Char Gen House Rules

[allanimal]

I’m about to start a short micro-campaign with some new players.
I got to thinking, many games like D&D have house rules for char gen, like roll 4d6 keep beat, etc

What do you do for Traveller?
I’m thinking of having the players roll 7x 2d6 and keep the best for their stats, and allowing one re-roll during char gen after stats.

In the past I have done crazy things like pick the skill table after rolling the die or allow free qualification to the 1st career.

Also, what do you do if one PC is rolling mediocre and one is rolling super hot all night? I’ve had a great role-player that could handle the former quite well, but I often feel some players resent feeling like they are so far behind the curve from the start.

Just wondering if anyone else has house rules of your own?

 

[arcador]

We play by the random rules mostly. Of course, in some edge cases, the Ref makes a call and allows for a certain modification.

We roll stats and if they are under 42 (sometimes higher), we roll again. When a few sets of stats are rolled, the player can choose from them.

 

[NOLATrav]

I have always allowed players to arrange their stat rolls as they see fit, to give them a better chance at qualifying for their desired career. Also, 4 or less can re-roll if desired (but only one single re-roll).

Also I allow them to throw the 1D for skills then pick the table, again to help them shape the PC into their desired persona.

But Events, Mishaps, etc are strictly as rolled.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Roll 3D6 keep the best two (or now called BOON) for each characteristic, sort as you like. That way the characters are above average (but not supermen) and by arranging the characteristics, the player gets to play the type of character they want. It makes for a more fun game.

 

[steve98052]

I'm fine with straying from the rules to generate characters more to players' liking, such as by allowing the choice of skill chart column after the die roll, or proposing an alternative mishap of equal unpleasantness.

But I don't want to see characters ending up with much higher characteristics than the rules as written. This is Traveller, not Lake Wobegon. You want great characteristics, get them on the personal development table.

If I had the motivation, I'd build a fudge factor chips system. Things that can be explained as in-character decisions ("I'm a colonel with a robot chauffeur; I don't need to go to ground car training") are cheap. Things that can only happen through out-of-character intervention ("I don't want to be maimed by that mishap") are expensive. Things that are wildly improbable ("I'm listening for every rumor I can find about psionics institutes") or not clearly in- or out-of-character ("Oh please, professor, if I have any hint of teleportation talent, let's find it") are in between.

How would a chip system work? Maybe one chip per point that your total as-rolled characteristics fall under 48? One chip for things that a character might do to take charge of his, her, or its career, two for wildly improbable adjustments, and three for direct player interventions? It's all complicated enough that I'd probably want to write it as a pay-what-you-want DrivethruRPG, if I troubled to write it all up.

 

[Condottiere]

Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.


As I recall, the stories and humour flew from the very human failings of the protagonists.

My take on the Mongosian take on character generation is that it can be tweaked on the individual/party level for the survivors at the end of the process, sufficiently to get requisite skills and some character customization.

 

[NOLATrav]

My house rules for char gen are based less on me as Ref and more on what players these days expect or at the very least are interested in. At least here on the Dirty Coast.

The last group I started a Trav session with, we rolled characters and I stuck to RAW. No one got what they expected and only one player got a character they were happy with. I had a fairly detailed background worked out for the sandbox and was able to provide some interesting hooks for everyone but we didn't actually play that night. Next gathering everyone wanted to start a Cyberpunk 2020 game instead because the Ref told everyone they'd start with amnesia, not knowing who or where they were but also have lots of kick ass augments and weaponry.

So the CP2020 game has fizzled (hard to provide satisfying challenges for the munchkins) so we're hopefully starting a Trav game soon. This time my char gen house rules will be in play to get everyone closer to their desired character. Small sacrifice on my part