I can post, as a player, my goals for playing in this campaign. Be advised, that they are not very adventurous or glamorous. In a simple paragraph I can lay out what I desired when writing and dicing up the character, Senior Scout Gevaudan Cannagrrh, Vargr Pilot-Astrogator fromt the Society of Equals, Gvurrdon Sector. Traveller, to my experience, is Simulationist in style. The dice can give a general game experience. It takes a proficient Referee to flesh out those dice results to fit the Encounters into the game and make them Experiences. Reaching and filling all the possible skill points a character's Int+Edu+Soc/Cha or Int+Edu (depending on GM) will allow is not the goal of the game. Mustering out of a Career just after Character Creation is not the end of the game either. It is the space between mustering out of a Career to become a Traveller and final retirement and settling down with sufficient Credits (or whatever) funds to live out one's life and watch the surrounding universe with drink in hand. Some characters will reach this point before others. It's a function of Career, funds, success and surviving the adventures between those two milestones. When I first envisioned Gev, I saw a Vargr male who had no choice in his birthplace in the Orwellian nightmare that is the Society of Equals, (fan source Sourcebook: Gvurrdon Sector, not Mongoose version). We are often brought into this universe in the wrong polity. Being an ethnic Vargr from the Vargr Extents, Gev passed his Equality test, (the results of failing or not taking it at all being "Not Good") and became a Scout. Now, my goal, as a player , was to see if Gev could rise out of that upbringing and twisted Society and become a better, more humane (har har), specimen of his species. To do that, he would have to endure the Third Imperium's Spinward Marches and the Fifth Frontier War. These experiences has taught the mercurial Vargr, Charisma-driven, speed junkie Gevaudan Cannagrrh that not all has to be as the Vargr race sees it. His contact with Imperials, Nobles, Zhodani, Darrians, Psions, Imperial Vargr, Solomani, Vilani, Sword Worlders, and other ethnicities and cultures has given Gev a wider canvass to paint his point of view upon. The experiences he has in coming to the Sector, joining AMC/ASS/ ad nauseam and the return to Gvurrdon Sector will tell a story not many players are interested in writing or hearing about. In Gevaudan, I wanted an all-around Ship Operations crew member starting with Astrogator and Pilot. Starship Operations Next, I saw the need to upkeep a vessel of 200 dT to 600 dT. Trade and Commerce Being able to go dirtside required of Gev the skills to survive inside and outside the XT line. Starport and Urban Encounters When Gev's elder sister showed up early in the campaign and the War, he needed to protect her and get her out of his hair. Starship and Personal Combat It's a secret of his that the adventures of AMC/ASS (heretofore the 'corporation') gathered a psionic Instructor (Isis, thanks to the Colonel) and a powerful psionic Seer (Uthka, the Dame's attache) to allow mobile psionic instruction aboard the Ares Ancients and other Esoterics Then the aa Nantu Y appeared during the tour of Hot & Spicy. Social Issues - race relations and interactions: Humaniti and Vargr The Colonel's leadership in tactics, corporate guidance and captaining the Ares had kindled the original flame I saw in Gev to become his own captain of a tramp trader of some kind. I confided in Bob (The Colonel) that Gev will endeavour to return some day to his home polity, laden with experience and endgame goals that will continue to tell an after-story of a kind. Independant Merchant Business Operations (I hope someday to work a Spreadsheet as good as Bob.) Originally, as a player, I thought that Gev as an Astrogator-Pilot would have a minimal job in Artemis Mercenary Corporation. I was short-changing myself when the Fifth Frontier War drew more of him into the picture partially due to his elder sister and Uthka Varzeekh and their need to journal the War. Then I got the idea to include the other player-characters in the overarcing story. Journalism within Mongoose Traveller There were at least two or three modules that I wrote or had a good outline to that ASS missed or passed by blissfully ignorant. "Into The Abyss" and "Wormholes" I said very little as Traveller is Simulationist in its design - the characters can take an unforeseen turn. Rail-roading a party is linear game play. Conversely, I am not a reactive Game Master, I do try to present quests and mission available and let the players decide their fates. Modules Written by a GM/Referee Endgoal, I see I wanted to simulate an adventuring career, rule-abidingly acquiring enough funds to put Gev into a proper, self-architect draft, vessel and make him return to Gvurrdon Sector to see what becomes of him during the Rebellion, Hard Times, Collapse and New Era time periods in that region of space. He is Gvegh-speaking and Gvegh-culture, standard ethnic Vargr of that area. I see him ending up working up a retirement just Rimward-Trailing of the Society of Equals and dealing with the Wilds to Trailing of that polity. Future History Storytelling So, there is my list and my thinking. I made it no secret that I was an artist and a writer. I have found Mongoose Traveller a just-open-enough means to Simulate and Justify his Career, Adventures, return home and retirement years. My fellow players have help me write this Fifth Frontier War and beyond with the inclusion of their characters. (In case more comes to mind, return to this post for Edits and such.)
