CT+ Careers

[Ranger]

I've set up O/E ranks for military and M/W in my house rules. Here's an example of what it looks like:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Rank Army (M)
E/L 1 Private
E/L 2 Team Sergeant
E/L 3 Squad Sergeant
E/L 4 Platoon Sgt.
E/L 5 Company Sgt.
E/L 6 Sergeant Major

O/M 1 Lieutenant
O/M 2 Captain
O/M 3 Major
O/M 4 Lt. Colonel
O/M 5 Colonel
O/M 6 General</pre>[/QUOTE]I'd change the position roll for the Army to 8+ to make it closer to the dificulty of getting a commission in advanced CG. Rolling for promotion regarless of success or failure on the position roll.

 

[Takei]

Originally posted by Zakrol:
I'm not sure whether we're talking about different things here - so apologies if I've misunderstood.

These extra skills are over and above the usual skills per term that characters will get. The Leader-1 on reaching lieutenant is in addition to the skill they get from making the promotion.

My comment was that giving Tactics-1 as well means that an Army/Marine character will be getting 3 bonus skills in their career - Combat Rifleman-1 on joining and Leader-1 and Tactics-1 on making lieutenant.

Whereas other careers only get the 1 (Scouts only get pilot-1, rogues only get streetwise-1).

With the MT style special duty rules and 2 skills/term for non promotion careers, most characters will get 3-4 skills per term aside from these freebies...

I assumed you were referring to the usual CT/MT way of doing things. I'm just greedy and like the approach of one skill per year PLUS and extra for promotion and special duty

Looking at MT again I notice that;
"If any throw (including DMs) for commission/position, promotion, or special duty is at least 4 or greater than the required throw, then two extra skills are received instead of one."
This gives us the chance to tweak the non-rank careers. I seem to be won over.

 

[mike wightman]

Making a roll by 4 or greater would be an exceptional success in the proposed task system.

See how well it all fits together

 

[jappel]

I like the idea of the promotions for the enlisted ranks, and Sigg & Ranger's take on things looks good.

Since it doesn't look like there's a reasonable compression of the 18 down to 12, I suggest we just stick with the 18. Though maybe we could dump the existing Bureaucrat in favor of Spies, perhaps based on the one you can find in the "Scouts as Spies" thread in the IISS forum. (I extracted that text but don't have it here, I'll repost tonight.)

Regarding scientists - Malenfant, you've described pretty accurately the typical life of the more "sedentary", academic scientists (I am not one, but have worked with a number both in and out of academia). But you need to be careful in extending your experience to encompass all scientists.

Think of all the people in the field - the botanists, biologists and biochemists working in Chiapas alongside the anthropologists to identify plants utilized by native healers. Teams oceanographers and archealogists based in towns along the Turkish Mediterrainian coast investigating Roman shipwrecks. Diane Goodall and her gorillas (and a case for the survival roll!) Geologists working in West Africa in oil exploration.

Opportunities to learn skills like Liasion, Streetwise, Bribery (apparently a huge issue in West Africa, and a problem in the Near East as well), Survival (the skill) in all of those.

Regarding scientists & firearms - I met an astronomer from NASA/Goddard a few months ago at a function, and in the course of our dinner conversation found ourselves chatting about a nearby indoor shooting range we both occasionally visit. Turns out he's a much better shot with a handgun than I, the ex-paratrooper & Army cavalry scout. (Of course, he doesn't have Autocannon or Demo. )

My point is that the skills picked up are those you acquire could easily be hobbies. Or perhaps that sophont's world or state has a system like the Swiss, where all the adults receive compulsory military training. One of the charms of the random system was that it seamlessly generated hooks and quirks. I think everyone here acknowledges that the purely-random system has it's flaws, but that charm is why most advocate at least some randomization.

It might not appeal to you personally. It won't appeal to the munchkins, or powergamer tacticians who can't stand any loss of control. But before you say current RPGers won't go for it, I'll say I just walked a group who had no exposure to Traveller beyond what I'd told them through MT basic chargen with some minor tweaks and they had a blast with it. One player did have an unfortunate run of luck and we reverted to a pre-generated character, but some of the solutions proposed here would have prevented that.

In any case, thanks for the input. Ideally the system should be able to create someone who hasn't set foot outside a lab or university campus in years as well as a tomb raider.

- John

 

[Takei]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Making a roll by 4 or greater would be an exceptional success in the proposed task system.

See how well it all fits together

It's obviously a sign! All hail the CT+ task system!

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Why can't we incorporate the Enlisted promotion into the Special roll? The reason I ask is that Enlisted promotions should be a bit seperated from Officer promotions. Since we don't want to increase complexity, my first thought was to make Enlisted promotion automatic every term.

Just brainstorming, but something just rubs me wrong about using the Promotion roll to promote in the non-"Traveller" ranks. Just more thinking out loud....

 

[Ranger]

I think it is both easier (game wise) and legitimate to use the same promotion roll for either officer or enlisted. In game terms, it keeps the flow of the CG system intact. The number is already there in the chart, and all you do it just roll for promotion even if you didn't get a position. For some services, like Scouts, promotion is ignored, which to my mind means it is automatic (In a sense, a Scout's "rank" is how much time in serive he has). But for services that have rank structures, my experience is that they promote at about the same pace in both officer and enlisted ranks. So, using the same target # for enlisted promotion makes sense to me. All you need to do is add 6 enlisted ranks for each carreer where appropriate.

But if you really want to have or need different rolls for officer and enlisted promotion, all you have to do is add a /# to the promotion line of the table. So, instead of Promotion 8+ it might be 8+/6+.

Edited to reduce and eliminate redundancy

 

[Ranger]

One more thing I think a CT+ system needs is education. All of the systems were one 4 year term, so transfering them to the basic CG system is pretty easy.

Something like this:

College
Prerequisites Int 6+, Edu 5+

Admission 9+
+1 if Edu 9+
+2 if Int 8+

Success 7+
+2 if Int 8+

OTC/NOTC 8+/9+
+1 if Soc 8+/Soc A+

Education 1D-2
+1 if Int 9+

Honors 10+
+1 if Edu A+

Default Skills
Language, Computer, Admin

 

[mike wightman]

This has come up on the combat thread while discussing initiative:

Originally posted by Badbru:
Is the Chargen system going to incorporate Combat service ribbons?

If so you could incorporate those somehow as they more truly reflect actuall combat experience.
If neither Joe Stargrunt or Pod Wanabe saw active combat they'd both probably wet themselves in combat.

Could this be linked to either the survival or special duty roll?

 

[Ranger]

I really like awards too. I've done up a whole set of rules for in service and end of service awards, but it adds another roll to the CG process at the end of each term. The big question I've never been able to answer to my satisfaction is how to designate combat tours in basic CG. It could be as simple as roll 1D-4 and the result is the number of combat tours for that term. If all you want are CSRs, then the number of tours is the number of CSRs for the term. If that doesn't give you enough combat tours for YTU, just adjust the mod to -3 or even -2.

Just my thoughts...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Well, you could use the Survival or Special rolls for that. Any Survival roll w/in +-2 would result in a decoration for combat. Any Special roll 4 over could equate to combat/decoration.

 

[Berg]

Well, you could use the Survival or Special rolls for that. Any Survival roll w/in +-2 would result in a decoration for combat. Any Special roll 4 over could equate to combat/decoration.

I like

In keeping with the spirit of CT+ = Simple

Tom

 

[Takei]

Decorations feel better when linked to the Special roll. However, some of the special rolls are quite low (4+ for Marines) which might mean most characters end up with a chest full of gongs!

 

[Berg]

Most medals are awarded for surviving under harrowing circumstances, so being tied to the survival roll makes sense IMHO.
But medals are special

Tom

 

[Ranger]

Well, there are different types of awards. Combat Service Ribons (CSRs) and Wound Badges (WB) are automatic. You get a CSR for a combat tour, so the question is, how do you determin if a specific special duty roll is a combat tour or a school or a stint as a general's/admiral's aid? A wound badge is automatic for failed survival rolls.

The other type of award is a merrit award. That could be tied to the special duty roll if you take how well someone does on the roll as a measure of how well they did that special assignment.

Here is one way to deal with it (from my home rules):
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">2d6 CBT PTM CIV CRIM APs
Auto CSR (S)AM POTB LW 1
8+ MCUF (S)CM Cert. ISW 2
10+ MCG MSM WW ImpW 3
12+ LOH LOM LOM IMW 4
Spcl SEH - Knight - 5</pre>[/QUOTE]CBT: Combat awards. These awards are available to Military Service careers on the Imperial Fringe and Client States. Very challenging terms in the Core reflect one CBT and one PTM year.

CSR: Combat Service Ribbon. One is awarded for each level of challenge (reflecting one tour in combat).

MCUF: Meritorious Conduct Under Fire

MCG: Medal for Conspicuous Gallantry

LOH: Legion of Honor

SEH: Starburst of Extreme Heroism. This award is very rare. To simulate the difficulty of receiving this award use the following procedures. If the individual receives an LOH, roll 2 dice; on a roll of 12, the individual receives the SEH instead. Raise the character’s Soc to A immediately.

PTM: Peace Time Military. These awards are available to Military, Scouts, and Police who are engaged in non-combat operations.

(S)AM: (Service) Achievement Medal

(S)CM: (Service) Commendation Medal

MSM: Meritorious Service Medal

LOM: Legion of Merit

CIV: Civilian. These are the levels of recognition available to civilian careers.

POTB: Pat on the Back. No formal recognition is granted, but the character receives 1 AP for the Term.

Cert.: Certified Public Recognition. The character receives the public award of a Plaque (suitable for public display) that recognizes their efforts for the Term before their professional peers.

WW: Who’s Who. Listed in the Imperial Registrar of Renown for their profession. Subsequent results mean additional listings for related professions.

LOM: Legion of Merit. This is the same award as issued for PTM service. Membership to the Legion is open to civilians as well as military personnel.

Knight: Honorary Knighthood. This award is very rare. To simulate the difficulty of receiving this award use the following procedures. If the individual receives an LOM, roll 2 dice; on a roll of 12, the individual receives an Honorary Knighthood instead. Raise the character’s Soc to A immediately.

CRIM: Criminal. These are levels of social recognition for success in a criminal career (Criminal Rogues and Pirates).

LW: Local Warrant. The character has been busy and successful, and gained the attention of local law enforcement.

ISW: Inter-Stellar Warrant. The character’s activities have been significant enough to cause local law enforcement to inform neighboring star systems of the individual’s activities and request their arrest.

ImpW: Imperial Warrant (not the good kind). Local imperial authorities issue an arrest warrant.

IMW: The Imperium’s Most Wanted. The character is wanted throughout the Imperium.

Note: Any failed survival roll will clear all warrants, even if it results in no lost terms due to Jail time.

APs: Awards Points. These are accumulated through the course of a career. They serve two functions. First, they are used to modify rolls on the Cash Benefit table. These may be use entirely on one roll, or divided up over the maximum 3 rolls on the table. Secondly, awards points are used to determine end of service recognition for a career.

End of Service Awards Table
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">APs + Terms Military Civilian
1-3 (S)AM POTB
4-6 (S)CM Cert.
7-9 MSM WW
10-12 LOM LOM
13-15 LOH LOM
16+ Knight* Knight*

* Available to Officers or Management only</pre>[/QUOTE]Something like this would work if you just take the special duty roll as the award roll.

 

[Ranger]

Just had an idea pop into my head about how to determine if special duty is combat or not. If the special duty roll is an even number, then it is a combat tour. If it is odd, then a school or special assignment (aid, recruiting, etc.).

 

[Takei]

Originally posted by Ranger:
Just had an idea pop into my head about how to determine if special duty is combat or not. If the special duty roll is an even number, then it is a combat tour. If it is odd, then a school or special assignment (aid, recruiting, etc.).

I like it. Very KISS.

 

[Ranger]

Originally posted by Takei:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ranger:
Just had an idea pop into my head about how to determine if special duty is combat or not. If the special duty roll is an even number, then it is a combat tour. If it is odd, then a school or special assignment (aid, recruiting, etc.).

I like it. Very KISS. </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, the more I think about it the more I like it. It would wrap all of the add ons to CG I want into the already existing die rolls.

Roll for special duty:

If even, then award a CSR.

If above target, award bonus skill for term.

If above target by 4+, two bonus skills for term.

Compare roll to awards chart to determine what award is earned for the term.

I'd have to modify the awards chart by dropping the scale by one (start at 7+ rather than 8+) so you can get the LOM in a peace time tour. Much cleaner than I had in my house rules.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Berg:

This was mentioned earlier in the thread and seemed to boil down to this...

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:

I would either stick to MT, or reduce it down to

Army
Navy
Marines
Scouts
Law Enforcement
Pirate

Noble
Merchant
Belter
Scientist
Rogue
Barbarian

IMO from that list at the least rogue should *not* be mandatory criminal as per CT then and be more generalized ala the T20 rogue. I'd prefer some sort of Entertainer career and/or a Traveller career (or special table/subcareer). Is there a specific rules reason to have exactly 12/24 careers? Some sort of random career roll?

 

[mike wightman]

As long as the careers are in multiples of six you can maintain the CT/MT format of six per page

I suppose this could then be randomised if necessary...