mercenary
Explorer > Raider
Merchant > Bandit

I'd also change the tables for things like injuries so that there's more progression from Bad to Worse such that the player knows if rolling high is a good thing or not.  Personally I'd make the worst rolls always at the bottom (2) and the better results at the top (12).

Quote from: Balbinus;222390I still struggle with pirate as a career, a pirate is just a sailor who has turned to crime, it seems much narrower than the other careers.

In real life yes, but in fiction pirate is a 'bigger' role than just sailor.

What if 'Outlaw' was 'Drifter' instead (as in the new version)?

Quote from: Stuart;222405This is excellent! I've been working on formatting the Traveller SRD over the last few days, and reading this actually fills in some of the blanks I had with the missing bits from the SRD.  

I'm not sure about the Pirate career either... I wonder if you could make the "Outlaw" careers an inversion of the more respectable ones:

Sailor > Pirate
Soldier (Warrior) > Mercenary
Explorer > Raider
Merchant > Bandit

I'd also change the tables for things like injuries so that there's more progression from Bad to Worse such that the player knows if rolling high is a good thing or not.  Personally I'd make the worst rolls always at the bottom (2) and the better results at the top (12).

Quote from: Age of Fable;222494What if 'Outlaw' was 'Drifter' instead (as in the new version)?

Let's see... you need 6 professions, and you want them to each have a distinct thematic area.  I think that puts Pirate and Sailor too close -- unless you're really going for a strong nautical theme to the game (which you might be -- and if so I'd rename it Voyager instead of Wanderer).

As for drifter, in a medieval type game might have been an outlaw, beggar, mercenary, barbarian or an entertainer.  That's the one I'd use -- Entertainer: Minstrel, Jester, Juggler, Acrobat, Actor.

I like Outlaw as a catch-all for Robber, Pick-pocket, Bandit, Highwayman, and Pirate

Hmm...

Sailor
Warrior
Merchant
Explorer
Entertainer
Outlaw

?

I actually was going for a nautical theme - so that there's an analogy to space.

I like your other profession ideas though.

Quote from: Stuart;222666Let's see... you need 6 professions, and you want them to each have a distinct thematic area.  I think that puts Pirate and Sailor too close -- unless you're really going for a strong nautical theme to the game (which you might be -- and if so I'd rename it Voyager instead of Wanderer).

Hand-to-hand Weapons:

Each hand-to-hand weapon can be used at below average, average, or above average skill (explained further in 'combat'). This is based on the Strength of the character using it.

For example, a character with 9 Strength would use a cudgel at 'above average' level. A character with a Strength of 6 would use a broadsword at 'below average' level.

Hand-to-hand weapons also have a weight, cost, and damage.

example
	another example

Dagger

Blade

Foil

Sword

Cutlass

Broadsword

Bayonet

Spear

Halberd

Pike

Cudgel

Hand-to-hand Weapons:

Each hand-to-hand weapon can be used at below average, average, or above average skill (explained further in 'combat'). This is based on the Strength of the character using it.

For example, a character with 9 Strength would use a cudgel at 'above average' level. A character with a Strength of 6 would use a broadsword at 'below average' level.

The only exceptions are the rapier and tigers' claws, which use Dexterity instead of Strength.

Knife

• below average (2-3)
• average (4-6)
• above average (8-12)
• damage 2

Tiger's Claws

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 2

Rapier

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 1

Shortsword

• below average (2-5)
• average (6-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 2

Cutlass

• below average (2-7)
• average (8-10)
• above average (11-12)
• damage 3

Greatsword (must be used with 2 hands)

• below average (2-7)
• average (8-11)
• above average (12)
• damage 4

Machete

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 3

Spear (can be used with 1 hand or 2)

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-8)
• above average (9-12)
• damage 2 if used with 1 hand, 3 if used with 2 hands.

Longsword (can be used with 2 hands by anyone, or with 1 by anyone with Strength of at least 6)

• below average if used with 2 hands. Can't be used with 1 hand (2-5)
• average if used with 2 hands. Below average with 1 hand (6-9)
• above average if used with 2 hands. Average if used with 1 hand (10-12)
• damage 3

Broadsword

• below average (2-6)
• average (7-9)
• above average (10-12)
• damage 3

Cudgel

• below average (2-4)
• average (5-7)
• above average (8-12)
• damage 2

If a character is told to generate a level in a randomly-chosen hand-to-hand weapon, they should roll a dice:

1 - cudgel

2 - roll again: 1-3 machete 4-6 shortsword

3 - roll again. 1-3 knife 4-6 tigers' claws

4 - roll again. 1-3 cutlass 4-6 greatsword

5 - roll again. 1-3 spear 4-6 longsword

6 - roll again. 1-3 broadsword 4-6 rapier

Nice.

Consider making Spear damage 3 if it's used with 2 hands.