monogodo

I never could get into Role Playing Games. I know my younger brother did, and I think my older brother did. I just never saw the point to them.

My freshman year of HS, an acquaintance invited me over to play Traveller with some of his other friends. I'd never played the game, so I just observed. If you're not familiar with Traveller, it's best described by this paragraph from the website:

Adventures take place against the background of a vast, star-spanning empire, with a history dating back over a thousand years. Locales can range from a crowded spaceport to a lonely frontier outpost. Characters can be merchant princes, diplomats, soldiers, politicians, criminals . . . or all of them at once. Political intrigues, trading schemes, mind- wrenching alien enigmas, mercenary raids, wars . . . almost anything is possible.

Anyway, during the course of the game, one of the players was approaching a planet, and was hailed by the Harbor Master.

• Harbor Master: Unidentified craft, please identify yourself and state your purpose.
• player: I'm Merchant Ship 123XZY. I'm here on business.
• HM: We have no docking station. A stable orbit will cost 375 credits.
• player (after consulting his stat sheet and determining that he has less than 375 credits):
  How much does it cost for an unstable orbit?