Classic Traveller Random NPC Generator

I'm cobbling together some random generation tables for my Classic Traveller game. NPC's, like PC's are built on six attributes each created with a 2D6 throw. Pretty straight forward. Unless there is a mess of them. You could go with straight sevens across the board. That way you don't even need to write anything down until your NPC's start taking damage. That's because in combat damage is applied to the three physical stats of the character; Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. But yeah, that's fucking boring. You've just made any random encounter the same dumb ass squib over and over. You know, like when you run into Goblins in a game of D&D they are all kinda the same. Unless you delve into some of the neat random tables littering the blogosphere to help crack that crap. Classic Traveller is old-school role playing. Like they did in '77! And that means you never know if the mook you just engaged in the bar is some drunk local, cyber enhanced gang banger or maybe even ex-military! 

One of the most important combat distinctions between Player Characters and NPC's is your game's PC's all start with a default Level Zero (0) skill in all weapons listed in the LBB's. This does not apply to your average NPC on the street. That means your average NPC on the street will be dealt a -5 to any combat rolls in combat. That is a serious distinction. But variety is the spice of life. If your gnarly space jocks get in a mix up with the local street toughs some of them may have some relevant weapon or hand to hand skills right? 

But I have no interest in stat'ing up ahead of time five, ten, twenty different types of NPC's for any given game session. To find out who is at the end of my player's upraised fist I want random results and I want them instantly! Fortunately we do not live in 1977 and we have mad gamers who know how to make random generators which we can all use from our desktop, tablet and phone. 

Bookmark this blog post. You are going to want to use it. Following are generators which give you all six character attributes accurately weighted and randomly generated. I've also broken the generators out in the chance of any one member of a group of NPC's having a level zero or level one (or both) in a relevant skill. 

I'm tacking on some career flavor tables to give some more specific flavor, but these tables, for me, are to give a detailed look at the combat effectiveness of any scum and villainy my PC's decide to get hot and personal with.

NPC's with a 1 in 5 chance of being Skilled

NPC's with a 1 in 10 chance of being Skilled

So now you got a bunch of space scum for your PC's to tussle with. Maybe they need some more flavor. Here I am going to use Paul Gallagher's Augmented Reality, The Holistic City Kit for Cyberpunk Games. I can import his tables into the random generator so with a click of the button you can give your home slice some local stank!

What does the Skilled NPC do?

So ideally this would work with one click. You could enter the number of mooks encountered and spit out a text report of all of them and if any are skilled what is their skilled career background. Well, I don't have those kind of skills. I am relying on The Last Gasp Grimoire to facilitate this tool. I guess to use this succor successfully you need to hit the link for the type of NPC you are interested in and record/copy & paste stats. If they happen to be skilled you can hit the other generator. Myself, I will most likely use this tool to figure out how many thugs in a crowd do not suffer the -5 penalty when attacking in combat.

The random career is a simple method of figuring out what the NPC is skilled at. If it is a medic or emergency technician than the skill would be Medical. A Mercenary you need to pick some combat skill. A Fixer is easy slap on Streetwise. Transport Worker? Evac, Steward, Drive ATV; these are all good choices. Remember Classic Traveller goes light on skills. The combination of place, attributes and maybe a skill or two is all you have to create the NPC on the spot. This is enough for skilled roleplayers. The skill list for Classic Traveller is 23 individual skills plus weapon and unarmed combat skills. Some of the skills are a header for a cascade list. So yeah just pick what makes sense. The more I play with Classic Traveller (which is admittedly not a lot) the more I appreciate its stone cold old school aesthetic.  

Classic Traveller Session Report #3 - Shady Deals Under the Dome

Read Session #2 and Session #1 if you would like. Jones, Hernandez and Pavlov head to Below Zero to collect their bounty from Barger Vas, the VCL boss. Vas asks the PC's to think of the widows and orphans fund he will have to dip into to make good on the bounty and would the PC's have a heart? Maybe let this one go for free. When the PC's don't seem inclined he gives over a credit cube with 3,500. This will get split three ways cause these were the only PC's who made the session. I wonder if the other three players attended how would the bounty have sat? Vas wanted to know what went down in OH-RiF (Omni-Horron Research Facility). The piece of tech which shut the plant down, he was very interested in that. He said if the PC's could get something like that he could pay very well. Matter of fact any advanced Omni or Horron tech the PC's could get a hold of would be of significant interested to the VCL. The colonists are the future of Skalvil Vas assures the players and they will want to be on the right side of history.

Chief Benzen contacts Jones on his com unit. He wants them back up in the VTOL and find the watercraft which fled the scene with the remaining terrorists on board. They take off once again from the security tower rooftop hanger. After three hours combing the shores of the Skalvil Sea they locate the boat. It has been driven up on a rocky beach. Touching down the PC's give the boat a search where they find 5 bodies below decks. They all had their hands bound and were each shot in the back of the head. DNA scan reveals the victims to be citizens of Vanders, all have criminal records. Three have warrants for their arrest, but nothing that Omni Security-Vanders would spend any time or resources on. Pavlov recognizes their gang tattoos. They are Binary Dogs, a juiced combat gang operating out of Banter Concourse. Tracks from a six wheel ATV lead off into the defile. The frequent acid rain storms erase the tracks back into the stained Skalvil mud. Bring the bodies and the watercraft back says Chief Benzen. Omni Security wharf PS238. At the wharf the PC's get the boat identified as a cargo hauler belonging to Halo Shipping. One of many nondescript tugs used to move goods in and around the Skalvil Sea for outer dome colonists.

Chief thinks it's a good idea to pay the Binary Dogs a visit. Find out why five of their crew were found dead on a boat used by unknown terrorists. Club Synapse is where they can be found. A high end nightclub on the fifth floor of a seven story high rise. Under the violet red and neon blue of the Vanders various pedways the PC's arrive at the club. Unlike the Below Zero with union loyalists checking anyone coming in Club Synapse is a hopping, bustling scene of sweaty dancers and loud music. Pavlov spots some Binary Dogs at the bar. The PC's say they got ID's on five of their members recently deceased. They want to find out who did the deed. Maybe they should talk. The sophisticated, well dressed one tells them to wait. The other gang member in his chrome glasses and nylon track suit rattles his bling and sneers at the group. The flexing and cold staring continue between Jones and track suit until Mr. Sophisticated returns and tells the PC's to follow him. They leave the pulsing club floor and enter a flourescent white bathed hallway. After passing a couple of doors they enter an unused banquet hall. The only light is soft incandescent over a large black glossy table. Another well dressed man sits at the desk, his eyes giving off a green glow. Not just juiced, this gang banger is cyber enhanced. Three other track suit wearing Dogs stand off to the side in the gloom. Sophisticated goes around the table, whispers in his boss' ear and stands behind his chair. The PC's quickly pick up on the fact I start mentioning the thick concrete pillars interspersed through the otherwise empty, darkened room. When the referee starts detailing types of cover which may be available it is kind of an obvious tell trouble is just around the corner.

The PC's start in with their pitch. They know some of their boys have been whacked and they want to know who was behind it. Surely they could share some information and get to the bottom of it. Shiny Eyes gets pretty hot about Omni cops come asking questions. He pays good money to stay out of trouble with Omni Security. He's feeling he's got a laundry list of troubles he now needs to get sorted and he is going to get started with the PC's. The juiced Binary thugs make their move against the PC's. Fortunately for the PC's the gang members are all armed with melee weapons. Boosted as they are the Binary Dogs have a hard time absorbing auto pistol fire. Pavlov takes serious damage from throwing blades hurled from Shiny Eyes even after he lights him up with his pistol. As he and his lieutenant Sophisticated make a run for it steely-eyed Hernandez manages to take Shiny Eyes down. As Pavlov slumps over the table bleeding from the neck and chest Jones shoots down two of the gang bangers before they can close on him with electro-chucks and mono-filament whips. Hernandez isn't so lucky and takes some rapid slice and dice from a Binary Dog howling in a drug drenched freny. Jones puts him down with a few more shots while another gang member uses the pillars for cover scrambling into the dark. Jones and Hernandez make sure the wounded Binary Dogs never see the light of day with some additional shots. They scoop up Pavlov and a plastic bag on the table and stumble around for the nearest exit. Quickly finding a stairwell they make it outside and down to street level.

Chief contacts them asking what's going on. Wants to know if they got any answers or was their a dust up. He lets slip some details about Shiny Eyes. How does he know Shiny Eyes has a thick accent? Why is he so concerned whether he is dead or not? Chief tells them they better come in quick. He seems unconcerned that Pavlov and Hernandez are wounded. Instead of sending them straight to Medical he wants to see them in debriefing. Gives the key codes for a debriefing room on the fourth floor of the Omni security tower. The PC's have played way to many role playing games to know some shady shit is going down and put some pieces together. The fact that the plastic bag contains a small box with the Omni Sun logo just fuels their paranoia. The box contains seeds like the type supposed to be produced out at OH-RiF. The PC's figure Chief Benzen is taking Binary Dog money and for whatever reason things went south out at OH-RiF. Who was supposed to get rid of who maybe not so clear but the PC's have no plans currently to return to the Omni security tower. Instead they opt for a seedy hotel cube, The Flesh, and take a room on the second floor. With street access they feel a bit secure being able to watch their exits while they figure what to do next.

Audio is Catching On

Podcasts, Anchor, using Dropbox to share audio files, streamed recordings of actual online game sessions; the manner in which one can share their gaming activities with those not part of your game seems to be on the rise. 

With copious copies and impressions of any given game session being recorded makes the idea of new audio theater seems so much more possible. Whether or not it is a medium which is passe or unneeded, I am particularly aware of my attraction to radio theater as a child. In fact, whether it was a narration or just a song, hearing something on the radio, especially late at night, had an escapist, imaginative thrill that print or video missed. 

I think it has something to do with "theater of the mind", the ability to fill in blanks while a narrative unfolds creates an interactive experience only, well, a table top role playing game being the other can deliver. I've looked at some of the session reports generated by myself and my players over the last two years from actual play and I wonder how to make the content as interesting to consume as it is to play. Editing and writing it out in prose feels laborious and I'm just not into it. I've tried. But writing good fiction is tough, a slog and for me a chore. 

But making the text into an audio story seems much more interesting. I have satellite radio in my truck and I can listen to classic radio broadcasts from a time before television. While the medium is fine the stories are dated and just kind of suck. With today's online tools it would be real simple to do better, as long as you had a good script. Collaboration would be key, as well as changing narrative voice and focus. If you have ever listened to Firesign Theater you may get the jist of what I am thinking. I just need more time to pursue all this cool stuff. Dam day job. And I love game prep so I'm going to work on some of that right now instead of doing some heavy editing and rewrite. 

Dreams within dreams I suppose. 

[EDIT] Here is one of my players taking a stab at and Audio Session Report. Straight up awesome, give it a listen.

The Vanishing Tower is starting a Podcast!

Jason Hobbs peaked my interest on doing a gaming podcast with his use of the Anchor app. Not only did the app sound real easy to use, the podcast software provided a straight forward method for listener interaction and participation. 

I don't think I have the time to arrange a structured show complete with guests like Jason does on Hobbs & Friends of the OSR but I can blather away while I drive around in my truck like he does for Random Screed, his axillary podcast he has created using Anchor. The "Leave a Message" feature on Anchor is what really made me feel like this would be a worthwhile endeavor. Listeners can leave a message which can easily be added into a future podcast. 

I know I really enjoy listening to gaming podcasts while I work and my day job gives me ample time to burn through many. Hopefully I can add to the available content with some of my experiences with table top role playing and the online tools which have so far made my gaming experience possible.