Freelance Traveller

Relic Hunter

an additional career by Daryl Frewing for Traveller: The New Era

Items of great age also can have great value. They don't need to be powerful artifacts from The Ancients, just artifacts from ancient societies; unique and irreplaceable. With numerous extinct societies, especially those unpolluted by modern practices, comes the opportunity for great wealth. That is, if you can find the right buyer.

Prerequisites

Must have all of CON 5+, EDU 9+, History 2+, Excavation 2+.
Also must have any of Homeworld Tech = Early Stellar+, Homeworld Tech = Pre-Stellar and Homeworld Pop = Mod+, or an appropriate situation in which this career could be expected, as determined by the GM. (For example: a high population world that was devastated by Virus and which, 100 or more years later does not have interstellar travel (TL 5) and only 8,000 people left might still value the non-technological relics lying around.)

First Term

Skills: Explore 2, Social Sciences 2, Perception 2, Fine Arts 1, Determination 1, Excavation 1.

Subsequent Terms

Skills: Artisan, Determination, Excavation, Explore, Fine Arts, Gun Combat, Interaction, Perception, Social Sciences.

All Terms

Special Adventure: 6+ for Language, Acrobat, Archaic Weapons, Charm, Medical, Melee, Vehicle.

Promotion: 7+, DM +1 if INT 7+.

Contacts: One per term, Academic, Government, or Specialist (Archeologist); also one per special adventure, Criminal, Journalist, or Trader.

Other Effects: 1 ship DM per term for a Trader (or Lab ship or Yacht if a discovery (see below) was made), and an additional DM for each term involving a promotion.

At the end of each term roll for a discovery. Making a discovery is a Formidable test of History and Excavation (combined skill roll) with DM's of +1 per subsequent term and +1 if there was a special adventure during the current term (ie. this last DM does not add up each term). If the task roll is successful, roll 2D6 and multiply by Cr100,000 (Cr500,000 for an outstanding success) for the base worth of the item(s) found.

Next, either make a roll to sell the item, donate it to a museum, or hold on to it (skipping the following steps). Making a sale is a Difficult test of Marketing. If the player chooses, they can hire a broker to try to sell the item for them. The cost of the broker is based on the broker's skill at Marketing; the base cost for a broker with an asset of 8 is Cr10,000 plus 4% of the final sale price (assuming it sells). This increases by Cr5,000 plus 2% of the final sale price (if it sells) for each level of Marketing asset above 8. (The extra costs here represent the fact that this is a niche market item and needs to be marketed in a specific manner.) One roll is allowed per term if continuing the character generation process (at GM's discretion otherwise). On an outstanding success the character also gains one Wealthy contact. Use step 7 in the "Sale Price of Cargo" on page 240 of the main rules to determine the final sale price of the relic(s) with the Marketing skill of the broker (if used) equal to the asset minus 7.

If the character chooses, they can also donate the relic to a museum. If the museum is on a world with a population of High, then this will increase the character's Social Standing by 1 per full Cr1,000,000 value of the item (minimum 1) and by double this amount when interacting with academic individuals from that world. (The doubling is of the bonus only, not the SOC stat, and only applies to interactions, not to determining starting money or honourifics.) If the world was also a subsector or sector capital, then this bonus could apply to interactions with academics from that region if they could reasonably be expected to know about the generous donation. At the GM's discretion, other 'perks' may also happen like having a new wing at the museum being named after the player character, but these perks will never include monetary payment of any kind.

If the player decides to hold on to the item(s) they will likely be hunted by unscrupulous individuals interested in robbing the PC of the artifact, or by others who believe that the artifact should be in a museum and not in the hands of a private individual. This is, of course, up to the GM's discretion, but it should be more likely to happen then not if the discovery has been made publicly known (even if just through the rumor mill).