Android Player Characters

[The Envoy]

Hey there! =)

I am going to start playing Traveller with my PnP group soon, but we haven't created characters so far.

What I would like to offer to my players (or at least one of them) is the option to play an Android who is as intelligent as a human.

But sadly, the core book doesn't state much about the rules for creating such a player character. My idea was to let the player roll 8 characteristics and distribute them onto Strength, Hull, Structure, Dexterity, Intelligence, Education and Social, as well as armor, although the armor value will be halved after distribution.

The player could then take careers as normal (and the Android would also "age"). An android created this way has a value of 1 MCR. Is this a fair price? It would just be needed to calculate the costs for repair, as an Android couldn't regenerate normally as a human would.
The player could also increase the costs of his android by 25% to get 5 extra armor if he wishes to do so (common rule stated in the equipment book).

If the player opts for an obvious cyborg (instead of a human-looking android), the social characteristic will be set to 0 and the player could distribute the points of that lost characteristic on physical characteristics of his choice (Strength, Dexterity, Armor, Hull, Structure).

As you can see, this is a suggestion for a house rule, but my problem is that I lack a proper gut feeling about the values, as I don't have any considerable experience in the Traveller game. :/

Thoughts? Suggestions? I'd be happy about it.

 

[CosmicGamer]

My first thought is to have some balanced out strengths and weaknesses. Some of the "weaknesses" might come from my comments below and don't have to be in characteristics.

My second thought is how does this fit into the overall universe? From how society and law treat such to how common it is. Is this mechanical creation someones property? Are there laws and/or organizations that the device, no matter how human, is programmed to obey? Does it have complete free will or maybe it can't harm living beings or destroy property - perhaps even in self defense? Will there be similar NPC's crewing other ships, working in the starport, running businesses, masterminding criminal organizations and so on? Do people resent these creations for taking jobs or do they typically just get the sh17 jobs? Is it a rare "one off" in danger of being found out and captured for good or evil research and experimentation?

What was the creation created for and where is their creator(s) now? How did it become "free" to choose a career path on their own?

Lot's of role playing potential here. Hope it doesn't get played out as just a typical character in a superhuman body.

 

[The Envoy]

Hmmm... why would such an Android be particularly rare? I mean, the Cybernetics rule book allows for mechanical brain replacements that are able to compute memories, emotions and a personality just like a human would do.

In the end, there will be no owner, the Android is an individual and some planets will have special laws for handling androids, I guess.

Lot's of role playing potential here.

I totally agree. That's one reason why I want to offer this to one of my players.

 

[CosmicGamer]

I mean, the Cybernetics rule book allows for mechanical brain replacements that are able to compute memories, emotions and a personality just like a human would do.

I have not read this book but I've seen the table of contents. Are there not rules between this publication and the robotics one that answer your questions?

 

[The Envoy]

I have not read this book but I've seen the table of contents. Are there not rules between this publication and the robotics one that answer your questions?

I do not have the robotics book. On rpg Drivethru the ratings for that supplement have been quite bad, so I thought that book might not be worth the money.

 

[F33D]

Hmmm... why would such an Android be particularly rare?

Because even by TL 15, the creation of artificial sentience is not readily available in the TU.

 

[The Envoy]

Hmmm... why would such an Android be particularly rare?

Because even by TL 15, the creation of artificial sentience is not readily available int he TU.

My Cybernetics book states the following about a Cyberbrain:

"At TL15 it is possible to replicate the organic brain with a
purely electronic device. This can be inserted into any full
body simulacrum or head replacement unit. The preparation
procedure involves copying and encoding the full spectrum of
personality, memory, training, education and emotion."

Although this kind of brain is extremely expensive with 10 MCr, it is available at TL15.

 

[F33D]

My Cybernetics book states the following about a Cyberbrain:

I'm talking about the 3I. That book isn't a 3I pub. It is a book written to mesh with the rules not the 3I setting.

 

[dragoner]

I have not read this book but I've seen the table of contents. Are there not rules between this publication and the robotics one that answer your questions?

I do not have the robotics book. On rpg Drivethru the ratings for that supplement have been quite bad, so I thought that book might not be worth the money.

It isn't that bad, there is also the 13mann robots book which is quite nice, I have them both. That being said, I have run NPC's and had PC's as androids - though my philosophy about androids is like Bishop from Aliens, high dex but average str and end. IMO soc would be low and int and edu would be as needed, but as high as one needs to go to do the job. Thus for an android "warbot": UPP 8G89B3 hull 4 structure 2, AV 13 (basically a walking suit of combat armor) and about 5-7 skill levels, with the caveat that others may be loaded as needed.

 

[The Envoy]

It isn't that bad, there is also the 13mann robots book which is quite nice,

Is that one compatible with the rules of Mongoose Traveller (2008 Edition) ?

 

[dragoner]

It isn't that bad, there is also the 13mann robots book which is quite nice,

Is that one compatible with the rules of Mongoose Traveller (2008 Edition) ?

Yes it is for mongoose traveller ( and is of high quality), though the paradigm of robot design is slightly different - more traditionally traveller, than the mongoose book.

 

[Infojunky]

It isn't that bad, there is also the 13mann robots book which is quite nice,

Is that one compatible with the rules of Mongoose Traveller (2008 Edition) ?

YES! is works much better than the Mongoose book.

Also note that DGP ran and published a whole magazine around the adventures of a TL16 robot its inventor and friends back in the day of MegaTraveller. When they started the rules for robot construction where kinda sketchy, or what I really am saying is don't let the "rules" get in the way of the game you want to play.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I have not read this book but I've seen the table of contents. Are there not rules between this publication and the robotics one that answer your questions?

I do not have the robotics book. On rpg Drivethru the ratings for that supplement have been quite bad, so I thought that book might not be worth the money.

I haven't seen any problem with the book that a decent referee can't handle. I love the fact that there's robot "CharGen" for PCs to role-play.

I was just thinking of a robot character that has some nice android features, but suffers horribly as far as the Uncanny Valley chart is concerned. So people have trouble watching the android when it movies. A Medusan android.

 

[Condottiere]

At TL15, uncanny valley wouldn't seem to me to be a problem, though a sophisticated enough programme to control reactions and body language might be called for.

I'm willing to bet that film Alien will have the same reverence in the Imperium that we reserve for classical Latin and Greek plays, so androids would always be tarred with the suspicion that they are operating under an agenda that may eventually be not in our interests.

Social stigma since not being human, it's hard not to be able to conveniently slot them in our social/class hierarchy.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

At TL15, uncanny valley wouldn't seem to me to be a problem, though a sophisticated enough programme to control reactions and body language might be called for.

It could occur at any tech level. TL15 doesn't guarantee anything.

Social stigma since not being human, it's hard not to be able to conveniently slot them in our social/class hierarchy.

Social stigma is attached to groups of humans by other humans. And will always continue to be. There may be cultures where androids are prefered over humans.

 

[Condottiere]

Bladerunner. Rachel looks like she's upper middle or lower upper.

Once it comes out that she's a replicant, the movie implies that she and Decker have to run for it.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Yep. A player can role-play an android character that other characters assume is human or some other alien race.

 

[IanBruntlett]

And in general when using Android: Check that the manufacturer offers software update even past the time the follow up model comes out.

In the real world, there are various ways of sharing the software's source code. I'll pick two - Escrow and Open Source. Escrow is where a solicitor has a copy of the source code and releases it to customers when certain conditions have been met. The other is "Open Source" where everyone has access to the source code.

And then there are maintenance contracts - in a well run software house, these might be a profitable way to survive.