High rank with low social

[grammaton]

I'm getting a game together for my wife and roommate. One of them ended up rolling only a 5 for Social Standing. That same character then went on to become a Broker promoted to Rank 5, with 100,000 credits on hand, TWO free trader ships, two ship shares, and two energy weapons.

How could/should she roleplay that odd mix of stats+career? She said it seemed odd that someone with a somewhat low social standing would become such a high ranking and wealthy Broker.

 

[dragoner]

Local mafia or entrepreneur, take your pick, both could be realistic.

 

[FraNe91]

Could be an illegal, backwater broker. Low public social standing, but of high importance in the criminal underground.

And remember that the Free Trader benefit is about ship shares, not an actual ship:

Free Trader: You receive 5 ship shares towards the use of a Free Trader merchant ship, or 2 ship shares towards the use of any other vessel.

 

[grammaton]

Could be an illegal, backwater broker. Low public social standing, but of high importance in the criminal underground.

And remember that the Free Trader benefit is about ship shares, not an actual ship:

Free Trader: You receive 5 ship shares towards the use of a Free Trader merchant ship, or 2 ship shares towards the use of any other vessel.

Ah, I totally forgot about that part. I thought the idea of getting two whole ships seemed a bit much....

 

[phavoc]

The character may also have poor social skills that prevent him/her from rising any higher (think of how some brilliant people work great with systems, horrible in front of clients). That should be easy and fun to roll-play.

 

[Saladman]

I'm getting a game together for my wife and roommate. One of them ended up rolling only a 5 for Social Standing. That same character then went on to become a Broker promoted to Rank 5, with 100,000 credits on hand, TWO free trader ships, two ship shares, and two energy weapons.

Based on a true story!

Too, 5 ain't all that low. Its a penalty, sure, but on the bell curve its not that bad. The real Chris Gardner probably started down at a 2 and rolled a stat gain.

How could/should she roleplay that odd mix of stats+career? She said it seemed odd that someone with a somewhat low social standing would become such a high ranking and wealthy Broker.

Poorly timed honesty? Still has a faint accent, or still tells belter jokes? Never took up [space golf], and is a little lost for high society small talk? Alternately, over-compensates, and talks about the cricket match on the sector capitol a little too enthusiastically?

Maybe pick one instead of all of the above though. -1 isn't terrible, and its possible to overdo it.

 

[Galadrion]

Chip truth: most of the people in this country (the United States) who qualify as millionaires (net worth of one million or more dollars) are not the sort of people you would look at and think "That person looks like they have a million bucks." Read a book entitled The Millionaire Next Door. Most millionaires have never held a job paying more than $60,000 per year; most millionaires have never owned a suit which cost more than $1,000 - heck, most of 'em have never worn a suit which cost more than $400! They typically buy workmanlike vehicles, not the flashy "rich" ones. They functional watches, not "bling". The pattern should be obvious - and it's pretty consistent.

Something else most of 'em have in common: they've practiced good financial habits long-term. They don't buy on credit if they can help it; when they do, they research it out and are very picky about the terms. They live on less than they earn, and what's left over, they save. (Obviously. How do you think they got that money? Damn few people manage to inherit that big, and most people who do wind up losing it. That's also covered in the book.) They use investments which pay them, reasonably well but not exorbitantly - because investments that pay out at exorbitant rates are highly risky, and people who habitually take big risks (those are called gamblers) rarely get rich, and often lose it again.

What I'm saying here is that in the real world, being wealthy does not necessarily mean you will have a high social status... and the reverse is true as well. Many of those the average person would call "rich" have a much lower net worth than most people would expect. They may even have considerable assets, but they also carry a higher debt load than most people would guess - quite a few of the "beautiful people" crowd have pretty close to a zero or even negative net worth. And this has been true for centuries - many of the Medieval European royals were in debt for more than they could raise at any given time fairly often. So having a very well-off character "from the po' side of town" isn't really a problem - heck, there's even been some pretty successful TV characters that match the pattern. The Clampetts from Beverly Hillbillies, anyone?

 

[CosmicGamer]

Soc has always been an odd to understand characteristic to me. Often different GMs interpret and use it differently. Some treat it like charisma. Some look at it as the ability to be polite and proper in high society. Some think it is the ability to blend in and adapt to a variety of social situations. What the book has to say is
"Social Standing (Soc): A character’s place in society. Characters with
a high Social Standing can claim a noble title in the Imperium and
will find life much easier thanks to their reputation and contacts."

I think Traveller was very much based on it's more violent RPG predecessors and medieval influences. If it was incidental or purposeful, I don't know, but the result is a chargen that indicates a warlike society. Navy, Army and Marine characters of high rank get a automatic Social Standing 10 or +1 Social Standing, whichever is higher at high rank and the possibility of more + Soc muster out benefits. The less warlike Scouts don't get this. Few other careers give boosts to social standing.

Noble has a 10+ qual but it is not a requirement. One could become a noble with a average or even low Soc. At no rank is any noble given social standing!

Even the most well known famous entertainers only get a +1 Social at high ranks and not an automatic 10 like the military.

Personally, I've always portrayed a Soc, both high and low, as having situational benefits and negatives based on role playing. Take some examples in the book:

Haggling in a bazaar: Intelligence or Social Standing, 1–6 minutes, Average (+0).

Why can't a merchant be smart enough to know that someone with high Soc can typically afford to pay more, or their time is more valuable and they wouldn't waste it shopping around for the best price?

Intimidating a thug: Strength or Social Standing, 1–6 minutes, Difficult (–2).

Maybe someone of importance can intimidate by using their power and influence to somehow ruin someones life - get their shop closed by the health inspector or whatever.

Someone with a negative soc standing and nothing to lose might have an easier time with a more violent method of intimidation - threaten to burn down their shop.

Anyways, a brokers skill and social standing need not be connected in any way. For role playing and developing a characters back story, SOC perhaps influences the type of customers and goods a broker typically deals with.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Play the character as a "self made millionaire".

Grew up on the mean streets, a bit socially awkward, but worked hard and made it through to the top.

If you watch Downton Abby, it would be like "Tom", the normal kid who married WAY above his class and is very socially awkward among high society.

 

[CosmicGamer]

RTT, this is in no way meant as an attack on you personally. Just because I interpret things differently, doesn't mean your way of doing things is wrong.

Play the character as a "self made millionaire".

I don't know....

I agree that 100,000 credits is certainly a little over average for the 3 roll limit on the cash table but when a 3 term rank 0 merchant could fairly easily muster out with 50,000cr or more...

I believe at high rank it's a 2 out of 6 chance for 40,000 credits. 4 in 6 chance of 20,000. Something like a 1 in 13.5 chance for 100,000? The average, or is that mean or median character rank 5 or 6 with 3 rolls getting around 67,500cr? Math wizs, please feel free to correct me.

By game mechanics, I don't think 100,000cr is statistically very exceptional.

Beyond the game mechanics, I personally don't consider 100,000 after a long career as falling in the category of a "self made millionaire".

 

[dragoner]

Soc has always been an odd to understand characteristic to me. Often different GMs interpret and use it differently. Some treat it like charisma. Some look at it as the ability to be polite and proper in high society. Some think it is the ability to blend in and adapt to a variety of social situations. What the book has to say is
"Social Standing (Soc): A character’s place in society. Characters with
a high Social Standing can claim a noble title in the Imperium and
will find life much easier thanks to their reputation and contacts."

Wealth and social standing are probably divorced, if in Imperium there is a good degree of social stratification. Even multigenerational wealth might not raise someone's social standing unless they actually went out an bought a title, which the Imperium may or may not sell.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Soc is always a difficult one to define, in this case I tend to think the character is a little socially inept, something about him provokes a (mild) lack of respect, speech impediment, features, mildly unpleasant habits, careless about personal hygene, a bit of a bore, always fidgeting, that sort of thing. But 5 is only just out of the social norm.

Of course, soc is something which can more up and down, perhaps some over spending and deportment classes can move the character into Soc 6, and no penalty?

Egil

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

RTT, this is in no way meant as an attack on you personally. Just because I interpret things differently, doesn't mean your way of doing things is wrong.

Play the character as a "self made millionaire".

I don't know....

I agree that 100,000 credits is certainly a little over average for the 3 roll limit on the cash table but when a 3 term rank 0 merchant could fairly easily muster out with 50,000cr or more...

I believe at high rank it's a 2 out of 6 chance for 40,000 credits. 4 in 6 chance of 20,000. Something like a 1 in 13.5 chance for 100,000? The average, or is that mean or median character rank 5 or 6 with 3 rolls getting around 67,500cr? Math wizs, please feel free to correct me.

By game mechanics, I don't think 100,000cr is statistically very exceptional.

Beyond the game mechanics, I personally don't consider 100,000 after a long career as falling in the category of a "self made millionaire".

No worries, I guess I was a bit mis-leading. Rather than a "Self Made Millionaire" how about a "Self Made Person". They came up from the mean streets and know how to Broker better than anyone on the planet, but don't which fork is the salad fork or which wine glass is theirs at a fancy dinner party.

 

[Condottiere]

GURPS may actually have a better mechanism to represent this: Reputation, Ranks and various social skills.