Career Jumpers

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
In D&D, the complaint is that characters are usually novice 15 year old boys out to kill the dragon. In Traveller, when you ignore the Survival roll, it's 30 year old men, going through a mid-life crisis, switching careers.

I've always thought that the mid-life crisis was part of the archetypical Traveller campaign - a bunch of middle-aged guys out to see the universe before they die and maybe earn enough money from odd jobs to retire in style. Some of the earlier adventures seem to support such an approach.

When a Survival roll is bricked, though, I don't really think it's necessary to use the unrealistic rationale that the character served 2 years out of the four and then enters the game.

I think I'll roll. Something like this:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">D6
1. Less than one year.
2. 1 year.
3. 2 years.
4. 2 years.
5. 3 years.
6. 4 years.</pre>

I've skewed the roll so that a "2 year" result happens more often than anything else as a nod to the official rule. But, I don't see why a character couldn't brick a Survival roll and say it was only a couple of months into the term (result of "1"), or that maybe the character acutally almost finished the 4-year block of time (result of "6").[/quote]
My method for handling Survival rolls under the basic CharGen system is to roll 1D3 to determine how many years of the 4-year term you've served (to determine your end-of-career age); then you'll get skills, promotion/comission and mustering out benefits as if you've surved the turm to its fullest (think of this as awards for getting seriously wounded in the line of duty), BUT you must end your CharGen system completely and begin play.

Under the expanded system (LBBs 4-7), survival is per year; you get to roll the normal rolls (skills, promotions, decorations) for the year you've failed Survival in, and get mustering out benefits for that four-year term, but you must end the CharGen process immidiately after that year.

A roll of EXACTLY the Survival number means that your character has been wounded in the line of duty but not so seriously as to mandate a discharge; under the basic CharGen system, this should be noted as part of your character's backstory. Under the expanded CharGen system, you will get a Purple Heart under the normal LBB4-7 rules.

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
In D&D, the complaint is that characters are usually novice 15 year old boys out to kill the dragon. In Traveller, when you ignore the Survival roll, it's 30 year old men, going through a mid-life crisis, switching careers.

I've always thought that the mid-life crisis was part of the archetypical Traveller campaign - a bunch of middle-aged guys out to see the universe before they die and maybe earn enough money from odd jobs to retire in style. Some of the earlier adventures seem to support such an approach.

When a Survival roll is bricked, though, I don't really think it's necessary to use the unrealistic rationale that the character served 2 years out of the four and then enters the game.

I think I'll roll. Something like this:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">D6
1. Less than one year.
2. 1 year.
3. 2 years.
4. 2 years.
5. 3 years.
6. 4 years.</pre>

I've skewed the roll so that a "2 year" result happens more often than anything else as a nod to the official rule. But, I don't see why a character couldn't brick a Survival roll and say it was only a couple of months into the term (result of "1"), or that maybe the character acutally almost finished the 4-year block of time (result of "6").[/quote]
My method for handling Survival rolls under the basic CharGen system is to roll 1D3 to determine how many years of the 4-year term you've served (to determine your end-of-career age); then you'll get skills, promotion/comission and mustering out benefits as if you've surved the turm to its fullest (think of this as awards for getting seriously wounded in the line of duty), BUT you must end your CharGen system completely and begin play.

Under the expanded system (LBBs 4-7), survival is per year; you get to roll the normal rolls (skills, promotions, decorations) for the year you've failed Survival in, and get mustering out benefits for that four-year term, but you must end the CharGen process immidiately after that year.

A roll of EXACTLY the Survival number means that your character has been wounded in the line of duty but not so seriously as to mandate a discharge; under the basic CharGen system, this should be noted as part of your character's backstory. Under the expanded CharGen system, you will get a Purple Heart under the normal LBB4-7 rules.