Freelance Traveller

Scrapper: A New Career for Mongoose Traveller

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This article originally appeared in Spanish in Vuelo Raso N 1, in two parts, both under the title “Desguazador”, by Gaizka “Akerraren Adarrak” Márquez. The translation was done by Google Translate and edited/“cleaned up” by Jeff Zeitlin. This translation appeared in the November/December 2021 issue of Freelance Traveller.

A scrapper is someone who lives off scraps. Travellers who choose this career are generally hiding from justice or dangerous rivals, although it can also be an ideal starting point for Travellers with low SOC. You can try to enter this career every time you get a prison entry result. You are considered “Fled” or “Escaped” during the first term of this career.

When entering this career, note the general TL of the planet you are on. For each level above TL 11 the survival difficulty will increase by 1; similarly, each TL below 11 will facilitate your survival. However, when it comes to making benefit rolls, you won’t be able to find anything with a higher TL than that of the world you’re on during this career. We recommend choosing planets from TL 8-9 to facilitate the survival of the Traveller since, if you have entered the career to avoid prison, being expelled from the career implies entering prison and if you have the assignment "Landfill Rat" the only way to abandon the career is to successfully overcome that test.

Scrapper or Scavenger?

Although at first the “Scrapper” career may seem to be similar to the “Drifter/Scavenger” career and although they have a similar focus, they have a very different social context. Rarely does a Traveller enter the Scrapper career voluntarily. They are usually people wanted by the courts who have already been born into a scrapping family or who have reasons to hide. A whole term successfully passed in this career usually draws attention away from the Traveller. At least for a time…

Scrappers do not travel from planet to planet and the vast majority of them go to bed wishing they had a stroke of luck the next day that would provide them with enough money to get out of their situation. Those who do not go to bed thinking about that, go to bed wishing that their crime would be shelved and that they could reintegrate into society, having avoided the “Prisoner” career. Regarding injuries, in this career nobody pays for anyone; you will not receive a debt reduction for treatment.

Depending on the focus of the career, the character may be:

• The Post-apocalyptic Reclaimer lives off what is found on a planet that has fallen under a planetary apocalypse. They can be a survivor of that planet or someone who has decided to hide in a destroyed place for a long period of time to go unnoticed. Together with the Referee you must decide what kind of apocalypse devastated the planet and why your traveler is on it (a radiation leak, a disease, a great war, a climatic event ...).

  The planet may be in a recovery phase where bases are being established with the intention of resurrecting the planet as a colony, and the dangers that brought it down may or may not be active. These planets are usually far from the trade routes and will rarely have a starport better than E, maximum C. It is also not surprising that they are classified with travel code “Red” or “Amber” if there is still danger, although they may be inside of systems with other major planets much more grateful for travelers.

  For those who read Spanish, there is an example planet (Vestigial-Alpha), as well as a pregenerated character (Marconi), in Vuelo Raso N 1.

• The War Vulture makes a living moving between old planetary battlefields, where powerful armies fought, leaving behind large amounts of forgotten bodies and machinery. There may even be crashed spaceships on the planet’s surface.

  Unlike for the Post-apocalyptic Reclaimer, this planet does not have to have any difficulties for survival or to have been abandoned. However, once the war is over, the combatants or the government are not so keen to be bothered to clean up the remains of the battlefield, leaving the locals to take care of recovering much of the reusable material in exchange for cash. Sometimes authentic jewels can appear among so much trash.

  For those who read Spanish, there is an example planet (Sombra-Beta), as well as a pregenerated character (Fátima) and some ideas for developing an adventure, in Vuelo Raso N 1

• Unlike the previous two, the Landfill Rat usually thrives on planets with a very high population, large advanced starports, etc. They generally survive in the shadows where they are rarely seen. Like the Post-Apocalyptic Reclaimers, they search through alleys, dumpsters, landfills … The stark reality of this career is that you need to survive in order to abandon it, rather than being kicked out with an unfortunate outcome. On the positive side, failure doesn’t automatically land you in prison.

  For those who read Spanish, you can find a pre-generated character in the adventure “Lagartija a Bordo” in Vuelo Raso N 1.

Qualification: Automatic (if SOC 5 or less, make a promotion roll at the beginning of your career).

Special: if you are attempting to enter this career as an alternative to going to prison, you may immediately make a Streetwise 10+ check to contact a human trafficking mafia: you will avoid prison, but you will lose all benefit rolls accumulated so far.