Dr. Suzuki's Report (Frydheld Sector 1)
Ol'Hawkeyes has shifted his Classic Traveller Open Table (Frydheld Sector) to a time more friendly to my time zone. I got to start fresh with ags (gourd dwarf) and Bue (dungeondogma) as party members.
Characters
Initially I planned on rolling up a character on paper, but poor time planning forced me to use the online interactive generator. The previous character I played in the Frydheld Sector had been Cmdr. Marquise De Sade Hawkins. She later married into the title of duchess and committed serious war crimes. Currently she is an NPC I never want to meet.
Anyway, I wanted to play someone less unhinged and evil, which is why I opted for the merchant career, and I thought Frydheld might profit from some diversity in characters.
Meet the middle-aged, mild-mannered white-collar civilian Stefan Suzuki:
AA5BA7 Merchant 4th Officer
Dr. Stefan Suzuki MD
Skills: Admin-2, Computer-1, Engineering-1, Medical-3, Navigation-1, Pilot-1
Equipment: 3 Low Passages, Long Range Communicator, Hand Calculator, Binoculars, Cold Light Lantern, Mechanical Tool Set on a dolly.
Cash: 55 Credits
Note that he does not carry a weapon due to him being a civilian and having sworn a Hippocratic oath.
Bue has actually written a blog post about the generation of his character Sir Gunnar Gunnarsonson, who supposedly is a distant relative of his character from my Wolves upon the Alps one-shot. Ags brought a scout called Sir Hart Lieber, whom they had played once before.
Events
Sir Lieber, Sir Gunnarsonson, and Dr. Suzuki all got stuck on a shitty planet called Scrib. Some terrorist events had prompted the powers in charge to lock things down. We were hungry and repeatedly unable to find employment. Fed up with starving, we took a chance and helped some vigilantes find a good access point for their raid on the food storages in the upper parts of the port. We primarily wanted to get off-world. After talking our way past some militia members, we made it to the walls of the upper district. We positioned ourselves to breach the walls and waited for the raid party on the other side of town to go ahead. As soon as we heard explosions go off, we breached the wall from our side and ran towards the starport. Sir Lieber ran towards a scout ship and made contact with an old scout veteran named Skar Witlip (he did have to dispose of a guard on his run there, an unfortunate accident). Meanwhile, Dr. Suzuki and Sir Gunnarsonson tried to sneak behind and recruited the 6 militia defectors to join up after being detected by them.
Skar Witlip and his crew took the party to Pillard, a planet without a known starport. There they encountered a large people of low tech. Curious and eager to help (Dr. Suzuki and Sir Lieber are both proficient medics), the party made contact. After an exhausting hike they were led to an ancient ziggurat and introduced to the local people's king. A withered old man was lying on a medical bed, kept alive only by the wonders of technology. Sir Gunnarsonson suggested Dr. Suzuki could heal the Methuselah's legs. However, the ancient king knew he was dying and insisted on passing on his knowledge, for his own spawn was too "degenerated" (Dr. Suzuki objects to this kind of terminology!). He handed us a codex filled with techno-magic sorcery powers. The king explained that he was from Terra, the long-lost home world of humanity. He and the other sorcerer kings had left the dying earth to escape to new worlds. But his colonization effort failed. He asked us to use the powers to create a livable world on a planet known to us as "Ahab's Wound".
The Pillard Witchcraft Codex:
Illuminated manuscript, gold filigree, custard leather binding, sapphires fit it into a sweeping X on the surface.
Blessed Life - 4
Grants 8 points of damage protection.
Heaven's Fingers - 2d6
Grows pebbles into mountains.
Reversible. Wilt - 5
Destroys plant based life in a 500m radius. Reversible.
Uplift Sequence - 10
Grants an animal the intelligence and capability equal to the sophont who casts it.
Prism's View - 2
Can remotely view through any glass surface as long as they have knowledge of it.
We left the dying king and used the remainder of our time to teach the local people about germs and washing hands before discussing the potential uses of the codex. One thing we were all in agreement on: We would uplift no creatures with fur, as this would be unethical and sinful. (We talked about not letting it get into the hands of evil people too).
Thoughts
I love Classic Traveller, and I love gaming with these people. I am quite happy that my decision to play more of a nonviolent character helped give this session a different tone than other games of CT we played. Not because I don't like playing opportunistic violent marauders but because I like changing things up. Of course it helped that both ags and bue are veteran players and that we found a good vibe almost immediately.
I am excited to see where this goes. I really want to uplift some alien life. It may surprise you, but I enjoy alien intelligence in the guise of animals quite a lot.
