GURPS Traveller: March Harrier Character Generation

More details on character generation

• Starting PCs are based on 150 points, with a -30 point disadvantage limit and a -5 point quirk limit.  All negative attributes count against the disad limit.  (For example, if you take IQ +2 with Per -2 and Will -2 for a net cost of [20], you've used -20 points of disads buying down Per and Will.)
• Sense of Duty (crewmates) [-5] is optional and doesn't count against the disad limit.  (If you take a larger Sense of Duty that includes this one, then -5 points of it don't count against the limit but the rest of the cost does.)  Yes, this is a bribe from the GM to encourage team play.
• Partial, subsidized, strings-attached ownership of the March Harrier is a "free" campaign feature; you don't have to pay points for Wealth or Ship Patron or Ship Owner.  Each PC can choose whether to be an owner and crew member, a non-owner crew member, or a non-crew member.  Owners must have at least Merchant Rank 1, and the Captain and First Officer should be owners.
• The Captain needs to take Merchant Rank 3 [15].  (This gives some free Status.)
• The First Officer needs to take Merchant Rank 2 [10].  (This gives some free Status.)
• Other Officers need to take Merchant Rank 2 [10] (Second Officer), Merchant Rank 1 [5] (for a Third Officer or Fourth Officer who's an owner) or Courtesy Merchant Rank 1 [1] (for a non-owner Fourth Officer).
• The maximum starting attribute is 15.
• The maximum starting skill is 16.
• All PCs should use one of the occupational templates from GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars.  (If you don't have the book, they're also in GCS.)  Some particularly useful templates are Starship Commander, Starship Bridge Officer, Starship Engineer, Starship Deckhand, Doctor, and Marine.  Additional points beyond the template cost can be spent on any attributes from any GURPS Traveller occupational template.  Some deviation from the template is fine; ask the GM.
• A March-class subsidized merchant nominally has a crew of five.  (Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Medic, and Steward.)  If we have exactly five players and everyone wants a different mandatory role then we have a full crew.  If we have fewer players or someone doesn't want to fill one of those roles, then the crew may need to be filled out with NPCs.  Note that crew members need to be paid, fed, and supplied with stateroom space and oxygen, so the bigger the crew, the harder it is to make a profit.  (PCs, especially owners, may choose to not take their salary if times are tough.  NPCs will probably insist on being paid.)
• Imperial regulations require that the March Harrier have a Captain with a Master's License, a First Officer with a Mate's License, a Chief Engineer with a Chief Engineer's License, and a medic who is a Certified Medical Technician.  See GCS for these licenses (from GT Far Trader) ported to 4E rules.  Steward is the one crew role with no explicit requirements -- it would be nice if the Steward had Savoir-Faire (Servant or Merchant) and Cooking and Spacer and First Aid and a positive reaction modifier, but it's not strictly required that Stewards be good at their job.
• In order to be allowed to carry Imperial Mail, the March Harrier is required to have two members of the crew who are qualified gunners: Gunner (Beam Laser) at 12 or higher.
• Most PCs should be human Imperial citizens.  If you really want to play an alien or non-Imperial, talk to the GM.  There may be an Unusual Background in some cases.
• If desired, one PC may be a pre-generated plot-hook non-crewmember who will be met during the first game session.  This character's backstory and basic capabilities are fixed, but minor tweaks are okay with GM approval.
• There are other pre-generated characters available, if you don't feel like making a PC or don't have time.  Talk to the GM about what crew role you want to fill and the GM will give you a rough idea of the pre-generated character that fills that role.  If you accept a pre-generated character, you're allowed to tweak it to your liking, subject to the usual rules.
• If you don't want a pregen but you're having problems making a character on your own, ask the GM and other players for help.
• Starting wealth is KCr 50 or $50000.  Because PCs are itinerant spacers whose home is their spaceship, all of it may be spent.  Owners should consider holding some money in reserve for starship expenses.
• Equipment is limited to what is widely available in the Aramis Trace: GTL 10.  The GM has a GCS file containing Traveller-suitable equipment.  (Basically the Safe-Tech rules from Ultra-Tech, so out-of-genre stuff like swarmbots and cyberware is not allowed.)  The ship's locker will contain some common equipment.
• The game starts on Aramis/Aramis/Spinward Marches on 001-1105.  The ship is on Aramis for two weeks to receive its annual maintenance, which has already been paid for.  The crew gets two weeks of (mostly) vacation on Aramis.  (At least some crew members should probably do some ship's business during that time, like trying to find cargo and passengers for when the ship is ready.)
• You need to submit your GCS character sheet to the GM for approval.  It's up to you whether you want to share your character sheet with the other players, or keep it private and just share a summary of what everyone knows about your character with everyone.

Worlds of the Aramis Trace

Your subsidy route is the Aramis Trace, a group of 8 worlds reachable via Jump-1 in the Aramis, Rhylanor, and Sabine subsectors of the Spinward Marches and Deneb sectors.  The worlds have mostly good to excellent starports, but small populations.

Here are some brief highlights of each world.

Aramis is the capital of the Aramis Subsector.  It's located on the Xboat route from Rhylanor to Vland, so while it is not a very populous world, its starport is quite busy.  Aramis High is the best port in the subsector.  The planet itself is a hellworld, with a corrosive atmosphere that requires special equipment to survive.  The vast majority of the planet's population lives in one underground city, Leedor, adjacent to Aramis Downport.  Leedor has a population of about 600000 people, and is a fief of the Marquis of Aramis.  Leedor was originally a mining settlement, and there are still active mines on the edge of town, while played-out mines are reused for habitation.

L'eoul d'Dieu (LDD) is a water world.  The planet is effectively owned by the megacorporation Sharurshid, which harvests seafood and other aquatic resources.  Sharurshid currently does not allow additional settlement, to protect the marine environment, so the population has been kept to about 500000.  The Imperial Navy base is on a nearby moon.

Natoko is another corporate world, dominated by Tukera Lines, the largest shipping megacorporation in the Imperium.  Tukera uses the world to overhaul its starships, and does not allow non-employees to live there.  The population is about 800 Tukera and starport employees plus some personnel at the Imperial Navy base.  It's unclear why Tukera has chosen to leave a garden world so empty.

Reacher has an exotic atmosphere, and its major industry is extraction of organic resources.  In recent years, trade of these resources has declined, and the population of Reacher has blamed offworlders.  The Travellers Aid Society has posted Reacher an Amber Zone, as it can be dangerous for offworlders to leave the starport.

Vinorian is a mostly-water world with a tainted atmosphere requiring filter masks to survive.  It is dominated by Dirkstrom Industries.  The population is about 4 million, the highest in the Aramis Trace.

Nutema is a hot planet whose atmosphere is tainted by a horrible smell.  The planet is home to about 9000 inhabitants spread across the planet in small family groups, who mostly only interact electronically.  There is a small Imperial Navy base in orbit.

Margesi has an excellent starport, Navy and Scout bases, and a tiny native population of 300.  The tainted atmosphere poisons food, making the world unsuitable for agriculture.  The main industry is entertaining off-duty Navy, Scout, and Starport personnel at a recreation center just outside the downport.

Saarinen is the location of Imperial Research Station Epsilon, centered on underwater planetological studies.  In addition to active research, there is a training center for underwater science and exploration.  There are no population centers outside the starport and Research Station.

March Harrier Subsidy Contract

Starship Ownership and Subsidy Agreement

between

Aramis Trace Commercial Development Trust, LIC ("the Trust")
March Harrier Lines, LIC ("MHL")
Individual Principals of March Harrier Lines, LIC
(names TODO)

295-1099, Rhylanor/Rhylanor

The Aramis Trace comprises the following worlds:

•    Aramis subsector: Aramis, L'eoul d'Dieu, Natoko, and Reacher
•    Rhylanor subsector: Vinorian, Nutema, and Margesi
•    Sabine subsector: Saarinen

The Aramis Trace worlds not currently connected by Imperial Interstellar
Scout Service Express Boat Routes are Reacher, Vinorian, Nutema, Margesi,
and Saarinen.

It is in the interests of the Worlds of the Aramis Trace, the Subsector of
Rhylanor, the Domain of Deneb, and the Imperium to ensure that all of the worlds of the Aramis Trace are regularly connected by reliable starship service allowing for delivery of freight, passengers, and mail.

Due to the currently small populations of some worlds of the Aramis Trace, there is currently a scarcity of commercial traffic between some of these worlds at some times.  The Trust believes this scarcity is likely to continue.

MHL is interested in conducting commercial passenger and freight operations in the Aramis Trace and would benefit from doing so without sole responsibility for the cost of a starship.

The Duke of Rhylanor has authorized the Trust to purchase a 400-displacement-ton Type R Subsidized Merchant starship (Imperial registry A90FD58D578C, referred to as "March Harrier") at a cost of not more than MCr 185) for delivery as soon as possible but no later than 001-1100.

Ownership of March Harrier shall be shared 50/50 between March Harrier Enterprises and Aramis Trace Development Trust, within the limits of this agreement, for 30 years.  After 30 years, March Harrier Enterprises shall assume full ownership of the March Harrier and this subsidy agreement will be voided, unless both parties agree to an extension.

March Harrier Enterprises shall name the captain and crew of the March Harrier.  At least two of the above named principals of March Harrier Enterprises shall remain part of the crew at all times, unless an emergency prevents this or The Trust agrees to a change.

The March Harrier shall be crewed (at a minimum) by a Captain with a Master's License, a First Officer with a Mate's License, a Chief Engineer with a Chief Engineer's License, and a Certified Medical Technician.  All qualifications must remain current and in good standing.

Because Imperial Mail regulations require that starships carrying mail be armed for self-defense, the Trust will ensure that the March Harrier is armed with at least two turrets, each with at least two operational beam lasers.  MHL will ensure that the crew contains at least two persons qualified to operate such armament at any time the March Harrier is carrying mail, and that said armament is properly maintained and
operational.

Because Imperial Mail regulations require 5 displacement tons of secure cargo space for starships carrying mail, the Trust will equip March Harrier with a certified mail locker, and the crew will be trained in its secure operation and will follow all Imperial Mail regulations to ensure the security of the mail.  (In particular, except in emergencies, the mail locker will only be opened when both an officer of the March Harrier and an authorized agent of Imperial Mail are present.)

MHL agrees to conduct regular commercial freight and passenger service between the worlds of the Aramis Trace at least 70% of the time.  The remaining 30% of the time can be spent persuing any legal business anywhere within the Imperium.  (The ship shall not leave the Imperium without explicit permission from the Trust.)

At all times, 50% of the gross revenues generated by the March Harrier will be paid to the Trust.  MHL receives the other 50%.  MHL is responsible for all expenses.  The Trust has banking services at every starport within the Aramis Trace, and on other major worlds throughout the Domain.  Payment must be made within one month of the time revenue was received.

MHL agrees to keep accurate records of all commercial transactions by March Harrier and to submit said records for audit annually, or immediately on demand.

MHL and the Captain of the March Harrier shall have freedom to decide routes, passengers, and freight, except that any Imperial Mail enroute to the desired destination shall have first call on the ship's freight capacity.  Furthermore, during the 70% of the time that it is following the subsidy route, MHL agrees to support a diversity of freight and passenger traffic, rather than allowing the ship's resources to be monopolized by charters, private cargo speculation, or shipping to a
single corporation, to the extent that other passengers and freight are available.  (Nothing in this agreement shall prevent the crew of the March Harrier from using any passenger or cargo space for any legal purpose when there is not other demand, as long as the crew pays 50% of the retail cost of the space to the Trust.)

MHL agrees to visit and attempt to conduct commerce on every world in the Aramis Trace at least once per six months spent following the subsidy route.  An exception will be made if a world is Interdicted.

MHL agrees to maintain the March Harrier in accordance with Imperial best practices for commercial starships, including an annual overhaul. MHL agrees to have major maintenance and repair work done within the Aramis Trace, to the extent practicable, and to forward annual maintenance reports to the Trust.

In the event that this contract is violated by MHL or any principal of MHL is  convicted of an Imperial felony, the Trust reserves the right to end this subsidy  contract and assume possession of the March Harrier.


Sir Amin Brogers
Director, Aramis Trace Development Trust, LIC
for
Leonard Stephanos Kirgashii, Duke of Rhylanor

[electronic signatures attached]

GURPS Traveller: March Harrier Campaign Intro

High-level description:

This is a GURPS 4th Edition campaign, in the Traveller setting, set in the Aramis subsector of the Spinward Marches sector in the year 1105 of the Third Imperium.

The PCs are the crew of the March Harrier, a 400-ton Subsidized Merchant starship.  It theoretically requires a crew of 5, and has 13 staterooms (so 8 left for passengers), 13 low berths, and a 200-displacement-ton cargo hold.

The background of the campaign is making a living as star merchants: trying to find enough passengers and fixed-rate freight to carry from world to world to make a profit.  And possibly also looking for speculative cargo or other money-making opportunities.

Of course some less routine events might happen, leading to Adventures.

Player-facing information:

It's a science fiction game, with starships and laser rifles.  The Traveller setting is what GURPS Ultra-Tech calls "safe-tech", which means it feels like 1970s SF, not newer SF.  Not a lot of cybernetics or nanobots.  Think Firefly.

An important feature of Traveller is that there is faster-than-light travel, but it takes at least a week to travel to a nearby star, and there is no faster-than-light radio.  So news travels relatively slowly and interstellar governments are somewhat limited.

The PCs are ordinary (though skilled) humans.  Starting point values will be fairly low, advancement will be slow, and there will be caps on both attributes and skill levels.

Because the frame of the campaign is interstellar trading, at least a couple of players should be interested in that.  Other players might just want to play starship crew who don't deal much with the business end, and that's fine.

One major difference between a starship crew and many groups of PCs is that a starship has one or more owners and exactly one captain.  So the players need to decide who owns the ship.  The default setup will be that 4 starting PCs will each own an equal share of the ship.

Once ownership of the ship is determined, the owner(s) need to pick a captain and first mate from among qualified members of the crew.  Other important roles also need to be filled: pilot, navigator, sensor operator, communications operator, engineers, mechanics, gunners, steward, medic, cargomaster, launch pilot, ATV driver.  That is more roles than PCs, so most PCs will have multiple jobs.  (And of course there should be backups for every critical role, just in case something bad happens.) If there aren't enough PCs to fully crew the ship, the players can ask the GM to supply NPCs to round out the crew, or they can try to hire NPC crew members in play.

There will be combat in this game, but probably not every session.

There will be character advancement in this game, but it will be slow.  Your PC will not become dramatically more powerful.

There is an opportunity for one player to play a pre-generated character with a backstory important to the plot.  This character does not start the adventure as a member of the March Harrier's crew, but will meet them during the first game session.

Should I try to play in this game?

Do I need to be a GURPS expert to play?  No, I want to keep this pretty rules-light, and most of GURPS is "roll under your attribute or skill on 3d6."  There will be pre-generated PCs available for those who don't feel like making one, or you can have the GM or another player help you make one.

Do I need to know Traveller to play?  No.  I will try to explain enough of the background as we go.

What if I'm a Traveller veteran.  Should I play?  I'd prefer not to have players who've already read or played this exact adventure.  Other than that, Traveller experience is welcome but not required.

What rules do I need to own?  The free GURPS Lite PDF will get you most of the way there.  Almost all the skills will be in the GURPS 4E Basic Set.  I will use stuff from GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars, the 3E GURPS Traveller line (converted to 4E as needed), GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Starships, and random Traveller books, but players don't need to know all that.

This will be a Rule Zero game.  Players need to be willing to abide by GM rulings rather than arguing.

How about dates and times?

I'd like to play once a week, on Monday nights, from 8 p.m. to midnight US Eastern time.  My goal is to play every week that a majority of players are available.  So if we have 5 players and 1 or 2 can't play that week, we play anyway.  I'd like to end each week with the PCs on the ship in a safe location, so that if someone can't make it one week, it's easy to just leave their PC on the ship rather than having to run them as an NPC.

What about software?

I want characters in GCS format; you can find GCS at https://gurpscharactersheet.com.  It's free and portable and excellent.  You need at least version 5.0.  I already added the Traveller templates that we need to the GCS master library.

https://travellermap.com  is a handy map of the Traveller universe.  (Search for "Aramis" to see where this campaign starts.)

The game will be run using FoundryVTT, but it's web-based so players don't need anything beyond a computer and web browser.

I plan to use Discord to coordinate things between game sessions, and for voice during play.

There will be Google Sheets for tracking money and points.

I'll do session recaps to this blog.

Character generation details:

(This is just a high-level summary; I will give more details to the players later.)

Starting PCs will be based on 150 points, with a -30 point disadvantage limit (including negative attribute costs as disads), and -5 points of quirks.

A -5 point Sense of Duty to crewmates is optional and doesn't count against the disad limit.

Partial, subsidized, strings-attached ownership of the March Harrier is a "free" campaign feature; you don't have to pay points for Wealth or Ship Patron or Ship Owner.

The Captain needs to take Merchant Rank 3 [15].

The First Officer needs to take Merchant Rank 2 [10].

Other Officers need to take Merchant Rank 2 [10], Merchant Rank 1 [5] or Courtesy Merchant Rank 1 [1].

The maximum starting attribute is 15.

The maximum starting skill is 16.

All PCs should use one of the occupational templates from GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars.  (If you don't have the book, they're also in GCS.)  Some particularly useful templates are Starship Commander, Starship Bridge Officer, Starship Engineer, Starship Deckhand, Doctor, and Marine.

A March-class subsidized merchant nominally has a crew of five.  (Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Medic, and Steward.)  If we have exactly five players and everyone wants a different mandatory role then we have a full crew.  If we have fewer players or someone doesn't want to fill one of those roles, then the crew may be filled out with NPCs.  Note that crew members need to be paid, fed, and supplied with stateroom space and oxygen, so the bigger the crew, the harder it is to make a profit.

Most PCs should be human Imperial citizens.  If you really want to play an alien or non-Imperial, talk to the GM.

If desired, one PC may be a pre-generated non-crewmember who will be met during the first game session.

How are you picking players?

I will start by asking people I've enjoyed playing with in the past if they want to play.  Then, if there are slots left, I will advertise them on the Internet.  Once we have a full crew I will put anyone else who wants to play on a waiting list, and contact them if someone drops out.

When does this campaign start?

Once I manage to find 5 players, I'll try to schedule a Session Zero within a couple of weeks, and then regular weekly sessions after that.

How long will this campaign last?

I really don't know, but my best guess is about a year.