Micky
Cosmic Mongoose
Perhaps the first thing that one thinks of when does think of a Bounty Hunter are those adorable and virtuous band of Bounty Hunters about the bridge of The Executor. I mean come on, admit it man, you would have been thrilled to see your daughter bring this guy home to introduce you to the new love of her life.
Well perhaps not unless you were blessed with three daughters and really wanted a proxy son to talk about favorite firearm makers and the joys of defying the ‘…and no disintegration’ suggestions... or perhaps they were orders… from your superiors. Bounty Hunters in popular imagination are thought to put the capital S in the Scum and even the V in the Villainy. Some though transcend it through shear coolness to escape the blackest bounds of the hated Villain to the most golden grey shades of the beloved Anti-Hero. Yet as we look deep at the new Bounty Hunter book it is probably worthwhile to muse upon the state of bounty hunting in charted space as well as the game of Traveller. For while the characters one might have been inspired to play by bounty hunters in popular culture it may not be necessarily be the characters the game of Traveller, or its default setting, may give you. The truth is the bounty hunters of pop culture legend are the very tops of their fields, the 1%r high REP famed throughout the galaxy/charted space which means there is the 99% of those who job involves collecting bounties.
Those whose most interesting assignment in 20 years of bounty hunting might be chasing down some rock-n-roller with one foot in the grave who thought they could outrun the long arm of those who owned the title to that ship, like the megacorporations Zirunkariish and Hortalez et Cie which have immense resources and influence throughout charted space and who dominate charted space in all matters banking and investments. While ‘man hunting’ might be the most sexy and glam of the bounty hunting sub-careers it is probably by far the most rare of contracts a bounty hunter might see. It is worth noting, perhaps exploring in depth for a JTAS article, that charted space is not the Wild West and technology, and law enforcement using it, have very long arms in the future. Most wanted men are likely caught long before it ever becomes necessary to issue bounties on them. However future or not thieves will always be thieves and it stands to reason that simple thievery and repossessing stolen goods would likely be the far more common contract a bounty might see., Yet at the most time, and pertinent to the new Bounty Hunter book, perhaps the most rarely granted to independent bounty hunters. The Bounty Hunter is charted space and one thing drive that setting, trade and business, and what drives trade and business. Corporations, businesses, and Bounty Hunters are a job, a career just like any other. Businesses don't like bad PR or bad employees, ineffectual, or simply lucklesss will quickly find themselves unemployeed and looking for a new career.
Those two megacorps would likely either employ directly their own bounty hunters or contract directly with other companies to bring back their stolen property, One of the largest sources of bounties in the charted space could be easily seen to be pretty much closed off to independent Bounty Hunters and even the high REP ones for the megacorps are Megacorps for a reason. They hoard money and make it hand over fist, not waste it. Why pay ‘Boba Fett’ wannabe with the high REP and big fees he would charge, pay out huge credits when you have your own stable of highly effective and experienced, yet far cheaper bounty hunters (your employees or sub-contractors) to go collect the property stolen from you at salary, the same one they make pushing papers at the corporate office and making eyes at the cute secretaries by the water cooler when not on assignment. There are a number of things here which could be further detailed or elaborated upon but again a full blown JTAS article would probably be a better place for it than an internet forum post.
So who are these rank and file bounty hunters and just who do they really work for. Most contracts for bounty hunters are likely to come from the two megacorporations Zirunkariish and Hortalez et Cie. Each though with their very difficult cultural foundation could easily be seen to have different ways to protect their investments and reclaim stolen property. One can easily see the ruthless cutthroat Solomani Hortalez et Cie using their own employees, house Skip Tracers, to reclaim what was their from those who stole from them. However the other great banking and investment megacorporation of charted space, the much older by 700 years Vilani Zirunkariish. Due to stratification of Vilani society one could easily see them going to an outside specialized firm.
In the process of testing out the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules, found here for anyone interested, I ran roughly a dozen characters through the character creation process and being from the region of Vilani space they were hired by the Vilani corporation Iikirshaskam Gipus, Vilani for ‘you can run MF’r …but you can’t hide’ which provides specialist services to businesses but mainly serves Zirunkariish and helping the megacorporation recoup stolen property, especially starships. Though Zirunkariish dates back to the first Imperium the overwhelmingly Vilani nature of the Ziru Sirka meant that crime and its near utopian like nature where everyone knew their place in society and accepted it meant that crime, especially violent crime, was very rare. It wasn’t until the Terrans defeated the Vilani and established the Rule of Man and rapidly settled into sectors long dominated by the Vilani and their cultural norms that crime became far more rampant. Crime and violence became even more prevalent during the Long Night. A vast increase in financial losses due to ships the Zirunkariish had owned disappearing with many skipping out on payments word finally led the Zirunkariish to take measures to regain lost and stolen ships and other valuable investments they owned. In the year -93 Iikirshaskam Gipus was founded and for over 1100 years has served as the primary outlet for not just Zirunkariish but many smaller businesses as well as private individuals to post contracts for recovery of stolen goods as well as the occasional contract on individuals that were deemed legal and acceptable by the corporation’s board of directors. The corporation has much the same footprint as Zirunkariish and has offices in 9 sectors largely in the area of the previous 1st Imperium. Regional sub-offices exist at the subsector level which is where most of the day to business of Iikirshaskam Gipus takes place.
An example of how the corporation would work in training and using Bounty Hunters could be found in the case of Aagakar Kuarsankek who was put through Character Creation using the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules. Aagakar was born on the planet of Vodyr/Shuun (Lishun 0140) in 1063.
Her parents were mid-level financial analysts employed by Zirunkariish. For her initial character rolls she rolled 11,12,6, and 8. For the last two she threw 3D6 (two high) and got 4 and 11. Vilani have yet to receive modern detailing yet but using the large clues given to them in previous editions of Traveller I have assigned Vilani characters a +1 Strength and a -1 EDU to reflect their larger more muscular builds than the Solomani and the affect of their caste like society upon education. With those mods in mind she chose the following for her characteristics
Strength – 9 (8+1), Dex – 11, End – 12, Int – 11, Edu – 6, and Soc 4. That gave Aagakar 3 initial skills for which she chose Drive, Carouse, and Flyer.
While her parents tried to get her to join them at Zirunkariish Aagakar had big dreams. She loved the Vargr and had the irresistible urge to scratch any one she met behind the ear and pet them. She bucked her family and decided to apply to the University of Kukurga which was the premier university on Vodyr. She was accepted and started her studies with a major in Computers (Electronics) and a minor in Gvegh (Languages). While Aagakar did very well in her studies her years at UofK were marred by a long term relationship that went badly, so badly her former boyfriend swore to kill her. She for sure gained an enemy out of the feces stain of an individual for sure. However she did graduate after 4 years and even did so with honors! Gaining not just the extra point skill in her fields and and the extra EDU point but she received a visit from a recruiter belonging to the Iikirshaskam Gipus who offered her a job with the corporation and a High Passage ticket to the Shuna system where the corporation had its sub-sector offices. She accepted and was assigned, as all new hires with no previous experience are, to the Ops branch to learn the basics of the career of Bounty Hunting.
Aagakar began her 2nd term but first as a Bounty Hunter by going through basic Bounty Hunter training where she learned mainly by watching and assisting with older more experienced teams. She passed her survival dice roll (rolled a 7) then rolled on the d66 events table under Ops sub-career and rolled up a 54, perhaps due in part to her being a college grad, so she chose the Survival skill from the new Man Hunter sub-career skills list. A very useful skill not found in the books version of the any of the Bounty Hunter career skills oddly. She rolled for promotion and rolled 10 and was promoted to Ops 1 gaining an Electronics 1 which she applied to Comms. She then rolled her promotion skill on the Ops table and got Electronics which she applies to Sensor giving her a 1 in that skill. She applied for transfer to the Repo Hunter sub-career but due to having a REP of 0 had a -3 to her DR and she failed, rolling a 7.
She started her 3rd term by selecting a table for which she would gain her next skill. She chose to roll on Personal Development and got a END+1. Next she rolled again for survival and rolled 8 which meant she survived this term. Rolling d66 events she rolled a 33 and gained REP+1 and gained a valuable high REP (13+) ally within the corporation. She was not promoted this term sadly when she bum rolled a 4. She attempted again to apply for transfer to Repo Hunter sub-career but again rolled poorly and even with the REP 1 bonus of only have a -2 DRM she did not roll high enough to make the REP5+ transfer check.
Kuarsankek’s 4th term began with another skill bump and this time she rolled on the Ops table and got Drive or Flyer. Since she had 0 level in both she needed to pick one from one. She chose Grav Flyer to get a 1 skill level in. She rolled a 9 for survival which allowed her to roll d66 events which she did and did her up a 14 and man oh man did that girl rock the turtleneck and tweed as rolled an 11 and passed her skill check as she rocked the 1102 model Ford Stang through the hills of Taccis city in pursuit of her teams mark and captured him. And gained a level in Drive (wheeled). She rolled high on her promotion check and was promoted to Ops 2 giving her a REP+1 increasing her overall REP to 2 now. She rolled for her promotion skill on Personal Development and got Athletics which she already had at a 0 level so she selected Dexterity and got a 1 skill level in that. For the third straight term she applied for transfer to the Repo Hunter sub-career and this time the Gods of the Dice were impressed (it was the turtle neck…) and she was accepted for transfer next term to Repo Hunter. However as she had completed her 4 term and reached the matronly age of 34 she had to make a roll on the aging table. Again the Gods of the Dice were impressed (it was a red turtleneck…) and she rolled boxes and said pfff to aging.. that girl was just starting her prime of life…
Aagakar’s 5th term started with a skill roll and naturally she chose to roll upon the Repo table and rolled up a Investigate so she got a 1 in the skill. Now her Survival checks were REP based (with a -2 DRM due to having REP2) thus needed a 7 or higher to survive… but it didn’t really matter as she rolled an 11. After rolling a 64 and chasing down a large and valuable starship worth several hundred MCr she gained REP+1 and a +2 DR to any one Cash benefit when she mustered out. She rolled for promotion, also a REP based check but this time with only -1 DR thanks to now being REP 3 and she rolled a 6 and was promoted to Repo1 and gained the Advocate 1 skill. For her promotion she rolled Repo and got Investigate which got bumped up to 2. She rolled again for aging and bossed the DR even with the -5 DRM and suffered no ill effects of being a 38 year old with the physique of a 22 year old.
Her 6th term started with the skill table roll and she again rolled Repo and got Deception at a 1 skill level as to not having had it. She rolled a 9 for survival and passed and a d66 event 41 where she rolled a 6 and our girl found herself love again. So much the big M word came up along with thoughts of little screaming things that cry throughout the night… She rolled a 10 for promotion and became a Repo 2. She rolled on the Repo table and got Melee which she did not have previously so she took a 1 skill level with Blade and a 0 in the other sub-Melee skills. However that guy was a good guy, one of the few out there I suppose, and our dear Aagakar decide to cash out and muster out and try her hand at being a parent with eyes to perhaps coming back in a decade or two and perhaps doing free lance contract work for the corporation as the Vilani have extended life spans (which any Mongoose supplement dealing with the Vilani should address) which means she could take the next 30 years off and still come back and show the hand to 20 somethings for her daunting physicality.
Musting out the lady had 5 benefits for her 5 terms as Bounty Hunter plus one extra for having reach 2 rank in one of the sub-careers. She naturally did 3 cash and 3 normal benefit with a +2 DRM applied to one cash roll from a d66 event earlier in her career. After rolling the 6 dice Aagakar walked into domestic bliss with 405,000 credits and with a weapon/armor bene for which she could select both a weapon and armor using the core restrictions, a END+1 or cybernetic implant.. which naturally she selected the END+1 and she was complete Leeloo.. .perfect.. and didn’t need no stinking cyber implant ruining what Dice Gods gave her.. and for her last benefit.. a ship share. Her choice of 25% of some lame starship of less than MCr70 OR.. 10% of something more expensive per the Adventure Class Ships book.. which naturally she took as our girls is higher class than some rinky dink Far Trader.. she has her eyes on that bitchin Fast Smuggler from the Adventure Class Ship book. And with her contacts with the Zirunkariish megacorporation she likely can get very good financing on that ship, especially if she undertakes special missions for them.
So that was a bit of short run through of the the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules, along with thoughts on the Bounty Hunter in charted space and the beginnings of some work I'm doing on the Vilani, A 3 for 1 Traveller Friday! If anyone is interested in the alternative Bounty Hunter career again found here for anyone interested. Thanks again to Matt for allowing me to post them here and if anyone has any thoughts or improvements upon them. Just let me know!!
Well perhaps not unless you were blessed with three daughters and really wanted a proxy son to talk about favorite firearm makers and the joys of defying the ‘…and no disintegration’ suggestions... or perhaps they were orders… from your superiors. Bounty Hunters in popular imagination are thought to put the capital S in the Scum and even the V in the Villainy. Some though transcend it through shear coolness to escape the blackest bounds of the hated Villain to the most golden grey shades of the beloved Anti-Hero. Yet as we look deep at the new Bounty Hunter book it is probably worthwhile to muse upon the state of bounty hunting in charted space as well as the game of Traveller. For while the characters one might have been inspired to play by bounty hunters in popular culture it may not be necessarily be the characters the game of Traveller, or its default setting, may give you. The truth is the bounty hunters of pop culture legend are the very tops of their fields, the 1%r high REP famed throughout the galaxy/charted space which means there is the 99% of those who job involves collecting bounties.
Those whose most interesting assignment in 20 years of bounty hunting might be chasing down some rock-n-roller with one foot in the grave who thought they could outrun the long arm of those who owned the title to that ship, like the megacorporations Zirunkariish and Hortalez et Cie which have immense resources and influence throughout charted space and who dominate charted space in all matters banking and investments. While ‘man hunting’ might be the most sexy and glam of the bounty hunting sub-careers it is probably by far the most rare of contracts a bounty hunter might see. It is worth noting, perhaps exploring in depth for a JTAS article, that charted space is not the Wild West and technology, and law enforcement using it, have very long arms in the future. Most wanted men are likely caught long before it ever becomes necessary to issue bounties on them. However future or not thieves will always be thieves and it stands to reason that simple thievery and repossessing stolen goods would likely be the far more common contract a bounty might see., Yet at the most time, and pertinent to the new Bounty Hunter book, perhaps the most rarely granted to independent bounty hunters. The Bounty Hunter is charted space and one thing drive that setting, trade and business, and what drives trade and business. Corporations, businesses, and Bounty Hunters are a job, a career just like any other. Businesses don't like bad PR or bad employees, ineffectual, or simply lucklesss will quickly find themselves unemployeed and looking for a new career.
Those two megacorps would likely either employ directly their own bounty hunters or contract directly with other companies to bring back their stolen property, One of the largest sources of bounties in the charted space could be easily seen to be pretty much closed off to independent Bounty Hunters and even the high REP ones for the megacorps are Megacorps for a reason. They hoard money and make it hand over fist, not waste it. Why pay ‘Boba Fett’ wannabe with the high REP and big fees he would charge, pay out huge credits when you have your own stable of highly effective and experienced, yet far cheaper bounty hunters (your employees or sub-contractors) to go collect the property stolen from you at salary, the same one they make pushing papers at the corporate office and making eyes at the cute secretaries by the water cooler when not on assignment. There are a number of things here which could be further detailed or elaborated upon but again a full blown JTAS article would probably be a better place for it than an internet forum post.
So who are these rank and file bounty hunters and just who do they really work for. Most contracts for bounty hunters are likely to come from the two megacorporations Zirunkariish and Hortalez et Cie. Each though with their very difficult cultural foundation could easily be seen to have different ways to protect their investments and reclaim stolen property. One can easily see the ruthless cutthroat Solomani Hortalez et Cie using their own employees, house Skip Tracers, to reclaim what was their from those who stole from them. However the other great banking and investment megacorporation of charted space, the much older by 700 years Vilani Zirunkariish. Due to stratification of Vilani society one could easily see them going to an outside specialized firm.
In the process of testing out the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules, found here for anyone interested, I ran roughly a dozen characters through the character creation process and being from the region of Vilani space they were hired by the Vilani corporation Iikirshaskam Gipus, Vilani for ‘you can run MF’r …but you can’t hide’ which provides specialist services to businesses but mainly serves Zirunkariish and helping the megacorporation recoup stolen property, especially starships. Though Zirunkariish dates back to the first Imperium the overwhelmingly Vilani nature of the Ziru Sirka meant that crime and its near utopian like nature where everyone knew their place in society and accepted it meant that crime, especially violent crime, was very rare. It wasn’t until the Terrans defeated the Vilani and established the Rule of Man and rapidly settled into sectors long dominated by the Vilani and their cultural norms that crime became far more rampant. Crime and violence became even more prevalent during the Long Night. A vast increase in financial losses due to ships the Zirunkariish had owned disappearing with many skipping out on payments word finally led the Zirunkariish to take measures to regain lost and stolen ships and other valuable investments they owned. In the year -93 Iikirshaskam Gipus was founded and for over 1100 years has served as the primary outlet for not just Zirunkariish but many smaller businesses as well as private individuals to post contracts for recovery of stolen goods as well as the occasional contract on individuals that were deemed legal and acceptable by the corporation’s board of directors. The corporation has much the same footprint as Zirunkariish and has offices in 9 sectors largely in the area of the previous 1st Imperium. Regional sub-offices exist at the subsector level which is where most of the day to business of Iikirshaskam Gipus takes place.
An example of how the corporation would work in training and using Bounty Hunters could be found in the case of Aagakar Kuarsankek who was put through Character Creation using the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules. Aagakar was born on the planet of Vodyr/Shuun (Lishun 0140) in 1063.
Her parents were mid-level financial analysts employed by Zirunkariish. For her initial character rolls she rolled 11,12,6, and 8. For the last two she threw 3D6 (two high) and got 4 and 11. Vilani have yet to receive modern detailing yet but using the large clues given to them in previous editions of Traveller I have assigned Vilani characters a +1 Strength and a -1 EDU to reflect their larger more muscular builds than the Solomani and the affect of their caste like society upon education. With those mods in mind she chose the following for her characteristics
Strength – 9 (8+1), Dex – 11, End – 12, Int – 11, Edu – 6, and Soc 4. That gave Aagakar 3 initial skills for which she chose Drive, Carouse, and Flyer.
While her parents tried to get her to join them at Zirunkariish Aagakar had big dreams. She loved the Vargr and had the irresistible urge to scratch any one she met behind the ear and pet them. She bucked her family and decided to apply to the University of Kukurga which was the premier university on Vodyr. She was accepted and started her studies with a major in Computers (Electronics) and a minor in Gvegh (Languages). While Aagakar did very well in her studies her years at UofK were marred by a long term relationship that went badly, so badly her former boyfriend swore to kill her. She for sure gained an enemy out of the feces stain of an individual for sure. However she did graduate after 4 years and even did so with honors! Gaining not just the extra point skill in her fields and and the extra EDU point but she received a visit from a recruiter belonging to the Iikirshaskam Gipus who offered her a job with the corporation and a High Passage ticket to the Shuna system where the corporation had its sub-sector offices. She accepted and was assigned, as all new hires with no previous experience are, to the Ops branch to learn the basics of the career of Bounty Hunting.
Aagakar began her 2nd term but first as a Bounty Hunter by going through basic Bounty Hunter training where she learned mainly by watching and assisting with older more experienced teams. She passed her survival dice roll (rolled a 7) then rolled on the d66 events table under Ops sub-career and rolled up a 54, perhaps due in part to her being a college grad, so she chose the Survival skill from the new Man Hunter sub-career skills list. A very useful skill not found in the books version of the any of the Bounty Hunter career skills oddly. She rolled for promotion and rolled 10 and was promoted to Ops 1 gaining an Electronics 1 which she applied to Comms. She then rolled her promotion skill on the Ops table and got Electronics which she applies to Sensor giving her a 1 in that skill. She applied for transfer to the Repo Hunter sub-career but due to having a REP of 0 had a -3 to her DR and she failed, rolling a 7.
She started her 3rd term by selecting a table for which she would gain her next skill. She chose to roll on Personal Development and got a END+1. Next she rolled again for survival and rolled 8 which meant she survived this term. Rolling d66 events she rolled a 33 and gained REP+1 and gained a valuable high REP (13+) ally within the corporation. She was not promoted this term sadly when she bum rolled a 4. She attempted again to apply for transfer to Repo Hunter sub-career but again rolled poorly and even with the REP 1 bonus of only have a -2 DRM she did not roll high enough to make the REP5+ transfer check.
Kuarsankek’s 4th term began with another skill bump and this time she rolled on the Ops table and got Drive or Flyer. Since she had 0 level in both she needed to pick one from one. She chose Grav Flyer to get a 1 skill level in. She rolled a 9 for survival which allowed her to roll d66 events which she did and did her up a 14 and man oh man did that girl rock the turtleneck and tweed as rolled an 11 and passed her skill check as she rocked the 1102 model Ford Stang through the hills of Taccis city in pursuit of her teams mark and captured him. And gained a level in Drive (wheeled). She rolled high on her promotion check and was promoted to Ops 2 giving her a REP+1 increasing her overall REP to 2 now. She rolled for her promotion skill on Personal Development and got Athletics which she already had at a 0 level so she selected Dexterity and got a 1 skill level in that. For the third straight term she applied for transfer to the Repo Hunter sub-career and this time the Gods of the Dice were impressed (it was the turtle neck…) and she was accepted for transfer next term to Repo Hunter. However as she had completed her 4 term and reached the matronly age of 34 she had to make a roll on the aging table. Again the Gods of the Dice were impressed (it was a red turtleneck…) and she rolled boxes and said pfff to aging.. that girl was just starting her prime of life…
Aagakar’s 5th term started with a skill roll and naturally she chose to roll upon the Repo table and rolled up a Investigate so she got a 1 in the skill. Now her Survival checks were REP based (with a -2 DRM due to having REP2) thus needed a 7 or higher to survive… but it didn’t really matter as she rolled an 11. After rolling a 64 and chasing down a large and valuable starship worth several hundred MCr she gained REP+1 and a +2 DR to any one Cash benefit when she mustered out. She rolled for promotion, also a REP based check but this time with only -1 DR thanks to now being REP 3 and she rolled a 6 and was promoted to Repo1 and gained the Advocate 1 skill. For her promotion she rolled Repo and got Investigate which got bumped up to 2. She rolled again for aging and bossed the DR even with the -5 DRM and suffered no ill effects of being a 38 year old with the physique of a 22 year old.
Her 6th term started with the skill table roll and she again rolled Repo and got Deception at a 1 skill level as to not having had it. She rolled a 9 for survival and passed and a d66 event 41 where she rolled a 6 and our girl found herself love again. So much the big M word came up along with thoughts of little screaming things that cry throughout the night… She rolled a 10 for promotion and became a Repo 2. She rolled on the Repo table and got Melee which she did not have previously so she took a 1 skill level with Blade and a 0 in the other sub-Melee skills. However that guy was a good guy, one of the few out there I suppose, and our dear Aagakar decide to cash out and muster out and try her hand at being a parent with eyes to perhaps coming back in a decade or two and perhaps doing free lance contract work for the corporation as the Vilani have extended life spans (which any Mongoose supplement dealing with the Vilani should address) which means she could take the next 30 years off and still come back and show the hand to 20 somethings for her daunting physicality.
Musting out the lady had 5 benefits for her 5 terms as Bounty Hunter plus one extra for having reach 2 rank in one of the sub-careers. She naturally did 3 cash and 3 normal benefit with a +2 DRM applied to one cash roll from a d66 event earlier in her career. After rolling the 6 dice Aagakar walked into domestic bliss with 405,000 credits and with a weapon/armor bene for which she could select both a weapon and armor using the core restrictions, a END+1 or cybernetic implant.. which naturally she selected the END+1 and she was complete Leeloo.. .perfect.. and didn’t need no stinking cyber implant ruining what Dice Gods gave her.. and for her last benefit.. a ship share. Her choice of 25% of some lame starship of less than MCr70 OR.. 10% of something more expensive per the Adventure Class Ships book.. which naturally she took as our girls is higher class than some rinky dink Far Trader.. she has her eyes on that bitchin Fast Smuggler from the Adventure Class Ship book. And with her contacts with the Zirunkariish megacorporation she likely can get very good financing on that ship, especially if she undertakes special missions for them.
So that was a bit of short run through of the the alternative Bounty Hunter career rules, along with thoughts on the Bounty Hunter in charted space and the beginnings of some work I'm doing on the Vilani, A 3 for 1 Traveller Friday! If anyone is interested in the alternative Bounty Hunter career again found here for anyone interested. Thanks again to Matt for allowing me to post them here and if anyone has any thoughts or improvements upon them. Just let me know!!
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