d66 Space Adventure Backgrounds

Jim wrote this and now I want to run something space adventure-y again.


As a group, you share ownership of a rusty free trader or courrier ship, and a debt.

If nobody obvious presents itself, decide someone to be the Captain (skilled in trading and navigation), the Pilot (skilled in piloting spaceships) and the Engineer (skilled in keeping the ship running).

CHARACTER GENERATION

11 Bounty Hunter - with your trusty crossbow and electric net, roam the galaxy in search of your prey.
Your ship has a brig and oft-occupied cells.

12 Pilot - aviator jacket, a pack of cancer sticks and a hot shot attitude.
Your ship's navigation systems are top of the line, and there is a bounty on your head.

13 Noble - people can tell you're high-born. Might be the outfit, rapier and a certain je-ne-sais-quoi.
The crew quarters are lavish and you probably own the majority of the ship's shares.

14 Assassin - armed with a vibro-blade and poison lotus, you are an agent of the Shadow.
Re-roll for your cover.

15 Burglar - you "own" a treasure map as well as an anti-gravitational harness and an uncomfortable amount of synth-rope. 

16 Thug - you don't like thinking too much, so you pack a lot of weapons to do it for you.
The ship's armory is pretty decent, although it's mostly small arms, grenades and melee weapons.

21 Soldier - you're a war veteran. Were you with the Empire, the Rebels or a Mercenary?
You still have your old uniform, ceramic armour and a battle rifle. Plus the ship's armory's operational.

22 Doctor -  you have a PhD and know how not only keep people from dying but even fixing them.
The ship has a well-supplied medical bay, you probably owe a lot of money to someone though.

23 Priest - you get people and can easily get them to like you cause you know how to listen.
You own a holy book and little else, but you usually have friends on most worlds you end up on.

24 Engineer - you love machines more than people, and they the same. Take a wrench.
The ship's engines are high-quality thanks to excellent maintenance and equipment supervision by you.

25 Gunner - you like really big guns, the kind that would break somebody's shoulder if fired.
The ship is equipped with an extra heavy turret and a military-grade laser cutter.

26 Pirate - you used to be a cut-throat pirate, killing and stealing for a living. You've "changed".
The ship has extra hiding spots and you have a freaking sword.

31 Marshall - you were a cop once. Then you realized who you were really working for.
You still have friends on the force, and enemies in the underground.

32 Scientist - SCIENCE! You're some kind of genius in your field, and that labcoat fits you well.
The ship has a laboratory for analysis of whatever kind your specialty allows for, no, demands!

33 Companion - you excel in artistry, etiquette, seduction and love-making. You have a network.
Your quarters are sound-proofed and through feng shui and clever furnishing, feel homely and lavish.

34 Belter - you've grown up station-side and love zero-G. You're also an expert at physical labour.
You always have friends station-side and on most grease-monkey crews in larger ships.

35 Kid - you're still a kid, why are you traveling the lonely expanse of space? Only wits will save you.

36 Amnesiac - you have some kind of mysterious and specialized skill you excel at, but no memory.

41 Gladiator - you used to fight for your life as a slave to some apathetic nobles. You escaped.

42 Uplifted Hippo - Potames are uppity, mercenary, clannish and very, very fond of guns.

43 Uplifted Reptile - Saurens are unscrutable warrior-poets from the Outer Rim.

44 Uplifted Gorilla - Simens are curiosity-driven sophonts, valuing science and reason above all else.

45 Uplifted Squid - The unscrutable Octopods live in vaccuum ships and use breathing suits in atmo.

46 Uplifted Feline - Kitlens are noble, orderly and warlike. Status and honor is everything.

51 Uplifted Canine - Worgens rarely leave the flotilla unless exiled, thus their rep as savage pirates. 

52 Uplifted Avian - Corvides are a mercantile, peaceful clade. They can fly in earth-like gravity.

53 Uplifted Slug - Scargots are both the most human-like sophonts in mindset and the more alien in physical appearance, being 10' long giant slugs with telekinetic powers instead of arms.

54 Worker Bot - a bulky humanoid or semi-humanoid body, designed for specialized or heavy industry labour.

55 War Bot - a massive humanoid or semi-humanoid body, designed for combat. What have you seen?

56 Assassin Bot - typically disguised as a worker or liaison bot, you have hidden combat protocols.

61 Liaison Bot - clearly-synthetic and uncanny yet ressembling a human from a distance. You are well-versed in the etiquette and language of most sophont cultures in the 'verse.

62 Psi Knight - laser-sword wielding shoalin monk, part of an ancient ascetic order dedicated to an obscure and poorly understood creed known as "The Way". Sworn enemy of Witches.

63 Psi Witch - laser-sword wielding shaolin monk, part of an ancient hedonistic order dedicated to an obscure and poorly understood creed known as "The Way". Sworn enemy of Knights.

64 Hitchhiker - you have no idea what you're doing here or who these people are or what a Jump Drive even is, you were just trying to have tea and biscuits but then your planet was destroyed by space bureaucrats! You carry a towel everywhere you go.

65 Rockstar - you're a space bard of the modern era. Go forth and rock the galaxy with your truth!

66 Cyborg - you are a manufactured half-machine, half-organic operator escaped from a shadowy facility.

Equipment, skill and knowledge must be infered from a PC's background. The Referee might sometimes allow for a roll for edge cases, but should often simply say yes if it makes sense.


RULES

Danger Roll - in dangerous situations, the Referee might call for a Danger Roll. They will consider the context and circumstances of an action or the players' reaction to it, and set an x-in-6 chance of something happening. Players should be asking clarifying questions and clearly stating their intent and how they're trying to achieve something, which may improve their chances or bypass the need for a roll entirely. Clever play means they just do the thing. Impossible actions simply do not work. Stupid but sort-of-doable plans might grant a 1-in-6 chance of success. Violence may not automatically result in rolling dice, nor will it necessarily be played out beat-by-beat if the point is just to move on to the consequence and see what happens next. Ie: you shoot someone in the head, now they're dead, what do you do next?

Initiative - those with surprise act before those with faster weapons who act before those with slower weapons. Shooting someone is faster than stabbing someone, which is faster than clobbering them over the head with a hammer, except when it isn't. Use common sense.

Gritty Violence - sometimes the risk is being injured, sometimes the risk is death. If you're already injured and taking part in violent conflict, the risk should be death. This puts the emphasis away from violence and encourages alternative problem-solving methods, or being a sneaky bastard and learning from Sun Tzu and Musashi to win battles unfairly.

Escapist Violence - instead of death the risk is being scarred and put out of action. This puts slightly more emphasis on violence as a viable solution to solve problems, and would be better suited for "high action" type play.


Now if you'll excuse me I need to go decipher some UWP profiles for a Classic Traveller adventure I want to run.