Freelance Traveller

Quick Bwap Character Generation for Conventions

by Paul Anuni with assistance from Jeff Zeitlin

Author’s Note: This is based on “Quick Character Generation for Conventions” by Marc Miller with Jeff Zeitlin, from the November/December 2017 issue of Freelance Traveller. You should read that article alongside this one.

I’m still unable to attend the various cons at which Traveller is played, and it is sadly becoming less likely that I will ever return to having the mobility to do so. Nevertheless, I still consider myself an active member of the Traveller community, and often have friends over to play.

Like with the two previous Alien Race themes for TravellerCON/USA (Hivers in 2021, Droyne in 2024), I thought to “give back” some of the enjoyment I’ve had, and I’ve used extant material on the Bwaps – however limited it is – to try to capture the flavor of the race. In this, discussions with Mr Zeitlin have been quite useful, as he has access to material that I don’t, and was able to contribute materially to this work.

I started from the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #11 article, “Contact: Newts”. Mr Zeitlin was able to contribute his thoughts based on other sources.

The Process

Bwaps are generally smaller than humans; the JTAS 11 article says that they are weaker, but Mr Zeitlin notes that a later source also gives them lower END. Generate STR and END as 2D-4, the rest of the characteristics as the normal 2D. Special attention should be given to the note about Controlling Characteristics in the section on Career Resolution.

Choosing a Career

While Bwaps can – and do – enlist in any of the standard Imperial careers, Army and Marines are disfavored careers (and have negative enlistment DMs in standard character generation), while Scouts and Merchants are favored careers (positive enlistment DMs in standard generation). Rather than trying to build some discouragement into this quick generation process, I’ve chosen to remove the disfavored careers as options. Instead, I’ve reached into Supplement 4, and decided that, while they may not necessarily be favored careers, Bwaps would be “over-represented” in the Bureaucrat (which would be a favored career) and Scientist careers, so I’ve replaced Army and Marines with them.

Mr Zeitlin notes that the skills from the original Marc Miller version of this process (for generic human characters) are from Traveller⁵, but I’ve instead worked with Mr Zeitlin to select skills from Classic Traveller instead (including from High Guard, Scouts, Merchant Prince, and Supplement 4). Thus, the available careers in this process are:

The original process offered one skill level in a selected relevant skill for “Military” careers; this offers the skill level for “favored” careers instead. If the chosen career is one of the favored careers, record the skill listed for that career on the character sheet.

A special note about the Admin skill: The first time a Bwap receives the Admin skill (including if receiving it as the skill for the favored career of Bureaucrat), he receives two levels of the skill instead of just one.

Except for knighthoods for merit, Bwaps do not become nobles. Do not assign a noble title based on the Bwap’s SOC as initially rolled; if, as a result of mustering-out benefits, the character’s SOC becomes 11 or above, award the character a knighthood (only).

Resolving the Career

The procedure outlined in the original process works as given. However, Scout and Scientist do not have ranks, so do not roll for Commission (Position) or Promotion in these careers; the equivalent of rank is seniority, and is strictly based on the number of terms served. Bureaucrats do not have ranks until they achieve Position; do not roll for promotion until after a successful Position roll.

Because the rolls for Survival, Commission (Position), and Promotion depend on the roll for the Controlling Characteristic, it’s fairly unlikely that the Bwap character will do well in the terms where STR or END is the Controlling Characteristic. For the purposes of character generation only, add back the 4 that was subtracted from the initial rolls for STR and END. Note that this add-back does not apply once the character musters out for play.

For each term survived, Scouts and Scientists choose 8 skills, all others choose 4 skills. You may select a specific skill no more than once per term (twice for Scouts and Scientists), and your total levels in any one skill may not be more than the number of terms served (Scouts and Scientists may have total levels in any skill of no more than twice the number of terms served). If the character joined a Preferred career, the skill listed in Table 1 and 2 above for that career may have one level more than the limit otherwise allowed, and Admin may be at one additional level beyond that.

Certain skills are cascade skills, where the character must pick from a specific set of skills. A cascade skill (e.g., Vehicle) may be picked multiple times for a single term, but the specific skill chosen must not be chosen more than once per term (twice for Scout and Scientist). That is, if the character picks Vehicle twice for a given term, two different vehicles (e.g., Wheeled Vehicle and Tracked Vehicle) must be chosen.

Service skill columns may only be used by characters in the specified service. Officer is available to Merchant and Navy characters who have achieved Commission (Position). Non-Officer is available to Merchant and Navy characters who have not achieved Commission (Position). Bureaucrats who have achieved Position may choose from the Officer column, but may not choose from the Non-Officer column if they have not achieved Position. As in the original process, Scout characters may choose from Officer or Non-Officer (or both) at the referee’s discretion. Scientists may only choose from the Scientist, Everyday, and Anyone columns.

Cascade skills (shown in italics in the table): Choose one of the listed skills below. You do not have to take the same skill each time you choose the cascade:

Space:

Engineer, Navigation, Ships Boat, Pilot, Gunnery, Zero-G Cbt, Ship’s Tactics, Vacc Suit

Technical:

Communications, Computer, Electronics, Mechanical, Gravitics

Vice:

Forgery, Bribery, Gambling

Language:

Choose any language. It is assumed that all characters speak Galanglic fluently, and Bwap characters also speak Maharbanic (the Imperial name of the native Bwap language) fluently.

Vehicle:

Grav, Tracked, Wheeled, Fixed-wing aircraft (Prop), Fixed-wing aircraft (Jet), Helicopter, Large Watercraft, Small Watercraft, Hovercraft, Submersible

Gun Cbt:

Handgun, Long Gun, Shotgun, Laser.

Blade Cbt:

Dagger, Short Sword, Long Sword

*Knighthood/+1 SOC: If the character’s SOC is below 11, immediately raise it to 11 and note that the character is a knight. Otherwise, add 1 to SOC, but do not award a higher title.