Still need to pick Daneel's 2nd connection skill - he'll take Engineer (Jump Drive) 1.
Regarding Jerry's list - the Engineer(Computers) 1 is a typo from Daneel's sheet. It should be Electronics (Computers) 1
In the Third Imperium setting, learning to harness psionics is a difficult process, made harder by the Imperial ban on psionics. The Psionics Institutes that study mental powers have gone underground, following a disastrous attempt to guide human development centuries ago. In other civilisations, such as the Zhodani Consulate, psionics are an accepted part of the human condition.
While the game begins in neutral portions of the Trojan Reach, neither Imperial nor Zhodani, psionics is a hot-button issue usually regarded as alien, dangerous and highly suspect, even treasonous. So most psions hide their abilities and operate away from the eyes of Imperial power. Even outside the Imperium, most non-Zhodani humans are highly suspicious of psions.
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Of course psionics plays a roll in this game! Remember that I mentioned there were some elements of Dune in this game as well as many other great sci-fi tropes. I'm glad you rolled well. Gaining psionics late in character generation can be frustrating.
Turn to page 196 in your Core Rulebook for more information. Skip down to paragraph 3 of "Institute Testing" and note that training costs 100,000cr. Forget that. You have no idea where to find a psionic institute. Instead, your latent powers were noticed and encouraged by your mentor, the old hermit Leonidas who lives on the planet Blue. You paid only for your own upkeep during the months you trained with him.
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I'll make you an offer, Nick. You can trade in two points (no more, no less) from any (or each) physical characteristic. For every two points you give up, your PSI will increase by 1. You could gain a PSI of up to 10 this way.
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Next, you must test for psionic talents. I'll repeat the important stuff here:
As part of training, the Traveller may attempt to learn any of the common psionic talent on the Psionic Training table by making a PSI check. He may attempt the talents in any order, but suffers DM-1 per check attempted. If a Traveller learns a power, he gains that power at skill level 0.
Telepathic Potential
Telepaths are by far the most common among those with psionic potential. If a Traveller chooses Telepathy as their first talent, it will be gained automatically with no need to roll on the table.
Psionic Training
Talent.......... Learning DM
Telepathy.......... +4
Clairvoyance.......... +3
Telekinesis.......... +2
Awareness.......... +1
Teleportation.......... +0
Per previous talent acquisition check.......... -1
For example, Luka has just determined that she has a PSI of 9. She now rolls to determine powers. She can select powers in any order, so she begins with telekinesis. She roll 2D+1 (her PSI DM) +2 (the Telekinesis learning DM), but unfortunately, the dice roll is a 3 for a total of 6 – less than the number she needs, and so she does not develop telekinesis.
Next, she tries telepathy. She rolls 2D+1 (her PSI DM) +4 (the Telepathy learning DM) and -1 (one previous talent acquisition check), and gets a total of 10. Luka gains Telepathy 0.
PSIONIC TALENTS
There are several psionic talents, each of which is controlled by a different skill. Within each talent are several powers, all of which may be used by a Traveller trained in the talent. The most common talents are:
Telepathy: Reading minds & communicating
Clairvoyance: Perceiving at a distance
Telekinesis: Mind over matter
Awareness: Control over one’s own mind and body
Teleportation: Moving from one point to another instantly
Please go ahead and roll for your psionic talents now. Good luck!
Hmmm.... it doesn't say what the difficulty of the check is, so we'll use average difficulty (Target=8+)
In regards to the Skill Package: I'd most like something that gives me Gun Combat.
So I'd prefer either:
TRAVELLER SKILLS PACKAGE
Skills: Pilot 1, Deception 1, Electronics 1, Gunner 1, Gun Combat 1, Persuade 1, Stealth 1, Medic 1
MERCENARY SKILLS PACKAGE
Skills: Electronics 1, Medic 1, Leadership 1, Heavy Weapons 1, Gun Combat 1, Gun Combat 1, Stealth 1, Recon 1
EXPLORER SKILLS PACKAGE
Skills: Pilot 1, Astrogation 1, Electronics 1, Survival 1, Recon 1, Gun Combat 1, Stealth 1, Medic 1
INVESTIGATOR SKILLS PACKAGE
Skills: Advocate 1, Admin 1, Investigate 1, Persuade 1, Stealth 1, Streetwise 1, Electronics 1, Deception 1, Gun Combat 1
I will go with Sensors as my specialty.
I will trade 2 points of Daneel's END (dropping it to 7) to increase his PSI by 1 (to 8).
Checking to see which talents he has (Target 8+):
So success on Telepathy and Clairvoyance
Getting Gun Combat for those who don't have it is probably a very good idea, so I'm on board with the one of the 4 options Ray lists above - Mercenary if we have two characters that need it, or one of the other 3 if it's just Ray who needs it.
Nick - once you've read the Psionics rules, asks me for any clarifications you need.
Steph has Gun Combat 0.
Byron has Gun Combat (Energy) 1, Gun Combat (Slug) 1, Heavy Weapons (Man-Portable) 1
Jerry has no combat skills.
Ray has Melee (unarmed) 0
Daneel has Gun Combat (Energy) 1
So, Mercenary package, then?
As an reminder, you will pick up some skills (slowly) in play.
Mercenary sounds like a good package.
Mercenary package sounds good to me, too.
Read through the Psionics rules, and it seems pretty straight forward. Only question is if I rolled up my PSI score correctly. It says to roll 2D with a -1 DM for every term served. I subtracted 5, but it's possible I was only supposed to subtract 4 since I hadn't completed the 5th term yet?
You did it right.
Okay, Mercenary Skills Package it is.
Skills: Electronics 1, Medic 1, Leadership 1, Heavy Weapons 1, Gun Combat 1, Gun Combat 1, Stealth 1, Recon 1
Who takes Electronics 1? And with what specialty?
OK, we know Ray wants one of the Gun Combats. Who else has a skill in here that they particularly want?
(None of these are must haves for Daneel, he'll be happy with whatever he gets, although Electronics(Comms) 1 would be a good fit for him)
I have a question about skills.
Could there be a time when two different people will need to use two different skills at the same time?
For example: the engines are down, and the electric system is also glitching, and two different people need to work on them at the same time.
Absolutely. Your example is spot on.
There are also Task chains where one task's effect forms the basis for the next task's success or failure.
So, two of us will get one skill, and three will get two skills from that list, right? Or do we each get one and the others are wasted?
The first one. All the skills will be used.
Got it! Thanks.
And I'll refrain from saying what else Ray might be interested in until everyone's chosen their first pick.
I would like Medic 1 as it is the only skill listed that I do not have at least some knowledge in.
Great! So far we have:
Electronics (Sensors) 1 - Daneel
Medic 1 - Byron
Gun Combat 1 - Ray
Steph, Jerry, you’re next!
Gun Combat 1.
Jerry has to have some ability to defend himself.
Skills: Electronics 1, Medic 1, Leadership 1, Heavy Weapons 1, Gun Combat 1, Gun Combat 1, Stealth 1, Recon 1
Steph? What'll it be?
Also: Jerry and Ray - what is your gun combat specialty?
Gun Combat (slug)
Gun combat (slug) also.
(And Steph, if you were thinking you wanted to take Electronics, go ahead and take it, I am happy to switch Daneel's pick to something else)
And for whatever it is worth I will only take one pick as I already have all the other skills.
Sorry yesterday was crazy and today is looking like more of the same.
I'll take Leadership 1.
Skills: Electronics 1, Medic 1, Leadership 1, Heavy Weapons 1, Gun Combat 1, Gun Combat 1, Stealth 1, Recon 1
Great! Everyone's taken one skill. We have Heavy Weapons, Stealth and Recon left. Who wants 'em?
Let's see if this helps:
Total Number of skill points:
Steph: 11
Byron: 13
Jerry: 13
Ray: 9
Daneel: 9
Does it make sense for Steph, Daneel and Ray to each take one?
Makes sense to me, but if one of those skills is appealing to Jerry, I will yield my pick to him (as Byron already has all three skills).
Nope, go ahead.
OK. Heavy Weapons really doesn't make sense for Daneel, but I'd take either Stealth or Recon, depending on what Ray and Steph want.
I can take either Recon or Heavy Weapons.
I can see Steph getting ticked off and firing a rocket launcher at someone.
I can also see her noticing the guy trying to pick a pocket.
Her INT is +1 and her DEX is 0.
So which one do you take?
Let's try to wrap this up by Halloween for a November 1st liftoff.
FWIW, I can definitely see Ray with Stealth or Recon (both useful on Drinax).
So maybe Steph: Heavy Weapons; Ray: Stealth and Daneel: Recon?
That sounds great. Heavy Weapons for Steph.
Steph will take Heavy Weapons: Man Portable.
Yeah, I'll take Stealth 1
Ok, then Recon 1 for Daneel
Well alrighty! I think we're done.
So let's talk.
I have some decisions to make about where to start and how much to include. One of the best things about The Pirates of Drinax is its scope, both in space (the vast Trojan Reach) and in scope (the huge number of planets, each with at least one story seed, a dozen short published adventures in the area, the actual piracy (which is freeform and not scripted) and the actual ten linked adventures of the Drinax story themselves. It's a vast trove to pull from.
If we were all sitting around a table, I'd start with a short adventure (perhaps "Marooned on Marduk" or "Revolution on Acrid") and then get into the meat of the campaign once you'd all had a chance to gel as a team. I'd then allow an extended period of free-form adventuring while you became familiar with all the personalities and political factions on Drinax and in the Trojan Reach. Only then would I slip in the first Drinax adventure. Between each set adventure I'd allow side adventures and more piracy, so that everything seemed to move organically and the "railroad" elements of the story were mostly of your own choosing.
But we're not sitting around a table.
Play-by-Post is SLOW. If we ever want to have a realistic hope of finishing the campaign, we need to decide what's most important to us. I think that it wouldn't be The Pirates of Drinax without some piracy, so at least some of that has to stay. I've been thinking about which of the ten Drinax adventures I could cut or slim down, but they're all really good. So it's really the sandboxy side quests that I think we have to agree to set aside. That is, Get on the railroad; we have no time for sightseein'.
Do you agree?
Second, has everyone had a chance to familiarize themselves with the Player's Guide, particularly the REVISED PLAYER'S GUIDE I wrote but can't yet link to the Campaign Page?
I think you'll get a lot more out of the campaign if you understand its history and its politics.
And I think if you understand nothing else, you -must- understand the map of the Trojan Reach sector and its subsectors. If you don't understand that, please ask.
Another map-related concept to be clear on is the meaning of “parsec” (the parallax of one arc-second)(or 3.262 light years - it’s okay to think of this as 3 light years). This is one hex on the 2D map of space.
This brings into focus the Jump rating of a ship. A ship’s jump rating is the number of parsecs it can cover in one jump.
I have skimmed the doc. I will spend a bit more time going over the history again.
I am good with the Railroad so that we can see the story play out.
Yeah, I'm fine with staying on the railroad for this one.
As for the player's guide, yes I've read it twice now, but I need to read it one or two more times before I've absorbed it all. It's quite dense.
And yes, I found the maps confusing, but I intend to look them over again before asking questions.
I too am fine with the more railroad type of game.
I'll give the guide another close read, and make sure I understand the map.
It has begun! Go see the Gameplay tab.