Pandora - Children in Traveller ?

[rust]

I seem to remember that this has been discussed before, but I was un-
able to find the thread.

As my Pandora setting is designed for a "generational" campaign, with the
children of the first generation of colonists taking over when their parents
retire as non-player characters, I am looking for a way to introduce these
children into the campaign.

The framework for this will most probably the Pandoran Sea Rangers, a
youth organization much like today's boy scouts and girl guides, with oc-
casional adventures running parallel to those of the adults and designed
to give the second generation of Pandorans a bit of "biography" to build
upon later.

I am not yet sure whether this idea is worth working on it, but if I decide
to do so I will obviously need stats and skills for kids.

One idea could be to give the kids level 0 in the three homeworld skills of
Pandora, Athletics (Swim), Seafarer and Survival, and a small number of
non-academic level 0 education skills, two or three at most.

The stats are the bigger problem, I really have no good idea what they
should be like. I think Intelligence should have the normal, adult value,
but the physical stats, Education and Social Status should obviously be
lower - but how much lower ?

Any opinions would be most welcome - Thank you.

 

[BP]

Crudely, one could just do a linear extrapolation... backwards from an 18 year old adults normal stat rolls (assuming human 2-12).

• Roll adult stat as per normal (for 18 yr old adult).
  Current stat = 1 +(adult stat -2) * (Age/18 )
  *(Used base of 1 so stats don't equate to unconscious or dead )
  

The above should work for newborns to 17 year olds (18 becomes adult stats).

More realistic might have a jump at adolescence, so maybe:

• Baby to age 12: Current stat = 1 +(adult stat -2) * (Age/24)
  Ages 12 thru 18: Current stat = 1 +(adult stat -1) * (Age/18 )

Of course, that doesn't account for male vs. female (different ages and development patterns) - but I did find a rough validation for the above ( here if one ignores the 13 yr old spikes).

 

[rust]

More realistic might have a jump at adolescence, so maybe:

• Baby to age 12: Current stat = 1 +(adult stat -2) * (Age/24)
  Ages 12 thru 18: Current stat = 1 +(adult stat -1) * (Age/18 )

Thank you very much indeed.

This really looks good, and it should be easy to translate it into a few
short tables - very nice.

 

[BP]

Glad to be of help!

Doh! Should have thought about a table - that could actually work better for a less linear approach

Would probably change the formulas to use Age² / 24² and Age² / 18² to give things a slightly 'curvy-er' growth rate.

That would look like the table below (note: changed the adult stat-2 to a -1 - that way a 10 year old is a minimum 2 for an average strength 7 adult... seems more 'realistic'):

• 

         Adult Characteristic Value
     2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12
 0   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 2   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 3   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 4   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 5   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 6   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 7   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1
 8   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   2   2   2
 9   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   2   2   2   2
10   1   1   1   1   1   2   2   2   2   2   2
11   1   1   1   1   2   2   2   2   2   3   3
12   1   1   2   2   3   3   4   4   5   5   5
13   1   2   2   3   3   4   4   5   5   6   6
14   1   2   2   3   4   4   5   5   6   7   7
15   1   2   3   3   4   5   5   6   7   7   8
16   1   2   3   4   4   5   6   7   8   8   9
17   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   9  10
18   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12

 

[rust]

Thank you very much again.

 

[kafka]

You have read the Traveller's Digest on Children...if you haven't I could fire away a photocopy or something like the important points.

 

[rust]

You have read the Traveller's Digest on Children...if you haven't I could fire away a photocopy or something like the important points.

I am not aware of a Traveller's Digest on Children, and would be very in-
terested in the important points - thank you.

 

[saundby]

I've used the technique of running a prelude adventure with the characters as children many times. It's always worked out great--it gives the players a great opportunity to define their characters and build bonds that affect the adult characters. Better than connection rolls (in fact, when I do this with MGT I have the players leave some connections open to fill in through the prelude adventure.)

The way a kid gets roleplayed is quite different than an adult, even with young players. Also, the adventure is usually less physical, so there's less resistance to taking risks. I loved the "Three Investigators" books when I started running RPGs when I was a young teen, and at first I tried running those sorts of adventures as a thing in themselves--no plans for an adult adventure. But my friends wanted to RP adults, so we aged the characters at a likely breakpoint. The effects on the characters of the childhood adventures was profound. So I started doing it whenever it seemed like a good idea.

I wish I always did this at the start of a new campaign, but I often get into a rush to get to the "main event."

 

[rust]

I've used the technique of running a prelude adventure with the characters as children many times. It's always worked out great--

Thank you very much, it is good to know that the idea works and is not as
odd as I feared it to be.

 

[rinku]

Another approach when running "players as kids" is to use the adult stats, but rescale the effects. So Str 12 still counts the same when one kid punches another one, but won't affect an adult as much (in any case, kids shouldn't be able to threaten adults physically - they should be outwitting them). This approach does break down if there is a lot of adult/kid interaction in the physical realm, in which case lowered kid stats is better.

Oh, and big thumbs up for the Three Investigators. Jupiter Jones FTW!

 

[BP]

I've used the technique of running a prelude adventure with the characters as children many times. It's always worked out great--it gives the players a great opportunity to define their characters and build bonds that affect the adult characters. Better than connection rolls (in fact, when I do this with MGT I have the players leave some connections open to fill in through the prelude adventure.)...[/saundby]
Interesting idea!

Another approach when running "players as kids" is to use the adult stats, but rescale the effects. ...

Thought of that, but, then more 'rules' are left to be accounted for - injury points must be scaled and stat requirements (i.e. battledress) would need adjusting as well (though kid scale battledress could be used - but the height-challenged adults might take offense )

 

[saundby]

Oh, and big thumbs up for the Three Investigators. Jupiter Jones FTW!

The game I wanted but never got: Three Investigators, the RPG. With modern, SF, medieval and bronze age settings.

3I should mean Three Investigators.

Jupe wins the use of a space yacht and a Pilot-4 for a year...

 

[AndrewW]

Oh, and big thumbs up for the Three Investigators. Jupiter Jones FTW!

The game I wanted but never got: Three Investigators, the RPG. With modern, SF, medieval and bronze age settings.

3I should mean Three Investigators.

Jupe wins the use of a space yacht and a Pilot-4 for a year...

With a solid gold pinnace?

Bet he wins it by counting the number of stars in a dense cluster.