Homework

Before starting a character design, you should try to read as much of the reference material as possible on this site, and the introduction page.  Minimally, please read up on the Byler Republic, Eristicon War, and DKI pages.  There are also many other pages describing various religious, military, political, and private organizations that your characters could somehow be involved in (eg, be members of, friends with, or at odds with, or have patrons/enemies/contacts from there, etc).

Tips on Generating GURPS Characters

GURPS Traveller character generation differs from other systems such as classic Traveller or D&D.  There are no fixed character classes, and there is no randomness in the character generation process. Players are given a set number of "points" to spend on developing their characters, and can use these to buy a wide variety of advantages, skills, and stat improvements that pretty much ensures each character is completely unique.

Because players build their characters this way, it becomes important to think about a character concept before generating a character.  Instead of thinking "I'll play a ranger", and then simply rolling him up, you will need to think of a more complete idea for your character before starting.  It's OK to start with a basic concept, such as "Free Trader Merchant", or "Science Researcher", or "Military Commando", etc.  Coming up with a history and background for your character can help in this process and should be the next step.  Even a sketchy background, perhaps listing a few key events or things the character has experienced in the past, will help later when you are trying to choose ads, disads, and skills for your character.  If you have a basic idea for a character and need help fleshing out background material, I'm here to help.  I can give you different options for where your character may have been spending his time in the past, based on the ideas you have for them.

Characters do not need to be gung-ho fighter types or complete space jockeys to work out in this campaign.  If you want to play a guy who's a walking arsenal, or who has all the space skills, that is fine.  Just keep in mind that there is also the option to play someone who is not an obvious hero as well.  Remember, Luke Skywalker was a farmer.  Indiana Jones.. an archeology teacher.  It's what happens once the adventure starts that counts.

Background Information

Here's some important starting information you will want to know before developing a character.
 

• Characters will start with 100 points and follow the standard GURPS char generation concept.  Gurps Traveller rules apply, but there may be deviations due to the fact I'm not running a completely standard Traveller Campaign.
• Characters must be human.  We'll deal with alien characters later, but I'd like to keep things simple to start.  Note that human in this case could mean of Solomani or Vilani descent, or a mix (Imperial stock).  There are no real physiological implications of this choice, but your outlook on life might be very different.
• Characters will choose homeworlds from within the Byler Republic.  If you want something beyond those borders it is possible but it may cost extra points (or could even be a disad).  I will get final say over it.
• I have veto power over all skills, advantages, background ideas, etc, even if they are apparently legal options.
• Players may not take Psionic powers as a starting skill.  You may have latent Psionic potential, but the odds are worse than D&D for this (1 in 1000). And, if you had latent PSI powers, you'd only have a 1 in 10 chance of knowing it.  So forget about it.  If it's Psionics you want, you'll just have to find out about it during the game.

Once people have come up with a basic idea for their characters, we can get together and work on the specifics of skills, advantages, etc.  I have all the books needed for the game, so it will not be required that you get books, but if you have an interest in buying books for the game, the following will be used:
 

1. GURPS Basic Set - The main GURPS book.
2. GURPS Traveller - The Traveller starting supplement to GURPS (there are many GURPS traveller books out now)
3. GURPS Compendium I - This book consolidates skils and advantages from all the other supplements; it's useful for building characters.
4. GURPS UltraTech - equipment etc.

That being said, here's some comments I have about specific skills categories in relation to the game:
 

• Weapon skills - will come in handy, but I anticipate the game will be less hack-n-slash than previous Traveller games, or D&D.  Not to say you wont need to defend yourselves from time to time though.
• Ship skills - There will be no immediate need for characters to be able to run a ship by themselves.  If it fits your background or is what you are interested in, take these skills by all means.
• Medical skills -  Often overlooked, but it's very nice not to have to rely on NPCs for medical attention.  But hey that's life.
• Science Skills - Should be useful.  The complete lab rat (IQ18,DX2) type guy may have some difficulty adapting to the messy outside world. But that could be half the fun of playing such a character!
• Non Obvious Skills.  Certain skills such as art skills, esoteric weapon skills, and certain social skills may have no immediate obvious benefit in the setting described for the campaign, but personally, I like to see that type of thing because it encourages creative play, and often helps to define a characters personality.  So if you do take skills that are a bit out of the way in terms of usefulness, I'll do my best to try to occasionally present opportunities for you to use them, if you choose.  I'm not saying you will be able to save the world with your Macrame-16 skill, but I will attempt to run a campaign that isn't all shoot-n-fly.

There are a few small constraints I am going to be putting on character backgrounds, and these relate to the starting scenario for the campaign.  I want characters to have a reasonable and strong reason to meet each other and to stick together, at least for the start.  What happens after that is your choice, of course, but I'd like to see a plausible excuse to group the characters to start.  And that excuse is this:

Every character will be starting out as an employee of the Dalton Kess Inc. Megacorp (DKI).  You will be a new hire, and the campaign will start several days before your reporting in to work.  You will need to come up with a good motiviation for your character to work at DKI.  This could be a strong desire to work there (interest in high tech, want to see the stars, want power, money etc.) or a strong need to work there (binding contract, hiding from someone, in debt, transferred from somewhere, etc.)  I'm willing to entertain all sorts of ideas, providing they give your character a strong motivation to work there.

DKI is a Megacorporation.  This means they wield economic, political, and technological power that far exceeds anything in the (real?) world today. (except Microsoft. no, just kidding, they're even worse then M$).  Because they are in a position of power, and also because the time period is a post-war / depressed era, the company does not have to answer to very many authorities.  It is also the case that they tend to attract a lot more people to work there than they actually hire. The combination of these factors means that they are not particularly sensitive to potential new hires.  You get hired by the company, sign on the dotted line, with no real promise or guarantee from the company that you will be able to work in a specific area.  (Although, recruiters are like used car salesmen, and will tell any potential hire what they want to hear.)  The company does not guarantee your employment, but will make you sign a one year contract of employment which is legally binding. It's a lot like the military in this way.  If you breach this contract, you are liable to pay some interesting amount back to the company for expenses and penalty.
 

Odds n Ends

Characters will probably not know each other before the game starts, unless some desire or reason to have them know each other comes up.

Starting Money will be 5000 Credits per player, unless you have chosen the Wealth advantage, or Poverty or other similar disad that would set your funds lower (or negative).

The Game will start on Terek, in the Solomani Rim subsector.

The starting date for the game will be March 5th, 3123.