Char Gen using Traveller Book
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ShawnDriscoll
SOC-14 1K
Ha! Yes, welcome to 1st-gen RPGing.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
In TTB Scouts get two skills per term every term (should they get three on the first term?)
There is errata in the SMC which grants two skills per term to every career that has no commision or promotion roll in Supplement 4 careers.
IMHO this should apply to the Other career in TTB.
There is errata in the SMC which grants two skills per term to every career that has no commision or promotion roll in Supplement 4 careers.
IMHO this should apply to the Other career in TTB.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
And then watch someone with a Book 4-7 character laugh at your character
You should not mix characters created with The Traveller Book system and the system from Books 4 to 7. That would be a fast way to get a very unhappy player or two. You go with one or the other, not a mix of both.
I understand that Marc was in the military during Vietnam, where a 12-month rotation was followed for those in-country, while the Air Force played with 179 day rotations to avoid permanent change of station issues. While the Army maintains a short-term rotation to Korea, the normal term at a station is 3 years, and then probably a school. I could see making a rule for a character to get two skills per term, without a promotion, and maybe three with a promotion, but I cannot see getting more than 2 or 3 skills per term.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
Skills in CT are the things your character excels at and could get hired to do.
The skill list is a list of particular types of expertise that might help the PCs along on their adventures.
None of the skills are required to attain desired goals. If you don't have a pilot, then you can find someone who can pilot and hire them, or buy a ticket, or steal a ticket, or hijack a ship, or whatever.... coming up with solutions to roadblocks is a big part of the game.
CT is a pre-Runequest game. Unlike Runequest (as an example) the skill list is not a complete list of what PCs can do, and the skill list on a PC character sheet does not define or limit what the PC can do. PCs not only can use several skills on the skill list ever without expertise (with rules as written) but can do countless actions and activities to move forward toward their goals.
Like Original Dungeons & Dragons the game assumes the Players will come up with actions and activities to,solve problems outside the scope of the limited rules in the text. (The 1977 rules text makes it explicit the skills are there as examples and do not cover all aspects of actions the PCs might choose to take.)
Starting around 1980 the expectations of what skills are in an RPG shifted. Skills lists are there to be comprehensive and to offload the need of the Referee to adjudicate situations outside the printed rules, and instead run all actions of the PCs through the rules text.
Many people coming to the CT rules post 1980-ish found them confusing -- because the expectation or what skills mean and are there to do in RPGs. But the fact is, the CT rules as written, if applied and used as originally written, work fine.
So... short version: A PC with only a few "Skills" on his character sheet is fine. That lists his expertise, but is not a full list of what he can do or try to do.
The skill list is a list of particular types of expertise that might help the PCs along on their adventures.
None of the skills are required to attain desired goals. If you don't have a pilot, then you can find someone who can pilot and hire them, or buy a ticket, or steal a ticket, or hijack a ship, or whatever.... coming up with solutions to roadblocks is a big part of the game.
CT is a pre-Runequest game. Unlike Runequest (as an example) the skill list is not a complete list of what PCs can do, and the skill list on a PC character sheet does not define or limit what the PC can do. PCs not only can use several skills on the skill list ever without expertise (with rules as written) but can do countless actions and activities to move forward toward their goals.
Like Original Dungeons & Dragons the game assumes the Players will come up with actions and activities to,solve problems outside the scope of the limited rules in the text. (The 1977 rules text makes it explicit the skills are there as examples and do not cover all aspects of actions the PCs might choose to take.)
Starting around 1980 the expectations of what skills are in an RPG shifted. Skills lists are there to be comprehensive and to offload the need of the Referee to adjudicate situations outside the printed rules, and instead run all actions of the PCs through the rules text.
Many people coming to the CT rules post 1980-ish found them confusing -- because the expectation or what skills mean and are there to do in RPGs. But the fact is, the CT rules as written, if applied and used as originally written, work fine.
So... short version: A PC with only a few "Skills" on his character sheet is fine. That lists his expertise, but is not a full list of what he can do or try to do.
And then watch someone with a Book 4-7 character laugh at your character
And then there was early Scouts and Assassins. Whoo boy.
I handled this on a few occasions by using the Megatraveller character generation system (with some skill mappings to reduce its proliferation of fine-grained skills). MT characters average about one more skill per term than book 1 characters so they're more in line with the extended systems. They also have access to the same pool of skills. Basic and extended characters can be mixed-and-matched with less in the way of balance issues. If you feel the need to limit skill sprawl then you can cap the characters at (say) 4 terms. There are also character generators for about half a dozen other services scattered through various JTAS articles.
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willtron3030
SOC-12
I think I've just run across my first RPG equivalent of, "No, no... rock-n-roll shouldn't be dated as pre- or post- Sgt. Pepper, it should be pre- or post Jimi."
I worked in YFLGS in my teens, and this is the first time I've heard that insight stated quite that way.
Bravo.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
<humble bow>
No promotion or survival rolls for schools. Briefly:
You do one set of rolls per year (4 per term) - i.e. the grain of each assignment is a single year.
Each assignment is a unit assignment (command or staff if already an officer) or a special assignment. For a unit assignment you have the normal survival, decoration, promotion and skills rolls, once per assignment. Command and staff assignments for officers are the same as unit assignments except you get to add a command to the character's history in the case of command assignments. You can elect to take a DM on the assignment roll to buck for command at the expense of a lower chance of a special assignment.
For a special assignment you can get cross training, various schools, or other assignments such as recruiting, attache or OCS; the rules for these are discussed in the rule books. Cross training is just the same as a normal year's unit assignment, but in a different branch, which you roll IIRC. Schools have no survival, decoration or promotion roll; you just roll for each of the skills in the list. Then you move onto the next year. In some cases the schools have specific effects. For example, Commando school for mercenary characters allows the character to transfer into the commando branch.
At the end of the term (after 4 assignments) you muster out or roll to re-enlist same as Book 1.
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kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Be careful mixing TTB/LBB/S4 characters with LBB4-7, skillflation IS a thing.
I solved a lot of this by mashng together a lot of skills so they are much more general or powerful, and then adding on an extra Advanced Education table with the LBB4-7 skills I like.
Don't be afraid to do your own thing. Good always to understand ins and outs of any given variant system, so you can make more informed adjustments.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I have done something similar myself, the skill descriptors in LBB4/5/6/7 become special cases of extant LBB:1 skills.
For example I allow Fwd Obs to include Recon and Survival, Liaison and Carousing are special cases of Streetwise, that sort of thing.
For example I allow Fwd Obs to include Recon and Survival, Liaison and Carousing are special cases of Streetwise, that sort of thing.
Khan Trav
SOC-12
Well said, as a referee I find you must be open to the idea of filling in the gaps. Running a game where the characters can do nearly anything or go anywhere means the referee has to be able to keep up.
Black Vulmea
SOC-12
Not my experience.
If you observe the max skills + skill levels = INT + EDU, then advanced chargen characters are limited to the same skill and level totals as basic chargen characters.
And if you're playing it straight - no fudging the dice, by the rules as written - you can go through advanced chargen and get zero skills in a term, plus you may find yourself making up to four times the number of survival rolls to shepherd a character to mustering out - I find myself starting over much more often with advanced chargen.
I am working on my own CharGen middle ground based upon the Traveller Book and skills from all the books (and a few grabbed from T5). I am calling it CT+ for now.
The main change is allowing for "Enlisted" promotions (and corresponding Enlisted Ranks). There are autoskills granted at certain ranks for both Enlisted and Officers.
Scouts get 3 skills + the Pilot-1 autoskill first term and 2 skills per term thereafter.
Others have been renamed Civilian and they get 4 skills first term and 2 skills per term thereafter.
I have completely revamped the skill charts in light of the broader skill available.
All my careers are setting neutral so I can make my own subsector and go... I am not using the OTU for my campaign.
The main change is allowing for "Enlisted" promotions (and corresponding Enlisted Ranks). There are autoskills granted at certain ranks for both Enlisted and Officers.
Scouts get 3 skills + the Pilot-1 autoskill first term and 2 skills per term thereafter.
Others have been renamed Civilian and they get 4 skills first term and 2 skills per term thereafter.
I have completely revamped the skill charts in light of the broader skill available.
All my careers are setting neutral so I can make my own subsector and go... I am not using the OTU for my campaign.
I think my LBB are circa 1981. Would you be able to quote or cite page ref where this is mentioned? I could have sworn I read this but was unable to find it in the 1981 version...unless it's staring at me in the face which is also possible.
The text is different...
See my section by section comparison (sadly few page numbers):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jsH-EgKvaR0mdbtJMj_Xj7X3TcYyZTqQGf-Gwu58PX0/edit?usp=sharing
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