(3/4) Traveller T20 - The Soldiers Sons. Game started, but still recruiting

[DrZombie]

Game has started. There is still plenty of opportunity to join.



"And for all commen men it shall be thus : Let the Son follow in the footsteps of his Father, for those that don't shall come to ill and fall into sin, and so shall their children, and their children's children for all eternity.
And for all of Noble Blood, let it be so. The first Son shall inherit all land and goods from his father, and will provide for his brothers and sisters. The second Son shall serve his king in the army, to defend the land of his brother. And his Sons shall serve in the army, and their sons as well. And the third Son shall serve God and enter the convent, to do Gods work. And the fourth Son shall join the learned men, and the any others the artists."

The Book of our Lord Chapter V, Verse 12-18


"And does not the Book say that God created man to his image? It does not say Hiver, Or K'Kree, or Aslan, or any other abomination.

From : The forbidden speeches of Rvd Maynor.


Welcome to Traveller. The fledgling Third Empire has suffered a major defeat at the hands of the fanatic Solomani some forty years ago. Great territory was lost, and the Navy soundly defeated. The old emperor resigned in favour of his son, Emperor Theon Alkhalikoi. The day before throne ascencion he married Empress Liuna Hai-Tikoni, daughter of the head of the Solomani Nationalist Party on Terra. The next day the old emperor abdicated, went to his private quarters and comitted Harakiri in the oldfashioned way.


Emperor Theon has rebuilt the navy from scratch. Instead of heading back towards the old conflict, he opened the new frontiers, and sent his navy into the deep space, towards the rests of the ancient, old, Vilani Empire. The navy fleet was followed by fleets of settlers, exiles, prisoners, colonising the planets fallen to barbarism. IN an unprecedented move, he invested the officers in the navy that fought well with a noble title, granting them planets and small system to lord over. This has divided the nobility, who's growth in number meant that more and more power was going to the 'new nobles', a collection of soldiers sons, their brothers who were supposed to stay in the navy but now had a voice in the Moot, a voice that sounded, more and more, in favour of the Emperor.

 

[DrZombie]

I'll be using the T20 Traveller rules. I like 'em, they're very versatile, and they're OGL. DO you need the book to play? No, but you do need the free rules to have an idea of the skills and feats used to play the system. They use two additional stats, Education and Social Standing.

If I have enough players (4-6), we'll start with a prelude, playing things as they develop in the OTC (Officers Training Course). The plan is to fast-forward then about twelve years, and start the game.
While usually I'm not too fussed about limiting starting characters, this time I will be.

You will all start the game as Soldiers Sons, second sons of nobles, who enroll in the Acedemy. I would very much prefer the Nobles to be 'new nobles'. You will meet at the Acedemy, and the prelude will start from there.

There are various ways to enroll at the academy, and your character can do so untill the age of 28.

Options are :
- going to university first.
- have a tour at the Noble houses.
- various believable alternatives.

After OTC, the characters will go their own various ways, but will be reunited before the main game starts.


If you don't know anything about the offical 'traveller universe' don't worry, 'cuz I don't follow the official universe anyway. This game is loosely based on 'shaman's crossing' by Robin Hobb. You don't need to read it at all to play this game, but it's a very good fantasy novel.



Technical : 50 pt buy (8 stats). Backstory more important. Make up your own planets and stuff, we'll fit them in some map somewhere

 

[Rhun]

Hey DZ...I am addicted to SciFi, and I've always enjoyed the Traveller universe, going back many, many, many years. However, I do not have the book. I have read through the free rules in the past, though.

I'd be interested in playing, but I would probably need your help in building a PC.

 

[lonesoldier]

I'm in. I need to read T20 rules (I've never used them before). I've read a lot of the GURPS Traveler books though, so I kinda know the feel of the universe.

 

[Shayuri]

Traveller!!

I'm so in!

Character to follow!

 

[DrZombie]

Cool. Character creation will be a mutual coop thing. Start with backgrounds. Try to mesh them if you like. Don't mess around with numbers too much for now. The system is very versatile. I'll help out with the numbers and the technical bits.

What you need now is to decide on family, what planet you come from, if you're playing a race other then human you come up with a good backstory, 'cuz that will make life more difficult.
As seen from the intro the society is very chauvinistic. if you wanna play a female then you'de better have a really really good backstory.

Guys, as you've noticed, there are some twists to my traveller setting, feel free to ask.

 

[DrZombie]

Nobs and Nobility

There is a huge gap between commoners and nobility. Not only by status, but also by the scale of power. Only very rarely does a commoner get elevated to higher nobility. When it happens, though, it gets plastered across the media, so all commoners see that they are treated fairly and just, if only they make a decent effort.

Old Nobility
As a rule, old nobility is rich. Hugely rich. The higher in rank, the richer. The archdukes have several systems as their personal fief, and they have invested well in the last few hundred years, creating a massive fortune. They have their fingers in every pie, every huge company. The heridatary system makes sure that, while commoners can get rich in a certain niche (media, or industry), only the nobles have relatives and connections across the boards and across the stars, in the military, science, church and bureaucracy. Some have formed vast merchant families, others own shipyards and interstellar companys, interstellar banking. They know the people, and they have the means to crush almost any commoner company. They are involved in multisided power struggles as they each try to increase their political and financial power at the cost of others. Open warfare is heavily frowned upon, but occasionally happens. Personal duels are fashionable amongst the younger generation. The various barons gather in sociopolitical alliances, trying to take control of the Moot or find enough consensus to have their agenda approved.
Children are raised mostly by private tutors, or they go to boarding schools that cater only to a very select clientele. Marriage are allways arranged to the beterment of the family, and seldom match romantic interest. It is one of the ways a commoner can have a noble title, but he will never have the respect that comes with it. His children might have, and his grandchildren certainly will.


New nobles

New nobles are a different lot. They are mostly former Navy Officers who got elevated t noble rank and given a fief in the newly conquered space. Instead of ending their career in the Navy they have been entrusted with a domain to run and to represent in the moot. They are the head of new noble families. While they have the same political power, they lack the funds of their siblings. Most planets are of low technology level, and those that are not are very rarely peacefully conquered. Although in theory the military rule is only temporarily, history shows that a cunning governor can amass the necessary power to become the only viable candidate for representing the world, or the system, at the assembly.
Most of their effort is spent trying to get interplanetary trade going, either for agricultural product or rare timbers for low-tech worlds, to sophisticated compounds or rare chemicals on heavy-industry mining planets. Most try to raise their children as a true noble should, bot many lack the funds to do so adequately.
The first second-generation 'new nobles' are reaching adult age. Some were born and raised in the outer rim, some had to move from comfortable inner-rim planets to 'the wildernis' at an older age, and some were from Naval families that went planetside when their parent got promoted.

 

[DrZombie]

Religion.
The Church of our lord is the main religion across the galaxy. Its rules govern day to day life and society, supporting a noble-led power system and maintaining the status-quo. The priests are all from noble families, and most are faithfull and honest, caring people who try to help their parish the way they are taught. Some, however, play power-games and misuse the trust they are given.

The Solemani are religious fanatics compared to the Imperium. While their faith has many similarities, it differs on one main point. The Solemani are convinced that humaniti is the only race created in Gods image, and therefore the only race worth of salvation. Some are even convinced that the Solemani are the only branch of humanity that is still 'pure', and that the rest has been tainted by the evil one.
They have revived the ancient tradition of militant monastic orders. The various orders differ only in slight points of dogma, but universal among them is the belief that if they die when fighting heretics all sins will be washed away and they'll be rewarded in the afterlife.

 

[DrZombie]

Hey DZ...I am addicted to SciFi, and I've always enjoyed the Traveller universe, going back many, many, many years. However, I do not have the book. I have read through the free rules in the past, though.

I'd be interested in playing, but I would probably need your help in building a PC.

Not a problem

 

[DrZombie]

RULE 0 Alert!


The T20 book has a ton of feats that give +2 to multiple skills, such as Alertness (+2 to Spot and Listen Checks). It also has a bunch of skills that give only +2 to a single check, such as Carousing (+2 to Gather Information in only certain social settings)

RULE 0: Any feat providing a bonus to only 1 skill grants +3 to that skill, not +2. If the feat is applicable under only certain conditions (such as Carousing), the bonus is +4. Skill focus applies to one skill at +3. Feats that impact more than one skill are unchanged (such as Alertness).