character sheet

[Lost Traveller]

WOW!
I first started playing Traveller in 1980/81 and was referee with the old Mark Miller stuff. Not too long ago I was explaining rpg's to my 2 sons that it used to be pencil, paper and dice. I "googled" traveller and to my surprise I now own 17 of the books and 4 on the way(collector maybe?). Ido need help though. I can't find the character sheet download on Mongoose's site and the homeworld part of character generation seems less than perfect for a newbie/oldie. Any suggestions?

 

[Burocrate]

Welcome Lost Traveller!

There are several sites to choose from for Mongoose Traveller (MGT) character sheets. Take a look at Yahoo Groups for Traveller specific material or even The Mad Irishman's site; nothing but character sheets for most games for the past 3 decades.

As for Home World selection, there is no right answer for anyone to give you that I know of. It is your Traveller Universe (TU) and you get to decide how you want to do it. Some perfer to research which worlds have a UPP that matches up with the back story concept they have in mind when beginning to make a new character and some like randomness. I took the Trade Classification table towards the end of the MGT Core Rule Book and noted that it had 18 entries. So I roll one six-sided dice (1d6) to determine which third of the list I will consult for the second die roll. For example; first roll = 4 which means I skip over the first six entries and roll against the middle six entries to generate the Home World characteristics. I say characteristics because I choose to have two descriptors, i.e. De/Lo Pop.

Hope my ramblings help, if not there are plenty of pages of material on this site (and others) to guide you.

And congrats on introducing you kids to this old game. My two approach Traveller with a definite Star Wars influence. Best thing about it is that it gives me that much more time with my kids instead of all of us going in different directions all of the time.

Lou

 

[BP]

The 'homeworld' aspect is really just a rule mechanic to accommodate pre-career (18 year old) skills. Its a good mechanic, but a shortsighted choice of terminology.

By the term, one logically would assume the need to pick a world, determine Trade codes and take (and pick) skills. Hence, the book says that the 'world' can be picked later.

However, as really just a collection of trade codes related to the PCs history, 'homeworld' really wouldn't have to be a specific system/planet. A PC could be born on a particular world and then immediately moved, etc. A better term would have been 'Pre-career Skills' or some such.

A PC could have been born and raised in a system or on a world, moon, space habitat, or even spaceship (maybe they are a Gypsy) or any combination of such. In some settings (the plain cover books are 'supposed' to be setting independent), one might want to record citizenship, etc.

Anyway, if you want to record an actual 'homeworld' in the 'Third Imperium' (3I) or any other system in the Official Traveller Universe (OTU) your best source online is probably www.travellermap.com - you can even search by Universal World Profile (UWP). To do this, simply specifying a search query of XXXXXXX-X (seven alphanumeric characters, hyphen, one alphanumeric character), or use uwp: in front of the code (you can use * and ? wildcards).

Bear in mind, travellermap does not match the Mongoose Traveller (MgT) 3I books exactly (MgT has changed some UWPs in their handful of sector books).

Have Fun!

 

[IanBruntlett]

I can't find the character sheet download on Mongoose's site and the homeworld part of character generation seems less than perfect for a newbie/oldie. Any suggestions?

If you look up the individual Traveller books on the Mongoose website, you will sometimes find a "Free Downloads" section.

See:- http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/r...ooks-accessories/traveller-core-rulebook.html for a character sheet and some other goodies.

On the main Mongoose page, there are 3 large key things to click:-
1. Signs and Portents. Free source of Traveller etc material.
2. Release schedule. To give you a rough idea of when to expect new books.
3. Planet Mongoose. Mongoose' blog.

 

[nats]

Also http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/forumdisplay.php?f=93 is where you can get loads of character sheets some of which I have done myself.

 

[GamerDude]

And let me add the yahoo group which I guess now has a ban on being mentioned, yet has been supporting fan created materials for Mongoose Traveller since right after it's release (within a month of it)

MGT-Aids@yahoogroups.com

I know there are many different types of record sheets, character and for other things - including the official MGT charactersheet (made fillable by me) as well as my series of character sheets I did that are available in MS-Word, plain-form PDF, and Fillable-PDF.

I can recommend any of a number of PDF readers that will let you safe the data, but Acrobat Reader 9 isn't one of them.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Back in the day, I just used 3x5 cards for each character...

Same for the ships...

Anyone else remember doing that? (Ah the good old days of the box set!)

 

[BP]

3 inch wide thermal rolls

 

[rust]

3 inch wide thermal rolls

Big heat sensitive snacks ? :shock:

 

[AndrewW]

Back in the day, I just used 3x5 cards for each character...

Same for the ships...

Anyone else remember doing that? (Ah the good old days of the box set!)

Nah, I always used a sheet of paper (sometimes legal size) with a ruler and drew my own.

 

[GypsyComet]

Prior to Book 5 (the original High Guard) ships were simple enough to put the basics on a 3x5 card. Deckplans were another matter.

We also did characters, or at least NPCs, on 3x5 cards. Since skills weren't hard-linked to one characteristic (and still aren't in most editions) you didn't need to document that relationship. You were looking at the tables for weapons and armor, too. Not a lot to document on a character sheet.