Drinax: The Game of Sun and Shadow, Naval Character Creation

[Stumondo]

I'm looking at running The Game of Sun and Shadow next.

It requires the PCs to make Naval or Marine characters with the normal rules. My general issue, by the nature of the Traveller Character Creation system, a single roll could have someone thrown out of the career, rendering all their work up to then pointless.

Did anyone use any houserules to simplify this? I was toying with the idea of no qualification roles and no career ejection?

 

[Old School]

I’d just rule that mishaps dont end careers.

You could use the alternative character methods in the New Traveller Companion if you have it. I think the naval careers handbook also has a navy character creation method that would likely work, although I havent delved into it.

 

[CaladanGuard]

I tweaked it somewhat, and used the Naval character creation rules from the Naval campaign guide in the Element Cruiser box set (which I'm not sure is out for general consumption past the kickstarter backers yet?) then had them create a command crew for an Imperial ship, flashed back and ran a modified version of the first Naval adventure. Ending with their ship being assigned to Tobia to use in Game of Sun and Shadow's punitive task force. The rules there are pretty easy, not as engaging as standard character creation, but they make very Naval focused, not too powerful characters that very much belong on an Imperial ship.

Mishaps that eject you in those rules just extend your career by a number of years, to simulate the time you spent on some rockball or asteroid hauler earning your stripes back.

 

[paltrysum]

If you have the Element Cruisers boxed set, this presents an excellent opportunity to use the character generation system presented in the Naval Campaign Sourcebook. I've considered doing that myself. "Game of Sun and Shadow" seems like a tough one to tackle, and I've been trying to figure out how I want to go about it myself.