Lifepath System in Apocryphal Frontier
Blending Traveller and Into the Odd
My absolute favorite part of Traveller is its lifepath system for character generation. Extolling the virtues of random character creation, the ability for a character to actually die during creation is exquisite. While I like the simplicity of background based characters as seen in Chaos & Conquest, taking a character quickly through one or more career terms gives some extra meat on the bones.
The 2d6 system of Traveller has the natural bell curves that work well for the process, and cannot be perfectly replicated with the linear results of a d20 roll under. Knowing this, the best we can do is approximate the likelihood of the various outcomes of 2d6 in a d20 system. We'll accomplish this by using a blackjack style system, where there is a floor value called the difficulty value (DV), that we want to roll above.
Character Generation
Convert Cepheus Light throw values to d20 DV
While the final career tables will just list the relevant characteristics and DVs, I will show my conversion table for the throw values in Cepheus Light (my preferred classic Traveller system) to a DV.
| CL throw | 2d6 probability | Base DV | d20 probability | Drift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4+ | 91.7% | 3 | 90% | −1.7% |
| 5+ | 83.3% | 4 | 85% | +1.7% |
| 6+ | 72.2% | 6 | 75% | +2.8% |
| 7+ | 58.3% | 9 | 60% | +1.7% |
| 8+ | 41.7% | 12 | 45% | +3.3% |
| 9+ | 27.8% | 15 | 30% | +2.2% |
So for example the Agent career would have:
- Survival NERVE DV 6
- Advancement WITS DV 9
- Re-enlistment DV 6
Roll for characteristics
Three characteristics, rolled 3d6 each in order.
NERVE - Steady hands, reaction under pressure, keeping cool.
WITS - Perception, planning, cunning.
GRIT - Endurance, toughness, willpower.
For the purposes of the lifepath only, reference the roll modifier table for each characteristic and note the modifier. This will be used for the relevant rolls during the generation process. This is
| Stat (3d6) | Roll modifier |
|---|---|
| 3–5 | −6 |
| 6–8 | −3 |
| 9–12 | 0 |
| 13–15 | +3 |
| 16–18 | +6 |
E.g. I rolled 12, 15, 7, so I would mark down those characteristics on my sheet, and also temporarily note my modifiers of 0, +3, -3, respectively for NERVE, WITS, and GRIT.
Career Lifepath
We will now go through the Agent career for example purposes.
- Choose career (no qualification rolls). Agent
- Resolve term of service.
- Survival save. NERVE DV 6. d20+0(NERVE RM)>=6 = 14. Survive first term. This gets us the Rank 0 skill of Investigation-1.
- Roll on skill table. Let's pick service, and roll d6. d6 = 6. Driving-1. As this is first term, we roll twice, and roll a 4; Melee Combat-1.
- Advancement. WITS DV 9. d20+3(WITS RM) >=9 = 16. We advance to Agent Rank 1, Special Agent. Roll d6 on personal development = 6, Carousing-1.
- No Rank 1 skill or bonus.
- Aging. First term, no aging save.
- Re-enlistment save. There is no roll modifier, so straight d20 >= 6 = 6. Our character barely ekes out with a successful end of term. We now have the option of doing another term, or mustering out. Let's muster out for this example.
- Muster out.
- We have 1 benefit roll. d6 = 4 on the cash table, and we get 10,000 credits.
We now have a 22 year old former agent ready for play.
Agent
NERVE 12, WITS 15, GRIT 7.
Investigation-1, Driving-1, Melee Combat-1, Carousing-1.
10,000 credits.
Future Modifications
The example above used the details of the Cepheus Light career, which will obviously need to be changed for the western setting of Apocryphal Frontier. I will be creating at least 12 careers fitting for the western setting, and creating a modified skill list. Future posts will touch on how Skills will work in this system, and how the combat system will work.