Modern Traveller Careers to be used in my Ringworld setting

[Tom Kalbfus]

In working on my ringworld setting, I'm getting ready to introduce characters from the modern setting, and as I do so, it occurs to me that not every Traveller Career is appropriate, due to lack of space travel in our world. So the careers that can be used as is without modification are:
Academic, Army, Barbarian, Mercenary, Noble, Professional, Rogue.

Some other careers need to be invented to fill the void left by the space oriented careers
Instead of Marines, we have Wet Marines, these are soldiers that operate off of Wet Navy Vessels.
Instead of Merchants, we have Merchant Sailors, they travel the seas on trade vessels looking for cargoes/passengers/tourists to transport.
Instead of Navy, we have Wet Navy.
We'll need something like a Scout, there is a lot of exploring to do on the ringworld surface, this version of the Scout doesn't have a Scout Ship, so he travels on something else.

Has anyone done any work on versions of the Traveller careers adopted to out modern setting. Basically I would like the captain of the boat that gets pulled through a Bermuda Triangle like effect, to be an ex-wet navy veteran, from a world similar to ours. He also is a Merchant Sailor Captain, operates a boat for Tourists based in Bermuda.

Does anyone have any ideas? I would welcome your input on this.

 

[AndrewW]

We'll need something like a Scout, there is a lot of exploring to do on the ringworld surface, this version of the Scout doesn't have a Scout Ship, so he travels on something else.

Could still use Scout, just wouldn't be space based. Though Explorer could also work.

As for what to travel on, depends on environement. Could be an ocean going vessel, or land based. Or maybe aircraft? Or some combination (amphibious might be a good choice here).

Pony Express instead of X-Boats?

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I created the Captain of a charter boat service, his name is captain Kevin McCready, He was born in Kentucky on July 13, 1984, at least according to the simulated version of Earth he grew up in. In the simulation his character served in the Iraq and Afghan Wars onboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), a Nimitz Class Navy Supercarrier. Kevin worked in the Engine room mainting the nuclear reactor from 2002 to 2006, after serving one term in the Navy, Kevin had enough, he decided to join the crew of a charter Yacht company based in Bermuda, there he worked on alarge boat, about the same size as a Free Trader, would be 200 displacement tons if it was a starship, so in translates into a 280,000 vl luxury cabin cruser, it would displace 2800 tons of water or has 2800 cubic meters of internal volume. Kevin McCready served two terms as a merchant, and is presently captain of this boat, although he is technically still an employee of the merchant company, he makes most of the business decision concerning the yacht, and receives a 40% shre of the profits after all business expenses are deducted. As captain of the ship, he keeps a few items onboard in case he should need them, An assault rifle, a body pistol, and a large knife he keeps in his tool belt, after a certain incident with pirates off the coast of Somalia, Captain McCready is taking no chances. It was on a voyage off the shore of Bermuda that his ship, with is crew of 3 and 8 passengers disappeared in the Bermuda triangle, or so Kevin figured. As far as he can tell he is still off the coast of Bermuda, the sun is directly over head, he measured its angle with his sextant, it was a perfect 90 degrees from the hazy horizon, well there is no horizon actually, the ocean just disappears into the distant atmospheric haze, with his binoculars, he's seen objects that should have been beyond the horizon yet is not, the checked arch rises up from the east to the west, meeting the ocean at an indistinct haze where the horizon should have been. Kevin doesn't know where he is, the island has no harbor, and his boat requires a deep draft, so he doesn't want to get too close to shore, he's tried to contact the authorities, but to no avail, couldn't even get a commercial radio station, and the ship's GPS is not working, as far as he can tell, he must be in the Bermuda Triangle, although he never subscribed to the "Time Warp" theory until just now.

Captain Kevin McCready's stats are
Str 9
Dex 8
End 9
Int 14
Edu 9
Soc 5
Kevin has an old flak jacket that he puts on in case there is some trouble with pirates or hijackers, you never can tell after all. He has the assault rifle, body pistol and knife as described.

Skills are as follows:
Bribery +2
Driving +3
Forgery +7
Forward Observer +7
Gambling +7
Gather Information +2
Gunnery +2
Leader +7
Liason +2
Navigation +5
P/Administration +2
Recruiting +3
Survival +2
Technical (Mechanical) +5
Technical (Communication) +3
Technical (Electronics) +5
Technical (Computer) +3
Technical (Medical) +3
Swim +5
Climb 6
Search +9
Spot +4
Appraise +10
Bluff +3
Broker +8
Maritime/Law +4
Profession (hunting) +3
Trader +3
Pilot +8
They are T20 skills so translate them t Mongoose however you deem appropriate, I already converted the characteristics.

Kevin was born on a simulation of the Earth of today he was born on the simulated July 13, 1984, he is a 190 cm Male that weighs 79 kg is 30 years old has sandy brown hair, blue eyes and is right-handed and has $86,600 in gold coins in a safe onboard his yacht.

 

[steelbrok]

For a Scout how about offering a small dirigible instead of a scout ship?

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

For a Scout how about offering a small dirigible instead of a scout ship?

Dirigibles are never small!
They would probably use hydrogen as a lift gas, as it would be easier to obtain than helium. Helium is found in natural gas deposits, and on the ringworld there is not much underground, water on the other hand can be spit into hydrogen and oxygen. I was thinking about a Solar Powered airship. A dirigibles with solar cells on top and on its sides, lands in the water and uses power from its solar cells to crack some more hydrogen out of water to be used as a lift gas. Since dirigibles aren't in common use, one will probably have to be purpose built for this expedition, with solar panels it can live off the land, it is not a speedy method of transport, and any natives would see the huge thing from a long way off! Like the Hindenburg, a hydrogen filled dirigible is vulnerable to fire and perhaps lightning, but airplane need places to land and refuel, and where it would do that on the ringworld isn't obvious.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Just an update on my ringworld setting and adventure.
The two other crewmembers are named George Wilcox and Henry Anderson, both have served two terms in the seagoing Merchants, they currently serve with Kevin onboard a seagoing yacht, like the spacegoing yacht this one has the same volume as the starship of the same name and it has 14 full sized stateroom, complete with freshers. I price them at $50,000 each instead of $500,000 as the T20 book states for starships. I justify this as there is no life support system involved in this nonstarship and their is no grav plating under the floors so the total Yacht prices at $1,897,000.00, the maximum speed of this ocean going yacht is 100 km/hour. A full tank of fuel allows it to operate for 168.8311688 hours at full speed or 7.034632035 days, with a range of 16,883 km on a full tank of fuel. The boat is 36 meters long 14 meters wide, and I think 6 meters deep. There is a building on top of the deck that houses the bridge and a few state rooms while the stern is left as open deck and a walkway with rails goes around the perimeter of the boat. the fuel tank holds 65,000 vl or 650,000 liters of fuel. There are 8 passengers onboard plus the 3 crewmembers including the captain when this boat disappears in the "Bermuda Triangle" and finds itself on an ocean of the ringworld. By looking at the arch in the sky, the people on the boat can tell that this ringworld is about 70% ocean overall, it was designed by Earth humans after all.

So far the characters are 1 ex-navy merchant sea captain, 2 merchant-sailors. This Yacht is fairly large as boats go, about 110 feet long, it has a below deck where the remaining staterooms are located and below that is the engine room, basically where the shaft connects to the propeller in the rear, a fuel tank I believe and some storage. The passengers have a variety of careers. There is one Academic, we'll call him "The professor" for the moment, There is a celebrity named Brittany, she is a singer, in game terms she counts as a Noble, though she has climber her way to the top in her entertainment career, she is a blonde-haired 30-something music star who has sold hundred of millions of dollars in albums. And their is Roger the retired Shuttle astronaut, he was on the crew of on of the last shuttle missions before the decommissioned the shuttles and put them in museums, he is an ex-scout and is currently a professional scientist. Then of course there is Oliver the ex-marine. There is Paul the Mercenary and sometime Bounty Hunter, he is quite successful in his career, which is why he is enjoying some time off on this boat. Then of course there is Alphonso, a Mafia Don, technically a Rogue, he is spending his ill-gotten fortune, he keeps a fully automatic assault rifle in his locker in case any of his old associates should decide to pay him a visit. We gave Sarah, the Army soldier, she has two terms under her belt. No Belters or barbarians, one guy is also rogue, he is Alphonso's body guard, being godfather of a local crime syndicate, one can't be too careful, the other passengers don't really know what Alphonso does for a living, and Alphonso doesn't talk much in front of them. That makes 8 passengers.