Monday, October 22, 2012

First, a Mongoose Traveller Character

Sometimes I like to play the "Traveller CharGen game". Most of these characters are destined for the dustbin, or maybe use as more well-developed NPCs, and I only keep records of the ones that turn out to be interesting. I take the rolls as they happen when I'm doing this, and then try to weave a plausible story out of the results.

I'm going to drag out a few of these characters to share. Because I'm mostly doing this during the odd lunch break, the writeups follow no uniform format or level of detail, but should have enough notes to be able to play the character in a game. And before anyone complains, yes I know these are kind of stereotyped. I'm a firm believer in using broad strokes when painting RPG characters, because I don't have the luxury of dozens of pages or the nuanced performance of a professional actor to portray them.

Some are "Classic Traveller" characters, and some (like this one) are "Mongoose Traveller" characters. I've used Spica Publishing's "Career Books" in some cases (again, like this one), and a few characters are for Spica's "Outer Veil" setting instead of the standard "3rd Imperium" setting.



The first character is an Imperial Treasure Hunter, Lady Duanna Engebar, who worked out to be kind of a "b-team" version of Lara Croft or Sydney Fox (if anyone but me remembers "Relic Hunter").

Lady Duanna Engebar 6CA55A - 26yo Treasure Hunter (Career Book 1)
Str:  6     Int: 5
Dex: 12   Edu: 5
End: 10   Soc: 10
Survival-1, Gun Combat(slug pistol)-1, Art(Primitive)-1, Athletics(coordination)-1,
Animals(riding)-0, Stealth-0, Recon-0, Flyer-0, Carousing-0
2 Allies - Garun Revesh, Simi Odakar
1 Enemy - Yanos Shevinssen
0 Cr

A hardy if slightly built girl from an influential family, Lady Duanna never paid much attention in school and isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, though her phenomenal agility and perseverance has served her well.  At 18 years old, she longed to escape the confines of High Society.  Her father pull some strings to get her assigned to the crew of a high-profile freelance Treasure Hunting outfit.  She quickly impressed her crew chief with her bravery (if not her intelligence) and was given more in-field missions, where she learned about survival and Ancient artwork.  In her second term, she was betrayed by a former colleague and found herself with an unexpected need to hone her gun combat skills.  No longer able to trust her employer, Lady Duanna left the service and set out on her own.

Now a more experienced woman who is more at home in the field than she is in high society, Duanna still maintains very friendly relations with two of her old collegues, though her betrayer continues to be a thorn in her side, as does her currently cashless state.

Allies:
Garun Revesh - a vargr archaeologist, Garun and Duanna have been on many digs together. In essence, he was the brains to Duannas brawn, and together they were able to retrieve a number of high-profile artifacts and knowledge. Garun is quite fond of Duanna, admiring her spirit and determination.  He will happily assist her in any way he can, and considers her to be a personal friend as well as a valuable professional contact.

Simi Odakar - an Imperial human, Simi is one of Duanna's "girly friends". During the years they were on the same planet, they enjoyed spending their down time together, and have a genuinely strong friendship. Simi is a Broker by occupation, and she frequently finds deals which she shares with Duanna. Though her busy lifestyle prevents her from travelling herself, she has many contacts throughout the sector and can "pave the way" if she has time to do so. In return, Duanna will pass along any information she finds about business opportunities and will look out for opportunities to send business to her friend.

Enemies:
Yanos Shevinssen - a Sword Worlder by culture, and a rival Adventurer, Yanos betrayed Duanna's trust by stealing an important artifact that she and Garun were working to retreive.  Yanos is an unscrupulous man who views non-Sword Worlders with contempt, believing that they are "chumps who deserve what they get". It is speculated that his hatred of Duanna is more personal though. He is a boorish man whose advances Duanna rebuffed.

1 comment:

  1. It's always fun bringing these characters alive from a set of numbers. I think back to Rhys and Loric, and the numbers tell us absolutely nothing.

    ReplyDelete