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T
RAVELLER
Mercenary
C
REDITS
C
ONTENTS
Classic Traveller
Marc Miller
I
NTRODUCTION
2
A
RMY
AND
M
ARINE
C
HARACTERS
5
Loren Wiseman, John Harshman, Frank Chadwick, Darryl Hany,
Winston Hamilton, Tony Svajlenka, Scott Renner, Doug Poe,
David MacDonald, Wayne Roth, Paul R. Banner.
C
REATING
A M
ERCENARY
15
N
EW
S
KILLS
AND
S
PECIALITIES
37
Mongoose Traveller
A
UTHOR
Bryan Steele
R
ECRUITING
U
NIT
M
EMBERS
42
N
EW
C
OMBAT
R
ULES
71
E
DITOR
Nick Robinson
M
ERCENARY
H
EADQUARTERS
AND
80
M
ILITARY
B
ASES
N
EW
E
QUIPMENT
I
NTERIOR
I
LLUSTRATIONS
Andrew Dobell, Phil Renne, Carlos Nuñez de Castro Torres, Marco
Morte, Tony Guaraldi-Brown, Javier Charro Martinez
I
NDEX
107
S
PECIAL
T
HANKS
Marc Miller, Tom O’Neill, Brian Caball, Aidan Rafferty, Robert
Eaglestone, Loren Wiseman, James Maliszewski, Donald McKinney,
William Hostman, Martin Costa, Mike West
P
LAYTESTERS
Adam Gulwell, Alexander Fennell, Roger Calver, Dave Lai, Scott
Hughes
Mercenary ©2008 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All
significant characters, names, places,items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing.
This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Game
License, please go to www.mongoosepublishing.com.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom and of the United States. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organisations,
places or events is purely coincidental.
Traveller is a trademark of Far Future Enterprises and is used under licence.
Printed in the USA.
1
M
ERCENARY
T
ICKETS
62
92
I
NTRODUCTION
I
NTRODUCTION
In the worlds of
Traveller
there are countless souls sailing across the
sea of stars in search of fame, fortune and perhaps some deeper
meaning to it all. Some are looking for the answer to the eternal
questions of their civilisation, others simply want to get away from
it all and find something better in the void. Anything can happen in
the stretches of emptiness between worlds, and sometimes this can
mean trouble. For the unprepared, this is often fatal. If someone
cannot protect themselves from the dangers of the universe, there
are always others who will – for a price.
Just as it would be in the military, mercenaries must decide what
is more important to them on a ticket – their morals or their bank
accounts?
In
Traveller
, mercenaries are generally accepted by the spacefaring
culture. They are a monitored and standardised private force that
the rich and powerful can call upon to help them with their military
needs. The types of groups that hire mercenaries are vast; as are
their reasons for doing so. Companies might require a group of
escorts to protect something from their rivals, or they could seek
someone to strike at the competition in a more direct fashion than
with price wars or corporate takeovers. Governments often use
mercenaries to do what their armed services cannot, either morally
or sometimes even legally. Private parties rarely have the funds or
connections to acquire a mercenary ticket, but those that do can
have the strangest and most unique motives. In effect mercenaries
are far more prevalent than in our reality; they exist to fill the roles
that others fall short of.
Traveller: Mercenary
is a guide to the gritty life of the hired gun. These
specialised few are often more than just soldiers looking for some
side money, they are frequently members of units of like-minded
militants that devote their lives to pulling the trigger. It is a hard life
to enjoy, and a harder one to be successful at. Wherever there are
spacefarers, there will be violence; where there is violence there is a
need for mercenaries.
From freelance soldiers of fortune to ranking grunts of a structured
military charter, there are mercenaries from all walks of life across
the universe. It is a good life of adventure for most travellers, and for
those fortunate enough to survive a long enough while in ‘the life’,
wealth, fame and adventure is almost certainly assured. Of course,
there is always the chance that the mercenary dies a horrible death
fighting a battle they never should have been involved with – but
that is just the hazards of the job, is it not?
The use of mercenaries is a vital part of the small skirmishes that
often take place on the frontier borders of expanding space. Full
militaries are too structured or limited in their abilities to function as
they should; their hands commonly tied with political or corporate
red tape. As interests move beyond the limits of law and government,
mercenaries are the best solutions for many of the hazards found in
the less well travelled regions of space. The mercenaries do the job,
the employers reap the awards, and everyone goes home happy; in
theory, at least.
Mercenaries within Traveller
From the basic character creation methods and tables found in
the core
Traveller
rulebook, players can create military-minded
characters or just combat-oriented characters from other walks of
life. Although anyone can sell their services to the highest (or not
so highest) bidder to become a mercenary by the strictest definition
of the term, true mercenaries are a lot more than just a gun for a
paycheque.
Mercenaries do what they feel they can and must do in order to
pay their bills, fill their stomachs and pass the time. While this
makes them individualistic and unpredictable, it also makes them
numerous and somewhat expendable – all perfect traits for Player
Characters in a
Traveller
game.
Mercenaries in Specific Traveller Settings
This book is written with a general setting in mind, specifically
one that has legalised mercenary activity for the use on the
space frontier (like that of the
Third Imperium
setting). This does
not mean that every setting or culture will have the same rules
and limitations on the existence and use of mercenaries. One
government might freely utilise mercenary groups to put down
threats, but the next could think all mercenaries are nothing but
criminals.
Traveller
allows for any character to become gunslingers or
swordsmen if they wish to practice at those skills, but mercenaries
are dedicated to making it their livelihood. They require more
focussed training and attention than a common solider would; they
are mostly fighting for the credits – not for orders, their planet or
the Emperor. This makes them invest far more to protect their own
skins, and they have to be sure that their training must be better
than anyone they might go up against.
Mercenaries are commonly stereotyped as being violent, callous
and purely self-serving. Although some may be, it is not always
the
case. Groups of mercenaries can be tighter and more fraternal than
familial brothers, and some charters have been around long enough
to have multiple generations of mercenaries raised in their ranks.
The overall usage of mercenaries is limited by the designed
setting of the Referee, as he may or may not want to make his
game ‘easy’ for his mercenary Player Characters.
2
I
NTRODUCTION
What This Book Adds to Traveller
Traveller: Mercenary
brings a new type of character to the table – the
professional mercenary. Whether it is a member of a bodyguard
service in the private sector or a plasma-slinging paramilitary
guerrilla, players can turn their normal
Traveller
characters into
something else entirely. This book is written to expand the scope
of
Traveller
to include these professional soldiers-for-hire in many
ways.
of gritty realism or heroism to their battles. These rule additions will
turn a common fire fight between larger groups from a clunky dice-
rolling frenzy to a full scale conflict worthy of media attention.
Whether in a true military or a private mercenary unit, active combat
forces need a place to recover, rearm and re-equip. Commanding
officers need stations where they can plan everything the unit needs
and important documents should be stored safely in case of an
unexpected leadership change. This book contains a detailed list
of possible bases and headquarters useful to Referees in order to
create the central locations of their game’s mercenary and military
units.
Most readers will look into the first chapter as the main reason they
are picking up this book. The start of the book is devoted to the
creation of mercenary Player Characters. It is filled with new career
paths, advancements and mishaps that can shape a character to
become the best mercenary they can. From the first term that he
qualifies to do so, a character can begin the life of a true mercenary.
No matter if they left the armed services on their own or at gunpoint,
they might be able to find profit in selling their services here. The
new career paths listed in this book are designed to be used in
addition to those found in the core rulebook – not replace them.
A good mercenary is only as good as the equipment he is trained
to use, and this book brings a host of new bits of gear for just
that reason. Adhesive bandages, gyro-stabilised hip rigs, and anti-
personnel airburst artillery rounds are just a few examples of the new
and fantastic equipment this book unveils. With so many wonderful
new toys to choose from, Player Characters might join a mercenary
ticket just to get access to some of them!
The book also contains a chapter dedicated to the addition of new
skills that
Traveller
characters can now utilise. These skills range in
use and purpose, but they can be important to characters devoted to
professional soldiering. Although designed to appear in the creation
tables for the mercenary career paths, these new skills can also be
acquired by some of the core
Traveller
careers; how this is possible
is noted here as well.
Traveller: Mercenary
is not just a guide to living the life of a hired gun.
It serves as a collection of useful rules additions and augmentations
to the entire system, bringing a brand new facet of adventure and
excitement to the
Traveller
system.
Mercenaries do not simply wander around looking for their next job.
They are commonly sought out and hired on an official and legal
contract. These contracts are collectively called ‘tickets’ in
Traveller
,
and they represent a fully-enclosed mission that the mercenaries
are being hired to accomplish. Mercenary tickets are the bread-
and-butter of a mercenary’s life, sometimes literally. This book
includes the full description for Referees of how to create individual
mercenary tickets for their games. Either using the detailed facets of
ticket creation or the random tables given in this book, a Referee can
not only quickly draw up a mission for their players to set out on, but
also can know how much something like that would pay. The use of
mercenary tickets is a standard in the business, and this book tells
readers precisely how they work and how to create them.
As mercenaries leave behind their freelance or order-taking days
in search of becoming something more, they might decide to start
their own mercenary groups or charters. They will need to recruit
new members in order to do this effectively. This book offers a good
system on how any given character, not just mercenaries, can go
out and recruit hirelings and subordinates. If any character is skilled
and convincing enough, they could acquire the men they are looking
to lead.
With the addition of more militarily-leaning missions and tickets,
this book also brings a few new additions to the way larger battles
and combats work in
Traveller
. With new rules concerning morale,
suppression fire and the like will allow Referees to bring a new style
3
I
NTRODUCTION
M
ERCENARY
S
LANG
AND
L
EXICON
The following is a short collection of common terminology used by many mercenaries and their allies in the
Traveller
universe. Players
of mercenary characters should pay attention to these words and phrases, as that their employers, partners and employees will often
use them in common parlance.
Ace(d) – Any one-shot/one-strike kill; as in ‘I aced him with my seventy-six, right in the eye!’
‘Act the Part’ – Overplaying a dramatic stance as a mercenary in order to earn a bigger reputation
Aggro – Becoming overly violent or aggressive; as in ‘Whoa! Why all the aggro? It was just a joke!’
Bar Tab – A tongue-in-cheek term used to describe the amount of money spent on supplies for a specific ticket
Black Op – Any ticket that cannot be officially or legally claimed; most often also a ‘wet ticket’
Camo Job – Any ticket that will require the use of standard military fatigues, uniforms or other apparel; alternatively a ticket where the
mercenary is hired by an armed service branch
Cloak and Dagger – Any ticket that requires stealth or anonymity
Dead Ticket – A mission that has been tried and failed; also used to describe a ticket that has passed its expiration without being
undertaken
ETC – Anagram for ‘estimated time to conflict’; as in ‘I have the convoy in my sights, what is our ETC?’
FUBAR – Anagram for ‘fouled up beyond all repair’; can also be used as a profanity; as in ‘The evacuation site is crawling with hostiles,
this ticket is FUBAR.’
Glassing – The use of high explosives or incendiary devices to deal with a lightly or unarmoured target
Heat/Hot – Slang term for violent conflict, as in ‘Negative, I cannot get in yet. Too much heat out here to ignore. I could use some
help.’
‘High Tide’ – A description of very high or unexpected activity in a conflict situation; as in ‘Get that PGMP up here, it is pretty damned
high tide outside that bulkhead!’
Ice Cold Ticket – A mission that requires a low sense of morals and likely a great deal of violent action
JIR – Anagram for ‘justifiable immediate response’; or the level of violent action that should be taken in response to opposing
stimuli
‘Low Tide’ – A description of little or low activity in a possible conflict; as in ‘Holster up your big guns guys, its nothing but low tide
the rest of the way.’
Meatmonger – Derogatory term for any mercenary that is overly violent in situations where it is not necessary
Merc – Slang term for any mercenary; sometimes used by non-mercenaries in the derogatory
One-off Job – Any ticket from a new employer that has no current plans of re-hiring the mercenaries afterward
Park Walk – Any ticket that is appraised as being far easier than the overall skill level of the mercenary group signed on to it
Sandbag – Extremely derogatory term for a mercenary who is not holding up his share of a specific ticket; as in ‘Move your sandbag
ass Hawkins! You are slowing us all down!’
‘Take Two’ – Anytime a skilled mercenary fails at a simple task and is forced to perform it again
Trial by Fire – A mercenary’s first combat-based ticket
Zoo Trip – Any ticket that takes the mercenary to an unknown location with unknown flora/fauna that must be dealt with in some
way
4
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