Character Generation

[robject]

Now that I've genned up some characters, I can talk a little bit about chargen.

I like the events table. It's an easy way to add color. It may eventually feel stale, but for now it seems fine.

I love the Prisoner "career". My pirate character already had to serve a term. Now THAT's the way to do color, Traveller style.

I think I prefer CT's career requirements roll, which typically gives two different DMs. I also think I prefer the continuation roll, but I'm not sure yet.

And, this is just me, but I like the UPP string. I like 665A79 better than "Str 6, Dex 6, End 5 (-1), Int 10 (+1), Edu 7, Soc 9 (+1). I find it easier to quickly parse a string than reading through the characteristics with tags and DMs. And that may just be me.

 

[Warlock]

Now that I've genned up some characters, I can talk a little bit about chargen.

I like the events table. It's an easy way to add color. It may eventually feel stale, but for now it seems fine.

I love the Prisoner "career". My pirate character already had to serve a term. Now THAT's the way to do color, Traveller style.

I think I prefer CT's career requirements roll, which typically gives two different DMs. I also think I prefer the continuation roll, but I'm not sure yet.

And, this is just me, but I like the UPP string. I like 665A79 better than "Str 6, Dex 6, End 5 (-1), Int 10 (+1), Edu 7, Soc 9 (+1). I find it easier to quickly parse a string than reading through the characteristics with tags and DMs. And that may just be me.

I'm right in line with all the above. I thought the Prisoner "career" was hilarious (in a good way). Loved that option. I'm also looking at ship combat but am chomping at the bit at getting my hands on High Guard for all its bells and whistles.

 

[Xenon]

I rather like how everyone can get 2 connections skills, and then their share of the 8 skills for that game (2 each in a 4-player game). you get a guarantee of useful skills, and you get 1 or 2 of choice. great for covering holes.

as it stands, im starting to think the personal development list is one of the better charts to roll on, for the boost to stats. plus a lower total skill at the end means faster skill training, which can be useful in some games.

 

[DickNervous]

I've played with the 2e chargen a lot, and I think it is pretty good. I agree with everything you said, though I still don't really like most of the life events. But that's just me.

The thing that I found most interesting is that, while it has always been fun to roll characters as a group, the connections rule and skills make it much more interactive. While testing it out my group had a blast with it. One person was a Dilettante and another was Law Enforcement and they made a connection that the cop had arrested the noble (numerous times) for a slew of different things (drunk driving, public intoxication, etc) and her dad kept getting her off. So he was really frustrated with her.

Then the cop and the other character, a Navy Officer had a connection from the cop breaking up a bar room brawl the naval character was involved in. So before anything else happened, they all had some type of connection. And we had a ton of fun doing it.

 

[Warlock]

I found having higher stats that combine their bonuses with low skill levels has the potential to provide more well-rounded characters. The one caveat is if a high-stat character somehow ends up with JoT-3. That character may end up taking the spotlight away from all other characters in a group.

 

[robject]

I found having higher stats that combine their bonuses with low skill levels has the potential to provide more well-rounded characters. The one caveat is if a high-stat character somehow ends up with JoT-3. That character may end up taking the spotlight away from all other characters in a group.

That's a subtle but fundamental change from classic Traveller, where poor characteristics were more easily mitigated by skill. It's more in line with Traveller5 in that regard.